Is there any one else out there who truley hates the place they live?? (Chicago: theatre, living in)

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by sammicitygirl

I hate where I live. Too many hypocrites. I wasn't born and raised here, so I guess I have a reason to hate them. If you're an outsider, chances are you'll stay one. Almost everyone here is either related to each other or has known each other since diapers or something. I'm used to not seeing anyone that goes to school with me or lives around me when I go to a store or a mall, and when I do see someone I know, it's a treat. But down here, I see them so much that I personally just pretend like I never saw them and keep going about my business. I know, it seems rude, but I honestly hate seeing the people I know or kinda know everywhere I go.

And where do you live? You neglected to mention that part...

[njmike]

I live in Scranton, Pa but grew up in NJ and spent a lot of time (and still do) in NYC. Scranton is "DEAD". There's nothing to do here. It's great if you're in the bar scene; the Everhart museum has the same bird display it had 5o years ago. The area has nothing going for it. The 20 something crowd get their education and leave. The job market and pay scale are scrapping the bottom of the barrell (I'm being polite).

[Georgia]

Originally Posted by njmike

I live in Scranton, Pa but grew up in NJ and spent a lot of time (and still do) in NYC. Scranton is "DEAD". There's nothing to do here. It's great if you're in the bar scene; the Everhart museum has the same bird display it had 5o years ago. The area has nothing going for it. The 20 something crowd get their education and leave. The job market and pay scale are scrapping the bottom of the barrell (I'm being polite).

Yes, but Scranton has something nobody else has.
"The Office"

[Steve-o]

Holy dead-thread revival, Batman!

[jlawrence01]

I have lived in ten different cities throughout the US since leaving home. I can honestly say that there were positives and negatives in every location.

New York City was a blast ... until I found out that the rent on a closet was 4x what I was paying for a 3 br house in S. Virginia. Ditto for SoCal.

Detroit was an absolute blast - had more fun there than anywhere else. Saw more shootings at the hospital than one could imagine.

Cleveland had relatively little to offer as any city that I lived in. However, I had phenomenal neighbors and a great community.

I have always been able to find people to do things with, interesting things to do, and the like.

I have generally found that people who are unhappy in one location and post on a board will be back a few years later dissing their "dream" town and looking for the next "nirvana."

[JustJulia]

I moved to Naperville earlier this year and love it so far. I smile every time I turn into my neighborhood, and that's a nice change. When I tell people here that I'm from Southern California (because they ask), It's sad that so many of them respond, "Wow, why do you want to live HERE?" The overwhelming response I've gotten is that people think Orange County is paradise and we were fools to leave. The truth is we were relieved to get out.

We rented a house that we never could have afforded to buy. For the cost of the four-bedroom house we bought, we couldn't even have found a condo in our town. We looked at a three-bedroom townhouse a year ago, the only one in our price range, and it was a roach-infested repo with carpet so filthy that the inspector wouldn't let his dog inside. Several schools in our old neighborhood closed due to budget cuts, and graffiti is cropping up around town. The fires are back, too. Oh yeah, paradise. Sure, there's the beach and the mountains, and it's pretty enough in places, and there are the restaurants and shopping, but do you really want to pay half a million dollars for a beat-up house, drive through some of the worst traffic in the country every day, send your kids to second-rate schools, and have to drive far away just to see something resembling actual nature? For what? So you can run the air conditioner in November?

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by JustJulia

I moved to Naperville earlier this year and love it so far. I smile every time I turn into my neighborhood, and that's a nice change. When I tell people here that I'm from Southern California (because they ask), It's sad that so many of them respond, "Wow, why do you want to live HERE?" The overwhelming response I've gotten is that people think Orange County is paradise and we were fools to leave. The truth is we were relieved to get out.

They watch way too much TV.

The things that I remember from my time in Mission Viejo:

1) Endless traffic. 3.5 hours to Dodger Stadium.
2) Neighbors who you only saw driving into their garage. People would live in a place for 10-15 years and not know their neighbors.
3) Housing expensive as heck - and salaries weren't THAT much higher.
4) Constant racial garbage against Mexicans and hispanics in general, worse than I ever encountered in the Deep South.

Most of my coworkers could not believe it when I passed on the job in Irvine for one in Cleveland. Of course, most of those folks are now living in Texas. Guess they wanted to buy a house.

[JustJulia]

Mission Viejo? I'm from Lake Forest! You are so right about the traffic and neighbors, too. We lived in our last house for three and a half years and didn't know any of our neighbors' names. We had a friendly couple next door, but they managed to sell their house before the decline got too bad, and we almost never saw the new people. I took some misdelivered mail to the other neighbors' house once, and the wife stared at me like I was trying to sell her something.

Compare that to my new house, where several neighbors have stopped by to introduce themselves, including a lovely older couple who bring us homemade jelly and apples from their daughters' farm stand. People wave at me when I drive down the street. I love it. I'm baking that couple one of my pumpkin caramel bundt cakes this weekend as a thank-you. :-)

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by JustJulia

I moved to Naperville earlier this year and love it so far. I smile every time I turn into my neighborhood, and that's a nice change. When I tell people here that I'm from Southern California (because they ask), It's sad that so many of them respond, "Wow, why do you want to live HERE?" The overwhelming response I've gotten is that people think Orange County is paradise and we were fools to leave. The truth is we were relieved to get out.

We rented a house that we never could have afforded to buy. For the cost of the four-bedroom house we bought, we couldn't even have found a condo in our town. We looked at a three-bedroom townhouse a year ago, the only one in our price range, and it was a roach-infested repo with carpet so filthy that the inspector wouldn't let his dog inside. Several schools in our old neighborhood closed due to budget cuts, and graffiti is cropping up around town. The fires are back, too. Oh yeah, paradise. Sure, there's the beach and the mountains, and it's pretty enough in places, and there are the restaurants and shopping, but do you really want to pay half a million dollars for a beat-up house, drive through some of the worst traffic in the country every day, send your kids to second-rate schools, and have to drive far away just to see something resembling actual nature? For what? So you can run the air conditioner in November?

There you go! Now youre learnin!

[irish setter girl]

I live in the western burbs and I like it here. I've been here almost 30 years. I love my neighbors, schools, parks, proximity to everything I need and the change in seasons. It is really all I know outside of about 10 years on the east coast.