I live in a jail without bars.

[huellewig]

The repetition is killing me. I need a change. Are the Twin Cities a good place to move to? Liberal? I just need to get off I-5.

Any thoughts on doing the same fucking thing every day? It kills me. How do you cope? Kids?

Sorry about that hodgepodge of a post. I need to find a new town.

[KitchenWitch]

1. I live in the Twin Cities

Minneapolis and St Paul are both progressive cities, some of the suburbs are a tad on the repug side, but Minnesota has gone blue for at least 4 decades of presidential elections.

There are many great parks, most of the school districts are excellent, the air is clean most of the time (we get the occasional temperature inversion which affects air quality). Hennepin and Ramsey counties just enacted a smoking ban in all public buildings - Hennepin county's ban includes all bars and restaurants, Ramsey county's ban allows bars that do more than 50% of the sales in alcohol to apply for an exception.

The distance one can travel on I-5 in 1.5 hours most days can be done around here in about 25 minutes (only times the commutes are really long is during snowstorms or terrible car accidents).

I love it here. We have 2.5 out of the four seasons (We have winter and summer and the .5 is kind of a meld between fall and spring).

The Twin Cities metro area has increased in diversity in the past 20 years or so. It used to be almost all white, except in certain neighborhoods, but now we have a large Somali community, a large Hmong community, and a growing Latino community.

[huellewig]

2. Can you suggest.....

what part of town I should look for housing in. Shared is fine and I don't have kids and kinda like the ghetto. Cheap and diverse is a plus.

Thanks..

[imenja]

3. I grew up there

and liked it a lot, except for the weather, which is a huge downside.

[huellewig]

4. For me misery is momentum. I need a kick in the ass.

[KitchenWitch]

6. What region of the Twin Cities did you grow up in?

just out of curiosity.

[imenja]

7. answer

South Minneapolis, and then St. Paul--the Macalester area.

Where do you live?

[KitchenWitch]

8. Bloomington

[imenja]

9. my brother

lives in Edina. My whole family is in the Twin Cities.

[KitchenWitch]

10. Cool

Weird thing about Edina this year before the election, I saw more K/E signs in Edina than I did B/C signs...it gave me hope.

[KitchenWitch]

5. Most neighborhoods in Minneapolis are fairly diverse

Neighborhoods to avoid (high crime areas): Phillips, some neighborhoods in north Minneapolis (near Broadway Avenue from about Lyndale to Xerxes Avenues). One neighborhood in north Minneapolis to look at is Bryn Mawr. It is a nice quiet area that is adjacent to I-394, you can readily get anywhere in the metro area from there.

There are some nice parts of the Whittier neighborhood, as well as the Powderhorn park neighborhood (used to be known as the gay ghetto). Uptown is nice but a little pricey, as well as the area around the University of Minnesota campus (again kind of pricey).

The rents seem to run a little cheaper in St Paul (I do not know St Paul as well as I do Minneapolis). I would avoid much of the east side of St Paul (again high violent crime). Highland Park is a beautiful neighborhood (kind of upscale but you can find some deals). I would try to stay south of I-94. North of I-94 tends to be mixed use commercial residential, and a lot of the properties are a bit run down.

[huellewig]

12. Thanks..

Making this move is scary. (again high violent crime) ..eeck..

I think I might need to jump in feet first and grab life by the balls. It is time to some kick ass.

[Jamastiene]

11. Monotony just kills me.

I have a plan for the next time I start to get bored silly with another job, schedule, routine. I'm going to find a way to change it one way or another. I hope it works anyhow. Like if I end up getting the computer engineering degree and then get tired of the job I end up with. I will fit classes into my schedule when I can to switch to something close but different enough that I can do that instead. Like programming instead of repairing and building computers. I'll probably stay in the same field, but won't need to go back to college as long to be able to make the switch, whereas if I wanted to switch fields altogether, I'd need way more classes and may not have the stamina to finish.

I hope it works anyhow. I'm kind of doing something now that fits with that idea. It certainly feels more hopeful than staying at Wal Mart and living on the Jerry Springer show day after day and being absolutely miserable. Or working at some moms and pops operation with no chance for a decent raise or promotion. I hated that. Once I get the degree, I'll try for a better and different job. In the meantime, I'll take loads of tub baths with all my favorite smells and look at the ceiling, but really through it, if you know what I mean. Like the thousand yard stare, but I'm really just dreaming. I hope I never lose my ability to dream. I almost did. I have to try to fight it because of the negative influences in my life. If I could ever move about 1000 miles away, I'd be in contact less with those negative influences and happier. In the meantime, I have to keep telling myself not to believe the negative things my family says to me, because I know now that is one major thing has held me back. Must fight it and carve my own path in life.

Okay, I'm a little flaky, but that's my plan.

[huellewig]

13. You get it.

I think you rock. Sometimes things suck. I want to post something helpful but I am totally blank.. I need sleep. PST..

[Jamastiene]

16. Maybe if we support each other on DU

by just sympathizing and being there for each other, we can keep our chin up and forge a new road. Less traveled? Nah, new road entirely. Way more adventure and excitement and creativity and groundbreaking and fun. That's the path I want to take.

[liberal N proud]

14. From California to Minnesota?

That would be a shocker.
The winters in Minn are long and COLD!
I grew up in Northern Iowa and remember some pretty damn cold winters.
Summers are great though.

[iconoclastic cat]

15. Sucker! I had my jail gilded!

Quadrupled its value.

[Kire]

17. St. Paul is pretty liberal.

...or so says Garrison Keillor in the book Homegrown Democrat.

My family on my father's side live there, a whole bunch of them. I haven't really discussed local politics with them, but I have fond memories of my visits there. But, if you don't know anyone, any place can be forbidding.

My thoughts on doing the same fucking thing every day is, if it "kills you", stop doing it. Examine the reasons why you're doing it. There is an old saying that "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result". Sure, it's fun to romanticize insanity and being a crazy person, but take a look at a real ward in a mental hospital to get a real perspective on that word.

You sound like you are in real trouble, my friend. PM me if you want to talk. I have to go soon, but I will reply when I get home later tonight.

Specifically, I wonder what you mean when you attached the question "Kids?" after "How do you cope?". It seems very incongruent.

Warm regards,

Kire