Almost Grown Up

“You might want to head down to the basement, they just spotted a tornado half a mile from here.”

Excuse me while I flip out.

So down into the basement we went. I honestly didn’t know we had one (a basement, not a weather system that threatens my life) before today. It smells funny, and as I descended into the poorly ventilated nether regions of my building, I had but one thought:

“I hope my car insurance will cover my car getting blown away.”

Perhaps I started too late in the story, lets back up.

Last week was long. I was tired almost every night. Beat. By the weekend I was ready to collapse. My “powernap” of Friday afternoon stretched for hours. Lying under the sheets, staring blearily at my alarm clock every 30-45 minutes and then resetting it.

Going out was not on the agenda.

When I say I was “tired,” most of you won’t be able to picture how useless I actually was. This is really tired. I’m basically worthless at this stage. Conversation lags, thoughts die, I dream of bed. But it was a friend’s birthday, so I cowboyed up (to all non-Red Sox fans, I apologize for the reference) and headed out.

I’ve decided that one of my favorite summertime (it’s warm here, I refuse to believe it will get warmer) activities is sitting at an outdoor bar, having a beer with friends. Even though I went home early, I felt at peace while I was there. The warm air mixed with the good conversation and the taste imported beer that I couldn’t even pronounce the name of. The sweetness of the air in the evenings mingles with the salt off the ocean and the warmth of the people crammed into a small area after a long week. I think my goal for this summer is to recapture that feeling as much as possible, because it really was amazing. I went home early and collapsed into a comatose pile in my bed and didn’t move until morning (minus one incident when roommate and friend stumbled in sometime after last call).

Saturday was a perfectly lazy day. A run when it was far too hot to run (ugh), some quality time watching a movie I had been meaning to get to since I received it as a gift two months ago, and a house party that we threw. It was nice. Low key, but friendly. A nice night, and while I might not remember it in a year, it was certainly nothing momentous, it was exactly what I needed at the time.

Of course, Sunday had to come, after a night spent tossing and turning under the covers, unable to sleep. And I felt under the weather, and morose. The air in Church didn’t move. The sky threatened rain all day. Other things happened too. Exchanges I won’t write about here, not yet, probably not ever. It was dreary. I fell asleep around 7:30 and just slept.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I hate Mondays. The beginning of the week always makes the next weekend seem too far away. Plus the office was a nightmare. Clients and files and the hopes of a productive day mixed and swirled and got lost in the storm of a big changeover in employees. By the time I arrived back from a meeting this afternoon I was happy to be able to close out a few files so I could pretend to salvage some productivity from an annoying day, a day which saw me get really angry for the first time in a long time. The ineffectiveness of everything going on around me just wore me too thin. And then came the exchange we started with.

“You might want to head down to the basement, they just spotted a tornado half a mile from here.”

Standing around in the basement, waiting for an all clear, was tense. The wind would whip wildly, moaning against the building, and then fall silent. The rain would pour down so loudly it echoed through the earth, and then it would stop. A mixture of faraway sounds, sirens, and whispers had us straining our ears to hear what was happening outside. Suddenly the tension fell from the room, I don’t know what did it. We all laughed and joked about what was happening outside, and it was suddenly nice to be in the semi-lit basement, breathing in the stale air and just laughing. It was almost a let-down when we got the all clear and filed out to go home.

Leaving work I saw the signs of what we missed. Trees were uprooted and split open a quarter mile down the road. The streets were flooded and the power was still flickering on and off in the 7-11 I stopped at for a bottle of water. As I stood in line I watched the woman behind the counter ringing people up. The power would flicker, she would grimace, and then she would smack the register with her hand before she continued ringing up the order.

And I giggled under my breath. Tomorrow’s another day.

Sorry for the absence. Yesterday I was going to write about the last few days, but I wasn’t feeling very good at all. A big post is due sometime after work today. Just wanted you all to know I’m still alive.

Yesterday was a looooooooooong day. Between finishing work late, fitting in a run, and then doing all the errands I needed to finish up, it was 9pm before I was eating dinner. Great. Training is coming along well though. I’ve bumped up my mileage with only a few more aches and pains, and feel myself getting into pretty good shape.

So, sometime this week or next (it could be as soon as today!) I’ll have an important meeting, that will likely decide how the next 4 years of my life will go. And that’s just weird. I mean, my situation has been so fluid for so long it’ll be good to actually have a plan, but knowing exactly what will happen is a little scary? Perhaps I’ve gotten used to not knowing. The suddenness of this change has been pretty crazy too. So stay tuned for the road map I’ll be getting.

Off to what will hopefully be a productive day where I get tons of stuff done. Fingers crossed.

Apparently drug dealers are now using snapping turtles to protect their drug stashes.

Who knew?

So this is my 100th post. I really kind of wished I had something deep or meaningful to say. Unfortunately, as of late, I’ve had a bit of writer’s block. Not a huge deal, I think it’s partially due to the lots of work and the resulting lack of energy I’ve been feeling. I need a weekend where I can sleep until noon, rather than one where I’m up running errands at the crack of dawn. Hopefully this weekend will be just what I need, though I’m feeling alright today with last night’s giant night’s sleep.

So, in honor of my writer’s block (suggestions anyone?), I thought I’d post a recap of where things stand now, at the 100 post mark:

The Apartment: Is beautiful, I love it. I have a few things that are getting shipped to my parents house to be stored based my having no idea how to read a floor plan, and I still need a second bookcase and the giant tv (Hi! Maybe turn on my paycheck sometime soon? That would be great, thanks), but I’m having a good time.

Life here: I’m getting used to life here. I wonder sometimes if I should have picked a slightly different neighborhood. There’s a weird mixture of people here (which makes traffic horrible) and the aforementioned lack of quality Chinese food concerns me. However, this is the south, and there is great BBQ! And given my love for anything with BBQ sauce on it, I should be ok. The neighbors are generally nice though, even if there is a little dog somewhere who thinks it is his job to wake me in the middle of the night by barking ferociously. I’m sure he’s scaring something off that would have otherwise killed me.

La: Is coming! Next weekend! We haven’t seen each other since I got here, and it has been hard, so this will be really great. Can’t. Wait.

Work: Great, but busy, and not without its annoyances (see paycheck, missing). I love the job, and I love my coworkers, which is a lot better than other jobs I’ve had (someday remind me to tell you all why you shouldn’t apply for college internships with a girlfriend if there is any chance of you breaking up).

Friends: My friends here are almost all work friends. Some I work with directly, some a little more indirectly. But I have one non-work friend here. It’s a different balance than I’m used to, but I think I’m also not used to working with people who I really enjoy hanging out with. Perhaps it’s just a matter of getting used to a new work/life balance. I’m going to try to get involved more in my church, which will help me branch out a bit socially.

How is everyone else doing?

Since I don’t have time to post this morning, I leave you with this funny video, courtesy of Alynbdabear.

I’ll post later (really!).

I love running, but this heat is killing me.

I can only describe the air this week as “warm and sweet.” I hope that makes sense to some of you, it seems like a natural way for me to describe it. That’s how it strikes me as I run. Warm and sweet.

The runs? Have been tough. The heat might have something to do with it.

However, I’ve been dragging in general. Tired, useless in the evenings. Is anyone else having this problem? Is it the heat? The change in my schedule? Just working too much? How do you fix such a problem? Anything anyone has? B-vitamins? Caffeine?

Thank you in advance for your input.

This weekend was nice. Exactly what I was looking for. Friday night was an early dinner with friends and early to bed. Saturday was (unfortunately) started far too early by my agreeing to help some friends out with errands. You should never have to wake up before 10 on a Saturday. Waking up before 6:30 should be a crime. The rest of the day Saturday, and all of today, were really nice though. Lots of relaxing, a few runs, Church, errands, etc.

How was everyone else’s weekend?

Every morning I drive past an old woman hula-hooping in the median of the road.

I don’t know why, but I felt you all needed to know that.

I love my job. I really do. I think that’s important to note up front. I like the work I do. I like the type of work I’ll start being given in a few months even more. I like that I get to help people with their problems. I like my boss. I like my boss’s boss. I like my coworkers.

Things I don’t like? I don’t like how tired I’ve been all week. I don’t like having to put in 12 hour days because someone didn’t figure out the scheduling correctly. I don’t like that certain weeks I’ll be on call and can’t stray far from the office. I don’t like that I’ll be moved to another office, possibly in another state, in the next 2-3 years, and that I’ll probably spend 6 months overseas next year. It just complicates life on so many levels.

But today? Was great. I’m exhausted after a late night (out! not in the office!) but I love Fridays. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

So remember how bad I am about promising to post later in the day?

This week has been crazy. Yesterday I hoped that going into the office early would get me out at a decent time, so I could run, write on her, talk to La, and generally have a nice evening. Then I ended up at the office for 12 hours (not counting travel time) and spent my evening as a zombie. Amazing. I know.

So those are my work pros/cons for the week. I love my job, I was assigned a beautiful office, and I feel honestly good about the work I do. On the other hand it makes planning more than 3 months down the road impossible (more on this tomorrow), I’m currently working absurd hours, and I spend my weekday evenings so tired I could pass out.

As for the area? It has some pros/cons too. The weather, after a bad first week, has been beautiful. It’s sunny most days, hasn’t been too warm or too cold, and I found a great way to drive to work. On the other hand, the nightlife seems to leave something to be desired and I can’t find a decent Chinese takeout place to save my life.

So I suppose there are tradeoffs to everything. I’ll delve into the work stuff more tomorrow, as it’s sort of complicated.

How is everyone’s week going? Considering that two bloggers I read have gone into “hiatus” you all are throwing out a lot of posts. My google reader is crying, but I promise I’ll catch up!

This is day #2 that I want to stay in bed. Work is crazy this week and I just want to sleep in.

I changed my sheets last night to a tan color I bought at the store. But when you take them out of the package? It’s more like a bronze/gold. And it’s shiny.

I feel like some sort of royalty sleeping in this big shinily sheeted bed. It’s pretty cool.

For the record: it does not make getting out of bed in the morning easier.

(Real post coming later today. Promise)