relics_of_a_suburban_life skinny leftovers in green tubberware in the fridge from a few christmasses ago when the family came over souvenire shells from our vacation to florida, they look nice on the coffee tables next to the pictures of kids playing soccer. an unused guest room with a pink couch and old looking pictures, where john used to stay, before he went to college. bills and junk mail scattered over the kitchen table where we never eat anymore. orange perscription drug bottles taking over the cubboard. 040806 ... unhinged scar_garden 040807 ... minnesota_chris I've put together an outfit that makes me look like a punk cop. Or a mentally unbalanced SWAT team member. 040808 ... pete ive always wondered what a suburban life would be like. never have i lived in a suburb. the house i live in now is still in the heart of the city, before i lived even deeper within the city, but now i am on the fringe of the suburbs. a 30 minute bikeride and i hit them. suburban life. there is something about modern culture that i think i am missing out on... 040809 ... unhinged gotta keep smiling don't want the neighbors to hear he ate a bunch of mushrooms and locked himself in the bathroom talking to her on the computer she called the police knowing that soon it wouldn't matter 'you can fuck her; really dude, i don't care....just cause she saved my life doesn't mean i wanna be with her' and his family blamed it on the drugs wouldn't want the neighbors to hear developments and traffic jams and walmart 2am shopping sprees at walmart stoned as fuck the employees following me, laughing hurry up and wait to keep up with the latest this and that the neighbors down the street got a new suv hurry up and wait suburbs pushed further out these days gotta get further away 040809 ... Uchi-Bunuchi Afatar you've lieved in the suburbus for manay years you sart to forget that not everting in the wordls so boring and orderly. The people in the subaurbus are cattel and don;t think for thsmelves. I have a stop sine from a suburubus corner I foung walkins home oen night., 060304 ... Strideo urban hipsters looking down their noses at the suburbanites, they shouldn't be so critical. we can't all live down in the nity gritty city or uptown, midtown, downtown, or even that trendy village between the park and the college campus. we can't all live in the country with the cows and the corn stalks. green acres isn't the place for everybody. we can't all have a home where the buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope play. so what if there are a few too many strip malls? at least I can afford a decent place. I'm actually pretty picky about what part of town I live in though. am I such a cattle after all? well here I am thinking and talking and making my own decisions and drawing my own conclusions based on my observations of life. at least I'm not plopped on the couch in front of the TV letting my mind go numb. you know what would be a good relic of a suburban life? the SUV. let us make it a relic or at the very least rare. now don't get me wrong, I'm not much of a liberal. I don't go around clenching my jaw in anger over the "capitalist pigs" running around and ruining the environment in their gas hog SUVs. I'm not a fascist who would use the government to force my ideology down everyone's throats either. so if you really just gotta have that SUV then I won't stand in your way. I do urge everyone who has one to really think about whether they should get another one when it's time to get a new car though. come on, what do suburban folk do with SUVs? they use them as gigantor station wagons or extra tall and tough minivans. they don't really need them unless they have to haul a boat or a trailer. it's not like we don't have pretty good roads these days. I'm sure there are some people that live out in the country that really make use of the off-road capabilities that many SUVs have but in the suburbs isn't it just about the cool factor? "my ford_exlpoder can climb a steep mountain road in a snow storm while hauling a set of jet skies on a trailer!" "but Todd, you don't have any jet skies and you only use it to commute to work. you've never even been off the freeway." "yeah, but ain't it cool knowing I could if I wanted to?" no, it's not cool. I suppose it's extra roomy though. in any case we all know that in the long run fuel costs are only going up and the more fuel the United States of America needs to import at higher and higher costs the weaker it becomes as a nation. so shouldn't people make the right choice and look for something more economical next time out? if you really have some deep seeded need to tower over everyone else in your SUV on the freeway then go right ahead but I think it hurts us as a whole in the long run. I kinda like some SUVs too but I know changes are coming eventually and the more prepared we are the less painful it will be. besides, I really like my compact sedan. actually, I've always wanted to try living in town too. who knows, maybe one of these days. ... 070702 ... Otto Xref herd 070702 ... Strideo I'm thinking of leaving the suburbs. The funny thing about looking into moving intown is figuring out what I'm going to do with my car. I don't want to give it up but I want to keep it nice and safe while it spends most of its days off. It is paid for in full and I like it very much but I don't want to get in it EVERY time I need to buy a loaf of bread. I could pay extra for a spot in a garage. I could get a place with off street parking. Or I could go with on street parking. *shivers* ... 080509 ... minnesota_chris you big baby, living in the 'burbs has made you soft 080509 ... Strideo MADE me soft? maybe I was just soft to begin with! :P ... 080509 ... birdmad (radiohead, "videotape") 080509 ... unhinged can't say i have many these days; i like my city with it's buses and veg restaurants and co-ops and museums and bars. i don't think i'll live in the suburbs ever again, and least in my current unmarried childless incarnation. 080509 ... tourist This Is Suburbia Nuvo! "Please Don't Step On Any Plastic. It Might Contain A Bomb!" warns John Murage, Assistant Project Officer For The African Medical Research Foundation's (AMREF) Integrated Primary Health Care Programme In Nairobi's Kibera Slums. Murage Gingerly Picks His Way Along The Rough Dirt Track That Snakes Between The Tightly Packed Mud Houses. An Open Sewer Of Grey Stagnant Water Cuts Through The Middle, Littered With Empty Milk Cartons, Plastic Bags And Broken Bottles. The Smell Is Horrendous. The "Bomb" He Is Looking Out For, Also Known Ss "Scud Missiles" or "Flying Toilets", Are Human Feces Wrapped In Plastic. Flying Toilets Are A Common Hazard In Kibera, Africa's largest Slum With An Estimated Population Of 500,000 To 750,000. AMREF Are Working In One Section Of The Slum Called Laini Saba. In 1998, There Were Only 10 Working Pit Latrines For 40,000 People. "These People Are So Disciplined You Rarely See Them Relieving Themselves. They Only Go For A Long Call At Night In Between The Houses. They Put The Waste In A Polythene Bag And Throw It Onto The Nearest Roof Or Pathway." This Is The Wave Of The Future, It's Not Going Away. It"s Comming Our Way. 080509 what's it to you? who go blather from