Please don't hate me for this..... (Austin, Spring: apartment, custom home, best schools)

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by love roses

Alot of the homes around Main in RR and in Georgetown central have probably already been upgraded...

And there are plenty of rural areas with scattered homes, and then there's the simple trade-off that people choose to make in order to get an "affordable" home with desired amenities.

While I deplore the working conditions and ruthless profiteering that bring us cheap products such as our DVD players and the computers we're using right now, I nevertheless participate in supporting these processes. It's much the same with housing. Our computers and our houses are mostly full of mass-produced profit-maximizing components that serve our basic needs while neglecting our individuality, the creative process, craftsmanship, or any of those old cherished values that are found in customized hand-hewn products.

All of the above is summarized nicely in this remark:

Originally Posted by timfountain

...you don't like it, fine, no one is asking you to. You WANT to like it because you like the price....

There ya go. We all wish we had one-of-a-kind houses with giant old trees and an interior made of artifacts that have a story behind them other than "imported from a factory in China" ---- but few of us can afford that, so we make our trade-offs and do the best with our choices. The "Faux Everything" amenities of a developer's mass-produced luxury home are often shoddy and cheesy-looking, but if they serve our needs at a price we can afford then it's up to us to make our lives unique and meaningful in other ways.

[jwb123]

The "Faux Everything" amenities of a developer's mass-produced luxury home are often shoddy and cheesy-looking, but if they serve our needs at a price we can afford then it's up to us to make our lives unique and meaningful in other ways.

Well put. And I don't mean to infer my own meaning to it - but plainly, I take this as it's not all about where you live.... and I fully agree.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by Jenbar

...I don't mean to infer my own meaning to it - but plainly, I take this as it's not all about where you live....

That was part of my meaning.

It extends to the way we dress and groom ourselves. If we happen to work in the Insurance industry but we're Marilyn Manson fans, then we find ways to look prim and proper during the week and then we pull out the costumes for the weekends.

That's just another example of a way that we can creatively express ourselves in spite of our having to accept certain standardized aspects to how and where we live.

The poet Gary Snyder made an interesting observation about the people of China after he spent time there in the 1960s. He remarked about Mao's mandatory conformist look that had everyone dressed in proletariat drab clothing, yet Snyder found more unique individuality in the Chinese people than he found in the extreme outwardly "non-conforming" youth culture of California.

Perhaps if Gary Snyder spent some time on South Congress and in Steiner Ranch, he would find more depth of personal uniqueness in the latter. Maybe there's something to the idea that people like me feel a compensatory need to be "weird" because we're terrified of being merely human...

Definitely something to ponder on this muggy Sunday.

[texastea]

Wow, Harvester. Very deep...especially for a muggy Sunday morning ; ) Being in the thick of raising teenagers, what you've said rings true...lots of conformity in that black eyeliner! Weirdness? We all have our armor...some is just harder to see.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by texastea

Being in the thick of raising teenagers, what you've said rings true...lots of conformity in that black eyeliner! Weirdness? We all have our armor...some is just harder to see.

Nice summary. Yes, there's no place where one can see more strict conformity than in the rebellious subcultures that are found in a typical high school. Strict adherence to the rules of one's subculture are essential, and any attempt to be independent in one's tastes and attitudes is ridiculed by the mob mentality.

Yesterday my friend Jerry was visiting and his car was parked next to mine. It was funny because I have a "Keep Austin Weird" bumper sticker and he has a sticker that says "Being Weird Isn't Enough"

He wins. I'm gonna get rid of my bumper sticker.

[texastea]

hahaha...Did you get a picture? That plus your posts, expanded a little, would make a great article or blog!

[tashina]

Originally Posted by CravenClan

And i do not even live there yet, but we live in the desert, Temecula CA, and it is easily over 100....daily, and we are fine with it...

There are days when the sun beats down pretty hard on Temecula, but Austin's heat is incredibly different from Temecula. In Temecula, the heat is generally bad for a few hours in the early afternoon, until the breeze starts blowing. Sometimes it's even hot and dry in the evening and you sit out in the nearly bug-free evening and marvel at it.

The only way I know to compare it is this. In Temecula, run a space heater in the bathroom until it's 90 and run the shower until it's just starting to get steamy. That's a summer morning. Reduce the heat by a couple degrees and you have a summer night. Let out half of the steam and raise the temp to 98 and you have a summer afternoon.

I lived in Temecula for 2 years and I don't feel that I ever really felt heat until I got to Austin!

[texastea]

That sounds more like Houston to me But I guess it depends on what you're used to. Here's the weather now: (Humidity is 58% and notice the low's in the 60's this week!)

Austin, Texas (78701) Conditions & Forecast : Weather Underground

[OneDayInSomewhere]

This is one subject I have never really understood. I think it all comes down to personal preference and what you prefer for your family. I love the neighborhoods like this because I feel it would be better for me with a child. There are almost always the mom/pop shops around, even in the cookie-cutter 'burbs. You just have to look for them sometimes. If this is something that you don't like, there would be no reason I could give you that would "make" you like it.

A home is what you make it....it's not the brick and paved sidewalks outside. If you must settle for one of these houses, make your home decor reflect the artist/musician lifestyle. That way, once you get through the "insanity" of a planned neighborhood, you can open the door to your own little paradise that reflects you and no one else.

[zllw4]

I don't see any reason why people talk down one or the other (DT or Burbs). One of the great things about the USA is that we all have the chance to live where we want. Some like Downtowns, some like Mid-towns, and some like the 'Burbs, and some like small towns or farms. I say live where the amenities and attractions fit your lifestyle...