My "Seattle Freeze" Rant (Tacoma: fit in, houses, neighborhood)

[AmFest]

Originally Posted by Guineas

Hit the nail on the head. Solipsism is right on. For those of us older, just try to remember who in college were the hardest to impress or carry on a conversation with without being constantly judged, and you just got a large portion of Seattle residents.

Can't reply to this yet because I'm busy reading on what solipsism means.

[folkguitarist555]

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/solipsist

http://thesaurus.com/browse/solipsism

[Interpol76]

The constant flakiness, fakeness, insincere, close-mindedness (yes, close-minded), freezy thing that people have going on here is just something you have to get used to. It is a bizarre social climate that took me a while to get used to (I still don't think I'm fully used to it yet, in all honesty). My best advice is not to take people too seriously here. If someone says to you "Hey, lets hang out tomorrow night at 8:30 pm at (insert club name here). Just know that is seattleite speak for "Hey, there is a 15-25 percent chance I would like to hang out with you tomorrow night at 8:30 pm at (insert club name here) and I most likely won't even send you as much as a text to let you know I'm flaking". Train your brain not to take them seriously and do not become one of them. Also, look for fresh off the boat East Coasters and Midwesterners that havent been "Seattleized" yet! The coolest people by far I have met here are from those areas of the country where the social climate is much more normal.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Interpol76

The constant flakiness, fakeness, insincere, close-mindedness (yes, close-minded), freezy thing that people have going on here is just something you have to get used to. It is a bizarre social climate that took me a while to get used to (I still don't think I'm fully used to it yet, in all honesty). My best advice is not to take people too seriously here. If someone says to you "Hey, lets hang out tomorrow night at 8:30 pm at (insert club name here). Just know that is seattleite speak for "Hey, there is a 15-25 percent chance I would like to hang out with you tomorrow night at 8:30 pm at (insert club name here) and I most likely won't even send you as much as a text to let you know I'm flaking". Train your brain not to take them seriously and do not become one of them. Also, look for fresh off the boat East Coasters and Midwesterners that havent been "Seattleized" yet! The coolest people by far I have met here are from those areas of the country where the social climate is much more normal.

Sorry, folks, but this flakiness thing is one thing I never ever ran into in Seattle. Freeze, yes. Depressing weather, check. Populations of sleaze where none was expected? That, too. Flakiness? Not at all. Not once.

[folkguitarist555]

Seattle invented the term 'flake', in my opinion. Might have to be a single male in Seattle to comprehend this term a little better though. It was mind numbing to me all the flakiness, and idiosyncratic social bizarreness I experienced in Seattle, it was rather traumatizing to be frank, on a soul level. But that would depend on if one were a more gregarious, warmer, and non-superficially friendly soul, I guess, versus a more reserved, introverted, sort of soul, I guess. Which is why the Seattle experience can differ. Out of all the years in Seattle, even though there are many transplants, about 95 percent of everyone I met or had discourse with, were all from WA. At the supermarkets, the gas stations, bars, nightclubs, and the department stores, and etc. They all seemed to have the very same, reserved, non-gregarious, aloof "not really into interacting" sort of personality. The only person I ever recall who was heavily outgoing, ultra warm, joking all the time, ultra social, funny, personable and charismatic, was some dude who worked in the meat dept. at a local supermarket and he happened to be from Rhode Island. Oh, there was another person from Texas, that I met, real colorful, lively social type soul.

I oft wondered why so many folks around western WA feel the need to get all tatted up and pierced up, on the outside, to display some sort of uniqueness, or to show the world, via exterior body markings and ink, how colorful, and extra-ordinary and unique they are. Yet I pondered that maybe they are somewhat void on the inside, and therefore, need to paint up their outsides. Just a perception I had. Ahhh, and that lovely, robotic, soul-less, term..."witty banter". Glad to never have to hear that term again in my lifetime, hehe. Despite all that, I still think of Seattle as a beautiful, great larger city and hard to beat, and think the neighborhoods are nice, and that nature, is second to none, just about.

[Cinema Cat]

Originally Posted by mak2675

I love the architecture ... you gotta appreciate the forwardness of the architecture here too - the modern homes, ... the widespread use of glass. I love the condominium development around the Space Needle.

There's much I like about Seattle, but not its architecture. At least not the newer buildings. So many ugly, skewed boxes, with garish colors. Buildings that look like cubist paintings, or something from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

It's not the sort of architecture that will wear well. Like 1970s fashion, modern Seattle architecture might seem trendy and hip today, but will look ridiculous in a few decades. Blight to be condemned and razed to the ground.

Quite unlike such classic, long-appreciated architecture as those 1930s Art Deco buildings in New York City, Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Miami. Those buildings are keepers.

Your comment surprises me, because I thought that Seattle was famous for its ugly architecture:

How Long Will Seattle's Ugly Townhomes Last? • Seattle Bubble

http://cheap****condos.com/wordpress/

[dicecobb]

Originally Posted by starrider434

Seattle invented the term 'flake', in my opinion. Might have to be a single male in Seattle to comprehend this term a little better though. It was mind numbing to me all the flakiness, and idiosyncratic social bizarreness I experienced in Seattle, it was rather traumatizing to be frank, on a soul level.

Traumatizing is accurate. Nearly 6 months later, I'm still recovering. Seattle is a nightmare for a highly sexual heterosexual single male transplant. Add average height, average degree, dark skin and he becomes invisible a la Ralph Ellison's novel.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by mak2675

Ya, but my connection is not to the people of Seattle. It's Seattle itself. I love the architecture combined with the urbanity and nature. You just can't beat it man. As a Chicagoan, you gotta appreciate the forwardness of the architecture here too - the modern homes, the Space Needle, Seattle Public Library, the widespread use of glass. I love the condominium development around the Space Needle. The new Amazon biosphere things looks crazy cool too (hopefully they can get their drone delivery system started up in Seattle soon too).

OMG, the architecture was one of the worst aspects of Seattle! Though I was focussed mainly on the cheap cr@p residential architecture than the public buildings. (Yes, the Space Needle is nice. The most graceful of its kind, worldwide, imo, fwiw.) Most of the residential architecture looks like it was slapped together by contractors, no architects, no design, involved. Some neighborhoods were clearly created by real estate developers who hired a guy to create blocks and blocks of almost identical pseudo-"tudor"-style homes, or whatever style they thought people wanted.

If you want good architecture, stroll around the east side of Berkeley, CA. I'm sure others have their favorites to suggest as well. But it ain't Seattle, that's for sure! Though the UW is nice, I must concede.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Sorry, folks, but this flakiness thing is one thing I never ever ran into in Seattle. Freeze, yes. Depressing weather, check. Populations of sleaze where none was expected? That, too. Flakiness? Not at all. Not once.

It's more like this commercial, which has to based on some convo somewhere in Seattle:
At Sprint, Everything's Important - Probably Not, But Maybe Commercial - YouTube

People just don't say yes or no. Then even if they say yes, odds are still iffy that they'll show up (they don't let you know if they aren't coming after all). Kind of annoying, really. I think it's an age thing. There even was a blog article in the Seattle Times/PI that talks about the Seattle "No" (where basically if a Seattleite gives you a slow yes or "reluctant" yes then it really means no), which personally I thought as dumb drivel because it doesn't excuse the rudeness. But I do see that played out in real life... as it is, I simply learned not to get mad, and only focused on people who I know would give me an answer and honor it.

That said, I, like the other poster, am amazed that after meeting someone in an elevator and inviting them... and then they actually show up-- to me, that's definitely a testament to the OP's social skill. Unfortunately, he did end up appearing clingy (with the follow up texts) which is a huge no-no here.

[JRittle123]

I moved here from the east coast too. I honestly haven't really noticed a seattle freeze per se... but i did notice that people out here tend to be way way more passive and socially awkward.

I have experienced too many instances where I would meet someone for the first time (could be at work, a friends house, etc) we would hit it off well and have friendly conversation. Then the next day they would act like we never met and would be very quiet, cold, and passive unless I would initiate something first.

Back east, I was always known as a rather introverted shy type.... ever since moving to WA, I'M the one doing most of the initiating. This is NOT a region of the country full of leader type personalities. It takes some getting used to. It can either make or break you.