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JongnoGuru

Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2004 2:05 am Post subject: |
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Concerned about my future? Um, yeah. Whatever.
So now, Ajuma and Harin -- What's the big problem with living in a house? Didn't you grow up in one? Is taking care of a house harder for people now than it was "back then"? |
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Ody

Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Location: over here
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:36 am Post subject: |
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| if i don't die before i'm ready i'll be fine. |
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Yangkho

Joined: 22 Sep 2003 Location: Honam
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2004 7:12 am Post subject: |
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Condo's suck. They really do.
A buddy of mine lived in a complex a few years back. There was one exclusive wing of condos costing five hundred thousand dollars and more. Five hundred thousand dollars!
If I had that money, I would live in a nice, small house on lots of land. A place where you can mow the lawn shirtless and sing opera in the bathroom on a Sunday morning.
Supposedly these were people who needed to live close to others for medical reasons. What reasons, nobody could tell me for sure. |
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The Great Toad
Joined: 12 Jun 2004
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2004 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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Err well as far as the materialistic stuff goes I be rackin up da loot so dat no problem - my bank account gettin phatter everyday. But ahhh as far as the oldness well ahh I to think I should find a sweet comely lass to marry - that's why I need to go to New Zealand and find a pastoral dream big shouldered shepherd girl ... err maybe I'll find a athletic and Spartan-style lady at the beaches this February when I go on vacation... hmmm yer a thoughtful individual Jajadude you should just try to keep saving the cash for when you meet that bonny lass and need to buy her a proper domicile for her... ahhhh or you could just go to Kangnam and search for the Knagnam girl-[ np no- shallow joke]
Maybe I should go back to the states another one of those degree things - then I be more smarter and marketerly for scols to get me werk.
Anywho - how are things going overall?- hope yer ok... |
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Harin

Joined: 03 May 2004 Location: Garden of Eden
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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| JongnoGuru wrote: |
Concerned about my future? Um, yeah. Whatever.
So now, Ajuma and Harin -- What's the big problem with living in a house? Didn't you grow up in one? Is taking care of a house harder for people now than it was "back then"? |
My first house was built in the 1920's. I was hard-wired to drive back and forth between my house and homedepo or lowe's every weekend. It lasted two years and I got really burnt out. The garden was huge...I had to weed at least every other day to maintain its look.
My current condo is NICE. It was built in 1920's and has all the old stuff that I adore and cherish. It also has a pretty atrium right outside of my living room. The atrium has a hot tub and it rocks.
Here are some pics. Yes...I have no regrets whatsoever. Once I walk in...it feels like a single house. It is huge too. It's also a 20 minute walk to downtown and work.
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Mashimaro

Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Location: location, location
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2004 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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Nice pad harin.  |
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JongnoGuru

Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2004 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Harin wrote: |
My first house was built in the 1920's. I was hard-wired to drive back and forth between my house and homedepo or lowe's every weekend. It lasted two years and I got really burnt out. The garden was huge...I had to weed at least every other day to maintain its look.
My current condo is NICE. It was built in 1920's and has all the old stuff that I adore and cherish. It also has a pretty atrium right outside of my living room. The atrium has a hot tub and it rocks.
Here are some pics. Yes...I have no regrets whatsoever. Once I walk in...it feels like a single house. It is huge too. It's also a 20 minute walk to downtown and work. |
Wow! Some great photos, and nice of you to post them. Thanks. (I might start a separate related thread if this goes on much further.)
I can well understand anyone's preference for a condo that doesn't require 2 years of constant weekend work over a house that does. Your house must've been a fixer-upper, in which case it's not a valid comparison. Most homes -- even older ones -- simply don't need nearly that much attention. I'm assuming you bought it (who but an owner could justify that expenditure of time?) and that the purchase price reflected the staggering amount of repair/restoration work that you had to put into it. Again, not a fair comparison of an average house and an average apartment/condo, I think.
I'll ask again, did you grow up in a house? If you did, then you'll know that general TLC and maybe a one-off extension or other improvement are all most houses ever need for a generation. (not accounting for typhoons, hurricanes, floods, fires or earthquakes)
Ajuma mentions in her post not being a "fix-it-yourself" type, and I'll agree that that would help save money and possibly time. But with the absolute certainty of being called an unreconstructed male chauvinist, might I ask if there be a husband or boyfriend on the premises who would help out in this area? No, not because they'd necessarily be better at it, but because statistically they'd be more inclined to want to try.
As for having to weed a garden every other day to maintain its look, well, that seems excessive from my experience, too. The only people I know who devote that much time & effort are horticulturists, vegetable-farming Buddhist monks (no kidding) and hobby-gardener retirees. For most people, if having a garden took that much energy, they'd just go for a different "look", I think. But having a big garden, whatever it's "look", can't have been a priority anyway, since you now prefer a place with no garden at all. (indoor plants don't count)
I know I sound like I'm picking your reasons apart, but I'm just trying to understand what is admittedly a growing perception that:
boring old houses = constant expensive upkeep, "weekend slavery", endless toil and old-fashioned drudgery
whereas,
hip young apartments/condos = freedom from care, reckless abandon, all good/no bad, "la la, look at me -- I'm lovin' it!" |
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Daechidong Waygookin

Joined: 22 Nov 2004 Location: No Longer on Dave's. Ive quit.
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Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2004 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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| I would never want a house. Apartments are much easier to maintain. |
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ajuma

Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Anywere but Seoul!!
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Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 6:41 am Post subject: |
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JongnoGuru: You must have grown up in a house that was recently built if you think
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| general TLC and maybe a one-off extension or other improvement are all most houses ever need for a generation |
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I grew up in a house that was built in the early 1920's and it took a LOT of work, not just "TLC". My father AND mother spent many a weekend doing repairs, re-wiring, re-plumbing, etc. My OWN house was a monster of a Victorian, built in the 1870's. Beautiful old thing...that needed someone to work on it full time. Like I said, I'm NOT the fixer-upper type...my brother and sister got that gene! And my ex was totally helpless at anything except lifing a beer in the local pub.
Give me an apartment where, when something breaks, I just call the landlord! |
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Ody

Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Location: over here
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Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 7:09 am Post subject: |
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| Warm, homey, and light; nice colors Harin. |
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Tiger Beer

Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 10:21 am Post subject: |
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| Nice, Harin! Very nice! And you play guitar too? |
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Harin

Joined: 03 May 2004 Location: Garden of Eden
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Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 12:42 pm Post subject: |
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| ajuma wrote: |
JongnoGuru: You must have grown up in a house that was recently built if you think
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| general TLC and maybe a one-off extension or other improvement are all most houses ever need for a generation |
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That's funny. JongnoGuru, I love gardening. My English garden was so beatuiful that the SUNSET magazine took a picture for their book called, Northwestern top 10 perennials. I transformed it myself from ugly grass covered front lot to breath-taking gorgeous english garden too. I enjoyed it for two years and was ready for change, that's all. I was young and got tired of weekend antiquing and gardening.
I still have a patio right outside of the atrium. My head is already full of pot-gardening ideas. Can't wait till spring.  |
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Harin

Joined: 03 May 2004 Location: Garden of Eden
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Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Tiger Beer wrote: |
| Nice, Harin! Very nice! And you play guitar too? |
No Someone gave it to me. I keep thinking I am going to take a guitar class at school, but have not found time to do it yet . |
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Yaya

Joined: 25 Feb 2003 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 12:46 pm Post subject: |
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Back to the topic, I guess the choice comes down to having a steady but unspectacular life with retirement benefits back in the West or a shaky but stimulating life in the East with no guarantee of retirement.
Then again, you could die tomorrow. |
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sparkx
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: thekimchipot.com
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Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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Here's a picture of Harin driving to work:
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