I've had enough of this city!

[bentbulldog]

I wasn't born in NYC but since I was 3 this is the only place I've ever lived and though it's been on my mind for MANY years, lately this city has been getting on my last nerve and I'm seriously considering moving!!

I'm not an urban guy, I'm not into the cosmo lifestyle and I don't like the HEAVY crowding or the every man for himself mentality.

But mostly I'm tired of having to scrape a living to just make bare ends. I will now have to work 70 hrs a week over 7 days at a job that doesn't require the 6 yrs I went to school for, to provide for my half of the family support and as a teacher it's not looking great on her end either.

Then there's the rediculous enforcement laws. I can't smoke in a public park (the one's that have air for the smoke to dissipate into) and there's a cost for EVERYTHING.

I know I just went on a rant but does anyone else in the area feel the same?

Are there any former NYers who've left? What's your xp so far?

 

[beetlejazz]

Can't smoke in a public park??!!

Ok, not gonna visit that city.

 

[DoverPipes]

I'm Northeast of Poughkeepsie right on the CT State Line.
Things are very good up here! :cheers:
Taxes are super low compared to NYC / LI / Westchester County.
I can smoke in most public parks and open areas.
I buy my tobacco out of state, so no worries there.
The only trade of thus far is my 87 mile commute (One Way) to work each day! :x
Other than that, it's pretty nice up here.

 

[Harlock999]

I haven't been back to NYC since the 80's, but I loved it back then, before Giuliani...
Still seedy around the edges, just a blast!

 

[monbla256]

If you can take the heat. come on down here :twisted:

 

[KevinM]

I worked with a fella who described his Lifestyle Iron Rule as follows-- "I won't live somewhere that I can't take a leak in the middle of my backyard without bothering my neighbors." Then again, I ususally had to go to "The City" half a dozen times a year to visit corp HQ, and noticed some of the residents thought nothing of taking a leak (or worse) on the sidewalk. Over thirty years worth of taking the train down there, I never found a redeeming feature in the place. Flee!!!

 

[derrickyoung]

admittedly I have not been to NYC in 13 or 14 years but I used to love it there. I was there every other week for work so I had the luxury of being on a company expense account. I imagine allot has changed as I remember a bar across from my apartment called Beekman Bar and Books. It was a cigar lounge that had a great atmosphere. I would fly into JFK Sunday night drop my bags and then zip across the street to the Beekman with a handfull of cubans I had brought with me.

As much as I loved NYC and my time there I live 2 hours north of Toronto now and hate everything about the city and the life that goes with it. My kids have been raised to think a 3 story triplex is a high rise and had/have to go to school in the next town over as we do not have one. We have a fire pit in the back yard and do fires almost every weekend while sitting around with friends and family sharing a beverage or two. Country life is incredible.

Does anyone know if the Beekman still exists? Can you still smoke there?

 

[Rob_In_MO]

Does anyone know if the Beekman still exists? Can you still smoke there?

Last I had heard smoking is restricted to the 'Smoking Room'. Supposed to have good ventilation though...

 

[riff raff]

I love to visit NYC (Pipe Club!) but I could never live in that type of urban environment. Good luck on your decision.

 

[derrickyoung]

Well I guess restricted to the smoking room is better than restricted to New Jersey.

My first night in New York City I wanted a drink to wind down after my flight and a bit of an ordeal picking up the keys to my flat. I sat down at the end of the bar and ordered a glass of wine. I finish my wine which was just the house wine and enjoyed a Monte Cristo that I had brought from Toronto. I was told all the execs in the New York Office loved cuban cigars so to pack a few to hand out to win friends early in the office.
I asked the Bartender for my bill and he drops it on the bar for me. $25.00... For a house wine. I was like excuse me there seems to be a mistake I only had 1 glass of wine. He said I know but there is a 25.00 minimum per person. I asked how much the wine was, 12.50/glass. My response to that was bring me another glass. Welcome to Midtown was all I could think.

 

[Anonymous]

My dad had a lot of job offers we never knew about at the time. One of them was VP of ConEd. Which he turned down (like he did the others he never mentioned) because he liked living where we did, out in the (relative) country.

When he let that slip, years later, I asked him why he'd turned it down.

His reply : "Because New York City is the ******* of the world." :twisted:

:face:

 

[Kyle Weiss]

About 12 years ago I had a job as an emergency response computer technician with a company based in Schenectady, NY outside Albany. I flew there about twice a year for while. My job included touring (pre-9/11) the nuke plants and meeting with the various managers, because at that point, we had the only "reverse 911 calling system" available in case of an emergency, they were our biggest clients. Touring the plants, cool. Got to go all over PA, CT, MA, and NY. On the weekends, co-workers would take me to NYC, and every time I hated it. It's an interesting city, but was so opposite to my senses and acceptability levels I couldn't wait to get out. Boston, on the other hand, and for that matter even Philly, those are GREAT cities that were fun.

My father and mother are both from upstate, ma from Rocklin County, dad, Hornell, after part of my father's side of the family escaped the trials and tribulations of life in NC (that's another story). Needless to say, they both left on separate occasions, moved to AZ, met there, and for better or worse, here I am. I'm the only west coast kid in any of my family, and proud to be so.

NYC, hell, any of NY, can sink and make another Great Lake for all I care.

 

[Puffy]

I was born in North Carolina.We moved to Detroit when I was 10.When I retired I moved back to Carolina.I'm glad I did.My point here is.I just don't like big city life.( Any big city) I would just add that a lot of folks from NY have moved here to Carolina.It's cheaper to live here.Life is less rushed.The weather is better,though a bit hotter in summer.And most of the time there's a lot less traffic.I have no plans to ever live in a big city again.

 

[Growley]

The hussel and bussel is not for for me. I've worked my way south since I got out of college, starting in Michigan and ending up here in the southernmost part of AL. I LOVE the slow pace of living. Big cities have their charm I'm sure, but they're not for me.

 

[Doc Manhattan]

New York is a city of best-kept secrets without number. If you have the time and desire to explore them, and find ones you love, it can be a wonderful place.

Note that I don't say you need money to explore these secrets per se... it's the day-to-day roof/clothes/food kill you by inches for time and money. You might not have much adventure or even subway fare left in you at the end of the day.

It's also a city of statistical inevitability. With so many people, anything that might go on anywhere will probably go on somewhere in NYC, and you might see it/be caught up in it. Dealing with that can be a bit much psychologically.

(And when the Authorities try to deal with it, they tend to go overboard, because exceptions don't work for a city full of exceptions. That's another big turn-off.)

New York is a great place to be stupid and in love with something or someone--that's what brought me there twice. It's no place for an honest man to worry about the future, which is what made me leave as many times. I'm probably just a country mouse anyhow, just one with some pretensions. Even so:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y-YgA4WSWUA" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[bentbulldog]

Doc, a very enlightening response, as always. I agree that NYC is THE place where all sorts of random $h!t can happen but there is a reason it's called the city that never sleeps. It's either you keep up or get left behind and it's only getting faster. Myself and I'm sure many others have been forcefully left behind and can no longer keep up, mainly because I don't like the speed or the heavy crowding to begin with. My ideal would probably look like this:

Instead I get to see this every time I get out:

Which only takes you to this:

I'd love to have the option to get away, except the cost of living is so high, wages too low, and job expectations out of this world. Whatever happened to simpler living? The atmosphere for me is too negative, more stressful when stress is the last thing we need. However I'm not even sure where I would go. :fpalm:

The problem is that to get out of the city, you need money and a place to work, so I'm stuck here because I will be using my MS to clean the windows of the barber shop I'd rather not be work in, so that I can barely take care of expenses.

The hour that I get from my pipe is the best time I get and I can't even do that in my fav park because there is this fear that the limited amount of surrounding air will be polluted. :fpalm:

 

[GuitarMyFriend]

There's always Michigan, Mother Natures Ugly Step Child, whom she cares nothing about, and wide open spaces full of beautiful country views, and angry toothless farmers.
Really, the area I'm from, there's nothing wrong except lack of tobacconists. I know near Detroit there's a couple, but I'm gonna get my concealed license permit before I venture down there.
Zach

 

[bentbulldog]

There's always Michigan, Mother Natures Ugly Step Child, whom she cares nothing about, and wide open spaces full of beautiful country views, and angry toothless farmers.
Really, the area I'm from, there's nothing wrong except lack of tobacconists. I know near Detroit there's a couple, but I'm gonna get my concealed license permit before I venture down there.
Zach

Good point Zach. I know It could be MUCH worse but that's going to extremes. My old boss left NYC, where he lived in a crummy apartment to NC where he pays 1/3 the cost for three times the space. He's making the same salary but getting more for it and doesn't deal with the BS. There is a place called balance and NYC isn't it.

 

[Fatman]

Come to Alaska. The economy is good, downside is the winters are loooooooooooooong!

 

[Anonymous]

And Cooooooooooooold.

And Daaaaaaaaaark :affraid:

:face: