I need to leave Atlanta.
Soon.
No, fuck soon…now.
Sure, I’ve been baiting myself with the temptation of leaving for quite some time now, but today, while sitting in my office, earphones and MF Doom blasting, I figured…I can’t do this anymore. Not just the job and the bullshit within, but all of this. Atlanta — a tier 3 city with so much conflicting diversity it doesn’t even resemble itself from just 5 years ago. And in 5 more years, it will be something different. We’ve got a shitty song, a shittier brand conception, and a heavy blanket of bigotry which suffocates it from truly becoming a city that can do more for its citizens than let it sit in traffic jams on the highway and put up with shady local government figures. Change is constant, but does that make familiarity dynamic? Don’t even get me started on the whole gay scene. All I know is I’m sick of being here and trying to make gold from lead with my career and personal life. The fuck I look like, Edward Elric or some shit?
Sure, Atlanta’ll be a nice place to visit…but what for? Who for? Damn this…it’s time to jet.
I’ve been assessing my choices; I know I would like to go back and get my Masters, and I’ve been looking at two schools in particular: Carnegie Mellon and Boston University. Both offer impressive programs in information technology and computer information systems. Both would allow me to really get immersed in an environment of knowledge instead of one where stupidity is en vogue and it’s cute to be a blithering retard. One’s in Boston and one is in Pittsburgh. Not sure which one would be the better city to move to both socially and academically, but I’m putting my money on Boston. Besides, it’d be nice to live in a blue state again, get the hell away from the South, be far enough away where Death to Shakespeare can’t just drop in, and hell…maybe even find a man.
Stay tuned, y’all.
I stumbled across your blog today perusing blogs of other peeps in Atlanta. Oddly enough, this was the second time I landed on your site. The first time was over six months ago when I started a new job and was looking for advice on how to decorate my new cube. I enjoy your cynicism and local flavor.
Boston’s a good choice. Pittsburgh is and “old money” haven and they don’t intend on giving any of it up anytime soon. Do you hear me?
yeah i say go with boston. i was this close o going to BU, but i didn’t.
and speaking of death to shakespeare when are we gonna see some more family posts?
paz
As a Yankee, originally from just two hours outside of Boston, I’d have to highly recommend Boston over Pittsburgh. Definitely.
I felt the same way a few years back. I came to Atlanta from the Chicago area in ’95 to attend Emory, and stayed a couple years after graduation working in Atlanta. But there was just something not quite right with the city that tried too hard to be things it wasn’t and tried too hard to claim it was no longer things it still was. I finally had enough and chose to move back to Chicago, a city that’s comfortable with what it is and yet one that strives to make real improvements rather than “rebrand” itself. While there are certainly things I miss from Atlanta (Fat Matt’s ribs, ample parking, some great friends and former colleagues) getting out was the right decision.
you know you are the first person i have heard spoke of ATL in that way…most people only have positive things to say about it…i would be interested in hearing more of the details of your experience down there…. because the people up here in the north, they talk of it as if its streets were paved of gold….
OMG…i love it!…have you ever been told you of the san francisco bay area…berkeley,stanford,santa rosa j.c..;)…People!…think russian river!…boston’s o.k.
luck…
Travis…what in the world are you saying?
Boston is expensive…I grew up in Pittsburgh and worked in graduate admissions at CMU…it is a nice area to live in, clean, reasonably priced…a ‘cheap’ home in ATL is a mansion in PGH. Whoever said Pittsburgh is ‘old money’ has never been to Pittsburgh.