No NO here.

[pasithea]

Despite Hothead and Peggy having just moved there and everyone's journal buzzing like hives of angry bees, I am strangely detached from the hurricane stuff. I've seen a total of ~3 pictures of the chaos and not followed any of the news links to read about the riots and shootings and military and everything else people are talking about. I have no idea what's going on.

This strikes me as very curious. Normally I care about this kind of stuff and, from an intellectual standpoint, it'd be interesting to watch. I used to really love the british programme about the survivors of a massive plague and on some level I'd love to be comparing and contrasting this even with those stories and see how they hold up. But.. I don't know. I'm not avoiding the news I'm just feeling totally unaffected by it. I guess I've got too many of my own things going on right now and the sphere of my world is currently very small. I'm worried about my job next month, about moving into my new apartment, finding time to animate, paying tuition, and a million other tiny and pointless things. I dont' feel shock or outrage or anything. Just sort of.. "I wish I weren't so busy. I need a break." I hope the scale of my world goes up again soon. I don't like being oblivious to the suffering of others.

And now, as I'm oft wont to do, I'm going to make a separate post that's all about me. Because, you know, that's all that matters in my stupid little worldview right now. :/

Comments

[breisleach.livejournal.com]

Exactly. :/ Just used to the usual response I get from friends who are not in that situation, and who, I think, often quickly forget what it was like to be there.

[dv-girl.livejournal.com]

I haven't forgotten anything. I've hardly ever used a car when I could avoid it. Access to public transportation and price are my two biggest factors when I've had to do apartment hunting.

A car costs a hell of a lot of money. Purchase price, insurance, registration, petrol, maintainence: oil changes, filters, tires, brakes, tuneups, etc, etc, etc. Worse than that, for me though is that a car costs me _time_. When I'm bicycling or walking, I'm doing something. I'm getting exercise and getting to my destination. This is good. When I'm riding the train or bus, I can read a book or write or sketch, do my bills, take a nap, etc. It's relaxing and it's time I would not normally give myself to do things that keep me from dying of a massive ulcer. For me, driving a car is like paying money to watch conservative talk shows. I'm sitting on my ass, getting stressed and angry. I can't read or zone. I'm just stuck there, paying attention to people I hate who frequently appear to go out of their way to piss me off and there's nothing I can do about it.

I know this will piss off people I think of as friends but I feel compelled to stick my foot in it anyhow: I feel that cars are a middle-class problem, not a poor problem. I've been poor enough that a car seemed like a luxury class hotel. Yes, they are a lot more convenient for a lot of things but almost everyone could get by without one if they wanted to.

A final thought on something that's less obvious: Right now there are a bunch of people on the train I ride whining about the cost of fuel but they're on the train. Law of supply and demand goes into effect here. The less people who can afford cars, the better public transportation will become. Yes, rough years between A and B but in the long run, we'd be better off.