PixlBit

I don't know about Oklahoma, but one thing I've learned about moving is Arizona has a much lower cost of living than the east coast.  Fuel, food, everything is more expensive over there.  I imagine in Cali it's expensive too, but our expenditures are a lot less now, which is good.  

How is Tales of Hearts R?  I'm curious about that one.  

Cost of living is kind of a wash in a lot of ways. Housing is cheaper in Oklahoma, but Maryland is actually cheap compared to other Northeastern areas, which isn't bad for it being the wealthiest state in the country (most of said wealth being concentrated in the counties near DC, of course). As far as gas, Oklahoma has the cheapest gas in the US by quite a margin, but since I did a lot more driving in Oklahoma than I'm doing in Maryland thanks to Baltimore being less sprawling than Oklahoma City/Norman, I spend less on gas in MD. Food is actually somewhat cheaper in Maryland. Oklahoma not only has one of the highest sales tax rates in the country - the state rate is 4.5%, but the cities and counties impose their own taxes and the actual sales tax rate ends up being 9-11% - but they also tax groceries, while Maryland exempts most groceries and has a 6% sales tax rate. The auto insurance was the one big case of sticker shock I've had since I came here. Oklahoma is actually one of the more expensive places to get auto insurance thanks mostly to the weather there - tornadoes and hail are a big source of claims in OK - but 15 years of being with the same State Farm agent plus a good driving record netted me a pretty low insurance premium there. My rates doubled when I came here. I found out later that Baltimore is one of the most expensive cities for auto insurance. Oh well.

wow i never knew that about the Oklahoma sales tax.  

Calfornia and Washington though is way more expensive with my experience in living, especially California. Its insane there. Florida is way cheaper here, especially homes.

@SanAndreas, I remember reading you mentioning the 1up club on facebook. I was a bit surprised thinking, well me going back to Oklahoma won't give a chance for a meetup. Oh well. I been back a couple of times before and never tried.

Excited for the same games but I might skip MKX. The others are day 1 for me.

Wooo Blog a Year!

My cousin lives in Baltimore, another in Boston. I loved visiting Boston, but I was on vacation and it was summer, so only got a tourist's perspective. NSonic79 was not so keen on the Northeast.

I'm tempted to get Tomb Raider Remastered while it's on PSN sale, but I already have it on Steam.

I'm looking forward to getting Bloodborne for my birthday.

It's a new experience for me, living out here. I've visited the Northeast quite a few times over the years, but it's still a lot different than what I'm used to from places like Oklahoma, Arizona, or California. Sure is pretty though.

I've been up north a few times to visit family, but not the northeast. And I've spent two weeks in L.A. and about a week in Boston. But ... I really want to go to Seattle.

I have friends in Boston (and Maine, of course), and I've been to New York City three times now. As far as the West Coast goes, I've traveled the entire length of I-5 from the Mexican border in San Diego to the Canadian border in Washington. At some point I would like to move to California, it's an amazing place.

Which part of California? Because the only way I'd live in L.A. in that small of a house for that big of a pricetag is if I was already a movie star or some other high paid profession. 

That's a big change! I don't know if I could ever live up north!  Too cold!

Yeah, it's cold. Not quite as cold or snowy as New England, but it's still cold for someone used to 60-70 degrees this time of year. :)

You people keep calling Maryland "North". I'm sitting here laughing my ass off.

Hey, now, in our defense, it's still a much shorter drive from MD to Maine than it is to Florida (even to Jacksonville at the FL-GA border), and Baltimore is a part of BosWash, after all. And while it isn't near as snowy here as it is in New England, it's still never been above freezing since I got here. :)

Besides, our perceptions of "west" have changed, too. When the Constitution was ratified, the "western frontier" referred to the Pittsburgh area, after all. They weren't even thinking about places like TX, AZ, or CA back then. :)

Where I live it will be late March or April before we get anything resembling 60-70 unless it's a fluke and Spring actually starts in March like it's supposed to.

You can now go to MAGFest. Oh wait, it just happened in January. Darn it!

I was looking forward to Mortal Kombat X untill I read about the shady DLC practices. You have to pre-order to get Goro and there's a "Kombat Fighter Pack" which includes 4 characters for only $30! I guess you could just wait untill they release a complete edition down the line, but that kind of crap sickens me.