I had a dream last night that Berkeley finally got around to giving me my course schedule for the spring semester, and that I was irritated that they’d put it off until practically the last minute. I mean, really, if the semester starts in two or three weeks, this isn’t enough time to pull together a good syllabus and get the book orders in. I was going to refuse to even teach the classes, especially because my time is much less flexible these days, but then I noticed that they’d assigned me some pretty good classes. One was a seminar on, I think, representations of robots and women (or maybe just robot women?) in science fiction, and what that can tell us about social attitudes towards technology. The other was a basic academic writing class, but they’d attached the class roster, and a few of my favorite students from previous years had signed up. And then I noticed that they’d made an effort to schedule these classes around my schedule at my current job, which was particularly thoughtful. Right before I woke up, I was trying to work out a commuting schedule–if I’m remembering this correctly, in my dream the university was somewhere around where Yankee Stadium is in the real world, and that’s only a couple of miles from my school, so it probably could have worked out. Except that, you know. The University of California does not actually have a Bronx campus, and I do not actually have time to teach any additional classes this year. My subconscious appears to be slow on the uptake.
2008 feels like it was at least two or three years long. In a good way, though–the “wow, all of that was just this year?” sense, not the “good lord, that dragged on forever” sense. I live in Brooklyn! I teach high school! Go figure.
Between the holidays and the AHA being in town, I’ve been having a lot of conversations recently with people I hadn’t talked to for a while. Everyone has two questions: Do you like your new job? Do you miss California? The first one is easy, because I love my new job, and my friends have started figuring out (to their dismay, I imagine) that I can talk about it just about forever. (Except not here on the blog, of course. Sorry.)
The second question, though? Do I miss California? I keep saying no, emphatically. But I’ve realized that this is because I’m answering a different question–what I’m saying when I saw I don’t miss California is that I don’t regret leaving California. But I do miss California. I miss having a supermarket where I can buy bulk spices. I miss being able to have lunch with Heather every week or two. (All of my California friends I miss more than I like to think about, but I figured that part was obvious.) I miss the way the sunlight is kind of golden, and how absolutely beautiful the campus is at Berkeley. I miss being able to drive up to Napa, I miss having a charming and well-supplied fabric store on my way home from work, and there are days when I almost desperately miss the guacamole and carnitas tacos at Picante. I miss my doctor in Berkeley, who was fabulous, and my hairstylist, equally fabulous, and the fact that the owner at Fellini knew our names and always found a table for us even when it was crowded. I miss the weird stay-at-home Christmas traditions Matt and I had developed. I miss all the flowers all year round, and seeing the fog banks roll across the bay, and the citrus selection at the Berkeley Bowl, and getting lunch at Intermezzo, and always having that possibility of heading down to Hearst Castle for the weekend, and the guy at the coffeeshop who remembered my order, and the smell of the eucalyptus grove, and okay, I guess, I do miss California.
I like New York, though, quite a bit, even if I still haven’t found a place to buy spices. (Seriously, grocery stores, how hard would it be to carry bulk spices?) And I’m glad to be here. So, goodbye to 2008, when everything changed, and hello to 2009, which is still just mystery and surprise.
Happy New Year, everyone.
Posted Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 1:47 pm. Filed under: Uncategorized.
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Oh! I would love to teach that first class!
re: spices, you can come to the coop with my any time, but also try the place on the west side of 1st ave between 5th and 6th streets, the place on the east side of lex in curry hill, and penzey’s in grand central (where i’ve never been but hear is great).
Fairway has reasonably good prices on spices, and you can’t beat the selection. I always bring back multiple bottles every time I am in NYC. The Latino groceries in Washington Heights near the 1/9 stop at 181st st and many kosher groceries in the non-upscale Orthodox neighborhoods have better prices, but limited selection and variable quality. And Washington Heights has 20 limes for $1. You can’t beat that.
You got my message about Fellini going downhill after you left, right?
I’ve given it some careful consideration, and I still think it’s somehow your fault for leaving. :)