Caught up ...

All of my posts are up to date now, stretching back a month but they are there. Some still need the addition of photos but that will have to wait another day.
:-P

As Emiril put it...BAM!

So yesterday I started my new job as a floater at BooksAMillion (herein known as BAM). No, that doesn't mean they add me to the Frappe machine as bubbles but that I work both as a bookseller and barista in the cafe. I seem to recall not being allowed to take food or drink in the library/bookstore when I was a kid and now all of the large chains have a cafe affiliate inside. I started my morning at 8am with a 2 hour shift at job #1 - MBC library and then 11am-7pm at BAM. The bulk of my 8 hour shift was reading training manuals and taking quizzes on the BAM website based on the manuals. But I had a really good day, my new coworkers are diverse but all friendly and approachable. The manager on duty had no idea who I was as she hadn't been present for either of my interviews - but we got on like a house on fire once she realized I was going to be rescueing her from a 60 hr work week.

The common thread through all of my coworkers is the label of an avid reader. Me - not so much. I have been continuously in school for the last 16 years, I blame college for killing the reading for pleasure aspect of my brain. I have been REQUIRED to read at least 10 textbooks per year, including fiction novels for lit classes and comic books for modern culture classes. Been there, done that, and when free time comes around I am not inclined to read.

I am at job #1 now, working a 6 hour shift and studying (obviously not this exact second) and I return to BAM tomorrow.

Obstacle course...

My light at the end of the tunnel, the ideal that is getting me through my last semester in school and all of the bullshit in my life ... is having a house (or an apartment) in Melbourne next year. Having a full time job that I feel capable at and that has an avenue for promotion and expansion. Being able to grow out of renting my life from my college or from the bank. I can't wait to have a pantry and a routine and a laundry day again. I got a glimpse of it at Union Street in Lismore, but then I came back to a dorm and living at the whim of the financial aid department at school.

There is a marked sense of ending in this semester, I know it will be my last. I never have to wonder whether or not I will have the oddball professor again, or how to arrange my schedule for next semester. I am tired of part time jobs, living in two different cities, being in a different place from Levi. I feel like I am on hold (again). It isn't my classes that are getting to me, I am actually enjoying my thesis -its the bureaucracy and red tape of it all. And what's worse, it seems like I spent the whole summer talking to people trying to sort things out and no one even listened to what I said. Now I am royally screwed and disorganized through no fault of my own, but apparently I am accountable for other peoples mistakes and misconceptions.

And I can't graduate at the end of the year until I clean up other peoples loose ends. How's that for justice!

Glimpse of good karma ...

So today was a good day, I think. I got a phone call today from Books A Million saying that they want to give me a job, which is shiny. I am going in on Thursday to fill out the paperwork. Realizing that I got nervous because I hadn't heard back from the mechanic about the car. Oh, did I forget to mention the car broke down last Wednesday night when I was driving the less than 2 miles from work to home. I had to leave it parked on a residential street not 1/2 mile from my dorm, and call a tow the next morning. But when I called the mechanic they said it was a simple clutch cable that had worn through and that it would definately be ready by Wednesday afternoon.

I also took today to go and take photos of campus - because I don't have any good ones, because no one in OZ has seen campus, and because I am leaving at the end of the semester.

Photos of school.

2 x 12

Today is Levi and my two year anniversary. I jumped in and said it first when he called this morning and was still too asleep to realize. It doesn't seem like two years, it seems like a lifetime that feels like a month - or it is the other way around?

Today is also the five year anniversary of 9/11. This day will always live in the history books and in the minds of 100 years of generations but eventually the day between September 10th and September 12th has to be recognized as just a day.

Something went click ...

I don't know quite when it happened, or even how, but I think I am an adult now. Scary thought I know. I realized last week that somehow I have defined myself. My favorite food is no longer hotdogs or PB&J (no offense). Now I look forward to splurging on Fettucine Cobonara or a big decked out Cobb salad. My favorite animal is now a wombat or meerkat - not for the way the look but for the psychology of the animal. I can finally see the end of the chapter after college, I can actually plan a future. I want to buy a house (and then sell it 3 years later for a massive profit, ha). I am finally interested in my major and can actually see a career in policy planning and governance. I still enjoy running in the rain and climbing trees but I think the window I climbed through to get where I am is finally closed behind me.

SI RIP

Steve Irwin's death was so anticlimactic. Out of all of the things that he did, he died in such an unusual and unexpected way. Only 2 other people have died in Australia from a stingray attack since 1945. He was punctured in the chest while swimming with the animals. Beneath the sometimes crazy aucker persona he was a hugely philanthropic conservationist and had a great respect for animals (endagered or not). The Prime Minister of Australia offered Terry Irwin a state funeral for the beloved icon but she decided against it as it didn't suit him. The Australia Zoo will not be what it was 2 years ago (when I was there) but I am sure that his family will keep his work going.

DC = DisCombobulatted

Last night I drove Levi up to Washington D.C. to move into his "apartment" and begin his internship. The drive was overcast and intermittedly rainy (still feeling the far reach of Ernesto) but still driving north through the mountains is beautiful. The scenic views were made especially calm by the thick, low lying, cloud cover from the storm. We stopped in both Staunton and Mannassas for supplies and to stock up on the basics (this seemed easier than buying in D.C. where the prices are as much as 20% higher). We arrive in D.C. with only one snaffoo (and I blame that on my navigator, who of course blames my directions). Once we get into the city everything went to hell.

The interesting thing about Washington D.C. is that every street has four versions, southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest. They are not always connected or even near eachother. Beyond that intersections are shaped like * . There are sets of lights with only 15 feet between them and "blocks" (and I use the term loosely) are often triangular in shape. D.C. as one of the older cities in the U.S. grew organically, adding streets and traffic paraphanalia based on growth, traffic, and need - rather than logic. Because of this, the 5 mile drive from highway to home took 1 hour and 20 minutes ... but we got there.

As Levi jumped into a meeting already underway, I began to unload the car. After the meeting unloading went quickly with Levi and his roomates help. The apartment is small, but for D.C. housing its suite. There is one main room of the apartment that serves as a double bedroom, living room, office, and dining room. If I had to guess at a measurement I would say 12X18 ft and then there is a small kitchenette and bathroom. It's tight quarters but well worth it for the experience of working in D.C.

Once we unpacked all of Levi's things, and it dawned on him the rest of his stuff that he had forgotten, I wanted to leave. I wanted to be on the road and out of D.C. before dark - but noooooo. Levi wanted to run to the grocery store for lightbulbs, extension cord, and a few other last minute things. The store was only 1.6 miles away so I gave in and drove him. Getting to the store went fine, no problems - getting home nearly got us killed. Because of the parasitic amount of one way streets and the confusion of tiny printing on street signs we couldn't leave the way we came. Without delving more into rage and insanity, the drive home took nearly an hour, I almost got run off the road by some whack-job (thats the technical term) and I nearly hit a cab in the rear end because I was paying more attention to the street signs and my frustration than the red light and stopped traffic in front of me. But we made it.

After goodbyes I left at dusk and made it out of the city in less than 5 minutes. I didn't look at a single street sign, I just followed the road the way I felt like going and ended up right where I wanted to be. Shame I hadn't learned that trick earlier.

It will take wild horses to get me to drive in D.C. again!

As an afterthought - on the drive home the rain had subsided but the clouds remained low to the ground and thick. Because of this and the reflective nature of cumulonimbus ("puffy") clouds as the moon shined down onto the road it was as if the moon was a bulb restricted in a lamp shade and coned toward the ground.