Living in Northern Virginia (or any mega-city for that matter) even for a few days or a week, affects the way you think and act. You are crowded into a tiny space and have to compete - or so it seems - for every damn little thing - a parking space, the last bunch of rutabagas at the Safeway, or who gets through the next stoplight before it changes. It is not the big things - screwing your office-mate out of a promotion at work (although that counts and does happen) but a lot of little things.
Take the subway or "Metro" for example. It is an archetype of Washingtonians that when the doors open on the Metro train, people rush in to find a seat - often blocking those who are trying to get off. It is annoying as snot, and you even see this in elevators - people pushing to get in without letting other people off, first. It becomes all about me, me, me, and no one else's feelings, concerns, or wants, are of any importance.
It is, the land of Karen.
Mark has been doing all the driving, mostly because with the seat all the way forward, we can fit a ton of stuff behind it. It has been interesting to see how his driving habits have changed - mashing the accelerator pedal to the floor when the light turns green, cutting people off in traffic, and jockeying for position with each traffic light change. Yesterday we went to Lowe's to get some more paint and it was rush hour - he nearly had a nervous breakdown. It took us all of ten minutes to get there, but he was obsessed with not letting the other guy "win" at stoplight roulette.
It is so easy to get sucked in to this mindset, when you are forced to compete for the simplest things against your fellow human being. It alarmed me that Mark, of all people - who is normally a sedate driver - was turned like Jekyll and Hyde, into a Beltway warrior in just a few days. It can happen to any of us.
Worse yet, it seems they are hell-bent on packing more and more people into Northern Virginia - what were once vacant lots are now monster condos with hundreds of units, all up and down route 1. The redevelopment of our existing condo is going to add to this problem. How the existing roadways - which were jammed and crowded when we left nearly two decades ago - can handle all this additional traffic, is beyond me. Life isn't going to get better for these folks, but only worse. We are turning our cities into Hong Kong, or worse yet, the Kowloon Walled City.
OK, maybe things aren't quite as bad as all that. Maybe telecommuting will cut back on the traffic problem. But I am glad we escaped from Fairfax County when we did. We enjoy our more bucolic and laid-back lifestyle. For us, a "lot of traffic" is four cars at the toll plaza waiting to get on the island (thank God for the annual pass lane!).
Now you're climbin' to the top of the company ladder
Hope it doesn't take too long
Can't cha see there'll come a day when it won't matter
Come a day when you'll be gone
Ohh, ohh
I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind
I thought of the lyrics of he bubble-gum pop song above, while riding in the car. It seems that everything here is a competition - the land of "I'm better than you, because..." It is the land of the vanity license plate, the luxury car - or the jacked-up SUV stuck in beltway traffic. People have to assert superiority in any form they can - by the car they drive, the clothes they wear, the food they order (for take-out or delivery - more on that later!), the job they hold, or how much money they have - or appear to have. It is status-seeking run amok, and it not only is bad for your soul, but it can bankrupt you. Status-seeking behavior is costly - I keep harping on that in this blog.
Fortunately, we are almost done with the condo rehab and it is starting to look nice. But no more smokers and no more pets! Sorry! We are fortunate there is no "cat pee" smell in the unit, but the cigarette smell is damn hard to get rid of. Quite frankly, at this point, I'd rather leave the place vacant than deal with another tenant. Being a landlord isn't for everyone!
