I Hate it Here

I think Boston must have spoiled me, either that or this truly is as damnable a region of the country as I ofttimes believe it to be. I went through my usual day off routine today, got up around 9am (on Saturday it’s 10) made myself a small breakfast of waffles, bacon, apple cider, and coffee, watched the episode of “Best Week Ever” that I had recorded Friday (on Saturday it’s The Soup, and then did a bit of nothing for a while. This weeks nothing was playing the last few levels of Prey, a game I’ve been playing on and off for what sadly amounts of a couple years now. I say sadly because at the place where I originally left off in the game, I could have beaten it in just a few more hours, but those few hours ended up spanning almost 2 years. Whatever. After Prey I set about figuring out what I wanted to do today. I had thought yesterday that I might go into Georgetown and get my comics at the Big Planet Comics there, then walk around a bit, but when I woke up today the weather really wasn’t what I wanted to walk around in. Not that the weather was bad, it was just humid and overcast, and not really inspiring me to go out of my way to head over to Georgetown. After about an hour or lazing around and doing a bit more nothing I decided to go to the Big Planet over in Vienna instead, if I was feeling bored enough (which I was) I could take the long drive home via Route 7 as opposed to getting back onto the beltway. That would end up being my day, I’d come home afterwards and read some comics, maybe play some Day of Defeat or watch a little TV, eat, call the folks in Connecticut, and go to sleep after watching Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. Very much my typical “full day off” weekend day and honestly, it always leave me feeling like I’m missing out on something.

On days like today I can’t help comparing my experience living here to that of living in Boston, seeing as how I lived there for the better part of 10 years during and after college and just prior to moving here. Were I to have the same type of work in Boston and encounter the same type of day with the same goals (buying my comics for the week/month) what would be different?

Let’s assume the idealized situation, let’s assume it’s a nice day where I want to be outside and take a bit of a walk. And let’s assume I’ve living at my last apartment in Boston on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, a bit removed but still close enough to the city. I’d leave the apartment and catch the 39 bus on Centre Street heading towards Boston. It would take roughly 20-30 minutes depending on the traffic to get over near Mass Art. It’s a nice day so I decide to cut through the Fens on the way to Comicopia over on Commonwealth Ave. I hit Comicopia, one of (if not) the best comic book stores in the country, and grab by books for the week/month and then head on over to Newbury Comics (more music and DVD’s than comics really) on Newbury street. I’m not necessarily looking for anything at Newbury comics, but I always have a list of CD’s to buy and they’ve got great prices, new releases are $12 max and they always have a display of $10 CD’s that are never just crap they’re trying to get rid of. I discovered The Decemberists, Cursive, and Neutral Milk Hotel all for $10 on that rack in the past. After Newbury comics I hit Spin City to browse used CD’s and then get on my way.

I could do several things at this point if I wanted to go for a walk: I could walk down Newbury street (passing boutiques, galleries, various shops, and a TON on people on the way) to the Public Gardens and through there to the Boston Commons where I might grab a park bench and read some of my comics. I could then swing back down Bolyston until I got to Back Bay where I could catch the bus back to Jamaica Plain. I could also just walk down Mass Ave. from Newbury street, take a right down Huntington, visit my old college stomping grounds and then catch the 39 again near Brigham Circle just past Mass Art. Or I could head up Mass Ave. towards Cambridge and talk a walk across the Mass Ave. Bridge, a breezy walk with a great view of Boston on one side, Cambridge and MIT on the other, and the Charles River below. On the other side of the bridge I’d take a right down Memorial Drive and continue towards the Longfellow Bridge. The Longfellow Bridge takes me to the esplanade, the long strip of parkland that runs between the Longfellow and Mass Ave. bridges on the Boston side of the Charles. This is another great place to stop and read in the shade, by the river, or one of the ponds along the esplanade. Once I get back to Mass Ave. I head towards Huntington where I can catch the bus back home.

That trip has accomplished several things: 1) Buying Comics, 2) Looking for cheap CD’s, 3) Taking a walk, 4) enjoying the presence of other people and nature. All told the total distance traveled is about 11.50 miles, about 6-7 miles walking.

Were I to attempt the same thing in DC the story would be different. The targets would be Big Planet Comics in Georgetown, which I must say is at least 90% as well stocked as Comicopia, Smash City Records in Adams Morgan, which is not as well stocked as Newbury comics and where I’m not likely to find anything under $14, and then a walk around the reflecting pool. My initial mode of transport is driving into Georgetown. Total distance traveled: 37 miles, about 7-8 miles walking. So the walking time isn’t that much difference, granted in Boston, the major points of interest are all very close to each other and the actual “walking” part is where most of the walking is done, but still it’s the distance and time to even get where these things are at that’s insane and I live relatively close.

Where in Boston, this day out is a casual day in the city, here, it’s a project, so I hope it makes sense that less than perfect weather sours me to the idea of making this trek. And honestly, I probably wouldn’t even hit Smash City after Big Planet, simply because Smash City and the nearby Crooked Beat stores don’t have a wide selection. I’ll find something there every now and then, but not with the ease of Newbury Comics. Maybe I’m just not familiar with DC, maybe I still live too far away, or maybe I’m just spoiled after having lived in a city where almost everything you’d ever want to see and do is within a 5 miles radius of everything else. Whatever the case, I think I’ve tried and it all comes down to one thing: I Hate it Here.

Night Walker

You know what I liked about Boston? Being able to walk almost anywhere at night. Assuming you knew the roads and the neighborhoods, there wasn’t anywhere you couldn’t walk in Boston after dark. I find myself sometimes yearning for a good long night walk and around here it just doesn’t work. This isn’t a city and it’s not friendly towards that type of behavior. Even if I were to take a ride into DC, there’s still a very limited path I can take and be confident in my safety, not to mention that driving to to DC is just too much work for a spur of the moment walk. Even when I lived in the the suburbs of Boston, out around Jamaica Plain, I was still able to walk at night. And maybe it’s just a comfort thing. I suppose the neighborhood there wasn’t much different than here, although the parts I walked through were a good deal more upscale, being just across the street from Jamaica Pond and all. But I remember on at least one occasion taking a walk down Jamaica Way till whatever the street that Triple D’s was on the corner of was named, and then up Centre Street till I got back to my apartment. It was maybe 2 miles; a good distance for a night walk.

I think the first time I went for a good long walk alone in Boston was the first semester of Freshmen year at Mass Art. I had decided that I needed to buy a capo for my guitar in order to allow me to play some Buffalo Tom songs. So I got out the phone book (because this was before I had learned to rely on computers for everything) and checked out the places in the area that I might make such a purchase. There was a Guitar Center on Commonwealth Ave, a Daddy’s Junky Music on Mass ave, and E.U. Wurlitzer as well. I think I made the decision to head up to Mass ave. by Symphony hall and see what I could find. I don’t recall whether I took the T up there or not but regardless, I ended up on Mass ave. and somehow managed to miss both E.U. Wurlitzer and Daddy’s and progressed on towards Commonwealth. Now I had only spent a combined total of 3 or 4 months in the city at this point, but had made a decent number of excursions both by myself and with friends and knew the layout of the main streets well enough to understand that Commonwealth intersected Mass ave. and ran along the Green Line T. So I made my way up Commonwealth, with no idea of how far Guitar Center was up it and eventually arrived quite some time later. Future night walking excursions often involved going to Tower Records or Newbury Comics, both on Newbury street (also off of Mass ave.). I think it probably started mostly during my Sophomore year when I lived a bit closer to all that and when I often ended up walking back to my apartment late at night from my girlfriend’s dorm room. There was something zen about walking alone in the city at night and though I’ve done it countless times and even based my Senior year film project on it, I can’t quite describe it. I think in Boston especially, the city just takes on a life of it’s only, like the night is the city’s time to itself, where so many things happen that normally go unseen. There’s something exhilarating about it and peaceful at the same time, especially in the spring just after it’s rained and the sky is mostly clear.

I still yearn for those walks, they’ve often helped me clear my head, but here…it just doesn’t feel right. This isn’t a place for people, not single people, not people like me. This is a place for families and laborers, for politicians and the upper-middle class. I find it difficult to find the life I want here and yet, I don’t think I know what that actually is. I can’t even drive here except to and from work or any number of other destinations. In Boston I would sometimes drive a loop, taking local roads up to 90…to 95…to route 9…and back home. It was a course I had pieced together from various other routes to get to various destinations and I suppose I could do the same here, but it somehow doesn’t seem the same.

I don’t miss Boston itself so much though and when I do make my way back to the city I find it less and less appealing, but the opportunities it presented and the memories it holds for me… And I think that’s what it is about this place, I don’t have any memories here and I’m not quite sure how to properly create new ones alone…if I even can. I’ve been thinking lately of heading somewhere new once this project is over, a better city, but would that make a difference. Maybe it’s just me.  What’s there for a single guy to do in Northern Virginia and DC when his friends are too lazy to get out of the house?

What are the other people like me doing around here right now?