Monday, March 29, 2010

So I've been coming upon this problem that sounds a little ridiculous. I think I may actually have too many friends. Case in point: Saturday night. I had, I think, four different options for how to spend my evening: my roommate was having people over, another friend was having a gathering in Bay City, a third set of friends were going out to Applebee's for drinks, and a final friend was coming up from Detroit (my Detroit friend got priority, since I see him the least). It could've been a case of the "I have plans so everyone wants to hang out" syndrome, but don't get me wrong: it makes a girl feel pretty cool to have that many people requesting her company.

It also kind of results in feeling like I don't really have a set "group." I've got my high school friends, my college friends, my Saginaw/coffee shop/bar friends (some of the groups overlap). I do like being a floater, if that's what you'd call it. I think it results in me being a little withdrawn from people too - always somewhere else to be (well, not ALWAYS). I don't always get to put the time and effort into individual friendships because I'm trying to spend a little time with everyone. But I suppose I should enjoy it while it lasts, because come the end of summer I won't know a soul in Baltimore. I think I'm up to the challenge of meeting new people; I've gotten more outgoing in my years of forced interaction via customer service jobs. And the strongest friendships I've made here will hopefully carry across the distance, right? Here's hoping.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Note to self: Half Price Books. They have books, movies, music - even vinyl! I went to one in Columbus while visiting a friend there and loved it. Of course, no store in MI or MD, so I'm going to have to remember to look for it when I travel elsewhere.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

routines, routines, routines...

A friend of mine just got a job with the DNR here in MI, and one of the conditions to her being hired is a physical fitness test. Now, on paper it sounds pretty easy - the standards are always lower for women, and it seems like I recall having to do more than they require during the gym fitness tests in high school. What I remember from the DNR requirements were like 10 push-ups, 30 sit-ups, a half-mile shuttle run in 5 minutes, and so on.

My friend called me the other night, worried, saying she couldn't do the 10 push-ups. She's generally more physically fit than I am, so it got me wondering how well I'd do in this test. Today I decided to try it myself. I stretched out, limbered up, all that - I used to take dance classes, so I remember a fair amount of stretches; it feels good to do them every once in awhile (since I can't seem to get into any kind of regular routine). Well, I had a heck of a time with the sit-ups (the stipulation was that your elbows had to touch your knees) - I made it to 21 and had to stop for a breather before fighting my way through the last nine. Yeesh! What's worse though, I couldn't even do one push up. Not one. They make you lower yourself so that your chest is three inches from the floor and I didn't have the strength to get down that far. Pathetic. So, now I feel like I need to incorporate some kind of upper-body conditioning into my daily routine. Ugh! Like I don't have enough to do in one day. I'm terrible at new habits; it took me countless years just to remember to take my vitamins (almost) every day. I don't do so well at routines either. Might have to start making myself lists so I remember everything. I'm pretty good at lists...

-Vitamins
-Breakfast
-Shower
-work
-write something
-submit/edit something
-exercise!
-dinner
-learn/practice some scales on piano
-Sleep

There's just not enough time in the day.

Monday, March 22, 2010

so it begins...

My last blog kind of bit the dust along with Haloscan's commenting system - well, that, and I never updated it - so I'm trying again. Fresh start and all that. I'm hoping that I don't fall into my usual trap of writing about my day, falling behind for several days and trying to catch up, meanwhile days turn into weeks then months, then I get discouraged and give up altogether. It's a problem I have when trying to journal on paper, anyway.

So, here's day one. I just got into an MFA program in Baltimore; I live in Michigan. So, now I have an excuse to completely uproot and move across the country; I just have to figure out how to finance it. Commence job searching. What a joke. Craigslist and careerbuilder, while useful, aren't really the tools to find a job in my field, apparently. Hopefully school will be an avenue for that. I am a little nervous, as for the most part I've lived within a two-hour radius of where I am now for my whole life. But I've always been a bit of a wanderer, with some kind of strange mindset that I don't really have roots. Probably comes from living in a broken home and blah blah blah. I don't mind it I guess. It's been a dream of mine to go to the "big city" and start some kind of successful life there. Boy, is it easy to come up with excuses not to go, but I know if I don't get past that and make myself do it now, I might not ever, and end up stuck here resenting this town more and more. So I'm looking for jobs not in my field, but still a step up from what I've got now.

That's the biggest thing on my mind now, this looming change in my future. There are lots of little things there too, but I'll save them for future entries.