CarolynTracy

I was just listening to Ken Eckland talking about his World Without Oil (WWO) game.  Toward the end of the story, he mentioned that one of the things that the participants learned was the value of community.  Not the your community of friends, or family or business associates but your actual neighborhood. 

In case of a crisis, your actual neighbors will be the ones to help you rebuild, heal and barter for food.  You won't be able to travel across the city or to the suburbs and ingenuity will spring up in small areas. Many of the communities in the game were taking parts from abandoned cars and making wind combines for energy.....

He talked about the effect this had on a lot of the players.  They have really taken this to heart and are actively searching for a communities to settled down in.  I think this will become an important part of future real estate and development. 

Unfortunately, the idea of "communal living" is very uncomfortable for a lot of people.  We need to build communities where we share reources but our sense of privacy and independence is not threatened.  I will have to think of a better name......

Although living in Chicago has not been the most personally fulfillling experience, I did have the fortune to work at Terrapin Properties and was able to develop skills that I had never used.  

Being part of the conceptual creations of new developments seemed so natural.  All of my past work experiences in real estate, research, target marketing, advertising, architecture, interior design, construction, landscape design, management, departmental consultation, customer relations, video production, graphic design.....seemed to be available to me.  The ablitiy to study the competition and create spaces from scratch, for people to live in that were new and adaptable.  Seeing the excitement of those around me for my ideas was the most rewarding  of all.  Desgning inovative kitchens and built-in furniture designs for the spaces that were not available on the current market seemed so natural.  The few weeks, while I had thier support, were some of the most exciting and productive of my life.  I really felt like I was taking what I knew the needs of our potential buyers were and seeing where those needs were not being met in the current market and having the potential of providing them.  Unfortunately, they felt their investors wanted what was tried and true and I don't blame them for that I just want to work with people who are more interested in being innovative.....

this is a space for open thought, no judgements, no stupid questions, no thought too far out to not be considered.

i.e.

I want to move my family back to Southern California and create a place that we can call home for the rest of our lives.

I want to create a prototype modern ecological community.

I want to create a place for artists and scientist alike to visit and consult and experimnet.  I want to create an organic education system that is challenging both mentally and physically.  I want to have a place where I can be with friends and where I can be alone with nature.  I want to create a public magneport transportation system so that I can be away from the city and still enjoy it. 

And then I want to build them all over the world.

I want to build with my hands, I play with my heart and dance with my feet - everyday.  I want to be too busy having fun to even think of turning on the TV.  I want to have down time and unwind with my friends, by a fire, drinking wine and not saying a word.  I want to entertain, meditate and have a quiet family dinner together just the four of us.

For some reason, my life has always had a sense of fun and adventure until I moved to Chicago.  I keep telling myself that its just me and I can do all the things I want to do here as well as in California but no matter how hard I try I don't seem to find the people that naturally came into my life before and made me laugh and want to be more.  It seems that the last 10 years I have just been getting by, waiting for something else and I don't want my girls to think that that is all that I am or that that is all there is to life.  They don't even know the happy, confident, creative person I used to be and that scares me.  I dont think they have ever even seen me dance.