heart of the city

Though I live in San Diego, I think it's more to the point to think of myself as living in the suburbs. The part of town I'm living in...Mira Mesa... is considered part of the larger city but it is separated from the main body of San Diego by an expansive military base and by the fact that we are, as you could surmise from the name, on something of a mesa (it's not like we're up miles above sea level or anything...but hey, a mesa is a mesa.)

San Diego is a big city...but, at its heart, its more a collection of villages and almost self-contained neighborhoods (each with its own vibe and pulse and style) than a sprawling, homogeneous metropolis. And, having grown up in the sprawling metropolis that is Los Angeles, that's one of the reasons I like it so much.

Life is the suburbs does, as a matter of course, have a different rhythm from life in the metropolitan heart of a big city like San Diego...something I reflected on as I journeyed into the heart of the city last night to have coffee with a group of friends (well, in my case, tea, since I've never developed a taste for coffee...the good folks at the omnipresent Starbucks are much more likely to sell me a CD...their artists' choice compilations are often quite amazing... than one of their frothy, polysyllabic concoctions :-)

There's a certain stillness to night in the suburbs...a quiet that is deep and comforting. On the other hand, there is a rush of energy to night in the city...a pulsating crackle that seems like it probably never stops. One's not "right" or better than the other, they're just what they need to be. And that's, of course, all to the good.