I never have the impulse to run away, because I already ran to the one place I want to stay.
I do, periodically, have the impulse to hunker down and not leave San Francisco though.
Just talked to our Realtor and he squeezed $15k out of the seller to deal with the undocumented HVAC issues. We're about two weeks from the close of Escrow and we've been warned the lenders will want ridiculous amounts of documentation about every little thing and there will be so many things to sign.
But we are still on glide path for landing [knock wood] so far.
Am I remembering right that you are in Houston, Dana? That doesn't seem terribly far to either OK or AR, although driving 5 miles to get lunch DOES seem pretty far right now so I am no judge of distance
Dallas now. Many hours closer to both OK and AR.
I've been
through
Oklahoma and Arkansas during cross country drives as a kid.
I cannot recommend them, though I do remember Arkansas as being hilly/mountainous and pretty. Which you cannot say about OK.
Emmett is going to be in Oklahoma in April for Maggie the Girl's wedding!
I lived in the Texas Panhandle for a number of years and visited Oklahoma several times. Parts are quite pretty, actually, if it rains. Not stunning like the mountains in Colorado or the Big Sur area of California, but still pretty. And it has some interesting historical places to visit. Mind you, I'd never want to live there - the politics there are about as bad as Texas, alas.
I've never been to Arkansas.
I (who feel like I have never been anywhere) have been to Oklahoma. I was there for my aunt's 70th, so I didn't see a great deal of the state, though. Seemed nice while visiting. Enjoyed the Cowboy Hall of Fame (which kinda surprised me). Downtown OKC - "Bricktown" - was pretty cool.
Site leadership at work (who are apparently irony-impaired) have decided to do a pancake breakfast for "Employee Appreciation Day" - announced the same day as the widespread insulting annual reviews. The woman who is stuck organizing it (who is amazing, yet got a review even more insulting than mine), doesn't know anything about gluten-free pancake mixes. So I said I would ask my friends. Steph, any other gluten-avoidant types - do you have a pancake mix you can recommend? Thanks ever so.
Go to Oklahoma, Dana! Why not? Find a restaurant or a park or a sight and go there and see if there’s anything else to stop at on the way! I went to Idaho for the first time because I was nearby and hadn’t been!
I often have the impulse to sell my house and get rid of all my stuff and….do something/go somewhere. But now I not only have the house and the stuff I have a dog, so it feels more complicated than ever and less possible. Also probably not a good plan.
Steph, any other gluten-avoidant types - do you have a pancake mix you can recommend?
Bisquick brand and Krusteaz brand have GF pancake mixes, and they both make pretty good pancakes. Those probably hit the sweet spot of easy to find and not overly expensive (and avoids the problem known as This Is A Good GF Product But Why Is This Package So BIG All I Want To Do Is Make Like 4 Pancakes But This Will Make 400 Pancakes). Like, *I* buy the big-ass bag of stuff, but I know I'm going to bake a lot of shit and use it up. Someone who's just making pancakes one time, for a handful of people, should get the smallest package possible, and that's going to be Bisquick or Krusteaz.
I had a few points in my life where I picked up on very short notice and moved somewhere I'd never been. I think that's where this is coming from.
At the end of high school I planned to stay in San Diego and go to Jr. College for a couple of years and figure things out. Instead I made a last minute decision to go do Whitworth College in Spokane which I'd never seen in a city and state I'd never been to. My summer was already booked with camps and retreats and all manner of things, so from the time I made that choice to when I got in the car I only had 7 days actually at home that summer.
I made a last minute decision to try to get into CalArts for grad school, and moved from San Diego up to Valencia on about a two month notice, and then moved to Ohio for the last two years of grad school with about 3 weeks of notice.
All of those were big decisions that ended up being life changing for me.
I think my lizard brain is looking at the world and the best thing it can come up with is these few times when I got in a car on a very fast decision the world did change for me, and so looking at the world and and feeling like there is so little I can do it's turning to that feeling again.
Now don't get me wrong. I have a pretty great life here. Kristin is my one true human, I have great pets, we have a great house and a place that we love. So no, I don't really want to leave. I just want the world to not be like this.
So yeah, that's where my headspace is right now.
