I’ve seen this sign countless times in my life, but I never really thought about it until today. Visually, it’s essentially a can with a bite taken out it. A can. An aluminum one, I’m presuming, no less. There’s also a piece of paper or something behind it, but the focal point of it is still a can, with a bite taken out of it.
Who the hell would take a bite of a can? I don’t understand it. I also don’t understand how such a shoddy display of “art” is the de facto visual representation of attempting to discourage people from littering.
The message really being sent is “we understand that that aluminum can probably did not taste vey good in that massive bite you took, Mr. Sasquatch, but please don’t haphazardly toss it aside.”
But this was one of the fluffier thoughts going through my head this weekend. Otherwise, it’s been a fairly trying and difficult few days, and I can’t really sleep right now, because all I really feel is this gloomy disappointed feeling. Naturally, out of courtesy to those who wish to look/”borrow” pictures or see what lame attempts at humor I make next, I’ll keep the more emo-y words behind a courtesy jump, for all six of you that actually read what I write.
After getting slammed in the fourth spontaneous traffic jam of the day, this time at 10:20 pm, I found myself repeating over and over again “I fucking hate this place.” The more I thought about it, the more I began believing it. And given the circumstances that my parents are getting closer and closer to hopefully pulling the trigger to a divorce of an unhappy marriage, and subsequently selling their joint home, aka my home away from home, I’m on the cusp of having no more substantial ties to Virginia, where I grew up.
But really, what it all boils down to, I really don’t think I like Virginia anymore. As I expressed to my friends via Facebook, this clearly has no bearing on the fact that I genuinely love and care about all of my friends that are still there, but it’s simply just not any place for me, anymore.
If I looked at NOVA as simply just a traveler, which will kind of be the case in the future after my parents sell this place, I have to admit that I would probably not be very positively favored. NOVA has the most catastrophic and unpredictable traffic on the planet, and there isn’t ever a time when there’s some road being worked on, which is usually the reason for it in the first place. Getting from point A to B and then to C and D and E before going back, it might be only 15 total miles, but through gauntlets of red lights, traffic jams, buses and no turn on red signs that chews up an hour before all is said and done, leaving you defeated, exasperated and contemplating suicide.
Unless you venture in Alexandria or DC, NOVA is a place with almost no individuality. Everything is a crowded mall that’s a pain in the ass to get to, and dining is pretty much limited to an endless litany of chain restaurants. Charming relics of the past like Ten Different Meats are ransacked and closed down while Pei Weis and fucking Panda Expresses pop up like weeds. Endless road expansions necessitated by the suffocating traffic end up encroaching upon and closing down massive veins of mom ‘n pops and areas that might have had something decent in the past.
When I think about Chicago, I think of the L, Buckingham Fountain, Geno’s and Wrigley Field. When I think about Seattle, I think of rocky shores, Pike’s Place Market, and the space needle. When I think about San Diego, I think of The Kiss statue, the Gaslamp District, and Mestizo’s. When I think about Northern Virginia, I think of nothing of the sort. All I can think of is endless horrendous traffic, an absurdly high cost of living, and yeah I’ll say it, the creepy feeling that Afghanistan is taking over the entire fucking area. There are no unique monuments, there is no unique dining. The sights are mundane, and rely on neighboring DC to do the heavy lifting.
It is not a special or unique place. I don’t really like it much anymore now; who knows what that might devolve to once my family completely severs, and my last substantial link to this place is put on the market and sold away.
But for now, I can’t wait to get back to Atlanta, where my house and home is. This trip has been as bothersome as I had predicted, as it was never meant to be any semblance of a vacation in the first place, and I just feel kind of drained, weary and worn out by it all.
