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The Bay Area is pretty cut up too with the bay and mountains, its not one big mass and never will be. Whats your goal then NYC or LA, or will you go overseas to live in a mammoth city? Tokyo would be fun for a year or two....
I suppose all I really want is the hyper-intense feeling of where I lived when I lived overseas and started actually "remembering" things. It was wall to wall, typically 8-stories till the eye could see. News paper companies, Sony, dentists, tutors, restaurants, little grocery shops all scattered around in "renovated for special use" units in the 8-story apartment complex, so on in a very "unorthodox" type of zoning. On the roof, pigeons and couriers, telegraph machines in a terrace den, going anywhere would be a mass flood of people, so intense that if you're traveling with someone you could lose them. Lots of lights and sounds and just so much going on that it's incomprehensible to even fathom taking the surroundings all in. Street food vendors and shops, thousands and thousands of them, typically really loud and noisy areas where people would be flocking to like moths to a flame. Large skyscrapers to the back and the ocean-front, in between it, lots and lots of packed shops of every type and background, each street corner feeling vastly different then the next. Lots of performers and talent on sidewalk corners, misplaced historical statues or monuments, literally all over, it's like "where's Waldo" sort of thing, except with amenities, except with so many incomprehensible things. Traffic circles as sharp as the razors at the bottom of the blender, going in as treacherous as speeding down or getting out, mass volume of traffic but a park and vendors in the middle of it all. Unlike America, no traffic lights to caution and lanes as "optional". That massive city feeling, like how the night casts such a large shadow over half the world.
Not an aim for anything that extreme, Mumbai as a metropolis above 20 million stays above a density of 80,000 people per square mile, all over. That's a bit too extreme, for this American, and it is a real push-comes-to-shove sort of place. Not to mention, the bulk of it is third world.
I think New York is pretty much it, in the United States. I have more modest fall-back preferences too; Toronto and Chicago. Smaller towns with merits for what I like; Washington, Miami, and Vancouver. If I could conjure up a chance and learn Korean or Japanese then Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Busan could be in the mix. Otherwise London, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Manchester, Liverpool, so on. If I had to leave the country.
Before dying, would like to experience a modest sized outpost out west; Tucson, Denver, and San Diego. Would complete my life experience, at least.
Last edited by Trafalgar Law; 12-30-2013 at 06:07 PM..
Haha, its apparently big enough to send shivers down the spine of the Chinese govt, which was my point.
Well it's good that the Bay Area can take the delegation in China hostage. However China's not really the antagonist to us. We owe them money, they will wait patiently until we pay them back, probably with interest.
World's commerce and the economies of both countries lend us more a sibling rivalry with them than a real competition. Like the way the 50 states compete for resources and talent.
Both the Chinese and American governments are full of enough clown shows. Watching the news off Capitol Hill in Washington on CNN is like the newest episode of battle-of-the-hicks.
Well it's good that the Bay Area can take the delegation in China hostage. However China's not really the antagonist to us. We owe them money, they will wait patiently until we pay them back, probably with interest.
The Chinese have no choice but to wait because that's the nature of bonds. Its not charity, they buy bonds and are repaid with interest. And by the way, foreign countries dont own the majority of our outstanding bond debt, the American people own themselves own the vast majority. Thanks to grandmas everywhere. lol
The Chinese have no choice but to wait because that's the nature of bonds. Its not charity, they buy bonds and are repaid with interest. And by the way, foreign countries dont own the majority of our outstanding bond debt, the American people own themselves own the vast majority. Thanks to grandmas everywhere. lol
Well to tie all this into one of these three cities.
I'll go with personal experience. Immediate ones, it's been less than a day since I got here but the degree of foreign interest and investment is staggering. I've seen those signs around certain properties probably exchanging hands right now in Palo Alto earlier this morning, and just seems like the Bay Area's at the point where it's an investment zone. I know New York's been that way for a while now too. I have to say though, the Bay Area this time since my last stay here feels different, it feels like one big chinatown out here.
Other thing I noticed is that Full House makes a helluva lot of sense right now. That Danny, Jesse, Joey all 40-something-middle aged dudes weirdly living in the same house raising some dudes three daughters is like the sort of bond your San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland are. I suppose that makes Berkeley, Palo Alto, and Napa the DJ's, Stephanie's, and Michelle's.
Congratulations on 1980's - 1990's family comedies.
What's going on in Chicago these days? Has the possibility of relatively cost of living for amazing urban amenities incubated anything interesting recently?
I suppose all I really want is the hyper-intense feeling of where I lived when I lived overseas and started actually "remembering" things. It was wall to wall, typically 8-stories till the eye could see. News paper companies, Sony, dentists, tutors, restaurants, little grocery shops all scattered around in "renovated for special use" units in the 8-story apartment complex, so on in a very "unorthodox" type of zoning. On the roof, pigeons and couriers, telegraph machines in a terrace den, going anywhere would be a mass flood of people, so intense that if you're traveling with someone you could lose them. Lots of lights and sounds and just so much going on that it's incomprehensible to even fathom taking the surroundings all in. Street food vendors and shops, thousands and thousands of them, typically really loud and noisy areas where people would be flocking to like moths to a flame. Large skyscrapers to the back and the ocean-front, in between it, lots and lots of packed shops of every type and background, each street corner feeling vastly different then the next. Lots of performers and talent on sidewalk corners, misplaced historical statues or monuments, literally all over, it's like "where's Waldo" sort of thing, except with amenities, except with so many incomprehensible things. Traffic circles as sharp as the razors at the bottom of the blender, going in as treacherous as speeding down or getting out, mass volume of traffic but a park and vendors in the middle of it all. Unlike America, no traffic lights to caution and lanes as "optional". That massive city feeling, like how the night casts such a large shadow over half the world.
Not an aim for anything that extreme, Mumbai as a metropolis above 20 million stays above a density of 80,000 people per square mile, all over. That's a bit too extreme, for this American, and it is a real push-comes-to-shove sort of place. Not to mention, the bulk of it is third world.
I think New York is pretty much it, in the United States. I have more modest fall-back preferences too; Toronto and Chicago. Smaller towns with merits for what I like; Washington, Miami, and Vancouver. If I could conjure up a chance and learn Korean or Japanese then Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Busan could be in the mix. Otherwise London, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Manchester, Liverpool, so on. If I had to leave the country.
Before dying, would like to experience a modest sized outpost out west; Tucson, Denver, and San Diego. Would complete my life experience, at least.
That gives some context if you are from Mumbai. I couldnt take a place like that for very long. A happy medium is workable, but for the most part Americans like houses with yards and stores with lots of parking.
Singapores got a lot going on, not interested in going back?
No.
Lots of theaters, shopping, dining, outside food promenades, and stuff like that. It's got it's own cultural amenities, some of which are amongst the best in the world, such as theater, symphony, and opera and their venues. The city's backbone is life on the streets by feet and rapid transit, MRT. It's nearly inexpensive and pretty efficient. It's also got a nice blend of urban ethnic enclaves as well; some Dutch, English, Chinese, small Italian, Malaysian, Indian, Indonesian, Thai, so on. Has the amenities expected of a high-income world city, the under water aquarium, the Marina and Bay, the F1, so on. Lots of sports culture and sports there, it's not inconceivable for a Lakers fan such as myself to meet several others there. Great urban parks. Nice urban trails. Probably my favorite climate.
Problem is, like I said, it's the Chicago of Asia. It's big, yeah, good enough as a safe bet and a fallback option. However, it's not nearly as in-depth of a place as a Tokyo or Seoul, just like Chicago isn't more so than New York. Both Chicago and Singapore, their attractions are more or less for those that live there or in the general region/country. They're also a pretty stellar couple of cities for those on business/leisure travel. Major headquarter cities. The amenities are terrific and they're great cities but there are just places that dwarf them like New York. They are second bests. Also all people ever want to do in Singapore is shop. Shop, shop, shop, shop, shop. It's a bit predictable and it's a "status first" sort of place, not that this is bad though. Usually people hire maids and drivers to accompany them on the shopping.
Also I don't believe in repeating. Wouldn't live anywhere I already have, Chicago and Singapore are out.
Last edited by Trafalgar Law; 12-30-2013 at 11:40 PM..
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