Official "Seattle Freeze" Discussion Thread (Chehalis: camping, closing)

[jwb123]

I have lived in both - city and suburbs in the Seattle area. Prior to having kids, and after.

I wasn't from a "sunbelt suburb" - I was from the DC area.

[green_mariner]

Suburbs do have somewwhat of a remoteness quality.

[goldengrain]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Suburbs do have somewwhat of a remoteness quality.

Yeah. When lives are 'married' to the family thing, kids, school, yards, there is little time for anything else.

But when the kids are gone and the career is ending the yard, house repairs, etc, seem like chains holding your free soul captive.

Cities call. The siren call of Condoville entices. Wanderlust beckons. No more cooking, cleaning, pruning, cutting.

Dining out, theater, music, art, lectures, discussion groups, reading, civic action. Travel, making new friends.

A person - a person who is both lucky and wise, who has saved all of their life - a person who learned how to invest wisely early and chose to always live a bit under their salary level - gets their individuality back again, to resume life where the carefree childhood left off. Purchased with the consistant hard labor of earlier years.

Yep. A condo with doorman in a city sounds just nifty to us.

I had a profession and was employed with many others in a large international company. I, with my first real job, and after observing my family, determined this thing about saving. I not only had money in my 401k, but squirreled bucks away in mutual funds, which I watched fairly closely. I did not have the time available to dedicate myself to purchasing individual stocks.

The point is, that it is amazing how many people I worked with who did not save or invest, many not even having money in the matching 401k. They did live in better neighborhoods, have bigger families, with kids who went to better schools. They partied more, lavishly.

Now, with all of these layoffs, they are not doing too well and must still work. Their kids are not helping out and some of them are even struggling to keep jobs. I feel badly for them, but a person never knows what the future will bring, and some react to that to enjoy themselves for the day because that's all you've really got. Others take the gamble that they will need the money later in life and do without.

We will shortly pull up stakes, liquidate, and move across the country to the city of Seattle. I would hope we will find others like ourselves. At any rate it it bound to be more enjoyable and varied than watching the grass grow in the burbs.

[St.Croix to Seattle]

From my many visits I can say most of the people in the Seattle area seem friendly and open and I managed to make a few friends,First visiting in 2005 I knew already I would live there some day,because I felt at home and I had the feeling that everyone around was living well below their means and seemed to care less about what others were wearing/driving etc and that felt great,I could be wrong but the feeling is still there and I like it....Once there my caluclated expenses seem to be about 41 cent on the dollar versus where I live now,so life will be perfect semi-retired at my age was not imagineable 3 years ago,but it will be a reality in 2008.....good luck to everyone moving

[green_mariner]

I will admit that there is a reserve in Seattle, but that doesn't mean you can't make friends. It just means you have to work more at it.

[41Willys]

I'm thinking this whole freeze thing is just an excuse for big city living. Your on the west coast which has a rep of being very friendly, throw in a big major city and you will create a big city enviroment, thus creating the "freeze". You wanna experience a freeze? Come to NYC, Chicago, or Philly.

[Tau]

Originally Posted by Rage

I agree with the weather tie in personally.........the weather coupled with the cultural nature. But really bottom line is, does it matter. It is what it is..........like it or lump it. And all the surveys, pissing and moaning, wishing and hoping isn't gonna chance it. So you either accept it or waste your time wanting it to change. Personally when I come there I'll just accept the culture as it is.............there are great times and individual rewards in every situation...........but then you have to learn to accept it. My time is precious, so I don't want to waste it trying to wonder why it is what it is..............

Personally I love the weather here, I never get tired of rain, and I wish it would snow more. Maybe that explains why I sleep better during the day then at night. I love being up at night, it is so peaceful and quite. I like the spring when it is still cool, but only when the sun first comes up and the flowers are new and fresh. I love it when the clock is turned back and the nights are longer, and hate it that they have made daylight savings come earlier.

As for the freeze, I've never have experienced it, but my partner and I usually do stuff together and are perfectly happy doing so. Once a year I go up to Vancouver BC to meet my online friends from around the world, so during that time I get my fill of being social. We love hiking and camping, and we just like to be alone most of the time. I don't think we are guilty of freezing anyone out; it's just the way we are.

[wsugrad03]

I have to agree that the "Seattle Freeze" is real. I dealt with it when I moved to Seattle in 2003. I think it is something that men tend to experience more than women. My only support for that is women tend to be in the receiving end of suitors rather than guys. But let's look at the real picture here. The people in Seattle are nice, down to earth, good people. It just takes time to make good friends. My wife grew up in LA and lived in San Fran for a while before arriving in Seattle. She can't say enough about how "real" the people are in Seattle. Not to slam LA, but you'll struggle to find a down to earth person over there. Everybody is pumped up with superstar egos and silicone. The point of fact is every big city is going to have rude, standoffish people. Seattle has nice people who prefer to keep to themselves. Maybe it's the "cocoon effect" of the weather, or it's because of the larger population of college educated people, or maybe it's due to tech savvy people who would rather chat on the computer than in person? I'm not sure what it is, but the people who live here adapt to the system that makes Seattle the city it is. We're not Austin or LA, so don't feel cheated if our city doesn't meet your expectations. No place is perfect and you can't ever have it all.

[malarkey]

Originally Posted by goldengrain

(nice self-congratulatory lecture about money-saving deleted)
We will shortly pull up stakes, liquidate, and move across the country to the city of Seattle. I would hope we will find others like ourselves. At any rate it it bound to be more enjoyable and varied than watching the grass grow in the burbs.

Hope you got some big bucks in the bank, GG. You've chosen one of the most expensive cities in the whole country to retire in. But I'll agree with the downtown choice, you'll love it. It's really vibrant.

[MK1971]

I don't like the term "Seattle Freeze" because it connotes that it's not a free country and people moving here need to somehow ingratiate themselves with the locals and conform.

There seems to be a disconnect between what many consider casual conversation (small talk, sure, but it could include sports, politics, etc) and attempts to form friendships. I think the local mentality is that, if someone is talking to you, then they must be really desparate to be your friend; so it's best to politely snub them (without hurting their poor feelings, of course), since you already have all the friends you need.

Meanwhile, the transplant, who's used to just jabbering away to kill time in a waiting room or something, with no real intention of being this person's friend or ever hanging out with them, sees this polite, but distant behavior as awkward and somewhat rude.

It's almost like there should be a preamble: Hey, you know, I can tell by your complexion and those glasses that you're from here -- feel like B.S.ing for a few minutes while we wait for the bus? I have no intention of ever getting to know you but I'm pretty bored with just staring off into space as you seem content to be doing.

The locals have this stereotype that everyone from out of town is so in their faces over the top obnoxious and desparate to be their friend when, in reality, they're probably just bored.

Meanwhile the transplants, who start to feel discouraged stop even trying to initiate casual conversations after a while and bring their iPod and a book along to keep themselves occupied.

Now, I don't care if it's actual natives or people who migrated here from California, or who's to blame for it, but there's really an anti-social vibe to the NW that throws enough people off enough to have someone (probably and self-obsessed native) coin the phrase "Seattle Freeze."

Also, what's with this whole image conscious defensiveness if someone, especially an out of towner, says something about Seattle? It's not like they were talking about you personally.

Or were they?