I couldn't disagree more. Mixing top-tier television for entirely too much money with some of the greatest people I've ever met was amazing. Having to do it in Los Angeles was soul-killing. I suspect you've never lived somewhere truly shitty. I couldn't agree more. Austin is Boulder in the middle of flat Nowhere, Texas and Boulder is just an annoying upscale suburb full of white people who think they're ethereal.Having a job you like is more important than living somewhere cool
(and personally, I've always found Austin to be highly overrated as far as America's cool cities go)
You say that? Yet I seriously considered relocating to Flint, even after watching Roger & Me. To you? Tucumcari is a fictional armpit. To me? It's where you get gas on your way to Dallas, where you stop in Amarillo because there's a Bennigan's there that doesn't card. Detroit certainly has its detractors. It also has its boosters, and holy shit are they vocal. The regional pride around Detroit is possibly greater than the regional pride around Chicago, and that's saying something. I haven't been to Detroit? But I've been to Chicago and I get where they're coming from. It's lovely. I had to drive two hours to get to Breaking Bad. There are shittier places in the world than those I've been. There are shittier places in the world than those I've lived in. There are definitely shittier places than those I've visited. But is the police department whose SWAT team raided your babysitter by mistake subject to a Netflix docudrama? Yeah, yeah. Detroit sucks blah blah, rah rah Detroit rah rah rah. There's an extremely cozy upscale white loathing of Detroit that's very much like a Philly Cheese Steak: "This is so bad you have to try it." People disposed of dead bodies in my neighborhood in LA. The cops would fly over it in formation, six birds in vee, as a show of force against the place that gave birth to anti-gang statutes. Detroit is the Hamburglar - a pretend villain who mostly giggles and steals snacks to increase consumption of Midwest whiteness. Sorry for not having a sense of humor about this? But you don't have any friends who scared off the skinheads by slashing his own tongue with a switchblade and saying "I'm not afraid to die, are you?" and I'll bet you didn't know what a curb smile was until American History X. So I maintain - you've never lived somewhere truly shitty.
I fully trust you that NM sucks...never been; have no reason to go. But to argue that LA is worse than Detroit just doesn't square with my experience. Detroit's murder rate is about 10x LA's. Detroit has little to no cultural influence, and there's no geographically interesting shit either (beach, mountains, other things that make for a nice existence, etc.). I've never lived in LA, but I've visited many, many times, and while I'm not going to say that visiting is anything like living, I don't even put them in the same league. Fuck, I lived in the nicest part of Detroit and a girl got stabbed literally on my doorstep for telling some youths to turn the music down. And the cops told her not to talk that way to hoodlums and didn't even bother investigating. Whether this place or that place is worse is maybe not a great argument, but Detroit is a straight up shithole, and no rah rah attitude from any well-meaning suburbanites is ever going to change that.
There's a creative scene, for sure. Some people really like it. Almost none of those people are homeowners or parents. Which I guess is just not cool by some definitions, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I enjoyed my time there, but not under any illusions that I wasn't at the top rung of a giant shit ladder. It' certainly nicer than at any point in my life, but that's a really low bar to clear.
I think it's an optimization problem based on the person for job you like vs. place you like - also how much commute you're willing to tolerate, and I think that swings across the pendulum over time? Boulder at least has the benefit of having amazing trail running and rock climbing. Outside of that, uhhhhh I wish everyone would shut-up about both of those places. Been to Austin, it's fine, but not mind-blowing or anything.
Both Boulder and Austin suffer from the fact that they're "fine" places that the locals insist are THE MOST AMAZING PLACES ON EARTH with THE MOST AMAZING FOOD ON EARTH with THE MOST AMAZING THINGS TO DO ON EARTH with THE COOLEST PEOPLE ON EARTH and it's like "have you been outside of Texas/Colorado?" What New Yorkers do for bagels, people in Austin/Boulder do for life.
Which is funny because better bagels come from Vermont and Montreal, anyway.
Montreal Bagels Represent 🤘 As far as touristy food goes, I actually have cream cheese with bagels quite often. The bagel shops run 24/7 to keep to wood ovens going, so it's the perfect after-party snack to soak up the booze. Still hot, miam. And of course you get a dozen so you have 10 left for breakfast the following week. (also a foolproof sorry I came home so late offering)