20th Century Sprawl: Highways and the Restructing of the American Landscape
I am interested in new urbanism. I love it and find it awesome. This book is about how the creation of highways pretty much ruined America. Gone are the towns that look like WH (pre-War suburbs). Now, post-war, it’s allllll about sprawl. Gone are neighborhoods and walkable communities, now you must get in your car and travel for miles just to get anywhere. Towns are separated by highways and that sucks, and this book is about that.

OBJECTION!
Nancy Grace’s book. It’s about how the 24/7 media, the internet, the high-priced lawyers, how it’s all ruining our criminal justice system. She cites examples of cases that have gone awry because of media influence. The book is okay but she for sure whines and bitches a lot during this book.

Middle-Class Millionaire
It’s about the rise of the new rich – the middle-class millionaire. Middle-class millionaires are people who have a net worth of between 1 and 10 million. (Wow, really? So I have 8 mil in the bank, I’m middle-class?! That sucks). It’s definitely interesting, but this book was written pre-recession. Maybe they should have a sequel about HOW THERE IS NO MIDDLE CLASS IN AMERICA NOW. That’s right, the rich poor divide is larger than ever, thanks to the economy and you are either rich folk or you broke.

Look Me In The Eye: My Life with Asperger’s
Asperger’s is pretty interesting, so I have a book on one kid’s life with Asperger’s, which is a type of high-functioning Autism. I have had trouble looking this book in the eye though for more than 10 minutes, it’s moving slow so I’m not entirely sure of my future with it.

Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America
Poverty in America is one of my favorite topics of interest. This is written by an undercover journalist who took on minimum wage jobs in poor, rural areas to see how hard it would be to “get by.” Good read so far.

On my Book List:

-Game Change: I like anything that has to do with the 2008 election, one of the most exciting times I’ve lived through. I also LOVE scandal of any kind, so this book will probably be perfect for me.

This to me would be an awe inspiring experience. However, life is not a fairytale.

I throw around ideas all the time, how much I want to just.. go. To do something so freaking weird and different and just travel or volunteer or what have you. I do feel like having a job sometimes sucks the creativity out of me, and the world hasn’t seen how cool I am yet. But unfortunately, we live in a 2010 economy, we live in Obamerica. Jobs are scarce and if you have one along with half a brain, you keep your job. The harsh reality is that bills need to be paid. I have no one paying for me but myself. A job with health insurance is pretty much a must have.

So while I want to take off, these things are stopping me. Do I want to live in Morocco for a year? Um..yeah. I do. But I also want a fully integrated life with family, friends, and people I like by my side. In Morocco, or Japan, I wouldn’t have any of that.

I’m 23, almost 24. I find that so many people my age are pretty fucking stupid. I refuse to be that. I don’t want to be your typical 20-something hanging out a bar. I want to have shit to say. Your life is made better through travel and new experiences.

But alas, life is not a fairytale, and having a job and financial stability is key. Seeing the moon from Croatia isn’t gonna make my life puppies and butterflies. Having some serious cash flow in my Bank of America Personal Checking Account will – at least for now. I should love where I’m at, and many days I do. However, many days I don’t. My mind is huge and my brain is constantly spinning. I’m a thinker and a dreamer and I am so intrigued by the world around me. I am so ready to begin my life, but for right now, I’m going to be realistic so that one day I can bring Morocco to fruition.

What’s been new with me? Well, I started that whole full-time job thing and all that. I am much, much happier than I ever was in school. I realize now that college was such a waste of time. I wish I could have gotten the same degree while actually doing something interesting, like traveling around the world on a boat. I can’t believe I wasted 5 years of my life, those that I will never get back, sitting in eastern CT. Sitting around, going to class, sleeping, and drinking. Now, I do some of those same things, especially the last two, but at least I’m making money, not spending it. So college? Waste of time and money. But unfortunately, necessary. So you got to do it, but then your life really begins.

I have a lot, a lot, a lot of freedom in my life right now. I believe I am unbelievably lucky. I’ve never had this much freedom and leeway to do whatever the fuck I want. After 2:15 everyday, I’m free to frolic. Weekends – completely open. Summers – completely open. I have no student loans. I have no graduate degree to work towards – already got it. On paper, actually, my life is pretty damn near perfect. I make a good salary for someone my age. I have my own place, in a city, next to the greatest city in the world.

Off paper, though? eeEEhhh. I don’t know. I’m still struggling to find out where I really fit in in this world. There’s so much I want to do and there’s so much I’m interested in, but I just have no idea where to start. I don’t know if what I’m doing now, I want to be doing forever. But I have zero interest in going back to school right now. Who knows? I also don’t know where I’ll be, if I will move around or whatever. It’s tough to figure it all out.

I want more to this life. I want to be a YouTube sensation.

An idea popped into my head. I always wanted to travel across the country on a road trip. I decided that next summer I want to take a trip across the country and create a documentary.
The goal is to:

a) Travel to both big cities and small towns across the U.S.
b) Broaden perspective of our country and how Americans live
c) Use my vacation time
d) Become a YouTube sensation and get my 15 minutes of fame.

Feel free to leave any suggestions in the comment box.

The issue with Avon, and several other towns in Connecticut, and throughout our nation, is that it’s a poster town of suburban sprawl. It is filled with cul-de-sacs. Cookie cutter homes on huge lots isolated from the actual retail centers. It is filled with chains, strip malls, and shopping plazas. Big box stores: the worst kind. And, to top it off, you must drive literally everywhere to experience these disaster fests. They do not have sidewalks to walk in or a safe lane to ride your bike. It’s disgusting to me. Yes, it’s a sign that class does not equal taste (Avon is the richest town in Hartford County). West Hartford, which was designed by the same planners as several Boston suburbs, has done a better job of integrating commercial spaces into the town center where people can not only shop, but work and live (WH Center/BlueBack).

Now, I know many people I know will say “But that’s why you have West Hartford and why you have Avon: it’s all about choices. Some people like sprawl, some don’t. Live where you want.” And my response is this:

1). Living this way is anti-society. It is unhealthy and unnatural to have to drive 15 minutes to get anywhere. Life is too short to spend ALL our time in a damn car. People should be able to wake up, walk outside an walk to something: work, a coffee shop, a grocery store. At the very least, people should be able to take mass transit in the suburbs. This is the way the country worked for a long time. Before WW2 there were at least streetcar suburbs everywhere. Now, it’s: What’s a streetcar? They never should have created suburbs.

2). I fully believe we would not have the obesity problem we currently deal with in the U.S. if towns and cities were more walkable and more towns were lined with sidewalks. If you decide to walk to Starbucks for a drink, when you walk back you’ve already burned away the calories. When you jump into the back of a giant SUV to go home, you’re that much fatter. The suburbs all but encourage a sedentary lifestyle. Ever wonder why New York is so fit?

3). Living in low density sprawl is wasteful to taxpayers. It is our hard earned dollar that goes to support this wasteful lifestyle. More money spent on the infrastructure of these towns – the long country roads, the sewer lines, the power lines, highways to connect one sprawling suburb to another! It’s our money being taken to support this, and when it’s my dollar, it’s my problem.

4). Sprawl is socially isolating. When you live in your huge home on your nice suburban lot and you take your car to work, to shop, to go anywhere – how many people do you come into contact with? Walkable neighborhoods and mass transit facilitate easy social interaction on the daily.

5). Oil. Countries hate us because of it. We go to war because of it. We live in SUV nation. We need less cars and more mass transit. We waste trillions of dollars relying on less developed countries for oil. We are so dependent on it. We CANNOT complain about gas prices skyrocketing when we insist on the automobile for all life functions.

Most towns are designed to accommodate the automobile with little regard to other modes of transportation. Because of this, planners assume strip malls and tragedies like the Berlin Turnpike are okay and accessible to every person. But not everyone has the money to own a car or better, wants to start up their engine EVERY time they’re hungry. It’s time for a change. It’s time for new urban planners (me!) People who know what people want: a highly centralized town center, FEWER strip malls and shopping plazas, walkable, bikable neighborhoods, town squares, boutiques, and independent restaurants! This is what is attractive and what every suburban lifestyle should be. I’m not a moron; I know high-end towns such as these will cost taxpayers a ton (How much do WH residents pay for Blueback?) But a sprawling lifestyle is wasteful.

Why am I thanking the Lord for this megadouche? Because this is not your ordinary redneck. This is a redneck that makes it so damn easy. As I’ve said before, this moron has proven time and time again that he fails to grasp the concept of irrelevancy. Relevant would be if Sarah Palin was actually elected VP. Then, he’d be a baby daddy that sorta-mattered. Even if Sarah still lost the election, he could flirt with semi-relevant status if he and Bristol actually got married. You know, if he actually bought the cow instead of getting the milk for free. Irrelevancy occurs when neither of those events come to fruition.

SO GO AWAY! Leave, LEAVI! Why are you giving another media press tour? I thought you hated all that shit and were a self-proclaimed “fuckin’ rednick” who just liked to shoot sheep in Alaska and you felt so awkward at the Republican National Convention and just wanted to crawl into a hole? Hey, Leevs, that hole.. looking really hot right now. You have spent the last year pretending to not be a deadbeat while randomly popping up in the press every six weeks or so with some startling new relevation about Bristol, or in this recent case, Sarah.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, the 19-year-old said that late last year he heard Palin say “how nice it would be to take some of this money people have been offering us and just run with it, and saying forget everything else.” He pointed to talk show offers and other potentially lucrative deals.

O RLY? Talk show offers and potentially lucrative deals? Hmm, sounds familiar! IS THAT BECAUSE IT’S WHAT YOU ARE AFTER AS WELL? Pot… meet kettle. It is additionally black. Riveting comments from the kid who appeared on Larry King Live, Tyra Banks, The Today Show, and other shows on the circuit, and from the kid who’s shopping his OWN book deal about his 15 minutes of babydaddyfame and redneckdom and god-knows-what-else.

If this kid becomes the next famous for nothing Speidi/Paris Hilton/Kim Kardashian-esque reality show star/actor/model/socialite type character, the world is that much closer to the all-inevitable apocalypse we always murmur about. Go back to Alaska where you yourself even say you belong and get a goddamn job to support your baby for the next 18 years. At the very least, recognize your permanent irrelevancy to the world and go back to shooting sheep. You’re nothing but white trash, so just embrace it.

I fully believe that every person on this planet falls into one category of My 5 Types. You can try to say that you don’t, but you at least partially embody at least one of these types. You are allowed to have elements from more than one.

Type 1

-goal-driven and knows what they want
-wants everyone to know that they know what they want
-loud; loves to be center of attention
-extroverted
-enjoys talking to people, but isn’t always listening
-a tad self-centered
-often comes from a family of go-getters
-similar to the “Type A” personality
-fixation on money and capitalistic wealth
-enjoys sound of their own voice

Type 2

-has confidence, yet more subtle
-does not enjoy being center of attention
-has genuine interest in other people, and listens
-knows who they are, but hates broadcasting it to the world
-analyzes and perceives situations accurately
-hint of sarcasm in attitude

Type 3

-seeks validation from others
-wants to be friends with the confident and in-your-face people (Type 1′s)
-will hook up with anyone who shows hint of interest in them
-often insults others quietly but avoids drama or confrontation
-fixated on following fashion trends

Type 4

-possesses no defining social characteristic
-may have redeeming qualities, but you’d never know it
-often boring and have no conversation starters (“nothing to say”)
-the type that will always respond “nothing” when you ask “what’s new?/what’s up?”
-has little idea of what they want to be or what their goals are
-likes alcohol to make them confident/interesting
-will talk when spoken to, but doesn’t initiate
-usually will not take initiative for travel opportunity, job opportunity etc

Type 5

-simply does not give a shit about what others think
-cannot fit into any category so far, and wouldn’t want to
-prefers to sit alone
-has own preferences for music, interests, style, etc
-is anti anything mainstream
-hates pop culture and trends

Life is one big social experience, isnt it? So after this list, you may be asking yourself some questions.
Is it possible to change types? How do people become Type 1′s – are they born that way? How much of it is nature/nurture? Is family the foundation for your type? Why is it there are so many Type 3′s in high school and Type 4′s in college? Is becoming a Type 2 a sign of success? Or is it better to be a Type 1 or 5?

You’re probably wondering what type I am. I’m a 2!

WHAT TYPE ARE YOU?

On a recent plane ride I made a list of my “cool” travel experiences.

-traveled Alaska by RV
-climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania
-went on safari in Tanzania
-climbed Blue Mountains in NSW, Australia
-went to the Opera House in Sydney, Australia
-went on a gondola ride in Venice, Italy
-visited the colosseum in Rome, Italy
-climbed 412 steps of the dome in Florence, Italy
-visited the island of Capri, Italy
-pushed the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy
-checked out Versailles and the Louvre in Paris, France
-ate in the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France
-visited Caribbean islands of St. Thomas, Barbados, Bermuda, Martinique, and the D.R.
-drank for the first time in London, England
-visited the historical museum in Amsterdam, Holland
-had a spring break in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
-danced at Coco Bongo in Cancun, Mexico
-been 15 and traumatized by Venice Beach, California
-went to surfing camp in Coronado (San Diego) California
-kayaked in Ensenada, Mexico
-played tennis in Death Valley, California
-saw the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California
-worked as a camp counselor in Santa Cruz, California
-hiked Yosemite in central California
-saw Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, Nevada
-stayed at Paris and MGM in Las Vegas, Nevada
-visited the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas, Nevada
-went to Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California
-visited Indian relative in Arizona
-hiked Grand Canyon in Arizona
-checked out the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington
-completed Cape Cod bike trail in Cape Cod, Massachusetts
-spent every summer on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts

DABA = Dating a Banker Anonymous

Found a great blog here. You know, the writers of this Manhattan-based blog say the blog is mostly tongue-in-cheek, but I think they’re pretty much 100% serious. It is a “support”-type blog for those NYC girls who are dating or engaged to bankers, and are being forced to say goodbye to their once charmed lives (circa 2006, 2007) and say hello to recession-friendly dates and more of a is middle-class lifestyle (the horror!)

If these girls are serious, well, at least they can recognize their materialism and vacuity. Self-awareness is never bad, so, yeah, good on them for that. But if they are serious.. wow. Just wow. I’m trying my hardest to imagine being as superficial as them, and I can’t see it. I don’t think it’s bad to marry or date rich. In fact, I think it’s wonderful. Having money is great, so if you fall in love with someone who just happens to be loaded, good for you, I’m jealous! But you have to stop and wonder, is it love they are chasing? Mmm. Probably not. These twits are chasing the Sex and the City lifestyle…The life filled with designer shoes and Prada dresses. They could care less who they have to hang on the arm of, as long as there is a bottomless wallet in their back pocket. And you know what, I never understood it, but that’s just me. It’s a part of NYC that makes me glad I don’t live there.

On the one hand, I say thank you, MPG, for doing this, having a sense of humor, while warming my adolescent heart. On the other hand, I say fuck you, MPG, and your show, for implanting in me unrealistic views of high school. I never met my Zack Morris. I never was Prom Queen. I never had The Max for a casual after-school hangout. I was never BFFs with the principal. I never got to cut classes to go to the beach. I never epitomized everything that Kelly Kapowski was – absolute perfection. It was such a shock when I entered high school, all set with high hopes and expectations and ready to kill it, and looked in the mirror and saw nothing but braces, zits, and evenly distributed awkwardness. I was almost too awkward to function. And it all hit me at once. Suddenly, I realized TV is in fact not real and there is no Bayside High. And I dealt with the effects of this reality for the next four, excruciatingly long years.