Rocking in the suburbs?.. yea right...

As a twenty-something year old living in the suburbs, i have the disadvantages of being in the city (eg. pollution, noise, lack of wildlife) as well as the disadvantages of the country (eg. need for a car, lack of entertainment, neighbors who are all either 60 or 6!) So basically i'm screwed! Trust me, this is all based on my observations while living in Scarborough since i was a baby.

Scarborough is boring. If you don't know what i mean, just drive along Kingston Rd. at midnight; quiet and almost desolate. Or walk through the Scarborough Town Centre and shop at places like The Gap, Eddie Bauer, The Bay, Old Navy, and all the other typical "mall stores" that exist in 10 million other shopping centres in North America! If you want some vintage clothes in Scarborough, i'm afraid your only option is Value Village! If you happen to be at STC on a Friday evening, you might see a herd of low-life teens in desperate need of a regular hangout. They're always either in their school attire (oxford shirt, grey pants/skirt) or the "thug wear" (baggy pants, chains, retro sports jerseys) - a style worn out 5 years ago! If you need a precise definition of words like "plain" and "generic", this is it!

But wait.. there's a solution to all this boredom!... You can drink it all away at one of many local bars like Wild Moose or Breaded Chip... but then you realize that you are the youngest person there, and everyone else is 40 years old and on welfare! The only great thing about a Scarborough bar is you can always find a seat... because there is a 99% chance that the bar is dead!

But i guess living in Scarborough beats living in Markham - which is even further out. At least in Scarborough we have ok public transit, as long as it's the daytime. (Even though I'm still forced to take the cab home if it's past midnight!) In Markham, all you have are bubble tea shops, so-called "Korean BBQ" restaurants, traffic-jammed roads, and highways - one of which is a toll highway (for the rich only?) Every house looks identical and it is rare to find bars, music stores, or even movie theatres. It's a nice place to raise kids - which i don't have!

BTW, I think Scarborough and Markham are the most ethnically segregated places in Ontario. Take my high school for example: we had the Tamals grouped together in the cafeteria; then the snobbish Asian group that i was never a part of; and then the white kids who were also snobbish. Only in downtown Toronto we see the true "diversity" that we Canadians are so proud of. So here's my plan: To move into the downtown area eventually and experience the lifestyle; the bars, the late concerts, the diversity of different cultures.