Why do you live where you do? Doesn't it suck?

In My Humble Opinion
61

Yes! We’re #52! Take that, East Milan. :stuck_out_tongue:

I live in the suburbs, an hour away from midtown. I’ve visited California once and found it to be nice, in terms of the weather and scenery. But I would go insane if I had to live there. It’s just…boring. It’s kind of weird, actually. Often enough, I can’t wait to get out of New York (too much stress, too much noise, etc.). But after being out of town for more than a few days, a deep ennui sets in and I’d do anything to get back to New York. I guess after years of pressure you become dependent on it; you need the excitement of riding the subway in the middle of the night.

(I’m not 18 yet, so I have a few years before I have to pick my habitat.)

62

I live in Toronto because I moved her to take a job.

It’s a great place to live. The winter weather is ugly, but there are almost never any natural disasters here - no hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, or forest fires, and that’s a decent trade off.

63

I like where I live pretty well: a small city in a clump of other cities (metro area about 200K), in the nothern midwest, right on the Mississippi River. The pros outweigh the cons.

It’s large enough to have some decent amenities and close enough to Chicago and St. Louis for when serious restaurant and museum jonesing hits. The cost of living is very reasonable. The climate has its extremes but I like the variety. I like the rolling wooded/farmfield scenery. It’s not dramatic but it can be very beautiful. I love the relatively light traffic and population density. I’ve lived in big cities and adapted to the craziness but never particularly enjoyed it. It always felt claustrophobic, like too many people crawling overtop one another, breathing the same air. I like the less frantic atmosphere, wide tree-lined streets and old houses.
There are plenty of other places I think would be great to live too, here and abroad. ::shrugs:: Lots of choices, and no one-size-fits-all ideal.

64

I live in Puyallup, WA. I love it here. I’m 45 minutes from Mt Rainier, a couple of hours away from the coast, 30 minutes away from the bay, 30 miles from Seattle (if I feel the need for “citified” things to do). I love outdoor activities. Any kind of shopping I need to do is a hop, skip and a jump away.

It’s getting crowded here too, however, I still have kids in school, so we’re staying here for now.

My dream is to move out to the boondocks and really get away. However, this will have to wait until retirement.

I’ve been to L.A and I hated it! But…to each his own.

65

Where do you live , Orillia ?

Declan

66

Hardly.

Sorry if you had some kind of bad experience here (I’d guess that’s what you based your post on?). I can find the asshole and armpits of any big city.

It’s been a great environment for me, and remains so. You should have looked around a little more.

67

Chalk up another one who enjoys his small city (small city meaning less than 30k when the students leave for the summer) in a place with “crappy” weather. Lived and visited all around the country. It is not ignorance of what is available or lack of skills, as elmwood so condescendingly postulated.

No crime, big yard, 5 minute bike commute, plenty of parks for kids to run free in, friendly neighbors, leaves that drop off into piles for jumping, snow for sledding and snowmen, rain for splashing in puddles, green growing summer. What’s not to like about seasons? When I was in Phoenix, all I could feel was the oppressive sun beating down day in and day out. Drove me crazy.

I’m just glad that my state is NOT a destination likely to draw vast hordes of people anytime soon. More people just mean more traffic. You can keep Chicago, goofus.

68

Hah! I was not going to mention Rockford Illinois, But I was born there and my earliest memories have to do with saving up money to get the hell out of there… so I did… and after living lots of great places. Moved to Hawaii… I Get so happy sometimes i just can hardly stand it. Point being that if you think you might want to be somewhere else… Go!!!

Lifes short…

69

Big time. The nearest big city is 200 miles away. This town has 2 decent restaurants and a rather unassuming library. I’m tired of living here.

I’m not too fond of Oregon but I’m stuck here until I can afford to move. :frowning: Sounds like you are in the northern half of the state? Where I am (near the SW corner) there’s hardly ever any snow, and in the summer air conditioning is definitely needed.

70

I live in southern Missisippi. Not by choice, my father’s job brought my family here. It’s not so bad along the coast, where there are lots of new restaurants and stores, but the town where my family lives feels stuck in the last century.

As a young technically minded female, I was a great target for shunning (moved here just before I started high school). Major culture clash. I went from culturally-mixed up central Florida to what appears to be the nexus of narrowminded neanderthals (hey, I felt like alliteration).

Now that I’m in college, things aren’t so bad, but some days I am still amazed by the resistance to new ideas that seems to be so deeply ingrained into the local culture.

71

Auckland, New Zealand. I love it. It is home.

I so loved travelling, seeing other places, meeting other people, getting pissed on alcohol I could hardly pronounce. But home is good.

Auckland has a gorgeous harbour and lots of “great outdoors” just round the corner. It is a “big” city in a small country, I like that about it. We have great beaches and brilliant islands…though frequently crappy weather, but it is never too cold or too hot, just too wet.

Christmas is just a wee bit away. I love the way no one is here then, just us locals. Auckland has quiet motorways for a change.

There is always something to do here and many are wonderfuly familar haunts but there are always new places to discover too.
The only 2 bad things about being an Aucklander are the slagging off from the rest of NZ. JAFA is almost a badge of pride rather then an insult now (JAFA= just Another Fucking Aucklander). Get over it! We ARE as kiwi as the rest of you.

And the fact that Auckland is seen as the door into NZ not somewhere to hang about. People who say that are coming to see boiling mud, glaciers and mountains and missing the fact Auck is pretty cool.

(ok Wellywood is pretty damn cool too :slight_smile: )

72

Thanks for taking my quote out of context. :rolleyes:

I’m not talking small college towns, ski resort areas, artist colonies like Santa Fe, and the like. I mean small, ugly, hole-in-the-ground, noddle-of-nowhere towns that offer peace and quiet, but little more. No scenic beauty, no colleges, no quaint downtown, and no other amenities. Why live and love Effingham, Illinois, Clovis, New Mexico or Shamrock, Texas?

73

I live in the beautiful rolling, green hills of South Australia. It’s a fairly close-knit community, but one which encompasses both rural/farming lifestyles but now (because of its popularity) an insurgence of younger newly-weds wishing to leave the metropolitan-type lifestyle behind.

I chose to live here, having moved from the inner-city suburbs quite a few years ago. It was actually a case of a new life, so new surroundings seemed in order.

I could NEVER go back to the hustle and bustle of inner-city living. After almost a decade of living nestled in the picturesque Hills, I STILL feel as though I’m on vacation! The slow and easy pace, relaxed atmosphere etc etc.

Although, I’m kind of hoping this bubble won’t burst too drastically for me in the near future. I’m going through a matrimonial bust-up and it’s seriously looking as though I will have to sell this beautiful 104 year old farmhouse to pay out my ex-husband through property settlement issues. Because this area is so sought after at the moment, property values are sky-high, but unfortunately my income isn’t! So the Australian Dream of home ownership, I think, is now fast coming to a close for me.

Nevertheless, I guess I’ll rent a property up here … there’s no way I’d move back to the 'Burbs!

So after all that, may I simply say that I absolutely love where I live.

74

LUCKY Son of a Bitch!

Why do these things only happen to me!?!
.

75

Bwah-hah-hah! Actually, another place with a new casino–Niagara Falls, NY. Everything elmwood said about Buffalo can be doubled for “the NF.”

Actually, having known people from Orillia, or rather the area around it, I’m sure Orillia would be a better place to live. Really, I’ve tried to love this town, but it just doesn’t love me back.

76

I was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada and would move back there in a minute (moved to Kansas City, Missouri when I was fourteen and currently live here). The weather is wonderful in Vegas, for one. Sure, in terms of temp. it’s hot in the summer, but the dryness makes it a lot more bearable than in the Mid-West. Plus, it has seasons, but it never gets too cold. There’s always stuff to do in Vegas (of course), and (to me anyway) it doesn’t take ten minutes to get to place to place in the area you live in. People complain about the traffic, but when I was there in June I encountered about the same amount of traffic that I do here in Kansas City. Plus, Nevada is so barren with beautiful mountains.

The only thing I actually dislike about Las Vegas and like about Kansas City is a sense of history. In Las Vegas, if a building or casino is more than thirty years old, they implode it or demolish it and put something else in. When I came to Kansas City I was amazed at buildings that were older than eighty years old. I couldn’t fathom it. Also, everything looks the same in suburbian Vegas. All the houses and even the schools.

77

When you call other towns ugly and places that people want to get out of, you’re talking in the same vein as people who say they don’t want to live in LA because of riots/droughts/earthquakes/fires/etc.

I’ve lived in small towns in Maine, Upstate NY, Oregon, and now Baltimore – probably a city you would call “ugly”.

The main thing is, I prefer living in a place where vanity and pretentiousness are still considered NEGATIVE attributes, not a way of life. I don’t know if people from LA realize just how much a part of the psyche those things become.

And I know I’m generalizing there a bit, but I’ve spent time in LA and know plenty of folks from there. And, the thinking of these people about things like what having a nice car means, what having money means, or how having plastic surgery can improve your self-esteem are just a part of the thinking. People I know from LA don’t even realize how that strikes outsiders. Those attitudes just don’t enter into small town life in Maine or even in Baltimore – or at least not in the numbers they do in LA.

FWIW, in my neighborhood in B-more, I know 90% of the neighbors on my block. I can’t walk to the breakfast joint a half mile from my house without running into someone I know to stop and chat with. I live on a little tree-lined street with little front lawns, and can be at the symphony or ball game in 10 minutes, and not pay for parking. I can make 75K a year, and buy a 2000 sq. foot house for $150,000.

I can probably get to the Smithsonian in about 20 more minutes than it takes you to get to the Getty, if that. I can be in Philly in 1.5 hours, New York in 3.5, or in the middle of nowhere in 1.

And what do I need to put up with? A little snow, which I like. A little traffic. Crime that affects me as much as it does while I lived in Maine. And one month of shitty weather in the summer that I actually don’t mind at all.

78

One more Texas shyly sticking her hand up for Houston. Why do I like living in Houston? I like urban living - I honestly can’t think of anything that L.A. or New York has that we don’t have here, from the ethnic diversity to entertainment to just crazy stuff - I like that Houston’s geographically large enough to really rural area within the city limits (and I mean rural enough to keep cows, horses and chickens; I love watching guys ride their horses on the meridian in South Park) - I like that we have nonpartisan elections (even though you sort of know who are Republican and who are Democratic, you end up with some of the most…odd…coalitions here). I like that you can go from 32F to 76F in less than 12 hours and it’s normal.

I love visiting NYC, interesting doesn’t begin to describe it - but I was horrified at what my friend was paying for what I thought was a tiny living room, the limited amount of green space, the prices, and the first time I was there, I was deeply disappointed that it really didn’t seem to have a lot in common with what I saw on television.

Just got back from L.A. - what are the damn left turn signals? Huh? Traffic was horrendous, but honestly, it didn’t seem that much different than any other big city, not enough to say, My God, I move here now otherwise my life will be without meaning!

Oregon - I was born in Portland and wouldn’t mind moving back. Pretty, pretty place. Florida - great for vacations, but I know if I lived there I would never go to the beach. DC - same as Florida, just switch monuments for beach. British Columbia - like Oregon, but colder.

I just want to have friends in most metropolitan areas so I can wandering aimlessly from city to city, enjoying all the benefits of each location.

79

::waves hi to Trunk::::
Don’t forget that you can be at either the beach or the mountains in less than three hours. Great vacation spots all around in less than a day’s drive.
Baltimore’s a great place to live. I’m in the suburbs, in what many would call a “cookie-cutter” tract house, but the schools are great in my neighborhood. My son has just 19 kids in his second grade class. You can’t beat that.
Our house is all-brick, four bedrooms and is solid as a rock. Sure, it’s exactly the same floorplan as every fourth house, but we like it. It’s a well-kept neighborhood. We know our neighbors, and we have family in the area. We like the change of seasons (okay, ask me again in August and I’ll be bitching about the heat and humidity) and we like being able to drive to DC and Philly (more family) and New York easily.

80

Hey KAndre, good to see you out and about. We’re struggling to get another HouDope together.