We are all Slave now.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

=ThurgreedMarshall;514542]My ex moved out to the suburbs. I can honestly say that if I moved to the suburbs, I would kill myself.

When I lived in the city (pre-kids), I told my best friend to shoot me if I ever moved to the 'burbs. He hasn't shot me yet, but he constantly brings it up.

Some things that would lead me to this:
[LIST][*]Going to a "good" restaurant in a strip mall

Some suburbs in established cities (like NYC, Chicago and Boston) don't look like suburbs at all. They look like towns ("Anytown, USA Jerry - Oh you gotta mulch. You got to"), with a town center and independent restaurants. No strip malls. You know this.

I can walk to several bars and restaurants, and some of them are actually pretty good. Before I moved out of the city, I thought all suburbs looked like Atlanta's suburbs (which are truly awful).

That being said, I can't find good Chinese anywhere out here, and in the city I could fall down on the sidewalk and find myself in a good cheap Thai place. Same with sushi.

[*]Conversation with other suburban people--I manage to survive it at my daughter's games, but if these people were my only options, forget it

One of my neighbors is Australian. He smokes a pipe and wears a smoking jacket. He's basically the personification of a Wes Anderson movie. Talking to him is like being on another planet.

[*]Doing house and yard stuff

You will never understand the joy of using a powerwasher. It's very cathartic.

[*]Knowing which of my neighbors votes for Trump with their little yard signs

I don't know a single person in my 'burb who voted for Trump, which probably means I live in a liberal bubble.

[*]Car culture

I walk my kids to school every day. Sometimes we ride our bikes to the farmers market or local candy shoppe.

[*]Idle housewives power walking or whatever

This is annoying but some of them have fantastic asses.

[*]Malls--holy fuck do I hate malls

Malls are indeed terrible.

I realize people seek where they grew up. But the idea that I would want to design my life such that I don't have to interact with anyone who isn't like me is crazy. Leave my house that has it's own little play area for my kids and is in a neighborhood that no one who doesn't live there has any reason to visit, to get in my car so that I don't have to interact with anyone to drive to a mall to hang out or to some strip mall to have a drink would be torture.

TM

I interact with my neighbors so much more in the suburbs versus when I was in the city. There's a lot of sharing, borrowing and watching out for each other's kids. Some of the kids are dicks, but most aren't.

Now, we don't have a ton of diversity - I'll admit that. Well, we do have both protestants AND catholics.