Thursday, January 29, 2004

Ok, well my solution to everything was just to leave a hell of a lot of stuff at my parents'. Of course, it's mostly books. The 15-foot truck is FULL. I can't tell you how much fun it was to carry a 7-foot couch, a queen-size bed, and a 27-inch TV up from the basement. Thank God for the freight elevator in my apartment building. All those doubts I had about whether I'd chosen the right apartment have been quelled. My other choice was a third-floor with no elevator. 'nuf said.

Now I need to eat ice cream (though not at Coldstone's with Spikey, which is very sad), and then I need to sleep. I think we're leaving at some ridiculous time like 7:30, which will give us 11 and a half hours to make a six hour drive. Nothing like having two control-freak overachievers on one trip.

I'm not sure when I'm getting internet hooked up at my new place, though I really can't go too long without it, so I may be online rather sporadically. Actually, I may just blog sporadically-- I'm sure I'll be online several times a day. And I'll be in CHICAGO!! So, most of you can just see me in person :)

Adios Ohio.
Back from the spa. The real one, not the kennel. Now I'm all pretty. Maybe someone will hire me now. :)

So, things on the checklist that have been accomplished-- spa and bank. Oh, and we got the truck. The other stuff's not important. Really.

Has anyone else been getting an inordinate amount of mail from NU lately? I've been getting letters (3 in one day!) inviting me to join the Young Alumni club and trying to get me to consolidate my (non-existent) loans. Odd. They've always had my address-- why did they suddenly start using it?
So, I now have approx. 24 hours to:
- go through every one of my 500+ books and decide which ones I can leave in Ohio
- pack up all my clothing into transportable boxes and bags
- go close my really, really old checking account that has now been totally drained by fees
- go to the spa :)
- help dad pick up the 15-foot Penske truck
- load the truck
- find a job
- oh, and sleep, since I have to drive 400 miles tomorrow

Yuck.

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Much shopping was done yesterday, despite the fact that all the schools were closed due to bad weather. I am now the proud owner of my first suit. Eek. Shoulda stayed in grad school ;) Anyway, no way everything is getting done in the next two day, so I may need to prioritize. So much better to be moving 400 miles away instead of 2500 miles. If I leave something in Ohio I could always just drive back in a few weeks and get it. That just rocks. I think my dog is starting to realize that I'm leaving. She hasn't seen a suitcase yet, which would really freak her out, but I am piling all my stuff in the "to go away" spot right next to the stairs, so she's beginning to figure it out. My apartment is pet-friendly, but I think she may be a bit big for my apartment, and Dad would be very sad if the dog was gone, so she will just have to stay here and miss me. I think she'll be so excited to get out of the kennel, I mean spa, on Monday that she won't even notice I'm gone. But that's just my theory.

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

After an unexpectedly long, sometimes stressful and emotionally taxing trip, I am back in Ohio, for a few days. I am moving to Chicago on Friday, so I have massive amounts of packing/paperwork/etc to do before then. I have a few job leads, but nothing definite yet. That's one more thing I need to take care of in the next few days. My realization of today is that I'll need to hook up internet in my new place pretty quickly if I expect to be able to search for jobs. That, or I can just go knock on doors all day :) My disappointment of the day was when I found out that my car insurance will go up by $100 every six months. Damn bad weather and big-city crime!

In any case, Mom wants to take me shopping for anything I might need. I've tried many times to explain to her that my apartment is only 378 square feet and has very little storage space, but she seems to think I need new furniture and bulk foods. So shopping I go. I have a feeling my parents will be taking back almost as much stuff as they take to Chicago when we realize nothing will fit. Alas.

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Ok, blog is likely going on a brief hiatus while I take an extended tour of the Midwest, though I may spend some time online and update while I'm at my brother's in Oxford this weekend. You can always call or email if you miss me :)

I've suddenly become paranoid about my mother finding this blog. Apparently she read an article in the newspaper the other day about blogs, and now she has become interested in them. I never told her that I had one, but I'm afraid she'll look anyway. I'm not sure she knows enough about the internet to find this. I hope not-- that could be disastrous!

Having severe motivation difficulties again. I have SO MUCH I need to do before I leave tomorrow, but I just don't seem to want to do any of it. It's sad when you're excited about doing laundry because it means putting off other stuff just a tad longer! Mostly what I need to do today involves making lots of phone calls, and there are few things I hate more in the world than calling people I don't know. Someday I need to get over that.

I think I can avoid phone calls for a little while longer and instead do internet research on the companies that will be at the job fairs I'm going to next week. So that's what I am off to do.

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Sometimes staying out of touch is a good idea. I emailed one of my exboyfriends the other day. I hadn't spoken to him in over a year and a half, and I wasn't even sure I had a working email address for him. For some reason I just wanted to know he was alive. Every once in a while I get those strange impulses. In any case, I didn't really want to talk to him or see him, but something made me email him. Turns out he's living with his fiancee and getting married in June. I found that news unsettling somehow. I wasn't really jealous or sad or anything, but somehow it seemed wrong, and I had trouble getting my brain around it. I guess when you lose touch with someone you just assume that his/her life has remained exactly the same, no matter how much yours has changed, and by contacting that person you want to feel some sense of stability in your own life. In any case, this is the first time I've had to deal with an ex getting married-- in this case an ex who's a year younger than I am-- and I'm not sure I like it!

Monday, January 12, 2004

The little things always trip me up when I move... driving back from the Y just now, I reached down to push the preset for KTYD, and then I remembered it's an SB station so I probably wouldn't pick it up here.
Ok, how do I go about following up on applications/resumes I've submitted? I don't want to seem pushy, but I do want to let them know I'm serious about the job. My thought was that when I find an apartment I can call all the job places and tell them my address has changed and that I'm still interested if they're still hiring, etc. Also that I am in Chicago and available for interviews. Of course, that depends on me finding an apartment that will accept me without a job. Damn vicious circle! Any advice?

Also, I think I have started to run out of places to apply. I'm checking everything I can think of pretty much all the time, but I'm finding less and less that's new or that I'm interested in. Chicago is a big city-- there has to be stuff I haven't considered yet, doesn't there? My resume is even in at employment agencies, but I've gotten no response there yet. Who would've though that it'd be easier to find a job in SB?

Ok, time to get organized. I will be in Chicago Thurs-Fri and Tuesday-?? if anyone will be around. I think I'll have my dad with me for at least part of that time, in an attempt to hunt for the perfect apartment in the perfect neighborhood with the perfect rent that will give me the first month free :) So, before I leave town, I need to: do laundry, print resumes, study company websites, make apartment-visiting appointments, um.... (my blog is beginning to sound like Andy's!)

But first, off to run... yay-- the only time I leave the house all day :)
Woo hoo-- I realized that my official half marathon training doesn't begin until Feb. 2. That means the running I'm doing right now is just pre-training, and I am (for once) ahead of schedule! If anyone's interested, it's the Country Music half marathon in Nashville April. 24. Feel free to join me! (There's also a full marathon there that day if you're feeling really adventurous!)

I am predicting that I will also go into serious withdrawal around Feb. 2 b/c there will be no more football :( The playoff games this weekend were terrific! I love serious competition. And three of the four teams I was rooting for won, which is way above the norm for me. Of course that only happens when I have no money on the games.

I had a whole blog planned out yesterday until I remembered that I was aiming for a more sanitized blog this time around. In brief, I have been told in the past by guys I've "dated" that I'm the kind of girl you fool around with, not the kind of girl you take home to meet your parents. I take exception to that-- parents always like me. Anyway, I'm wondering if it is something about me in particular, or is this is a societal thing--any girl who's open about sex, likes to party, etc, is just the girl you fool around with when you're young. A year or two ago one of my guy friends--who is quite the whore himself--told me I shouldn't sleep with guys too soon if I wanted to seriously date them. I'm just wondering if he ever felt he had to take his own advice, and if he seriously thought less of the girls who slept with him immediately, even though he was pushing them to do so. (Yes, this is the sanitized version of this blog.)

Saturday, January 10, 2004

It's official... my mom is driving me crazy. This should not come as a surprise to anyone who's met my mom or me, but we did last for a little while. I love my mother. We get along really well when we're far away. She'd be perfect in small doses, but that's not possible. Most of you know that I am a person of extremes, either I drink nothing or I get wasted, etc... Mom is the same way, except that she's always at the all side of the pendulum; it never swings back. For such a small person, Mom does everything BIG (and LOUD). I always know that if I call Mom to talk I have to plan for at least an hour phone call.

Anyway, nothing specific, just going crazy here!

Looking for apartment in Chicago next week. If I can find one I like with first month free I'm there. Dad said he'll co-sign if necessary, as long as he doesn't have to pay anything :) I can find some way to make money if I'm there.

Speaking of interesting ways to make money, if you're not yet reading this blog, you should be. It's fabulously well-written and quite enjoyable!

Friday, January 09, 2004

Grrr... No luck on the job front. I'm not even getting rejection letters now, just silence. I need a new tactic! One is in the works...

I really miss my brother, and I would love to go visit him this weekend, but I promised two of my cousins I'd go out with them Saturday night-- girls night out or something like that. Maybe if I come to Chicago at the end of next week I'll stop in Oxford "on the way" back here. Oxford is less on the way than Indy was, but still makes more sense than driving all the way back here first. And I'd get to pretend I was in college for a few days :)

I need motivation. (And a job and an apartment, but mostly motivation.)

Ok, I'm going to accomplish something, right now, before I go run.

Thursday, January 08, 2004

(Pretend I posted this yesterday when I started to write it)
My brother went back to school today. He doesn't start classes until Monday and had no real reason to return today except that he was accomplishing nothing here (I know the feeling). Strange how I lived over 2000 miles away from him for 3.5 years with no problem, but now I miss him when he's only 200 miles away.

In any case, we did the obligatory grandparent visiting yesterday before he left. Early in the day was lunch with Granny and Grandpa (Mom's parents) in Montrose. Nice liesurely lunch (2.5 hours) while the surly Olive Garden waitress glared at our table. I typically hate chain restaurants, but damn, their eggplant parmasean is divine. I was really looking forward to a nice cappuccino with dessert (white chocolate raspberry cheescake), but their espresso maker was broken!?! I almost offered to go back and fix it for them, but it didn't seem worth further pissing off the waitress when I knew I could just come home and make one for myself.

After going to the Belden Village David's Bridal to try on my bridemaid dress for Barlo's wedding (thank God she didn't put us in pink dresses-- the one I tried on showed every little imperfection), it was off to see Grandma and Granddad (Dad's parents) in Massillon. When we showed up at their house (with dog in tow-- she loves seeing "Grandma Crackers," so named because she feeds the dog crackers, not because she's crazy), their garage door was open (quite unusual) and their house was dark. My grandparents really shouldn't be driving at night, and further investigation showed that the car was in the garage, so we were mystified until we noticed that the lights were out all down the street.

We had to pratically bang down the door before Granddad heard us and came, carrying a candle, to open the door. They explained that the wind had knocked down a huge old tree onto a power line around noon. At 8pm when we showed up my grandparents were still sitting in the dark, no heat and no phone lines. For some reason they were only able to get incoming calls, not make outgoing ones, but the only people who'd called them all day were their neighbors who were in the same situation. For dinner my grandparents had eaten cold cheese sandwiches by moonlight. Not eating at dinnertime is not an option for my diabetic grandfather, and my grandmother was disgusted by the idea of a cold meal at for supper (I didn't mention to her that a cold cheese sandwich sounds like a typical dinner for me)

The power did come back on while we were visiting, but I have never been so worried about them as I was sitting there in the dark. Grandma and Granddad are in their mid-80s. I can remember when they were younger going camping and canoeing with Granddad and playing dress-up with Grandma, but those days are long past. They have both had more than their fair share of health problems. Grandma is almost blind and deaf, and Granddad seems to be approching senility. And yet they refuse to move in with my uncle, refuse to go to an assisted-living facility. They insist on taking care of their yard and their two-story house, regardless of how difficult it is. But what if the power hadn't gone on that night? What if we hadn't stopped by to visit? It was 5 degrees outside, and blankets (even hand-knitted ones) only help so much. I tried to convine Dad that he should call or stop by every day, but I doubt that will happen. Sometimes I think maybe I shouldn't leave Ohio.

Tuesday, January 06, 2004

Ok, so I'll skip a long recap of my weekend since most of the people who read this were there for most of it. Suffice it to say I had a blast. Of course, I'm fairly certain that I have a completely warped view of Chicago since every time I'm there it's for some fun event any nobody has to work and everyone gets together. But even when I remember that it's not always like that I still want to be there!

Anyway, no recap, but Saturday deserves a bit of explanation. After going out to lunch with Kim I decided that I wanted to spend the day downtown. I got into my car and soon found it heading north. Apparently, my car (which is really my mother's car) wanted to visit Evanston (it had never been there). I hadn't been to Evanston in a few years, so I went along. Felt a little nostalgic, but it was nice to be back there. Sat down in Barnes and Noble to puruse the Reader for apartments and quickly realized how tired I was from out incredibly late Friday night. So I decided to park the car on some side street and sleep for a little while before I left. Not sure why I didn't think of calling one of my friends and asking to nap at their places, but at the time sleeping in the car seemed like a good plan. In any case, it's a moot point because when I got outside it was snowing, so I decided to head directly to Indianapolis. MISERABLE drive. I was tired; it was starting to get dark; and it rained the whole way. What should have been a 3-hour or so drive took much longer because I kept stopping to eat or sleep or just because I didn't feel safe on the road. Around 9:30pm I made it to Indy. John's flight was supposed to get in around 11, and he thought he'd be home by midnight at the latest, so I had some time to kill. I saw a coffee shop near John's apartment building and started to walk there. And then my phone rang. Somehow I knew it was bad. Sure enough, it was John telling me that they had oversold his flight and he wasn't sure he had a seat. And then the coffee shop was closed. So I got back in the car and drove around downtown Indy. I eventually found a Starbucks (boo) that was open till midnight, so I decided to sit there until I heard back from John. Around 10:45 he finally called and said he wasn't coming in that night and might not make it to Indy until Monday. I walked out of Starbucks and was ready to burst into tears. Here I was, dead-tired, had driven WAY out of my way (actually, not that far, but it felt that way at the time), and now I would have to pay for a hotel in Indy. And I wasn't even sure if I'd get to see John at all unless he was lucky enough to get on a flight the next morning. As I was about to hey in my car to consult my AAA book for a hotel the phone rang again. It was John saying he was getting on a plane right then and had to turn off his phone. I said I'd hang out in Indy till he got it. Not so much a case of me being patient as me being cheap and not wanting to pay for a hotel! So now it's almost 11pm, and I have no idea what flight (or even airline) he's on or when he might land. I went back to Starbucks till midnight when they closed. Then I drove around Indy for a while. Seemed like an okay, if small, city. I thought about going to a bar, but that seemed odd by myself, in a city I don't know. So I sat in my car and read for a long time, tried to sleep (to no avail), played some blackjack on my phone. Around 2am John's flight finally landed and he made it to his apartment a little before 3. I was ready to collapse at that point, but somehow managed to stay up until around 6. Anyway, after all of that Sunday was an entirely lost cause. We didn't leave his apartment all day, just watched football and a movie and ordered in pizza. It never snowed while I was there (good thing I left Chicago!) but the rain was nasty and football traffic would have been horrible. So, it ended up being a nice little side trip, despite the HORRIBLE beginning. I guess Indiana is no longer my least favorite state (what with the good food and gambling and all!) but it has yet to completely redeem itself.

Monday, January 05, 2004

Finally back in Ohio. For future reference, it takes less than 5 hours to drive from Indianapolis to Massillon on a Monday morning when it's drizzling. Verrrrry tired! Had a fabulous weekend (except for a few hours on Saturday), which I might write about later. Now I am going to do laundry and/or sleep. I guess the hardcore job searching will begin tomorrow. Ah, procrastination.