Negatives about living in the Denver, CO area (Aguilar: movies, school)

[GT28107]

The only negative I could see so far would be the lack of natural greenery. But, as many others have said, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

6. The snow melts too fast.
7. It's too sunny.

Those are great things, in my opinion.

After living in Chicago, seeing snow gone in a day or two is like heaven to me. I hated seeing it stick around for months on end. Combine that with all the gray & bitter cold days... man, it was bad.

8. The "honeymoon" phase eventually ends and you realize that you are living in a hurry-hurry city, and you begin to wonder why people put themselves through it.

Sure it's a big city, but it seems laid-back compared to what I'm used to.

[formercalifornian]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

8. The "honeymoon" phase eventually ends and you realize that you are living in a hurry-hurry city, and you begin to wonder why people put themselves through it.

I suspect you've never lived in the South Bay or DC. It all depends on where you're from originally. By comparison, this place is very laid back.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by GT28107

The only negative I could see so far would be the lack of natural greenery. But, as many others have said, the positives far outweigh the negatives.
Those are great things, in my opinion.
After living in Chicago, seeing snow gone in a day or two is like heaven to me. I hated seeing it stick around for months on end. Combine that with all the gray & bitter cold days... man, it was bad.
Sure it's a big city, but it seems laid-back compared to what I'm used to.

Before I moved here, I expected the snow to stick around all winter. It's what I wanted coming from Southern California, where the only snow we ever saw was on the mountains. Now, after almost three years in Denver, I am not satisfied with how little it snows here overall, and am not satisfied with how quickly it melts. It would be fine with me if it only snowed once, like say in November, as long as it didn't melt until April or so. (I know now that I'll have to look elsewhere to satisfy this desire).

I could care less about the sun, all it does is make me hot, and I don't like being hot. I'd be fine if I hardly ever saw it.

Again, I grew up in Southern CA, in the humongous Los Angeles centered blob, and hated it. So I moved to a small town, and hated it even more, so I moved here, and I liked it. Then I moved to a medium-sized city, and loved it, then moved back here not-so-willingly and decided I didn't like "the big city" so much anymore.

Lives change, opinions change, priorities change, people change. It's the circle of life (cue Elton John).

[formercalifornian]

Snow that sticks around all winter tends to turn gray and ugly. I'd rather see it melt between storms.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by formercalifornian

I suspect you've never lived in the South Bay or DC. It all depends on where you're from originally. By comparison, this place is very laid back.

You talking South Bay Area or South Bay like Long Beach? I grew up in the Inland Empire (CA), so I know hurry-hurry pretty well. And I don't like it. Denver is much more laid back than LA (that's for sure), but not laid back enough for me (come to find out).

[formercalifornian]

Ah, then you do know!

For me, Denver is plenty laid-back. Have you found your perfect place yet? Or are you still looking?

[Count David]

Originally Posted by formercalifornian

Ah, then you do know!
For me, Denver is plenty laid-back. Have you found your perfect place yet? Or are you still looking?

Yes, I've found it, and so I don't alienate people that hate it when I even mention it, I will say that it's hidden somewhere on this page (or you can PM me if you can't find it, but it's pretty obvious).

[denverian]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

You talking South Bay Area or South Bay like Long Beach? I grew up in the Inland Empire (CA), so I know hurry-hurry pretty well. And I don't like it. Denver is much more laid back than LA (that's for sure), but not laid back enough for me (come to find out).

I went to school at Cal St. San Bndo. for a couple years and didn't care for the IE. Mainly because it was so smoggy, and it was too far to go out in L.A. I just felt buried in an endless mass of suburbs! It didn't really feel like a hurried life to me though.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by denverian

I went to school at Cal St. San Bndo. for a couple years and didn't care for the IE. Mainly because it was so smoggy, and it was too far to go out in L.A. I just felt buried in an endless mass of suburbs! It didn't really feel like a hurried life to me though.

My impression of "home":

-people driving for a long time to get to/from work (seeing the mass of cars heading from Corona to the OC every day, seeing the mass of cars coming down the 15 from the Victor Valley, etc).

-nobody has any time for anybody.

-the goal is wealth, or perceived wealth (more of the latter, really).

Maybe hurried is the wrong word...

Back to Denver:

A few weeks ago, I was driving home during morning rush hour during a snowstorm (work makes me a creature of the night) and I looked over at a woman driving. She had this look on her face of blind desperation, like "what the heck am I doing?".

The look on her face was likely because of the snowstorm/traffic, but I reflected on it for awhile (traffic was moving along slowly), and I expanded on it. There would have been traffic anyway, snow or not. Chances are, she lived in the suburbs, to have a bigger house/better life/better schools/etc. She probably has a good job and makes decent money.

Dozens of people drive by, who are likely heading to work. It's like a big zombie race, everybody crawls into the city from the suburbs in their nice cars....to work. The goal of the day is work, not happiness, not family, not hobbies/pleasure, work.

Maybe I should consider myself fortunate that I work overnight when nobody is out. I have the roads to myself, and work is fairly stress-free, and not so monotonous. As sad is it sounds, I don't think I could (re-)join the zombie race.

I'm seeing more Southern California in Denver every day, and I don't mean the people (heck I'm a CA expat myself). I mean lifestyle. Traffic, work, and affluence.

Three things I'm not chasing.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by formercalifornian

I suspect you've never lived in the South Bay or DC. It all depends on where you're from originally. By comparison, this place is very laid back.

Spent 30 years in the DC area, with the usual "combat commuting" and long drives, and shows of wealth, etc.

Been in COLO SPGS for 4+ years, this place feels like a retirement community compared to what I was immersed in for 30+ years. Was here THREE MONTHS before hearing the first car horn. We have six lane parkways here, like Research, Briargate, etc and I found them so devoid of traffic that at first I'd laugh uncontrollably almost to the point of tears from the feelings of decompression and relief and lack of stress. Back in DC, roads with six lanes are few and far between - and they are battlefields.