[ryandrake]

Bingo. To someone like me, the "energy of the city" is a severe down-side. I don't want "energy" in my life. I don't care about "amenities". I don't want to hear my neighbors music, or smell their cooking, or deal with their drama. Where I live now, working from home, I could go an entire week without seeing another living soul, and it's wonderful. I value the ability to sit on my porch with a beer, hear nothing but birds and crickets and the stream behind my property gurgling away, smell nothing but the trees, and see nothing but the sunset.