This Sucks........A Top Ten List

Ok, so I really, like my job and I've met some really awesome people but I"m not warming up to this city at all. Here is a list of all the things that suck.
1) the grocery store sucks. They have 2 brands, theirs and their cheaper version and maybe like 3 national brands in addition so it's more like a command economy in there.
2) the water sucks. This is a hard water region and it's royally fucking up my hair. See my previous blogpost to understand how I feel about my hair.
3) the infrastructure sucks. I ride my bike 6 1/2 miles one way to go to work (go me) and there are places where there is no sidewalk. I'm talking about roads going through residential areas. They don't have sidewalks. What? Is the city too busy being self obsessed that they can't pay for sidewalks or something?
4) The bus system sucks. There are buses that stop running at 8 at night. What? Don't people work late sometimes? This is part of the reason why I started riding my bike.
5) Every place you need to get to requires highway driving. But it's not just highway driving, there's like 3 levels of highway and the exits are not super well marked. You really have to know where you're going in order to get anywhere.
6) The streets make no fucking sense. How is it possible that you're at an intersection and the road in front of you is called one thing to the left and another thing to the right? Then there are streets that have the same damn name but don't connect. You think to yourself "Oh I can get to my friend's house if I just stay on this one street." Nope. They just don't connect. Back home, the part of the city that was designed by a woman is on a grid. Granted, I forget how the grid works i.e. which streets go in which direction, but there's a grid and if you're a little more directional literate than myself, you can figure it out and go on about your merry way.
7) The weather.....be prepared for anything! Rain, shine, heat, or cold. It can all happen in one day.
8) The food sucks. There is not a heck of a lot of variety and everything, absolutely everything is fried. They have something called a "chicken fried steak". It's a breaded and fried burger. Let's not forget fried oreos and fried pickles and fried jalapenos.
9) The radio stations suck- Now I like country, but there are just one too many country stations. You have an oldies station that plays the same 100 songs day after day and they are played at more or less the same time every day. Then you have some top 40, a couple rock stations, one hard-to-find 'adult' station that plays 1940's/1940's style music. That's the one good station, actually.
10) Everything is closed on Sundays! How can a mall close at 6 pm on a Sunday. I mean, don't people work on the weekdays? What are you supposed to do for fun on the weekends? When do people run errands and do what they need to do?
I've heard from a lot of people who have lived here all their lives that this is a great place to live. When I ask them what makes it so great they give me some vague answer about local pride and how it's something you're born with. I guess this city just doesn't feel like home. My apartment feels like home, but I guess since I don't have a car, I can't really explore the city. However, one of my coworkers whom I've gotten close to over the past 3 months says this city is too calm for me She might be right. I want to like where I'm living and I've been trying to give it a chance, but so far nothing.

Lest We Forget

 

In the commonwealth countries, they celebrate Remembrance Day on November 11th, what we call Veterans' Day, and they wear poppies. I find poppies just as appropriate on this day as I do on Veterans Day. I hope these pictures are worth 2,000 words. 

Thank you to all who have served. 

I haven't forgotten

Ten years. Thinking back I see how much I've changed; I wore glasses then, now I wear contacts. I was about to enter young adulthood, otherwise known as being a teenager, I am now old enough to vote, drive a car, legally drink, serve in the military, etc. My family life has changed, I've made new friends and lost some old ones.
But the one thing that hasn't changed is the pain I still feel when I think back to that day almost 10 years ago when the course of this country shifted dramatically in a single morning's time. Many things have been said about September 11. Many talk about where they were, a close call they themselves or someone they know had and some talk about a lost loved one. I want to talk about the aftermath.
After September 11th, I saw so many people flying American flags from their car windows, in stores and in front of their houses. There was a real sense of unity; all race, religious, and age barriers came tumbling down as we sorted through the ruins of Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania. For a time, the true spirit of America radiated from our borders into the rest of the world. Our allies rallied against us and vowed to help us track down who committed these heinous acts against humanity.
But soon, like the state of my growing body, things began to change within us. The patriotism that brought us together, began to divide us. Different groups began to have different ideas as to how to alleviate the financial burdens placed on the country by two wars. More generally, America has come to a crossroads and the question we have been asking ourselves for the past ten years is "Where do we go from here?"
In these past ten years we have stopped talking about "Americans" and have begun talking about "tea party-ers" and "baby killers". Where is the spirit that once united us? I honestly do believe now more than ever we need to put aside our differences and work together to find the solution that will help a large majority of the people of the United States. Not the politicians, not a small percentage of the population, but "Joe the Plumber" and the future. America was founded on differences but built by compromise.
Last night I cried thinking about September 11th. Not so much for the act itself, but for everything that has happened since then. How many of us really stop and commemorate the event anymore? Last year I remember I went to the library where they had set up a display of flags. I stopped and thought of all those who have given their bodies, minds, and lives so that I could enjoy the sunshine in my college campus. In so many countries I wouldn't have the opportunity to go to school, choose whatever career I want, and enter the work force in order to make money to support myself and then do whatever I want with that money. (After taxes and bills of course.) I'm allowed to think and feel whatever I want and I don't have to worry that I'll 'disappear' just because I don't agree with the political party in office. In processing all of this, I felt an overwhelming love for my country and a crippling sadness at the state we've found ourselves in. Seeing all the political factions fight over nothing and simply for the sake of fighting is destroying everything I hold near and dear to my heart.
I can't think of a more fitting tribute for 9/11 than for us to remember the words of the Pledge of Allegiance "one nation...indivisible" and then take that and live in the spirit of that phrase.
God Bless America.

Comedic Interludes or Reflections

Once upon a fashion time, both men and women wore heels. Men have evolved and realized what a pain they are but women are far behind. It doesn't seem that we will ever give up that which hurts us.

This (among many other reasons) is why I'm having such a hard time finding shoes. I need a pair of dressy/ going out shoes. Not night shoes, no not the kind you'd wear to a black tie event. Just shoes you'd wear for a night on the town. But they are all so freaking high that I won't even try them on. For what? To break my ankle and not be able to dance? Hellz no! I'm not even going to go into how ugly the shoes are now. Some of them are bootlike, with the toes missing and an insanely high heel. Others look like a craft box fell on the basic shoe when some sort of glue was still drying. Even the basic pump seems to have gotten fashion advice from a stripper's shoes. *Sigh*. The struggle continues...