Thursday, March 3, 2011

Hmm... An Interesting Concept.

The good people over at Studio30 Plus have come up with an interesting idea. Every week they provide a writing prompt. As they put it, it's "a key word or phrase or feeling that you may use to inspire a blog post". Members interested in participating can do so voluntarily. If you're a member you're free to take part. Over thirty, yet not a member? What are you waiting on? Anyway, we'll deal with your commitment issues later. As for now, I've decided to throw my two cents in:

This Week's prompt is just one word: CONCRETE.
I see it every day. During my trek from home, to work, to school and back home again (rinse, repeat the next day), concrete surrounds me. My wife and I often joke about leaving the urban life behind and moving to a cleaner, safer, quieter life in the country. It has become somewhat of a running gag between us with neither really willing to commit to the idea. We both grew up in built up areas. Truth is, we'd miss it, I suppose. As much as we get tired of the exhaust fumes and the noise and the stifling congestion of building looming overhead, it's what we know.

Still, I wonder if we really could...

The highway that connects the busy, bustling northern part of Trinidad known as the East/West Corridor to the just as built up central and southern cities passes along mostly empty undeveloped swampland. On the rare occasions I have to travel to the southern part of the country, I find myself staring off at the vast expanses of land that sprawl off to either side of that highway. Buildings are few and far between for the most part. In some areas, the only evidence of man's incursion in these swampy flatlands are the spread out rows of massive electrical towers trailing off toward the horizon.

So much open space...

When I stare off at into it, I let my mind stray. More than a few times I ask myself, if I were dropped in the middle of it, too far from any road or any buildings to see them, could I find my way back? Silly! Of course I could. It is a small island after all. As long as I didn't go in circles, my biggest fear would be a cayman or some other wild swampland creature chomping my ass off.

I'd survive. I think...

We'd miss the concrete. We'd miss the cable TV and the coffee shops with free wi-fi. We'd long for the nine-to-five routine and the prepackaged, mass-produced life we despise so much for making us lazy and unhealthy and so stressed out all the time. This life in this concrete jungle is our life. We'd be ready to pack our things and move back to our old life within a week. I know it. We would miss our concrete lives.

But, eventually, that would pass.

Wouldn't it?

23 comments:

  1. I hear 'concrete' and I think 'porn.'

    Mainly I'm just thinking about porn. Doesn't really matter what the word is.

    I forgot where I was going with this.

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  2. Concrete is something I do happen to like.

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  3. I am right there with you. I grew up in a small town surrounded by farmland. I ran to the city as soon as I could and have never regretted it. Even in the small town I lived on "Main Street" with traffic and lamp posts and such. I could never stand the quiet at my friends houses that lived in the country. I too enjoy the concrete in my life. Great Post!

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  4. I'm pretty sure I currently have concrete in my nasal passages. I wouldn't miss that. FYI.

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  5. the country is a nice to place to visit, but i couldn't live there. i'd miss wawa coffee (a jersey convenience store), target, wegman's, pizza, chipolte, and a liquor store two blocks away.

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  6. I love the country. I know this because I have a coffee table book containing photos of all the bounties of nature. I look at it occasionally when my eyes get tired from staring at my laptop screen and there's nothing on TV.

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  7. I did that once, packed up and moved into an old farmhouse in the country. I hadn't planned for nor expected the hellish commute, the smell of freshly laid out manure, and the grocery store gossip where everybody knows everybody. When I finally moved back to the city, I was like seeing things for the first time. It was so bad somebody actually asked me if I'd just gotten out of prison!

    ツ my cyber house rules dot com

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  8. Dude. I know exactly where you're coming from.

    Imagine an big urban city that feels like the country, with more green and less concrete...utopia?

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  9. Psssst. It's Sprite's birthday on Saturday...don't forget, cause you'll end up starting 10 more blogs, dude. Or she'll send Grackles...

    Speaking of. How is standing in the middle of that field getting pecked by one working out for you?

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  10. @ Moooooog: Hmm… porn you say?

    What were we talking about?

    @ Oilfield Trash: Usually I’m all for it. Especially since it keeps the swamp critters outside.

    @ Random Girl: Thanks.
    I am right there with you. I grew up in a small town surrounded by farmland. I ran to the city as soon as I could and have never regretted it. Even in the small town I lived on "Main Street" with traffic and lamp posts and such. I could never stand the quiet at my friends houses that lived in the country. I too enjoy the concrete in my life. Great Post!
    @ Elly Lou: Yeah. Don’t blame you. That kind I was definitely glad to get rid of

    @ pattypunker: Mmmmm, pizza. Mmmmm… liquor.

    @ Nari: Wait… When is there nothing on TV?

    @ Nikki: At the mention of freshly laid manure I think that the feeling has successfully passed.

    @ AC: You know? That would be perfect.

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  11. @ AC: Whoa! Thanks for the heads up. You're right. Not a pleasant feeling. And that's pretty much where I'll end up on Sunday if I forget.

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  12. I'm a girl from the brick...concrete is most assuredly in my DNA
    but I'll be honest...I do enjoy taking a break from it
    and then coming back to it.

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  13. Concrete ~ what I hope not to meet on my Tequila drunkfest.

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  14. Concrete. Maybe Project Runway should do an episode....

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  15. I can only be away from this city for so long before I want to get back to all the hustle and bustle. Occasional vacations, drives out to the country and weekends away all add up to enough time away from the city to make me appreciate the best of both worlds. - G

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  16. Every year, around Christmas time, my dad and his buddy go and stay at my great uncle's cabin along the Arizona strip. No running water, no heating but the fireplace. A wood burning stove is all they have to cook with. My dad says it's nice to get away from cell service. I've yet to go... but I want to.

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  17. @ AC: Message checked, reply sent, eyebrows singed from message self-destruct (which went off 2 seconds early, by the way. You may want to look into that.).

    @ Rene/ Not The Rockefellers & @ Georgina Dollface: Yeah, you guys are right. A break every now & then from the city life might be all we need.

    @ Nubian: Ditto on that.

    @ dbs: Now that, I might actually watch. Especially if the challenges involved designs that made it difficult for the models to keep their balance.

    @ paulsifer: My grandmother (my father’s side) was from the country. When we used to visit I was too young to really remember. I’ve made a few trips to the country since then. I stayed overnight at friends' once or twice. I even spent a long weekend once. He’s right. It is nice.

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  18. What the...? I set it for 5.

    Oh. The package says "Made in China". Sorry about that.

    Maybe you can draw them in?

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  19. Where I grew up is full of concrete. I have to say, most of the city is quite ugly except the newly built-up areas with modern planning. But even those fancy areas are full of concrete and steel buildings. Now that I live in the US suburb in the Midwest with manicured lawns and stuff, I think I have got used to all the space, however I do miss the city for its vibrancy. Well, now I can't wait to find out what the prompt for next week is.

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  20. stark, true, real. i liked it. Good approach.

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