Places I Think I Could Live Rather Happily
Submitted by jenhowel on Sat, 04/21/2001 - 04:28
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- 1)Japan, particularly Kyoto, but anywhere would do. (I like their culture, their food, the beauty of the land, the wildness of the technology. I like sticking out in a crowd.)
- 2)Baltimore, MD (slightly less exotic, but it's a manageably sized city with lots of unique neighborhoods and things to see and do. Friendly people, also. And lots of colleges in the area.)
- 3)Australia (love the accents, love the films, love warm weather, could deal with insane animal life, and hey, the Crocodile Hunter's there!)
- 4)San Francisco (not now, but someday, I think San Francisco would be a good home. Culturally diverse and overwhelmingly gorgeous. By the sea.)
- 5)Lake Geneva or Milwaukee, Wi. (My two hometowns. Wisconsin has a way of sucking you back in. Anyway both are on the water, and both are so rocking in summer there's nowhere else I'd rather be. I'm completely diverted as long as I can go to the cinema and swim in the lake.)
- 6) Canada - In fact, if you visit liberal blogging communities, it's like a mass exodus to Canada. Well, not actually yet, but they're all like, I'm moving to Canada. And last night I dreamt the government was going to force my husband to serve in the military and we had to run away to Canada. It was the creepiest nightmare I've had in a while.
Hong Kong - One of the most dynamic and multi-cultral cities in the world, and they accept Americans.
Las Vegas - Ahhh, to bake in the desert by day and play til dawn 365.25 days of the year. And there's no state income taxes!
Southern California - If I could get over the traffic and socialistic taxes, the weather is about as perfect as it can be, year round.
Jen, you currently live in Seattle, right? How are you liking it there? I lived there for 6 years and really loved the place.
In answer to your first question - yes, for one more month, when we will be re-locating to Bellingham
In answer to your second question, it has its ups and downs.
There are some things I love about Seattle: the organic grocery store, the vegan restauarant 3 blocks away, Twice Sold Tales (used books open 24 hrs on weekends), diversity, so many wonderful movie theatres to choose from, thrift stores galore, beautiful plants and flowers, views of the mountains, many other things.
There are, however, many disadvantages any city has: rampant homelessness, rampant annoying rich people, fumes of various sorts which I often literally choke on, bad traffic, bad parking, too many opportunities to spend money, high rents, and a general stressful feeling which somehow I can't shake.
This is a lot of why we're moving to Bellingham. We are also moving there to attend Western Washington University ASAP.
Seattle is still a great place, but I think I must be a small town girl who likes to visit the city.
I can understand your frustrations with Seattle (and big cities in general). I grew up in a small town and Seattle was the first big city I spent any significant time in (in the US anyways). But, I really loved it. I liked the diversity of both people and things to do. And, I made some great friends there at school and that always helps make a place feel more special.