A couple of weeks ago while I had some downtime at work, I was poking around the Internet and stumbled upon www.findyourspot.com. It’s a website that asks you a series of questions and then pairs you with your “ideal” places to live.

My results were pretty telling. There was only one hit with a population above 40,000—Charleston, West Virginia. (For comparative sake, the estimated population of D.C. for 2007 is 588,292.) The majority of my hits had populations under 15,000 and were located in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Oregon. The number five ranked location was Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, with a population of 663. In a place like that, the number of cows probably outnumber the people.

According to this quiz, I couldn’t be living and working in a more inappropriate place for my needs, which is interesting because I hated growing up in a small town. When I went away to school, I transferred from Washington College in podunk Chestertown, Maryland because the nearest Blockbuster was 40 minutes away and I had to pay a toll to get there. Chestertown boasted one bar, a Roses, and a Hardee’s. The downtown, which consisted of kitschy antique stores and new age shops, closed at 5:30 PM. The college was surrounded by corn fields and soybean farms. My dad actually had a hunting cabin near the school, which he used twice a year or so to hunt geese with his buddies.

Campus police were nonexistent and parking was in abundance. I remember never carrying keys with me. If I wanted to get into my dorm, all I had to do was open the basement window and climb through. I loved that school, but the lack of nightlife quickly got to me. My friends and I played board games and went to Giant at midnight because it was the only thing within 30 miles open. And once I decided to major in journalism rather than English, it was the nail in the school’s coffin.

I moved. Where? To Baltimore, population 640,961. Corn and soybeans were replaced with skyscrapers and row homes. The Orioles were right down the street, and so were oodles of eateries with personality: Paper Moon, Daily Grind, XandO—-I frequented them often.

So what the hell happened? D.C. and I never really clicked. Some would argue I’ve never given it a fair shot. My commute is draining so I don’t go out in the city often; I’m in and out for business only. But I would argue that it’s not just D.C. that hasn’t clicked, it’s the entire area. The roads are jammed (D.C. has the third-worst traffic in the country), the cost-of-living is outrageous, and the people are far from friendly. Also, when you grow up on 16 acres, it’s hard to make the switch to a townhouse where you share walls with your neighbors.

I can’t keep up my commute. Thanks to the Metro fare increases, it’s affecting me financially as well as physically and mentally. Moving into the city isn’t an option I like either, however. There is something very unsettling in walking past armed guards on your way to work every morning. Some would look at that as great; the city is well protected. I, on the other hand, would rather live somewhere that doesn’t need such protection. I’m paranoid enough as it is.

Think Charleston, West Virginia is hiring?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 4:16 pm and is filed under Past life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.