You can keep your city life!

[EricHill78]

I honestly hate city life I really do. As many as you know I've been here in San Antonio a couple years with my wife and son. It's been good considering my wife's family is here and I found work. Other than that it's been a nightmare to me. The traffic, crime, excessive heat, peoples general attitude. It's a joke. I've tried to make some friends in conversation, at my workplace etc but no go. People just seem artifical to me. A city with over a million people woopdie god damn do. We have the riverwalk and alamo which is neat. Something to visit on vacation but that is about it. Downtown traffic and parking.. fogettaboutit.. It breaks my heart that I have to raise my son here. In a damn apartment I pay way too much for. When i venture out I hear damn air conditioners humming instead of crickets.

Paradise to me is where I used to live, Baldwin county Alabama. Atreyu lives there so he can attest to this. My wife and I lived there for a few years.. My work at the time relocated there so we thought we'd give it a shot. A new adventure. I fell in love. Good honest folks on the most part, hardly any traffic.. great resteraunts and shopping. You drive 30 minutes one way you got a beautiful beach, gulf shores.. Missing the benefits of the city?? Drive 30 minutes west you got Mobile... Drive 45 to an hour east you got Pensacola. Each city has a really neat fair every year. I felt at home there, I felt safe. My wife was pregnant and I was excited to raise my son there! I couldn't be happier. I love south Alabama. It had everything tk me. I wanted to get a house on a good size piece of land. Have bbqs, a nice pool. Take weekend adventures to the beach for swimming and seafood at original oyster house. The dream is gone at the moment. I plan to at least retire there.. at least. I wil be visiting though on the way to Miami hopefully next year. Get to meet up with Ateyu and Veganpunk which is a bonus. Sorry for the rant guys. I just needed to vent a little.

[chadizzy1]

I live in the suburbs, shortly after I won custody of my daughter I bought a little house in the suburbs of the town I grew up in (actually, bought a house in the same neighborhood I grew up in). My town is somewhat small, about 60,000 people now. I like it because it doesn't feel like city - no skyscrapers or any of that, no buildings over 2-3 stories. Very simple hometown feel. I feel secure in this neighborhood.

I'm not all about the city or the country, I find the suburbs of a small town to be a good median.

[heders]

I hear you Eric, and I feel exactly the same way. I'm so glad I live where I live. We have like 1000 habitants here, so it's calm, no traffic, very few cars, lots of nature, sea nearby, fresh air and kind people. And it's pretty close to Gothenburg as well (which maybe isn't a big city like San Antonio, but yeah...).

The worst part is, it's time for me to move out in a few years, and my only option is to get an overly expensive crap apartment in the city. God damn it...

[Frosted]

I hear you. We live in a small 2 bed house in london. It's a nice house though but it costs more than any other 2 bed house anywhere else in the UK and it busts our balls along with the childcare.
The main thing about living in the city is that there's always employment - there's also the benefit that house prices didn't sink here whereas they did everywhere else.

I'm a country boy - I miss mountain walking, fishing etc. but my wife wants to stay here in London - even though she's not from London either.

People in London are rude, but in an odd kind of way I like that. I like being able to tell somebody to go and f*** themselves and know I'll never see them again. I like the fact that if I need anything for the house, all I have to do is go a mile down the road and I've got it.
Since we've had kids we've built up a good friend network - some pretty good people. We've been lucky there. But I personally hark back to the countryside - I miss it.

[c.nash]

...
I don't know anything different... I've been in Miami since I was 3...
I do like the chill island lifestyle, which is where I was born and would love to return to that eventually.
I get away though... My family has had a camp in the middle of the Big Cypress Preserve since the 60s. I enjoy all facets of living.

[Veganpunk]

I live in Baldwin county. Wouldn't really call it a paradise. Really crappy weather. School systems suck. NOBODY hardly ever comes here for shows. It's a little too quiet for my taste.

[Monkey]

I have always lived in the city and can't imagine anything else.

I would freak if I couldn't walk to the store, post office, or, well anywhere.

I hate relying on a car.....

Also, I don't like knowing everyone in town, having less options for work, schooling et al.

But since I have never lived in the country, just visited, I have no idea if I would like it.

[EricHill78]

I live in Baldwin county. Wouldn't really call it a paradise. Really crappy weather. School systems suck. NOBODY hardly ever comes here for shows. It's a little too quiet for my taste.

To me it is bro.. in comparison. I just really liked it there. Try living here for a while lol

[Veganpunk]

I would probably love Cali. I lived in New Orleans for a while, and loved it. Hope to catch you on your way to Miami. (another great city!)

[Roo]

I love city life. Then again, I live in a beautiful city. However, if my choice were between rural Pacific Northwest or San Antonio, TX (no offense Eric), there is no question I would move to the country in a heartbeat.

[Veganpunk]

I love city life. Then again, I live in a beautiful city. However, if my choice were between rural Pacific Northwest or San Antonio, TX (no offense Eric), there is no question I would move to the country in a heartbeat.

I so want to visit Seattle. It just looks like a cool city.

[RobsanX]

When I was little, my grandparents moved to a house on Grand Lake in Oklahoma. Back then the area was one of the top retiree areas in the country. It was rural, but because of the lake, it was moderately populated. Whenever we were out either in the car or the boat, people would wave hi at each other, whether you knew them or not. It was a really nice place.

As the years passed, and the old folks started dying or moving to nursing homes, or whatever the place started changing. Crime and drug use went up, and the houses (most of them trailers) weren't kept up. All sorts of creeps started moving in. Druggies, anti-government types, ne'er-do-wells, and your average trashy folks. It was sad to see the area slip into decay.

We had my grandmother's memorial on the lake shore, only after we cleaned the used syringe's and other litter away. It was a damn shame.

That change really had a profound effect on me. When Obama got into trouble for saying

"So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

I knew exactly what he meant. It was those people that I was just talking about. I call them society's outcasts, and you'll find groups of them all around the country. They think that moving to the country is going to miraculously change their lives for the better. When they find out that their lives are just as crappy or worse than they were before, that's when it really starts to mess with their heads. Many start to spiral down into drugs, crime, domestic abuse, and generally anti-social behavior.

Obviously Eric, I don't know you well enough to make any judgements about your situation, but the reasons you give for wanting to leave the city are very similar to the ones I've heard from the outcasts. I hope that's not the case. We need to keep the good people that we have in this world!

[Mdisch]

The worst part is, it's time for me to move out in a few years, and my only option is to get an overly expensive crap apartment in the city. God damn it...

I'm in the same situation at this point. Live in the suburbs now, and it ain't all that bad, even though it can be quite, well, boring. Also people here in Denmark, aren't actually very open or very "nice", people hardly ever just "talk" in Denmark... That's why we drink so much.

I somewhat like city life(something I have experienced shortly), but my true dream is to move to the country - basically I just love nature and harmony.
I might move north to Norway and live in the beautiful lands up there, or move to The South(U.S.). I have never really cared for safety like most people do, but it might because I don't have any kids or many "loved ones", but I am much more likely to find peace in the countryside than in some major city.

Basically I think we all follow the trend of just wanting to go somewhere else.

[Premium Parrots]

[truthwolf1]

That change really had a profound effect on me. When Obama got into trouble for saying

"So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

I knew exactly what he meant. It was those people that I was just talking about. I call them society's outcasts, and you'll find groups of them all around the country. They think that moving to the country is going to miraculously change their lives for the better. When they find out that their lives are just as crappy or worse than they were before, that's when it really starts to mess with their heads. Many start to spiral down into drugs, crime, domestic abuse, and generally anti-social behavior.

What are you talking about? his slip of a rant was geared towards that Christian or General Conservative majority of most of all of small town America who are not voting for Democrats.

He was just trying to grab support from all the liberal groups who like gun control and see nothing wrong with illegal immigrants running around.