nola wins!
Monday, May 19, 2008
My posts are all old lately, but I've spent the last 3 months being retarded amounts of busy and equally stressed out about what to do... in life. Now that some big decisions have been made we're dealing with finding a new apartment. Ugh.Here:
I haven't gone into much detail at all about things here, but I've spent much of the last few months stressing out about The Clash's big question: should I stay or should I go? Let me say, continuing with my lack of detail, that there were some pretty compelling reasons not to stay in New Orleans. I might even say that there were more reasons to go back to Milwaukee then there are to stay here. I don't know, maybe that's a little strong. But for me, some of the reasons for staying in Nola felt *larger*.
There are a few key things that I think really helped me decide, but I think the biggest factor is the permanence of the decision. knew when I left Milwaukee that, if nola didn't work out, I could fall back. But it wouldn't be so simple if I left nola. I think at this point I would have to accept that leaving here is very long-term. Which my wife was fine with. But the situation was such that I felt more compelled to go to Milwaukee than to leave New Orleans. Perhaps that sounds like splitting semantic hairs, but the point, which I may have stated before, is that I want to be in New Orleans assuming New Orleans doesn't fail me. And I don't think that it has It all. As a matter of fact I've had a great time here over the last year.
One of the things that I'd hoped to accomplish here was to spend more time with my wife and kids. Part of me felt that pulling myself ort of my Milwaukee routine would allow me to put more focus on my family. This has held true to some extent, except when I've been particularly busy with freelance work - like for the last 10 weeks, ugh. Between going for walks in the park, going out for snoballs or beignets, or going to various festivals, parades, and other events, I feel like we have done more things as a family. But then I've also spent quite a few late nights working at the coffee shop, too.
I probably don't need to point out what a big draw the weather here is. Yes, it gets extremely hot in the summer and perhaps are were slightly spoiled last year in that when we got here summer was half over. But I don't need to tell you how much better the winters are here. Or how much shorter. I bought a vespa and can ride it almost year-round. I got a new bicycle and ride in the park outside of my front door. I don't have to wait for it to get warm enough to go for a walk. I can get outside and see people - friendly people who greet each other and genuinely smile.
Labels: milwaukee, new orleans
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