For the days when you need a pick-me-up

I saw a link to this site on PostSecret, and it's amazing!

http://1000awesomethings.com

Good thing I didn't read this article a year ago

Check out the needle-in-a-haystack trick these sanitation workers did. If I'd read this article last December, I'm not sure I wouldn't have tried for a little miracle myself!

Jury is back, and it's not good

I'm not a quitter. I don't want to be, anyway. But I hate this job.

There's nothing really bad about it, I guess. It's not unbearable. But I don't like it. My coworkers are OK, but the work itself? Not so good. I thought when I applied that this would be an admin/editing job. It's neither. It's entirely data entry. For a newspaper.

A newspaper.

I'm not a newspaper person. I struggled with that at my first job in Dallas. I felt like an outsider wandering the halls while everyone around me tried to figure out how to get people to subscribe to the paper again. I didn't subscribe, and I didn't want to.

The money isn't that good here. Not good enough to convince me to stay. But I can tough it out for the two months the job lasts, right?

Only there's so much memorization. So many special cases, and so many things that change on a regular basis. I've noticed myself zoning out when I get crazy code updates. I can't justify paying attention and committing these thigns to memory if I'm just going to be here for two months.

No matter what happens, I'm not in it for the long haul, so I've decided it's not worth the effort. It's nice earning a paycheck again (even if it is smaller than what it was 6 months ago). But is that enough reason to stay at a job that's not worth the effort?

For now, I've decided that my job search is not only back on, but it's in high gear. If I can find a job -- any job -- to take the place of this one, I can justify leaving to myself. But until then, I'll continue what I'm doing now: Thinking every five minutes about how much I'd like to just get up and never come back.

Restarting the counter

Until K and I moved to VA, the longest we'd been together consecutively was 20 days (his R&R last year). That all changed, though, just days before we moved out of our apartments in Dallas and Louisiana. Since June 24, we saw each other every single day ... until yesterday.

On Tuesday, K had to go to some sort of conference in Arlington. He left just after we met up for lunch.

I've been fine with him gone. It's been barely over 48 hours, so it's not like it's been that long.

But it's funny how you can get used to having someone around so much. He's on his way back home now. It'll be nice to have him back home, especially just in time for our weekly TV date (we love Flash Forward)!

Jury's still out on the job

But I did overhear (and participate in) some interesting conversations on my first day.

Overheard

Twenty-seven-year-old girl discussing (all day long) boys and dates she's been on. Went on one date last week with a lawyer ("Oopsie!") who was decently cute. "We'd make pretty babies!" she said. And she couldn't figure out why she doesn't have a boyfriend. Two words, woman: SLOW DOWN! (She also talked about how she wanted to find a boy to pay off her debt. And if he was fun to look at too, bonus. I'm thinking she's not the most mature 27-year-old I've met.)

Participated

Coworker: "Is your husband in the military?" (looking at my ring while asking)

Me: "Yes."

Coworker: "Is he an officer?"

Me: " ... Yes." (I hate that question, since if a person is asking it, they probably will judge me in some way based on the answer. Never mind the fact that I'M not the officer, and I wasn't born an officer's wife, either. Not to mention the fact I've never lived on post, and my first experience being an officer's wife is at a post where my husband is surrounded by people who outrank him.)

Coworker: "Air Force?"

Me: "No, Army." (What made her pick Air Force?)

Coworker: "Dang it, I was on a roll!"

Participated

Coworker: (incredulously) "You're married?"

Me: "Yes."

Coworker: "How old are you? You look so young!"

Me: "I'm 26."

Coworker: (slightly relieved) "Oh, so you're old enough to be married. You look 21!"

Overheard/Sat cautiously nearby but didn't participate

Nearest coworker strolled in at 10 this morning looking thrilled it was Monday (sense the sarcasm?). She was even more excited to learn that she had a new neighbor, since it meant that half her belongings, which she had arranged on my desk, would have to be confined to her own desk. She asked my boss whose idea it was to put me there. My boss said there was nowhere else for me to go. Coworker offered to move to another area of the building. I thought of telling her I don't bite, but I kept quiet in case she did. (Lucky for me, she's much nicer in the p.m.)

I can hardly wait for tomorrow (sense the sarcasm again?)!

I'm employed ... and confused

I got offered a job this morning, and I took it. I'm kind of unexcited about it.

To start from the beginning, this has happened SO fast. I found the job listing on Wednesday. I submitted my application that morning, and I got a phone call Wednesday afternoon. They asked me to interview Thursday (yesterday). When I went in for the interview, I realized I was at a job placement company. I had thought I'd be interviewing at the workplace, with my potential future boss.

I've learned a little about the company and what I'll be doing. It's a temp position through the month of December, but it could very likely go permanent afterwards. (Just in time to interfere with any holiday plans, I guess.) I'll be doing administrative work, with a little editing work as well. I'll be making a fraction of what I made in Dallas, but that's OK. For starters, I'm living with K now. I'm not driving 10 hours every other weekend to see him, and our bills have gone from two apartments to one house. Plus, there's the fact that the Army gives him money for our rent since we live off post. I don't need to be making the same amount of money I was making in Dallas.

K would be OK with me staying home if I wanted to. It's nice to have the days to get things done for K, and I take care of things around the house so we don't have to worry about it when K is home. I mow the lawn, clean the house, go grocery shopping and cook dinner. Since I wasn't working, I took it as my job to take care of the house, so I did. There's been downtime, obviously, but more this week than ever in the past since we've been getting settled, had visitors or been traveling ourselves.

I'd honestly be OK with staying home all the time for the flexibility it allows. I can pick up work with the company I worked with in Dallas when they need it. Since the work is inconsistent, they pay very well when I can help. I have the freedom to get things done during the day, and if K has a 4-day weekend, we can pick up and go wherever we want. Only I can't justify staying home to myself. It's not like we have a child I'm taking care of; that would be different. If I did stay home indefinitely, I would seek out volunteer opportunities to help fill my free time. I would be more OK with that.

But I miss bringing home a paycheck. I hate having to ask K to put money in my account. (We've talked about combining them, but we haven't done it yet. I really don't know if I want to.)

I miss the pride I had in taking care of things myself. If I saw a cute shirt on sale, I could buy it because it was my money. If I have a gift to buy someone, it would be from me since I had my own money to buy it with.

I was initially excited about this job opportunity for the paycheck alone, but then came the interview. The interviewer asked if I would still be able to pursue my passion (I guess she meant editing) through freelance work. I told her I would, but I kept to myself that editing is NOT my passion. I enjoy it, but there's definitely no passion.

And then she asked me what my career goal is. Shit. Wouldn't I like to know? Instead of getting into that whole conversation, I spoke just to say something and finally ended with something about "using my degree."

The job description said a person with a journalism or English degree is preferred, and an ideal candidate would have 1-2 years' experience at a newspaper or publishing company. Check and check. So I guess I'll be using my degree here after all.

Trouble is, I'm not sure it's the degree I'm happy with anymore.

Beauty. Fodder. Pictures.

K and I got back from our week in NY on Saturday night. His dad came to visit us Sunday morning, and he left Monday morning. What a whirlwind week!

We made a nice trip of it, since we drove to West Point for K's conference. First we stopped off near D.C. to see our friends Tom & Kris for a day or so. Then we headed up to West Point, where we stayed with friends while K helped at the conference. Then, we went to NYC on Thursday afternoon to stay with friends there until Saturday morning.

I enjoyed my first trip to West Point. I got to spend a good part of the week checking out the campus, even taking a tour one day. Man, is that place gorgeous.

(Not sure if the people in this picture are cadets, but they're definitely not in uniform. I think the cadets were all in class when I took this.)

(The superintendent's house. See his "GO ARMY / BEAT NAVY" spirit signs on the porch? )

The Cadet's Chapel was gorgeous. Evidently each week someone has to go through with a template to make sure the Bibles and hymnals are perfectly aligned.

Trophy Point was really neat too. It's called that because all the cannons on display there were captured during wars. There are a ton! Trophy Point also has a great view of the Hudson River.

(Evidently this giant chain is responsible for the U.S. being a country today.)

I couldn't believe how HUGE some of the homes were on the other side of the Hudson. They must have an amazing view! (Also, evidently the one in the bottom picture is supposed to look like the wizard's house in The Wizard of Oz.)

Our visit came at a great time to admire the fall leaves.

K had a good time playing with our friends' little girl. (See what I mean? Thank goodness HE's great with kids! Maybe our future children will have hope thanks to him.)

The night we got to NYC (after my fabulous haircut), we met our friends (the other I Do, Part 2 couple!) for tapas for dinner. There were some delicious ones and some very interesting ones, to say the least. Afterwards, we headed to a champagne bar. K and I decided NYC is a very expensive place. I have no idea how people can afford to live there and still be able to eat. (Actually, vice versa.)

Our friends' apartment was awesome, and you can even see Ground Zero from their window. Insane!

That Friday night, our friends invited over two other couples for a Louisiana friends reunion. Our friend Jay makes amazing crab rangoon, and K helped him prepare it for us for the evening.

What's funny is that until a few weeks ago, we hadn't seen two of these couples in over a year. We got to catch up with them at our Dallas ceremony. Then, two of the couples had weddings in the last month (both of which the 3rd couple also attended).

It was nice to have a little unexpected reunion. Who knows when we'll all get together again. It was still nice to be headed home after a week of being gone and over a month of traveling every single weekend. In our full day of driving, we got to see quite a bit of beautiful fall foliage.

But it turns out that after so much time away, nothing quite beats the look of your own front door.