Since we moved to Brentwood just last 24-Jul (was it just 10 short months ago?!), the following has happened, in no particular chronological order:
•My dog has been poisoned and died;
•My partner has been viciously attacked by a police dog while standing lawfully in the middle of our living room (eight stitches, by the way; more on this later … much more);
•My career has been derailed by an illness which has been made much more frustrating by the lack of doctors and hospitals and sane healthcare practices in the area;
•My career ambitions have been further frustrated by an employer which is described (and these are not my words) as having “incestuous hiring practices”; which is filled with homophobics, their enablers, and some reasonably decent people, who, while sympathetic to my plight, are too concerned about lawsuits and appearances to fight the good fight against the former;
•I have been called (numerous times) a “faggot” and had 12-year-olds write “f—- you, Mr. P.” notes to me in textbooks;
•I have had three rounds of bronchitis, two emergency room visits, and four urgent care visits … should I just stop there before I get more depressed?
And people wonder why I’ve been disgusted?
Granted, not all of this is Brentwood’s fault. Call it the cosmic misalignment of the stars, horrible coincidences, what-have-you. It’s not all Brentwood’s fault. Not all California’s fault.
Oh, hell, yes it is. It’s Brentwood’s fault that they can’t control their police dogs or keep out wanted felons from living in otherwise good neighborhoods.
It’s Brentwood’s fault that their police officers can’t arrest said felons who are weak 49-year-old grandfathers, yet still manage to elude 12 officers, a helicopter, and a K-9 unit for 30 minutes while said K-9 unit is in our living room attacking my family and threatening our puppies.
It’s Brentwood’s fault that the aforementioned employer will only hire blonde white women who are related to or have known district employees for 30 years.
It’s Brentwood’s fault that it’s full of homophobic, yakkity women who have nothing better to do than pass around vicious and nasty lies all day.
It’s Brentwood’s fault that they built houses for 40,000 people and didn’t plan any healthcare infrastructure of any kind to take care of them, preferring to rely instead on crappy ER services 10 and 25 miles away. Hell, even Duncan, Oklahoma, a town of 23,000 has a better hospital and healthcare system than this pathetic garbage dump.
It’s Brentwood’s fault. But mostly … it’s mine. It’s my fault for answering the damn job ad that brought us here in the first place. I thought it might be a reasonably decent place to spend a couple of years while waiting to move to a more sane place elsewhere in the country (meaning away from California). Little did I know just how devastating and expensive this decision would be.
And that is why I am disgusted. I can’t wait to see Brentwood in my rearview mirror (and I’m pretty sure Brentwood can’t wait to see my backside disappearing eastbound).
I can’t help it, it’s just the way I feel.