The basement in my last apartment house was dark and damp and creepy to the max -- I didn't even like going down into it at night. The basement here is a lot better, mostly because not only are there enough lights to see every bit of it, but the previous owners painted the walls and the ceilings white, which makes it a hell of a lot brighter.

Florida = No Basements.

Which is fine, since if we had them, they would be breeding grounds for mold, algae and probably alligators.

I do miss them, though. I loved our basement in Ohio, even though we didn't get much light and if the snow piled up more than six or eight inches, it blocked out what little light we did get.

I'm fascinated by the daylight/walkout basements that seem so prevalent in the Seattle area.

I think what people are used to may have some effect on disregarding natural hazards. I'd be in the first vehicle out with family photos clutched to my chest in a wildfire situation, but here where we get tornadoes all the time I don't freak out, and merely move to the windowless (yet still upstairs) bedroom if the lightning gets bad rather than seeking ground level shelter. I've even gone to sleep with a storm in full force and an hour or more left on the tornado warning.

I am sitting in my basement right now (AIFG)...with the dehumidifier going. Half of my basement is finished, with lovely wood paneling and a grey industrial carpet. It's also not insulated, which it why the dehumidifier runs 24/7 from April-November. It's a typical basement in that it's where all my old furniture and shelving are. I have a futon down here, but I already have a spare room, so the only time I've ever needed to use it is when my sisters came, and they refused to sleep down here. I would love to refinish it, with proper walls, insulation, better lighting...

Alpena, MI, the town I grew up in, was at least party built on a filled-in swamp. So basements were a no-go. I don't know what was what with basements when we moved to NC, but we never had a house that had one. My grandparents in the upper peninsula had one. It was sort of a hole of mystery. I wasn't allowed in it, but older people occasionally came out of it with yummy canned food, toys, etc.

Growing up in suburbia, we always had finished basements with a separate laundry room. The building I'm in now has an unfinished basement/cellar which is used as a common storage space.

I don't think I know anyone in NYC with their own laundry room, unless it's in the basement of the building. We have a closet just big enough for a w/d, and most other people in this building stash the w/d in a corner of the bathroom, or use the laundromat on the corner.

the human body is a random and too often stupid thing.

Truer words...

Man, fires scare me. Not in an unseemly way, just I am used to knowing that earthquakes and fires are the dangers. Other dangers aren't as real to me but those, I know deep in my gut.

I'm assuming the poor air quality has something to do with my sinus distress. But if that's the worst I'm suffering I'm very well off.

I'm not good with fires nearby either, not here. In Jamaica they could burn close enough on the mountainside for us to hear them without any feeling they'd spread to where we were, but even when dry we're talking tropical, not tinder like SoCal. Working in Simi was worrisome at times.

Flash. Up and down. Go round and round. Just what you want for your little girl or boy, right?

People are fucked up, is what.

Last time I visited my mom, there were fires all around the town - not up in the mountains, but in the valley areas that are too high to be marshy. Apparently, that happened again this year. It's deeply affecting on a lizard-brain level to be smelling fire and smoke all around you.

Our basement wasn't finished, but it wasn't creepy, either. It was huge, and partitioned by wall framing, and I used it as a playground as a kid.