I also don't understand the urge to own real estate. Maybe it's my "don't tie me down" relief that I can choose to renew or not renew the lease, maybe it's the fact that I adore knowing that if anything goes wrong it's Not My Problem, maybe it's seeing my parents sell their house in the suburbs in order to rent a smaller but nicer apartment in a major city, and knowing that they save thousands a year in property taxes, mortgage payments, heating bills, maintenance, hell, even car insurance (why drive from cul-de-sac to cul-de-sac when you have excellent public transportation?)

I also don't get the "rent is throwing your money away." I don't consider it a waste of money to have a roof over my head.

I agree that the freedom that comes with renting makes up for being able to paint your bedroom whatever color you want. To each his own.

There are worse ways to spend your money than finding a rental apartment/house in a city with good tenants' rights laws.

I did a similar thing and hightailed it the hell out of New York for the Great Northwest right after college 3 years ago. I did such West Coast things as buy a car and mountain climb (really not my style). Now whenever I go back east to visit my parents, I feel that "hardness" as soon as landing in JFK. Sure I fit in more back there, but "abrasive East Coast asshole" is not who I want to be. New York (and to a lesser extent, DC) really fuck you up in a way that's hard to shake years after leaving.

In fact, I find that bringing the New York mentality to the West Coast, along with a willingness to not be "that guy" can be quite adorable to other people (in my personal experience). I even enjoy LA for that reason - if you're not "one of them" and don't care to be, interesting people will gravitate towards you merely for the difference in perspective.

I've never been to San Diego, but my father - also a native New Yorker who spent decades in Southern California - didn't like it because it was too Republican. You might want to try Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, or Seattle. The Northwest is also one of the few places where you can rest assured that Californians are more despised than East Coast transplants. :)

Don't move back to New York, at least not yet - it's probably the most overrated city on the planet. If it's truly "in your blood" you'll know it eventually.

"Cynthia"? "Delores"??!?!?!

I suppose it's ultimately one's own decision whether to dump any money over the $50 license into a ritualistic, fundamentally patriarchical ceremony that has increasing less relevance in the era of the 50% divorce rate, but it sure as shit seems stupid, especially when you factor in the consideration that most of the guests couldn't give two fucks about bride & groom and are really there for the open bar.

I've been to a few "traditional" weddings and, while the married couples at least seem genuinely happy - and I can't begrudge them that - the hokey trappings (wedding singer?! Really?) tend to be the subject of much smirking mockery amongst the attendees. Until the free booze kicks in, that is, and all sorts of delightful dishy relative dirt gets aired - but you can do that at a bar on a Friday night for a generous $100, right?

My parents eloped, got married at City Hall, and spent the "honeymoon" at a casino with their best friends. The "official" wedding picture shows a shockingly (to me!) young and content couple, both in navy suits, with a warm fall New England background. There's no baroque virginal dress (come on, who are you fooling these days?), no gaggingly ornate floral arrangements, no frozen smiles of relatives coaxed into a ceremony that is completely meaningless to them.

It's genuine. They're married 30 years later. Even if they'd gotten a divorce, at least they wouldn't have wasted a mid-sized sedan on a one-shot fallacy.

Because he doesn't.

Wow, it tickles me pink to hear people my parents' age wax nostalgic about a "you really had to be there" 40 year old album that objectively really does not hold up well. Strawberry fucking Fields Forever, anyone? Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds? Dear lord, it's embarrassing to listen to it with modern ears.

I'm sure it was all just so great in 1967 as part of the zeitgeist, and it being culturally significant and influential is fine, but actually listening to it is kind of a chore - well, even looking at the album cover, with its psychedelic neo-Victorian pastiche gives me a headache.

The Stones do hold up better, although they are definitely embarrassing themselves all over the place these days. But listening to "Sticky Fingers" when I was 15 made me want to have sex immediately.

I'd say that Pet Sounds had a bigger influence on better bands than the Beatles did (without Pet Sounds & the VU we wouldn't have a Jesus & Mary Chain or any of the subsequent spinoffs) even though generally I like the Beatles more than the Beach Boys; ditto the Kinks and Velvet Underground. If you listen to them without the aura of boomer nostalgia they still hold up quite amazingly well.

But yeah, Sgt. Pepper didn't really rock.

Right, the problem is not with the company, or the free services, or whatever. The problem is 100% with you.