This Summarizes What is Wrong With Southern California

Warning: This will border on ranting. Dangit, $%$$#^%$$$&$...I’m almost annoyed enough to ask my ‘Hero of Descriptive And Combined Four Letter Words’ AndreAnna to create one for the occasion. Seriously, calling this situation ‘craptastic’ just isn’t enough!!

As I native Californian, I guess it gives me the freedom to criticize the Golden State. I was reminded of this freedom when driving around for work yesterday. Now it’s not really unusual for there to be traffic on all of our highways. However, the reason for the backups is what sometimes gets to me.

I realize that the picture may make it a little difficult to understand what is going on, so I’ll explain it to you. Under the tent, with our lovely state and US flags displayed, was an ‘opening’ ceremony for a new overpass and freeway onramp. Seriously, they just finished building it, it was open for traffic last night and they had this ceremony yesterday just because it was opening. A bunch of dignitaries under a tent thanking people and making important speeches because of this new onramp that had to be built because local cities had too much expansion. I can understand a dedication ceremony for things like the loss of someone, the completion of a new hospital wing, a new battleship, or the site where the first corndog was made, but a freeway onramp? This is Southern California where I bet within three days the beautiful onramp will be littered with trash, spray-painted with gang symbols and at least two abandoned cars will be parked on it.

Now I watched this thing being built from day one and I know a lot went into it, but again, it’s a FREEWAY ONRAMP. It’s NOT a bridge joining two previously unconnected land masses, it’s NOT a new park with free vending machines and tax payer supported bounce houses, it’s NOT the Museum Of Funny Crotch Hits Caught On Home Video, it’s NOT the Experimental Foods Wing of The Fried Food Hall OF Fame and it is most certainly NOT the groundbreaking for the site of a new Cheese Factory. It’s a FREEWAY ONRAMP!!!

And here’s the other part that illustrates what is wrong with us. Even though the freeway was in NO WAY included, touched or involved, this tent up there on the overpass caused traffic to be backed up for 3 miles in both directions. Why? So we could look at the tent, shrug our shoulders, say ‘Huh, wonder what that was?’, and then accelerate back up to 85 miles per hour as though nothing had happened. I don’t mind so much that all the unnecessary traffic caused me to be late to my client, but that it caused me to then have to leave my client later than I had anticipated, which caused me to be late getting home.

We’re getting ready to install a new cubicle here at work. I wonder if there will be a dedication ceremony extolling the virtues of the building maintenance guy that assembled it. Do you think the office manager will make a speech detailing what an important addition this cubicle is or how it will forever change the direction of this company? I bet there will be photo ops, a reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance and Miss Teen Southern California cracking a bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling cider across the cubicle’s entrance.

OK, I’m done ranting. I need to wrap this up and leave now. I’m really hoping to be one of the first people on the new onramp. Yeah, I’m hypocrite, what can I say?