I've been in Houston for 22 hours...

I'm in Houston.

That was the Sisyphean rock that I have been tossing about for the past two weeks. Now that I've managed to get that rock up the mountain, a giant Zeus-ish figure pointing back at the bottom and says, "now go get the other five and bring them here."

I'm not sure how much stock I can put in how I'm feeling right now. But I'm a bit of a wreck. Here's why:

1. I'm not moved into my apartment yet. I have no idea how the status of getting fully 100% approved is working. I traveled to the complex today and handed off paperwork. I should know more tomorrow (which is the mantra of the year, it seems like). I won't even begin to explain the situation on this blog. It gives me anxiety.

2. I traveled around the UH campus today. It's big. It's a state institution. I juggled parking meters and had to take care of paperwork to three different buildings, only to come back to the place I'm crashing (THANK GOODNESS FOR LAUREL AND SHANNON!) to find more paperwork in my email. I took care of that summarily. I'm quite proud of myself for that.

3. Driving around Houston is going to take getting used to. The streets are in abominable shape. There are bumps, gorges, and cracks that just astound me. I thought Minneapolis roads were bad. They're not. I don't feel like I can quite discuss traffic yet. It hasn't been too crazy. The other thing is that it's pretty claustrophobic. Gone are the large parking lots. So far (and I haven't done MUCH driving around), it's very compact and condensed.

4. I'm driving around the 4th largest city in the country in a Minivan. I'm not totally familiar with either so...there you go.

There's a lot more to do. But I cannot cope with anything or hope to feel comfortable until I can set up my bedroom. And I just hope, hope, hope, hope that can happen this weekend (I'm even hoping for tomorrow, but that's supremely wishful thinking).

So...I'm in a foul mood. I know this is likely to be fleeting. I guess next to getting divorced and having kids moving is probably one of the most stressful things in the world. I knew it would be, but it's kind of hitting me in this soppy humid sludge and I can't do a whole lot about it all right now.

I will say that the theatre building at Houston (the lobby is all I've seen, essentially) is cool. They've got big photos of past productions, and it reminded me of the Guthrie. I love perusing production photos.

But I've done what I can for today. I think I'm just going to use the rest of my time to work on monologues (after a nap) and read. That's about all I can do. I have no money to spend, and I just don't feel like exploring right now. I hope the shock and awe wears away sooner.

Sooner is gooder.