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Maps, places, people and lifestyles Looking on Google maps at the home I had in Ca. and looking at the changes in the community over the past 8 years was rather interesting. As I think back, I could have owned the houses on both sides of my house and down the street which connects to the street I lived on. Now, what is the lesson? The lesson is" to be more asserted when the situations of opportunity present themselves. Looking back, all these houses could have been had for somewhere close to 150k ea... about 10 yrs ago... It's amazing, looking at the property value now, as some of the values have began to bounce back to the levels when I first left CA. What is so interesting with property values. Is these homes back in the 1970's would have sold for around 30'sK , I'm sure in the 60's and the 50's when they were built it was so much less. Other things of developments and redevelopments seem to have grown and changed in utilization. Even Recently in the South were I am now, Last week we went to visit the house I was born in.... Can't believe it is still standing, its practically falling and many overgrowth surround it, but all the other houses that were in the small community lane, are 'gone', this is the only house that is still there. But the really interesting things, it is so much smaller than what it appeared as a , an all the other homes which are now gone, the land appears as if there was never homes there. The old Oak Tree that towered above our house is still standing. the roadway seems so much narrower than it appeared as a . The town itself does not have much economics as it began to decline during the mid 1960's when the freeway routed the traffic from the flow through this town. It was once a bustling small town, when the main highway travelers had to pass through the center of it. Also over the last month, I drove to Houston with my sister, and we passed through many small town which reminded us of the town we grew up as . some are functioning because the highway with lots of traffic flow through them, and some have become less functional with many old building and closed shops. We also went out in the country, where people have many fresh foods, and still hunt for various animals. It was interesting to see the sense of community where many people were connected as relatives and yet over all most of the people know one another. It's not spit and polished, but the air is fresh, the wooded areas has a calming effect, and there is no hustle and bustle. some of the areas are not surrounded with a mass of convenient shopping, and the people seem very content with having some what level of comfort about their community and environment. It all reminds me that, If there was any type of major crisis that struck both city and country areas, The people in the country may end up to fare much better than the city dwellers, because they are still with some sense of living with connection and harmony with the land. they have gardens, livestock and they hunt for things they will eat. They don't hunt for vanity sport... It's interesting, because they still have cellular accessibility, internet and all the things available, but they have the openness of the country atmosphere. two very different environments, both with positives and negatives depending on the individual and what the individual is comfortable with interpreting and understanding of these different situations. I have noticed that many people (after retirement) have moved from various large cities and came to some of these areas and bought land in the countryside, which maybe connects to how and where they originally grew up. Some came back and built up on family owned land which has been in their family for many decades. the interesting aspect is, some of the older people's who grew up knowing the city, and only visiting the country on vacation, are not as eager nor willing to consider living in the country style setting. some of the people used their Retirement money to pay cash for their homes and land, so they only have utility bills, food and what ever else they want to do... but they don't have house payments. My sister likes the home renovation shows, but what we saw was many of those shows have people buying homes that are very expensive in general society, such as homes over 650K upwards, and then dumping 80-120K upwards in them to upgrade and remodel. We discussed many of those depicted in the shows have people who have dual incomes of 90K each, which puts them in the 180-maybe close to 300k a year income, which helps them qualify for these homes and have the cash to upgrade. As many are young couples. it appears would need such incomes to have saved that amount in a short time without a high paying job or being business owners or other high income avenues .. We were discussing the concept of scaling down these show models to fit for people in a lower income bracket who buy homes and want moderate upgrades. One show a couple had bought three homes near a shore on of the East Coast cities, and then before the end of the year, found their flood insurance jumped from $900 to $9000 a year some higher.. they were forced to sell at steep discounts, because the insurance was over bearing and squashed their plans of being bulk property owners in that particular area. Being off work this past month during surgical recovery has been interesting.... it gave a bit of time for reviewing various things. |
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it would be a challenge. I grew up in a country town, so I saw people "make soap", "dig water wells", actually I was amazed at the work that went into digging a well and then lining the side walls with brick... I still don't understand how they laid the foundation for the brick ? but those well in some places still stand. People in the country know how to do many many things.
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Mom made soap when we were kids. Dig water wells, and lining the walls with bricks, these two we still do it here. How do you build the house there? and where do u get the water from? Many houses still use the water we get by using the jet pump. There is a state-owned enterprises that handle water supply, but many houses prefer not to get water from them. I had one cousin who built himself many rent houses, that was his occupation, building his own rent houses managing his garden and his livestock. many other jobs various people did back then, that today people don't want to do. Almost all the men knew how to fix their cars if they had car problems. the women knew how to sew and most people had their own gardens. the interesting things, was people would share with others some of the things they grew. Now after so many years of living in city environments, there are many things I don't do anymore. I have found that we adapt and change in how we do things based on our environments. But I am glad I grew up knowing that many of the city conveniences are truly that, conveniences, because there are still many people in many places about this land and this world, who do not have these conveniences. When I ride my motorcycle in the countryside, I see many things, some area one would think they'd left the concept of Modern America, because there are areas which still have very country and rural imagery and people do many things similar to what was done long ago. I remember cousins who lived in very remote wooded areas who used wood stoves, and kerosene lamps and big fireplaces. I think for me it was all good to see this growing up, it helps me in my concept of not being mis-led by commercial advertisements. maybe the biggest regret is that I did not pay cash for my house when I moved here, or that I did not come and survey the areas and be more selective about the house. I was in Ca. and asked my family to work with the Realtor to find me a house, so I could just come and move in, so I never saw the house physically before I purchased it. It's Ok, it s 4 bedrooms and has a decent sized back yard and is in a reasonable nice area where people keep up their property and shopping venues are all around the area. I do see many new area and some area where people live and have multiple acre's of land. which looks interesting, but I don't know what I'd do with that much land except just look at it.  so, its not really something I need, because I'm not into raising animals or gardening. I probably could enjoy the gardening, except ( I don't like snakes), and in the South, they have snakes here. I would cut my own lawn, but its easier to pay someone to do it, that way I don't have to worry about snakes and the gardener keeps it cut low and looking good, plus my new gardener even keeps the hedges tripped and other shrubbery trimmed. I did see after I moved here, that some of the people I know bought homes in other areas, which are equally nice homes, but they paid much less than I paid for mine, because they knew the area better. I had multiple cars when I moved here, but now I have one car. I'm at this point 59, so there are many things I don't need the same as when I was 30-40 yrs old. I just had a major surgery, so it has made me even more aware of the concerns for health... and at this point that is my primary concern, to maintain my health and improve my involvement in exercise and food management as to what I eat. When it comes to women, Sure I'd like to find a woman who is at the point to be interested in having a stable living style, and simply enjoying things. working as two people to have and do the things we have interest to do. The travel thing is fine, but considering finances it is something that would be planned and managed.... where we can enjoy doing it. I don't choose to know a mass of people as if I'm some social butterfly, but I do care to have some select friends who have some similar values about life in general. After all those years in Ca. I probably keep contact with maybe 4-5 people. Here people are very motivated by their Church connections, I have not yet found a Church that suits me, I've tried a few. But I'm not into any that act or perform with any cult like grouping. I prefer one that teaches a good sermon type lesson and has good outreach programmings and has community interest , youth and senior citizen care concerns. What I did find in LA, is there is a mass of people, but people in many communities are not as connected to a social unity as much as they simply share living in the same city sector of communities. The same in some area of here, people are not like when I was growing up, now days one may not even know the people who live next door or a few doors down the street. We just live in the same community. Life over all in many places has changed drastically over the years. there was a time when kids played outside and most people knew or knew of their neighbors... now days, not many kids play outside, and many adults only see each other as they pass in their vehicles going to where ever they are going. What I do see, in many of the very poor areas, the kids do play outside and the people in those areas seem to all know each other, much more than people in suburbs area of the style like where I live. even kids in some suburb areas don't mingle or know each other as in being like a community group of kids who all interact with each other.
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I do think that for some Asian's that move to the U.S. may find if in their home land, they were use to Pedestrian areas where they could do a lot of walking and mingling, they may find in some suburban areas, that it is far from being like that. Especially in this area, people drive to where they are going, because of how the city is laid out. Even the downtown is not robust, "It use to be years ago", but many malls and things sprang up and spread business to other areas, which diminished the 'downtown" spirit. They do seem to have a variety of cultural events of various types to bring people together.. in some areas. But over the years, many Industrial Business have left, and recent years General Motors closed its plant, so it will take a great influx of Industry to re-invigorate many areas with industry nature high volume of industrial jobs. My thoughts on that, is how could this nation become so blind to the fact that it has to maintain production of much of what it consumes. I have very little regard for the Industry executives who over leverage and sell off industry and outsource industry, all so they can pocket money, at the expense of cities and people. Then stand back and lie to the people that it is cheaper to build products over seas. When fact is, it is not cheaper. Especially when goods are sold at price labels which command the same cost as if it was produced here. The markup on good is more than 3000%, but what suffers is the cities, because roads need repair, the tax base erodes, and the over all deterioration of the environment suffers from people being unemployed or under employed. Result is areas decline and some simply fall apart. that is a cost that is certainly high, which means it is not cheaper to build products over-seas.. it cost cities tremendously in loss revenue, and hurts their ability to maintain, improve and grow. I don't have much interest in Ivy League Types, who talk a lot but only care about their own entitlement mentality of over paying themselves, bonus and a pat on the back, and what results is the decline of cities. Detroit, in the state of Michigan is a prime example. It is now a bankrupt city. This was brought about by 'degree riding idiots" in my view. who shipped away the jobs and decimated the city, because too many of the degree riders all want to sit behind a desk and give order, but can't make a decision and many can't produce a honest report about anything. I'd say TV delusions has been a great culprit in this madness, of people watching a bunch of made for media shows where everyone is working in a office pushing paper and going for drinks and fine dining, but rarely do you see any depiction of people doing any kind of production works. Many shows have nothing but corporate types making schemes and finding a way to steal something or corrupt something... and its strange how society mimic's the media... and what follows next is 24/7 cop drama shows, court tv with silly people doing silly stuff, reality tv with people pursuing excesses but doing nothing but bickering... and we've come to shape our society to be exactly as such. I'd hope some of the foreign places of the Asian continents don't buy into the western movie madness, and try and re-create it in their lands, because it is fiction that results to a decline of many things. Here, in many cities, they don't think anything about letting historical building decay and then tear them down, many areas simply seem to fall apart except those that have high income earners where these is lots of money to keep historic things in good conditions. But many of those area are too costly for the average citizen to live. I do think maybe the coming generations will be a bit different, because they are learning more of how wasteful and hard it is to be so callous. The Baby boomers, created many innovations, but they destroyed many things, with the pursuit of living like 'Soap Opera" and then trying to have an "Ozzie and Harriet" ease and comfort life style.. then many pursue the opulence of the 1960's stars, where excess is the only game ..... Now, as the Baby boomers become of retirement age, they find out they spent too freely, medical concerns, their kids created collusive policies in every industry, which double back and now make it hard for the parents of these kids who did this find themselves facing challenges they can't overcome. America did not need any foreign nation to attack us, to bring us down, we did it to ourselves within our own borders. Sending kids to school with the thought everyone would be a suit wearing executives living the high life... until they sold anything and everything, in pursuit of that. I remember in the 1990's the only word one would hear from the executives types was "outsource", and they'd gloat about the profit and bonus they made. Never did they think about the people they resulted to put out of work or the cities that began to crumble. they only cared about their bonus, their status and their opulence. Some of those same types ended up spending that money and finding they did not have means to earn at that level again, because they had sold away the industry that gave them this wealth. Now its gone, and they find themselves working as a clerk in a dollar store, selling cheap foreign made products. I'd hope the Asian nations are learning from this.. and do not repeat the process in their own lands. But sadly, too many foreign nations seem to repeat the same craziness... Japan is itself a prime example. at one point they did not have a homeless problem or a jobless problem and people had lifetime jobs, Now they have the craziness that mimic's some of the US cities madness. I'm afraid this will happen to many Chinese cities over time, because the wealthy now do some of the same things the American wealthy and middle class did... they trot about the globe spending as if there is no end to the money stream, while the disparity between the wealthy and the poor continues to increase at an alarming rate. Some big cities in some Asian nations already has some of the same problem that plague the American Big cities, they look good from a distance with the high rises, but when you get to the street level, you see the despair and struggle of the average people.
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