At least now I have a way to use that phrase constructively.
Look at that city. Sprawling, messy, busy, congested, and polluted to hell. The fact that we are in "extreme non-compliance" with EPA air standards is not lost on me.
But there are better, more important reasons to get out of here: namely that Southern California is slowing whittling away at my soul. Oh, and I guess that whole lawyer thing is chipping away a few layers too, but that's neither here nor there.
I have lost my connection with nature to some extent. It's not clean to walk outside in bare feet here. I have lost my connection with my community. Neighbors, by and large, are not friendly. If a hand is being waived at you by another driver, it's likely not to say "howdy." And I find myself falling into their trap and acting the way that busted-ass city people act. I don't like it. I don't like the anonymity of the city. Even worse is that such anonymity and selfishness is crammed into tight spaces with too many people and not enough parking.
LA is great in many ways. There is more diversity and culture and possibilities that I could have ever hoped for as a child. I have tried food from all over the world and fallen in love with it all (except cilantro). Bands of all kinds come to LA to play and I've had the opportunity to see more live acts than ever before. But all of this does not make a place livable, and that's what I need. I give it five years, max, before I go crazy here.
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