WE GOTTA GET OUTTA THIS PLACE

Danielle and I bought a house in Springfield, MA in November 2009. Thanks to the lovely free money the government gave us (the first-time homebuyer's tax credit of $8,000, the only good thing George W. Bush ever did) we're now chained to this house for another year-and-a-half since you're required to stay in the house for three years or pay the government back. We're not stupid enough to give them money back so suffer we shall. But once we're off the hook...

Plain and simple, Danielle and I hate it here. Sure, we're probably in the nicest part of Springfield, but that's like saying the nicest part of a dirty asshole is the part that's on the periphery of the shittyness. And Western Massachusetts is one big asshole. There's nothing about this area that we can't find elsewhere in New England and, frankly, anyplace we head towards is going to be (a.) quieter, (b.) cleaner, (c.) more friendly, (d.) less likely to have murders/crackheads/shitty police in it, and (e.) closer to the things we enjoy being at, like the ocean, the woods, the mountains, my family, etc.

Question: do any of you wish you lived someplace else and, if so, where? Why aren't you there already, you lazy shit? Have you ever been to that place? Protip: it has to be a place that really exists.

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I wish I were back home in New Brunswick. I just came back from a little over a week there, and it was like tearing myself a new one coming back to Montreal. Back home, I can sit in front of the house and not see a car go by for 15 minutes at rush hour. In Montreal I see ten people when I go out for a smoke at 4AM.

But I came here for postgraduate studies. And I'm getting the fuck out as soon as I am done!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I've often contemplated New Zealand as a possible area to move to, strictly because its climate is that like Oregon and the IT job market is apparently pretty awesome over there. Plus NZ has one of the best economies right now. Don't get me wrong, I love Oregon, but the US in general is sometimes an annoying place to live. Plus, the current house I'm in I'm none too fond of, but the rent is cheap. I'm hoping to buy a house sometime in the near future though.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I pretty much hate Los Angeles; the only good thing about it is the diversity of food places to go out to. While I'm "close to the beach" if I leave any time after 9 AM to get there I'm stuck in traffic for two hours on the way, and then there's no parking available.

I'd like to live somewhere with four seasons, since fucking hot with smog and hot aren't seasons. I'd be pretty happy to move back to a mid-Atlantic state since that's near the rest of my family and has weather I like.

Part of me would also love to live somewhere like southern Utah where I could just get enough food/supplies to last me a week or two and just have peace and quiet without dealing with anyone the rest of the time.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

While I am afraid of the cold, (been there in early April and was still COLD AS FUCK HOLY COW) I'd like to live in NYC. I'm looking into grad school and I definitely have a special draw to the city. Love the fact that food-wise it's as diverse as LA can be, and public transportation is pretty cheap, from what I remember.

I wouldn't think of it as a permanent move, but it's definitely worth considering for me as a place to live a little and study.

I was speaking idiomatically.

NYC is absurdly expensive (minus the train). But gas, tax, rent is all quite high. And it's definitely not quiet. Certainly has a lot of culture, food, arts though. To be honest, I can't really imagine Danielle or Chris living here =\

I'm thinking more Portland, Oregon or Seattle, Washington area better suits them. Also the suburbs around San Francisco are nice. Although I think Danielle and Chris are East coasters at heart, I couple years on another coast couldn't hurt.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

How'd we get drawn into that discussion? O_o

I've always thought of myself as a New Englander, though the reality is growing that I feel as though New Hampshire or Maine will be where we stay. We have been talking about doing a Northwestern road trip along the same lines of the one we're doing in a couple weeks, to possibly see Crater Lake NP, Olympia NP, Mt. Rainier NP, Seattle, Portland and Vancouver. I can understand how one might think we'd fit in there.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Hyde

To be honest, I can't really imagine Danielle or Chris living here =\

Yeah, me neither. Not sure why you'd think we'd want to live there, though...?

My ideal is not the ideal of Chris's either, and I want to take a moment to define my own desires:

I want an old New England farm with at least 10 acres of land. Room enough for chickens, a milk cow, maybe a pig or two. I want the peace and quiet of nature but I also want easy access to civilization when I need it. I wouldn't wander much further than 2-3 driving hours from Boston. I'd have a lot to learn before I attempted the lifestyle I want to live, but I'd be happy to give it a go.

I don't want to look at a clock all the live-long day, and I want to be more in touch with the seasons and the land. If I could find a way to work from home (which I think I may be able to manage at some point in the future), I can make this happen. But I doubt Chris would want to live the minimalist, self-reliant life I want to lead. I'd be most eager to raise my kids in this way.

I don't envision myself anywhere but New England, but I would definitely humor places like the American northwest and maybe the wilderness of Wyoming and Montana. I dream about Alaska. But none of these places would feel quite like home like New England does to me.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

White flight!

How ya doing, buddy?

I don't have any lifelong dream city, but if I move out of here, I'd like to go somewhere where there were a lot of people my age. If not a big city, then at least something bustling, and with something to do. I don't want to be stuck in a no-name, no-job hamlet.

I'd probably go somewhere where the weather is a bit more mild, but still has distinct seasons. And jobs, of course. It's depressing when everybody you know is losing their job, or has lost their job for some time.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Hmm, I'm the kind of guy who doesn't really like to stay in one place for too long. But if I'm going to move somewhere, hopefully it'll be somewhere similar to Fredericton, New Brunswick. Except near the ocean. Right now I'm living in Fredericton and finishing out my 3D animation course. Good city, not too big, a decent amount of variety in just about everything. The amount of fast-food places here is insane.

But yeah, since I don't like staying put, if I have to move, it'd be to someplace more like Fredericton, NB.

How ya doing, buddy?

I split my time with my favourite city, Montreal. But in a perfect world, that split would be Amsterdam/Montreal. As to why I don't live there full time? School. When school is done, it will be full time. I'm also really fond of Saint Petersburg and Prague.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Chao_Zero

Hmm, I'm the kind of guy who doesn't really like to stay in one place for too long. But if I'm going to move somewhere, hopefully it'll be somewhere similar to Fredericton, New Brunswick. Except near the ocean. Right now I'm living in Fredericton and finishing out my 3D animation course. Good city, not too big, a decent amount of variety in just about everything. The amount of fast-food places here is insane.

But yeah, since I don't like staying put, if I have to move, it'd be to someplace more like Fredericton, NB.

I love Fredricton! I grew up in Saint John, which has some charming things about it but is kind of dirty and smelly due to the refinery & pulp mills. Fredricton (and to a lesser extent, Moncton) always seemed greener and more pleasant... despite lacking the ocean.


Right now: I'm working on getting out of eastern Washington and headed to Portland, I hope. It'll depend on whether I get one of the jobs I'm interviewing for.

I was speaking idiomatically.

given that I am short on time I will answer this post with a haiku:

hong kong in one month

town neighbours with sass after

want some free lasers

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I had no clue that there were so many Atlantic Canadians on the board.

I'm home in Halifax for the summer and I'm not a fan. It's nice in the summer and the people are probably the most genuinely nice you'll find just about anywhere. At the same time it's small, isolated and content to be left in the past. There's no future here and it almost seems like people actively try to keep it that way.

I go to school in Philadelphia. It's a really cool city and I like it a lot, but I don't plan on staying after graduating. Chances are I'll end up in NYC, which is alright with me even though I find the city kind of exhausting and overwhelming. I think I'd ideally like to end up in the Bay Area or maybe even southern California.

FELIPE NO

I love where I live and having been to a whole bunch of other places, I'm convinced that this is where I want to live.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Everyone knows how much I want to get out of my hometown... at this point I'd settle for just getting out of my parent's place, even if it did mean hanging around Meriden a little longer. When I was just out of college, my ideal spot was NYC, and I was convinced that I'd be there within a few years. Well, the job market sucks, my degree sucks, and I'm poor, to put it all out there, quite bluntly. So I haven't gotten there.

Since graduating, I've actually found more of a liking to the Boston area, surprisingly enough (although their taste in baseball teams IS questionable I kid I kid). I think I would enjoy living somewhere outside of Boston but still close enough to grab the T into town if I needed to. It has been seriously tempting, since a few of my best friends live/work there, my best friend from childhood included, and she's said she knows some head hunters who would have a field day with getting me a job there.

The main thing keeping me here: money. Money and loans. Between my student loans, vehicle loans and insurance, and just general bills, I'm barely able to save anything, and thats with no rent.

I'm also struggling a little bit with another big part of my life: my boyfriend. He doesnt want a long-distance relationship... and he also doesnt want to move anywhere when he's not sure he can get a job (worried about me supporting him for a length of time, for fear of the strain it could put on the relationship). We've discussed it in the past, so once I have a bit more money saved up, it might be time to discuss it again.

How ya doing, buddy?

So, I did get the job (R&D, wooo), and am moving to Portland. I was super excited.


... and then my husband said he doesn't want to leave his job until he has a new one in Portland. Something about not wanting me supporting him. So I'm moving without him for now.

I do not like this, but the new job pays roughly twice as much as my current one, and we have student loans to pay off, so it's the only reasonable course.


(Also... that is the first time I've seen this auto-sig.)

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At the moment I'm technically living in two places, one being Chester and I'd be glad to be shot of it asap. It's a Tory-majority city which gives it a hoity toity wankerish air (reading local newspaper's letter pages makes me very angry), it has no music scene to speak of (used to be one pub that was awesome but it's changed hands now), the only really novel things about it are the Roman and Tudor influences on architecture (only complete set of Roman walls in England and the Rows for shopping) and that loses its allure after 21 years. Plus I have personal reasons for wanting to get the fuck away. I only come back to see friends.

I don't know where I'd like to be as an alternative. At the moment home is rather cornily where the heart is so I don't really care about my surroundings as much as the company I'll have. It would be nice to live somewhere like Liverpool, Leeds or Manchester though, because there's a more vibrant underground music scene in those cities and I'm comfortable with those people. When I have criteria for a more permanent home I'd imagine it wouldn't be city-based.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.