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Be bolder. Much bolder. Since it sounds like you have no job anyway.... and if you are looking for a life experience, go broader. Why not try Australia, NZ, Europe or something like that? Be bold, live life. You are young, healthy, mortgage free, kid free, husband/wife free. The world is more your oyster today than it will ever be again in your entire life. Mark my words: the opportunity ahead of you is unique. Be smart about your choices, but be bold - do south africa, or paris, or moscow, or syndey or wellington or whatever, but if you can find a way to do it, go live life somewhere extraordinary for a year.
Agree, the original post is like "okay, I am taking the dive and going to a new GROCERY STORE!!! ". There is no risk or excitement in DC. There is high pay and jobs, outside of that life is very boring.
Go overseas, go do something different (I take my own advice, and just got back from Germany 2 weeks ago).
The only city in the U.S. that is more exciting than DC is NYC. Every other city I've found to be either underwhelming or on the same level as DC, relatively speaking.
I think it's perfectly possible for him to recreate his life here (there). If he follows my advice to live in the outer burbs with a car.
One would have to wonder why he would move here and pay the premium prices to live in this area if he could live the same big box / strip mall life he probably already has in, say, Orlando...
One would have to wonder why he would move here and pay the premium prices to live in this area if he could live the same big box / strip mall life he probably already has in, say, Orlando...
Maybe he got a job that pays more money there, I don't know? My job is to actualize people's dreams, not question them. Everyone doesn't have to live in a cubicle in Eckington to be happy.
My boyfriend and I moved from Florida to DC about four months ago, and we LOVE it. Best decision I've made in years.
I was born in Florida and spent almost all of my life there, and I hear you about the lack of opportunity--I've been to grad school, and was still working as a receptionist. It's so much easier to find an interesting position here. And laugh if you want, but DC salaries--compared to the minimum wage + 10% BS doled out in Florida--are intimidatingly good.
Yes, it's more expensive than Tallahassee, though frankly not by much. You'll see it in rent, and also in groceries and drinking at bars. But it wasn't such a shock. The year I spent not living in Florida, I spent in London. Now THAT'S expensive. Yeah, if you have a chance to go to a foreign country while you're unsettled, you should go. But DC would actually be a great jumping off point for that. You can make good money here to save up for it, be close to a ton of international organizations to help you choose a place, and meet plenty of people from absolutely everywhere to network. Boyfriend and I are planning to head to Germany in about 2-3 years.
Make the jump and come on up here! It's much easier to find a job once you're here. And really, you don't have to live in Dupont to enjoy Dupont. I'm in Columbia Heights, and we walk to Dupont all the time. DC is actually disorientingly compact compared to Florida cities, especially South Florida. You don't have to live right next door to the clubs to enjoy them, and often it's easier when you have a little quiet to go home to.
I heartily encourage any Floridian with the gumption to get out of there, to come to DC! I love Florida, but moving to DC was like having a new lease on life after living in that floundering, stagnant state.
Maybe he got a job that pays more money there, I don't know? My job is to actualize people's dreams, not question them. Everyone doesn't have to live in a cubicle in Eckington to be happy.
Sent from my iPhone.
Your "job" is actually to promote a specific lifestyle every chance you get because you firmly believe everybody should be forced into cars due to your experience decades ago when DC was rampant with crime.
I look at the bigger, more enlightened picture. Many people, especially families with certain needs, are better served living in more sprawling suburban settings (we have no shortage of nice locations of that development pattern to choose from in this area and the Virginia and Maryland forums are here to direct them accordingly). Others, like a young single guy looking to spread his wings and experience a new place and the vibrancy that he witnessed in DC when he visited, is not such a person. He would be bored, paying too much, and not growing at all if he took your advice.
So the underpaid community organizer has an iPhone now, huh?
Your "job" is actually to promote a specific lifestyle every chance you get because you firmly believe everybody should be forced into cars due to your experience decades ago when DC was rampant with crime.
I look at the bigger, more enlightened picture. Many people, especially families with certain needs, are better served living in more sprawling suburban settings (we have no shortage of nice locations of that development pattern to choose from in this area and the Virginia and Maryland forums are here to direct them accordingly). Others, like a young single guy looking to spread his wings and experience a new place and the vibrancy that he witnessed in DC when he visited, is not such a person. He would be bored, paying too much, and not growing at all if he took your advice.
So the underpaid community organizer has an iPhone now, huh?
He stated a preference for keeping the car over dealing with the insanity of Metrobus on a daily basis, I was mearly validating that choice.
There's more to C.O. these days than knocking on doors. I have to organize events like Occupy DC and send out tweets.
He stated a preference for keeping the car over dealing with the insanity of Metrobus on a daily basis, I was mearly validating that choice.
There's more to C.O. these days than knocking on doors. I have to organize events like Occupy DC and send out tweets.
Sent from my iPhone
He can easily keep his car and not be forced to live where the biggest nightlife happens at the 24-hour Walmart. Countless people have cars who live in or near the city.
Yes and actually I'd say that among the people I know in the city 50-60% of them have cars. It is easier to own a car in the suburbs. While not impossible to own a car in the city there are the issues that others have pointed out. Also there are the costs. Insurance is much higher in the District versus Virginia along with higher gas prices.
Also it depends on where works. If a job is in Herndon or Germantown then one might not want to commute all the way from the District. So it just depends.
At the same time there's nothing wrong with choosing to live a car-free lifestyle. I have a friend who finally got rid of his car. It was hardly used and just took up space in an expensive parking space.
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