in search of...

so no money for my show yet, but it's all sorted. should (& i know i have said this before) be here tomorrow or the day after (friday). every paper has been signed, every dash an tittle... um done, no stone left unturned. once it's here, i can finally complete my show. that will be nice.

in news, i will unfortunately have to drive to oregon to get the trees that i need. usually they will ship them, but since it is the Oregon Department of Forestry that i am purchasing them from, they will not ship out of state. their trees are for the express use of growing only in oregon. someone better let God know, there could be seedlings creeping over the border somewhere... maybe they even have signs like we have here in california, but you know... with big trees dragging seedlings or something.

lots of stuff on the plate here in the O'Brien household. amanda and i are contemplating our next move as far as life is concerned. she doesn't really like her job at all. anyone who has talked to keith knows it's not a real barn burner of excitement down there, or even remotely rewarding. amanda has decided that she wants to teach english, the writing kind, not the speaking of to esl kids. this is a good choice considering that she received her degree in english writing.

the rub is trying to take classes to get her credential while still working full time. she was accepted into the program at biola last year, but didn't want to do it at that point. since her acceptance is valid for five years, she need only sign up for classes and get started. the problem is that all the classes start at 4:30pm, much too early for her to attend from Irvine. so we have been thinking about other options for her to become a teacher.

amanda's parents are both in education. her dad is an elementary school district superintendent and her mom is a first grade teacher in a nearby town. her dad also happens to be a professor for Point Loma in the satellite education program that they have in bakersfield. he could get her in at the drop of a hat, and there is a huge demand for high school english teachers in bakersfield. she would need only be enrolled in a credential program, and she would have a job. should we want to pursue this option, we have to make some fairly major choices, and probably do so within a week or two so that we could get the ball rolling.

positives:

amanda would get her credential, plus a year or two of work experience while i am preparing a large body of work to get myself into a masters of fine arts program somewhere. wherever i end up going to school, with her experience teaching, she would hopefully be able to find a position nearby while i am getting my masters.

lower cost of living, and a higher salary would be great for putting money away, paying off my school debt, and preparing to buy a house, have a kid or something, etc.

getting away from L.A.

potential to live in a really cool old arts and crafts style house near the old down town for less than we pay here in whittier for a semi-dumpy aparthouse.

negatives:

moving away from my base of friends, which is basically my family since i really don't have one.

lack of connections to the bakersfield area, outside of amanda's parents and her grandparents. in short, i don't know anyone

distance from an established group of friend artists, with connections to galleries, and their ability to critique and comment on my growing body of work.

no connections for employment. i'm planning on subbing up there, but nothing other than that. i don't really have any plow experience.

lack of things to do. bakersfield is growing, but it's all McMansions and malls. good if you like having lots and lots of california pizza kitchens and shit, but bad if you want to pick up a sweet pair of shoes, or a freshly released record on vinyl. also an apparent lack of art community, as far as i can tell with what little poking around i have done.

it's bakersfield. it's what my papa used to call 'the hubs of hell'. it's almost always one billion degrees there during the summer. i am from oregon. i am a doug fir tree, a sword fern. i will bake to a browned crackling, dried out shell of myself. heat makes me a terrible person, like a girl menstruating forever. i hate you, i hate everyone. get me a beer.

see i'm already getting cranky.

So those are the pros and cons, the positives and the negatives. i'm not sold one way or the other. on one hand, the move wouldn't be permanent. on the other hand, bakersfield is fun to visit because my in-laws have a sweet house with a pool, no because of the scenic beauty.

i would love to hear what you all think. i haven't really told anyone about this yet, since it's only been talked about for a couple of weeks between amanda and i. since you all are my family however, i want to know what you guys think. leave some thoughts/advice in the comments. also pray for amanda and i that we could make the decision that will be best for us as we grow in our marriage and careers.

i love you guys & girls (in a philadelphia sort of way, not pittsburgh)