See, I don't hate Detroit. Every now and then something good does happen there. Sometimes...
Rewards swell to $4,000 for homeless man - 07/25/06 - The Detroit News Online
Friday, July 28, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Why I Hate LA
Warren Ellis has done it again. In an interview about his comic Desolation Jones, which is set in LA, he has managed to describe why I loathe the city in which I now call home. Or rather the place that I now find myself living (when I first typed that out it said "...the place that I now leave." I only caught it because I went back and reread this post to check for errors, If that is not a Freudian Slip I don't know what is). How anyone can call this place home is beyond me. Fuck that nice weather shit. At least in Atlanta the sky is blue and you can see the seasons change...
"...I hate the place. Which I'm sure comes as no surprise. I hate cities I can't walk around. When I try walking in West Hollywood people in their cars slow down and stare at me. I don't think this is entirely down to my shocking personal beauty. Have you ever tried walking in Burbank? Have you ever tried finding somewhere in Burbank to walk to? Walking down Sunset is an exercise in existential horror. Santa Monica's only walkable if death is no hurdle. The air's the wrong colour. People put sunglasses on their dogs. It's a hideous place where humans are not welcome and those who stay suffer eight kinds of brain damage."
"...I don't think of LA as an honest geographical space, a place where people stay, a place where traditional cities happen. As a native said to me on the first day I ever spent there, LA isn't a city -- it's a handful of towns strung together by a thousand miles of freeway. The biggest constructions in the area are not designed to be lived in, but to be traversed. It's a place that became designed for machines, not humans, at some point."
"...I hate the place. Which I'm sure comes as no surprise. I hate cities I can't walk around. When I try walking in West Hollywood people in their cars slow down and stare at me. I don't think this is entirely down to my shocking personal beauty. Have you ever tried walking in Burbank? Have you ever tried finding somewhere in Burbank to walk to? Walking down Sunset is an exercise in existential horror. Santa Monica's only walkable if death is no hurdle. The air's the wrong colour. People put sunglasses on their dogs. It's a hideous place where humans are not welcome and those who stay suffer eight kinds of brain damage."
Nuff said...
R.I.P. Grandma Wynter
It's been a while y'all but I been going through some thangs. My Grandmother passed almost a month ago. Just before the 4th. And in a fit of frustrated confusion I decided to drive from LA to Detroit to be with the family. Yeah, I know, not the smarted decision but I had a few things in my favor. I had just had the maintenance done on my car. Everything that needed fixing got fixed. And I have 4 new tires. So I was good. All I dreaded was the long hours on the road. Which wasn't so bad after all.
See it happened on a Thursday. Earliest flights out were on a Saturday. Cheapest I could find was $695. And they all would have put me in the D on Sunday. So, that Friday I gassed up the ride and hit the road at noon. Sunday at 5pm PDT I was at my home in Detroit. Not to shabby. I have astounded most of my friends and family by making the journey so quickly. By driving I was able to maintain a sense of freedom cause I could go where I wanted when I wanted.
Thankfully my boss was understanding and told me to take a few weeks. Come back when I was ready and let him know if I needed more time. While it was a sad time it was good to see the friends and the fam again. And thankfully there was nothing crazy going on back home which made it all that much better.
During my time off I took some time to drive to the ATL. I needed to reconnect with some of the folks down there. And I even got to see Savannah. Thanks to Brooklyn for being a good sport about the impromptu road trip. I really didn't see that car that almost sideswiped us and I really thought I cleared the corner when we hit the curb. Seriously, you need to have your steering tightened or something.
I'd like to say that I hate Nebraska. Flat land with some grass, a couple trees and a cow or two. But more than that while driving through Omaha I got pulled over. True enough it was the most polite and the fastest pull over I have ever experienced but still. In all 5400+ miles of my trip I get stopped for have a air freshener and a rosary hanging from my rearview. Seriously, cause it could be distracting if an animal runs out into the road. Or some nonsense. But I got a warning (having removed the items before the cop could finish his statement as to why this was wrong) and was sent on my way. It was night time so I don't even know how he saw that since he didn't hit me with the searchlight.
Also a big fuck you to Iowa for having the most roadkill lying in the middle of the road of any state I drove through. Plenty of states have road kill. Iowa apparently just leaves it in the middle of the road. I hit a dead dog and some huge animal I have no idea what it was that was a giant skidmark/speedbump slicked across the fast lane into the slow lane. Thankfully I was in the slow lane. It could have gotten ugly. Not to mention Des Moines was hosting the Special Olympics, The Good Guys car show, and a little league tournament. Which means I had to drive almost 70 miles outside the city to find a room for the night. Causing me to drive an extra 2 hours after I should have stopped in my vain attempts to find a hotel with a vacancy. Thanks, Iowa. If I never go there again it will be too soon.
General rule of thumb on road trips. If you see a sign for services at the next exit and as the exit approaches you don't see these services (i.e. food, gas, lodging, etc.) right off the road. Hmm, it might not be a good idea to stop. Especially in the middle of the night. Getting lost is just a matter of few minutes down an unfamiliar road
and one wrong turn.
Also fast food sucks ass. Crystals and Long John Silvers both had me regretting my purchases. Regardless of how hungry I was. McDonald's on the other hand caused me to feel no ill effects. This is a mystery true indeed.
Though the circumstances were sad it was good to get away for a while. And the freedom to go where I wanted with no regard to work the next day was fuckin' blissful. I need to figure out how to be able to do that and still get the bills paid. There has got to be a way right?
And lastly I realize how much I despise LA. But more on that later...
See it happened on a Thursday. Earliest flights out were on a Saturday. Cheapest I could find was $695. And they all would have put me in the D on Sunday. So, that Friday I gassed up the ride and hit the road at noon. Sunday at 5pm PDT I was at my home in Detroit. Not to shabby. I have astounded most of my friends and family by making the journey so quickly. By driving I was able to maintain a sense of freedom cause I could go where I wanted when I wanted.
Thankfully my boss was understanding and told me to take a few weeks. Come back when I was ready and let him know if I needed more time. While it was a sad time it was good to see the friends and the fam again. And thankfully there was nothing crazy going on back home which made it all that much better.
During my time off I took some time to drive to the ATL. I needed to reconnect with some of the folks down there. And I even got to see Savannah. Thanks to Brooklyn for being a good sport about the impromptu road trip. I really didn't see that car that almost sideswiped us and I really thought I cleared the corner when we hit the curb. Seriously, you need to have your steering tightened or something.
I'd like to say that I hate Nebraska. Flat land with some grass, a couple trees and a cow or two. But more than that while driving through Omaha I got pulled over. True enough it was the most polite and the fastest pull over I have ever experienced but still. In all 5400+ miles of my trip I get stopped for have a air freshener and a rosary hanging from my rearview. Seriously, cause it could be distracting if an animal runs out into the road. Or some nonsense. But I got a warning (having removed the items before the cop could finish his statement as to why this was wrong) and was sent on my way. It was night time so I don't even know how he saw that since he didn't hit me with the searchlight.
Also a big fuck you to Iowa for having the most roadkill lying in the middle of the road of any state I drove through. Plenty of states have road kill. Iowa apparently just leaves it in the middle of the road. I hit a dead dog and some huge animal I have no idea what it was that was a giant skidmark/speedbump slicked across the fast lane into the slow lane. Thankfully I was in the slow lane. It could have gotten ugly. Not to mention Des Moines was hosting the Special Olympics, The Good Guys car show, and a little league tournament. Which means I had to drive almost 70 miles outside the city to find a room for the night. Causing me to drive an extra 2 hours after I should have stopped in my vain attempts to find a hotel with a vacancy. Thanks, Iowa. If I never go there again it will be too soon.
General rule of thumb on road trips. If you see a sign for services at the next exit and as the exit approaches you don't see these services (i.e. food, gas, lodging, etc.) right off the road. Hmm, it might not be a good idea to stop. Especially in the middle of the night. Getting lost is just a matter of few minutes down an unfamiliar road
and one wrong turn.
Also fast food sucks ass. Crystals and Long John Silvers both had me regretting my purchases. Regardless of how hungry I was. McDonald's on the other hand caused me to feel no ill effects. This is a mystery true indeed.
Though the circumstances were sad it was good to get away for a while. And the freedom to go where I wanted with no regard to work the next day was fuckin' blissful. I need to figure out how to be able to do that and still get the bills paid. There has got to be a way right?
And lastly I realize how much I despise LA. But more on that later...
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