Confessions of an addict

[urbpan]

I left my coffee on the counter this morning, so I went without until our break. I did manage to eat breakfast this morning, so I wasn't completely without energy. But my mood was in the toilet. I was glumly contemplating the "where are we going to move?" conversation cottonmanifesto and I had last night (see behind the cut if you are interested--most of you have read it before, but if you would like to help us out, by all means go ahead). I was despondent. Also my coworker, a competent but high strung person, was emanating so much anxiety about various issues at work, that I was near an anxiety attack. Until I had coffee I just shut down into myself.

Then I had coffee! Things aren't so bad! A move will be an adventure! We can work through our problems!
It's so weird to observe my mood, and how dependent it is on a chemical.



We want to move after my stepdaughter graduates high school. We have some very specific requirements that we aren't willing to budge on. Most of these we agree on. How reasonable these requirements are is up for debate: some are probably harder to acheive than others; some may be impossible, who knows? We don't fully agree on all of these requirements, which we obviously need to settle before trying to find a place.

cottonmanifesto requires: Near to the ocean (within a hours drive or so); Relatively warm (Rarely freezes, rarely snows, if ever); house not attached to other houses; at least a small yard (1/4 acre at least?, more preferable); job access: hospital/medical school

urbpan requires: Relatively warm (Rarely freezes, rarely snows, if ever); Near to city (what's my username again?); Community of like-minded people nearby (I'm scared of rednecks + bible thumpers); job access: zoo/wildlife center.

The issue we discussed last night is my fear that the area we were looking at (at that moment--it changes frequently), Humboldt county California, was not sufficiently urban for my comfort. Her worry was that any place urban enough for my comfort, that had a yard, would be out of our price range (300k or lower).

But as I said, now that I have some caffeine in me, I'm not letting uncertainty ruin my life. We'll figure it out.

Suggestions are welcome.

Comments

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

This idea has come up before, and it sounds pretty good. We have at least one friend there (kkbb), and she likes it, but is (ironically) planning to move to Portland.

My main worry is, if we drive an hour in any direction, won't we wind up in Texas? Scary.

[by-steph.livejournal.com]

Only ever drive a bike and you'll be fine then. ;) It is hard to persuade people that stereotypes of Texas aren't completely accurate. It is such a massive place that it's like trying to generalize what all of the northeastern US is like. I think mid/up-state New York has just as many "kickers" as the blank spaces on the map of Texas. Oh, and W's approval rating is below 50% in Texas right now.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry about that. We're taught prejudice against the south in New England, and the President (though he was born in Connecticut) hasn't helped us be more tolerant. I'm glad W's approval rating is <50 in Tx right now (it's in the 30s nationwide), if it wasn't, I'd recommend walling the state off and hanging a sign on the gate that says "asylum."

[by-steph.livejournal.com]

Well, if it were the perfect place, everyone would want to live there. It's about trade-offs I guess. I cannot tolerate the cold. I already knew this growing up in Iowa but now I remember it very well now being stuck in NJ. Politically, we were really excited about moving from our purple city in Texas to a liberal state where unicorns and rainbows must surely abound. Actually, I've been very disappointed regarding that. We have found politics to be so corrupt here and even though you vote for some millionaire that says he agrees with you, he only does what the business interests that got him elected allow him to do. The same struggles are here that we thought we could leave behind in a red state. So, considering we can't afford a house here and we hate hate hate the weather, we have decided we just have to leave.

[morrigandaughtr.livejournal.com]

Well, sometimes it's an asylum.

I second Houston's purple coloring. There are definite red swaths and just as definite blue swaths here. I will say that if hurricanes are a worry about Galveston, despite Houston's being 50 miles inland if we get a storm surge that comes up the ship channel, it could get highly crappy here.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I'm not afraid of Hurricanes, but then again I've never really had to live through one (by the time they get up here, they're just wind and rain).

[morrigandaughtr.livejournal.com]

Well, that's what they are down here, too. Only more of each.