POLL: Are You Happy Living in NoVA? (Lynchburg, Reston: health insurance, home)

[akorosdc]

Originally Posted by ajzjmsmom

You know sometimes it is not that easy to just move. There could be other circumstances as to why the poster is still here.

True, but I feel like I often see the same people over and over again who are very unhappy. After a while, I'd think they'd try to change and improve their situation. If it's truly as horrible for him as he says, that can't be good for physical and mental health.

[vivo]

Originally Posted by Tone509

Thank you, vivo.

Once again, returning to the topic of one's personal happiness in NOVA will lengthen the life of this thread.

sure. hopes scranbarre makes good use of the links.

[rubytue]

I haven't read the six pages of replies, but wanted to chim in with my story. I moved to DC at age 27. Lived in the District for a year, then moved out to the burbs (Lorton) in NoVA. This was for a job in Bethesda. I grew up in a small town in TN, and Blacksburg, VA is one of my favorite places on earth (Go Hokies!). After 5 years, it all got to me. The traffic, the people EVERYWHERE. The fact that you need a weekday off to run errands b/c weekend crowds at stores are so horrible. The beltway! My husband (got married in there, to a guy from my hometown) hated it worse than me. We had to get out - back to small town life, with short commutes, no traffic, no crowds.

I got a new job and we left in Jan 2007.

I'm going back to my old job in three weeks. Back to Bethesda. Back to the metro DC area.

We will be moving back down there sometime in the spring (currently about 75 miles up 95). Haven't decided where yet, closer than Lorton, thats for sure, but probably NoVA. Why? I've found the things I miss outweigh the things I hated. Or maybe that the things I hated will be mitigated by choosing a better location this time around. We went to Lorton b/c thats where I could afford to buy a house. Our combined income is now about the same as what I paid for the house, so we can afford to chose better. I miss the food, the vibrance, and (shockingly) the people. I miss spending summer nights at Wolf Trap. I miss hoping the metro to the Smithsonian. I miss our Christmas Day sushi tradition.

I'm hoping to find something we can afford in Vienna. It probably won't happen as we will lose a chunk of change on the house here, eating into downpayment abilities.

edit: I've now read some of the other posts, and I tend to agree with what a couple others are saying... Try another area of NoVA before you give it up comepletely. Its like a bunch of small, different areas everywhere you go. Reston has a different personality than Vienna, than Falls Church, than Arlington, than Springfield.

[FindingZen]

Welcome in advance back to NOVA!

I'm curious about one thing though, if you don't mind me asking: what is it about NOVA that makes it worth commuting to Bethesda from this side of the Potomac?

Originally Posted by rubytue

I haven't read the six pages of replies, but wanted to chim in with my story. I moved to DC at age 27. Lived in the District for a year, then moved out to the burbs (Lorton) in NoVA. This was for a job in Bethesda. I grew up in a small town in TN, and Blacksburg, VA is one of my favorite places on earth (Go Hokies!). After 5 years, it all got to me. The traffic, the people EVERYWHERE. The fact that you need a weekday off to run errands b/c weekend crowds at stores are so horrible. The beltway! My husband (got married in there, to a guy from my hometown) hated it worse than me. We had to get out - back to small town life, with short commutes, no traffic, no crowds.

I got a new job and we left in Jan 2007.

I'm going back to my old job in three weeks. Back to Bethesda. Back to the metro DC area.

We will be moving back down there sometime in the spring (currently about 75 miles up 95). Haven't decided where yet, closer than Lorton, thats for sure, but probably NoVA. Why? I've found the things I miss outweigh the things I hated. Or maybe that the things I hated will be mitigated by choosing a better location this time around. We went to Lorton b/c thats where I could afford to buy a house. Our combined income is now about the same as what I paid for the house, so we can afford to chose better. I miss the food, the vibrance, and (shockingly) the people. I miss spending summer nights at Wolf Trap. I miss hoping the metro to the Smithsonian. I miss our Christmas Day sushi tradition.

I'm hoping to find something we can afford in Vienna. It probably won't happen as we will lose a chunk of change on the house here, eating into downpayment abilities.

edit: I've now read some of the other posts, and I tend to agree with what a couple others are saying... Try another area of NoVA before you give it up comepletely. Its like a bunch of small, different areas everywhere you go. Reston has a different personality than Vienna, than Falls Church, than Arlington, than Springfield.

[Gottasay]

I can see how having nothing to believe in can make you feel that way about DC. I disagree, however. DC is full of awesome, warm, friendly people who put a smile on my face day in and day out. I have found many of those in church. If DC is so cruddy, do you have a better suggestion? Heaven perhaps?

Originally Posted by ateo

Basically, yes, that is all there is to look forward to in the soulless, yuppie infested nightmare known as D.C.

Even if you don't end up alone, you'll wish you had. The kind of women you meet around here are awful. They are the most materialistic, greedy, scheming females anywhere. Some of that is the nature of the gender but it is far worse in D.C. because this place has no soul and no sense of humor. That is the kind of person that this place attracts - petty scheming bureaucrats with absolutely no sense of humor that want nothing more in their life than to dominate other people and tell them how to live (i.e. government).

It is amazingly easy to get a "good paying" ($30/hour or better) job around here. But that won't even buy you a townhouse so what good does it do?

All you have to look forward to is driving your used car, living in your 1 bedroom apartment, with barely enough money to buy pizza and drink beer.

There is a reason that the collective creative output of the D.C. area amounts to nothing. This place has no soul and, worse, it sucks the life and energy out of anyone foolish enough to inhabit it.

No art, no music, no creative writing - nothing comes out of the blackhole of money and the human spirit known as D.C. This place generates misery for humanity and the kinds of people that are proud to cause suffering in their fellow human beings (think politicians, police, military brass, lawyers, lobbyists).

[ateo]

Originally Posted by rubytue

I miss the yuppie lifestyle.

Alrighty.

[Bigfoot424]

For the most part my answer would have to be NO. I've been here since 1973 and if I could move tomorrow I would. I'm hoping to eventually move to New England. I went out for a little while today and the traffic drove me absolutely crazy. This was to Woodbridge and around Manassas. When you can see 5-6 traffic lights in a row, all within a short distance, and you have to stop at each one due to them being red then something is wrong.
Another big issue for me is the illegal immigration problem. Although I always treat everyone the way I'd want to be treated I am tired of feeling like I'm in Mexico at times. Especially at a store like Wal Mart.

[SteelCityRising]

I just wanted to finally chime in after all of these days to offer a heartfelt apology. No, I'm personally still not very happy living in Northern Virginia, despite putting on a pleasant facade so as not to concern others in my life, but looking back at the evening I posted this thread while fighting back tears I can't believe how unabashedly "pity *****" like I was coming off as. It's nobody's fault but my own that I'm unhappy here.

It was my choice to accept a position that was, initially before my transfer to Tyson's Corner, far out in the suburbs, relegating me to this family-oriented lifestyle at the ripe old age of 22.

It was my choice to want to live alone in a 1-BR apartment for privacy so I could pursue the dating life I was never able to have enjoyed growing up in a socially conservative household. I could have very easily opted to move to Court House, Dupont Circle, Georgetown, Clarendon, or any other place that is much better planned than Reston if I had instead decided to just put my romantic pursuits on hold in order to live in a 2-BR apartment with a roommate for less per month than I'm paying now to live alone way out in the middle of nowhere.

It was my choice to accept this job offer hastily for fear of nothing else coming along during the peak of the recession when I could have stayed living with my parents "at home" earning $11.50/hr. in retail sales until something more suitable opened up in a city I'd be happier in.

My current deep depression that has caused me to physically fall ill is the fault of nobody but myself, and I'm sorry for subjecting everyone to it when you have more important things to do I'm certain. As my commutes grow longer (30 minutes to go 8 miles?), as the daylight hours grow shorter, as my job responsibilities/stress intensify, and as my opportunities to get out and go for a run---my "escape", if you will---diminish, I'm sure I'll only become even more unhappy.

This is nobody's fault but my own though, and I'm sorry to have subjected the sub-forum to that. While it may not be an ideal place for singles due to its demanding cost-of-living, dreary dating pool, and poor infrastructural planning that leaves so many to feel "cut off," NoVA is a great place for families due to its generally low violent crime (fewer murders in 2009 than my own "home" county in PA that is less than 1/3 the size), generally above-average public schools, plethora of recreational opportunities, immense sociocultural diversity, active houses of worship, and abundance of (mostly free) educational attractions, such as the Smithsonians.

I knew coming down here that I wasn't going to be very happy, but I made the move anyways out of economic fear due to the recession. At a time when many of my peers---many of whom even had more impressive qualifications than myself---were NOT receiving job offers I didn't feel as if I had the luxury of being able to pick and choose as prior years' graduates were afforded. With some exploring on the weekends I've already found some areas of NoVA I LOVE, but they are all either very cost-prohibitive (Old Town Alexandria) or too far-flung (Winchester). I just have yet to find anywhere in Fairfax County or much of Loudoun County that really jump out at me as being great places to live along those lines of having a great history---neighborhoods with charm and soul if you will---SIDEWALKS (I still don't understand why the wealthiest part of America can't afford them), a traditional downtown business district, etc. The ones proposed by people (i.e. City of Falls Church) really don't impress me the way I guess they do for some others. MOST of the region just feels like a sprawling HOA with earth-toned housing on windy roads and cul-de-sacs---mostly named after the natural features they displaced. I just don't see the "charm" of a place like South Riding, Reston, Chantilly, Ashburn, etc., etc., and I don't think I'll ever find a reason for these sorts of places to justify charging people $400,000+ for a home.

Well that's enough venting for me now before I get myself banned or ganged up on.

[novajs]

Scran,

I think you know pretty much everything about Northern VA by now. It is what it is. Look at the positive - Your job experience will be valuable when you decide to make your next move. Washington DC area was just ranked #4 for college students behind New York, Boston, and San Francisco. You might consider going to grad school part time to meet new friends.

[Legs1357]

Originally Posted by novajs

You might consider going to grad school part time to meet new friends.

Grad school is A) a lot of work and B) a really really expensive way to meet people. Wouldn't recommend that.