Hedging My Bets

Well friends, today I really wished I had taken a picture with me in the car! There was a heavy morning fog which was a horror to drive through, but utterly lovely too, stretched out over the cornfields and little iconic farmhouses and infused with beams of sunlight - very gorgeous indeed.
I took a risk, though, that made the drive rather less enjoyable than it could have been: it's called the "I still have a quarter-tank-ish of gas, I should be able to make-it-ish to the main office and back" game. It's a decent game in the city, but not so much of a game in the country where the nearest gas station might be visible among the distant corn stalks but literally inaccessible due to those same distant corn stalks. I'm starting to develop a thing about corn.
I'm also developing a definite thing about that evil known as "paperwork". Signing up for health, dental, vision, and life insurance as well as flex spending, retirement plans, income continuation, and all those whats-em thingamajigs they try to get you into is not quite a party. I will be soooo delighted when it's all done! Any ways, I just thought I'd whine a bit to you about life and all that. Me, I need to hop into my nice comfy bed and get some sleep, my vibrant personality is much more lovely in moonlight than dim dawn.
Tomorrow I promise to post about something more fascinating than my latest new-job woes - if only I had a connector cord for my camera I could show you my latest culinary and decorating exploits but alas, I don't even own one. But I'll think of something! For real!

Feeling Silence

Church today was awesome! The sermon was given by one of the church's missionaries to Mexico and was a really great reminder about focusing on God, instead of on my goals and hopes and ideas about what this new life here will look like. Also, a cute guy said hello to me in the parking lot. What more could you ask for from a Sunday morning?
It is still really very warm here, and since I am a cheapskate I have been refraining from running the one air conditioner in my apartment, but today I gave in: it's been running all day, and I'm thiiiiiis close to turning on a second fan. Thank goodness for the orange dreamsicle bars in the freezer :)
As I may have mentioned, it's very quiet here! I come from a big family with lots of noise and talking and fighting and laughing and cooking and typing and practicing of instruments and singing of songs and tvs going and radios blaring and housework being done...and now it's me. The sound of only two hands typing. One fan blowing. And..that's it. It's so quiet that I hear the elevator running from beyond my bedroom wall. So quiet the sound of ice falling startles me out of my wits. So quiet I had to give up chewing my gum because I could hear it, and it was of annoyance.
I'm not good at dealing with silence. I associate silence with anger and dislike - most of my family is only quiet when they are upset. I associate silence with being alone, away from the fun and apart from whatever lively good thing is happening.
So, my mission for the next few days is to appreciate silence if I can. Not saying I won't be filling most of my waking moments with music or television or stories on cd, but I will make a conscious effort to leave about 30 minutes of the day quiet, and see what happens. So far it seems that silence brings awareness of yourself - there's nothing drowning out the sound of your actions, the noise of your thoughts and breathing. Whether this should be called introspection or self-centeredness, I haven't quite determined.
Thoughts on silence? Do you love it or hate it? What does silence teach you?

Settling In

Well friends here I am, settled-ish into my new, very spacious, never-been-lived-in-before, apartment. I've spent thousands of dollars in the last week buying things for the place, paying the security deposit and rent, filling up on groceries, and setting up utilities and so forth. Whoever taught the lesson on how much moving out can cost skipped my high school apparently! My dad called my decorating style "Early Poverty". Fabulous.
I cooked my first meal on my own in the new place - my dad and sister stayed for a few days to help me get settled and he did the cooking, but this time it was up to me and I was kind of proud of the results...I've never cooked fish before, but it was delicious!
I'm actually thinking of taking a few cooking classes around here - once I have some money again! They have a few at a local bakery that look pretty fun and interesting, and I could meet some people there. I also might start volunteering with the local library and/or theatre association - just depends on how exhausted I am once I actually start at the new job. It's funny though - with all the stress of moving I'm not even worried about the job, I'm too busy trying to get life figured I guess!
Well, back to settling for me, but answer me this while I'm gone: Should I volunteer at the church on Wednesday nights with a children's program, or should I take a creative writing class at the local community college? Answer away in the comments below!

Welcome, Welcome

Welcome, old friends and new friends :) So, this is the new blog - what do you think? I kind of like it myself - obviously! Anyways, this is where I will be regaling you with tales of my moving adventures and with creating a new life, for the first time all on my own. I can't promise I'll be real regular with my updates, for sure not until I have actually found a place to live, gotten settled in, and started at the new job. But I'll do my best, and hopefully we'll have fun together!

Well, that's it I guess. Just a short note to get us started. Thanks for following me into this new adventure - talk to you soon :)

-J