Thursday, January 17, 2008

Vacation season is over...Thank god

In the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach, there is a scene in the end where a character says something along the lines of "paradise is a state of mind, not a place". I don't know any exact details of the scene, because I've never seen the movie. In fact, the only basis I have for thinking that line exists is through a review by a user named "utahamaroo" on the Okayplayer message board eight years ago. This particular user believed that a biological agent should be created to eliminate Caucasians, but nonetheless enjoyed The Beach.

If you ever once talked about that 'beautiful' Moby song when The Beach came out, you had never heard downtempo music before, and I wanted to kill you at the time.





"Solomon, I think I'm seriously going to quit smoking"



Anyway, that line about paradise has struck close to home recently. I've taken a lot of vacations lately: Baltimore for Christmas, New York for New Years, and the Bahamas last week. I've found out that I end up missing Philly each time. In fact, I would kill somebody if I had to take another fucking vacation within the next few months.

No offense to all of those who I visited or travelled with during these vacations, but I have no need to 'escape' Philly right now. There is absolutely nothing to escape from.

Let's look at the advantages:

-*COMMENTS ABOUT JOB DELETED*

-I live in an apartment that's relatively cheap, has abundant food options that are a five minute walk away in any direction, and is located right in center city.

-Grad is school is shaping up to be both a joke and informative.

-I have friends spread out in different social groups, which is perfect for right now: all of the fun, none of the reputation-crippling gossip.

-Without turning this into a live journal post, life with the womens is satisfactory.

With all of this said, I don't give a toss about visiting some beach and drinking pina coladas. In Philly, I'm in a paradisaical state of mind. Cold? I'll just drink more. Bored? I'll waive my moratorium on weed smoking, or perhaps go back to the gym (lol). Dumped? I'll drink more. Fired? Basically impossible even if I tried.

I feel arrogant about my situation in Philly, and I have every right to: It was my goddamned decision to move here on a whim. That whim was a night of blow with a couple of art school girls in August of 2005, which included overrated live indie bands, spin the bottle, a free jazz jam, and Ryan jumping into the Schykill river at 7 am. It's those kinds of experiences that cause people to say, "I want to move here!", not 'getting a new job' or some bullshit like that. What are you? Upper middle class??

On a more serious note, it feels good for once to not beleive the grass is greener on the other side. It's like catching lightning in a bottle in a sense, and can't be expected to last. Nonetheless, location plays an important part in the process. I've said before that Philly is a perfect tweener city, one where you can know all the angles but not play them, or play all the angles but not know them. It's a city of experiments, with little self-importance in play. How can anyone take themselves seriously here? No one cares about Philly! People from the outside talk about the place like it's shrouded in perpetual darkness, with maurading bands of mongoloid criminals and a decaying rocky statue on every corner. Did you know that Eagles fans once booed santa clause? Frankly, I hope the ignorance sustains itself.

So, I don't need a beach to let loose. You can also take your "big apple" and eat it. Wow! New York has a lot of bars and skyscrapers and stuff! You can't find that stuff anywhere else!

Oh, I forgot: Lou Reed. He inspired a generation of rock critics. Congrats, NYC.

If only you could follow my example, you would set free*







*I hope you are heavily subsidized by your parents.





1 comment:

soma said...

maurading bands of mongoloid criminals is the name of my band, interestingly enough