So here's some meaningless pictures. They don't explain at all why it's the best place I've ever been. No picture could.
Just a typical looking city on a dreary day.
This was this strange halfway in halfway outside area of the downtown library that had some coffee, etc shops. Great parking for a downtown. Not an impressive selection at the library really.
Redrum.
As per previous post, not a fan of pictures of any people.
Meh.
I guess that's grass growing on that roof. This is taken from the window of an expensive hotel (wife's work paid for it). (Grass isn't normal on a roof here.) The nickel and diming of the expensive hotel was funny I thought. Breakfast was 30 dollars each. Parking was 30 dollars a night, etc.
I do love being by the ocean... Although still it depends. My parents live a three minute walk from a large river but all the riverfront land has been privately bought so it means nothing where I live. And I've been many places along the ocean where the same is the case. Here, some public land, lots of people jogging. When you go to the South of the US, most redneck states, people don't do things like jog. They don't exercise. They're stupid, racist, disgusting people generally. (Not that not exercising makes a person such, lol.) And it matters even if ultimately you just go home and read the same in Alabama as in Vancouver. You've got to venture out sometimes and it matters. The knowledge of it. What kind of people are out there. Like with the internet and managing to just find a few interesting nice people scattered here and there. It's both meaningless and yet it does matter.
Somebody's car in Vancouver. Is it not a tad depressing that people so very rarely ever do artistic things with their cars? I had wanted to when I was younger and more determined to be oblivious to conformity. Wife wouldn't allow it though.
It's a cheap camera. You push the button and it takes a couple seconds before it finally clicks the picture during which you have to carefully hold the camera very still. This dog popped in the picture perfectly.
This bird was repeatedly dropping an oyster on the concrete path to break it open. I had never seen such a thing in person...
It's a city. Whoopee.
My wonderful fake fireplace back home. At first I hated it. Almost singlehandedly stopped me from buying the house. You just flip a switch and gassy flames pop up amongst fake bits of wood. Even the stone isn't real stone. Yet still, it satisfies some need in me to sit by a fire. To see flames out of the corner of my eye which are actually emanating heat.
My house and a couple neighbor's houses. All the christmas trees in the window are kind of touching to me. And actually right next door they have two large trees. One in front and one on the side (no pictures of them.) I just think my street is kind of cute that the houses are all decorated. We've even actually talked to three of our neighbors after only living here two months! And two even came right up to our door to welcome us and give us brownies and some other slightly crueler food!!!! It's like Mayberry or something. Don't they know you're not supposed to do that anymore? No where else have I been where people are still like that... (Well, Vancouver...)
What was nice about Vancouver was that the people didn't have as much fear in them. Noticed for example that young men didn't do the whole acting tough thing very much at all. People in general did less acting and more just being. It was a relaxed place. A big city where people routinely start conversations on the elevator with total strangers.
I lived in a suburb of Washington DC for a few years. It was not like this. Road rage everywhere and just very unfriendly. Also lived in California, three places in Texas, spend time in Florida, Alabama, worked as an engineer in Kentucky, Crete, visited the UK a couple times, lived in Germany for half a year... I'm forgetting places I'm sure. Anyway, Vancouver wins. Yeah I forgot New Mexico despite having lived there for 3 years. ...and I lived a year in Mineapolis, Minnesota. Also spent a decent amount of time Pittsburgh, PA. None of those places remotely compare to Vancouver.
...and a few weeks in Massachusets. A few more shorter vacations... Toronto, various place in Ohio, etc, etc. Enough that I've an idea what I'm talking about I think.
It was depressing at first. Because although I've been around a bit. I grew up in West Virginia. ...eh it's hard to explain all the details. Pointlessly time consuming anyway. Basically I couldn't help but wonder who might I have been if I had grown up in say Vancouver instead? I don't think I've touched upon the potential of who I could have been, or at least the happy life I might have lived. Such thoughts really depressed me the first couple of days in Vancouver. But then I ran through a number of different ways to overcome such thoughts. Had no idea which was the best way. Did seem like I might as well join the positivity cult somehow though on this instance. Finally settled on the obvious fact that I could be entirely wrong. Maybe things would have actually gone much worse for me. Maybe I needed shitty WV. Not much sunlight or water in order for my roots to grab hold. Who really knows.
