Settling in

We are pretty much settled in. All but one or two boxes are unpacked or stored away. Yesterday I got an Arkansas license plate and driver's license. Monday I baked bread and made yogurt. We are beginning to know our way around town and campus. The cats have, for the moment anyway, staked out their territory and routines. All that is left now is for Benjamin to start teaching - next week - and for me to find a job. I do have an interview today at the UCA library for an archives assistant position. I am really hoping that I get the job - it isn't the perfect job, but it is in archives, it would be a good foot in the door, and it is on campus so I could walk to work. That is a big plus in these days of high gas prices and in the light of our non-working car A/C.

I am taking a different view of moving this time than I have before; I am trying to view Conway as my home for the foreseeable future. When we moved to Texas in 2001, I knew we wouldn't be staying any longer than it took to finish graduate school, and I had a big attitude problem about Austin as well. I didn't want to allow myself to like it - it felt as if I was being disloyal to Bellevue and Seattle and Washington in general if I allowed myself to like somewhere so totally different. It is OK to like Scotland or England because they are, while culturally different, climatically similar, or New Zealand or Australia because they are exotic and different. But Texas, well, Texas is full of people like our esteemed leader, and other such oddities. How could I possibly like it? But when I opened my eyes and dropped the attitude problem, I discovered that (duh) liking somewhere doesn't mean not admitting its flaws, and doesn't mean that I can't still like where I came from. Still, as much as I grew to like Austin, I knew we would be leaving. Last year, when we moved to Brockport, I decided to treat it like a study abroad year or something, because again, we would be moving on in a relatively short period of time. I allowed myself to like things, and made myself explore in the spirit of a traveler in a new place. Now, we may indeed move on in 5 years, or 10, but we don't know, it isn't definite. I am trying to view this as the place where I will be living, whether I like it or not, so it would be better if I can find the good in it. This is taking some work, because I am not naturally gifted at seeing the positives in situations - my first inclination is usually to see the spot in the carpet or the litter in the grass, and not notice the nice furniture or the lovely flowers. This blog helps though, because I always try not to post about negative things, unless they are really stupid and annoying (like the beer and condoms). I am sure y'all would rather hear about the nice architecture on campus than about my dislike of brick buildings (which is, I must admit, very random and arbitrary). So, I will be putting up some pictures and trying to tell about the good - once I get around to taking the pictures off of my camera...