If I could live anywhere... Well, I can live anywhere, as long as I can get fast Internet, and I'm still here in Charlottesville. I've lived and been enough places to know that, unlike a cat, all places are not the same to me. I didn't like living in New Jersey; I'm too much of a Southerner to feel comfortable among people who don't smile at strangers. I don't want to live in a place that's too flat. I need hills, if not mountains. I like being near large bodies of water, but I like being in mountains even more. I want a place without a lot of traffic and fairly low population density, but I don't want to live in a rural area anymore; I want easy access to shops and groceries and doctors. I like living in a small city, with some history and "charm", versus a big city or a small town or rural area. Cost of living is important too. I'm not a foodie; I don't care about having a wide variety of different kinds of cuisine available. Although C'ville's not bad on the food front, and not bad on the culture front either. As for climate, I've found I need sunlight more than I like being in sunlight, and I can stand heat pretty well if it isn't humid, so, a warm, bright, non-humid climate would be great as long as I have an air-conditioned inside to retreat to. C'ville covers most of my needs and wants; it would be perfect except it's too damn humid most of the year. And the airport is small, it's just commuter planes and you have to connect to a hub to go anywhere. But I've bought a house, so going anywhere else is unlikely unless it would majorly improve my life financially to do so.
Spike ,'Sleeper'
Natter 73: Chuck Norris only wishes he could Natter
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Timelies all!
I could do without the winters(or at least ones like last winter), but I think where I'm living now is good. Nice balance of the things that make me happy.
Meanwhile it's supposed to go down to 30 F tonight. At least there's no snow in the forecast.
Then I think the nomadic life would suit us just fine.
Me too. it was foolish of me to buy a house.
Oh, I do prefer to be near water. I forgot that that wasn't a given. I'm not sure how large the body of water has to be, I haven't tested that extensively.
One of the officers in my mom's genealogical society spends 6 months of the year in California and 6 months in Australia. That does seem rather nice.
I like being near large bodies of water, but I like being in mountains even more. I want a place without a lot of traffic and fairly low population density, but I don't want to live in a rural area anymore; I want easy access to shops and groceries and doctors. I like living in a small city, with some history and "charm", versus a big city or a small town or rural area.
Bellingham hits every one of those buttons. Our house is on a ridge--on one side we have the recreational lake, on the other, Bellingham Bay, Chuckanut Bay, and so on--the whole stretch of water between the mainland and the Olympic Peninsula. WWU keeps a young, student population and cultural events skew to that, but it's also a popular retirement area. The area surrounding town is rural, people with traditional values, predominantly Dutch. Pleasant enough, but repressive, and conservative. It is a down side.
An adequate hospital, and clinics galore to handle skiing, cycling, and other sports-related injuries and conditions, as well as general spectrum specialties, including those related to geriatric patients.
Having grown up in town, and having worked with Wake Forest Medical Center/Medical School/Cardiac Center/Burn Center/Brenner Children's Center complex, I hadn't realized how high my standards were for medical care and providers' knowledge levels. It's disconcerting to be able to inform your PCP and dietician, rather than the other way around. But the orthopedists and PT are first-rate.
Cost of living is important too.That's significantly higher here than in NC. But the availability and quality of produce is higher. And fresh wild-caught fish is available and reasonable--as long as it's salmon, which we love. I do miss the variety of fish we had in NC. I find greener, leaner practices in place here help cut COL, versus the more careless, wasteful, less conservation-oriented south, where we wasted an awful lot. Our house is more energy efficient, we plan more, and I think being more mindful helps offset a lot of the COL difference.
I'm not a foodie; I don't care about having a wide variety of different kinds of cuisine available. Although C'ville's not bad on the food front, and not bad on the culture front either.
I don't know what cuisines have become available since we left NC, but here we have more cultural varieties, and a better quality result. We rarely do fast food, so our eating out dollars go for quality experience--which doesn't mean flaming crepes, necessarily, just well-prepared cuisine with quality ingredients. As for cooking at home, we use almost nothing prepackaged. Frozen veg for soup, and breadcrumbs, that's about it. Again, practices are lean--excellent quality food, enough for one serving, or planned servings, nothing wasted, nothing to spoil and throw out.
As for climate, I've found I need sunlight more than I like being in sunlight, and I can stand heat pretty well if it isn't humid, so, a warm, bright, non-humid climate.
I was really suffering with the heat and humidity, so getting out of that climate has improved my health, mobility, and outlook. I don't mind the chill, I sustain chill better than heat, and if I'm cold I put on a heavier hoodie. But the daylight--oy. Someone find me a temperate-cool climate with mountains and picturesque fog and water views and wildlife that gets ten hours at least of sunlight all year long. That would be my heaven!
Suzi, looking ahead, keep in mind that colleges have resources for students with ADD (including extra time for tests, etc), so when CJ starts, he should hook up with whatever department/office/whatever manages those things.
Also, make sure he knows to talk to his instructors about all this stuff as early in the semester as possible, and to make an actual appointment for a meeting, not just hand them the paperwork after class. (I've had students hand me the extra-exam-time paperwork at the actual exam, and just say, "I get time and a half. What am I supposed to do?" and the answer is that they were supposed to hand in the paperwork at least two weeks ago, talk to me to make sure I understand what accommodations they get, get me to sign the paperwork and then they'd turn it back in to the disability services office, and then the math department would send a copy of the exam to disability services, and all the people who got extra time would report to a specific room at a specific time to take the exam.)
If money was no object, I think I'd pay to have a diriginble manufacturer make me the first house dirigible, and live a lot of places. It would be solar powered.
One of the officers in my mom's genealogical society spends 6 months of the year in California and 6 months in Australia.
Risky.
Meara--you learnt ASL, right? Why? I'm playing with it on a whim because every deaf!fic I read stresses how you can't translate directly, and it made me curious about the differences in grammar. God I'm awful. I can't even decide which hand to dominate with.
Hil could tell you a lot about it.
ASL grammar is really different from English grammar. It's not always possible to even transcribe it well (though there are a few different systems that try to do it), because lots of meaning and grammatical structure is conveyed through facial expressions (there are some really specific expressions that mean certain things, or that change a statement into a question, or convey if/then sorts of structures). Are there specific things you want to know? There are several fairly large books just on the subject of ASL grammar, and it doesn't really sum up so well.
I've only looked at a handful of words and their modifications, and it's fascinating. Signing slow fv. fast means very slow. A teacher is a person who puts things in your head. A student is a person who puts things in their head. With the "agent" symbol.
Some of it reminds me of bits of Patois grammar where instead of "very" you just double your adjective, etc.
I did not sleep one second last night. I hope I fall over soon, but not too soon. And I better put my stupid glasses back on.