W: I'm a Winnipegger...

So I have this dream; once I am done school I want to leave. I want to immigrate to another province, far away from this stagnant city, that seems to know me all too well.

I don't hate Winnipeg. I am actually quite fond of it, but I'm bored. -- I've lived here all my life, and the older I get, the smaller this city becomes.

I'm starting to feel claustrophobic.

I want to experience other parts of the country/world, before returning to my roots after life has chewed me up and spit me out. (That's what usually happens to most Winnipeggers that try to escape, right?!)

Yep.

I want to naively wander into the world, trying to make something of myself like so many other people do, only to realize that Winnipeg is in my blood. I want to go somewhere, be swallowed up by buildings and swarms of people, and brag about it when I come back for Christmas. I want to become a metro-snob, only to have to eat my words later on in life, when I arrive "home" after I didn't make it in the "real world."

Perhaps I will make it if I try. Heck, if I do, maybe I won't ever come back!

But, I'm being realistic here folks; I'm a long-john wearing, Tim Horton's loving, clearance shopping Winnipegger. I am appalled by my $560 rent, and I hate public transportation. I complain in the winter. I complain in the summer. I bash this city, but furiously defend it when outsiders do. I grocery shop at the 24-hour shoppers drug mart, and fight any kind of change. Oh, and I brag to everyone that I know someone who knows someone who dated Chantel Kreviazuk, and that I went to the same high school as Neil Young.

I'm a Winnipegger, I always will be. But, if I have my way, I'll take a few years off!

Ah well...

I guess we'll see what happens.