Seattle Freeze

[Lake Hills Renter]

Someone saying I live "far out there" would be a compliment for me. I'd prefer Sammamish to Bellevue, North Bend to Sammamish, Darrington to North Bend, Marblemount to Darrington -- the farther out the better. Unfortunately, my job keeps me leashed to the metro area, otherwise "see ya!". So I end up burning a lot of gas on the weekends to hike -- 250 miles round trip on Sunday to hike off the North Cascades Highway, but the cost in gas is nothing compared to the beauty up there. I had the entire trail to myself on a sunny late June weekend. Completely worth it.

[Markor]

[biliruben]

Uh... Blair didn't stay in office, and the war was a major reason why, iirc.

[Markor]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[Markor]

I use the commonly-used definition of democracy, not necessarily the dictionary definition. Whatever the US is supposed to be, I call it a democracy like the media does (not to be confused with, say, the "democracy" in Iraq, where all the "representatives" are appointed). "Republic" sounds silly when hardly anybody uses it, even if it is the correct term to use, according to the dictionary.

[Notabull]

[WestSideBilly]

[Markor]

[Robroy]

[Alan]

My mom used to have a greeting card on the fridge that described the difference between NYC and LA.

The LA person is saying "Have a nice day" with a thought bubble that says "Drop dead."

The NYC person has the bubbles reveresed.

[WestSideBilly]

[Primetime]

I think I have a fair opinion on this topic. I moved here from CA because I was had never lived outside of CA and wanted to see what life was like outside of the beach. I was never into a lot of material possesions outside of my electronic gadgets and had gotten sick of everyone trying to be more important than everyone else in LA. I have been in Seattle for a year now and I love it here.
I have always been extremely outgoing and have had no problem making friends in the city. I don't talk about how much better the beach was than here, because if it was - I would move back. The only time I tell people I'm from another city is when I was hitting on girls and wanted to stand out from the rest of the crowd (I'm happily taken now, so it worked at least once).
There is definitely a sense of "Seattle is better than you" around here, but isn't that why I chose to move here? Because I wanted to be a part of this awesome place? Homes are affordable (vs. LA - and the bubble is a year from bursting so getting even better), surroundings are beautiful, and people are polite (but very slow drivers ;>). I read about the "freeze" before I came here, but considered it a media bias fluff piece and never found it to be true. Maybe it is only true, if you want it to be. A self-fulfilling prophecy that the city carries around scaring strangers. "Woe is me, I'm new here and have no friends...it must be everyone else, not me". Play sports, join a team, befriend coworkers, chat up strangers...that is how I have made all my friends. You have to be willing to try to meet people. There is no city hostess that introduces you to people.
Maybe it is a combination of finding love (I know, what a sap), enjoying life, and making friends that I will know forever - not just ppl in a bar that bought me a drink one night. I could probably be happy anywhere because I believe life should always be fun, but that being said - I love it here, Seattle is pretty sweet.

PS-Sorry natives, I have already convinced 1 friend to move here and my parents are coming at retirement....so get used to it.