So... (Warning: Lots o' cussing)
About all the silence: We had no internet service there for a week or so. I was able to latch onto a wifi signal that first day to send that last post and then - NADA. Couldn't catch diddly-squat until the dumbass cable guy came to hook us up yesterday. More on that tomorrow. Someone please remind me. I'll forget to tell our lovely "How our packing/moving to Houston" story went. One word summation: shittyholyGODwtfdammitsomeonepleasekillmenowbeforeIkillsomeoneelse.
So good news, however... Found a new restaurant in our neighborhood that is REALLY GOOD. Heather thought it was alright - she had the grouper (the only fishy-type thing she'll eat) sauteed, but she said it wasn't as good as when she had eaten it in Mexico. Well, yeah. It's more of a Louisiana-inspired place. OMGcrawfish. I had the crawfish tail sautee with their homemade tartar sauce, which had some pepper and other Creole spices in it. Not your normal bland tartar sauce, but not so hot that I didn't want to eat it. I have a sensitive tongue, so I have to be wary of things labeled "Creole" or "Cajun," especially in Texas. But, the best thing?? The red beans and rice. Not spicy, but not bland. I swear to God, it was my mother's recipe. EXCELLENT. Our waitress looked a little scared of me. Heather told me to calm down because I was freaking people out. I was just damn happy to have fucking fresh seafood. In Austin, you don't get fresh seafood from the Gulf. The only fresh catfish in town is farm-raised crapfish. Unfortunately, I had just enough opportunities to visit Hammond/New Orleans to know what real seafood is, so living in frozen hell was horrid. Having fresh crawdads and red beans and rice that didn't taste like someone was trying to pass off their chili recipe was heavenly. I love being this close to Louisiana. I love being this close to the Gulf. I hate being away from my family, but having good food that reminds me of good things and Mom helps.
On the job front... the temp agency I signed up with is crap. Doing nothing for me. I have to call 10 different offices around the greater Houston area if I want all of them to look for jobs for me each week. How ridiculous is that? And the office where I went to do my "testing" (where they make sure I can type and use Word and Excel - 74wpm, 98% proficiency in Word, 86% in Excel) isn't helping me at all when I look on their site and find jobs that I want, call them, tell them that those are the ones I'd like to do... all they do is stonewall me saying that they've sent out my info and they haven't heard anything back from the "client." So, instead, there are about 6 or 7 jobs at Rice that are just right for my skills. And since Heather's already attending there... we figure it'd be easy for me to sign on there if I can, then commute to work together. She will have more than enough to do with research and stuff to take up the probably 8a-5p hours I'll be working. And that will allow us to both have benefits, earn money, and be near, but not super-near each other. Also? Save on gas. Though it is cheaper here, since we're in the petroleum refining capital of Texas. Smog City!
Good news: Kitties are getting along. Heather's cat, Kepler, who has been basically an only child since he was a kitten (he's 3) now has to share with my cat, Andrew (also 3), but Andy's lived with Shadow since he was 9 months old, and then since March he's lived with Mom and her 7 cats, so he's used to playing with others. Kep was pretty pissed at first at even having me around (I call him Kep, Keppy, and FuzzyButt - he's a Maine Coon, and very fuzzy), so when I brought Andrew up the next day, he was really unhappy. Andrew didn't care. They had met back in December when Heather brought Kepler from Arizona for the Christmas break. He stayed at my house with Andrew and didn't like that. Now, I think, Kep realizes that Andrew and I are here for good and is starting to warm up to both of us. He jumped up on the bed for the first time today, and licked/nipped Andrew on the neck. At least they're now able to share the same 5 feet of space. Yay.
Other good news: I am getting to cook again. I haven't cooked since I broke up with that jerk that I dated for oh-so-long way back in December of '05. It's just not really worth it to make a meal when it's just you. And I knew it'd be an excuse for me to overeat, so I just didn't. Now I get to cook and we get to share. And it's great, because Heather helps, so we share duties in the kitchen. And we seem to be sharing everything else about equally, too. Off to a good start. Let's hope it stays that way. The only thing we need to fix now is the fact that I'm on a nocturnal schedule still, and she needs to wake up at 8 in order to get up, out the door, and down to campus by 10. Yeah, we now have a commute that's longer than 15 minutes. Oh, well.
Also, most importantly: I FINALLY finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Only took me 2 weeks-ish. Sheesh. At least I don't have to avoid anything about it online or on tv anymore.
My list of things for tomorrow: Organize my desk, clean up my side of the room, clean up my side of the bathroom counter, finish organizing my books, find my box of important knick-knacks (including my statue of the Holy Mother, my meteorite fragments Heather gave me, and my snow globe collection) YIKES, check the mail, take pictures of the apartment and kitties, write about the TerribleHorribleNoGoodVeryBadMove.
So good news, however... Found a new restaurant in our neighborhood that is REALLY GOOD. Heather thought it was alright - she had the grouper (the only fishy-type thing she'll eat) sauteed, but she said it wasn't as good as when she had eaten it in Mexico. Well, yeah. It's more of a Louisiana-inspired place. OMGcrawfish. I had the crawfish tail sautee with their homemade tartar sauce, which had some pepper and other Creole spices in it. Not your normal bland tartar sauce, but not so hot that I didn't want to eat it. I have a sensitive tongue, so I have to be wary of things labeled "Creole" or "Cajun," especially in Texas. But, the best thing?? The red beans and rice. Not spicy, but not bland. I swear to God, it was my mother's recipe. EXCELLENT. Our waitress looked a little scared of me. Heather told me to calm down because I was freaking people out. I was just damn happy to have fucking fresh seafood. In Austin, you don't get fresh seafood from the Gulf. The only fresh catfish in town is farm-raised crapfish. Unfortunately, I had just enough opportunities to visit Hammond/New Orleans to know what real seafood is, so living in frozen hell was horrid. Having fresh crawdads and red beans and rice that didn't taste like someone was trying to pass off their chili recipe was heavenly. I love being this close to Louisiana. I love being this close to the Gulf. I hate being away from my family, but having good food that reminds me of good things and Mom helps.
On the job front... the temp agency I signed up with is crap. Doing nothing for me. I have to call 10 different offices around the greater Houston area if I want all of them to look for jobs for me each week. How ridiculous is that? And the office where I went to do my "testing" (where they make sure I can type and use Word and Excel - 74wpm, 98% proficiency in Word, 86% in Excel) isn't helping me at all when I look on their site and find jobs that I want, call them, tell them that those are the ones I'd like to do... all they do is stonewall me saying that they've sent out my info and they haven't heard anything back from the "client." So, instead, there are about 6 or 7 jobs at Rice that are just right for my skills. And since Heather's already attending there... we figure it'd be easy for me to sign on there if I can, then commute to work together. She will have more than enough to do with research and stuff to take up the probably 8a-5p hours I'll be working. And that will allow us to both have benefits, earn money, and be near, but not super-near each other. Also? Save on gas. Though it is cheaper here, since we're in the petroleum refining capital of Texas. Smog City!
Good news: Kitties are getting along. Heather's cat, Kepler, who has been basically an only child since he was a kitten (he's 3) now has to share with my cat, Andrew (also 3), but Andy's lived with Shadow since he was 9 months old, and then since March he's lived with Mom and her 7 cats, so he's used to playing with others. Kep was pretty pissed at first at even having me around (I call him Kep, Keppy, and FuzzyButt - he's a Maine Coon, and very fuzzy), so when I brought Andrew up the next day, he was really unhappy. Andrew didn't care. They had met back in December when Heather brought Kepler from Arizona for the Christmas break. He stayed at my house with Andrew and didn't like that. Now, I think, Kep realizes that Andrew and I are here for good and is starting to warm up to both of us. He jumped up on the bed for the first time today, and licked/nipped Andrew on the neck. At least they're now able to share the same 5 feet of space. Yay.
Other good news: I am getting to cook again. I haven't cooked since I broke up with that jerk that I dated for oh-so-long way back in December of '05. It's just not really worth it to make a meal when it's just you. And I knew it'd be an excuse for me to overeat, so I just didn't. Now I get to cook and we get to share. And it's great, because Heather helps, so we share duties in the kitchen. And we seem to be sharing everything else about equally, too. Off to a good start. Let's hope it stays that way. The only thing we need to fix now is the fact that I'm on a nocturnal schedule still, and she needs to wake up at 8 in order to get up, out the door, and down to campus by 10. Yeah, we now have a commute that's longer than 15 minutes. Oh, well.
Also, most importantly: I FINALLY finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Only took me 2 weeks-ish. Sheesh. At least I don't have to avoid anything about it online or on tv anymore.
My list of things for tomorrow: Organize my desk, clean up my side of the room, clean up my side of the bathroom counter, finish organizing my books, find my box of important knick-knacks (including my statue of the Holy Mother, my meteorite fragments Heather gave me, and my snow globe collection) YIKES, check the mail, take pictures of the apartment and kitties, write about the TerribleHorribleNoGoodVeryBadMove.