Friday, October 28, 2005

Planet Home

I love living in a pedestrian metropolis. Let me rephrase, I love living in a city where people use mass transit.

I grew up in LA and if you have seen Crash, it's true, people are always driving and spend a great deal of time in their car. They also spend a lot of time talking about the biz and living the oh so glam LA life... but that's a different post.

Living in DC, the Bizarro LA, is amazing because it's such a bustling lively place.. in such a small area... kind of like a mini NYC in many ways. Everything is at your fingertips. You can eat at amazing innovative restaurants. You'll meet interesting diverse international people. You'll experience museum exhibits of all kinds of cultural jewels that can transport you anywhere... from examining exotic flora in lush locations around to the world all the way into the mind of the homeless and hopeless of skid row. You have it all.

Which is why I never understood the allure of suburban life.

True enough, here in DC there are not many attached car garages for even the larger homes (which sucks) and some people raise families in houses without lawns or a decent backyard (which is lunacy for me. Or even worse... condos! Condo + Kids = Yikes.) But I grew up in the suburb city of LA (and went to school in the ATL) and I refuse to live as a boring burbite. Even in DC you can stay in the city and get the space you need. Yes you pay more... but isn't that what people work hard for... quality of life?

Life in burbs is a serene one, no doubt.. but but it is also very nutralist, ie bland. And now that affordability of such a lifestyle is now catching up with city life it starts to even less reflect the Walmart-ish lifestyle that it once presented. The gas prices are soaring so that hour and a half in traffic that brought you from your sleep at 5 so you could make it to work at 9 now works against you. Heating that giant behemoth of a suburban dream house for your family has shot up almost 100% in the last 4 years. The fact that when friends come into town.. NO ONE wants to see how life is out in Bethesda.. (45 mins out) or Germantown (hour and a half out). People want to see DC and the liveliness of city. There are spots in the city that are just as safe as the burbs. And quite frankly, after eating at a small restaurant opened by a Thai immigrant who has brought the culture and poured the love for his homeland into a bowl of opportunity and lemongrass soup is amazing your local Applebees will never tastes the same (and often it'll be cheaper too!). It will sustain you but not fill you. Sorry, William J. Friday.

The greatest part about this life is that you are reminded of the greatness of the city daily. And each day as I leave my craaaaaaaamped apt here in the District, I slide in iPoddy Pablo's earbuds and pump up the volume high enough to pretend to ignore the pleas of the panhandlers and low enough so I can make sure I'll hear anyone sneak up on me and jack Pablo. Fumbling out of my apartment building, into the the cool sunrise and towards the Metro, I revel in the fact that my city is a beautiful exciting living entity, constantly growing... contantly changing. Indeed, it isn't New York or even LA but what it is is essentially a simple extension of my very typically Districtesque apartment... cozy, crazy, but home.

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