4 ms·

I have lived in San Diego. I have spent time in Los Angeles. I have spent time in San Francisco. I am not a stranger to large cities. I can say with certainty

I have lived in San Diego. I have spent time in Los Angeles. I have spent time in San Francisco. I am not a stranger to large cities. I can say with certainty I will never live in one of these places. I won't even live in Pittsburgh, which is an order of magnitude smaller than any of these places. There's no escaping people. There's no escaping politics or bureaucracy. There's no way to escape petty crime, crazy people, and noise. You can't see the sky at night, there's never any "dark". Everything is orders of magnitude more expensive in a city. $5000/month rent? And people think this is "reasonable"? I don't even pay a third of that on a mortgage on a 2400sq/ft house. With a nice yard, decent neighbors, a good school, low crime, low taxes, the works. Our night-time intruders are turkey, deer, the occasional black bear, raccoons, skunks, and screech owls. Do I have to drive to get anywhere? Yes. Do I get the highest-paying jobs? Do I have immediate access to cute little bodegas and trendy little shops and night life? No. But I can let my kids go outside and play at night. I can leave my doors unlocked. Nobody breaks into my car and steals my stereo. I can leave my house with my garage door up and all my stuff inside, and my neighbors will call/text me to remind me. Is this an adequate trade-off? For me, absolutely yes. I get why people like living in big cities. I will never again live in one myself, though.

wnolens 4y ago
> I get why people like living in big cities. I will never again live in one myself, though. I totally get your take as well. In fact.. sounds like a really nice life that I hope to live one day. But perhaps it's your stage of life & social context that makes the difference (it does for me). If you were single, didn't have many friends/family (or they were all in the city), or were dedicated to a career/passion whose nexus is in a city.. suddenly you might be running towards those people and institutions ;) It's not all about the cute bodegas. The sheer number of single women in my demographic nearby is worth inflated rent for the next few years. $5k for a single person is some maxima, I'm living alone in a big apartment in a nice/safe neighborhood for $3k, 2 blocks from the train. The salary possibility in NYC easily covers the delta to smaller cities/towns.
archagon 4y ago
Drawn like moths, we drift into the city The timeless old attraction Cruising for the action Lit up like a firefly Just to feel the living night Some will sell their dreams for small desires Or lose the race to rats Get caught in ticking traps And start to dream of somewhere To relax their restless flight Somewhere out of a memory Of lighted streets on quiet nights
- shrimp_emoji 4y ago
  https://youtu.be/6SQsv0JI1P8 https://youtu.be/6SQsv0JI1P8 The caravan thunders onward Toward the distant dream of the city The caravan carries me onward On my way at last, on my way at last

wnolens 4y ago

> I get why people like living in big cities. I will never again live in one myself, though. I totally get your take as well. In fact.. sounds like a really nice life that I hope to live one day. But perhaps it's your stage of life & social context that makes the difference (it does for me). If you were single, didn't have many friends/family (or they were all in the city), or were dedicated to a career/passion whose nexus is in a city.. suddenly you might be running towards those people and institutions ;) It's not all about the cute bodegas. The sheer number of single women in my demographic nearby is worth inflated rent for the next few years. $5k for a single person is some maxima, I'm living alone in a big apartment in a nice/safe neighborhood for $3k, 2 blocks from the train. The salary possibility in NYC easily covers the delta to smaller cities/towns.

archagon 4y ago

Drawn like moths, we drift into the city The timeless old attraction Cruising for the action Lit up like a firefly Just to feel the living night Some will sell their dreams for small desires Or lose the race to rats Get caught in ticking traps And start to dream of somewhere To relax their restless flight Somewhere out of a memory Of lighted streets on quiet nights

shrimp_emoji 4y ago
https://youtu.be/6SQsv0JI1P8 https://youtu.be/6SQsv0JI1P8 The caravan thunders onward Toward the distant dream of the city The caravan carries me onward On my way at last, on my way at last