I was on this great streak where I programmed front page articles a week in advance, then sat around and pretended to be surprised when they appeared as scheduled.\u00a0 Gosh, that Nacho!\u00a0 What a prolific and amazing writer!<\/p>\n
Well, that\u2019s all over now.\u00a0 I\u2019ve temporarily (and voluntarily) entered into a \u201ccompressed\u201d schedule at my day job.\u00a0 Which basically means that I have two extra hours each day to watch TV and screw around.\u00a0 Though it also means I\u2019m always exhausted.\u00a0 And writing while exhausted means that I have lost all grasp on the English language.<\/p>\n
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In exchange for a holiday every other Friday (which is a victory mixed with ashes since I also work on the weekends), I have to work 8am-6pm just about every day.\u00a0 Of course, I also have an hour commute\u2026 So when all is said and done, from shower to walking back through my door in the evening, I\u2019m in the mix from 6:30am to 7pm.\u00a0 Throw in 10 to 12 hour shifts at the second job on the weekends and the ongoing demands of running a publishing company and, well, I\u2019m starting to wonder if I should just go join a commune or something.\u00a0 Preferably one with attractive women.\u00a0 If there still are attractive women out there\u2026 From down in the pits of wage slave land, all the women are too fat to move.\u00a0 I see at least 15 such creatures every day during my ritualistic mile walk from the Metro station.\u00a0 That\u2019s also voluntary, and factored into my schedule.\u00a0 I get off one stop early (on occasion, I make it two stops early) and then walk in, soaking up the cheery atmosphere of Northeast DC.<\/p>\n
In my youth, I would have found it impossible to suspend my disbelief if the Terminator wandered into Northeast.\u00a0 I\u2019d probably have to walk out of the theater and ask for my money back.\u00a0 But, thanks to the glorious power of the immortal white man, Northeast is being gentrified with all the grace of an anal rape.\u00a0 The blacks are being priced out (though they do get to keep a tiny enclave of hideous projects), and office buildings are rising up like great sleeping krakens.\u00a0 The vast parking lot for the former Woodward & Lothrop has been torn up and will be the future home (in 2010) of a Harris Teeter<\/a> store, which should really put the extent of the gentrification in focus.\u00a0 Harris Teeter is the sort of place that excites blue haired ladies who walk poodles and still wear fur.<\/p>\n So office buildings and luxury supermarkets to serve an area that\u2019s been brutally depopulated.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure the high class condos will come along soon.\u00a0 The rowhouses on the other side of Union Station, along Second Street and onwards, have already become a nest of up and coming neo-yuppies.\u00a0 The last to fall will be the old projects, the homeless shelter, and maybe the Greyhound station.\u00a0 In ten years, Northeast DC will make you want to stick the silver spoon all the way down your throat until vicious black bile comes pouring out of your nose.<\/p>\n Yes, I\u2019m against gentrification.\u00a0 The human cost is greater than leaving the neighborhood to the gangs and the drugs.\u00a0 Mainly because it doesn\u2019t really clean up the gangs and the drugs, it just moves them to Prince George\u2019s County in Maryland and effectively walls them off Escape from New York<\/em> style.\u00a0 Out of sight out of mind, so all the dogwalkers who bought fixer upper townhomes robber baron style can talk cheerfully about how \u201crevitalizing\u201d the neighborhood has put an end to crime and saved the souls of all the little black savages.<\/p>\n (On the other hand, I\u2019m excited about Harris Teeter because I have blue hair and wear fox fur.)<\/p>\n I\u2019ve had the same day job for seven years now, which is about eight years too long.\u00a0 During that time, travelling the Red Line Metro through Northeast, I\u2019ve seen the area change dramatically.\u00a0 At Takoma, there will always be the queer divide between Maryland and DC.\u00a0 This has been clearly marked by the Stop & Save (or, as the locals call it, the Stop & Shoot).\u00a0 Stop & Save is a liquor store with a twist \u2013 I believe it\u2019s run by Muslims, since they always preach to me about the evils of alcohol.\u00a0 Though I\u2019m usually only buying booze there when I have one of my friend\u2019s young children in tow, so that\u2019s probably why.\u00a0 Walk in with a little boy on your shoulders and buy plastic bottle vodka, grumbling to yourself the whole time, and that probably inspires some wariness on the part of any shopkeeper.<\/p>\n