I want to move to D.C.
Lately, I’ve had this recurring daydream. I get a job that’s walking distance to the DC Metro. I get an apartment that’s walking distance to the DC Metro. I sell my car. I live happily every after.
I know actually moving to DC wouldn’t be easy. I’d wind up paying more a month in rent and having a much smaller apartment than I currently do (from two-bedroom to studio), but that could be an opportunity to go through all my shit and keep what I want/need, and sell or pitch the rest. It’d be a way to simplify.
As for selling my car … I’m sure it would be hard, at first, adjusting to the lack of “wheels.” Even considering the car is paid off, I don’t want to think of what I spend on insurance, repairs, upkeep, and gasoline over the course of a year. Moving to DC, of course, I’d probably cut a lot of my driving (and thus, a lot of the associated costs), but why not just get rid of the entire thing?
Meanwhile, moving to DC would be an opportunity to reconnect with a lot of friends from my school years. I grew up right outside of DC, in Adelphi. I attended a Catholic school in White Oak for grades 1-6, and a lot of my former classmates reside in or near the District. Several of my close friends from middle and high school (when I was in Columbia — WLMS and AHS*) live in or near DC.
Okay. Really, I just want the Metro.
*Points if you can identify those schools!
If there’s one thing that irks me more than drivers who don’t bother to use their turn signals, it’s deer.
Several years ago, I wrote a paper for a LitEssay course in which I described deer as being “pathologically suicidal”, following a six-month stretch where I ran into (or over) six of the tick-infested pests. It really seemed, to me, the only explanation for why a deer would be standing on the side of the road, look to its left, see my oncoming Jeep, and step out into my path. Generally, the deer would then find itself on the opposite side of the road in a pool of its own blood, blinking at me with its big dark eyes, while the responding County Cop would ask me if I wanted to take the deer home, or should he call animal control?
That sounds like a retarded thing to say, but for every dozen deer I’ve seen smashed into goo on the side of Paper Mill Road or Jarrettsville Pike, I’ve seen traffic slowed by a cop while some big dude hauls his road kill into the back of his over sized pickup truck.
Michael Dresser’s article in today’s Baltimore Sun is all about these creatures.
I did not, initially, despise deer. I thought it was so cool to see them grazing in our backyard when I lived with my parents in Columbia. I remember going to some boy scout camp and seeing one running at a distance while on a hike. But then I grew up. Literally. I was a kid, and then I wasn’t a kid. And deer stopped being cute animals to cluck over and verbally admire their cuteness. That’s fine for rabbits and cats and dogs, but, in the end, deer need to be brutally eliminated from the region (possibly by the introduction of genetically-bred saber-toothed tigers*). Instead, deer became another dangerous — and highly unpredictable — element to deal with while driving. Bad enough, the lousy fellow drivers, but animals that charge into the road? Animals that seem hellbent on causing damage to you and your vehicle? I’m sure the guys who own body shops love ‘em, they’ve probably got Bambi posters on their walls, and multiple copies of the DVD in their homes. “Deer? Bringin’ in the bacon, baby!” I am not one of those.
I have to admit: it isn’t the fault of the deer population. As we continue to build new roads and new housing developments, we’re shrinking their habitat. Natural predators? None in the area. Their biggest danger is traffic (also, precisely where they offer the biggest danger to people). But pretending that their population doesn’t need to be brought into check is delusional.
*Yeah, okay, but it’d be really cool if it did happen!
