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You noticed that? I could almost jot down the names of the posters that would agree and respond here and we're only missing a few. It's like they were waiting for the chance to weep. This is why we warn newcomers to be careful before coming here. They may love it and never want to leave. Or they could become these people, longing for posts like these to pour their hearts out with bitter sadness.
Ben and Jerry should do a Seattle Freeze ice cream flavor. It would have to be plain vanilla ice cream left out in the open over night then re frozen to 50 below until its hard as a rock. Mmm mmm good eatin.
I too have experienced what you have. I love the city of Seattle, the beauty, and yes even the weather but the chill of people here is what makes Seattle gloomy for me. That said there are a lot of people not from here and I have found friendships with them. So the question is where do you go? California is a financial mess and the rest of the country too extreme in weather for me. So here I stay.
When I went on business trips to San Francisco, I found that their bars were very friendly. They know how to have a great time, and they let it all hang out. Maybe you folks sould all go there.
I am 30 and lived here my whole life. Look outside today, it's in the 50's and raining and technically it is summer. If that is how you'd like to spend the beginning of your summer or 9 months out of the year, sorry it's colder most of the time, and the rest of what's been said doesn't bother you then stay here or move here. I am not sure about the rest of the stuff people are experiencing, kind of sounds like me, not to social to people I don't know, tatted, I am Scandinavian, democratic, and probably more things I skipped over while reading everything. But as soon as I can I am moving, this weather is so depressing that I tend to over look the beauty and positive things about the area. Maybe I'm not social because when I am out and about I don't want to talk to people because I am standing in the rain or rushing from one place or another trying to stay dry. Maybe I am not the only one. Maybe I don't want to talk to people because before I encountered you, a countless number of homeless people asked me for money or I just got out of some of the worst traffic in the country. I think there are more people than just me that really don't like this place and are just plain not happy and project it with the personality.
You make some good points, but you're way off on others. As to the social climate: Yes, Seattle is a VERY liberal city, and if you don't fit neatly into one of the circles of whackjob extremist belief systems, you will likely have a hard time making social inroads within the city. Most of them only preach tolerance and acceptance as long as your "thing" is the same thing that they've got going on for them - they're highly intolerant of anybody who's not just like them with the bicycle worship and the 'save the planet' BS etc.....which is ironic. But that's the key phrase there: within the city. Leave the city and go east, and suddenly it's not so ardently activist blue anymore. My S/O and I have had no troubles building social circles (we don't do well with extremists from either side of the belief aisle) and, not surprisingly, most of those people are from Bellevue, Mercer Island, Redmond, Issaquah, etc. as opposed to Seattle, with some notable exceptions. We've learned to temper our expectations as it pertains to people who live in Seattle, and that's OK. We've come to accept that Seattle is a perpetually "young" city, and as people get older, they tend to leave the city because their views no longer align with the hipsters that think they're a hell of a lot cooler than they are.
On your perspective of dating: Yeah, the dating scene out here is harsh for a single guy. If you're single in this city, I feel for you no matter what your station in life. The overwhelming majority of single women I've come across in this area (and a good chunk of the non-single ones) have some sort of misfire going on, there is some serious female damage out this way. And I've still never grasped why it is they almost universally think that they're a lot more "all that" than they are. Maybe it's because they're outnumbered by 50,000, I don't know. But I know I'd hate to be single in a city where they perpetually think they're hotter than they are, smarter than they are, and classier than they are. I cringe every time a buddy regales the tale of a date gone bad: a woman thinks that just because she's moved up from Starbucks barista to sales rep at Nordstroms that suddenly she's entitled to some $100,000 a year software dev at Microsoft because now she's a "professional". Working in construction, I can see how you'd think the dating scene is a completely lost cause. Most of the people I work with are only one step away from that, and they're actually targeted by the area's women.
The last bit I'd touch on is your perception that if people aren't extroverted and gregarious that there is something wrong with them or "something is amiss". That's the problem with you extroverts - you think everybody should be extroverts. There's nothing wrong with being introverted, you just don't know how to interact with them. The thing about being in a city with so many brilliant introverts is this: If you can't stimulate them intellectually, we're going to dismiss you. We don't like "white noise" like extroverts do. We don't speak just for the sake of having something come spewing out of our mouths. That's what many extroverts can't understand. It's not that we're not friendly. And it's not a "it's not you, it's me" sort of thing - it really is you. We stop talking because we've disconnected from the conversation, as what you're saying doesn't interest us. That's all that is.
Funny because I do just the opposite. I tune out idiots that only talk when they think they have something earth shattering or unbelievably intelligent to say.
Frankums I will turn this subject back to Seattle in order to not derail the thread. We in Washington are looking at allowing gay marriage. A right that doesn't affect anyone that isn't gay and just let's those that are live their lives. It is supported by numerous local companies including Microsoft, Starbucks, Boeing, Google, etc. who feel that legalizing gay marriage is good for business and good for recruiting, giving them access to the best talent. Gay marriage advocates gain corporate support - Abby Phillip - POLITICO.com
There are those who want to restrict a right which, if they are not gay, does not affect them. It is interesting that a group would want a law limited to a segment of people and say this segment cannot do something. I would call that legislating intolerance. If the justification is "religious freedom", where is the line on that? Are there laws pitting Hanukkah against Christmas? If you do not eat meat based on religious reasons are there laws requiring restaurants to offer a vegetarian alternative? If you are not religious, are there laws saying Bibles cannot not be in hotels? Why take a group of people and say we want to create laws that apply only to them? I would like to think it's generational and will age out over time.
As for Occupy, they were protesting over the bailouts which benefited the banks at the painful cost of some individuals. They felt it was all too passive, that no one was giving a voice to those that were harmed while the banks were given billions and suffered no loss. Did they go too far in some instances? Sure, it's was a bunch of individuals. Did Tea Party people go too far many times such as when they jeered a man sitting on the ground with Parkinson's disease? Yes. You can make cases for both.
Well Seacove, marriage is not a right, it is a responsibility, or at least it used to be, or a conditional alliance, and usually, just a nasty habit people condone because they've been told they must do it to be accepted. It was a religious ceremony that used to solely commit heterosexual pairings to a family line and make righteous their relations and their children in the eyes of society and whatever god one claimed to praise. I find it funny that Seattle wants to change the laws to favor an institution that quite honestly means very little outside of the consecration of benefits, tax breaks and societal confirmation. Love has very little to do with marriage, even amongst the heterosexual population today, no matter what is believed. Now I know you will take the high-handed approach, so how about this: Do you feel that Chanukkah and Christmas are one and the same? If so, should they be merged into one holy sacrament the way Jesus' and Mithras' birthday have been for 2,000 years? Would anyone notice or does shopping in December trump the whole endeavor? So the path for modern marriage is lain and good riddance.
You see, 'marriage equality' is not a right, it is pandering politics dressed up in emotional sentiment crafted to make guilty those who are against it for whatever reason. Same-sex marriage has no historical precedent, no tradition, no culture to draw upon: there is no basis for it but what is known is held up as example. Am I against it? No, I think it is silly beyond the demand for rights and privileges and (ugh...) even tax breaks. But the fact that you are unabashed about how this buzz-phrase is "Good for business"... Well! Welcome to the 'love boat'- ignore the dysentry! In my mind marriage of any sort will someday soon be frowned upon and those who commit it will be forced to wear a scarlet "M" without the referential, frenetic societal hatred. Its time has come and people have finally realized that a more tempered approach to relations won't require a rubber stamp from the community or the government. It is sad that homosexualists must take some steps back to reclaim their dignity and that a vile disease brought them to that point. BTW, I do hope you congratulated the Cheneys today and wonder if you can even acknowledge why and to whom you should thank for these new 'rights', already granted, and that will someday soon be granted nation-wide. You may be surprised how much the liberal 'progressives' have switched roles with their 'mean' counterparts and are being baited for the switch.
And the 'Occupy' movement? A farce that exploded in the face of any of its supporters. It wasn't meant to, surely, but these days people are tired of those who whine about injustice when in reality the real world is imperfect and unfair. One could just as easily say the same about the upkeep spent on those too tired too work at the querulous age of 22 and get all envious of the 'man'. Of course, Seattle has a hard enough time forgetting about Boeing's profitable defense contracts so the usual inflation behind the true meaning of the public park squatting was on par for the course. You should thank the Clintons, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and the numerous libs who bought houses and apartments on cheap loans to make a profit off of them as well: they are just as irresponsible as those "too big to fail", by ways of their knowingly profittering legislative acts done for the 'common good' if not the financiers.
The point, proven by the poseur-poser-posters going on about self-inflicted lonelinesss in the misty Emerald City? That these sorts of parodic episodes is the real turn-off to Seattle and those living here with axes honed. They aren't very funny, they reek of that Seattle collective cronyism that permeates through the mold and clouds so close to the ground the folks here think they can touch Heaven. Childish much? You certainly hold no superiority with all that oxidized armor. It isn't even the har-har of an in-joke as it is more a celebration of a dour, fading age whose time is running out and left a byzantine mess behind on so many fronts to be 'felt' through by a dumbed-down generation ripe for harvest.
But here is the biggest factor as to why I left Seattle........the social climate...I found most people in Seattle (the locals from the area)......to be very civil, well-behaved and polite enough, but nearly impossible to get to know. Seattle in my view, is a very elitist city, a smart, highly educated populace more or less. For me, it was much too elitist. Most people I met immediately longed to know what you do for living. This was imperative to most the people I met over the years I spent there. As if not much else really mattered much to them. I went through the experience of being shunned tons of times due to this because I am in construction and not some Microsoft software developer or something. Also, with a huge Scandinavian influenced culture and heritage, I found most people to be too leery, too uptight, unenthusiastic, and very fickle in regard to the cultivation of new friendships.
If you are more passive, want to be left alone, don't care to make many friends, are reserved, and like life that way......yes, then Seattle is a great city for sure.
You should know 1) Seattle is not that smart, even those who are in college. Fact is, most Seattleites have nothing but politics in their heads due to the perpetually incensed adults who need to feel morally and intellectually wiser than those who merely toil for profit. Seattle is ABOVE profit as it is demeaning and impinging upon freedumb, freedumb to be badass and smug from... like, all that. Magazines run articles to attract certain types needed for commerce and so does Seattle. They lie, always, and 2) Scandinavians simply are not Italians. They are aloof, socially dull and prone to alcoholic/narcotic indulgence, frowningly being themselves while being 'themselves' and will only notice someone if they have to. They give out Nobels and believe in faeries, too. Try to study the less official Seattle history, if you care, and you will know what I mean. Often times, favorite past-times indicates popularity of certain behaviors. I don't believe most Seattleites know the difference between asocial and anti-social.
Frankums, what started this discussion was intolerance and I used gay marriage as an example because it applies to Seattle.
A conditional alliance is probably as fair a definition of marriage as any and if gays want to be married, why not? It's not going to affect me. Laws that restrict access to marriage in order to not offend a certain group while causing harm to another group makes no sense. The gays I know are corporate, they work and live their lives. If large local companies that drive the economy for this area see it as "good for business" and say so publicly, it's probably because they came to that conclusion based on recruiting employees that see no basis for the restriction.
If you're not against it, I'm not sure why you went to the trouble of such a lengthy response, especially if you're comparing marriage to dysentery. I didn't congratulate the Cheneys because I don't know them, but it's funny that as conservative as Cheney is known to be that it affected his own family.
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I could almost jot down the names of the posters that would agree and respond here and we're only missing a few. It's like they were waiting for the chance to weep. This is why we warn newcomers to be careful before coming here. They may love it and never want to leave. Or they could become these people, longing for posts like these to pour their hearts out with bitter sadness. 
I didn't congratulate the Cheneys because I don't know them, but it's funny that as conservative as Cheney is known to be that it affected his own family.
