9-5-13 Why Week, Part 3

[Niveous]

QotD: Why do you live where you do?

My family is from Panama and decided to come to the States before I was born. They settled down in NYC. So, I grew up in NY. But there was a chunk of my life where I moved away from the Empire State and opted for NJ. I often look back at that time as a mistake of epic proportions. I have never loved being in NJ. Even with going there every single week of my life, the two hours or so that I spend there feel torturous. I enjoy NYC's pace and the feeling that if I need or want something, I can probably find it and find it fast. If I needed to buy guitar string right now, I could walk 5 minutes and get a pack. If I wanted to see a flick, I could be at the movie theater in 10 minutes. If I wanted to see a Picasso today, I could choose from a couple of places and be there in a short subway ride. NJ always felt so lonely to me, even while living in a college town like New Brunswick.

Then of course, there's the matter of Jill. I met my fiance over three years ago. I fell head over heels in love with her and before I knew it, I was spending 4 days a week in NYC, barely seeing my apartment. I never had much love for NJ no matter what part of it, I lived in. I was in a serious relationship. I was working in Manhattan. But there was still one matter...well two, my kids. Those 3 days a week I wasn't living in NYC, I was living in NJ seeing my kids. They had already had to deal with their parents splitting up, now I was considering making the gap between the parents houses from 1 neighborhood to 1 state.

In the end, I decided that it could probably be good for the boys as well if they got a little of the NY experience into their lives. And thus, Jill and I took the plunge and moved in together in wonderful Sunnyside and I haven't regretted the decision. It's got that NYC speed that my life needs right now. My kids have enjoyed being able to have so many different experiences and I hope when they are ready to leave the nest, they can deal with anything now that they have dealt with Suburban life on one hand and gotten some city dirt under the nails on the other.

Do I think I'll live in NYC forever? Probably not. But for where I am in life, at this moment, this is the place for me.

[fluffy]

I like Seattle.

[Paco Del Stinko]

New England is great. It has a little bit of everything: City, country, ocean, mountains, four distinct seasons, you name it, baby! God save the Commonwealth, as they say here in the great state of Massachusetts.

[Billy's Little Trip]

qotd: I was going to write a story about how I ended up living where I am, but as I started forming an outline in my head, it kept bringing up too many sad memories. Good ones too, but sadness trumps, so I couldn't get past them at the moment. Maybe some other time.
So, we moved from Ohio to California when I was 11. My life changed dramatically. It turned out fine. I have a great family of my own.

[roymond]

Fourth generation NYer. I like it here. These are my people. I'd like to live in SF or Hawaii or (this week) Amsterdam. But it would take an extraordinary situation to make such a change.

[RangerDenni]

I live in Austin because of my family. I could live anywhere else, personally. I have no attachments to anything but them.

[HeuristicsInc]

I moved from Buffalo to Williamsburg Virginia for grad school. When I got my Masters I found a job in Maryland, and that was closer to Buffalo than VA was.
-bill