Where is May going? Where is 2010 going? Can I have my life back please?

The paycheck containing all my overtime hits the bank on Friday. Unfortunately, I owe the State of New Jersey $1000. Why do I owe everyone money lately?

I also bought a bunch of skirts online, as a 27th birthday present to myself, most of which I will wind up returning in my quest to find a gray skirt. I hate the skirt styles this year. What’s with the wide elastic waist bands? They don’t even look good on models.

This is all very exciting.

Work is busy. The office move is actually finally happening on Friday. I had such grand delusions of organizing everything before the move, and color coding my files and I don’t even remember what else. Today I swept large unorganized stacks of things into boxes. Unpacking on Monday will be fun!

I’m going to be 27 on Saturday. TWENTY SEVEN. I am not pleased about this.

Week went by fast; super busy at work the first half, then playing catch-up the rest.

I saw Just-In-Case at the dreaded Wednesday meeting. He talked a lot and I was reminded why I have put no effort into “running into him” other than that one time. He is very cute (and seems pretty nice) but I could probably not stand to hang out with him one on one. Why is it that a Facebook comment from a Canadian Libertarian who I will never meet makes me smile way more than politely engaging in small talk IN PERSON with Just-In-Case?

I have absolutely no plans for the weekend other than going to the gym and perhaps working on KSAs.

My habit of reading PF blogs is making me kind of obsessive about my own finances. I’ve been fairly aggressive with saving the past 6 months (even with my clothing expenditures) but no matter how much I save, I worry it is still not enough of a cushion to move to DC on. (Not that I’ll move until I have a job, but my expenses will increase DRAMATICALLY). Right now, I am focusing on a fund that is specifically for moving related expenses.  I am keeping it completely separate from my emergency fund, which is in a local savings account and I cannot take money out of it without physically walking into one of the locations. I figure that keeps it pretty safe, and even more well guarded when/if I move to DC.

And of course, I’m still debating the Roth IRA thing, and if I want to get REALLY neurotic I can say “well the time I am wasting considering an IRA is time that my contributions could be growing.” I did one of those retirement calculators on my 401(k) plan and it is all like IF THE MARKET PERFORMS BADLY YOU WILL NOT HAVE ENOUGH. So maybe I should just part with some of my hoarded savings and open a Roth IRA?

I should just ask my dad for advice. He is the most sensible person about these things.

Also, daylight savings time this weekend, so we lose an hour. First of all, fuck George Bush, because daylight savings time is EARLIER than it used to be (it is entirely possible that it did used to be at this time and then it got moved back for whatever reason, but I don’t feel like looking it up). Secondly, daylight savings is a GIANT scam. Finally, because we turn our clocks ahead now, and UK doesn’t for another two weeks (THANKS A LOT BUSH) it makes things very confusing at work, and really, logistically speaking it makes NO SENSE that the UK be just 4 hours ahead of us.

Insert requisite comments from my physics/philosophy friends about how time doesn’t really exist. And with that, it’s the weekend.

I’m running on too much caffeine and not enough sleep, for no good reason. I could join the Facebook group “I’m Always Tired Because I Stay Up Too Late for No Reason.” I click mindlessly around the internet and have been known to hit “reload” on my email, even at 1:30 in the morning.

I drink a cup of coffee, and then pick up another on my way to a therapy appointment, even though that’s all I have to do today. Half of a large iced coffee remains on the table next to me. My hands are a little shaky from too much caffeine and not enough to eat. Pause to eat half a sandwich. Better now.

My neck and shoulders are cramped and sore from too many hours hunched over at a desk or laptop. I am grateful for the relief of the weekend (I spent nine hours on Friday formatting contracts) but impatient with the way it interrupts the job search – there are no new job postings on the weekend.

My therapist gently bridged the subject that eventually, I’m going to have to date again. I brushed that off, saying I’m not interested in dating now, and what’s the point of it, given that I’m trying to move to DC sooner rather than later.

His point, of course, was that I’m not going to meet any boys spending my time as I’ve been spending it. Abstractly, he’s right. Day to day, I’m not interested in doing that, not now. My desire to go on polite dates is in the range of zero to negative 10.

I have an application to craft, for THE organization I want to work for. The chances of me getting so much as an email rejection are practically non-existent. But, as with every application I submit, even to the less than perfect jobs, I can’t help the wishful thinking. I can’t help but start to do the mental financial planning on how I would survive in DC on about half of what I’m making right now.

So it’s been a really long time since I’ve been on a date (or even done some making out. There is a definite lack of making out in my life) and I don’t see that changing in the near future. And I’ve only been at the search for a career change for a few weeks, really. It’s far too early to get frustrated because I haven’t submitted enough applications to be a contender in the number games.

Besides, all my personal experience shows that job offers, like boys you want to make out with, come along when you are least expecting it, when you’re at the rock bottom of frustrations and shattered expectations, and when you can’t picture how things are ever going to go right.

That’s when you get the phone call. That’s when you realize he’s deliberately sitting closer to you than he needs to.

This morning’s entry reminded me about my sorry lack of journaling lately. I do have a small notebook that I carry around and record bullet points of the day. It’s easier than having to find the time to sit down and write paragraphs and string together ideas.

I’ve mentioned before that I have trouble committing myself to mussing over my thoughts and emotions and ideas. It forces me to dwell and for the past eighteen months or so, dwelling has been dangerous. It is only in hindsight, as I see my number of entries dwindle, that I realize just how reluctant I have been to face my mind in a metaphorical mirror.

Here Are The Facts

Edited: This was originally posted on LJ. Context!

It has always kind of annoyed me when people I LJ-stalk (you know, people who aren’t on my friends list, and yet I know of their live journal and so I read it) would just cease posting (or perhaps they went friends-only and I’m just missing out) and I didn’t quite get how someone could just abandon a space in which they used to write so often.

I think I get it now. I mean, most days it doesn’t even occur to me to come here and write some drivel about my day. I still read my friends page, but I haven’t added anyone new in probably 2 years? 

Anyway, as of this February I have been on livejournal for six years. Six years of my life are on the internet. That’s a little scary, a little weird, etc, etc I’m not going to bore you with yet another one of my long, self-reflective, what-has-changed-since-then posts.

So I guess I’m just checking in. Work is good, even great at time. The Writer is kind of unremarkable. My room is a mess and I’m thinking about how I really should take out all those bags of paper recycling. I broke my laptop. If I continue this list I’ll start to obsess, and get anxiety ridden. And really, I prefer to just not think about these things. Avoidance, perhaps, but it makes the day more pleasant.

And this entry is just what I have previously referred to as “gloss and veneer.” And so I guess that’s why I haven’t been writing much lately. I’ll check back when I have something better to say.

I’m at work today, but I’m okay with that. I actually love working the days before holidays because no one is here, and you can get stuff done/slack off/not be bothered. That leaves me free to use my vacation days for other things.

I am actually in fairly good spirits, a combination of still being high off the recent work awesomeness, caffeine, and the fact that I could write a fairly sappy post to comemorate the fact that this year, while filled with less tangible “good things’ than 2007, was actually a much better year because of the people I have in it.

Run on sentence much?

So because I did not say it on Thanksgiving, this year, I am thankful once again for the immense amount of love in my life.

Tonight, I plan on watching Love, Actually”, eating good food, and talking to Peace. I’m hanging out with him on Saturday, which should be nice. Yes, I know, I need to stop hanging out with so many guys and find more girlfriends, but I’m probably seeing Lex on Friday so…baby steps.

I’m still having general fretting about the job. This is temporary, and I need to find something that will get me health insurance, and oh, stablity.

I’m impatient. I want my answers and solutions, like, yesterday. I try to remind myself to live in the day and the day goes by pretty fast once it hits 11:00ish or so.

With school, and work, I think I’m the good kind of busy, but I suspect it’s also the lonely type of busy. And I’ll wind up burned out and depressed. He asked me the question I dread “What do you do for fun.”

I gave him the honest answer “I don’t remember.”

I related how Lear is basically my social life, and David doesn’t think it’s sad, he thinks it’s a good sign of building healthy relationships, given that I have not done too well in that department.  He also offered t ocome hang out in the City with me sometimes. “Looking out for a friend,” he called it, and as much as I loathe to admit it, I like that someone is looking out for me.

It’s a Monday, and because of a nap I took yesterday afternoon, I didn’t fall asleep until past 2:30 last night. It isn’t so bad now, but it will hurt at 3:30.

Some general things:

1) The temp job is pretty good. My supervisor is nice.

2) Annoyances: My login for the temp agency website won’t work, so I can’t enter my hours, so my paycheck is going to be late this week….GRRR. I don’t need the money right away, but it’s still annoying, because I’m doing to have to call a bunch of people today to get it solved.

3) Speaking of calling people; I have done things at my job that paralyzed me with fear at my old job. Such as MAKING PHONE CALLS. And sending out multiple emails asking questions/making requests of people, without sweating every word and freaking out and taking an hour to write/send a simple email.

4) Annoyance: I have to call my insurance company about multiple things today. Yeah. My ER bill finally showed up in full. Ug, I just want to pay the whole thing off and have it disappear. I can’t right now, because I don’t have enough money in my account, especially because I have to pay for the paralegal classes I signed up for.

5) I refuse to let myself get too stressed or panicked over this job. I just can’t let it. This is not going to turn into what The-Job-That-Wasn’t was like. No matter what happens, it cannot be as bad as that.

6) I am going to DC on Friday. I am looking forward to it.

7) I still get pangs where I miss things pre-Chicago-trip, but mostly, I’m okay. Mostly.

8. Annoyance: I still haven’t figured out what’s going on with my stupid security deposit from the apartment. Also, I either need to sell the remainder of my NYSC membership, or force them to transfer my home gym to Jersey, which they are making difficult to do, etc.

9) I’m not sure. I didn’t want to end on a negative note, because it was a good past week. But I’m tired this morning, and the day in front of me seems very long.

10) “I will get through this day. I will get through this day. I will get through this day.”

I have all these things that I want to write about (moreover, that I NEED to write about, just for the record, and for my own mental health) but I have no attention span/concentration lately.

The past 10 days went something like this:

Friday: Somewhat stupid decision to see HWSNBN when he texted me. Oops
Saturday: Sick. Psycho-somatic? Ha!
Sunday: Sleeping, late lunch with the Astoria girls
Monday: I forget what I did Monday.
Tuesday: Wrote out the full week’s calendar, woo-hoo. Watched the election stuff
Wednesday: Bob Barr!
Thursday: Finished important writing project. Bought a dress.
Friday: Presented important project. Received lots of praise. Walked on a cloud for the afternoon. Texted extensively with Ohio. Also interesting email from OLB. (When it rains it pours, and I will still never understand boys.) Then proceeded to do something stupid.
Saturday: Talked to Jill-IAN. Caught up. Assessed. Analyzed.
Saturday night/Sunday: Tried not to pass out from the heat in my apartment, drank lots of Gatorade, sweat
Monday: Supremely icky news from insurance company. Spent most of the day on the phone with them
Tuesday: More insurance drama. Mostly solved now, but will not have final answers until the end of the week and will be a ball of anxiety until then. Also, residual angst from Friday.

Some things coming up in the next 10 days, and lots of random plans/ideas and things on my mind.

I should probably make up a glossary for all the monikers. Ha.

Better now.

Last week wasn’t all doom and gloom as one may have judged from Thursday’s entry. A Grylliade member was in town on Wednesday night, so the New York contingent took him out. Although that led to what I guess qualified as a fight with O-L-B. Which I think is ok now.

Saturday I scored Billy Joel tickets, which brings me way more joy than it possibly should, because there are few things on earth that make me more joyful than Billy Joel live.

Sunday was Xina’s engagement party (and I will write more on this later) and other good things.

So this is just the public version, in which I check in, and vow to have something more interesting to say soon.

I am all over the map this month. Go away, October.

Anyway, my high school friend Joe, who’ve I just recently gotten back in touch with due to the fact that we work across the street from each other and saw each other on the bus all the time when I was briefly commuting from Jersey, agreed to be my date for the black tie event I had to attend for work. He agreed with no begging on my part, just a “Sure, when do I need to be there?” Because old friends are awesome.

I called Lisa up, who i haven’t spoken to in forever, just to tell her about this agreement, and she told me that “This entire ordeal with you being a grown up is too surreal and upsets my always tenuous equilibrium. In addition to Joe’s capacity for predictable decorum, he has also grown up a bit and no longer is our “little Joe.”

Which I relayed to Joe, and he was like “yeah, that’s pretty much accurate.” But for the record, the evening went very well. Joe was exactly the perfect date. He kept me talking throughout whenever it was just the two of us standing around, because anyone from staff was either a) important enough to be schmoozing with donors b) had to work the front door. (I am still not sure why my presence was required…whatever)

He kept me talking which prevented me from wringing my hands, biting my nails, or looking overly awkward. There was massive amount of delicious sushi. I drank too much wine, but that had no ill effects, because we were seated with the scientists, not staff for some reason. This was actually a pretty good situation, as Joe was a physics major in college, and chatted up the science people. I am completely floored by Joe’s ability to seamlessly socialize with various individuals at the table. He kept me from being a nervous wreck. Joe has known me for nearly a decade and thus is familiar with my particular brand of neurosis and was able to balance it well. Ladies, Joe is a total catch, my new mission is to find him a girlfriend.

So the evening went very well and thank god it is over, but also being a grown up is fucking scary. I really think I’m still pretty clueless on the ‘life plan’ level. My job is stable and I like it, and it’s a pretty cool organization (this was just confirmed to me tenfold because of the presentations on Sunday. My organization funds some really awesome work and I should be proud to be a small part of it)

I’m just…I don’t know right now. I feel okay about my job, but I’m not sure where I can go from it in the long run. I know I’ve only been there for two months, but I’m already thinking along the lines of that there is nowhere to really go from where I am and that’s…frustrating. I have my expensive education and it’s like if I ever want to do more than what I’m doing now I’m going to have to go elsewhere.

I may ultimately want something else, even though I should be perfectly grateful with what I’ve got, job and apartment wise, because for another example of how much of a jerk I am, right now I am back at Freeze Peach in the Ditmars area, and as amazingly awesome as my apartment is the location will never be Ditmars….

Most people would say I”m in a better location now, more transportation options, etc, but Ditmars is home. Ditmars feels right. I don’t think my new location ever will feel quite right, and that makes me sad because it is an AWESOME apartment, but I think I’d take back my humble abode on 21st Avenue too.

As I suspected I would, I miss my previous life as an Astorian.  I don’t know what’s next, and I ALWAYS know what’s next. So I”m trying to take a deep breath and go to bed early tonight, because god damnit, I’m a smart girl and I’ll figure this the hell out.

A year ago,  it was my last weekend in the city before I left for grad school. Last summer, as I have stated before, I reveled in the romanticism of being an unhindered 20-something in the city. I was empowered. More than ever, I was breaking out of old habits. The term social butterfly was tailor made for me, last summer. I loved my life, and I spent the last weekend celebrating, and trying not to get too sad over the fact that once I left things would never be the same. The Astorians threw me a party the Friday before I left. Saturday night was a mish-mash of old friends, PLI-ers, misc. people and unexpected guest. Sunday was choice encounters with Jill-IAN, and then Astorians. It was a perfect weekend to cap off a perfect summer.

Of course, I’m also realistic enough to know that one of the reasons last summer was so amazing because I knew it was temporary. I wouldn’t have “lived my life like a dream” if it wasn’t. (I’m quoting the REM song “Leavng New York” song there, which I listened to 12 million times) I don’t expect to have a summer like that anytime soon, because the last comprable one was seven years prior.

So it’s not wonder that after that summer, I crashed when I got to Chicago, and felt like the rug had been pulled out from under my feet and panicked. If I stayed in New York, I never could have sustained such perfection and wonderfulness and etc, and I know that. But it still sucked to get to UChicago and not automatically be thrilled and happy and exhilirated with the opportunity to be studying with brilliant people. Things even went pretty well and I was being relatively social and stuff, but I just didn’t CARE about most of my classes.

I was a pretty big mess the first quarter. And I just didn’t care enough about school; that’s what made me start to realize a PhD was not for me. I knew on the surface level that it was pretty awesome that my thesis advisor was a famous expert on the subject, but really? It didn’t matter to me. I didn’t “take advantage of the opportunity.” I just did what I needed to do, and that was enough for me. The best thing I could do for myself was throw myself into my thesis and get the hell out of there. And it worked. I graduated in June like I wanted to. I have no regrets about how I handled the year. I am so grateful to be out of Chicago, because I felt like I was suffocating there.

Now, a year after I left, I have my Masters and I have a job (this time, one I actually want.) and I can’t wait to get back to Astoria. I was sitting on the N train, waiting to pull out of the Ditmars station and its just  beautiful. Hell Gate Bridge in the background, cars rushing down the Triborough in the foreground, and signs in four different languages and there is just no way this will ever not be an awe inspiring view to me. This may sell me out on ever being a “true New Yorker” (how deep do Jersey roots run?) but I may as well enjoy it, because every time I travel out to Astoria, I’m anxious to get there, and when i step out of the subway station, I feel home.

I was not panicked when I left New York a year ago, because I knew it was “the right thing to do.” To turn down a scholarship to an MA program at UChicago would have been “irrational.” I still don’t feel it was the wrong decision, because I don’t feel I’ve lost anything by going. And sure, I’m probably romanticizing how awesome its going to be to move back to Astoria and get back into my life there and in the city. But whatever it is, I’m happy its happening. I’m happy things have gone this way.

So, it’s been a while.

I’m still not in a writing mood, but I should have some news very, very soon.

At least for a couple of days.

I realize, I’ve basically been anticipating this day since I found out the date the rough draft was due some time back in September. April 13th has been like, a touchstone. Oh touchstone’s the wrong word, but don’t look at me: I’ve gotten about 7 hours of sleep in the past 72 hours, I’m a little out of sorts.

“So if your thesis is due tomorrow, what do you do for the rest of the quarter?” my brother asked me last night.
“Well this is just the rough draft, we get comments on it and then we turn in the final on May 4th.”
He asked the question that anyone not associated with my program has been asking “…so then why are you obsessing if its just a rough draft.”