Where do you live and how do you feel about it (poll)

[Tyo]

Small town life just doesn't work for me. I've tried it and I feel confined and restricted. I love the outdoors, but that's different. My ideal living situation is a nice loft in a nice "culturally diverse" urban neighborhood.

However, I'm fascinated to hear the stories of gays who do find small town life comfortable and rewarding. On the other hand it makes me sad when people feel trapped no matter where they happen to be living. I have a friend in that situation and it's not good.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. suburb of Chicago. Distant one, a good 45 minutes with no traffic

Yet, the forest preserves are spitting distances away, and easily accessible. The lots are large, the neighbors private, yet friendly. No crime, and having no kids I know of, I don't care about the skules. I work out of my home, and between my studio and my library, I am a happy camper.

It is both small town and large city, because I maintain and use my memberships to the Art Institute, the Field Museum and Science and Industry. Plus, blues, jazz the Lyric Opera, the Symphony and free concerts at Grant Park cannot be replaced by anything, not with Chicago's great lakefront.

Food? Hell, you can get any kind of food, handmade, in most places. A great sushi place is 15 minutes away, and they happen to be my clients. A brazilian steak house, mexican (no, not taco bell) italian, Russian, Swedish, French, Ethiopian, South African, Portugese, Polish, Lithuanian, German, Russian, Chinese, Indian, Paki, Thai, Korean, oh, yes, and the world's best Pizzas are all in the Chicago Area.

and the art galleries?
the sports teams?
the political corruption as a spectator sport?

WE GOT IT ALL and peace and quiet.

[undergroundpanther]

2. I hate this town.

I grew up here. I spent a large chunk of my life desperately trying to get away from here. Once this place was all was woods fields and little dinky stores,If you wanted a mall you'd have to cross the county line and hit Golden Ring. Not anymore, we have a few malls all with the same old shit as the others have. It is very boring typical suburban town built around the car, and so it's a hellhole. I don't drive. Walking ANYWHERE in this town takes alot of time. The bus here is crappy it works from the mornings to 5pm. If you want to go out at night you can't .The bus route cycles are TWO HOURS long. So, no matter what if your appointment goes overtime you will wait in the cold or heat often standing, no shade.( idiot business assholes don't want any benches around for scary Homeless to sleep on).Because most people here DRIVE DRIVE everywhere and there are alot of big honking SUV's too there are aggressive stupid drivers galore so I gotta really watch my ass when I go out.There are Mc Mansions galore ticky tacky houses new and cheap built with NO TREES on the lots and they sell to people who freak out if a deer gets in the yard, and who blithely toss big mac wrappers out the window like pigs..and they are RUDE.And bigoted.And thier snotnosed kids are too much like them, the ones who are not dreaming of moving to Fells point or Towson.

This town is designed for well off white conservative tight ass straight christian people, who are drivers and raising kids.If you don't fit that demographic you don't exist.If you are a white soccer mom and father with a income of at least 75,000 and kids you want to rescue from the city(read black people)you'd Love it here. And when those kids become teens they too will hate this place. Long for the city where there is something TO DO and interesting things going on.
Bel Air IS the City of Demons.
http://www.deater.net/weave/jc/belair.html

Me, I can't stand it here.

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. Seattle is nice and all, but...

I would rather have a nice, homestead type of cabin in a mountain town, with enough neighbors not to be lonely but rural enough that I could grow most of my own food.

[Tyo]

4. But you're TechBear!

Where's the tech in a homestead cabin? Are we talking off-the-grid solar or what?
What about highspeed internet? I'm confused. Did you finally just have enough? :argh:

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. Oh, I'd still be connected

I'm just tired of the crowds, the pollution, the litter, the noise, and everything else that goes with living in a big city. And, it would be nice to be able to earn a living from actual craft rather than as a programmer; the idea of actually having something there at the end of the day is appealing. But until I can get enough money to buy a few acres and quit my current job, I'm kind of stuck. Maybe, if I'm really lucky, I can semi-retire in about 20 years.

That doesn't mean I'd give up my internet. How else would I be able to get free porn? :rofl:

[Tyo]

6. Well okay. You did have me wondering there for a while

Don't want to be cut off from the visual stimulation.:P But I'm thinking you'd find yourself a hunky WoodsyBear for those long winter nights :7

[Kahuna]

7. City girl here. Even though I feel like a prisoner because of the

high crime issues I love living in a progressive state/region (northeat NJ) and the easy access to the arts and culture.

[DemKR]

8. Live in a (decent) town in Illinois

But I want to live in the city. After I finish college I certainly will.

[mondo joe]

9. I'm in Seattle and love it. But as I get older I wouldn't mind a property in a

more rural area - for weekends, not all the time!

The internet makes a big difference. I can see even retiring to a less urban setting, as long as I have the internet with which to remain connected.

[MadBiologist]

10. Other...

I am...strange...

I simultaneously love and hate city life. I live in Tempe, and while I love people and my friends, I secretly loathe civilization and many of the things it represents.

I suppose the optimum balance for me is living in the city, working and teaching at a university with regular several-month long constitutionals into the wilderness for field work. Which, by the way, is exactly what I plan on doing.