Life, Love and New York
I had the strangest realization yesterday. That realization is best summed up as: holy fuck, I live in New York now.
I rarely post personal updates here, but for the few people who actually glance at this LiveJournal every now and then, I figure it might be a good idea. My great new job, wedding plans and even the disastrous car we've named Vlad the Impaler are all on my mind today. Click the cut to read a bit more.
It's amazing how easily everything has fallen into place since moving to Rochester. Four months ago, I had no place of my own, no decent job, no vehicle. Now I work as an airline operations agent, drive myself home every night in my (admittedly shitty) car, pay my own bills. It's kind of an amazing feeling, and it finally started to sink in yesterday as I slid my new New York drivers license into my wallet, a vast change from the old Ohio ID I had been using since I returned from my misadventurous life in Delaware.
Normal. That's something I've wanted for a long time, and I've finally got it. It's been a long time since I've felt hopeful for the future, but I'm starting to get that inkling back.
My job was quite a massive surprise. I applied for the job the day before I moved to Rochester. Three days later, I was hired. Not only that, but it was the job I wanted, with the company I wanted it with. Completely out of the blue, since the best qualifications I had were management experience with non-related companies. I work as an operations agent, which means that I am the sole source of communication for my airline during the shift. I act as the middle man between the gate, the ramp, the pilots and everything in between. I also tell them where to put the cargo and whether or not anything else needs to be done before the flights can leave. Kinda cool, huh? The job is extremely technical (it requires some coding and very specific software training) but very gratifying, and the amount of downtime between flights means that I don't feel stressed or tired after my long shifts. The downtime also means I haven't had any stress-related seizures, and am now seizing less than once every two weeks. Considering I was going down three or four times a week only a couple months ago, I'm extremely happy.
Alex and I have settled into a happy, comfortable routine that we're learning to shake up without completely knocking our worlds over sideways. It's difficult, sometimes, to find a happy medium with both of our busy schedules, though. After all, she's a full time student with a job, and I work ten hour days, but we manage quite happily. We manage with date nights a few times a week, study time (I like the fact that I can help her with some of her homework) and shared interests outside of the internet. And we're starting to dig in a little more with our wedding plans. Still set for next August, though we're aware that some factors (like, say, the possibility of her getting hired by a foreign firm or one back in her home sweet home of England) might move the date around a bit. The venue that we've booked is incredibly beautiful (we're getting married in front of waterfalls!), and I'm personally hoping we won't have to move it.
Holidays should be interesting. We're going down to visit her family for Thanksgiving. We will be driving Vlad the Impaler. That's the name Alex and I have given the car we recently purchased, which is an amazing, eighteen year old rust bucket. We're not really sure how it passed inspection because parts of it are literally falling off. Literally. We had one fall off from under the seat yesterday, electrical parts and all, and we're still not quite sure what it's from. We're planning on duct taping the car together inside and sanding down the outside, possibly to decorate with sharpies because, well, it's a five hundred dollar car and, really, why not.
Life is going surprisingly well. And, for once, I'm content.
I rarely post personal updates here, but for the few people who actually glance at this LiveJournal every now and then, I figure it might be a good idea. My great new job, wedding plans and even the disastrous car we've named Vlad the Impaler are all on my mind today. Click the cut to read a bit more.
It's amazing how easily everything has fallen into place since moving to Rochester. Four months ago, I had no place of my own, no decent job, no vehicle. Now I work as an airline operations agent, drive myself home every night in my (admittedly shitty) car, pay my own bills. It's kind of an amazing feeling, and it finally started to sink in yesterday as I slid my new New York drivers license into my wallet, a vast change from the old Ohio ID I had been using since I returned from my misadventurous life in Delaware.
Normal. That's something I've wanted for a long time, and I've finally got it. It's been a long time since I've felt hopeful for the future, but I'm starting to get that inkling back.
My job was quite a massive surprise. I applied for the job the day before I moved to Rochester. Three days later, I was hired. Not only that, but it was the job I wanted, with the company I wanted it with. Completely out of the blue, since the best qualifications I had were management experience with non-related companies. I work as an operations agent, which means that I am the sole source of communication for my airline during the shift. I act as the middle man between the gate, the ramp, the pilots and everything in between. I also tell them where to put the cargo and whether or not anything else needs to be done before the flights can leave. Kinda cool, huh? The job is extremely technical (it requires some coding and very specific software training) but very gratifying, and the amount of downtime between flights means that I don't feel stressed or tired after my long shifts. The downtime also means I haven't had any stress-related seizures, and am now seizing less than once every two weeks. Considering I was going down three or four times a week only a couple months ago, I'm extremely happy.
Alex and I have settled into a happy, comfortable routine that we're learning to shake up without completely knocking our worlds over sideways. It's difficult, sometimes, to find a happy medium with both of our busy schedules, though. After all, she's a full time student with a job, and I work ten hour days, but we manage quite happily. We manage with date nights a few times a week, study time (I like the fact that I can help her with some of her homework) and shared interests outside of the internet. And we're starting to dig in a little more with our wedding plans. Still set for next August, though we're aware that some factors (like, say, the possibility of her getting hired by a foreign firm or one back in her home sweet home of England) might move the date around a bit. The venue that we've booked is incredibly beautiful (we're getting married in front of waterfalls!), and I'm personally hoping we won't have to move it.
Holidays should be interesting. We're going down to visit her family for Thanksgiving. We will be driving Vlad the Impaler. That's the name Alex and I have given the car we recently purchased, which is an amazing, eighteen year old rust bucket. We're not really sure how it passed inspection because parts of it are literally falling off. Literally. We had one fall off from under the seat yesterday, electrical parts and all, and we're still not quite sure what it's from. We're planning on duct taping the car together inside and sanding down the outside, possibly to decorate with sharpies because, well, it's a five hundred dollar car and, really, why not.
Life is going surprisingly well. And, for once, I'm content.