And I wanted to know where are my friends tonight?

I have been wrestling with the following question: Can I be happy in the suburbs? Initially I thought the answer was YES! because after all, it was so much better here than Watertown, and wouldn't we be able to cut through the pain of living so far from any real urban stimulation by frequent trips to such places since B-lo is such a cheap place to live. While it is much better than Watertown, and the city of Buffalo is actually way better to live here than when I was growing up, it turns out I pretty much dislike the suburbs as much as I did when I was a teenager. And those trips out of town are not frequent enough, and not really them same with two little kids in tow.

So what can I do about it? I have seriously considered moving the family to the city of Buffalo, but am not sure that my general malaise justifies quadrupling the length of Cary's commute, not to mention uprooting my children etc. Plus what if it turns out that the Urban Buffalonians were basically just like the Suburban ones but with better glasses, and I didn't like it there either. Then I would have made all of our lives much more inconvenient for no good reason.

But there is no question that I feel somewhat trapped where I am, with the diaspora that is my true peer group nowhere in sight. Virtual contact is great guys, but I need you here for the rest of it too, at least sometimes.

Everything in the suburbs can be so stagnant and predictable that it may as well be an all ages nursing home.

So, I found a couple of songs that sum it up.

The Blow - "The Sky Opened Wide Like the Tide"
LCD Soundsystem - "Us V. Them"

PS -- Forgot to mention that my headache got so bad that I called the neuro and had to go in for an infusion of some drug and magnesium yesterday. I guess the pain is mostly gone, but I haven't felt right since. I am certainly not up to leading my sleepwalking neighbors through a cultural revolution.