{"id":221,"date":"2002-03-15T07:16:00","date_gmt":"2002-03-15T15:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=221"},"modified":"2002-03-15T07:16:00","modified_gmt":"2002-03-15T15:16:00","slug":"221","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=221","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Every winter, for the last three or four years, I’ve pined for somewhere else to live — somewhere warmer, somewhere different, somewhere where I could feel more comfortable and certain about my decision to stay. I’ve never felt certain about State College, Pennsylvania, and for all its familiarity (and for all that I genuinely like about this town) it has never truly felt like home. And yet every spring, as windows slide open and heavy coats are swapped for shortsleeved shirts, I start looking for reasons to stay. I start to think that maybe it’s just the cold and the snow that I dislike, and just sunlight and warm weather that I crave. Driving around with the sunroof open in sixty-to-seventy degree, bright sunshine weather can make just about anywhere seem like paradise, even if only temporarily. <\/font><\/p>\n

And, frankly, I don’t know where else I might be tempted to go. Friends who have left, and even some of those who have stayed behind, wonder what I see in this town and suggest that I go somewhere else, that I can go anywhere my heart desires. But that’s just the thing: I don’t want<\/em> unlimited options. I want clear choices, a reason<\/em> for choosing here or somewhere else, even if in hindsight that reason proves to be wrong and I regret the decision. My job, for reasons I won’t get into here — I assume that those who care already know — isn’t enough to keep me here, but the pay is decent, and I am in a good position from which to apply for other jobs. And while I don’t have large circle of friends, more than a few of them are still here. Maybe it’s just the newly spring-like weather, maybe it’s just fear of leaving the familiar, but I’m seriously thinking about not<\/em> moving after all.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every winter, for the last three or four years, I’ve pined for somewhere else to live — somewhere warmer, somewhere different, somewhere where I could feel more comfortable and certain about my decision to stay. I’ve never felt certain about State College, Pennsylvania, and for all its familiarity (and for all that I genuinely like … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[238],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}