Channeling my 14-year-old self

How long does it take to knock down a strip mall?  I get to enjoy this lovely sight on a daily basis and I can make a better prediction than Bill James and say that they'll done after my apartment lease is up, the Seahawks win the Super Bowl, or I find something to recommend Seattle-land.

I used to imagine moving back to California.  I really did.  But as months turned into years and years turned into decades, I realized that I must've been smoking something (figuratively speaking).  You can never go back, son.  I see a lot of California license plates around here and I always make a face like I just ate a bad peanut.   Still, I have a claim to the Golden State because I was born there, went to school there, and my whole friggin' family still lives there.  I wonder if James Joyce was as conflicted when he lived in Paris. Nothing says native son like being somewhere else.