You've got to realize that hope looks in your eyes; if you look away, it flies
Or, welcome to the first day of the rest of your--my--life.
Today was my first day of whatever it is I'm doing--freelancing? The writer's life? Unemployment? It was strange and slightly guilt-inducing--like playing hooky and not ever going back--but also awesome and affirming to realize the opportunity I've got here, the opportunity to change my life and do what I love. My biggest fear is that I'll waste the chance--but I'm so excited and so afraid of my own laziness that I don't think I will. I feel ready to work.
Ironically, my day was decidedly unproductive, writing-wise: I took my brother to the airport, watched The Daily Show over lunch, started moving into my new room (formerly the guest room/Ben's room), and went for a run. I hunted a bit for freelance work on Craigslist (another affirming moment: the full-time writing/editing jobs available around here are, with the exception of one bilunabirotunda sent me, utterly soul-crushing) and I'm working on a review of A Single Man for P.S. BTW. Tomorrow: write write write, and also, I suspect, more moving/organizing action.
Headlines from Christmas vacation:
- My parents bought a cabin in the mountains! It's meant to be a retirement project/hangout (they're both retiring within the next six months), and it's currently pink and also not quite ready for habitation unless you are a giant scary spider, but it is also delightful and full of potential. It's two hours east of here, south of Tahoe and north of Yosemite, just above the snow line, and off a not-crowded highway (so as to not trap us all in hours and hours of traffic). It's a one-bedroom plus loft, and has a huge semi-covered deck that is simply begging for me to decorate it with twinkle lights and paper lanterns and have a party. WHICH I AM GOING TO DO. So you should all come.
- In the mean time, we have moved my stuff out of storage and into the cabin. This way, I don't pay for storage, and they have stuff to use in the cabin for awhile. Win for all!
- Had a very chill New Year's Eve at captainoz's place; basically, Bridget Jones's Diary (which, you know, is so appropriate because it all began on New Year's Day; deep!) + a short and dismaying foray into New Year's Rockin' Eve (aging J.Lo out-discomforts non-aging, post-stroke Dick Clark) + bed. Happy 2010, friends! When did that even happen?
- I cannot wait for winter TV--our DVD player is broken and there's no DVR set up yet, and so I'm faced nightly with the option of watching college football by the fire with my family, or huddling in bed with only my laptop and things I actually want to watch to keep me warm.
- Have finished S1 of The Wire; it was very good, but I gather that the true genius comes out in the later seasons. I hope. My brother took his boxed set back to DC with him, so tomorrow will be rooting around in my stuff for the Netflixes I haven't returned (apparently I didn't really want to watch Sin City or Sydney White). On to the Port of Baltimore!
- I must really live here now--I have a library card! I finally finished Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride (v. good and absorbing, despite slightly tedious characters) and have just started John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things, and am putting in hold requests for The Thin Man, Lady Susan, The Book Thief, and anything else I want. Libraries are such wealth, aren't they?
Bed.
Good night.
Today was my first day of whatever it is I'm doing--freelancing? The writer's life? Unemployment? It was strange and slightly guilt-inducing--like playing hooky and not ever going back--but also awesome and affirming to realize the opportunity I've got here, the opportunity to change my life and do what I love. My biggest fear is that I'll waste the chance--but I'm so excited and so afraid of my own laziness that I don't think I will. I feel ready to work.
Ironically, my day was decidedly unproductive, writing-wise: I took my brother to the airport, watched The Daily Show over lunch, started moving into my new room (formerly the guest room/Ben's room), and went for a run. I hunted a bit for freelance work on Craigslist (another affirming moment: the full-time writing/editing jobs available around here are, with the exception of one bilunabirotunda sent me, utterly soul-crushing) and I'm working on a review of A Single Man for P.S. BTW. Tomorrow: write write write, and also, I suspect, more moving/organizing action.
Headlines from Christmas vacation:
- My parents bought a cabin in the mountains! It's meant to be a retirement project/hangout (they're both retiring within the next six months), and it's currently pink and also not quite ready for habitation unless you are a giant scary spider, but it is also delightful and full of potential. It's two hours east of here, south of Tahoe and north of Yosemite, just above the snow line, and off a not-crowded highway (so as to not trap us all in hours and hours of traffic). It's a one-bedroom plus loft, and has a huge semi-covered deck that is simply begging for me to decorate it with twinkle lights and paper lanterns and have a party. WHICH I AM GOING TO DO. So you should all come.
- In the mean time, we have moved my stuff out of storage and into the cabin. This way, I don't pay for storage, and they have stuff to use in the cabin for awhile. Win for all!
- Had a very chill New Year's Eve at captainoz's place; basically, Bridget Jones's Diary (which, you know, is so appropriate because it all began on New Year's Day; deep!) + a short and dismaying foray into New Year's Rockin' Eve (aging J.Lo out-discomforts non-aging, post-stroke Dick Clark) + bed. Happy 2010, friends! When did that even happen?
- I cannot wait for winter TV--our DVD player is broken and there's no DVR set up yet, and so I'm faced nightly with the option of watching college football by the fire with my family, or huddling in bed with only my laptop and things I actually want to watch to keep me warm.
- Have finished S1 of The Wire; it was very good, but I gather that the true genius comes out in the later seasons. I hope. My brother took his boxed set back to DC with him, so tomorrow will be rooting around in my stuff for the Netflixes I haven't returned (apparently I didn't really want to watch Sin City or Sydney White). On to the Port of Baltimore!
- I must really live here now--I have a library card! I finally finished Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride (v. good and absorbing, despite slightly tedious characters) and have just started John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things, and am putting in hold requests for The Thin Man, Lady Susan, The Book Thief, and anything else I want. Libraries are such wealth, aren't they?
Bed.
Good night.