Kalifornia: Mass Irresponsibility
I'm getting sick. I've got a tremendous amount of work ahead of me for the next few days. I have a long journey ahead of that. I still have a hundred pages or more of thesis to write in a short time once I'm back. But I'm happy. I can't remember being this happy in the last 6.5 years. I paid for gas by credit card yesterday and it asked me for my zip code. I put in my zip code here and it gave me an error. Then I realized that I had already changed my zip to my home address. It made me smile. Then today I put my faceplate back on my radio. I was able to listen to my car's stereo for the first time in 6.5 years without fear of some jackass stealing it because I was parking it in a crappy area of town. It makes me feel good to cruise down the road in my jalopy blasting the classical music. My car is running well. The A/C will freeze hell over in about 2 minutes for the first time in years. I'm making the time to say goodbye to the few people out here that are worth a shit (all but one from out of state originally). It gave me great pleasure when my advisor asked me to come into Berkeley one more time to talk to him face to face, and I said no.
And yet, someone out here told me that there were many things that I could do here that I couldn't back home, and that I'd miss them. At first, I wanted to completely dismiss the idea, as I hate this place. But then I came to my senses and realized that yes, there would be a few things that I couldn't do back home that I can do here:
1. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge
2. See the pacific ocean
3. Pay $5 a gallon for gas
4. Get stuck in traffic that takes 2.5 hours to go 8 blocks
5. Have to get a bicycle rider's license to ride my own goddamn bike
6. Be charged with a felony for throwing batteries in the trash
7. Watch rich men pick up hookers at 6am in order to use the carpool lane on the bridge
8. Wait in a 2 hour line to hike up a mountain (e.g., Halfdome in Yosemite)
9. Get arrested for having a firearm magazine that holds more than 10 rounds
10. Have my car stolen, then auctioned off by the police
How many of those am I going to miss? None. You could wonder about #1 and #2 at least, but let me tell you: the Golden Gate Bridge looks better in pictures, is too fucking crowded and cold as hell. The Pacific Ocean is useless, windy, and cold. Not good for swimming, and crowded and nasty.
I looked at my address book of friends I made in Illinois: 23 people on that list I stay in contact with still. I looked at the list of people I met out here that I'm going to stay in contact with after I leave: 5. I was in Illinois for 5 years. I've been here for 6.5. Out of the miraculous 5 people I met here, ONE is actually from California. The rest are out of staters.
As for this shithole of a state, it's going down the drain already. This article has some hope at the end, but I'm here to tell you: there is no hope for this hell on earth. When God made all creation, he or she turned a blind eye to this state. There is one quote in that article which fully sums up the awful existence of this place:
"If California was an experiment then it was an experiment of mass irresponsibility – and that has failed." -- Michael Levine.
And yet, someone out here told me that there were many things that I could do here that I couldn't back home, and that I'd miss them. At first, I wanted to completely dismiss the idea, as I hate this place. But then I came to my senses and realized that yes, there would be a few things that I couldn't do back home that I can do here:
1. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge
2. See the pacific ocean
3. Pay $5 a gallon for gas
4. Get stuck in traffic that takes 2.5 hours to go 8 blocks
5. Have to get a bicycle rider's license to ride my own goddamn bike
6. Be charged with a felony for throwing batteries in the trash
7. Watch rich men pick up hookers at 6am in order to use the carpool lane on the bridge
8. Wait in a 2 hour line to hike up a mountain (e.g., Halfdome in Yosemite)
9. Get arrested for having a firearm magazine that holds more than 10 rounds
10. Have my car stolen, then auctioned off by the police
How many of those am I going to miss? None. You could wonder about #1 and #2 at least, but let me tell you: the Golden Gate Bridge looks better in pictures, is too fucking crowded and cold as hell. The Pacific Ocean is useless, windy, and cold. Not good for swimming, and crowded and nasty.
I looked at my address book of friends I made in Illinois: 23 people on that list I stay in contact with still. I looked at the list of people I met out here that I'm going to stay in contact with after I leave: 5. I was in Illinois for 5 years. I've been here for 6.5. Out of the miraculous 5 people I met here, ONE is actually from California. The rest are out of staters.
As for this shithole of a state, it's going down the drain already. This article has some hope at the end, but I'm here to tell you: there is no hope for this hell on earth. When God made all creation, he or she turned a blind eye to this state. There is one quote in that article which fully sums up the awful existence of this place:
"If California was an experiment then it was an experiment of mass irresponsibility – and that has failed." -- Michael Levine.
posted by ChemicalJesus at 11:17 PM
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