Hello, September!

I've worked myself into a steady and yet erratic daily schedule. I'm not exactly sure how that happened. It usually involves waking up around nine thirty or ten, stumbling out of bed in order to see if any caffeine has been brewed up. After a cup or two, I reach some semblance of normality and collapse in front of my computer.

E-mail is checked. The next few hours are spent slugging caffeine down my gullet, chatting online with various people, and applying for as many jobs as I can possibly muster. Unfortunately, most of the jobs I've encountered in the last twelve hours require cover letters. That takes up half of my day. It's kind of sucky but like Kelly said - it's can be the difference between death and job.

Daddio comes home around two thirty, three in the afternoon. We either chill around the house doing various things and watching such-and-such shows on the television and I continue to chat online and apply for jobs. It makes my brain hurt. Somedays we go out to explore or eat! It wakes us both up.

Bedtime is usually done around two in the morning and the entire thing starts right back over again. I've began to do Rosetta Stone again (feeling like such a newbie because I've forgotten a few things) and every so often attempt to write or draw but I'm just not feeling it. Maybe it's because I don't want to go outside in case I get accosted by the landlords brother again. Yes. Not son but brother, as in around the same age as my grandfather of a landlord. Gross.

I think I'm going to do Rosetta Stone for an hour every other day and put aside a half an hour (at least) towards editing and writing. Or writing. Who knows? I can get involved in a piece to the point where several hours pass and I run out of ink in order to do anything. My werewolf story isn't anywhere close to being finished and it needs to be. After all, the name of werewolves and sociopaths needs to be redeemed - can't have sparkles and guys in ripped short shorts ruining everything for the genre.

It starts tonight. I'll say it starts at three and I will be offline for at least half an hour while I edit. Rosetta Stone will be tomorrow. Editing/writing is more important than learning Japanese. Besides, people are home and I feel awkward practicing languages with others being able to listen. It's weird.

My expectations for employment have started to lower. I didn't want retail or anything because, well, I hate it. With a passion. A few places non-retail are hiring people with my (lack of) experience. When I expressed anger at being unqualified for the positions I wanted and the fact the only way to get it was unpaid internship (where I would be ineligible for unemployment because I was not available all hours of the day), someone pointed out that I was supposed to work full time to pay the bills while also doing an internship.

So, that's what I suppose I'll do. Get a job first and then a part-time internship. Kelly gave me a very useful site, where there are some internships that are only twenty hours or so a week. That's do-able. Even if I get a full time job, that's only sixty hours. I'd still have time to go out and volunteer at the local library as I wanted to when I first came here to Virginia.

Plan of attack is officially in place. I am excited. Even if the job is something I despise, at least I'll have other 'jobs' that I enjoy. It'll be alright.

Now, I go to edit. Until next time!

Today I found out why straight girls are such jerks to guys.

For the whole of my life, I always thought the girls who were absolute snobs to guys were the Bad Guys. There isn't really any sort of villain in this situation anyway but, heck - if I had known that being nice to a guy meant they were going to hit on you, I'd be a total jerk too. In Florida, we were raised to not be rude to people, no matter their color, sexuality, or where on the salary scale they fell. In the entire time in Florida, I never (to my knowledge) had a guy think I was flirting just because I wasn't being mean to him.

I mean - really? Now my landlords son thinks we're going to go on a date or, or something to the extent where he asked my father if it was okay for us to do that. Really. Really? It's very Southern Gentleman of him as Beth pointed out but JesusAllahBuddha, we talked for five minutes and in that span of time, he mentioned that he and other landlords son go bowling sometimes with friends and, since I knew no one in town, I should come with every so often. That's fine. A little bit awkward (especially after asking my age and telling me I wasn't a snob like the girls in Virginia) but I managed to get myself out of the conversation because I had defrosting mice in my bag and the newest Harvest Moon.

This blog is horribly short. I have more to tell about my first drive around Manassas, alone, and finding a few things around the town, but obligations are calling me away. I just had to express disbelief.

I forgot how much I hate unpacking.

Packing is fine. Packing is almost fun, when you get down to it. You get to crumble newspaper and shove things forcefully into boxes, leaving your room (usually) looking neat and tidy. Not so much with unpacking.

Unpacking involves taking out that fun newspaper, your floor covered with it, open boxes, too much confusion. At least it doesn't have a time frame, right? Right. Otherwise, standing in the middle of the room saying "I don't know. I just don't know what to do" would be a whole lot more stressful. As is, I don't have a job to flock to (that search starts again tomorrow morning) so I can spend the day chugging down coffee, cutting open boxes, putting things away, and, gloriously, setting up my beloved desktop, Fido. Those boxes being open and empty also means I have surfaces in which to put things, as Fido's monitor and Shreds are taking up the only two solid, flat places to put anything of importance. Shreds and the monitor are a hell of a lot more important than setting up my maneki neko collection, I'm sorry to say.

The day will consist of unpacking boxes and putting the room in some semblance of order - the night will have me dragging in the iron and it's board in order to take apart those carefully constructed piles of clothing, ironing everything, and hanging up what absolutely needs to be hung up. My business suits are already hanging but I can see even from my bit of floor that much of it is wrinkled from our cross-country journey and being rolled into an airtight bag.

I have too many jeans. How did I not realize I owned this many jeans??

Lists are being made on the places I need to know about and where, exactly, they are. I need to find out how to get back to that lovely, huge used book store and where I can get the best sushi. The library is crucial, even though I can't get a card due to my lack of state citizen ship. Places accepting employment, where I can print up further resumes. Where's the best local hair salon (is that teaching salon any good?), how do I get back to that 'Giant' sort of food store? Coffee shops? Locally owned ones, with sofa's and cool people, a place where I can sit and meet those around my own age (or mental group, whatever).

Where can I get the best tea?

But that's for later, when my room is set up. Concentrate on the small things first, get in order. Then the big things can be tackled.

Time for me to go finish the days chore, Blog. Until next time!

Holy snapapples in cucumber sauce

It's really odd that driving for a few hours exhausts a person more than wandering around a major city and museums for ten hours. I was asleep by this time last night, out cold in my new room. At that point in time, my knees and feet hurt. A lot. It probably had something to do with the fact I attempted to run on hardwood floor, and turn while running at that! I managed to land on my knees, computer intact, and the third roommate staring at me in horror from the table where she plugged away at her computer.

I, of course, burst into hysterical laughter.

We awoke around seven thirty in the morning for a fun-filled day of Washington DC, our nations capitol and all of that good stuff. My poor sister and father had to put up with me being a horrible cranky-face at them before I had any coffee or tea. They did well, being quite aware of my blood sugar issues, tea addiction, and the fact I hate waking up early.

We rode a train! The roommate gave us free passes both to and from DC, which is AWESOME because it would otherwise be almost nine dollars each person, each way. Talk about sucky, train. Boo to you. It was on the train that I began my list of 'Virginia has...' .

While heading to DC, I saw a suit on the train, playing with a white DS Lite. You heard me. Businessman, briefcase and all, was chilling on the train a few seats down tapping away at a little DS Lite. I had to laugh and immediately whipped out my notepad to write it down.

DC itself is - I don't even know. We were only visiting some of the museums, hitting up a few bits and pieces of it all. On a map, it looks horribly tiny. I've driven through counties bigger than DC! And yet, in person - museums as far as the eye could see!

We arrived just before ten in the morning (it takes about an hour and a half to get there from the house), hitting up the Museum of Native American history right away. I glee'd and frolicked gaily as the history of native tribes is one of the coolest things ever. There were truckloads of young children frolicking just as gaily as ourselves and about ten times louder so, sadly, we didn't stay too horribly long. I look forward to going back at some point and pouring over everything. The contents of that particular museum didn't interest my sister or dad save for the bits about warfare or history that my family had actually participated in.

Next up was the - I think it was called Space and Science Museum? There were airplanes and space crafts. History of flight, computers, all this confusing stuff that was way too advanced for my caffine deprived brain. I puttered around with them and, in return, they let me play around with the games in there probably meant for children but whatever, it was fun.

Third and last came the sisters oh, so uplifting pick of the Holocaust Museum. We didn't get all the way through this one because it was getting late and we'd been walking almost constantly all day, but it was very interesting. I will admit that out of the entire permanent exhibit of "The Holocaust" there were two mentions of homosexuals being taken and killed in those concentration camps - two! Just two. One was a sentence and a picture of a few homosexuals, the other a small sign and another picture. I saw nothing about Tibet in the 'current/recent genocide' section, although my sister claims she saw a sentence or something about it. So, slightly disgruntled. As for the exhibit itself, excellent! Highly recommended.

I was impressed with how they treated the history of the native people of America. They made no bones about how they were hunted down, villages slaughtered, women abused while their men were shot trying to protect them. It came across clearly that they still lived in reservations today, fighting for the rights to have their own government in the midst of all this... crud. Yes.

Guh. Tiredness has hit again. There is more to do, more to say, but tomorrow we're exploring caves and it's nearly midnight.

Until next time!

The hills have... hills.

After a few days of absolutely psycho activity and frantic packing, we managed to make it out of the hometown at 9.50 yesterday morning. And, er. Well. We drove.

Have to admit, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina all pretty much look the same: flat and with a washed out sort of light pastel green. Both my sister and I were slightly disappointed with the turn of events as, well, we felt as if we were still in Florida and that is just a very Bad Thing. Displeased, we settled down in Florence, South Carolina for the night around eight thirty last night.

Sister and I got along really well, save for about ten minutes when we were lost trying to find the hotel, but otherwise the trip was full of sisterly bonding, giggles, rave dancing in the car, and multiple pictures taken from the windows. We drove in four hour shifts - for each of hers, there was rain or heavy traffic. I got open road and clear (if slightly darkened) skies. Poor girl.

We met up with Daddio around two in the afternoon. We did things.

I will go into further detail maybe tomorrow morning but I am tired and just fell on a hardwood floor.

Virginia Lesson #1: Do not run on a hardwood floor with a computer in your hands. It throws off balance.

Virginia Lesson #2: If you MUST run with a computer in your hands, remember to fall gracefully.

I broke #1, did #2. Rock on.

Smithsonian tomorrow. So even MORE details at some point. But. SLEEP.

T-Minus Three? Days

I am so over packing. So over it. I may never sound more Valley Girl in my life than when I say that, hand flipping included. It may be nullified by the fact I say it in mis-matched knee socks, a bright green tank top, and white bandanna. Vaguely trailer trash? Probably. But it makes me feel all butch and strong and Gods know what else.

The good news of the day is that almost everything that needs to be packed is. We need to get the dishes I plan on bringing all set up, rescue the pots and pans from the storage area, and Shredder's cage has to be scrubbed clean. The cage cleaning happens tomorrow and it's going to be one of the first things put into the car. Shreds will be traveling in his little feeding tank in a pretty pillow case with a brand new shoebox hide! He will be a comfortable customer, freshly fed even so he won't be overly hungry. Well 'freshly fed' means I'm feeding him tonight so he has time to digest and poop before we scurry along. I'm sure he'll be very excited to come into the hotel with us, hitting up the states in style, the lucky little reptile.

My clothes are, once and for all, packed. I have the next few days outfits ready and my necessity bag is looking alright; it will have a few more things than planned in there as my shampoo and conditioner are the squirty types and like to irritate me.

On happier and less moving related notes, breakfast/lunch was had with Mommia, sister, and the grandparents. Granddad was having a good day - he remembered he'd seen Kelsey and Mom in pictures and that there were three of us. Grandma looked like she was going to cry near the end of things. Yeaaaaaaah, I don't blame her, really. The move hasn't hit me, not yet; it's mostly this ball of stress in my life.

Oh yeah. Yesterday. I meant to post about the move but, dear lord. It was not a good day. I wrote a list of what I needed. Lists are awesome. I love them. They're beautiful and when I'm twisted up about something, I make a list in order to sort it out. Hell, it's how I decided months back I wanted to move to Virginia - Pros and Cons, of course. The list for this particular endeavor went to shit and a mini-meltdown went into effect in the late afternoon. I stood in the center of my clustercrud of a bedroom, clutching my stuffed pig and kept repeating, "I just don't know. I don't know. What do I do?"

Fabulous time, that. It ended with Ashley's house and ice cream. We watched Clash of the Titans and Avatar until finally passing out. By the time I got home this morning, I had managed to create a vague plan in my face-place on how to put things together. The major turning point came when I packed up Fido, my desktop.

As of now boxes are taped shut, my book shelf is waiting to be stored away in the trunk of my car, things are sucked up. I'm only bringing my four favorite books ( 1984, The Giver, Enders Game, and Serial Killers) - the rest are stored away in the now-empty dresser. My art supplies are all stowed in my closet along with a good portion of the writing I've done in the entirety of my life. Looking at ones life in a multitude of boxes and PackMate bags is an odd, odd feeling.

My computer break is nearly over. I think I'm going to go start packing the dishes just to get it the hell out of my way. It's been about an hour sooo must be responsible. Loading the car starts tomorrow, after all. ... So not looking forward to it.

Until next time.

T-Minus Five Days

Whoever invented packing sucks. The same person probably invented steam, the jerk. How do people figure this sort of stuff out when they have a severely limited amount of space and places to put things?! I stand here in the middle of my room (that looks like a disaster area due to squeezing two rooms into one) and just stare at all of my belongings. My room in Virginia has no space in which to put my knick-knacks. But I like my knick-knacks and my little decorations scattered over the room.

They range from a stuffed pig to picture frames and Japanese vases, stuff from my DORM ROOM back five years ago, a whole bunch of fairy statuettes... The only ones I know I'm bringing are my Buddha figures and my maneki neko pieces. Photos are a given as I adore you all and that good stuff but. What else? What do I like enough to take with me?

I've already chosen the art supplies I'm bringing. If I have room at the end of all the packing, I'll bring more but as it stands, it's down to some drawing paper, bristol board (smooth for the win), a sketch book or two, and my Wacom Intuos 3 tablet. Books are being limited to the ones I read most often or have been meaning to read for quite a while. My collectable series are being kidnapped off - who wouldn't bring books worth 20$ each because they're no longer in print?

Maybe the most important question is how do I want the new bedroom in a new world (to me) to look? When people walk into the bedroom now, they're hit by a barrage of stuffed animals, pictures from Middle/High school, some almost ten years old. Fairy statues, monster amounts of art supplies, jewelry scattered everywhere. When I say a 'barrage of stuffed animals', I mean it. There are little plushies everywhere in my bedroom, from the shelves to the desk and vanity and, sometimes, my lamps. My art is on the walls although the stuff posted by my desk is for references while I write although one piece is, admittedly, just because I really like Minamoto no Yoshinaka. He is, like, the utter bomb.

I don't think I want my room there to be an echo of the one here. New life, new beginning, yadda yadda. Maybe just the more recent pictures on display, the older ones in the photo albums I am planning on bringing.

Ugh. Time to go stand in the middle of my room again, O Loyal Readers And Friends, and be useless just staring at my packrat ways.

Until next time.

So, I'm moving.

Like, immediately. Screw the list, I now have to prove it as I have until the 18th to get all of my stuff ready, fit into the car, and get myself and my sister to Virginia. Kelsey and her boyfriend of five years are having problems and she's moving in with us. Kelsey needs a roadtrip and she needs to see Dad because what Daddy's girl doesn't need her father when her life has changed in the span of days? Since we're already on our way there, I'm just going to stay there.

The list has gone to hell.

We found out on Saturday, I got a throat infection that made me useless until TODAY. So I have exactly six days to get everything in order and pack. I can totally do it. Clothes are important but easily squished down (can be ironed later) and the needed items are what will take precedence. Like my maneki neko collection. They're pretty damned important IMHO. :3

I'm training at the dojo for the last three classes I'm be around for, work has been informed, I have an extra three months of meds just in case, I've started looking for jobs... I need to notify the banks I'm traveling. Paperwork for the savings bonds deposit will be sent out tomorrow, hotel needs to be set up. Ashley is coming over this weekend to help me pack!

Also, someone needs to throw me a goddamn party. Just sayin'.

I cried earlier today about it. I wrote Sensei about my move and apologized for the short notice. She said to come to the main campus at some point to give me a hug goodbye. After I read that, I started bawling; there are so many people I've come to appreciate at the classes that it hurt to not be able to say farewell to them. Even though most of them are kids (I'm talking about gossiping with a twelve year old here), we've been through three months of kicks, kiyah's, knuckle push ups, and a whole slew of things I never really thought I'd do. When I showed up, only Shihan was there; Sensei Yuki had left for the day, I suppose to set up the other campus for tonights class. He told me I could come to Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday's classes for free, so I could say my goodbyes and leave on a high note. I almost cried again but I can be a stoic warrior. Sometimes.

Either way, I'm on The Meds. No longer infectious. It's a good thing.

Time to pack, O Loyal Readers. I'll be trying to update each day before I leave; who knows when I'll be able to update after I move? I'm unsure what Daddio's connection is like.

Looks like 2010 is the year of exploration after all.

Until next time!

Chica from Wisconsin, ahoy!

For the last two weeks, my best friend has been visiting from Wisconsin. Unlike my other long-distance friends, Andi and I actually met in person, here in Florida. We've been friends since the seventh grade and have known one another since fifth. If not for her (and a few other priceless loves of my life), I wouldn't have made it through that mental breakdown almost five years ago.

Just over a year ago, she moved to Wisconsin for personal reasons. We've all missed her terribly; for about six months I kept adding her to the mental list of people to invite on outings or shopping trips. Thank goodness for the Internet - we managed to keep in contact. I'm not the best person at correspondence (or remembering stuff in general) but, we somehow figured it out.

Either way - she visited. And remembered just why she doesn't want to move back to Florida. Maybe not the best move on her part to visit in the disgusting, humid depths of the summer after chilling in Wisconsin for a year but it didn't mean we were less happy to see her. We didn't get near enough drinking done (Seriously, Wisconsinites? TONE DOWN THE DRINKS. I made the 'whiskey face' each time I had a sip of my rum and coke!) but good times were had and monster amounts of talking as well. It's easier to spill ones guts and express things when not done in text and instead in a car, driving wherever in the early morning and late night.

We went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Sweated like horses - no glowing to be seen. I frolicked gaily under the Suessland semi-waterfall, successfully soaking myself to the bone and making it very difficult for my pants to stay on. Due to the weight of wet jeans, pervs. We devoured butterbeer and (surprisingly good) fish and chips. Ashley got her wands and chocolate frogs.

The castle ride? Holy. Mother. Of. Siddhartha. Seriously! Just waiting in line was awesome: you were able to walk through Prof. Sprouts greenhouse then past the Potions Room, through DADA's room. The pictures of the house founders chatted about (Slytherin, my house and fave, was a complete jerk as expected) with Rowena and the Hufflepuff one being all, gay, and stuff. The ride itself had fantastic graphics and despite the fact I knew it fake, I screamed like a girlscout pissing herself at some parts.

We left contented. They fell asleep on me in the car and I nearly passed out at the wheel as a result. Fun times! There are plenty of pictures I'm hesitant about posting. Oh well. Maybe at some point, O Loyal Readers.

Andi and I talked at great length. She listened to me bitch and in vice versa. It was a lovely time. When she was to fly out of the Tampa airport, I drove her there. We ate lunch at TGIFridays, had some gelato. Two seconds before she went past security, Andi turned to me and said, "It JUST hit me. Just hit me."

Of course, I had to throw my arms around her and say, somewhat loudly, a bit tearfully, "I am going to miss you SO MUCH."

True to form, I think she told me something along the lines of stopping the foolishness - or maybe not. I'm pretty sure I was in tears. What I remember was watching her get on those stupid train things, throwing her a heart hand signal, and then bolting to the nearest bathroom to cry. It sucked.

The drive home helped me calm down. Driving always does. I played music I liked, sang loudly, and didn't get lost once - that's a big deal.

So now she's back in Wisconsin, living it up with her friends there. We all miss her (again) but if those two weeks taught me anything, it was that she is MUCH better off there than she is here. Florida holds nothing but grief and lack of jobs, humidity and hurricanes. Good for her in her escape.

Next post will my schedule for when I get out of here. Padre said, not until Thanksgiving, and I think if I wait that long I'm going to shatter like a glass figurine under a giants foot. I tried to tell him I could be there by the end of this (yes, this very week) with all the things I absolutely need and we can fly to Thanksgiving together. He doesn't think I can drive home from TAMPA let alone to Manassas which is, I hate to say it, total bullshit.

So it will be posted. Maybe I can show it to him and prove it's do-able. I've survived more things than a drive! (Knocking on wood) I think going alone would be a damn BLAST.

Until next time, blog! Hugs.