My thoughts after leaving (Dallas, Arlington: school, college, place to live)

[Acntx]

Moderator Note: Everyone needs to calm down and keep the discussion on topic. Thanks.

[Katana49]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

It was Katana49 that derailed the thread bringing up a post that I made a while ago; a post which had nothing to do with this thread.

I didn't derail the thread, I injected some honesty into it that was lacking from you. I quoted what you said previously because it has EVERYTHING to do with this thread.

You come up with a pros and cons list (which was laughable, as I pointed out early on, for disliking DFW for the cost of housing vs Chicago) and just decided not to mention that the only reason you had such negative feelings for DFW was due to your salary and your job.

They're your words, not mine. As I said before, there are plenty of legitimate gripes about living here. Yours? Not so much.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by Katana49

You are ignoring that the OP flat out said that if he made more money, he'd have been happy here. The entire point of this thread was comparing pros and cons of living here... while the OP neglected to mention his earlier epiphany that, gosh, you know what? This would be a pretty good place to live if only he made more money!

But as usual, you just like to argue and get off topic.

My post was referring to your point that DFW is hard to beat if one has a good income. I am simply responding by saying that it totally depends on one's lifestyle preference. If the things DFW is good at are what matters most to a person, sure. But there are plenty of reasons one may care a great deal about things DFW can't offer. A person with a good income may very well prefer to have less disposable income and live in a smaller city, a place near mountains, a place near the beach, a place with a larger, dense urban lifestyle or any number of other offerings. The fact that the beach didn't do it for you doesn't make that false.

You are the one who clearly likes to argue. Your posts consistently show contempt for any view that does something other than praise DFW. Perhaps you should embrace the "different strokes for different folks" philosophy. Hell, the OP started this thread to talk about some positive aspects of DFW that he has recognized since moving away, yet somehow you are responding as though he is being unfairly critical.

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

My post was referring to your point that DFW is hard to beat if one has a good income. I am simply responding by saying that it totally depends on one's lifestyle preference. If the things DFW is good at are what matters most to a person, sure. But there are plenty of reasons one may care a great deal about things DFW can't offer. A person with a good income may very well prefer to have less disposable income and live in a smaller city, a place near mountains, a place near the beach, a place with a larger, dense urban lifestyle or any number of other offerings. The fact that the beach didn't do it for you doesn't make that false.

You are the one who clearly likes to argue. Your posts consistently show contempt for any view that does something other than praise DFW. Perhaps you should embrace the "different strokes for different folks" philosophy. Hell, the OP started this thread to talk about some positive aspects of DFW that he has recognized since moving away, yet somehow you are responding as though he is being unfairly critical.

Pretty much spot on! Heh, I should probably add that to "things I don't miss" -- annoying Texans who can't take any criticism about anything. It's like the opposite in Chicago. People up here are overly critical of the city and state.

Anyways, DFW is a great place to live for certain people, but less than great for others. At this point in my life, it wasn't the right place for me. I'm young, early in my career, and wanted to live a "city style" life. DFW, or really all of Texas isn't the right place for that.

But DFW might be the best place for Bob and Sally who are looking for a nice, safe place to raise their kids.

Career wise, it was the best decision for me to move to Chicago. I work in higher education and the higher education options here are plentiful. Sometimes I still wonder if this will be "the place" for me long term. I had the opportunity to move back to Kansas City, but chose Chicago.

[Annikan]

I love threads like these. So taking it back to the original topic...... I lived in the Dallas area for 12 years, from college all the way through my early 30s. And then my husband was offered a job in NYC and we figured the best time to try a move like that is when you don't have kids, so we jumped on it. And we've been in this area the past 4 years (almost 5 years).


We actually miss Dallas a lot, although I really love where we ended up too. But my situation is super different from OPs was in many ways, and I personally think OP didn't get to experience any of the best DFW has to offer.

Pros: I went to college in Denton, and for me, it was an absolutely ideal college experience. Perfect college town for my type of person-- I was very into the music scene and more artsy stuff, so Denton is perfect for that. Right after college, I moved to Dallas for work and randomly found an old 4plex in Lakewood and spent the rest of my 20's moving around and eventually buying in that area. So my Dallas experience was being able to walk to everything in the Lakewood shopping center, being able to ride my bike to Deep Ellum and everything on Greenville and to my favorite places down in Fair Park--and driving to hang out a lot on Knox-Henderson, uptown, Mockingbird station, etc. Dallas has amazing venues for music and indie movies--the Angelika, Magnolia, The Texas, The village theater--there's another one I'm forgetting right now. Too many great music venues to even write them all out. There are tons of great bars and restaurants, and I found it really easy to meet people and I had a huge circle of friends. In my opinion, there is a lot to keep a young, single person busy in Dallas. There are all the major sports teams.


Only boring people get bored. =)




Cons/:


Obviously, there are some cons to Dallas--you don't get 4 true seasons, Summer is ridiculous and about 8 months long. You have to fly to beaches or mountains (or drive really far). I have a lot of issues with the politics of the state there. Public transport still has a lot to be desired and yes, the metro area is spread out.


Where I live now, I don't need a car (although we still have 2), and most people commute to work on public transportation and it's actually pretty great service. We can leave our house an walk to dozens of restaurants, parks, bars, salons, dry cleaners, supermarkets, etc. When I'm not working, I can go weeks without getting into a car. Manhattan is a mile from our house, with all that offers. We really like the lifestyle here, and we've made a tight group of friends here. But one big tradeoff is that real estate here is hovering around $700-800/sq foot (with outliers on either side), so it's a lot more expensive than Dallas. And I live in an area that isn't even considered good for public schools. So as much as the prices in Dallas have grown in the past couple of years, it's still significantly less expensive. Childcare here is more expensive. Groceries are more expensive. Restaurants are more expensive here. But beaches are only an hour away and there are tons of choices for beaches within a 3 hour drive. Mountains are less than 2 hours away, with tons of choices for skiing within a 5 hour drive or so (All of Pennsylvania, upstate NY, Vermont).


So much just depends on your personality--my husband actually misses driving to work. He would love a back yard (I could not care less). Neither of us grew up in Dallas, so we don't have the nostalgia factor and we both really enjoyed it as a city. But hey, we both love where we lived now, so probably some people are just more adaptable to change.

[Annikan]

Just remembered the other movie theater--the Landmark Inwood. Seriously, how can anyone say "there's nothing to do in Dallas"? Even my friends who are now busy with kids are constantly busy--the zoo, swim lessons, playgrounds and splash pads, language lessons, going to museums, taking weekend trips to other nearby places.

[lepoisson]

Originally Posted by Annikan

Just remembered the other movie theater--the Landmark Inwood. Seriously, how can anyone say "there's nothing to do in Dallas"? Even my friends who are now busy with kids are constantly busy--the zoo, swim lessons, playgrounds and splash pads, language lessons, going to museums, taking weekend trips to other nearby places.

I think we touched on the "there's nothing to do in Dallas" statement in this thread (or maybe another one?). Some folks brought up some good points.

I never had the mentality that there is "nothing to do", but I do believe that it's difficult to find things to do because of how car centric, primarily suburban, strip center based, and spread out the metro is.

In a place like Chicago or NYC, it's easy to stumble across new things to do because everything is right on the street and closer together. And getting to those places is often a quick 15-30 min ride on transit.

[Annikan]

Sure, but living in Arlington (and I realize that's not due to any fault of your own, just job location) is like "moving to NYC" but actually living in...like Staten island, I guess. If I lived in Staten Island as a young single person, I would probably complain a ton about the NYC area--nothing to do, takes to long to get anywhere, everything is spread out. It's all very neighborhood dependent.

If you'd lived in say, Lakewood, like I did. Or Uptown. Or Knox-henderson, you would have found it very easy to stumble on cool things all the time. I used to use Yelp a lot in my single Dallas days, and I was the first to review lots of places because I just stumbled upon them while riding my bike around and stopped the check them out.

[DTXman34]

Originally Posted by Annikan

Sure, but living in Arlington (and I realize that's not due to any fault of your own, just job location) is like "moving to NYC" but actually living in...like Staten island, I guess. If I lived in Staten Island as a young single person, I would probably complain a ton about the NYC area--nothing to do, takes to long to get anywhere, everything is spread out. It's all very neighborhood dependent.

If you'd lived in say, Lakewood, like I did. Or Uptown. Or Knox-henderson, you would have found it very easy to stumble on cool things all the time. I used to use Yelp a lot in my single Dallas days, and I was the first to review lots of places because I just stumbled upon them while riding my bike around and stopped the check them out.

He at least specified where he lived unlike others that are completely vague but chronically negative about the region. At least that gives us some context on how he experienced DFW.

[Annikan]

Originally Posted by DTXman34

He at least specified where he lived unlike others that are completely vague but chronically negative about the region. At least that gives us some context on how he experienced DFW.

That's true. It reminds me that my now-husband first lived in Euless when he moved to DFW. He lived in a older, semi-rundown but very safe townhouse community that was mainly immigrant families. When I asked him why Euless of all places (his job was in Frisco!), he just said he didn't know the area at all and he'd had a cousin that lived in Euless and said it was safe, so he went there first. Imagine in a 25 year old fresh college graduate with no friends in the state moving to Euless. =) =)

Anyway, eventually he moved right off Beltline in Addison and stayed there. He's not even American, but he really liked that area. When we first met and started dating, we were constantly grappling over if I had to go to Addison (ugh, Addison, popped collars, the 'burbs!~~ semi kidding), or if he came to me and I'd drag him to hipstery places like Fair park and the Doublewide.

I do think in the age of the internet, it's pretty hard to not find your scene, whatever it is you're looking for.