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Lakeside Living
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Written December 4th, 2000
In the summer of 1997, after I had started dating my
boyfriend Chris for a few months, I started staying
over at his place more often than my own house in Carrollton
(a somewhat quiet suburb of Dallas, TX). He lived in
a lake house in Fort Worth which was about 50 miles
away. I couldn't keep myself apart from Chris, so eventually
I unofficially moved in and have been here since.
I have learned how different it is from living in the
suburbs. There's a lot of good and bad to living out
here. I'll try to talk a bit about both.
The Good
A good thing about being out here is that you've got
a lake in the back yard. It's not the kind of lake I'd
ever want to swim in, but hey, it's a big body of water
that adds to the scenery. There's two yachts on our
dock, one of which Chris' parents sold to our next door
neighbor. We've never actually gotten on either of the
boats, nor will Chris' dad let him play with one anyway.
Our neighbors, a friendly and successful early 30's
couple, have their own boat and have let us ride on
it around the lake. It's extremely fun, and makes you
feel almost like you're flying. Another good thing is
how peaceful and quiet our street is for the most part.
It's a secluded circle with a lot of trees surrounding
the area. The only times it's actually noisy is when
someone may be mowing their lawn, or when speedboats
and wave runners wiz by when you're trying to take an
afternoon nap. I've only seen like 2 houses have parties,
but they're usually over around midnight. We live with
Chris' parents but we are technically in another house
on an 1 acre lot. The guest house is where Chris and
I call home. It's totally separate from the main house,
and it's got a kitchen, bathroom, and a huge living
area where the bed is, along with a back area that we
are currently using for storage. There's also an area
for the computer.
The Bad & The Ugly
After living here for over 3 years, I begin to miss
Dallas more and more. Even though there are lots of
good things about living on the lake, my desire to be
close to civilization and living near some better paying
tech companies really highlights all the reasons why
I don't want to be here. First of all, Chris and I are
wanting to keep working high tech jobs, and when you
think of it, Fort Worth doesn't really have that many.
There are some nice computer jobs around here, but I
don't really qualify for them anyway. Dallas has a plethora
of computer jobs that pay sooo much more than their
Fort Worth equivalents. Why would I want to get paid
so much less when I know I could get paid more 50 miles
away, in a much more fun city? I know traffic isn't
as forgiving in Dallas as it is in Fort Worth, but I
think I could certainly work on finding a place in Dallas
that's close to where I work so I can avoid major traffic.
More stuff I can't stand about living out here?
- There are so many bugs out here, and I hate
bug bites. Believe it or not, this was the first place
I ever saw a scorpion inside my house. EEK! I couldn't
believe my own eyes...a tan midsized scorpion right
on the wall.
- I'm not racist, but there are so many "redneck"
type people out here. All you ever see are beat up trucks
and sometimes scrungy looking men that stare at me as
though I'm an insect (probably because I'm Asian). It
might just be me, but I always feel like an oddity around
here.
- Dirt! I can't stand how dirty it gets in our house.
On top of me just being a slob and a pack rat by nature,
the fact that the lot is full of fine sand from the
spot where we park our car to the door to the house
makes the house dirty mess. There's all this sand and
stuff that gets stuck to our shoes and feet, and it
gets all over the floor. No amount of sweeping and vacuuming
seems to help.
- Nothing fun to do out here. Dallas is where the clubs
are at...Fort Worth is just too honky-tonk to be more
city like. Although, they do have a very beautiful section
in downtown called Sundance Square, it still pales in
comparison to the many nightspots you can find in Dallas.
Around here, it feels like you are limited to the malls,
restaurants, movie theatres, bars, a few nightclubs,
or trashy looking strip joints. At least in Dallas,
you get more variety when it comes to those types of
places.
- Industrial atmosphere. I know they've got to have
industrial areas SOMEwhere, but when all you see driving
down the freeway are a bunch of truck dealerships or
tractor stores, it gets a little boring.
- Well Water! YUCK...this has got to be one of the
worst parts of living out here. Not everyone has well
water, but we can't get city water because the pipes
stop 2 houses down and can't reach ours. Even with a
really nice septic tank, there is no way in hell anyone
can pay me enough to drink this water. It smells bad
and looks bad. I can't believe I even shower in it.
I feel sorry for my pets when I give them this water
to drink. So far none of them have died, so that's a
good sign. I miss city treated water. Well water = hard
water = yucky hard water stains = pain in the ass to
clean. Plus it wreaks of sulfur!
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