The vast majority of the time I was in Gainesville I knew most, if not all, of the people in the bar/at the grocery store/in class/etc. L.A. is exactly the opposite. It doesn't matter where I go or what I do because I don't know anyone in the entire town... come to think of it, I don't really know anyone in the entire state - or anyone on this half of the country for that matter! This has given me a clean slate - I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, wherever I want. If I want to go to the beach without shaving my armpits, so what? No one knows me! If I want to go to the grocery store and wear my bike helmet around the whole time I am inside, so what? No one knows me! If I want to wear spandex to the gym, if I want to wear high heels when I go out (even though I am guaranteed to fall over at least three times throughout the course of the evening), if I want to sing out loud to the song on my ipod while I walk down the street... so what? No one knows me! No one to judge me (well, they probably are but I'll never have to hear about it), no one I feel obligated to include in plans, no one to have awkward conversations with at the grocery store when all I really want to do is go home and cook dinner and watch Lost... I am finding that people from home generally can't understand this, they hear "I don't know anyone" and they are immediately like "Aren't you lonely? Who do you do things with? I could never do that, I would miss my friends too much." I don't think they are giving themselves enough credit, there is enough technology around these days (email, facebook, blogs, skype, airplanes) that you can see/talk to people from home as much as you want... but when I don't want to, I don't have to and that is a beautiful thing :) Since (up until this point) I have rarely found myself in a situation with all complete strangers, I have never really given much thought to having to "watch out" for myself or be mindful of who I was with. Now that I am in this new city, mom keeps asking (justifiably) if I have gotten myself some pepper-spray and I am happy to say that I have finally gotten my act together. I couldn't just settle for any old type of pepper-spray, no sir: I went on PepperFace.com and ordered myself not one but two stylish palm defenders - be proud. As noted above, "they put the chic in kicking ass"... the photo I posted is a prime example of one such ass-kicking moment.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
"They put the chic in kicking ass." - The New York Post
The vast majority of the time I was in Gainesville I knew most, if not all, of the people in the bar/at the grocery store/in class/etc. L.A. is exactly the opposite. It doesn't matter where I go or what I do because I don't know anyone in the entire town... come to think of it, I don't really know anyone in the entire state - or anyone on this half of the country for that matter! This has given me a clean slate - I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, wherever I want. If I want to go to the beach without shaving my armpits, so what? No one knows me! If I want to go to the grocery store and wear my bike helmet around the whole time I am inside, so what? No one knows me! If I want to wear spandex to the gym, if I want to wear high heels when I go out (even though I am guaranteed to fall over at least three times throughout the course of the evening), if I want to sing out loud to the song on my ipod while I walk down the street... so what? No one knows me! No one to judge me (well, they probably are but I'll never have to hear about it), no one I feel obligated to include in plans, no one to have awkward conversations with at the grocery store when all I really want to do is go home and cook dinner and watch Lost... I am finding that people from home generally can't understand this, they hear "I don't know anyone" and they are immediately like "Aren't you lonely? Who do you do things with? I could never do that, I would miss my friends too much." I don't think they are giving themselves enough credit, there is enough technology around these days (email, facebook, blogs, skype, airplanes) that you can see/talk to people from home as much as you want... but when I don't want to, I don't have to and that is a beautiful thing :) Since (up until this point) I have rarely found myself in a situation with all complete strangers, I have never really given much thought to having to "watch out" for myself or be mindful of who I was with. Now that I am in this new city, mom keeps asking (justifiably) if I have gotten myself some pepper-spray and I am happy to say that I have finally gotten my act together. I couldn't just settle for any old type of pepper-spray, no sir: I went on PepperFace.com and ordered myself not one but two stylish palm defenders - be proud. As noted above, "they put the chic in kicking ass"... the photo I posted is a prime example of one such ass-kicking moment.
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