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Yes, and if they had an a**hole contest, Seattle would win hands down every time.
I've loved our 17 years in Seattle but we will be moving to San Diego next month. The weather does leave a little bit to be desired. The past year has been particularly bad. We're moving back to SoCal primarily because it is where our families are and, now that we have kids, that becomes more important. But Seattle has been a great place to spend the past 17 years.
As far as the people go, we have always felt that, in general, people up here are very friendly. But how many people have we met? 1000? 2000? 5000? Considering there are 2.5 million people in the metro area the fraction that we have met is pretty small. I don't know how anyone can credibly make such broad, sweeping generalizations about such a large group of people with so many different backgrounds.
VeronikaW, you have spent the past year posting about how much you hate Seattle. If I had to guess, I would say that if your real life personality is anything like your online personality, that you may in fact find that Seattle people are rude and standoffish. I know you're miserable in Seattle, but can you imagine how miserable your husband must be?
I've loved our 17 years in Seattle but we will be moving to San Diego next month. The weather does leave a little bit to be desired. The past year has been particularly bad. We're moving back to SoCal primarily because it is where our families are and, now that we have kids, that becomes more important. But Seattle has been a great place to spend the past 17 years.
As far as the people go, we have always felt that, in general, people up here are very friendly. But how many people have we met? 1000? 2000? 5000? Considering there are 2.5 million people in the metro area the fraction that we have met is pretty small. I don't know how anyone can credibly make such broad, sweeping generalizations about such a large group of people with so many different backgrounds.
VeronikaW, you have spent the past year posting about how much you hate Seattle. If I had to guess, I would say that if your real life personality is anything like your online personality, that you may in fact find that Seattle people are rude and standoffish. I know you're miserable in Seattle, but can you imagine how miserable your husband must be?
There is a whole 60+ page thread on the Seattle message board about how the "Seattle Freeze", it's obviously not my imagination or just me that experiences it.
You know nothing about my personal life, but I'm glad you feel so superior as to try to make it sound as if you do, and that it must be miserable for the people around me. You should stay in Seattle.
I know that you've spent the last year telling anyone who'll listen how unhappy you are. And instead of trying to be happy, you'd rather blame your unhappiness on an imaginary geographically induced personality disorder infecting 2.5 million people. I'm only making an educated guess about your husband.
I know that you've spent the last year telling anyone who'll listen how unhappy you are. And instead of trying to be happy, you'd rather blame your unhappiness on an imaginary geographically induced personality disorder infecting 2.5 million people. I'm only making an educated guess about your husband.
An uneducated guess about my husband. To presume you know anything about the personal life of someone on a message board is ignorant to say the least. I don't think I've ever once posted that I'm unhappy here. I think I've posted that the people suck (but I suppose it's just my imagination that when I greet my neighbor he grunts at me, or that when I smile at random people in the mall they sneer. I must be delusional). Your argument might be valid if I were the only person to express having the types of experiences that I've had, but if you've read the Seattle Freeze thread, you'll know that I'm not.
Did you ever think maybe I vent on a message board, so I don't have to vent to my husband? Did you ever possibly consider that maybe this is an outlet, and that I don't spend every moment of every day complaining about living in Seattle? No, of course not, because everyone on the internet is exactly the same as they are in real life.
Oh, and my husband and I are so unhappy that we're expecting our second child, and just happily celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. We're miserable.
Wow. I feel like I really need to comment here being a resident of Seattle. First of all, we're a little confused by this Seattle Freeze theory. I hear people complain about us like we're the rudest people on earth. Please....I have to ask these "traumatized victims" of the Seattle Freeze, what were you expecting? Were you expecting to make best friends in 6 months time? That's unrealistic.
Here's the thing you need to understand about Seattle.
1) We live in some of the crappiest weather in the country. Naturally, this creates a cocoon effect where we would rather remain introverted and keep within our hard-earned circle of friends. However, once the sun comes out in the July-Sept months, we all come out of our shells.
2) Most of us are highly educated and very liberal. We sit down and brood over important issues over a cup of coffee with an elitist flare. I'd put our intellectual conversation skills up against any other large city in the nation. Portland, OR is probably at the same or higher liberal value as we are. The point is, I think more educated people tend to be more independent by nature. We have our group of friends and our own interests. Adding more friends to the picture requires more time and we're picky about who we hang out with. I'd rather deal with real people in Seattle than the plastic, "$40K millionaires" of Southern California.
3) Seattle prices are equal or just below those in SD. Gas costs the same. Homes cost the same. If you want to compare the highly desirable neighborhood of Carmel Valley or RB with neighborhoods of Bellevue/Lakemont/Issaquah/Sammamish, you'll find very similar sticker prices (600K-900K for a new tract home). Granted, Property tax here is less (~1%), and there's no state income tax, which puts 9.3% back into your pocket. So, Seattle is still a bit cheaper, but is still well beyond what is reasonable. The trouble is, prices aren't plummeting now like they are in SD. Blame this on the local economy. Lots and lots of high tech jobs.
If you can't make friends in Seattle, it's probably because the people in Seattle don't like you very much. We're picky. We don't like fake personalities. We don't like how people from Cali have moved up here and drove up all the prices. We don't like right wing conservatives. We HATE Hummers and SUV's! If you fall into any of these categories, you will have a hard time.
I say quit complaining about the Seattle Freeze. It's bogus. Rather, it's more valid to focus on real issues like the miserable weather and high cost of living, and rising energy costs. The people here are smart and polite. If you're a kind and easy going person, I don't see why you would have any problems making friends. It just takes time.
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
8,299 posts, read 13,943,413 times
Reputation: 8094
Quote:
Originally Posted by sdurbanite
As if the social misfits of Seattle would even want to come out of their homes to compete in any of the games you listed above. I bet they'd be more comfortable engaging in serious game of solitaire, instead of having to interact with another human being.
I'll have you know that we social misfits rarely play solitaire, but are more often found hunched over laptop with a maturing cuppa lukewarm joe on the side, whether it be at home or glaring suspiciously at passersby from a sidewalk cafe.
I see that I've mentioned the burbs in my other post ...... most of the posters here seem to be responsible family people who have to live in the suburbs, but I doubt I'd want to live in Seattle if I were stuck out there. I'm only interested in the core areas of the city itself. I think of that as being the International District up north to Green Lake, out east to Lake Washington and University District, out west to Alki and Magnolia.
Outside of that core is "dragons be here" territory, although it turns out to be less interesting than dragons.
There are always good places to go and fun things to do in Seattle proper, things that just aren't available in San Diego - all you can do down there is go shopping, go drinking, or go to a crowded ethnic restaurant that is usually some variation of Mexican.
In Seattle, one might scamper around Downtown barking at strange people ..... or dwell moldering in a Capitol Hill kaffeehaus with an espresso drink strong enough to stand a spoon up, watching wrinkles form on the back of your hand and the hair at your temples gradually turning a distinguished-looking grey .... or handfeed the seagulls at Ivars until your fingers turn into a bloody pulp ..... or feed the feral bums in Chinatown ..... ride the escalator in the Downtown Library sticking your tongue out at the faces .... or poke a stick into the racoon lairs at Discovery Park until they growl in a thoroughly outraged way .... or stand shivering at Alki Beach checking out the cute chicks standing shivering bundled into their layers of purple Polartech with an outer shell of black-and-yellow REI Goretex.
An uneducated guess about my husband. To presume you know anything about the personal life of someone on a message board is ignorant to say the least. I don't think I've ever once posted that I'm unhappy here. I think I've posted that the people suck (but I suppose it's just my imagination that when I greet my neighbor he grunts at me, or that when I smile at random people in the mall they sneer. I must be delusional). Your argument might be valid if I were the only person to express having the types of experiences that I've had, but if you've read the Seattle Freeze thread, you'll know that I'm not.
Did you ever think maybe I vent on a message board, so I don't have to vent to my husband? Did you ever possibly consider that maybe this is an outlet, and that I don't spend every moment of every day complaining about living in Seattle? No, of course not, because everyone on the internet is exactly the same as they are in real life.
Oh, and my husband and I are so unhappy that we're expecting our second child, and just happily celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. We're miserable.
Congratulations on expecting! Seattle is a great place to raise kids! I'm also very relieved to hear that you were just pretending to be unhappy. I'd really hate to think of a child being brought into the world under such unhappy circumstances. Well, gotta go now. I've got a lot of sucking and sneering to do...
Wow. I feel like I really need to comment here being a resident of Seattle. First of all, we're a little confused by this Seattle Freeze theory. I hear people complain about us like we're the rudest people on earth.
Here's the thing you need to understand about Seattle.
1) We live in some of the crappiest weather in the country. Naturally, this creates a cocoon effect where we would rather remain introverted and keep within our hard-earned circle of friends. However, once the sun comes out in the July-Sept months, we all come out of our shells.
2) Most of us are highly educated and very liberal. We sit down and brood over important issues over a cup of coffee with an elitist flare. I'd put our intellectual conversation skills up against any other large city in the nation. Portland, OR is probably at the same or higher liberal value as we are. The point is, I think more educated people tend to be more independent by nature. We have our group of friends and our own interests. Adding more friends to the picture requires more time and we're picky about who we hang out with. I'd rather deal with real people in Seattle than the plastic, "$40K millionaires" of Southern California.
If you can't make friends in Seattle, it's probably because the people in Seattle don't like you very much. We're picky. We don't like fake personalities. We don't like how people from Cali have moved up here and drove up all the prices. We don't like right wing conservatives. We HATE Hummers and SUV's! If you fall into any of these categories, you will have a hard time.
I say quit complaining about the Seattle Freeze. It's bogus.
You pretty much exemplify what people are talking about. You wonder about the "myth" of the "Seattle Freeze" yet admit you are introverted people that only stick to their small circle. You mention you are "elitist" and "picky". How does this not exemplify the "Seattle Freeze" theory??
So basically it seems that unless you are liberal and share the same exact values and opinions as other liberals then you won't be accepted or liked. WOW, what "diversity" you seem to crave and how "open minded" and "tolerant" you are....... I'm not conservative but man that is a pretty hypocritical and JUDGMENTAL mentality there.
I don't really have a negative or positive view of people in Seattle, but your post sure did give me the negative aspect of SOME of the people there.
San Diego is great, it's so awesome, everyone here is a real brainiac. When I hear them talking they are always discussing such important topics, like the marine layer, and how crowded the beach was today, or how warm and sunny it is.
That's why I'm moving because the level of intelligence is way to high for me here.
I need a lower class of people so I can feel good about myself. It must be something about the surfer dude, beach bro, blonde BMW chick, culture that just draws in all the smarties!
You think discussing politics, how much people hate Bush, how stupid anyone who doesn't think like you are, how great and intelligent oneself is, etc...is any better?? That whole "intellectual" scene can get pretty old and tiresome and frustrating when it's with a bunch of arrogant, self righteous psuedo intellectuals that have too high an opinion of them self. I grew up in the SF Bay Area and honestly it's like one giant ideological circle jerk in some areas like Berkeley.
I've heard what you're saying about SD before, the people are not intellectual and don't care about important things, etc.... While on the SURFACE there is some truth to that, there are plenty of well educated people you can discuss important issues with. But what I love about SD is people don't obsess over them like they do in other areas. People know how to have a good time and enjoy life here, which is what I like. We don't obsess over trying to solve the world's problems on the local level. We don't waste a $1,000,000+ dollars a year on foreign policy issues and get absolutely no result besides self satisfaction like Berkeley does.
San Diego has a good mix of people overall and pretty much any type of personality is out there, like pretty much ever other place.
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San Diego has a good mix of people overall and pretty much any type of personality is out there, like pretty much ever other place.
Exactly. Just like Seattle.
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