Random stuff

So, I’m 3 weeks away from moving to Norman. Well, that’s when I close on the house. In the meantime, I’m just sort of in that transition phase. I’ve found a great Mexican place (Teramujaras) and a pretty good Thai place on main street (Sweet Basil). I’d love to find a restaurant for every mood/occasion right in the community where I live and work. I just need to find a good Italian place and pizza place, and I’ll be happy! While I’ll miss my Dallas area favorites, like La Hacienda for beef fajitas, Parma for their sausage calzones and friendly service, Babe’s Chicken Dinner House for the best fried chicken and cream style corn ever, Ojeda’s for sour cream chicken enchiladas, Dos Charros for happy hour margaritas, Blue Mesa for their sweet potato chips and churrascarita platter, and the Main Street Bakery for just about everything they serve, I’m hopeful that I can find reasonable replacements for all the above right within a quick drive of home. I’ve learned that I’m a creature of habit when it comes to food. I go to certain restaurants for certain dishes—I rarely deviate from my favorite.

Another thing I’m looking forward to (and a bit fearful of) is a sense of community that a smaller town seems to offer. I’ve missed that for the last 7 years. Everything I did was spaced out over the metroplex. Both jobs I had while there were at least 2 cities away. My volunteer efforts were both 25+ miles each way. I did one of these weekly (most of the time) and the other 2x/month. They were both wonderful, enjoyable experiences, but it wasn’t community based. I hope to find that in my new home. Just a sense of belonging…it was difficult being a single living in the ‘burbs. Hopefully it’ll be better being a single person living in a college town. So far, people have been friendly and welcoming. There are a few local places I’d like to see about becoming involved with—the J.D. McCarty Center for Children is the first I will check out. My nephew received services through them, so what a wonderful thing it would do for me to give back to the children they currently serve. I hope to soon branch out to other areas rather than hands on one-on-one stuff (I get plenty of that at school). Fundraising, organizing, leading…it would all be new to me, but maybe now would be a good time to try something new. Along with the new city, new job, etc.

OK, enough senseless rambling. This all somehow seemed so much deeper when I was thinking it today than it looks now. Oh well. It’s just my thoughts.