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I want to personally apologize if i have caused any uproar from my post's.Don't get me wrong,d.c. and nova are great places for tourism,and sight seeing.There are many lovely places here.I think the thing that get's to me the most is space.I really can't handle suffocating living.I suffer with bad anxiety,and this causes it to be worse.
Since i moved here,my aniexty have doubled.I guess i am just a person that is used to gettting thier money's worth of a place to live.I don't mean living 50 miles from civilization either lol.There are soo many things that has changed in this world,and not for the better.I really feel it puts pressure on the region you live in.
I observe the stabbing each other in the back over a job,i see people bucking coldly for position,alot of women aheming thier boss's for a raise,the smirky snooty stares if you don't drive a mercedes/bmw,or bc you are fat,the constant plotting and planning of trying to run someone over due to some guy's that are egotistical d-bag's,dealing with uptight school administrator's,cold placent additude's from the soccor moms,the over sickness of working your finger's more so here bc you have to pay out triple the money for a outrageously over priced place to live in,the pressure of trying to keep your belonging's yours before punk's try to steal them/or break's in your car,the noise,the mental unrest,the uptightness,headaches,people riding your bumper just to **** you off,cold neighbor's,keeping up with the jone's fake facades,some feel the need to spell check or correct what you type/say.I feel it's not just certain area's that you live in that causes this,but i feel like the world has gone mad and turned upside down like a garbage dumpster.It's going downhill,to the point of no return.
I see kid's bumping thier head's to Lady Gagme,and parent's are ok with that,i'm not saying all.Whatever happened to parent's saying no?
These are a few of my concern's and dis-likes.I do realize alot of these things happen everywhere,even in the south,no doubt.I don't know,i guess i am just ranting a bit.Forgive me people,don't mean to stir the pot.Just talking out loud,thought's and concern's for the world as we push forward.I was told by my husband,maybe i should run for president lol.
Maybe i feel the need to escape to the country to get away from all of this noise.It is a noise soo loud,i can no longer contain it.Where did the time go when it was common place to hold open the door for a freind or neighbor?I do see small act's of random kindness,and when i do,it makes me smile,knowing that child was raised with proper manner's.I wish that there was a time capsule i could escape to,i whould personally choose the 1920's to 1950's,(excluding the wars).I do realize the world can't be all pink and fluffy flowers,i just wonder where the time went.The only way i am able to capture those moment's in time,is through watching TCM movies.I feel really at home when i watch them,my grandma got me hooked on them,and Golden Girls.
I hope some of my post made some sense at least.
I guess that all we can do is believe. Mayberry does exist,somewhere.
I've lived in Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and the suburbs surrounding those cities. People just don't strike up random conversations with complete strangers regularly, unless they have some obvious commonality.
Here in DC, when I get into conversations with complete strangers in totally random circumstances like waiting for a metro, it's often a very weird or uncomfortable circumstance. Like a normal looking friendly guy, who ends up hitting me up for cash, is some sort of political wingnut, a mormon or evangelist, people who are extremely opinionated about my profession (often negatively), or those who are mentally unstable.
After many experiences like that, you learn to just tune out and avoid eye contact with complete strangers. I don't try to be mean or unfriendly, but I'm sort of oblivious.
Also, in urban areas and dense suburbs there is an issue of privacy. I don't necessarily want to know all my neighbors and the ins and outs of what is going on with them. When you keep a little distance, you don't have to stop and say high to a bunch of people every day and have a little conversation. I find those interactions a little awkward. You can just go about your business.
That's why buildings with door men in DC or NYC are unpopular, because tenants hated having to chit chat with the door man every day, several times a day and have them know your comings and goings.
It may sound weird for folks that never lived in a really dense area before, but that's just the way it is. It's normal and not a sign of trying to be mean. Once you find some commonality with someone besides proximity, people open up more.
On top of that, the mass majority of people who DO stop strangers on the street....99.99% of the time, they want SOMETHING from you (you to convert, give money to something, give money to them, etc.) A 'HI' is the most common initiation to do exactly that.
City people get really good at tuning that out. But I've found that if a person has a legit NEED to talk to you...i.e. lost or a tourist. I've always found that people QUICKLY help out.
To me, it's important to keep that stuff in check. Meaning, I have my circle of friends and people I willingly go meet and spend time with. I don't necessarily want to be spending an hour of my day telling completely random strangers going down the street about my plans for the rest of the day, and a bunch of intimate details of my personal life.
On the other hand, I grew up in rural Michigan...and my Father absolutely LOVES to do exactly that - talk to every random stranger about intimate personal details about his life and his family's lives - us kids. (Not cool when you're a kid having all kinds of random strangers knowing stuff about you).
Now you take this same person and put him in a city environment. When you are going up to all kinds of random strangers in the streets like that, you'll also find a percentage of them finding an angle to get something from you, as you'll be quickly judged as hopefully JUST a person lacking common sense, or the case-scenario, a potential target.
I think really it comes down to a simple basic universal urban/rural thing more than anything else.
Just an FYI for those considering where to move. What passes for historic in Ax is just ubiquitous red brick, mold spores, and 550 sq foot flats with lead pipes and rusty window unit air conditioners. In Old Town, snooty residents fortunate enough to own 3 sq ft of earth can be seen proudly watering their impatiens in the dank shadows of other unimpressive housing units. HUD projects abound with drug freaks just blocks from expensive housing. The town turns its back on the beautiful Potomac river, which can only be seen if you're either on a dock on in a single small park.
South of Old Town is the nasty Richmond Highway Corridor, which is a stop light garden abundant with dying strip malls. To the north and west, new overpriced townhouse gardens sprang up during The Boom, which are walkable if you enjoy sidewalks that lead 100 feet to nothing other than other townhouses with people as socially inept as you.
I almost forgot the worst part. Folks commute there from very high-speed roads, and they have the impression that they should be able to drive fast through town where people walk. It's one of the most aggressive driving areas in the region, and especially victimizes pedestrians. The police are as bad as it gets too, if you're a law abiding citizen.
Just being down there depresses me, which I why I'm posting to spare some of you. If you're single, move to Arlington. If you're gay, move to DC. If you're married, look into the NOVA exburbs. If you hate yourself, well, you know where to go.
I'm an Arlington native. I got the **** out and moved to Miami. I'll take the ocean, beach, and pastel colors over the snotty government workers that inhabit the DMV.
Here in DC, when I get into conversations with complete strangers in totally random circumstances like waiting for a metro, it's often a very weird or uncomfortable circumstance. Like a normal looking friendly guy, who ends up hitting me up for cash, is some sort of political wingnut, a mormon or evangelist, people who are extremely opinionated about my profession (often negatively), or those who are mentally unstable.
After many experiences like that, you learn to just tune out and avoid eye contact with complete strangers. I don't try to be mean or unfriendly, but I'm sort of oblivious.
Thanks for the insight. I know that when I'm around people from NY, they always talk as if half the population is crazy or a wierdo. Maybe that's been their experience like yours, so they just assume the worst. I've been hit up by street people, but not the normal looking person turning out to be weird. Maybe it's an Alexandria thing.
My experience with that is from people that I do know. People inviting you over for dinner, which you learn is not to make friends but to get your soul. Incredibly, it's hard to find someone who just wants to enjoy conversation or make friends. Instead, you have to be a resource for something that they want to extract.
Alexandria is definitely the worst. In DC, during the day, you see professional folks and street people. You ignore the latter, but the former are pretty top notch folks who can be approached and who have intelligence and social skills. Alexandria is all about anger and Antoinettish snobbery. The exburbs are the latest disappointment to me.
People still think they're in some rusting industrial town in New Jersey where maybe they should cast their eyes down because they don't want to see the ugliness, especially human, all around them. When now they're in a nice leafy suburb where they should lighten up. Like I mentioned before, their personalities were formed in these towns, and they can't be changed. Too bad they have to spoil it for everyone else.
Why do people persist on staying here if they are unhappy? Is it jobs, or family? I also wonder, seriously, how happy some of the militantly unhappy folks would be in a new environment.
Why do people persist on staying here if they are unhappy? Is it jobs, or family? I also wonder, seriously, how happy some of the militantly unhappy folks would be in a new environment.
Jobs and family are the big reason given these days. Sometimes I buy it, but more often I think it's an excuse. The real reason is they know they would be just as unhappy no matter where they go, so why bother?
Why do people persist on staying here if they are unhappy? Is it jobs, or family? I also wonder, seriously, how happy some of the militantly unhappy folks would be in a new environment.
If I lived in Alexandria, I would be unhappy for the reasons listed above, which I can summarize for you later. I am not unhappy but believe that the area suffers greatly from a general Northeasternization: overcrowding, traffic problems, aggression, and rude people.
I do not agree with the comment that people posting would be unhappy anywhere. Their complaints are legitimate, and I wish that folks would not provide ad hominem attacks on them and avoid the actual topic.
If I had a suggestion for the area, I'd start with pulling about 1/10 of the drivers licenses to get the worst traffic offenders off of the road. (Maybe they could live in Alexandria and enjoy the great public transit there.) Decresasing the traffic aggrivation would have a great spillover effect.
I would even say that Northeasternization is the big story of the Washington metro area. From Boston to DC there will be one large megalopolis. Naturally some folks aren't going to like it, and one of the central questions is how to plan for it.
Since this thread is about Alexandria, I would suggest that we NOT push the Metro stops away from the areas that use them and force people to drive car-rail-bus. One thing that will be Alexandrian is that people will increasingly be forced to live in cramped spaces.
I would even say that Northeasternization is the big story of the Washington metro area. From Boston to DC there will be one large megalopolis. Naturally some folks aren't going to like it, and one of the central questions is how to plan for it.
Since this thread is about Alexandria, I would suggest that we NOT push the Metro stops away from the areas that use them and force people to drive car-rail-bus. One thing that will be Alexandrian is that people will increasingly be forced to live in cramped spaces.
Given the high prices places in 23014 are going for, I guess someone must not mind it all that much.
What area of the country would you prefer to live in? When I think of small Southern towns, I think of "really nice unless you're not a white heterosexual." While that's not entirely true, it is probably more true that NOVA-bashers care to admit.
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That's why I got out!
