Columbia blows. I have been to only one place in my entire life that blows more than Columbia. It is a poor excuse for a state capitol and can pretty much rest in hell as far as I'm concerned.
When preparing for said Record Fair, this thought did pop into my mind a few times, but I had convinced myself that it would be worth getting out of Charleston for a bit and that, although Columbia does indeed blow, the Fair itself would probably not. Assuming this was also kind of a mistake, I guess.
So as the big day approached, I made plans with my traveling buddy, and then last minute she decided she was unable to come. I wasn't at all upset with her - it was a legitimate reason. But it kind of would have made the day suck less. I decided to push on and go anyway.
Sunday morning I was up and on the road by 10:30 as planned and was having a good time in the car listening to music and such. Until I reached Columbia. Things immediately went downhill. From the fuck-me-in-the-face awful traffic, to the GPS system trying to tell me to go the wrong way down one-way streets, and the stupid anxiety issues I have recently developed in cities, it was just ridiculous. It took me a good 45 minutes to travel the 4 miles to my final destination. And once I got there, I could not find parking. Anywhere. I failed to notice that the location of this event was in the middle of USC's campus. Ridiculous. Anyway, it was a small hurdle and eventually parking was found. And after trekking to the place, I was a little surprised to find that it was a bar. Little, tiny bar. But I still gave it a chance. And was even more disappointed by the lack of things that captured my interest.
I don't know...I guess when somebody uses the word "Fair" - with a capital F, ok - I assume the situation to be kind of large and varied and maybe even a little fun. And maybe I'm just too old in the mental department to enjoy standing in a little bar with a bunch of kids who are way cooler than I am because they are art students. I don't know what it is. But anyway I had a ridiculously unfun time and found myself leaving soon after I got there. Let down? Yes. But I learned my lesson.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that you shouldn't give boring cities a chance to be unboring, because they will only let you down, possibly kick you in the ribs, and most likely steal your wallet.
And before I get told I shouldn't be bitching, I will...
a) ...remind you that I do what I want.
and
b) ...kindly tell you that today made up for yesterday's tremendous suckiness. But, that I will save for tomorrow.
