Santa Clarita vs. San Antonio

The time has come to deride my current residence in favor of my former habitat.

But first, a few good things about SA:

1: Everything is cheaper. Literally. We are currently living in a two-bedroom apartment about 130% the size of the one we had in SC, with a much more efficient design and a balcony as well, and in a gated community, and we are paying about 58% of what we paid in SC, and we have valet garbage disposal! Groceries are about the same. I estimate that we pay about 60% of what we spent on groceries in SC. Gas is moderately cheaper. The only thing that is about the same price seems to be eating out. That's still pretty expensive.

2: Um... did I mention everything is cheaper? Yes. This is literally basically the only good thing I have to say about SA. Moving on.

A few bad/weird/irritating things about SA:

1: The first thing you would notice--the roads. The design of freeways and even city streets in SA is absolutely and unequivocally retarded. The first thing I noticed was that, unlike in Santa Clarita, roads that have lights on the intersections will randomly and without any good reason intermittently have stop signs at certain intersections instead of lights, on main streets! I flew past a few of those my first couple weeks here. That doesn't happen in SC. In fact, the only time I can think of a road transitioning from lights to stop signs at intersections is when you've pretty much followed it out to the middle of nowhere, and even then you get a sign warning you that this road that had lights at the intersections is about to have a stop sign up ahead. No such thing here. It's retarded. The signs in general here seem to be less informative. The freeways all use the same system for on/off ramps and its one of the dumbest ones there is, where the on-ramp comes up to the freeway and becomes another lane and then immediately that lane becomes an exit-only off-ramp, so people are nearly killing each other trying to switch places in the 50 or so feet they are afforded the opportunity to do so. Retarded. Also, the freeways all have these things called "frontage roads" next to them, which is basically just like having a few extra lanes to the freeway that have stoplights and intersections on them. It is completely illogical. It would make a lot more sense for them just to widen their (tiny) freeways a bit and stick to a normal design for roads.

2: Trucks. Let me explain this to you. In SC we have LA right next to us. Hollywood. OC. etc. There is a certain smell in the air, an aura of affluence. And in SC, nothing says that more than driving around a nice brand new Ferrari or Lamborghini, or an older restored one. When you see a guy in a perfect suit driving around Santa Monica in his 2010 Ferrari with a nice pretty girl in his passenger seat, sunglasses on, smooth hair blowing in the wind, you can sense this idea that "this is what it's all about"--that "this is real living." Now, I actually like that idea. But let me tell you the SA version of that idea, which is something I really don't like at all. Here's the SA version of that idea: "I'm in a truk...duh." Literally. I have seen the most stupid-looking savages driving around these parts in the dirtiest, filthiest, most outrageous trucks you could imagine acting like they owned the world. It makes me want to rip my teeth out.

3: Drunks. Ok. I'm in SC at 4:00 am on a Sunday night and I decide I'd like a nice glass of Black Label to finish off the evening. No problem. I'll just go to the nearest gas station or grocery store and get a bottle. In SA, no way is this happening. Not only do grocery stores not even carry real liquor (just beer and wine), but they don't sell any alcoholic beverages after 11pm and not at all on Sunday. What the fuck? Seriously. An entire state that is so deluded by their supposed religious convictions as to maintain such primitive sanctions. Now, that having been said, here's the real kicker. I lived in SC for almost 7 years. I've lived in SA for about 6 months. I swear to god that I have seen almost twice as many drunk bastards since I came here as I ever saw in SC, and that's including all the time I spent wasted out of my mind in SC. And people here get drunk off of anything they can get their hands on. I saw a guy the other night go through three cases of the shittiest beer I've ever seen. What the hell? And people here don't know how to contain themselves when they're drunk either. Fucking savages. At least in SC most of the drunks I saw were pretty decent drunk. Here, forget it. Every person I have seen drunk here acts like they just crawled out of a cave painting and found their first club.

4: Finally, the one thing I'm actually obliged to mention: the weather. Ok, it really isn't that terrible, I can imagine a lot worse. But I'm admittedly spoiled. Oh. Where are my months on end of perfect sunny days, not a cloud in the sky, 90 degree days and 75 degree nights, with the occasional refreshing breeze of cool ocean wind? Here, it can get up to 90, but you feel like you're confined in a tank full of vaporized sweat, the breeze is hot and unpleasant, and often so strong you can't light a cigarette, and tomorrow it will probably be 38 degrees and rain. You never know.