dooorrrrrrrff

Finalized the mail server upgrade at work today. Burned some backups, had some meetings. Decided to walk home. On the way I endeavored to greet everyone I passed. The majority pretended I wasn't even there, but continued stolidly on, grim-faced or suddenly interested in their accessories.

Then, 30 yards from my house, I finally understood the pattern. The older the person, the more likely they were to greet a stranger on the road. No other factor - not sex, not dress, not even mood - came close to mattering. This proves to me more than anything else, more than the SUVs, more than the voting trends, more than the iron railings welded over the planter boxes to keep tourists from sitting down, that Los Angeles is spreading north, and the hard-edged materialism that it champions is coming with it.

I'm not sure I'd want to raise children here any more. I'm not sure I'd want to send them to these schools, to play with the kids of this community. Not while I have other options.

We may move north.