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I am a 27 year old male who wants to move to Portland, and this might be long winded...
Yes, I know there is no place that is a "promised land", and that every city has problems and that nowhere is completely perfect. What I mean is, will Portland be allot better for me than this hell-hole in which I currently live. First, allow me to condense the reasons why New Jersey sucks so much and why I so hate it...so I can say what allot be who start threads like this almost never do: why I want to move and what I think I can find in Portland that I can't find here.
Reason 1: The Weather. It gets to be 15 degrees in the winter around here almost every day for a month. I don't mind the cold that much, but then there's the damn snow. UHHH! I hate it. Worst yet, is that damn orb of cosmic radiation euphemistically referred to as "the Sun". I cannot over-emphasize this...I HATE SUNLIGHT! You know what the sun is? It's an orb of radiation hurling across the dead vacuum of space to destroy you. That tan you get is your body putting up it's puny defenses as those deadly gamma rays singe your skin. I'm sorry, but I am convinced that my mother had an affair with a vampire. I want to see a sky that is hues of platinum, silver and marble...not cheap turquoise and half filled with a big yellow death orb, which is the case in New Jersey all too often...even in September and THE DEAD OF WINTER, that orb is out damaging my eyes.
Reason 2: The people. There are 3 types of people who make up 95% of the population of Jersey.
1) the snobs. Pricks who, in the first stage of their lives are preppies, become frat-boys and sorotitues in College and, in the third and final stage of their lives are what would have been called "yuppies" in a better age. These people, as a rule, are clueless, think that they are above the law, and look at you through their nostrils. They all listen to the music that is the only music that one listens to in Jersey, i.e., either that awful hip-hop crap or Emo type pop or straight up Justin Timberlake style crap.
2)The Guidos/guidettes. I don't know how many of you have seen the infamous "my new haircut" video on youtube, but that about sums up the average Jersey Guido attitude. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JMOh-cul6M These guys are loud, rude, and IN YOUR FACE. And don't even get me started on the girls...a bunch of loose females with cup-sizes bigger than their IQs running around in 75 dollar sweat pants with the word "Pink" written across the booty and a head full of so much hairspray that their hair is no longer biodegradable. None of these girls or guys can have a conversation about anything other than sports, cars, alcohol, pop, Emo or Hip-hop or, their FAVORITE conversation piece... how great they are.
3) The dumb thug types. These dudes, who are not always black, mind you, are the worst. All they listen to is that Gangstalicious crap and parade around with their pants half hanging off their rear ends, women's underwear on their heads, and go looking to start a fight with anyone...ESPECIALLY a black kid who is a little different from the average...i.e., a kid like me.
Reason 2.5) I have NOTHING IN COMMON WITH 95% OF THE PEOPLE IN JERSEY. I hate hip-hop, Emo and pop, but around here, that's all anyone listens to. I say I hate hip-hop around here, and people like at me like I am from another planet, especially because I'm black. Sorry, but when I think of great Black American music, I think Marvin Gay or Barry White, not Ludicrous or O.G. Jammar and the Hood crew Posse. I love all different kinds of Metal, classic rock and classical, as well as soul and R&B, but I am especially in love with New Wave classics, like Husker Du, Depeche Mode, the Psychedelic Furs ( most underrated band ever) and Echo and the Bunnymen. I also love symphonic metal and power metal, like Nightwish, Epica, Sonata Artica, Blind Guardian and so on...AND, I love goth/industrial music, like Sisters of Mercy, KMFDM, Cruxshadows, Skinny Puppy etc. I have a wide taste in music...BUT NO ONE AROUND HERE HAS HEARD OF OR LISTENS TO MY MUSIC. Maybe if they did, their would actually be someplace to hear live music around here that was not just hip-hop or emo type crap.
Also, I love the outdoors, and this might sound strange to some but, NEW JERSIANS HATE THE OUTDOORS. Every time I say that I like backpacking, hiking etc, people look at me like I just sprouted an elbow from out of my forehead. I have lived here my entire life, and have only met six people who like the outdoors...four of which were from out-of-state originally. I told some people at my job about how nice it was that a family of Red Tailed hawks set up a nest right by my house and I could look and see mommy hawk feeding her babies, and they, EVERYONE OF THEM, looked at me like I just announced that I am a member of the Bin Ladin fan club.
People in Jersey hate the outdoors...and it's fine, considering their are no nice open spaces here, unless you include the mall.
AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON JERSEY AND RELIGION!...you have all heard the term "spiritual but not religious", well, here in Jersey, it's "religious, but not spiritual". There are two kinds of people in Jersey when it comes to religion...those that follow their mainline religion/church without thinking, and those that hate the concept of a higher power without thinking. If anyone is seen pondering the meaning of life in public, the police will be notified right away. No one is IN THE LEAST interested in talking about spirituality, mythology, philosophy etc. Me? I am gnostic I suppose...I'm into the philosophy of religion and the ideas of a higher-power, but I am not big fan of organized religion. I am "spiritual but not religious", but in Jersey, you are either a Bible-thumper, or a "question-nothing-and-live-for-the-beach-and-the-mall" idiot.
Reason 4) You HAVE TO DRIVE. Jersey is a spread-out state...but not "spread out" rural as much as it is spread-out with highways, condoes after condoes after condoes, and strip-malls. You HAVE TO have a car to live in Jersey. This is the most bicycle/pedestrian unfriendly place on Earth, and public transportation sucks. I have a car, but I would rather live somewhere where I could just ride a bicycle most of the time...I hate traffic, and am a bit of a eco-maniac. But, when I say I want to ride a bike around here, people look at me like I'm from Mars: In Jersey, bikes are for young children or poor, recent immigrants only.
Reason 5) All the big city problems, none of the big city benefits. The cost of living is through the roof, crime is bad, and the air quality sucks...but there is still nothing to do, things are still spread out, and there is no natural beauty to speak of.
Now, much shorter, what do I think I will find in Portland?
1. Beautiful, platinum, silver and marble skies! (cynics call it gray)
2. Natural beauty, or at least natural beauty close by
3. Cool people. I have heard that there are A TON of hippies, freaks, goths and punks there, i.e., MY KIND OF PEOPLE! I asked one guy how he could best sum up Portland, and his answer made me want to move there right away: "The last great Bohemia" Artists, freaks and eccentrics...the kind of people who get run-out of Jersey. Maybe even I could have an intelligent conversation with someone in the flesh and not just on a computer? Sorry, but if it isn't hip-hop, the beach or the Yankees, Jersey people don't want to talk about it.
4. A decent music scene. Is it asking too much to have some options other than hip-hop, pop or Emo crap? Maybe even see a live, local band (which does not exist here in Jersey anymore)
5. Better climate. I have heard Portland has two seasons: Fall and Spring. Mild Winters and Mild Summer.
6. I DON'T HAVE TO DRIVE FOR TWENTY MINUTES ON A HIGHWAY TO GET A GALLON OF MILK! I want to have everything within a bike's ride away...and having a place that actually has bike lanes would be nice, as I have only seen them here in parks, not on roads.
I have only two concerns about Portland: 1: Jobs. I have nine years of experience as a fine dining server. I want a job as a server, and I have heard mixed things about how it is there for finding work at a restaurant...GRANTED, people allot of time don't realize that in order to work as a server to need experience, and of people who apply to my restaurant, only about a third are qualified. People say "I worked at the Gap for a year, why can't I get a job at a fine dining restaurant?" So that might have something to do with it and 2: that the people aren't outgoing. I have heard that the "Seattle Freeze" things happens in Portland too from some folks. Well, Jersey is the unfriendliest place on Earth...and the minute you say that you're don't like the beach, they "freeze" up and walk away. So, that is the least of my concerns really. I'm a pretty outgoing guy, and as long as there are people who I have something in common with (which is not the case here in Jersey) I should be alright, I hope.
Let me also say this...I have lived here my whole life, but I never felt like a native.
As a native of the NYC area who had to move back east after living in Portland, I say go for it. You're young and it sounds like you'll fit in. While the job market in Portland is never great, it is harder for those looking for office jobs and I would think there are opportunities for someone with experience working at restaurants.
Yeah, it's true, people in the NY/NJ area don't like the outdoors, maybe because you have to go far to find nature. However, I found that some Portlanders seem to live for the outdoors and nothing else, but Portland does have a lot of arts and culture, too. It is urban but nature can be found in the city, too. Much different than the Northeast, but yes, a lot better and I plan to move back someday.
I am a 27 year old male who wants to move to Portland, and this might be long winded...
Yes, I know there is no place that is a "promised land", and that every city has problems and that nowhere is completely perfect. What I mean is, will Portland be allot better for me than this hell-hole in which I currently live.
I grew up in the Philly metro area and like Portland a lot. If you like being outdoors, biking, and gray skies, it sounds like Portland is probably the perfect place for you. If you moved here, I think you'd be totally happy with it. I say, visit just to make sure you would like it. You'll probably get your opinion confirmed.
You are right to be concerned about the job market. However, there are quite a few fine dining restaurants here and maybe more to open, who knows. I say do a lot research on that front to see what your odds are are on finding employment. You're obviously very passionate about leaving NJ, so i think you'll probably get here anyway you can and I would guess you won't be disappointed!
It is only a slight understatement to say that you are who I was twenty years ago victorianpunk. NYC (Brooklyn anyway) is in many ways a more challenging venue for an ethnoindifferent black man to find an identity. I didn't (don't think anyway) have the throttled rage that colors ones perceptions of the people around them. I agree though, Portland may be a good place for you. Don't think, however, that it will solve all your problems. You are going to be unique there as well as here and the best advice I can give you is to read "Desiderata" by Max Ernst and grok it. NYC's remnant "Village" scene maybe a place you could be you without a transcontinental relocation. Definitely if you want to develop that superior fine dining server persona the East Coast would be the place to work that. Maybe California but I don't think it will go over well in the PNW. But whatever you do, do something and do it now, the rest of the world understands young people in flux. Older people who didn't risk anything till they woke up in middle age are viewed with more suspicion. Good luck.
Thank you for you wise words, Leistrum. Yahh, I want to go SOMEWHERE else in the next year...maybe not Portland, but the hell away from here. I am saving about $700 a month on top of the $10,000 I already have in the bank, so I should have the resources to "start over" soon. As for New York...it use to have something of a bohemian music and culture scene going on there, until something happened to end all that...GUILLIANI! He had a, I KID YOU NOT, "Degenerate Art task-force" within the police who's job it was to find loop-holes and technicalities to shut-down anything he did not like, i.e., punk and goth shows, underground clubs, street-side indie art merchants etc.
"Degenerate Art"? Last time I heard a political leader use that term was in a documentary which had a GERMAN NARRATION...so yahh, the NYC scene is essentially dead, with just a few shows in Williamsburg, but it is EXTREMEY ghetto over there with a crime rate almost as bad as Newark...only someone from the North East will understand what it means to drop the name of that wretched hole of scum and villany.
But yes, I want to leave sooner than later, in the next year or so, while I still have some youth left. As for restuarants, I only what to do that for a little longer, and plan on finishing my psychology degree and, evidentially, getting the PHD and being a clinical psychologist...another reason why I'm thinking about Portland, PSU is CHEAP AS HELL compared to the colleges here.
As for the whole "black thing", it only sucks that people will not look at me as an INDIVDUAL but think that I have to be into certain things (hip-hop, smoking pot etc) and can't understand that blacks can be just as veried as whites. Worst yet, are those white people who insist that they are "not racist" but will than yell "BUT YOUR BLACK!" at the top of their lungs when I say that I like Pet Shop Boys and Bauhaus...or the black folks who just attack first and ask question later, much like the Nazis who beat up swingkids in Germany for listening to music that was not good for "racial hygiene".
Still, even here, I have met a handful of people who like my music and just except me for me. [laugh] Funny thing is, most of them were from out-of-state!
Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. 
Will Portland be my "promised land"?
Must be an Obama-ite.
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