Unabashed truths and other tidbits
So I've made the move to California. Ahem...Calee-fornyuh! I can't help but make fun of the Governator. It's just in my nature. :) "Get to dah choppah!! Eeeet's not a tumah!" Ha hahahaha.
Leaving Seattle was really hard, it reminded me, in many ways, of some of the other goodbyes I've had in the past two years. Good people are still there for me, and I miss them and their crazy antics. I'll get to see them again when we gather for our Geekfest in a few months, but it's just not the same.
Driving out of the state, I was reminded of the day 16 months ago that I arrived. I was in awe then of the mountains, and the huge pine forests, and the smell of the clean fresh air. As I passed Olympia and headed south, I drove with the windows down to breathe in that air again, and marveled at the landscape, my eyes misty as I bid goodbye to Rainier and all the great memories she'd given me. I passed a lumber train and recalled wondering what the oddly-shaped cars were for. I rounded Mt. Hood in Oregon and gazed again in wonderment at the beauty that the mountain provides. I've learned that I need to be someplace where there are mountains, or such things within driving distances.
Arriving in Redmond, where my family has a home that they opened for me, I found myself popping "GI Jane" and "Air Force One" into the VCR as I had in April of last year. Strangely comforting, and I now know that I search out those kinds of familiar things when I'm finding myself in unfamiliar territory. Made me feel better, and I'm smiling at myself for it.
While I was in Redmond for a couple of days, there was a HUGE thunderstorm that came through. I opened the back door and sat on the steps of the porch, watching over the river as the weather rumbled in over the mountains from the west. The lightning was magnificent in the open desert sky, and years ago you couldn't have caught me outdoors in this kind of thing. But I sat there, watching. The lightning got closer and closer, and began striking less than a mile from the place where I sat. The wind picked up and I went inside as the hail started. I didn't want to get wet. :)
As I took off from Redmond, the lightning was still striking, hitting just ahead of me (about 1/2 mile) and off to the side of the road. It startled me a little, but not the way it used to. Amazing how we grow and change. I was still a little spooked.
During my drive, I was listening to a series of books on CD. Cassie (one of my girlfriends in WA) had picked up the trilogy by Stephenie Meyer, 'Twilight', 'Eclipse' and 'New Moon'. We'd started listening to it in her car when we went for our exploratory drive out to Dungeoness Spit back a few months ago, and I admit that I hadn't really gotten into it that much. Teenage romance meets vampires? Blech. But the more that I listened, and was actually seeing these things in my head as I drove and heard the action, the more I liked it. I even got used to the narrator's voice, who wasn't reading some of the characters the way I thought of them - but I guess that's to be expected a bit. I found myself looking forward to getting back into the car to hear about the next adventure that Bella found herself in, or what Edward was going to do, or if Jasper was coming back, or if they found James. I'm now three discs into the second book, and while I have work to do tonight on the computer, I'm tempted to get the next disc into the CD player for me to fall asleep to - although I don't think I could fall asleep - I'd just stay up listening. :)
The drive into California was pretty uneventful. It's drier here than the Pac NW, and more brown, and hotter than sin. I'm staying at a hotel for the next couple of nights until my company gets my apartment in order, and I'm hoping I'll have a day off to move in. Not liking the idea of having all my earthly belongings staying in my car for a few days in a parking lot while I go to work, but I don't have much choice. I've covered everything over with my mattress pad and a few towels, hoping that works collectively to reflect the heat and dissuade any possible theft. Anything that's in there is replaceable, all my personal stuff is in the hotel with me. Still, I'll be a little unsettled until I have a semi-permanent place to lay my head.
I start the new job tomorrow. Done this a few times now, so I'm not nervous about it or anything. It'll be a learning curve, like anything else. If I could survive my first assignment, I can survive ANYTHING, and it's all good. This place should be fun, and it's close to fun things to do and see, so in my spare time I'll be out and about. Really looking more forward to that than anything else, honestly. The job's just money, and I'll get that regardless. It's the fun experience I want.
If anyone can offer suggestions regarding sturdy luggage, I'm all ears. Taking a big trip in the winter and I need something that can hold breakables on a plane.
Leaving Seattle was really hard, it reminded me, in many ways, of some of the other goodbyes I've had in the past two years. Good people are still there for me, and I miss them and their crazy antics. I'll get to see them again when we gather for our Geekfest in a few months, but it's just not the same.
Driving out of the state, I was reminded of the day 16 months ago that I arrived. I was in awe then of the mountains, and the huge pine forests, and the smell of the clean fresh air. As I passed Olympia and headed south, I drove with the windows down to breathe in that air again, and marveled at the landscape, my eyes misty as I bid goodbye to Rainier and all the great memories she'd given me. I passed a lumber train and recalled wondering what the oddly-shaped cars were for. I rounded Mt. Hood in Oregon and gazed again in wonderment at the beauty that the mountain provides. I've learned that I need to be someplace where there are mountains, or such things within driving distances.
Arriving in Redmond, where my family has a home that they opened for me, I found myself popping "GI Jane" and "Air Force One" into the VCR as I had in April of last year. Strangely comforting, and I now know that I search out those kinds of familiar things when I'm finding myself in unfamiliar territory. Made me feel better, and I'm smiling at myself for it.
While I was in Redmond for a couple of days, there was a HUGE thunderstorm that came through. I opened the back door and sat on the steps of the porch, watching over the river as the weather rumbled in over the mountains from the west. The lightning was magnificent in the open desert sky, and years ago you couldn't have caught me outdoors in this kind of thing. But I sat there, watching. The lightning got closer and closer, and began striking less than a mile from the place where I sat. The wind picked up and I went inside as the hail started. I didn't want to get wet. :)
As I took off from Redmond, the lightning was still striking, hitting just ahead of me (about 1/2 mile) and off to the side of the road. It startled me a little, but not the way it used to. Amazing how we grow and change. I was still a little spooked.
During my drive, I was listening to a series of books on CD. Cassie (one of my girlfriends in WA) had picked up the trilogy by Stephenie Meyer, 'Twilight', 'Eclipse' and 'New Moon'. We'd started listening to it in her car when we went for our exploratory drive out to Dungeoness Spit back a few months ago, and I admit that I hadn't really gotten into it that much. Teenage romance meets vampires? Blech. But the more that I listened, and was actually seeing these things in my head as I drove and heard the action, the more I liked it. I even got used to the narrator's voice, who wasn't reading some of the characters the way I thought of them - but I guess that's to be expected a bit. I found myself looking forward to getting back into the car to hear about the next adventure that Bella found herself in, or what Edward was going to do, or if Jasper was coming back, or if they found James. I'm now three discs into the second book, and while I have work to do tonight on the computer, I'm tempted to get the next disc into the CD player for me to fall asleep to - although I don't think I could fall asleep - I'd just stay up listening. :)
The drive into California was pretty uneventful. It's drier here than the Pac NW, and more brown, and hotter than sin. I'm staying at a hotel for the next couple of nights until my company gets my apartment in order, and I'm hoping I'll have a day off to move in. Not liking the idea of having all my earthly belongings staying in my car for a few days in a parking lot while I go to work, but I don't have much choice. I've covered everything over with my mattress pad and a few towels, hoping that works collectively to reflect the heat and dissuade any possible theft. Anything that's in there is replaceable, all my personal stuff is in the hotel with me. Still, I'll be a little unsettled until I have a semi-permanent place to lay my head.
I start the new job tomorrow. Done this a few times now, so I'm not nervous about it or anything. It'll be a learning curve, like anything else. If I could survive my first assignment, I can survive ANYTHING, and it's all good. This place should be fun, and it's close to fun things to do and see, so in my spare time I'll be out and about. Really looking more forward to that than anything else, honestly. The job's just money, and I'll get that regardless. It's the fun experience I want.
If anyone can offer suggestions regarding sturdy luggage, I'm all ears. Taking a big trip in the winter and I need something that can hold breakables on a plane.