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Do you like where you live?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Andrew99, Dec 1, 2019.

  1. Andrew99

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    Do you like where you live? What do you like about it and what do you dislike about it? Do you feel accepted?
     
  2. Chizu

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    I live in an isolated village where I'm related to basically everyone, and yes, I'm a little bit inbred.
    What I like about my town (or village, or hamlet, or whatever it is), is that it is very beautiful. The landscape is beautiful, that is, there's plenty of not so bonny houses. It can be very peaceful, too. Well, my house isn't always peaceful, since my dogs never stop barking, and my mom has a mental breakdown everyday, but I can go out into the woods and just unplug from the world whenever I want to. Well, not right now, since there's a blizzard going on at the moment, which brings me to what I don't like about.
    The weather can be quite ghastly. Summer is lovely. Some hate the mugginess, but I've grown to love the summer warmth. Winter though turns into a pain once you're old enough to not care for playing in the snow. The winters in the Northeast are quite literally, deadly. In fact, last winter a homeless couple in a nearby small city froze to death while they were sleeping in a tent. Both of them together, in one night, just froze to death. Well, that was dark, kind of makes me self-reflect on what I was going to rant about for my small town. Where was I? Oh yes, what I dislike about it. The entire overall area is just too small for gay dating. You can maybe find guys your own age that are a few hours drive away, but they never want that kind of long distance relationship.
    I don't feel accepted, no, and not just for my sexuality. In fact, I feel more rejected for my own personality than I do for being gay. It's definitely more gay-friendly than the bible belt for sure, but there's still a ton of crap I have to put up with. In my entire region, I tend to find areas of acceptance are more clustered than uniform. Generally, the wealthy areas, like rich college towns, are more accepting. At least in appearance.
    Overall, I feel I would only stay in my area if I had either a loving boyfriend/partner and/or money.
     
  3. Benway

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    I live in an area with serious economic inequality and it's a total financial black hole that costs way more to live in than it should. The public transportation isn't very good and it's full of crime. A meth lab exploded near my house a few years ago. A few years ago there was a heroin raid six doors down from me. I feel financially insecure and I don't know what I'm going to do when my parents die. I might have to pack up and live homeless out west. There are a few homeless camps in my area in the woods of a park, but I don't know much about them. I don't like my area very much, no.
     
  4. musicteach

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    I like where we live very much. It's a very rural a area in the Midwest and our house sits on like 27 acres and we're like 35 minutes from town. I absolutely love it. We boarder a sheep/goat farm on one side so it's nothing unusual to wake up and have random goats or sheep wondering around the yard. Most of the property is woods, although we do have 5 acres of grass that has to b be cut (that's what the house sits directly on).

    Of course it snows here a lot and it's generally milder summers. So if the cold isn't for you, I wouldn't come here. In the winter time you have to plan a bit extra time to go anywhere. It's also not unusual for us to have to go out and clear the driveway of trees during the winter. Of course, having a pickup truck with a snow plow does help.

    The other thing about living here is that you tend to have large regional high schools instead of smaller city high schools because it simply wouldn't make sense. So you have my high school, which has a student population of almost 4,000. But then within an hour either way of us, there's 3 other fairly large regional high schools. And our district bumps up against all four of them. So bus routes and things are a nightmare. But this only really matters if you're a parent or a teacher.
     
  5. OGS

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    I do. I came to Chicago for grad school and just never left. We used to live in the primary (younger) gay neighborhood and then we bought a condo in the secondary gay neighborhood (for gentlemen of a certain age). You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a gay guy here, and I enjoy that. We're in a high rise (which I never thought I would enjoy but really do) overlooking the gay beach. The view's beautiful and it's cozy (some would say small) and it just feels like home. When I walk in it's just my husband and I everywhere, things from our travels, gifts from friends, pictures of family, my father's paintings, my mother-in-law's paintings.

    They call Chicago a city of neighborhoods and it really is true. It's got all the resources of the huge city it is but each neighborhood has its own feel and its own civic life. During the summer there's at least three neighborhood festivals every weekend. There are free movies in the park all over the city, huge series of free concerts and all sorts of other events. It manages to feel like a major metropolitan area and a small town at the same time. I could deal with warmer weather, but other than that I really do love it here.
     
  6. Shorthaul

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    For the most part I enjoy where I live. Lots of out door recreation in every direction for any and every skill level and type. Large enough to have a variety of really good local restaurants along with some chains. But small enough its easy to get around, also not super duper LGBTQ friendly but there are a fair group I would say.
     
  7. Destin

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    I love Florida. So much. I don't think the locals here appreciate it as much as they should. All the locals complain about it being hot and me coming from the frozen tundra of Ohio and the scorching wasteland of Texas am like no, it's not 115 degrees like in the desert so no it's not hot people. There's nowhere in the entire state where you're more than an hour's drive from the beach. That blows my mind still. Even California only has one really long coastline. We have like 5 distinctly different ones in Florida so different even the sand changes colors between east and west. We have not just a few islands, but freaking hundreds. We have the biggest swamp in the United States for outdoorsy stuff right next to the party capital city of this half of the country right next to an ocean, which is just so cool to me. I'm moving to New York City for grad school in a year or two and oh my gosh I'm going to miss the beach so much.
     
  8. Lin1

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    I currently live in the gay capital of the US which is quite lovely, I definitely feel accepted and it's nice to be able to live in some sort of gay bubble I only need to step out of when I feel like it (which is never haha) I get to go to gay events most week and meet a lot of people that way. It's definitely the biggest dating pool I have had which is nice. On top of that the weather is pretty mild all year long so while we do have a rainy season, cold days are bearable, I do miss really warm summers though, especially warm nights as no matter the month here you will freeze waiting for your Uber or lift in the city. The biggest downside remain the cost of life though, if you don't make 6 figures you are likely to struggle which seems crazy to me. Overall though, it's a nice place to live in, if you want to live a very gay life and don't mind the cost of doing so.
     
  9. HM03

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    I live in a small/medium sized city - significantly smaller than Toronto, Montreal etc, but still semi-note worthy. I love how there are actually things to do, but you're never too far from forest or a swimming spot.

    I complain about summer and winter, but I actually love the variation in season we have here.

    The roads, public transport, downtown sketchyness/parking are my main complaints
     
  10. Ten

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    Yes and no. I’m fortunate that I live in an area with a decent economy and job opportunities. Over the last twenty years it has been transformed from a rural area into a pretty nice city. However, it’s right in the middle of the Bible Belt and has a pretty massive generation gap. Most of the people my age are pretty accepting, but the older adults are horrible.
     
  11. I'mStillStanding

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    upload_2019-12-2_8-38-43.gif

    Don’t get me wrong it’s beautiful and all... the swap @Destin is trying to claim for Florida is actually right here at my home in Georgia too and part of my family was arrested and dragged off it when the government took it (my great grandfather) lol. It’s magically. We have beaches, mountains, Atalanta, close to Florida with tons to offer too just like Destin said. I’ve just never fit in here... always felt like I belonged somewhere else and loved when I got to go away for school trips or what ever. It’s like I’m out of step here.
     
  12. DecentOne

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    Yes, I like my work city. Great place to come out, and rainbow flags flying on some houses even if snow falls, not just for Pride in the summer, and LGBTQ hobby groups and MeetUp groups. Great medical care. Lots of art, music, and theatre - some of it free. Public transportation available and usable (though I walk, bike, or use a car). The people here love their grocery store chain, I’m amused by that but indeed I do most of my shopping there too (I’ve been told the dairy isle is a good place to meet a guy, but I’m not in the market so I just keep moving).

    My home city is a great place to raise a family, and feels small enough that you can imagine it is possible to make a difference in trying to fix some of society’s problems. It is where I got involved in community anti-racism work and (as a straight ally at the time) speaking up at the school board to allow a GSA club to start, and getting some kind of Pride day going downtown a few years ago. But it is the kind of place where folks say “we’re only an hour or two from all the great places you’d want to visit!”

    In both places I’ve met some amazing people who did (or are doing) a lot in their lives, which is inspiring.
     
  13. Mihael

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    I mostly like my city, but lack of constructive social life for university students kills me. Economically and job wise my city is fine. Shopping? You can buy anything. Education access? Very good. Hobbies? You can probably find anything you can imagine, from learning Korean to kung fu. The city is large and resourceful. Just the traffic jams are a drawback, I spend two to three hours a day commuting.

    As for university life, there are no clubs or other ways to normally interact with people from university. And every school has the same problem. There is no community. There is just one or two wild alcohol rich parties a year. Same goes for LGBT stuff. There are just gay bars, and since I’m not a drinker, I can’t benefit from those. It seems like here, people still haven’t figured out how to be happy and create a community, instead of just earning money and spending it.
     
  14. LaurenSkye

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    My answer is yes and no. Cincinnati is a decent city. Not too exciting, not too dull. In some ways I think I'm getting tired of it. It does seem to want to cater to the cool kids. City officials won't be happy until every poor, crime riddled neighborhood becomes a hipster paradise. The city may as well write to cool kids a blank check. Because of them we have a streetcar that few people ride and approval to build came at a time of great budget issues. And now they're building a soccer stadium (in a pool, crime riddled neighborhood) because soccer is cool and we have to have a soccer-only stadium to have a team.

    As far as being queer-friendly, Cincinnati is very friendly. I actually live in a nearby suburb that is traditionally conservative and the worst I get are weird looks. The western and northern suburbs are very conservative, I don't go to those very often, but I've never had a problem. The least friendly neighborhoods are the ones that even straight people should avoid. Cincinnati recently got a perfect score from a group that rates LGBT friendliness, and even neighboring Covington, KY got a 94 percent score, up from last year's 74 percent score.

    I would love to live in Chicago, but I can't afford it. I've visited there numerous times as I have family who live in the city. I must say, though I never knew there was a gay beach there.
     
  15. Batman

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    A bit yes, a bit no. In Ontario (and canada as a whole), gay marriage has been legal for quite some time, and is generally accepted. However, I've been living in a particularly historic and religious city for the past few few years. Meaning its not rare to hear people calling others fags and dykes, but walking around an empty mall late at night holding my date's hand, the most we got were some dirty looks. My neighbours walked by open window the other night and commented about how there's way too many queers on our street.

    Plus there's just a lot of crime and drug issues in the area. Looking to move to Ottawa in around six months time.
     
    #15 Batman, Dec 2, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2019
  16. BlueMonday

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    It's okay, I guess. It could use a bit of work.
     
  17. Loves books

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    I live with my parents in a nice bungalow. We live up a mountain and the views from my bedroom window are the things you see on the postcards tourists buy here. Occasionally there is a thick fog where you literally can’t see a foot in front of your face and looking out your window makes you feel like you’re house has ended up in some sort of creepy ghost world. The wind makes weird noises and in the middle of the night the feral cats sounds like a child crying. It rains almost constantly in the winter. I’m lonely I literally talk to no one but my mother. But it could be worse.
     
  18. Ryu

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    Where I live is just fine. Like there's nothing wrong with it, I'm accepted by everyone I'm out too (bar my parents but I'll get on to that), it's pretty rural and I love nature, and getting out in the mornings to walk the dogs is always so peaceful, get away from school and work and the like for a couple hours.
    On the other hand, all my friends live in the village down from me, as does my boyfriend, so whenever I want to see them it's a half hour bike ride which is a pain in the backside.
    On top of that due to the, ahem, reputation, of my friend group, my parents don't like me being out late, especially my mother, so I normally have to be home around 5, getting earlier because it's getting darker, so I don't get to spend that much time with him :frowning2:
    There's also the issue of living with my parents. They just drive me round the bend. Because I only see my bf like once a week I always try to stay over when I can, but normally my parents will come up with some bs excuse for me not to, again, normally due to the reputation of my friends. And to be fair theyre not wrong cos when I do sleep over I normally end up staying out until 2 in the morning getting mega high, but a lot of the time I'd rather just stay in and watch tv, but because I don't get to go out very often I feel like I should make the most of it.
    It's just all rather frustrating really.
    Honestly I can't wait to move out and be able to do what I want when I want, live with my bf, it's gonna be cute.
     
  19. BradThePug

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    I moved to where I am living now because I went to college in northeast ohio. I had planned on moving back to my hometown after college, but I moved to where I am now because my ex lived here. Even though we are no longer together, I still stayed here. It does suck being far away from my family, but I have built a life here and really come to enjoy living here.
     
  20. gravechild

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    Its on the conservative side, has problems with pollution, crime, unemployment, and to someone from a large city, "boring", but things could be a lot worse. The weather isn't too crazy, all my extended family lives here, and we're not far from some major parks. There are probably thousands of similar places across the US and I don't feel a strong need to move far away or anything.