I’ve had a realization. (I was going to type “epiphany” but I don’t think it’s that big)
I don’t live in a community. Well, technically I do. There are houses with people and families all around me. From the loud neighbours with the rebllious young daughter next door to the quiet family with a few young boys on the other side, to the apartement buildings on the other side of the street filled with singles and couples who can’t afford to rent a house (or who knows, are saving up to buy one as I am foolishly not doing).
But I don’t talk to them. I don’t even know them and wouldn’t even recognize them if I saw them elsewhere. They have nothing to offer me, and that’s a shame.
I want to live near people with interests that don’t bore me. Family, kids, paying the mortgage? Bah. I need to live near people I can have a conversation with, that I can make plans with.
This idea has been percolating in my mind since I saw a news article in a local paper about Bell bringing fiber-optic internet into Chilliwack. Of course the idea of that much bandwidth got me drooling and my mental gears started grinding thinking about how I could somehow get in on that. My first thought was a communal purchase by the neighbourhood, split up over the block. Of course I then remembered who I live near and discarded the idea.
But then tonight that idea came wandering back and I started thinking about those people around me and how we don’t fit in, and how great it’d be to actually live by people I could at least propose such an idea to. I don’t know if such a place exists, but now I’m really in the mood to find out.
Hey Joe. I have no life so I come and read your blog from time to time to see how you and your better half are doing. This one brought about the thought:
While the apartments may not have been the ideal living, we all shared some good times there and had a true definition of community. ~Red
That’s an excellent example. For those not in the know, Redneck used to live below me in an apartment building and we drilled a hole for a network cable between our apartments. He had two roommates and I had one and we’d have 5-man LAN parties all the time (it was before you could get cable Internet in Chilliack).
I miss stuff like that, though now that I’m older and married, I want my own place, I just want people around me like that again.
So you’re not so much wanting people to live with you like Fatrick did, but to have your friends move in next door?
Chilliwack is experiencing heavy growth so there are a few condo complexes looking for buyers, and more all the time. You could grab some friends that aren’t already homeowners (like me and Acrobat) and go “community-shopping”.
I SO need a decent community. I miss the old house. That was the last real fun I had in years, and I’m kicking myself for being a large part of that scene ending badly. Is there hope for the future?