Sunday, November 8, 2015

Gay of A Certain Age - Grumpy Old Gay


I walk five blocks to work and back.  I walk to restaurants for breakfast, brunch, lunch & dinner.  I walk to my friend's house once in a while.  I can't tell you why, but it drives me nuts to see flyers or stickers advertising stuff posted on poles, posts ot trees.  I'm talking about "need a trainer?", "Got dog walker? "I clean houses" flyers or vanity stickers that say "Stupid Ass Skateboarder.com".  I tear them down or peel the sticker off and throw them in the trash.  I don't feel bad because I have the city code on my side and I hate how trashy it makes the neighborhood look.  I live in a nice city, not a college dorm!  The City of West Hollywood is not your bulletinboard!  Also, in the age of the internet, do we really need to try to gain clients with notices taped to outdoor surfaces?  Yeah, Trainer who I've never seen or met, I'm going to hire you based on the poorly worded sign I saw on a random lightpost; screw that hot muscular guy who looks like he knows what he is doing at the gym, or who popped up when I Googled "Trainer" because I wanted to pay someone to watch me bitch about working out.  One particular "Stupid Ass Skateboarder.com" doesn't like that his stickers get peeled off of traffic safety signs, or bike racks so he upgraded to an almost metalic very sticky unpeel-able sticker, while a driving service ap driver thought it would be great to wallpaper his flyer with a discount code at all the bus stops, making them very difficult to remove. I will not be outdone!  Now I carry a scaper in my purse!!  That's right!  If I press the button for the crosswalk signal and see the idiot's sticker affixed, SWOOSH! Out comes the scraper and go to town on that trashy vadalism. Sure, I coud be standing there scraping for 15 minutes, but I want to keep my city looking nice!

I'm not heartless, I leave up dead lost pet signs, even the ridiculous "lost parrot" signs that were posted every 50 feet one week.  I leave up yard sale signs until the day has passed.  I'll even leave up a sticker if it has some element of art to it.  I love street art, I just hate white paper signs and stickers that add nothing to the community other than bad marketing or vanity.
As a Gay of A Certain Age, I have embraced my Grumpy Old Gay self and will not hesitate to stop in my tracks for a few minutes to take down something that is trashy or interferes with my enjoyment of my city!  And stay off my Gay lawn!!

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