moving to the suburbs - thoughts
So, as you may know, as of September, Alex and I are officially, 100% moving in together, into his house in Cranston, RI, which is a small city but essentially it'll be suburban life.
In some ways, this won't really be a huge change. I've already made, or am making an adjustment to living in a much smaller city than the ones I'm used to. But the feelings of isolation may be more difficult with being in a less public transit accessible area (there are two busses an hour to downtown Providence which isn't bad - hard to get most other places), and it's looking more and more like I might have to switch to home workouts for the same reason, which again may be isolating. I'm nervous about depending on Alex for my social life and/or for rides.
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My beginnings of a solution, and one I need to actually get off my ass and start working on: get on my bike and get riding. I feel like the only way I'm going to get comfortable is to do it, and it'll both help me with driving later, as well as increase my area of travel within Cranston on my own.
And although I don't really like the idea, I probably need to get my driver's license too. I can't say that either of these things I am terribly motivated about, but I feel like both will improve my life in the long-term, so I should do it.
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On the other hand, the good part -- lower expenses. It may not be a major difference (way lower rent, but utilities in a house will be higher), but with sharing Internet and not having to have renters' insurance, I'll save some money.
It'll be nice to have a lot of space to work with. I'm definitely excited about that.
And although we'll have neighbors (who Alex generally likes), we won't be sharing walls, ceilings and floors anymore, which will be awesome.
I will have to deal with the cats, who I do like, although not so much their messes. We are trying a new food right now, but so far it doesn't seem to be a huge difference.
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In the meantime, I'll probably have to cut out the gym, as a mile and a half to the two closest facilities is just too far to consistently walk to, and there's no easy bus service. Maybe something else will open up or move (Alex's old gym used to be closer alas), but until then, I'm looking at buying some free weights/dumbbells and some sort of cardio equipment - a spinning bike maybe even, and consider biking a little too. I'm curious about some of these new sites that really help you slowly ease into running (with set time intervals of walking/running, etc.), too, but still not sure I will find that interesting enough to do longer-term.
And I will have to find some different excuse to get out of the house on a semi-daily basis during the week, too, just for some human interaction and some outside sun. My parents' suggestion was a good one - even if the gym hasn't become a social outlet per se, it's good just to have somewhere to go that isn't my home.
---
Anyway, just some thoughts. This is the first move in a while where I see it being somewhat permanent, so it seems more important to make it work than usual. Granted, Alex could sell his house in the future and we could go somewhere else, but that seems unlikely anytime soon, if it were to happen.
So, off to work.
In some ways, this won't really be a huge change. I've already made, or am making an adjustment to living in a much smaller city than the ones I'm used to. But the feelings of isolation may be more difficult with being in a less public transit accessible area (there are two busses an hour to downtown Providence which isn't bad - hard to get most other places), and it's looking more and more like I might have to switch to home workouts for the same reason, which again may be isolating. I'm nervous about depending on Alex for my social life and/or for rides.
---
My beginnings of a solution, and one I need to actually get off my ass and start working on: get on my bike and get riding. I feel like the only way I'm going to get comfortable is to do it, and it'll both help me with driving later, as well as increase my area of travel within Cranston on my own.
And although I don't really like the idea, I probably need to get my driver's license too. I can't say that either of these things I am terribly motivated about, but I feel like both will improve my life in the long-term, so I should do it.
---
On the other hand, the good part -- lower expenses. It may not be a major difference (way lower rent, but utilities in a house will be higher), but with sharing Internet and not having to have renters' insurance, I'll save some money.
It'll be nice to have a lot of space to work with. I'm definitely excited about that.
And although we'll have neighbors (who Alex generally likes), we won't be sharing walls, ceilings and floors anymore, which will be awesome.
I will have to deal with the cats, who I do like, although not so much their messes. We are trying a new food right now, but so far it doesn't seem to be a huge difference.
---
In the meantime, I'll probably have to cut out the gym, as a mile and a half to the two closest facilities is just too far to consistently walk to, and there's no easy bus service. Maybe something else will open up or move (Alex's old gym used to be closer alas), but until then, I'm looking at buying some free weights/dumbbells and some sort of cardio equipment - a spinning bike maybe even, and consider biking a little too. I'm curious about some of these new sites that really help you slowly ease into running (with set time intervals of walking/running, etc.), too, but still not sure I will find that interesting enough to do longer-term.
And I will have to find some different excuse to get out of the house on a semi-daily basis during the week, too, just for some human interaction and some outside sun. My parents' suggestion was a good one - even if the gym hasn't become a social outlet per se, it's good just to have somewhere to go that isn't my home.
---
Anyway, just some thoughts. This is the first move in a while where I see it being somewhat permanent, so it seems more important to make it work than usual. Granted, Alex could sell his house in the future and we could go somewhere else, but that seems unlikely anytime soon, if it were to happen.
So, off to work.