Project Coordinator: Day One

Let me start off by saying that while I am an early bird, 5:45am is just insane. I had a fitful night's sleep due to being A) excited about the first day of work B) afraid that I would oversleep and C) in a bed to which I'm not accustomed. Despite these issues, I still had a hard time getting up at 5:45am. To my frustration, I walked into the kitchen to find my mom already awake and asking a million questions about whether or not I'm ready for my first day, am I awake yet, what do I want to eat, etc. I realize it's nice of her to wake up with me and try to help me do things, and I really wish I could take her help graciously, but I am not that kind of person. At 5:45am, I want to make myself coffee and get ready without talking to anyone. I also have a severe problem with accepting her help with anything, I'm not sure why, but I get very anxious when she does things for me without asking. Instead of thanking her, I get upset.

 Traffic at 6:30am

Anyway, I leave from my mom's house at 6:30am and proceed to drive down I-45 to Sam Houston Toll to I-10 (kind of missed the exit, but this is the route I should have gone) to HWY 6. I had to go a roundabout way today because I have mush for brains this early in the morning and I missed the exit for I-10, which, by the way, is kind of hard to miss. I get to work just before 8am, get handed a stack of paperwork to fill out and then get introduced to about 15 people, and I can now tell you maybe what 3 of their names are.

I spent most of the day reading over the employee manual (about as exciting as it sounds), another manual about what I'll be doing (overwhelming) and training with my manager, Olga. Olga! She's from Russia, and there's another lady from Russia in the office with whom she frequently speaks Russian...it's very distracting because I want to understand what they're saying and I hear familiar words every now and then. The office (shared by everyone in the Translating Division) is large and I get my own L-shaped desk, complete with two monitors that go to the computer, a telephone (which rings incessantly) and a view of the vultures (wtf?) out in the parking lot. Not a bad setup.

Some highlights from the day: Olga seemed very impressed when I could answer her questions about what I'd learned (hooray for a pretty decent cramming memory) and I didn't cry on the drive home! Also, my "first day on the job" outfit was pretty great.

Note the subtle gray/black zebra printing on the skirt

Playing Tetris with my Belongings

Tomorrow is the big day: Moving Day. Being a procrastinator, I still have a lot to do, but I seem to work well under pressure, so I'm not too worried. I managed to fit the entire contents of my closet into the trunk of my Honda Accord, still on the hangers for optimal ease of unpacking (hopefully). With my closest barren, I realize that this is really happening. I am moving to Houston and starting a new job in mere days! I have been ignoring the obvious for at least a week now, keeping my mind busy with day to day things so that I would not freak out. I am feeling some panic right now, but it's probably only temporary. I have so much left to do that I don't have time to panic.

Moving has got to be one of the worst things in life. The only upside is that I have purged a LOT of stuff (either because I didn't want to pack it or because if I haven't even seen it in a year, it's of no use to me) and I will hopefully learn to not purchase frivolous things anymore. Or at least not as much. One can dream.

Yesterday was my last day at work and the ladies got me a cookie cake. I thought it was really sweet of them and wish I had thought to take a picture before everyone got a piece of it. They also had everyone meet for Happy Hour at Botticelli's on South Congress and we had a lot of fun! They had me take a shot and wished me well with my new job in Houston.

Speaking of procrastinating, I suppose I had better get back to packing so that I can do some more celebrating tonight. I am looking forward to seeing how much stuff I can fit into my car...

150 Mile Commute

It's times like this that really make me wish we had flying cars. I mean, come on, 2010 and I still have to drive on the road at no more than 70(ish) MPH? Lame.

The good news is that I finally got a job, in my field, closely related to languages, with other language nerds, that will give me great experience for jobs in the future. But I absolutely hate the idea of leaving Austin. And maybe I would hate the idea less if I were moving to Boston or New York, or even Seattle. These cities remind me of Austin, but the job is in Houston, aka Humidity Capital of the World. I am thankful that it is almost October and humidity should not be an issue, but my friends, my apartment, my activities, and my entire life is in Austin. How will I survive in Houston without these familiar things?

I did not have this feeling of utter despair when I moved to Croatia and I'm not sure why. Maybe because things were ending here, school was over, I had no job, I wasn't into any of the things I am doing now (kickball, book club, trivia night, races, etc.) and I wasn't leaving much behind.

I know it's only 150 miles away and I can visit over the weekends and Houston is probably a great city and the job is something that will be really good for me, but I am having the hardest time being happy about it. People are confused when I tell them I got a job because my face probably looks more like I'm telling them I just got rejected from 20 jobs.

I have so much to do before I move that I don't even want to think about it. Packing, what to do about my mail, where will I live, what should I do with my apartment here, I need to put in my 2 weeks at the bank, *ugh*. The "what ifs" are slowly driving me insane. I think once I just accept the situation, things will run more smoothly, but I really don't want this to be happening. It's all so fast.

I start work October 18th. I have about 2.5 weeks to move my life to Houston. Le sigh.

Tri-Hard Challenge

800 Meter Swim
18 Mile Bike Ride
3.1 Mile Run

Completed.

And I am really happy to have accomplished my goal...to finish the race. There were a few points during each part of the race where I wanted to give up (i.e. when I got kicked in the face while swimming; trying to climb those hills biking; seeming to NEVER get to the turn around while running), but I kept going and finished in 2:23:38 (2 hours, 23 minutes and 38 seconds). I was not aiming to finish in a certain amount of time since this was my first Sprint Triathlon, but with that time, I actually came in 2nd in my division.

Except they put me in the wrong division. Savanah finished the race almost a minute after me and got a 2nd place medal, and I got nothing because I finished 8th in the wrong division. 20-24 should have been my division (seeing as I'm 24), but they stuck me in 25-29 because I turn 25 this year. Well, they can suck it because I'm saying I got 2nd. I'll make my own damn medal.

The drive to Burnet was not bad, but I'm glad we went the day before so that we didn't have to get up at 5am race day and head out there. Our cabin was about 10 feet from the race starting point, kind of awesome. We went on a bike ride when we got there, just to see the road that we would be riding on the next day. After that, we went for a nice swim in the lake right before sunset and it was very relaxing. Dinner was pasta, some good carbs to have us nice and ready for the race the next day. We went to bed early (10pm) and woke up at 6:20am to get ready. It was still dark out, but people were ALREADY setting their bikes up at the transition area. Crazies.

Our wave started at 8:05 and I was ready...until I realized there were 80 people around me also trying to swim in the same direction, feet kicking and arms flying everywhere. I definitely took in some water and had to stop a few times to catch my breath. Savanah blew past me (as I knew she would) and finished a good 2 minutes before me. I caught up to her during the bike ride because her bike could not shift fast enough for the grueling hills (whoever said the ride was mostly flat, lied like a dog). Apparently it took me over 3 minutes to transition from Swim to Bike and only 52 seconds to go from Bike to Run, so you would think that I had more energy for the run. Wrong. I started running and it was tough! I walked a lot, which is how Savanah caught back up to me, finishing less than a minute after me.

It was tough, but I'm so glad I did it. The 8 weeks of training really helped; I don't think I could have finished without it. Now on to my next challenge...The Warrior Dash.

Boot Camp, Take 3

I'm not quite sure why I thought it would be a good idea to give Boot Camp another try (after failing miserably to complete the last two I signed up for), but Nichole asked if I wanted to do a free class with her and I said yes. Mostly because I wanted to hang out with her and exercise is good for you. Lunges, I have come to decide, are the devil.

The class started out simply, a short jog to the other side of the Mopac pedestrian bridge, and then it got serious. Relays. Lunges across the field followed by something I've forgotten the name of (essentially consists of jumping down into Plank and coming back up into a jump) X3 and a sprint back where your partner awaits you. While your partner does what you just did, you must do tricep push-ups until they come back. And then it's time for another round of relays, this time with different kinds of lunges, and this goes on for way too long in my opinion. After this wonderful bout of exercise, we repeated everything in rapid succession, without the trade off with the partner - followed by endless crunches. As if this was no enough, we then had to hold Plank while each member went around the circle and jumped over us. If you made it to the end (everyone did), you had to run back to your car and call it a day...

Except that I thought it would be a good idea to ride my bike to Town Lake...meaning I had a good 30-40 min ride back. Needless to say, I am TIRED. Around 6th and Congress, I saw an accident involving a pedestrian and a car. I hope that guy is going to be OK. Sobering thing to see. Reminded me of the book I just finished reading last night, The Elegance of the Hedgehog. (Spoiler Alert!)

This book really threw a curve ball and upset me to no end. I nearly cried and that's really saying something. How could you just kill off one of the main characters? How heartbreaking! I truly enjoyed the book, but the last little bit seriously threw me for a loop and I am not a big fan of the ending. Or maybe I am, because it really does make you realize how precious life is and how little we appreciate it. Something to think about...

Life Right Now

I am currently working at Frost bank as a Teller and trying to figure out what I really want to do. I know this is not it. I would really like to go back to school and get my Masters, but I have yet to decide what I would like to study. Rather than sit back until a revelation hits me in the head like a falling brick, I'm taking steps toward figuring things out. I am studying for the GRE, which I am scheduled to take October 2nd. I just finished going through the book I bought today, and now I need to practice what I "learned." It has been nice getting a studying routine down again, but it has not gotten me closer to understanding my future.

I remembered today that when I take the test, they will ask me which schools I want them to send my score to...and I have no idea. Do I want to stay in Austin or should I go somewhere north like Boston or New Jersey? I have no idea. I am so tired of not knowing. I just need to make a decision, but I am so afraid that it will be the wrong one that I am stuck at a standstill. I think the only thing worse than making the wrong decision is to never make one at all, so I need to step up, make up my mind and just go for something. I will look into schools and programs this weekend and narrow it down to 5-10 options. That will give me a good start.

My first Triathlon is next weekend; I can't believe 7 weeks have already gone by since I signed up for this race. I am somewhat nervous, but excited as well. I have been training for almost 2 months, so I don't think endurance will be an issue, but we will just have to see. I already signed up for my next race, the Warrior Dash on November 21st. After reading about that race, the Triathlon seemed like a piece of cake!

Today marks 3 weeks since Lauren left Austin and I am definitely feeling her absence. She was my go-to friend for everything and she was always up for doing random things around town or just painting our nails and talking. It's Friday night now and none of my friends want to hang out. I'm going to try to take this as an opportunity to study and catch up on sleep instead of wallowing. Well, maybe I'll study after a little bit of wallowing. I'm entitled. My bff is an ocean away!

iBlog

A few of my friends have recently started their own blogs, so I finally decided to do the same. I believe the most difficult aspect of any blog is coming up with a name and although I am not entirely happy with the one I have chosen (my other choices were already taken), it should no longer keep me from blogging.

My hope is that this blog will somehow allow me to express my thoughts in a way that, upon reflection, will bring me closer to understanding my place in the world. Perhaps those that read my blog will also be able to help me along the way.

A fairly vague introduction, but this is only the beginning...