sobelle | (no subject)

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They've been building on this monstrous house for over a year... it's over 11K sq ft... and from what the neighbors tell me, an older couple will be living there... no children... so what does one do with 11K sq ft of house?

The pool house is bigger than my cottage fer godssake! The construction sounds have been annoying... especially when they were cutting the tile for the huge pool that's directly behind the house... and now, finally, it appears they might be finishing up... there's only the sounds of the big earth moving machines and dump trucks (replacing what they scraped away to build the house in the first place) getting the back yard area ready for landscaping...

I've got the creek and a goodly number of trees and forest growth between me and them... but I'm really looking forward to the ceasing of continuous noise!

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Huh? I thought that was some kind of apartment complex. All that for 2 people? Oy!

I was raised in Oxnard, CA and I watched it go from strawberry fields to track housing called Strawberry Fields. During my short career as a realtor I came across house after house where no more than 3 people were living in them that were bigger than my 4 unit apartment building. It apparently has nothing to do with need and to my eye seems like nothing more than a socially acceptable big di*k contest. I love architecture and I've always been fascinated by how people nest but the McMansions, while fun to walk through, are not something I would want to live in. Too much like an institution and not enough like a home.

I'm finally making some progress on a story that I've been kicking around for years that touches on the trend for Garage Mahals and Starter Castles ::mumbles:: although it's more about the 3 guys who build them. Anyroad ...

I can't state it strongly enough: I prefer your cottage so much more.

Two people. TWO PEOPLE??!!

Yeah... me too... the neighbors (on the same side of the creek as the monster house) are annoyed... mostly about the noise, I think... because their houses are probably only a few thousand sq ft smaller... we call them McMansions :)

My cottage is a little over 900 sq ft and *I* feel terribly posh! I mean 900 sq ft ALL FOR MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! :)

I know... blows my mind too!

Thank you... I love my little cottage too and am thankful every day!...

Being down here in WalMartLand is interesting... not so different I suppose than parts of California (or anywhere else) and rampant suburbanization (wow, that's a word) and it's true here too... whose dick is biggest... from the houses to the vehicles... and by those measurements, I'm just common trash... yay me!!

Oh and I'm very interested in your building story... tell me more!! Is it OC or fandom based? ...garage mahal... hee!

...whose dick is biggest... from the houses to the vehicles...

That reminds me of the recent Hummer2 commercial aimed at women. Get your girl on. Yeah, a hundred and fifteen pound woman really does need an Army vehicle to to go to the mall with any kind of pride. Please ... give me my wee Beetle back. Please!

The story's completely OC. I want to explore the friendship between a gay man and his straight best friend where neither one of them is pining for the other. They really are friends but friends can come with just as many issues as any other kind of relationship. It's also about accepting love and how difficult that can be when it comes from an unlikely source which is the third guy. I'm not sure at all that I can pull it off. It's a huge challenge for me since I've only ever written slash based on someone else's characters. I thought it would be incredibly liberating but I keep flinching. I made the most progress in a long time the other night when I made a timeline of events from start to finish. I kind of just stared at it for a while because, damn, there's the story. Now all I have to do is write it. Uh-huh... ::shuffles off mumbling::

That's just...well, obscene is the word that comes to mind first.

When we bought in the central valley ten years ago, we had a hell of a time frinding a house small enough for us. Two builders told us flat our that they "didn't mess with" anything smaller than 2000 sq feet. O_o

Conspicuous consumerism at it's most pronographic. I think it's in China or Japan that the proverb goes: The bigger the bedroom, the higher the separation (divorce) rate.

Those Hummers and H2's? There are absolutely *herds* of them back here... and those huge SUVs with their aggressive names... http://www.igorinternational.com/process/suv-name-taxonomy.php...
except for Bludgeonators... which I expect to be on the market any day now ;)

Your OC story?... I can totally see the challenge... establishing characters is completely daunting... but I have TOTAL faith in your ability... you've got an incredible way with words and observations and I'll be looking forward to the day you share your story!

and ::mumbling:: is good... if it leads to writing :)

Ha! it really *is*... obscene, isn't it?... but this area (Wally World as we call WalMart) is flush with wealth (and debt I'm sure) and is not adverse to showing it...

The central valley scenario you mention is the same back here... if you want something smaller you're going to have to find an older, pre-existing structure or build your own... alas, back here, (and you know about this) some of those older homes are beginning to fall apart due to the high humidity and need a lot of retro-fitting... which is fine, if you do that sorta stuff.

The bigger the bedroom, the higher the separation (divorce) rate.

Hee! that's the *one* room that I'd want bigger... but maybe that's just the fall-out of me already being divorced, eh? ;) but yeah... my cottage has the perfect amount of space for me... and one of my favorite bits (that my cousin built in) is the washer and dryer in the bedroom...

Maybe I'll post some pix of my little cottage's interior... it really is unique... although I'll need to tidy up some :)

M was somewhere in the middle of Nowhere Ohio last week from leaving West Virginia. He said he was a HUGE car "mall" in the middle of nowhere WV and the sales lot was full of Hummers, then in OH, he was astounded to find what he describes as a "massive Lamborghini dealership surrounded by nothing." It's got to be the underground employment factor, because I lived in KY long enough to know you're can put gas in those things making $9 an hour in a factory.

Yep, when we first moved to KY we rented an older home. It was 1020 sq feet and built in the 40s. We seriously considered buying it, but by the time we put on a much needed roof, updated the wiring and plumbing and fixed the floors, it was cheaper to buy a new one. We were still tempted because it was in such a convenient location, but when I discovered water damage in the bathroom and we noticed that the neighborhood was starting to go into all rental mode, we bolted. I'll take functional space over larger space every time. :)

I like a larger bedroom, too, but I've found my idea of large isn't very big. My SIL's master BATH is 12x14! Her bedroom is bigger than our living room. I don't get it. (I do like a large bathroom, but that's going overboard.) But it's like several of us have said, it's all about competition. She and her sister compete over everything, and who has the bigger house is just one more thing on that list.

Considering most of the laundry is generated in the bedroom, that makes so much sense!

Wow... there aren't any Lamborghini dealerships around here... that I know of anyway... I do believe that there are Lamborghini *owners* around here though what with the money WallyWorld's brought in...

The trickle down isn't much... after all, Arkansas is a "right to work" state which means it's a "worker can be screwed" state... no unions, no rights, no recourse. California might be *too* legislated but I prefer it to the alternative.

And yes, I miss California... even though I love my little cottage in the woods. :)

I feel more kindly toward CA in hindsight than how I felt about it when I was there. At the time, I couldn't believe anywhere could be so obsessed with itself, fixated on affluence or out of touch with the rest of the country. Then again, I was working in Sillyclone Valley. It's a weird place. People can become wealthy fast, and it seems to really mess with their heads. They forget it can all disappear just as fast. Still, the weather was good, the access to fresh food and diverse experiences unparalleled, and you can't beat it for public transportation or access to just about any service you need/want.

Then I left, and from what I saw it became apparent that it wasn't just CA that was self-absorbed, it had spread everywhere. Oy. KY was an "experience". I just hope it's an experience someone else wants to have so they will buy our house!

A bigger house in a hot area (i.e. doesn't need to be heated) can just sit there doing nothing when not in use. If you want a big kitchen and a big lounge or just like the feel of extra space around you it's really not so bad. The extra space has no downside, it's just not essential. Depending on location, of course. If you had to clear the remaining rainforest of the Amazon to fit it in then you may have gone a bit too big. A bigger house doesn't have to be a foolish extravagance.

That house, however, is also hideous.

Ugly looking dump. Looks like an NHS clinic, ot something. Not nice.#

I totally take your point... but the difference here is that the space is more a "representation of wealth"... taking more than it's share of resources... because, arguably, 12 months of the year that house will be using either heating or cooling because of temps and humidity of this area.

I have several friends who have large open floor plan style houses...mostly in California where you *can* open windows and get air flow for cooling and circulation... and it could be argued that *my* little cottage is big... even if it didn't have a cathedral/pitched ceiling, the space and layout is pure luxury... and 900+ square feet for one person? I love it...

I can imagine a big, open floor plan house sitting on the side of a hill open to sea breezes and fresh air... a perfect size and setting... and not at all what we have going on here...

Here...there's this *SuperSizeIt* movement that's developed in the US... conspicuous consumption ...while everyone is talking about the need to be *green*... development after development of these huge sprawling multi roof lined McMansions with pools & pool houses, 4 car garages (on zero lot line) with the promise of massive demands on utilities with little or no consideration of conservation... that's what freaks most of us out...

And I suspect that there are some people that are living in the McMansions that would prefer something a little less ostentatious and a little more green, but it's just not out there... most of the builders (back here) only know one size and one style... and there aren't any incentives (tax or otherwise) to change it...

And I agree, bigger houses don't have to be an extravagance... but these? they really are...

It really is stark ... the landscaping noise (dump trucks and land movers) is still going on so maybe the finished landscaping will be what softens the lines...

The one thing I can say about it (other than it's bloody HUGE) is that it has a very simple roof line compared to most of the other houses around it... when they get it all finished, I'll put up another pic... they'll probably think I'm some scary stalker and have the cops over here questioning me :)

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