Could you imagine having to carry your trash cans down a flight of stairs?
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quality of life
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Have you noticed it is staying light out much later? That is a great feeling, knowing Spring is around the corner. But here is the catch 22: I can’t wait for the longer days but I’m dreading the inevitable shootings that will come with the longer days and warmer weather. Does this mean I’ve become jaded?
Similarly another catch 22: I can’t wait for the warmer weather so that I won’t have to pay anymore $237 heating gas bills (Ed. note: and that is keeping the thermostat at 58-60 degrees, ok, 62 degrees when I have company over) but I don’t have the scratch to the tune of $14,000 to put in central air conditioning. I know, I’m living a very tough life…
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Has it come to this? I suppose it is better than this. But this is a rogue garbage can, yeah? Do you think the city empties it?
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Why send a card which everyone knows only lasts a week or so when you can semi-permanently deface a building for at least a good six months or so, if not longer…
I appreciate the murals even “renegade” murals, but this is a bit disappointing.
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Alright, I unfortunately have another bizarre experience to recount and I’d like to know what you would have done in my place. So on Sat. around 2ish I’m walking down 14th Street just north of U Street when I pause to write down some notes in my pad. When I look up there is a kid probably around 15 or 16 who is shadow boxing right at me. He is taking punches that are landing very close to my head and body. I’m terribly confused at this point, so I’m looking quizzically at him trying to ascertain whether he is kidding around or just showing off for his friends. But no, he is by himself and doesn’t make the slightest smile or give me any other indication that he is kidding. So I continue to stare for a second, and he returns the stare with some more shadow punches and a very menacing look. So finally, I decide just to keep walking. But what I really wanted to do, was go right up in his face and say “What the fuck are you doing?” or “Do you have a problem with me?” Or something like that. But as usual, I grit my teeth and shake my head and just keep walking. So what would you have done?
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I can’t stand texting. What the hell do people obsess about it for? You can’t convey emotion over a text and it is a pain in the ass to punch out all the damn words. But everyone loves it, even some of my friends who are generation x. Nobody uses the damn cell to talk anymore. I know I sound like I am 86 years old, but first we lost the art of letter writing and soon we are going to have lost the art of being able to speak on the damn phone. So explain to me the appeal of the text message. Because you don’t have to think? It is instantaneous? It requires no courage in certain circumstances? Or am I just completely out of it?
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Look, I can stop putting up wind chimes anytime I want. I just happen to like the soothing sound of chimes crashing into one another on windy evening. So is that so wrong? Alright, I don’t like to judge but isn’t it well known that one is generally not supposed to display more than three wind chimes at a time? Isn’t that in a statute somewhere?
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Scene: Outside Stetsons around 12:30 Friday evening.
I get into a cab and the cabbie refuses to take me to Petworth.
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This is the famous bodega across the street from the Petworth Metro on New Hampshire Ave. It is a notorious spot for drug dealing and loitering. While I like the font on these signs, I’m not sure their message will be appreciated. And since these signs are under the authority of the bodega, do you think a dealer is going to obey?
Updated: Actually a neighbor of mine told me that he saw a number of kids smoking grass and dealing a “few transactions” right across the street outside the metro. So maybe it has had a little effect…
In all seriousness, I feel really bad for the proprietors of this store who seem like really hard working nice folks. It is shame that they have to deal with the loitering and dealing outside their store. Now, that I think of it another person told me that there are dealers who hang out front of the bodega on 5th and Shepherd. Is this a common problem outside many bodegas in the neighborhood?
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I don’t even really know how to start this encounter. Perhaps I didn’t make the wisest decision walking home from Wonderland at 1:32 in the morning. At any rate I had made it most of the way home until I was just a few short blocks from home. I see a guy urinating on a tree. I’m not happy but whatever it is late and I just want to get home. Well, as he finishes up he waves to the car he is near and three guys step out. At this point I am just approaching him and I start to get a little nervous. He looks me in the eye and says “how you doin’ man?” (He is Latino and it was heavily accented. This comment will make sense in a little bit.) I respond I’m alright. Now let me just add an aside here. I think I have perfected the late night walk. I don’t walk too fast and I don’t walk too slow. I don’t keep my head down but I don’t stare people in the face either. I try and portray a fairly confident fellow. Ok, back to the story. After I respond that I am fine he says “alright, man. White power!”. Now, I am not drunk at this point but I was a little buzzed. After he said White Power, every single hair on body stood on end. Holy shit, I’m thinking, White power, what the hell does that mean? Why would anyone say that? And why would a Latino person say that? So I take a few more steps hoping that I don’t get my skull smashed open in a few seconds. I can feel them all right behind me. So like Carl Lewis in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics I sprint like no mere mortal has sprinted before. I mean I was flying. I’m a pretty fast guy anyway but I think this display would have impressed most Big Ten coaches. I can only conclude that it so startled them that they didn’t have the time to decide to chase me down. I sprinted about four blocks before I turned around and thankfully didn’t see them. I made it home, poured myself a shot of Powers Irish whiskey and thanked my lucky stars. So please someone explain this encounter to me. Why did the guy say white power to me? Secondly, how come they didn’t chase me down? Am I totally overreacting?