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| This is day two of destroying a cardboard barrier. This was the bigger, badder version. |
This was my first week officially on my own since John left for Los Angeles. Without going into the mushy details, it's been different to have the house so quiet. Paparazzi has definitely been missing the attention, too. Besides the gross outbursts, the other day he brought a bag with ginger root upstairs. Didn't rip open the bag to try to eat it, just apparently carried it upstairs and left it. I've tried keeping him in the kitchen with five foot walls of cardboard, but apparently eight plus hours alone is enough time for him to figure out how to tear down that wall!
Anyway, in an attempt to satiate his desire for attention, I took him to Shakespeare in the Park's "All's Well that Ends Well," which is a fabulous play and I'm a little sad I never wrote a paper about it in college! It was great, but he was squirming like a toddler and at one point I did body slam him to get him off my face and calmed down. Other than that, it was a great night out.
Last week, I got the plastic to prove I live here now: a temporary driver's license and my library card (haven't set up my home library yet but I'm ready to terrorize a new one!). Next step is PA plates, which is a convoluted system I haven't really figured out yet. They make it complex by wanting a pencil imprint of your VIN and if you can't get to it (like mine) you have to have it done at a verified place. On top of that, their official guidelines say you need to register and title your out of state vehicle within 20 days of establishing residency.... but you need Pennsylvania ID.... which you can't get until you have a utility bill... which takes more than 20 days. Stupid.
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| Some other theatre- goers decided it would be fun to let him drink their cider. |
Anyway, I spent this last weekend being very domestic--cooking and cleaning my little heart out. I organized the basement, bought a pork roast and an ice cream cone from an Amish woman at the local farmers' market (where I was lightly chastised for leaving Paparazzi tied up outside for about 15 minutes--apparently he's prime for dog fighting kidnappers), mopped the floor, hung things on the walls. I've realized that home repair can be rewarding, but my solutions very rarely work the first time, making for constant trips to Lowe's.
My garden is finished and I see a tiny little tomato starting to grow. I added some luck to it when I found--I kid you not--a cluster of lady bug eggs hatching in my guest room. I freaked at first (why the hell won't bugs leave me alone?!), but found out they're harmless so I just transplanted them to the garden, where I'm still picking out pieces of glass. The brief downpours we're getting are washing up new slivers every day and that's what I do while my coffee is brewing--collect a handful of glass.
As for a social life--I met some of my neighbors last night and let me say, what better way to bond than beer and tearing apart sea insects? I was going to go to see Bridesmaids with one of them tonight, but I had to work late. I think they're all part of Harrisburg Young Professionals, and I'm planning on going to a couple HYP events at the end of the month.
Since John left, I haven't had the luxury of being driven to work like an old lady. It's close enough that it's silly to pay for parking but far enough to sweat. I'm still working on ways to minimize the sweat. Right now it's mostly trying to not move once I get into the office.
Work has been good, and by good I mean busy. I really hate not having enough to do, and that hasn't been the case since we've sent this master plan of content production into motion. That means I'm doing a lot of copyediting. Downside: I can't read anything without looking for errors.
Sometimes it concerns me that a large part of my job (editing in general) is looking for flaws. It becomes a mindset I'm not a fan of. I get over-concerned with effectiveness and purpose and lose sight of the validity of looseness and relaxation. Maybe I'm getting a bit too philosophical, but I've been thinking about my "career path" lately because one of the many people higher up on the food chain encouraged me to since this company is small enough to allow for role flexibility and successful enough for individuals to flourish. Which is exciting as hell, but also a bit of a wake up call.
Once you get away from being financially burdened and generally being happy with what you do, you can go from adequate to ground-breaking. The question is what do I want to be passionate about in my work? I have no idea, and as I told Suzy tonight, I think it would be presumptuous for me to pretend I did really know. I envy people who have a goal like, "I want to ensure that everyone in western Uganda has access to clean drinking water," or "I want to provide scholarships for 15 inner city girls this year." They're clear goals to work towards. They make a measurable difference. I want one.
