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Yeah, I was in LA a couple of weeks ago and the multiple city centers threw me for a loop. Just bizarre for a guy who is used to cities with defined downtowns like Louisville, Cincinnati, DC, Richmond etc.
Yeah, LA area is weird like that. Like I posted we still have downtown LA with all of the high rises, it's just not that the only place where business is concentrated. It's not, they have major business throughout the county.
It's just so spread out here. So Cal really truly is car country. You'd have a hard time relying only on public transportation here. Might work if you lived close to work and all of your shopping needs were really close. I've heard these stories about people living in NYC that don't own cars and are able to just use public transport for all of their needs. Must be nice. I like cars, I really do, but if I could live without one, just to save money I'd do it quick.
In the LA forum you get your pretty much daily thread where someone is living in podunkvile has stars in their eyes and dreams of LA asking questions about where to live, etc etc etc.
The first thing everyone says, IS LIVE CLOSE TO WHERE YOU WORK. lol
Traffic here is beyond insane. My office, back when we used to go to one, is 18 miles one way. That should take 20 mins or so on the freeway. Nope, sometimes it could take 1.5 hrs just to get home in the afternoon. Wanna be slick and try and bypass that and use surface streets, nope, about the same time if not longer with all of the lights.
Southern California has got some really cool things about it, used to sorta be one of the jewels of the country, but I'd really advise anyone who wants to live here to really give it a think. For all of the pro's that there are living here, man there is a big ass cons list to go right along with it. U-Haul has recently reported that more U-Haul rentals are being rented and used to leave the state than the other way around.
Like Biggie said, "LA, great place to visit"
Last edited by Chowhound; 06-03-2020 at 08:56 AM..
Yeah, LA area is weird like that. Like I posted we still have downtown LA with all of the high rises, it's just not that the only place where business is concentrated. It's not, they have major business throughout the county.
It's just so spread out here. So Cal really truly is car country. You'd have a hard time relying only on public transportation here. Might work if you lived close to work and all of your shopping needs were really close. I've heard these stories about people living in NYC that don't own cars and are able to just use public transport for all of their needs. Must be nice. I like cars, I really do, but if I could live without one, just to save money I'd do it quick.
In the LA forum you get your pretty much daily thread where someone is living in podunkvile has stars in their eyes and dreams of LA asking questions about where to live, etc etc etc.
The first thing everyone says, IS LIVE CLOSE TO WHERE YOU WORK. lol
Traffic here is beyond insane. My office, back when we used to go to one, is 18 miles one way. That should take 20 mins or so on the freeway. Nope, sometimes it could take 1.5 hrs just to get home in the afternoon. Wanna be slick and try and bypass that and use surface streets, nope, about the same time if not longer with all of the lights.
Southern California has got some really cool things about it, used to sorta be one of the jewels of the country, but I'd really advise anyone who wants to live here to really give it a think. For all of the pro's that there are living here, man there is a big ass cons list to go right along with it. U-Haul has recently reported that more U-Haul rentals are being rented and used to leave the state than the other way around.
Tensions are rising where I am.....people are becoming paranoid and starting to act weird in public spaces. My neighbor (BW) went to the store today for home supplies, and this other woman (WW) comes up behind her in line and she and the cashier (WW) were giving each other weird looks like "be careful" or "watch her(my neighbor.)" My neighbor turned around to see the lady clutching her purse and the cashier asked her if she was okay. The lady responded "Oh I just think things are getting crazy and I'm just a little nervous." Or something like that and the cashier asks "Why do you think that?" The lady responds that she is just nervous without her weapon on her. My neighbor basically informed her, that she has her weapon and license to carry. Basically implying if the lady wanted to try something, she was prepared. Both women were shocked.
And honestly I understand (but don't condone) why my neighbor responded that way because that kind of paranoia is not going to help the situation. That paranoia and unnecessary fear is the reason all this mess got started in the first place. It's doing nothing but bring negative energy and if more people expect something crazy to pop off, it will. I would like to think I speak for most people when I say, majority of us just want to be left alone and live our lives in peace. I'm getting to the point where I am worrying every second of everyday about my family. It's even making me contemplate getting protection myself considering how unstable things seem to be getting. This just shows how easily this crap spreads.
When I get pessimistic about things after reading too much despair online, I think about my neighbors and friends and remember that most people, in spite of political anger and tribalism, are kind to each other and want to be happy and healthy. Then I remember why its both so important to limit how much time I spend online but also the importance of spending more time with real people offline.
My younger son is getting almighty paranoid. Between his conspiracy-obsessed Dad and the internet...
He told me today that Obama and Hillary were involved in a program of kidnapping kids and torturing them to get their blood full of adrenaline which they then have made into a drug.
I had to inform him that this is essentially the very plot in the TV show Torchwood that turned me off the whole series, only it was aliens, and frankly I didn't want to hear it. Powerful people do enough bad things to others, there is no need to make up nonsense or borrow from sci fi.
I am about tired of aggressively crazy people crazying about in what could well be an otherwise tranquil world for everyone.
They have implemented a 10PM curfew city-wide here. I wonder how those work? I mean, I understand about people loitering around downtown, or protesters and all...but does that mean that they make the gas stations close? What about people who work after those hours? Doesn't affect me much, I don't think I've been out at 10 since early March.
I had to go near downtown today on an errand and was expecting parking and traffic hassles, assuming people were showing up for another day of protest marches. But it was quiet, light traffic, plenty of parking, nothing out of the ordinary to see. EDIT: I'm glad I took my son with me. He needed to see, I think/hope, that the world is not coming to an end.
My younger son is getting almighty paranoid. Between his conspiracy-obsessed Dad and the internet...
He told me today that Obama and Hillary were involved in a program of kidnapping kids and torturing them to get their blood full of adrenaline which they then have made into a drug.
Why would that even need to be a thing? Nothing against your kid, but sometimes you hear these wacky conspiracies and have to wonder, what kind of mindset do you have to be in to think that sounds plausible.
Why would that even need to be a thing? Nothing against your kid, but sometimes you hear these wacky conspiracies and have to wonder, what kind of mindset do you have to be in to think that sounds plausible.
I KNOW.
He's been spending weekends with his Dad, who has been obsessed with a lot of weird conspiracy stuff for years. This is the same man who told me yesterday, that he's "ready" for the rioters to hopefully come to his neighborhood, he put two almost empty propane tanks out by the front corners of the lawn and wired up some speakers outside so that he can blast Iron Maiden and have pyro effects.
I was just like..."You what?"
Note: This was during a phone call in which he seemed relatively stable.
My son desperately craves this lunatic's attention and approval, and it breaks my heart, and I don't know what to do about any of this. Other than to put my hands up and say, "He is 18, he is an adult now, and he can make these choices for himself. Not my problem."
I'm sick of being stressed out over situations where my hands are tied and my opinion isn't heard with these boys. They don't want to hear my advice, they don't want my help, but when the crap hits the fan, they come to me with their hands out. I've told them both that they MUST be out by Sept 1st and I don't even care where they go anymore. I love these kids but I feel like we crossed the line from "helping" and "parenting" into "enabling" and "being taken advantage of" months, if not years ago.
Sorry.
Bit of a rant.
I'm just over it, in a bunch of ways. Pretty much the only area of my life that is immediately, directly, in-my-face-daily stressful.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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I’ve finally lost my patience with OKCupid and deleted my account. They changed their app again and now you cannot browse through different profiles and can only browse through a few profiles. They have essentially become a more clumsy Tinder. I’m done.
My self-imposed riddle for the day: My “organization” gave us the day off in remembrance of George Floyd- paid of course.
In case we didn’t know what to do with our time off, attached to the email announcing this, was a link for our use titled: “What Can White People Do.” When I first read it, I was a little offended thinking “oh thank you for lumping me into the one homogenous blob of people who don’t know how to behave properly”.
My self-imposed riddle for the day: My “organization” gave us the day off in remembrance of George Floyd- paid of course.
In case we didn’t know what to do with our time off, attached to the email announcing this, was a link for our use titled: “What Can White People Do.” When I first read it, I was a little offended thinking “oh thank you for lumping me into the one homogenous blob of people who don’t know how to behave properly”.
...and then I realized that’s just it, isn’t it.
Yeah, that's the really tricky thing. I can't speak for all white people, but no one wants to think of themselves as racist, as uncaring, as benefitting from a system that doesn't protect all citizens. But it's there, and it's true. I don't know what the answer is, but I can see that fellow Americans are scared and frustrated and tired, and something has to change.
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