Lists: apprehension and exhiliration

Last night, Ryan and I came to the conclusion that we could possibly afford to own a home in Ithaca. The median house price there is $255,000 as opposed to where we live now, where the median house price is $1.5 million.

This was an amazing excitement and I went to sleep thinking about what color I would paint the walls and what sorts of bulbs I would plant in the garden and how much money could go towards horse shows if we were spending less on a mortgage than we would on rent.

-----

I do have some reservations about living there. I'm concerned about the long dark winters, particularly the first one where I might not have many (any?) friends. Something I have learned about myself is that despite the fact that I really need time away from people, I am desperately unhappy if I do not have a social outlet. It's part of what I hate about this job - I constantly felt isolated, marginalized and ignored, sitting in my little corner while the same people walked passed my desk every day and barely nodded in my direction. In addition to this, I was never given an opportunity to prove myself because every independent move or decision I made was met with disappointed discouragement. I constantly felt Jennifer Aniston in this memorable and frequently quoted scene from Office Space:



Particularly when I was told that I needed to be a "Superstar [sic]" but then not being given a definition of what that was. Nina's suggestion was something along the lines of this:



But with more glitter strewn.

But I digress. Things I am excited about with regards to the move:

*Snowy winters
*Living near a lake
*Living near the Moosewood Restaurant
*Riding again
*Buying new winter clothes on sale this spring
*Maybe getting a 2nd Jeeves. Although Ryan said -not another cattle dog- I think that we need one that will most certainly play with him until he gets tired. So something lazier but not too lazy.
*Only having one car.
*Lots of hiking and outdoorsyness
*Not knowing anyone
*Lower cost of living ($800 rent instead of $1800)
*Being sort of close to NYC, Boston & Toronto.


View Larger Map

Things that fill me with apprehension:

*Being cold a lot
*Not knowing anyone
*Suburbanness
*College Townness
*Not having a job or any idea what sort of job I can get
*Being poor