why i love dc
Although it's easy to criticize life in DC, I prefer to think about all the things I like about Washington and why I chose here over everywhere else. For example . . .
The Metro rocks. Although it's easy to knock the dysfunctional escalators, the Metro is clean, efficient, quiet, cheap, and takes you most everywhere you want to go. For someone like me with no sense of direction and little desire to fight street traffic, all you have to do is hop underground. Plus, there's no worries about having to drive home after going to a bar or club. There's just no comparison to cities without mass transit.
There are neighborhoods, not just subdivisions. Whether it's sitting on your porch watching life go by after a hard day's work (16th Street Heights) or going to Mt. Pleasant Day or grabbing lunch at Eastern Market or listening to a brass band at Dupont Circle or eating at "The Diner"at 2am in Adams-Morgan or catching a show at the Black Cat, there are tons of things to do, and every kind of person to meet. We are not living in homogenous suburbia, and traveling a couple of blocks is the difference between lunch at Dos Gringos and The Palm.
The people are interesting. Many people are well read and highly educated. A large number have traveled, and a fair number have lived overseas or come from another country. Many of the remainder are transplants to DC and have their own interesting stories and backgrounds. Their jobs are interesting: from international development to information technology to policymaking to policing, work for many isn't just a way to pay the bills. The NGOs alone cover all the vagaries of human existence.
A lot of people are passionate about what they do and ambitious about wanting to be more involved. From the girl who competes in salsa competitions to the guy who builds furniture to the friends who travel the country helping out in political campaigns, these are people who put their heart into what they do. And if for whatever reason you get bored, boatloads of new people arrive daily.
Dating is interesting. Like everywhere, people complain about the available "market", but I've been generally impressed with the women I've met. They are usually smart, accomplished, interesting, cultured, not overly self-centered, know who they are, and are generally passionate about what they do (or want to do). The only hard part is getting people to slow down enough that you can actually get to know them.
Just a few other things that deserve honorable mention:
The Metro rocks. Although it's easy to knock the dysfunctional escalators, the Metro is clean, efficient, quiet, cheap, and takes you most everywhere you want to go. For someone like me with no sense of direction and little desire to fight street traffic, all you have to do is hop underground. Plus, there's no worries about having to drive home after going to a bar or club. There's just no comparison to cities without mass transit.
There are neighborhoods, not just subdivisions. Whether it's sitting on your porch watching life go by after a hard day's work (16th Street Heights) or going to Mt. Pleasant Day or grabbing lunch at Eastern Market or listening to a brass band at Dupont Circle or eating at "The Diner"at 2am in Adams-Morgan or catching a show at the Black Cat, there are tons of things to do, and every kind of person to meet. We are not living in homogenous suburbia, and traveling a couple of blocks is the difference between lunch at Dos Gringos and The Palm.
The people are interesting. Many people are well read and highly educated. A large number have traveled, and a fair number have lived overseas or come from another country. Many of the remainder are transplants to DC and have their own interesting stories and backgrounds. Their jobs are interesting: from international development to information technology to policymaking to policing, work for many isn't just a way to pay the bills. The NGOs alone cover all the vagaries of human existence.
A lot of people are passionate about what they do and ambitious about wanting to be more involved. From the girl who competes in salsa competitions to the guy who builds furniture to the friends who travel the country helping out in political campaigns, these are people who put their heart into what they do. And if for whatever reason you get bored, boatloads of new people arrive daily.
Dating is interesting. Like everywhere, people complain about the available "market", but I've been generally impressed with the women I've met. They are usually smart, accomplished, interesting, cultured, not overly self-centered, know who they are, and are generally passionate about what they do (or want to do). The only hard part is getting people to slow down enough that you can actually get to know them.
Just a few other things that deserve honorable mention:
- Eastern Market
- The monuments at night
- Picnic at Gravelly Point Park among the lightning bugs
- A lively magazine/newspaper/blog culture
- Hot interns
- Good restaurants everywhere -- especially rooftop cafes
- Sidewalks
- The sense of history -- both what's past and what's being made
- Screen on the Green/ Jazz at the Hirshorn/ Free concerts/ Shakespeare in Rock Creek Park
- Streets that go in alpha/numerical order
- The free Smithsonian museums and Thursday night art walk
- Supermarkets with nicknames: the social Safeway, the salsa Safeway, the UnSafeway, etc.
posted by lawsomnia at 12:26 PM
5 Comments:
Amen, lawsomnia! I've lived here my whole life and traveled to quite a few other cities. And I'll pick D.C. over those other cities every time.
although you already know about my preference for the Left Coast, I thought your post was great. I'll have to remember your post the next time I forget why I live here.
Thanks, it is refreshing to read a list of things someone likes, rather than just a list of gripes. It's much easier to be a critic, and I'm sure of been guilty of that too. I've been in DC for a number of years and like it for many of the same reasons you state. I do think it's interesting, though, that you think the dating scene is a good one, whereas it's common to hear complaints about it from women. Perhaps that ratio thing is true after all.
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Matt- I've travelled a bit, and pretty much everywhere everyone complains about the dating scene. People here have much more stringent requirements, but they also have higher quality candidates to choose from.
The only people who are happy with the dating scene are those who aren't dating any more.
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