living within the palo alto
bubble is pleasant, because palo alto has a lot of genuinely good
people. i remember whenever caltrain stopped at palo alto, the train operator would announce: "palo alto, friendly village". no other train stop would get a comment like this.
palo alto is materialistic. we really enjoy spending money, eating out and living large. there is a peaceful, tolerant,
beautiful vibe in palo alto with a tinge of ignorance.
palo alto is not the ideal town for young
people. nearly everyone who grows up here ends up leaving to seek out and discover the real world. they seek excitement and danger because they have lived their lives sheltered for so
long with everything served on a silver platter.
you will usually see K-
12 kids and middle-aged
people walking the streets.
there exists a pestilent substance-abusing underground which many of the high schoolers who spend their
parents' money on weed, alcohol, cocaine and ecstasy inhabit.
also, some kids growing up here hate this town.
gunn is extremely overrated. the students are more concerned with getting into a highly prestigious college, as if this guarantees high income. its quite a delusion that pervades gunn. academic achievement is valued over actual life-learning. the GPA matters more than your actual skills! that is why many
people ive talked to say they absolutely hate gunn, and i've had a damaging experience there as well.
myself: "yea that
job at
starbucks didnt work out for me. i think im gonna go to school and focus on a musical career. im such a spendthrift but it doesnt seem to matter... i wonder why..."
friend in L.A. : "dude, you're from palo
alto."
