Patched

[rebeccmeister]

I got those sweater elbows patched, finally! I did the first elbow while watching the commemorative Paris-Brest-Paris DVD. It made me want to go back to France ASAP. I had a pretty good time, but now I want to spend more time getting stronger hill-climbing legs. As a starting point, I started tracking down potential routes in this area on RideWithGPS. Now that it stays lighter much later into the evening, I'm tempted to do more riding after work. But we shall see. I need to keep rowing as a focus. I at least made it out on the water this morning.

For the second elbow, I listened to the first half of this episode of This American Life, When the Beasts Come Marching In.

Most episodes of This American Life are all right. Some are amazing. This one, though, just drove me nuts. Too Californian. I'm already putting in enough effort try and tolerate the California in my everyday life, so I really didn't need to listen to more. I shut it off when the roommates appeared to socialize for a minute or three.

Oh well. Elbows patched! Of course, now I need to wash the whole shebang, because somehow there's bike grime on it. That might have something to do with all of the recent bike maintenance. ;^)

Things still on the chore list: figuring out what to do with three pairs of worn-out jeans (seats all wore out from biking in them), and probably five other things I'm forgetting at the moment.

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

So, what about California is taking toleration?

[annikusrex.livejournal.com]

hahahahahaha. :)

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested to hear your perspective, too, miss missy. ;^)

[annikusrex.livejournal.com]

ok, mine: self-satisfaction (particularly galling in the bay area, where affordability/development/nostalgia/techtopianism curdle in a proverbial hot mess, but also re weather generally); car culture (particularly southern CA); attitudes toward "nature," both pro and con (this is mostly about individuals I know, but may also concern defensiveness about drought); self-righteousness (perhaps related to protest culture, but I don't necessarily dislike protests); and beauty standards/conspicuous consumption (plays out in southern and northern differently, but are still notable compared to seattle, chicago, and DC).

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

I want to print this out on a business card. Maybe on the back of another run of Native Seattlite cards, ha!

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Largely, the Californians.

I'm reminded, to some extent, of what it was like to try and articulate to people what the cultural differences are between the West Coast and East Coast (more specifically, Seattle vs. Boston/New England) and why I never felt like I fit in in Boston.

I am very much a product of the place where I grew up, where people are generally more cool in their social interactions (hence the "Seattle Freeze" that non-natives talk about). In the This American Life episode, my reaction is largely due to being tired of dealing with the extremes of protest culture. And the first half of that episode is almost entirely about an example of the extremes of protest culture. I can recognize that protest culture has arisen from very real and important pushes for change in arenas where change is needed, but at the same time it isn't the only method to push for change, and when there are too many protests for too many different things, the tactic doesn't work so well anymore anyway. This is especially true because the case involves animal rights activists with misinformed intentions.

California is also the origin of most of the elements of Car Culture that I dislike (sprawling suburbs, strip malls). Granted, this isn't as prevalent in the Bay Area as in southern CA, but I still see it in how people treat the spaces where they live and surrounding areas, and how they organize their time and activities. As someone else commented, there's this sense in the East Bay that people still want the place to feel like a set of neighborhoods, when there's such a high need for housing that the neighborhoody expectation isn't realistic anymore.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

Fair answer. I haven't lived in california, only spent some time there, so my judgment is more informed by interaction than by culture. I certainly did notice the car culture, though.
Hey, are you friends with elusis? You two have some similarities of thought and placement that make me think you'd find each other's journals interesting.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

I wasn't friends with elusis, but have added her. We shall see!

[moodyduck.livejournal.com]

I listened to that episode on Monday while I was driving back to Seattle. I got really tempted to just skip through that part of the episode, but I was in a bit of traffic and didn't want to mess with the phone and didn't want to turn it off completely and have nothing to listen to. There were some interesting bits but mostly it was somewhere between annoying and infuriating. All of the audio clips they played just had everyone sounding so unhinged and obnoxious and you start to wonder how this could go on so long without someone intervening who could actually act like an adult.

My instinctive thought which I may have shouted repeatedly in the privacy of my vehicle was "THEY NEED ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION." Sit down at a table with a mediator and learn to talk to each other without yelling, threatening, and throwing fits. I guess it's my professional bias but geez. I know it's not free so easier just to let people fight, but I spend a lot of time watching people with things way more important at stake than beach access (though that is certainly one of the issues) sit in a room together and at least talk without yelling or swearing or threatening each other. I just spent two days with part of that group and people who could legitimately hate each other are now working and joking and eating lunch together. I know it's not always that simple and this took a lot of years and a lot of work and money to get to this point but adults not acting like five year olds would be a good start.

I also had to wonder why some level of government did not intervene sooner. Sounds like they eventually did though it is being contested. Again my bias I guess being a federal contractor, but there were legal issues involved and it's weird they were not being dealt with.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Based on all of the police involvement, it probably would have been way cheaper if local governments had figured out how to encourage conflict resolution. Gah!