I Used To...

Want to live in Atlanta. Just something about having the 404 area code and actually having ATL in my address instead of Smyrna or Decatur seemed cool. Like it would make me a true Atlien... Yeah, scratch that. I don't like the city. I mean it's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. Let's put aside my proclivity for getting lost whenever I'm in the city, which really can't be put aside since it happens all the time. I don't want to live in the city, because its mad unsavory characters hanging around. Crackheads, beggars, homeless people. You name it and I've seen them over the last couple of days hanging out downtown.

It amazes me how close the riff raff is to the nice stuff. Like you'll have condos in gated communities with panhandlers hanging outside. Or you'll drive next to a skyscraper for a financial giant and see a bunch of homeless guys on the street. Or you'll be in a public park where people take their children to play, and see people cracked out. Yeah, I'm good on living in the city. Call me bourgousie, I don't too much care. I'm not trying to live somewhere where I can be robbed stepping out of my apartment.

The final straw was tonight. I was picking up Jameil from her friends crib downtown. On the way home, I saw a woman in a wheelchair, with no legs, wheel herself into the middle of the street and ask for cars for change. The light turned green, but she was still in the middle of the street between two lanes of traffic. It was mad dangerous. I looked up at the Atlanta skyline and realized, this ain't for me. I don't have that much change to spare. I'll take the suburbs any day. At least where I live, the only cats begging are at the gas station, and now that gas is under $2 I don't see that too much anymore.