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Gary, IN>>Clearwater, FL>>HOUSTON>>Clearwater,FL>>HOUSTON>>Clearwater,FL >>HOUSTON>>Clearwater,FL>>HOUSTON>>San Diego, CA>>Clearwater,FL>>HOUSTON...something like that...(not to mention numerous cities across the USA and the world I've visited, and fancied myself as a "temporary local type.")
Malvie, you did some living! Which city is the best so far?
You're going to think I'm full of it...but really, Houston.
Why? It has the best COMBINATION of all the things I like, and the negatives are not too bad. Faint praise? Not really.
I love individual things about other places much better.
The climate in LA can't be beaten. Cool, dry most of the year, sunny southern California..."swimming pools, movie stars..." Traffic here is NOTHING like traffic in LA, which approaches total gridlock multiple hours per day; and, of course, it costs 3 times as much to live there.
New York is simply the center of civilized life on the planet. It's by far the coolest place I've ever lived. When you live in New York, you just EXPECT everything to be the best available on the planet (and in a lot of cases, you're right). But, as I've said elsewhere on this forum, you have to be willing to walk from your shoebox/closet apartment with a view of the airshaft (maybe when you get to the million dollar level you can have a decent-sized apartment in a decent area, with a doorman and a super who actually answers when you call...) down the street, getting splashed with slushy black water by the bus as you make your way to the subway stop, where you and everybody else in New York ride the subway to work.
Arkansas is scenically fantastic. The long, low ridges of the Ozark plateau really are majestic. Very friendly people--as long as you were born there, raised there all your life, went to high school with them, and didn't move away. If that applies to you, then you don't live in Houston, but you are accepted by them. If not---they'll always be nice and friendly, but you will NEVER be really accepted.
Minneapolis/St. Paul is also very friendly, but has the same problem as Arkansas; if you're not FROM there, you'll rarely have friends. There are some Minnesotans (like some Texans) who are still fighting the Civil War ("You're from the South, therefore you are prejudiced!" "Who, me? Hey, lady, that was 100 years before I was born, you've got to be kidding!" "No, southerners are all evil and prejudiced." Well, okeydokey, not sure how to overcome that one...). Spring, Summer, and Fall are delightful in Minnesota---all 3 weeks, one week each. The rest of the time, it's winter. I've never been so cold and lonely in my entire life.
I actively hated Nashville. Aside from the above comments about "if you didn't grow up there, they don't want you", I just thought it a pushy, bumptious little town with little to recommend it. I'm not a country music fan, so that was a problem; it's big enough to have traffic jams and urban problems, but too little to have any of the "good stuff" of living in a city.
Atlanta is just far too "Precious". It combines the snootery of Dallas with the prejudice of a small town in Arkansas and Tennessee with the traffic of Houston and no infrastructure (aside from MARTA, the roads are tiny, insufficient, and go nowhere). None of these things stop the Atlantans from having an exceedingly high opinion of themselves and their city.
Dallas, in which I was born and spent the first 6 years of my life and part of my 20's; Ft. Worth, my formative years, teenager; Arlington, later in life as an adult. We've fought the Dallas vs. Houston battles endlessly on here. Bottom line, for me: it really IS snooty there; they are VERY class-conscious and there is a fair amount of prejudice there (I was amazed last week listening to an old friend of mine from Farmer's Branch talking about keeping the "Messkins" out. He means anyone with brown skin and a spanish accent, regardless of whether they're from Mexico or 6th generation Texan whose ancestors fought for Texas Independence. He's a degreed professional, too, not some ignorant redneck. Really? Really? In 2010? That level of prejudice?).
A quick Dallas story: in my younger years, I (like a lot of other people) went to the bars a lot. A friend of mine was -less financially successful- than most of us, but a nice guy, nice person. He managed to snag a Ralph Lauren shirt at a big sale somewhere (this was when Ralph Lauren was still a pretty big deal), and wore it to the bar very proudly one night. Sweet young thing, dressed to the 9's as only Dallas can, walks up to him, looks at this -new- shirt, audibly sniffs!!! and says, "Oh. Last year's stripe!" and walks off. LIKE ANYBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND KNOWS -or cares- WHAT STRIPES RALPH LAUREN IS PUTTING ON SHIRTS??!?! The definition of shallow, but that's Dallas.
So yes, the traffic here sucks---but not as bad as LA. No, we don't have mass transit--but then, I don't have to stand shoved in the subway so packed that my face is shoved into the armpit of a big guy who hasn't had a bath in a week and somebody (who?! can't see, too tight) groping me. Nope, sorry, no mountains in Houston (but we do have a beach!). Is the beach as nice as Florida? Nope. Is my job here nicer than anything I could get in Florida? Yep. I'm sitting here complaining about 50 degree temps (and I guarantee you, if it's still this cold Sunday, the old ladies will be wearing the minks at church), while in Minnesota, they are digging out from 17 inches of snow.
Meanwhile, Houston is the friendliest place I've ever lived. I have lived in my house 3 years and know all my neighbors. NEVER had that ANYWHERE, not even in Arkansas. I'm a white, middle-aged, divorced, moderate-to-liberal, degreed professional male; two of them are white, native Houstonians, one couple is from Hong Kong, one is from the Phillipines, there's a nice older gay couple down the street (they're from Dallas), there are several African American families and Hispanic families on the street; the lady two doors down is 90; two doors the other way is a 30-ish white couple with 2 adorable kids; you see American flags in yards, along with banners from all the Big 12, SEC, and Big 10 schools (mine's Arkansas, GO HOGS! BEAT "THE" OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY!)--we've got the classic "Houston mix" here--and everybody just gets along. The neighborhood is expensive enough that most of the folks here are pretty affluent--all same socioeconomic level--but the colors of the rainbow.
And not one of them knows what "last year's stripe" is.
Germany ->Paris -> Austin -> Houston -> London -> Paris -> Houston -> Hong Kong -> Kuala Lumpur -> Houston -> Sidney --> Thailand -> Indonesia -> Houston -> kazakhstan -> Houston
I am done with traveling where I now prefer to be home with my two little kids. My personal life took first priority now before my career. When career is pushing too hard most likely I will quit, but so far so good.
You're going to think I'm full of it...but really, Houston.
Why? It has the best COMBINATION of all the things I like, and the negatives are not too bad. Faint praise? Not really.
I love individual things about other places much better.
The climate in LA can't be beaten. Cool, dry most of the year, sunny southern California..."swimming pools, movie stars..." Traffic here is NOTHING like traffic in LA, which approaches total gridlock multiple hours per day; and, of course, it costs 3 times as much to live there.
New York is simply the center of civilized life on the planet. It's by far the coolest place I've ever lived. When you live in New York, you just EXPECT everything to be the best available on the planet (and in a lot of cases, you're right). But, as I've said elsewhere on this forum, you have to be willing to walk from your shoebox/closet apartment with a view of the airshaft (maybe when you get to the million dollar level you can have a decent-sized apartment in a decent area, with a doorman and a super who actually answers when you call...) down the street, getting splashed with slushy black water by the bus as you make your way to the subway stop, where you and everybody else in New York ride the subway to work.
Arkansas is scenically fantastic. The long, low ridges of the Ozark plateau really are majestic. Very friendly people--as long as you were born there, raised there all your life, went to high school with them, and didn't move away. If that applies to you, then you don't live in Houston, but you are accepted by them. If not---they'll always be nice and friendly, but you will NEVER be really accepted.
Minneapolis/St. Paul is also very friendly, but has the same problem as Arkansas; if you're not FROM there, you'll rarely have friends. There are some Minnesotans (like some Texans) who are still fighting the Civil War ("You're from the South, therefore you are prejudiced!" "Who, me? Hey, lady, that was 100 years before I was born, you've got to be kidding!" "No, southerners are all evil and prejudiced." Well, okeydokey, not sure how to overcome that one...). Spring, Summer, and Fall are delightful in Minnesota---all 3 weeks, one week each. The rest of the time, it's winter. I've never been so cold and lonely in my entire life.
I actively hated Nashville. Aside from the above comments about "if you didn't grow up there, they don't want you", I just thought it a pushy, bumptious little town with little to recommend it. I'm not a country music fan, so that was a problem; it's big enough to have traffic jams and urban problems, but too little to have any of the "good stuff" of living in a city.
Atlanta is just far too "Precious". It combines the snootery of Dallas with the prejudice of a small town in Arkansas and Tennessee with the traffic of Houston and no infrastructure (aside from MARTA, the roads are tiny, insufficient, and go nowhere). None of these things stop the Atlantans from having an exceedingly high opinion of themselves and their city.
Dallas, in which I was born and spent the first 6 years of my life and part of my 20's; Ft. Worth, my formative years, teenager; Arlington, later in life as an adult. We've fought the Dallas vs. Houston battles endlessly on here. Bottom line, for me: it really IS snooty there; they are VERY class-conscious and there is a fair amount of prejudice there (I was amazed last week listening to an old friend of mine from Farmer's Branch talking about keeping the "Messkins" out. He means anyone with brown skin and a spanish accent, regardless of whether they're from Mexico or 6th generation Texan whose ancestors fought for Texas Independence. He's a degreed professional, too, not some ignorant redneck. Really? Really? In 2010? That level of prejudice?).
A quick Dallas story: in my younger years, I (like a lot of other people) went to the bars a lot. A friend of mine was -less financially successful- than most of us, but a nice guy, nice person. He managed to snag a Ralph Lauren shirt at a big sale somewhere (this was when Ralph Lauren was still a pretty big deal), and wore it to the bar very proudly one night. Sweet young thing, dressed to the 9's as only Dallas can, walks up to him, looks at this -new- shirt, audibly sniffs!!! and says, "Oh. Last year's stripe!" and walks off. LIKE ANYBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND KNOWS -or cares- WHAT STRIPES RALPH LAUREN IS PUTTING ON SHIRTS??!?! The definition of shallow, but that's Dallas.
So yes, the traffic here sucks---but not as bad as LA. No, we don't have mass transit--but then, I don't have to stand shoved in the subway so packed that my face is shoved into the armpit of a big guy who hasn't had a bath in a week and somebody (who?! can't see, too tight) groping me. Nope, sorry, no mountains in Houston (but we do have a beach!). Is the beach as nice as Florida? Nope. Is my job here nicer than anything I could get in Florida? Yep. I'm sitting here complaining about 50 degree temps (and I guarantee you, if it's still this cold Sunday, the old ladies will be wearing the minks at church), while in Minnesota, they are digging out from 17 inches of snow.
Meanwhile, Houston is the friendliest place I've ever lived. I have lived in my house 3 years and know all my neighbors. NEVER had that ANYWHERE, not even in Arkansas. I'm a white, middle-aged, divorced, moderate-to-liberal, degreed professional male; two of them are white, native Houstonians, one couple is from Hong Kong, one is from the Phillipines, there's a nice older gay couple down the street (they're from Dallas), there are several African American families and Hispanic families on the street; the lady two doors down is 90; two doors the other way is a 30-ish white couple with 2 adorable kids; you see American flags in yards, along with banners from all the Big 12, SEC, and Big 10 schools (mine's Arkansas, GO HOGS! BEAT "THE" OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY!)--we've got the classic "Houston mix" here--and everybody just gets along. The neighborhood is expensive enough that most of the folks here are pretty affluent--all same socioeconomic level--but the colors of the rainbow.
And not one of them knows what "last year's stripe" is.
One of the, if not the best and most entertaining and informative posts I personally have ever read!!!!!!!!!! I was just born here in Houston.That was an amazing post!!!!!
One of the, if not the best and most entertaining and informative posts I personally have ever read!!!!!!!!!! I was just born here in Houston.That was an amazing post!!!!!
Well, thanks, that's very kind. Glad you liked it.
Little Caribbean Island---> Orlando-----> St Thomas, USVI-----> Toronto------>Little Caribbean Island------>Houston------> London------->Houston------. San Antonio------->Houston
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