71 replies to this topic

[raubhimself]

People of Phoenix,

Mig has been bothering me for a while about moving out there to bask in the cancerous and dehydrating sun with you all. I guess he needs a roommate or something.

Here's the thing: I love where I live; I've lived here my entire life. However, I have been unemployed for 9 months and outlook not so good for the future. All my friends are getting married and I am happy for them but I just end up going to the bar with the same 3 people (whom I love dearly) and my social life is stagnant. I am in a band and I dig it plenty but it's not 100% what I'd like to do and I'm not sure what I want to do is possible here.

I have been to PHX twice and enjoyed it both times, not just for whatever shizz shit I was there for. I was there in November of 2005(?) and February of 2010. Not sure if I can handle the heat. I got a foot of snow outside my door right now.

Five or six years ago I would have been like "AWW HELL YEAH DAWG I'M ROLLIN' TO PHOENIX WOOO" but now I am like "You know, I actually really love this town now that I'm not all teenage angsty about it and I'm not so anxious to leave like everyone else is..." Fuck my hat, as mig would say. I dunno, Phoenix. My family and friends are the only reason I have to stay, and I know moving out there would be pretty fucking awesome. But I've never lived outside of this area and quite frankly it scares me to move across the country and be away from what's here.

Gimme reasons to come west and I will think about it. I need to either say yes or stop thinking about it.

[mig50]

DOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDOITDTOIDTOIDTOIDTOIDTODIT

AAAAAAHEMHEMEHEMEHEMHEMEHEMEHEMEHEMEMHEMHEMHEMHEMHEM AAAAHYEEEEEEEP HREP YREAP

[capharnaum]

don't even think about it until you've visited
during the summer months.

[donald]

there are definitely pros and cons, so here is a list of both

As a person who grew up in New Mexico I love the heat, I don't mind the burning hot summers of 115 plus degrees, many people do NOT
Everything is spread out, it's miles and miles of suburbia, and you can talk to someone who lives in "the valley" but is more than 50 miles away.
The winters are amazing, unless you like snow, which I do not.
If you like the heat and want to get away from it for awhile you can always trek an hour or so up to flagstaff, Jerome, or somehere where the elevation is higher and much cooler, it definitely helps.
Republicans, lots and lots of republicans, they are like cockroaches in these parts. I guess that can be a pro, or a con depending on your political views.
Sheriff Joe, this is definitely a con, no pro about it.
You kind of already know a few people here, which helps, Miglet, Jacki, joedistort, the bosses, etc.. that is always good when moving somewhere new.
Don't move to mesa, which is loaded with mormons and meth, horrible horrible town I guess there are good parts of mesa but I wouldn't know.
You always here people say, man this town is so friendly, or man this town has so many rude people. I have heard both of phoenix, it just depends on your outlook on things. Most everyone I think is fairly friendly, but that's just my opinion, I am sure there is someone who thinks otherwise.

If you are into the music scene, I really love it here (duh right?), tons of great people and if you want to start up something it's fairly easy. Generally the hardest thing to do is to find a place to practice

If you aren't working, I would see if you can't just fly out here and test it out for awhile, you could crash with miglet, hell I would probably be able to house ya for awhile

[Tony]

don't even think about it until you've visited
during the summer months.

+ 5,000,000

it's fucking hot, dude. my wife is from chicago, and she says she'd rather have the brutal summers than the brutal winters, because at least in summer you can go sit in the pool. but i don't know if i agree. i will say that to a certain extent you just get used to it. if i look at the temp and it's "only" 105 then i feel like i could actually accomplish something outside. it's those days where you look at it and it says 117 that you want to blow your brains out.

the grass is always greener, i guess.

but like donald said, if you've got nothing going on, just try it out. stay a few extra days at shizzfest and explore the parts of the city that you might have to frequent during regular life (not party time vacation life). oh, and where you live is critical, too. some parts of the city are just depressing.

edit: i realized i never actually answered your question. what is so great about phoenix aka why do i still live here?
i've been able to eat either lunch or dinner outside on our patio almost every day since october. i haven't necessarily done it every day, but i've been able to.
also, i don't know if you like baseball, but we host roughly half of the spring training games here in phx.
oh, and you can hike mountains in the city.
and einhorn is from here.

[donald]

and einhorn is from here.

I thought this was a con

[joe.distort]

speaking in the broadest terms
why i love phoenix:
-the winters (seriously, i cant take the cold anymore. when it bottoms out 1t 29F, thats alright with me)
-its an amazing food city, even though im sure everyone from everywhere else thinks they are better
-the music scene here, once you figure out where everything is located (both literally and metaphorically) is pretty awesome.
-theres like a secret second layer of town once you know it, where you can find something cool/local/indpendent everywhere
-if you want to do a project (art, music, cooking class, whatever), this is a pretty easy town to get shit done in

why i hate it:
-some years, summer lasts from may 1-thanksgiving
-now that i live in downtown, the suburbs all seem so friggin far away
-politics/general social ineptitude level of most 'normal people'
-tendency for cool shit to get shut down after not too long
-most people are just waiting for a chance to leave
-the police in mesa terrify me

i would say check it out, look at job prospects online and such blah blah bla stuff you already know

also i would say its important to see what non-party phx time is like for you, which is hard when you dont live here. i know this board may seem otherwise, but we dont all hang out and get rowdy all the time

[thebiggameover]

if you hate the snow you will love phx, if you love snow you will hate phx


if you have a car you will like phx, if you dont have a car you will hate phx


but i go where ever i can get a job so......

[sonofpatter]

The heat is not what gets you, it's the right wing fanatics

[raubhimself]

i know this board may seem otherwise, but we dont all hang out and get rowdy all the time

WHAT!?

Ok, so the big downsides you guys seem to have is the heat and right-wingers.

I know I can handle the right-wingers. Unless you live in Pittsburgh or Philly, Pennsylvania is a blue state. Remember when AZ passed 1070? PA was the first state to be like "Yeah! We should do that too even though we don't have a Mexican border! It's ok we just hate non-whites!"

As for the heat, who knows if I can take it. It usually gets to the upper 90s, sometimes into the lower 100s here but just for a week or two. But we got the humidity. I remember when IHYWYP and JETOMI came through Baltimore and those guys were like "What the fuck is this bullshit!?" and it was like 89 degrees but humid as hell.

I might try to come out in February since Mig is gonna be in Philly, and I'll just fly back with him. I dunno. We'll see.

[Innk]

I take the heat over republicans/racist people any day... I am from Mexicali... its probably slightly hotter than here in AZ (yikes!).

[unluckycharm]

Here are the main good things about Phoenix:

1) Sunny & moderate weather from about October to May.

2) It's relatively cheap to live here.

Those are the biggies, along with other things like light rail & it's a metropolis with most of the shopping you'd want. I guess sports are a plus if you are a sports fan (I am not).

Another big plus is its location. From Phoenix you can drive North to the Flagstaff area (pine trees, mountains, cool weather). Or head to more desert areas & drive south to Tucson (or Bisbee!). It's a relatively close to California, esp. San Diego or the Los Angeles. It's a 6 hour drive to Las Vegas.

The economy is not so great if you're in the construction trades, but for other industries it's fairly fluid.

If it's possible for you to live here for a month or so to "try it out", I'd highly recommend that.

Drawbacks:

The heat, the sprawl, people generally lacking a notion of a progressive society, pollution (the infamous brown cloud).

If you're used to a small town you might find a huge sprawling city to be daunting. Might.

[Jacki O.]

why i love phx:
- great weather! so much great weather!
- awesome people in the arts and music scenes, very involved and passionate and encouraging
- very welcoming socially, i think people here are very friendly
- we got that slow west coast/southwest lifestyle. take it easy.
- awesome location: close to flagstaff/las vegas/grand canyon/denver/utah/LA/San Diego/Albaquerque/El Paso/Mexico!!!
- Amazing Food!
- Palm Trees!!! yes!
- Saguaros! yes!
- beautiful state - amazing hiking and natural environment all very close to the city, such a great place to live if you like the outdoors
- awesome little towns all around the state that are great for exploring and learning about the southwest's rich history
- legal medical marijuana
- the living is cheap
- amazing sunsets
- pools! everyone has access to pools - makes the summer enjoyable!
- the summer! it is hardcore and after you live through one phx summer you get bragging rights for the rest of your life + it's a dry heat, no humidity which is much more bearable
- good looking, sexy people
- phx feels like a clean slate, like you can help mold its culture and identity
- home to a really cool cultural mashup between the US, native peoples and Mexico, a very unique culture
- The Minibosses
- The Shizz
- a very cool and supportive local business culture that encourages entrepreneurs and start-ups, very easy to start your own business here
- good local beers (Nimbus and Four Peaks!) and access to lots of Colorado and Oregon micro brews
- great festivals: Taco Festival, Strong beer Festival, Tequila Festival, Mariachi Festival, etc. etc.




cons:
- rampant racism, sexism, bigotry and xenophobia among politicians and some of the population (it's a dry hate)
- no noticeable seasons: we have them (we actually have 5 seasons) but they are not so in your face like the rest of the country
- not a lot of green vibrant plant life that you are used to on the east coast i.e. no forests in phx (it's the desert after all)
- re-pube-lickings really make you want to leave, they get elected by dumbos in this state and they take all your tax money and they put it in a big pile in front of the capital and then they take a big shit on it.
- the police in arizona will pepper spray you in the face for no reason. they will fuck you up and plant evidence on you and kill you and they will get away with it.
- morons, er i mean mormons
- the press here is full of haters who will try to tell you that this place sucks. so much naysaying by the media.
- the suburbs and the environmental destruction that urban expansion demands
- it's a car city but that is slowly changing
- it's too fucking big
- the city of phx tries to control downtown urban development too much which often results in battles between citizens and city planners
- got hard hit during the recession, jobs can take a while to find depending on your background and job market
- pollution and allergies, if you have bad allergies already you're going to hate living here
- lots of chain stores and strip malls and no respect for architectural history or preservation


it can be scary moving to a new place and leaving your friends and family but it is also exciting! And nothing is permanent, say you move out here and you don't like it, you can always move back or move somewhere else. It's fun to try out new places and see what fits you and the lifestyle you want to live! It took me a good few years until i really felt like i loved living here, it takes a while to settle in and develop a social network and feel out the city but it's worth it.

[Wizwars]

Anyone complaining about the weather, I've experienced any kind of temperature you can imagine. I grew up in Alaska. I've delivered newspapers in weather that was 30 below freezing. I lived in New Jersey for awhile, so I've done the 100 degrees with 100% humidity thing. And when I first moved back to California, I was living in the desert, in a house with no air conditioning, and it was 115 the day I moved down. Out of those three, give me 115 any day. Sorry, Phoenix. You guys have it easy, and do not try convincing me otherwise.

Does the 115+ weather suck? Sure. But when you consider that it is usually only THAT HOT for a relatively short amount of time (compared to the amount of nice weather for the rest of the year, when the rest of the country is still freezing it's balls off), to me it's a fair trade. The heat just makes me feel alive. Freezing cold or humidity make me feel like suicide.

I love Phoenix, and I'd still like to eventually end up out there, though a number of things are happening for me in LA right now that make me less likely to want to leave anytime soon. I'd say one major perk about PHX is the rent. Jesus christ, the rent. When I was looking at apartments out there, I could not believe how cheap it was. You could rent a fucking small house in Phoenix for the cost of a studio apartment in LA. I once stumbled across a listing for a pretty nice house in Scottsdale that wasn't even as expensive as this rundown house in the ghetto (where we have police standoffs next door and shit) that I am currently living in.

[donald]

sorry Raub




Phoenix has been cancelled