In the Black

[saavedra77]

In other good news: as of Friday (payday), after about a year of trying, I am officially OUT OF DEBT!

Comments

[ladyavalon42.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I'm steadily getting there myself! Well, if you don't cound homeownership.

[sarrabellum.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[aztecson23.livejournal.com]

Great!

[ryuusama.livejournal.com]

Sweet! Being out of debt is always a good feeling. It makes you want to go on a spending spree, unfortunately. I tend to undercut that feeling by going to stores like the Sharper Image to look at their frivolous merchandise and say, "you know, I can buy that combination toilet bowl scrubber-ear wax scoop if I really wanted to. I don't, because it's nasty, but I could."

By the way--totally off-topic--I'm thinking of moving to Seattle after the New Year. What are the "good" neighborhoods to move into (my experience with Seattle is nil, and I'm used to Pennsylvania mentalities of "bad" neighborhoods, which means more than two Democratic households per city block).

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

Well, by Westsylvania standards, Seattle consists entirely of "bad neighborhoods" ... ;) You pretty much have to go to the suburbs to find concentrations of Republicans.

Of course, it all depends on what you're looking for: Do you plan to rent or buy? How pricey can you stand? Are you looking for quiet or lots of stuff to do in walking distance?

Neighborhoods I like:

Ballard: quiet neighborhood, not too pricey, kind of a mix of working-class and lower-income, several good restaurants (including one Puerto Rican one--although the neighborhood itself is historically Scandinavian & still overwhelmingly caucasian), a nice theater, one of the few actual beaches (as opposed to coastlines) in the city limits. Maybe 15 minutes from downtown?

Beacon Hill: almost totally residential, relatively cheap, one of the most ethnically mixed neighborhoods in Seattle. People I know who're looking to buy houses tend to look here, because it's affordable but presentable. It's adjacent to Chinatown, maybe 2 minutes from downtown. Curious facts, probably irrelevant, but still: Amazon.com has its headquarters on Beacon Hill, as does the local chaper of La Raza.

Capitol Hill: very mixed in terms of income, adjacent to downtown, restaurants catering to every ethnic cuisine imagineable, some decent clubs, a couple art-house theaters. Sections east of Broadway are fairly quiet, but west of Broadway it's loud, busy, grunge-y. And parking? Just forget about it: don't bother binging a car, here.

Fremont: hippy neighborhood undergoing gentrification (so getting more expensive). Some nice restaurants, not far from downtown, situated along the Canal. Big event of the year: Solstice Parade, featuring (among other things) naked, painted cyclists.

Greenlake: almost the suburbs. Highly residential, but with a few good bars and restaurants. Like most north Seattle neighborhoods, almost lily-white. (You might even find some Republicans, here ...) Location of the Woodland Park Zoo, if that's of any interest. And then there's the Lake, itself, which locals ritually jog/walk dogs/perambulate around ...

Magnolia: almost an island, very residential, probably the quietest neighborhood in the city, with the biggest city park (Discovery Park--it's miles & miles of woods). The bad parts: it's expensive, & a little remote--you need a car, here.

Queen Anne Hill: unless you're quite well-to-do, you can't afford to more than rent here, but it's really beautiful--lots of big old houses, restaurants, virtually everything you need can be found on Queen Anne Ave--walking distance, basically. The drawback: the hill's so steep that you're virtually stranded if it so much as snows a half-inch--seriously, people don't leave Q.A.H. when there's even a hint of snow (which happens about once a year, mind you ...). Oh, & did I mention that it's expensive as all get-out?

Wallingford: nice residential neighborhood north of Lake Union. Lots of pretty little houses, some great restaurants, close to the University District. No drawbacks that I can think of, offhand ...

West Seattle: another semi-island, connected to downtown by one long, seismically unreliable bridge (there's a land route, but it will take you miles out of your way). This is another quiet, overwhelmingly residential neighborhood--a place to buy, if you can afford it; not a lot of rental housing. Special features: a decent beach (by Seattle standards--we're not talking the Jersey shore, here ...), residents' insane enthusiasm for elaborate Christmas lights.

I must admit I don't know the suburbs, so well ...

[ryuusama.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot for the info! I'm probably going to have to start looking in the next month or so.

A decent beach (by Seattle standards--we're not talking the Jersey shore, here.

So, you mean it's clean, right? Like, you can go swimming and not see syringes and used condoms floating by?

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

I mean, it's itty-bitty--not going on & on like Long Beach Island. Most of Puget Sound's shoreline is rocky or just soil, not sand (think the coast of Maine). Ballard has a 2-mile-long stretch of beach called Golden Gardens that's pretty nice; West Seattle has Alki Beach, which is bigger but seems less like a beach to me.

Both ARE clean--you're more likely to see an otter than a condom.

[betwana.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I remember what a good feeling that was, and how much work it took to get there! Of course, I'm just talking about credit card debt, and not school loans and car payments!

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

Thankfully, I paid back my school loans a few years ago. And, since I've never gotten around to owning a car or a house (what can I say? I live in the city), the credit card debt was pretty much all I had to dispose of.

Of course, there's always the possibility that I'll go back to school or incur one of those other, big-ticket, debt-financed expenses, one of these days ...

[uniquecrash5.livejournal.com]

w00t! Fucking A!