living in hell

I have sex with MarkI's slutty gf.

Perhaps they cook for themselves and make their own clothing...or something...

I guess Tampa would be a "proverbial armpit" or whatever compared to somewhere else more metropolitan like NYC. But there are trade-offs. Yeah there's no boutiques, and most of our restaurants suck major ass, but it's really cheap and spacious to live here. My brother lives in NYC and his wife bitches all the time how they pay triple our mortgage for a one room underground apartment Brooklyn, while we have a 1400sqft. house with an extra 400sq ft back yard for 650/month. It's more relaxing, in a domestic kinda way... I can sit back under our gazebo, let my dogs run around while I smoke a bowl listening to jack johnson on my laptop all in my own privacy, sometimes watching the rain and lightning from underneath. There's quite a few spots me and my girl frequent after work. An irish pub, a goth-type club, some nice restaurants down in the rich end for lunch. It's just so much more relaxing than the city. As for clothes, I order everything off the net. But because of that, there is no one living in Tampa who really knows anything about actual genuine fashion. Most people consider whatever is sold at Nordstrom's to be the top couture you can get. lol. Now I'm not gonna say I want to stay here forever. Certainly the biggest disadvantage is that there's no room to grow here. It's a retirement city unless you're happy plateauing your life as a server or some other low-rate job. Eventually, my career in programming will lead me outside of Tampa where there is more opportunity for job growth. But to sum up your question, it's far from living in hell.

Well actually they follow the same rules. Sarasota is just like Tampa: a bunch of suburbs, with the rich and the poor mixed in pretty well, and then a small central downtown. There aren't really any rich sectors, rather walled-off estates kind of surrounded by ghetto. But the downtown area in Sarasota is fucking beautiful, and actually has way more interesting restaurants and boutiques than the Tampa downtown district does. Tallahassee I don't know much about. I've heard it's mostly just a college town, because outside of UF there's nothing there really. What I consider hellishly boring is where my fiancee came from. She was born in Destin, FL, and aside from a bunch of redneck bars, a nice beach, suburbs, and shopping outlets, there is nothing there. The tallest building is like 3 or 4 stories there. It's ridiculous. Imagine living your life there for 18 years... blahhhh! edit: on the other hand, the trade-off is again apparent even in Destin. If you only really care about you and your family and not about things to do around, it's amazing what you can get for your dollar there. To be right around the corner from one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, for practically nothing.

I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin, we didn't even have a beach. I coped by doing a ton of drugs and getting into trouble. Thankfully college let me escape that shithole.

I did my undergrad years in a shithole town. You do what you have to: get close to your friends or co-workers, and form a tight knit group. When the surroundings are nothing, people become everything.

I'll cosign this. The friends I grew up with are still my closest friends. It helps that every single one of us escaped from there and made something of ourselves. Not a single one of them still lives there.

Drugs and alcohol is how we roll in real Amurika (pop. <2,000) Also agree with AB, people have long lasting friendships out here.

They also tend to NEVER LEAVE.

I grew up in a small historical railroad town (lol) and went to school in a city that was falling apart due to the US Manufacturing collapse. I'm so glad to not live in either at this point in life even if I do pay double or even triple most people's mortgages for a room in manhattan.

Married, kids, family, then I might think about moving elsewhere...but probably not too far. Maybe Brooklyn Heights

Me too. My college town had 3 mexi restaurants, sonic, wendy's, waffle house, mcdonalds, and a walmart. It was a dry county. Had to drive 30 minutes to the nearest liquor store. Literally nothing to do there. No bowling alley, no movie theatre NOTHING And to echo what the otehr guys are saying. We would grill out or go and grab wings and beer 3-4 nights a week. Had to have a good friend group. I honestly can say that my college experience was good in spite of the location.

Yeah. Drugs, the internet, and the occasional self-mutilation. *sob*

Dude, you had a Sonic! I'm already jealous. The no bowling alley kinda sucks. Dollar games and $4 pitchers of light beer were the best.

Oh yeah, I also cope with SF lol. I was just thinking, everytime I mention something I've only heard from SF, it is met with confused alienated stares, so uhh, thanks SF?