Loving Life...

What's Playing in my Head: "Loser", by Beck

Quote of the Day: "All other nations are drinking Ray Charles beer and we are drinking Barry Manilow." - Dave Barry

Okay, so today's going to be a quick post, mostly because work is making my life into a professional frat rush, only with far less drinking and homoerotic overtones. (I will note that this is something I more or less predicted on Day One of this blog)

Work aside, I'm finding that life down here is more enjoyable than life back up in Northern Virginia. Compared to what I'm used to, it's sort of like taking a trip to some Caribbean island - life is a little more laid back, no one's really rushing anywhere, and the people are far less pretentious than in the DC area. This is a bizarre thing to say, given that UVA has garnered a reputation as being one of the most pretentious and snobbish public schools in the nation, but it's 100% true.

People down here, by and large, are friendly, approachable, and actually smile when you greet them. I have yet to encounter the kind of self-absorbed asshole screaming "Do you know who I am?!?" to some counter clerk at Starbucks when their latte is slow in coming that I used to see pretty much every day in DC. (Not to say that there aren't assholes down there, but they seem to be fewer in number, and are probably trust fund babies from NoVA anyway.

I guess the one thing I like the most about being down here is where I live - that is, an hour outside of Cowtown in quasi-rural Central Virginia. For someone like me, having grown up in the wilds of suburbia, being able to live without having to deal with loud traffic, jets flying overhead, neighbors and other inconveniences is a godsend. In our small neighborhood, if people don't come looking for you, no one would ever know that you're there. And people are friendly enough when you want them around, but they're not going to come bugging the crap out of you if you don't know them. It's a little like playing fort as a kid, only this version has deeds and mortgage payments.

It's very gratifying, actually enjoying your life. I highly recommend it.

PS - The Skins blow. Very hard. I will be checking Harris Teeter for brown paper bags this week. That is all.