Uh.. happy holidays!

December 22, 2017August 4, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Look, I could curate what I decide to post when, in accordance to the holidays, or I can talk about relevant and current happenings when they’re fresh and breaking. That’s what life is, unflinching and unforgiving in the face of capitalistic traditions like holidays and seasons, and shit happens no matter what time of the year is.

So when bodies are being found in the trunks of abandoned cars outside of Waffle Houses right before the Christmas weekend is under way, it’s worth mentioning, even if it’s kind of a wet blanket in the goodness and joy of an impending holiday.

Especially since it happened at a particular Waffle House that was not only not that far from where I used to live, it was one of the Waffle Houses that I’d been to several times the mornings after a bender of earlier years.

I say it often, that not a day goes by that I’m thankful to have gotten from my previous home; I’ll always miss the experience and memories accumulated by living there, but I will never, ever miss the degradation of the area and the steep downhill direction South Fulton county was headed. When I moved out, I was concerned over the escalating petty crimes, the break-ins and bad driving behavior; through the magic ear of NextDoor, I’ve been able to know that it’s been going further downhill with loitering and gunshots entering the fold.

I never thought, but I guess I should have expected, that eventually some fatalities would come into play, and dead bodies being found in the parking lots of Waffle House? Yeah, I think that’s one of the nails in the coffin of relief that I truly feeling having gotten away from the area.

Jesus Christ, that was something you don’t really expect to hear happening in your neighborhoods, much less your former ones that you’re glad to have gotten away from. But either way, given the direction that South Fulton is headed, I can’t say that I’m the least bit surprised.

Whatever though, it’s unfortunate that it happened, but as callous as it sounds, better them over there, than anyone over where I am now. The holidays are supposed to be a time of relative peace and happiness, but clearly some people haven’t gotten the memo.

Regardless, to all of my now, zero readers, Happy Kwanzaa.

lol South Fulton Renaissance

December 20, 2017August 4, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Because nobody on the planet but me is interested: Renaissance, Georgia has their new name vetoed by mayor; cityhood reverts back to the City of South Fulton

Well slap me around and call me Susan – I would never have imagined that this was actually going to happen. I also have zero idea of how the political system works, because last time I counted, the name was officially voted on and in both cases, Renaissance won out, regardless of how much opposition it got from the contingent who didn’t believe their opinions weren’t represented. So despite all the voting, it ultimately still was shot down by a singular person: the mayor of Renaissance/South Fulton, who decided that the naming of the city was basically unimportant in comparison to other priorities, like creating a police force and infrastructure.

So it’s back to the City of South Fulton, which sounds as ghetto now as it did a month ago when it was phased out for Renaissance. The people who were very pro-Renaissance are probably very disappointed, and those who weren’t so much fans of “the City of South Fulton” as much as they didn’t like the name Renaissance, well they’re probably very satisfied with themselves, in getting what they want.

Personally, I think the whole thing is an ironic joke which was a microcosm of just how much of a dead end the south part of the metropolitan Atlanta area actually is, and the perpetual spinning of wheels being done in the area I used to live in, which are always reminders of just how fortunate I am to have left when I did. Basically, the City of South Fulton just wasted the better part of the last six weeks trying to get a name change, succeeded for a hot second, but then ended up with no change at all. God only knows how much money was flushed down the toilet in this exercise in futility in wasted effort and labor towards a sinking ship.

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New names don’t always equate to new beginnings

November 14, 2017August 4, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

File this under “shit nobody but me will really give two shits about” – the fairly, newly formed City of South Fulton has voted on its official name moving forward: Renaissance, Georgia.

I don’t hide the fact that I’m extremely guarded on the internet when it comes to stating anything that discloses my general locations, but I have openly disclosed that my previous place of residence was most definitely on the southern side of the Metropolitan Atlanta area. I’ve also said that this is a mistake that I vow to never make again, and that I’m confident that I could not even be given money to live down there again, and it would be a safe bet that it would be a snowball’s chance in hell that such ever happens again.

However, despite the fact that I no longer live on the south side, I can’t help but still be somewhat interested in the happening that occur down there. Sure, most of it is usually crime related or other things that are tragically ironic, but now that I don’t live there, I can witness the things that go down there in something of an anthropological manner, because it really is fascinating to me the sheer disparity in quality of life the south side is privy to compared to just about all other reaches of the Metropolitan area.

One of the hot topics in my fleeting days in the south side was the proposal that the southern chunk of Fulton County, so ironically endeared as simply “South Fulton,” was trying to attain unincorporated city status. And with just cause too, because it’s about as secret as sexual harassment in Hollywood that the allocation of Fulton County resources was like 65% to the northern half, 25% to the area surrounding the airport, and a paltry 10% towards South Fulton. South Fulton had the worst infrastructure, the most promises that went broken and unfulfilled, and a general sense that nobody gave a shit about the south end of the county.

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Yet another reason #57

September 11, 2017August 3, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Should I start arbitrarily numbering these? At this point, I don’t see why I shouldn’t considering that it really doesn’t feel like more than a day goes by where I don’t pat myself on the back for unloading my old house when I did.

But anyway, my old stomping grounds is now the City of South Fulton, which at first was supposed to be something of an interim name, but considering they just spent $1,500 tax dollars to “design” a new crest for it, it looks like it just might be for reals. Normally this wouldn’t really be worth mentioning, because it’s not uncommon for towns and cities to want to brand/re-brand themselves, so that they can try to establish some semblance of an identity. But because I’m mentioning it now, obviously there’s got to be something ironic, cringe-worthy or really stupid to warrant mention.

For reasons completely unknown to the vast majority of South Fulton residents, the city’s new crest features imagery and symbolism of the Egyptian sun god Ra, some ankhs, and for more unknown reasons has some Swahili word around the crest as well.

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So long, southside

March 19, 2017July 30, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Despite the fact that I’m feeling a little blue about having just sold my house, when the day was over, it was still a massive achievement in unloading, and opening up the doors to the various paths that the future has in store for me. For every melancholy memory that makes me a little depressed that I’ve said goodbye to my old house, there are at two things I did not like about the area in which my house resided, which contributed to the general notion that I really wanted to get out of the obligation of the house.

For a long while, I’ve always thought of the reasons why the area in which my home resided was not a good place, but I often neglected to notate any of them, and eventually I’d forget some of them, inconvenient, for when I wanted to channel my frustrations with long commutes, or the feeling of despair of living in an area that did not have a whole lot of hope for the future.

I started a Google note file on May 28, 2016, simply entitled “reasons south of Atlanta is not a good place,” and told myself to add to it whenever I had something new to add. The thought was that eventually one day when I successfully succeed in unloading the house and moving forward, I would have some notes to look back onto for my eventual post about saying farewell to my old area. It’s a little surreal that that time has finally come, and despite the fact that I’m still feeling bummed about unloading my house, I am in a way relieved that it’s an area that I won’t really see myself going back to any time soon if I can help it.

Because of my general paranoia of the world, I never was very specific to where I lived. Even now, I won’t get too specific, but I will admit that my old house was on the south side of Atlanta. The half of the metropolitan Atlanta area south of I-20 that doesn’t get much acknowledgment or credit for anything, and the half of the metropolitan Atlanta area that pretty much has no hope for the future.

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November 22, 2004 – March 15, 2017

March 15, 2017July 30, 2020 ~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been keeping it quiet since it began snowballing, but me being me, I didn’t want to jinx anything and wanted to wait until it was basically a forgone conclusion before I did any sort of writing or talking about it in any sort of fashion. It has been no secret that Jen and I worked our asses off a little while back in preparation for putting our house up on the market, and that less than two weeks ago, our house officially went up on the market.

However, just like that, the process has ended as frantically and as quickly as it started. In the span of barely 13 days, my listed home was given numerous offers, one was selected, the buyer initiated inspections and the closing process, and today, I’m on the cusp of turning over the keys and signing over the title to the house to its new owners.

After 13 years, I will no longer be a homeowner.

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