San Diego Newbies...Opinion so far? (transplants, apartments, lease)
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Personally, i can't wait to move to San Diego! I've enjoyed my last couple years here in Seattle, it will always have a place in my heart and i may return someday, but GOD I HAVE TO GET OUT OF THE COLD, WET, DARKNESS! Lol, being from Arkansas, i'm used to and must have some of that awesome sunshine, god i miss the sun!!!! Also while i've met a lot of nice people here, its very true what you hear about it being hard to make real friends....i've been here almost 3 years, been going to college the whole time, and have 0 lifelong friends. Not one. I don't even have one i go and hang out with. In Arkansas i have TONS of friends, everywhere else i've gone i've never had trouble, but its just different here....i'm not saying people are mean, its just like they have an invisible wall around them, hard to explain. So for that reason, opposite of what some have said, I can't wait to get to San Diego!!!
That bad huh? Seattle is another city on my list of choices since it's cheaper. Don't know if it's worth it though
You really are a bitter and negative person based on your posts. You are NOT open minded, tolerant, or really accepting as much as you'd like to think. You are VERY judgmental about others except yourself but like a decent amount of people like that from NorCal, are too full of yourself to see it.
I have to agree. At first I was open to his posts and wondered if there was any validity to what he was saying but if you follow all FM posts, they are just the same rantings. Much of them seem off-base to me. How can I live here in S.D. for 18 years and not notice all this attitude, thug men, gang activity, snobbery, and materialism he is talking about. San Diego is so laid back. We were at a very upscale restaurant the other night and my dh said "only in S.D. would you see people in t-shirts or shorts in a $200 restaurant". He travels a lot for business and says when he comes back here everyone looks like they are going to the beach or a bbq. It is much more formal in most places. He also says everyone here looks happy unlike other cities he travels to. FM I really hope you find happiness in Seattle but you probably won't. I get the feeling you are very unhappy and bitter and are taking it out on S.D. and you think Seattle will solve all your problems. If you follow the Seattle Freeze thread you will see how many people are unhappy w/Seattle, especially, with the people there.
That bad huh? Seattle is another city on my list of choices since it's cheaper. Don't know if it's worth it though
It's not that much cheaper, believe me. Housing may be a little cheaper but you will see after paying for all those months of heating and lighting (due to the dim, gray weather) it gets pretty expensive. Our utilities are almost non existent here. Also we have lots of healthy (fruits/vegies) places to shop at that are way less expensive than Seattle. My in-laws from Seattle are always amazed at the low prices down here.
It's not that much cheaper, believe me. Housing may be a little cheaper but you will see after paying for all those months of heating and lighting (due to the dim, gray weather) it gets pretty expensive. Our utilities are almost non existent here. Also we have lots of healthy (fruits/vegies) places to shop at that are way less expensive than Seattle. My in-laws from Seattle are always amazed at the low prices down here.
Well if $$ and my child weren't a factor, I'd choose SD hands down, but I believe the jobs actually pay a little better up there. However, in regards to living expenses besides rent, I really don't know much about how much they cost (i.e. electricity, groceries, car insurance, etc.)
When you say this place is a race, do you mean it's fast-paced or just that there's too much competition?
High cost of living, Long travel distances, Low average annual incomes compared with other cities with much much lower costs of living. Create a very competitive atmosphere, inconsiderate and impatient drivers flying down the neighborhood streets with little regard for pedestrians. Irresponsible development that has led to the highest extinction rate for local species of any county in the nation (fact I learned at Wild Animal Park).
No thanks, I am blessed with life for a "blip in time" compared to the grand scheme, and I'm not gonna spend it worrying about besting the next guy, or affording a basic $600,000 dollar home....No thank you....I wanna enjoy life and be around nature, things that calm the senses not elevate them artificially.
Yeah, I have lived here for about 12 years from the Bay Area, and while I don't that negative towards the locals, I get your point. Never before have I met so many flakes in my life. One minute I'm at a bar getting introduced as "the coolest guy I know" to peoples "friends" and then I never hear from anyone again. Everyone here is so guarded about their personal lives in order to maintain their "perfect, i'm in control of everything can't you tell by the car I drive that costs more than my rent, image" that you rarely get to know people on a real level. The financial responsibility of people around here blows me away. I just had a daughter and were moving to Pa. Call me crazy...
Yeah, I have lived here for about 12 years from the Bay Area, and while I don't that negative towards the locals, I get your point. Never before have I met so many flakes in my life. One minute I'm at a bar getting introduced as "the coolest guy I know" to peoples "friends" and then I never hear from anyone again. Everyone here is so guarded about their personal lives in order to maintain their "perfect, i'm in control of everything can't you tell by the car I drive that costs more than my rent, image" that you rarely get to know people on a real level. The financial responsibility of people around here blows me away. I just had a daughter and were moving to Pa. Call me crazy...
Disclaimer: The following statements are not representative of all San Diegan's, just lot's of them. There is substance to be found in this city, you just have to look harder for it than in most cities.
Thats right, the old sangs are around for a reason, they have endured for hundreds of years because they really have meaning like this one: "If it looks to good to be true, it usually is". Ahh......the eloquence of old wisdom .......it just slides off the tongue effortlessly.
That reminds me of a story, actually one of many many similar stories since I've been here. I have this lady as a customer one of my oldest customers. She lives in Olivenhain, very nice multi million dollar ranch style homes. Husband is a doctor both drive the nicest Mercedes that money can buy, wear all designer clothes and the accessories to go with them.
I actually like her because she is a pretty open person, which is how I know what I know about her. Their mortgage is like ten g's a month, hubby has crazy school loans, they have three kids to pay for. From the outside they look as wealthy as can be. So one month she asks me to convert her pool to saltwater.
I do it all the time so I say no prob, it's like two thousand before tax. She pays and the next month were talking and she's mentioning how she spent too much money on it, and they are a little short this month. I'm thinking--"are you serious lady"--she's got every single luxury one human being can want. Yet not enough money in the bank to cover two g's in an emergency.
She gives me the impression that their net worth might be negative without the house. She's always gittery, insecure, worried and stressed out over money.
I'm like--"lady"!--I live in a studio apartment, own a 2002 Toyota truck and I clean pools for a living while paying my way through school. I don't worry about money nearly as much as she does and I can afford to pay all my bills for months if I had too.
I wish I could say she's the only one, unfortunately she's one of many like that. Yeah I know--every city is more materialistic nowadays, but SD is a magnet for these types.
There is truly lot's of wealth in SD (old money) you can tell who they are because they are driving the expensive cars but their going slow and they look relaxed. When you talk to them they are cool, and they don't complain about spending money to have a quality job finished the right way.
On the flip side, there are a ton of wanna be's trying to look the part and going bankrupt doing it. There the ones living in a mini-mansion driving a new Rover, and asking me to only come twice a month to service the pool in the winter so they can save $30 bucks.
That's why I always laugh when I see someone driving a really nice car, yet they are speeding through traffic to reach their next destination with a stressed out look on their face. It's their own fault, if they would just lay down the front, they wouldn't have to work so hard and be so stressed out.
There's nothing wrong with a couple year old Honda Accord, "great car". Instead these people forgo their IRA's and College funds so they can sport the latest and greatest luxury auto and they live a stressed out workaholic life to support it. Many of them are just a big balloon in a field of cactus waiting to wander into one--so funny!
Wealth should make a person more relaxed not more stressed. Priorities should be towards appreciating assets not depreciating assets. Unfortunately I come in contact with tons of people out here who are way more stressed and in a hurry than I am, and many of them are the ones driving the expensive cars. Real wealth means people are waiting on you, so there's no need to rush anywhere.
False wealth is obvious because the person is moving at lightning speed so they can accommodate all the extra work they have to do, in order to keep up the facade. It's truly a shame that many people place so little value in themselves and real relationships that they feel this is necessary. Sometimes when I drive around SD I feel like I'm one of the few spectators still left in the stands, just enjoying the circus, the parade if you will.
Yeah, I have lived here for about 12 years from the Bay Area, and while I don't that negative towards the locals, I get your point. Never before have I met so many flakes in my life. One minute I'm at a bar getting introduced as "the coolest guy I know" to peoples "friends" and then I never hear from anyone again. Everyone here is so guarded about their personal lives in order to maintain their "perfect, i'm in control of everything can't you tell by the car I drive that costs more than my rent, image" that you rarely get to know people on a real level. The financial responsibility of people around here blows me away. I just had a daughter and were moving to Pa. Call me crazy...
Can't speak about PA, but people are EXACTLY as you describe in Ohio, one state over. You know, the heartland of America, where we have HONEST goals and values, where WE WORK HARD, and WE ARE NOT PHONY AND PLASTIC IN THE LEAST!!!111
You really are a bitter and negative person based on your posts. You are NOT open minded, tolerant, or really accepting as much as you'd like to think. You are VERY judgmental about others except yourself but like a decent amount of people like that from NorCal, are too full of yourself to see it. I cannot stand that BS "open mindedness, acceptance, tolerance" double standard people in NorCal and places like OR display. You sound like those types in Berkeley, SF, Marin County, ect... that only surround themselves with people that think like they do so they get some false sense they are right and everyone else is wrong and sucks. Of course you're gonna find people in NorCal that will bash on SoCal, people do it even when they like SoCal. It amazes me how my childhood friends will come down here and love it, love the beach, weather, atmosphere, people, ect... then talk trash about it later b/c of their NorCal has to be better than everyelse attitude. For example, I took 5 of my SD friends and 4 of my Bay Area friends to Mardi Gras in New Orleans this past Feb and people would ask us where we were from. Most times people would say how they love SD or how nice it is but wouldn't say anything, whether positive or negative, about the Bay Area or NorCal and that made my friends so jealous they started saying SD sucks but of course couldn't list any reasons besides "the bay is just better". It's like people from NorCal and especially the Bay Area are afraid or can't admit there is another place on this planet just as great to live in as the almighty Northern CA.
People in the Bay Area are more pretentious, snobby, and money hungry than people here. There it's all about how much is your house worth, how liberal are you, and how much you make. And if you're gonna clump SD in all of SoCal might as well put the Bay Area with the rest of NorCal. People are nicer and friendlier here than the Bay Area, SF has to have some of the coldest, most anti-social people in CA. Everyone there has a political opinion and will let you know it too.
So you found some people to validate your skewed and biased opinion; congratulations! There maybe be "tends of thousands" of you, but there are a lot more people that love it and would say the opposite.
Good and bad people exist in every place in every corner of this country. If you live in an urban area you will meet people from every spectrum and SoCal and NorCal are no different. There are good and bad people in both places and if you are only seeing the bad then it sounds like a lot more of a personal problem than one with the people here. I'm sorry for the long rant and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but you just seem like the typical NorCal hater.
Now you're just trying to label and categorize me as a "typical NorCal guy" yeah right. I've lived all over the place and I grew up in several different states, mostly Northern California, but I am not locked into any pre-packaged mindset. Which may be hard for some people to comprehend, but there are people like us out there who don't conform to our surroundings like half-baked idiots.
The simple fact is this. Southern California has a much, much higher level of materialism than other places. Too much emphasis is put on cars, outfits, looks, careers, money and self-image, that's just the truth. And this vibe has lots and lots of side effects which create a ripple effect through society here. Trying to act like every place is the same is ridiculous. Different places are very different.
I lived in Utah as well and I could go on a rant about Utah, or a few other places. Some places are just stuck in widespread ignorance and groupthink to a higher level, and San Diego is such a place. That's all I gotta say.
Also, I am not bitter or negative. In fact I smile all the time and feel great. I feel great about myself with a lot of self-confidence. That's a stupid and ignorant connection to make, to say that just because a person doesn't like the place they live in that they must be an unhappy person. Just not true and illogical. That's a little trick used to discredit someone's opinion.
In fact, I feel like I am much happier than lot's of other people around here. Lot's of people around here look worried, stressed, angry, insecure, etc. Which is something else I don't like about it. At least I don't need to try to belittle, compete against, and dominate others around me to be happy, like most folks around here do.
MOVING SOON! yeah!
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Little bit of both and other factors.
