Friday, February 18, 2005

Double Take on the Day

(Hums... double your pleasure, double your fun...)

Hi guys. I'm back. Had about ten minutes before I go to lunch. Not enough time to do anything productive, too much to sit on my hands. SO, you lucky devils get to hear from me again.

I am pondering the difference between small town life and city life. There are things to recommend each. Since I've lived in three different sized burgs I figure I have a little perspective.

SMALL TOWN

+ negligible commute time
+ negligible traffic
+ generally lower cost of living
+ quiet.
+ lower crime rate.

- BORING. (Sorry guys, you can only make so much of your own fun. Trust me on this).
- Everybody knows EVERYbody's business. What they don't know, they guess. Badly.
- Not a lot of selection on available romantic partners. Which means that at a certain age the town starts to look like a square dance where half the people have switched partners.
- The sidewalks roll up and everything except the quickie economarts and fast food joints close at 9:00. Even fast food joints close at 11:00.

CITY

+ 24 hour pretty much everything.
+ Lots of cultural and fun opportunities.
+ WHOO HOO, let's hear it for local bookstores.
+ An airport.
+ Variety of restaurants of all economic levels.
+ The occasional people who really DON'T CARE what you're up to and who you're up to it with.
+ Actual diversity. Really.

- Traffic. Commuting. UGH.
- Noise, pollution, (and did I mention traffic?)
- Cost.
- Paranoia about potential romantic partners. (Nobody's more paranoid than a city dweller who has been repeatedly burned. Nobody.)
- Actual crime, including gangs, robberies, burglaries etc. (Drugs are everywhere, they don't really count.)

I enjoy both. I really do. The tricky part is, wherever you go, there you are. Most people bring their problems with them. And there are gossips in the city (they're just more spread out) and there is crime in the country too. But based on my experience (admittedly limited) both have their ups and downs.

Ah... ten minutes up. Lunchtime. Later.

6 comments:

Yolanda Sfetsos said...

Jim,

I'm so sorry about your friend, please accept my condolences. And also, I wish the best for your dad's surgery and follow-up surgery.

I hope everything gets better for you soon...

Get well!

... and keep popping by here, I really enjoy how the three of us communicate via Cie's blog! :)

Yolanda Sfetsos said...

Hey Cie!

Love your entries... I've never lived in a small town, it's always been suburbia for me... though during the last seven years or so I've been living much closer to the city. Our suburb is only about 20 minutes (give or take, depending on traffic) from Sydney!

I agree with not understanding people. I don't get why someone would waste their time just to post negative or offensive comments on someone's blog, guestbook, mailing list or message board. It doesn't makse sense. And as for people being jealous of others' achievements, there's too much of that going around. Way too much.

Well, thanks for asking about my arm Cie! It's much better now, believe it or not. The burning/aching sensation from the inflammed tendons was pretty bad during the weekend and beginning of the week but by the time painting came around it was better.

It still hurts because this is something that flares up on and off but the painting didn't affect it. Maybe it's because hubby took the brunt of the work!

Anyway, you have a wonderful weekend - you too Jim - and I'll speak to you soon.

See ya... :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Cie,
I recommend you move to the suburb of a big city, that way you get the best "pros" of both worlds and you avoid the bad "cons" of both worlds. The suburbs rock! Happy weekend!

Hi Yolanda,
What a sweet post you wrote, thank you! I hope your arm gets better quick. I like posting here with you too! Happy weekend!

Jimbo

Anonymous said...

Hi Cie,
I recommend you move to the suburb of a big city, that way you get the best "pros" of both worlds and you avoid the bad "cons" of both worlds. The suburbs rock! Happy weekend!

Hi Yolanda,
What a sweet post you wrote, thank you! I hope your arm gets better quick. I like posting here with you too! Happy weekend!

Jimbo

Anonymous said...

Hi Cie,
I recommend you move to the suburb of a big city, that way you get the best "pros" of both worlds and you avoid the bad "cons" of both worlds. The suburbs rock! Happy weekend!

Hi Yolanda,
What a sweet post you wrote, thank you! I hope your arm gets better quick. I like posting here with you too! Happy weekend!

Jimbo

Anonymous said...

Argh, sorry about that, the blogger software doesn't like me, on the "post a comment" button and the "login and publish" button, it just creeps along really slow and takes like 5 minutes to get to the next screen, so I get impatient and click on the button to do it again and sometimes it works out o.k. and sometimes it prints my post more than once, opps!
Jimbo