5.26.12- This Week

short version:

i got a job.

not the one i moved here for.

a BETTER one.

long version:

there really isn’t one.  i applied.  they liked me.  they hired me.

the job starts june 4.  hopefully my head will stop spinning before then.

i will close with the following statement:

a job offer served to confirm what was always true, but what circumstance and self-doubt clouded over.  i am capable and intelligent, resourceful and witty, creative and compassionate.  my previous failure was not a failure at all, but a spring-board into something so much better.  i’m a good deal poorer (for now), but i’m a great deal happier.

5.16.12- Snape Has A Cuppa

DJ tweeted this to me this morning.  i won’t tell you how many times i’ve watched it, because you’ll laugh at me.

if you watch it on the youtube site, please avail yourself of the other suggested Alan Rickman videos in the sidebar.  the poor man is immensely talented and yet vastly underrated by american audiences.

if you’re reading this, Mr. Rickman, i adore you.  and i take my Earl Grey with lemon.

**EDIT** some hostile and inconsiderate person has closed the youtube account hosting this glorious video.  my disappointment is palpable.  if you didn’t get the chance to see this video, you should apologize to your eyes.

4.19.12- Reasons I Can’t Sleep

sleep has become an optional part of my schedule lately. it’s not the kind of enjoyable sleeplessness that others of my demographic tend to engage in. i still don’t have internet (i’m writing this post from my phone, apologies for any glaring grammatical or formatting errors), so there is no late-night browsing of tumblr or pinterest, no all-night marathons of shows/movies featuring heartthrobby Brits on netflix (Sky Cowboy probably appreciates this…)

i’m up all night writing blog posts i never publish and bits and pieces of a novel that will never see the light of day (seriously, the damn thing gives me nothing but grief, and i’m beginning to think i only poke at it once and a while so i can continue to call myself a writer), or i’m thinking about my employment situation… or lack thereof.

i moved to this city at the end of february to take a job that was supposed to start in the middle of march. due to some necessary construction (as in, the building of my office) the start date was bumped to the end of april. it’s now nearing the end of april and i still haven’t started. what’s more worrying is the difficulty i’m experiencing in getting in touch with anyone from that office to get an update.

i was thinking about this tonight when i sat up in bed and said out loud:

“what the hell am i doing here?”

no one answered, which was both good and bad, so i’ve spent some time trying to answer myself.

and i was unsuccessful.

i didn’t plan to be unemployed and constantly questioning my abilities at 25. i’m supposed to be an English teacher in a small, rural high school. i’m supposed to be a 10 minute drive from either parent and at least a 30 minute drive from a decent mall.

i’m not unhappy, i’m displaced, but it would seem that one is quickly becoming much like the other.

things will look better in the morning, right?

4.12.12- Facts

fact: blogging is infinitely more fun when you’re doing it to distract yourself from other, more important stuff.  ergo, if you have nothing of importance that you SHOULD be doing, blogging just isn’t on the radar.

fact: things are better. much better, in fact. justice prevailed, several wrongs were righted, and the new job will start in a couple of weeks. i’ll miss all this free time (kinda…), but just now, cash is more convenient than infinite leisure.

fact: i have a small bookcase entirely devoted to storing yarn and crochet hooks. once i finish a couple of projects for some friends’ babies, i’m taking a leaf from Kayla’s craft book and stitching together what will surely be the world’s most horrendous blanket.  related: i have no idea how i came to possess three skeins of electric blue yarn. i’m sure there was probably a TARDIS involved.

fiction: my apartment is clean and orderly, a regular haven of relaxation.

fiction: there is a food blog post in the works.

fact: i’m out of stuff to say.  so here’s John Green’s account of a day spent watching children’s television.

3.28.12- Quarters

here we are again.  another year of not-so-wild living is behind me.  as such, i will be spending today is deep reflection about the universe and my place in it.

haha, jk.

i’m in no mood to be deep and introspective today.  frankly my dear, it’s quite boring and there are plenty of external forces taking their toll on my  mental facilities without me doing any such thing to myself.  i’ve finished the freelance project i was working on and the sun is shining, so if you’ll excuse me i’m going to retire to my balcony with a glass of Moscato and my iPod, and have a little birthday date with Billy Joel and Zac Brown.  no, i don’t care that it’s not even 2 in the afternoon.  i’m young and stupid and it’s becoming abundantly clear to me that the time i have left to be so is nearing its end.

so here’s to another year of me and you and this life i have.

i don’t know where i’m going, but i’m a quarter of the way there.

much love,

ang

(if you’re in a wiki-crawl kind of mood, start here today.)

3.26.12- Everyone Else is Doing It!

by “it,” i mean shameless self-promotion.

if you’ve come here looking for new content, you’ll have to try again later.  after too many setbacks, The Warped Cookie Cutter has gone live.  pop on over!

much love,

ang

3.15.12- Stuff and Things

it’s been a long couple of months, people.

it’s the kind of thing that will make very good blog fodder, as soon as i get to a point where i can laugh about it and acknowledge things have improved.  as i have not yet reached that point, i’m not going to say anything at all.  the retelling of such tales at this juncture usually inspires pity in the kind-hearted reader, and i don’t want pity.  i want answers.  alas, i cannot have them, so onward we trod.

i’ve been in the new place for three weeks now, and i’m as happy as one can be when her life is uprooted and transplanted to a city heretofore almost entirely unknown.  armed with dad’s gps and a handful of helpful tips from nearby family, i’m doing pretty well finding my way around, but i’ll honestly admit that my stomach still drops an inch or two every time i get into my car to go somewhere.

i assume that my neighbors are nice people, as i’ve never actually interacted with them.  the warm weather is likely to change this soon; we have adjoining balconies.  what i lack in human interaction i make up for with ducks.  there are a dozen or so mallards and one white duck (i call him Alfac) that live in the pond behind my building.  i throw bread at them and it makes me laugh.

my daily activities vary according to weather, mood, planetary alignment, and cash flow.  i’ve picked up what i’m calling a free-lance writing project, part of which compensation included a loaded Starbucks card.  i spend a good deal of time here sucking down green tea, working, and surreptitiously watching those closest to me.  you see such interesting people in coffee shops.  the last week hasn’t been much to report on.  i’m on the declining end of an acute attack of Tiny Chicken Disease, and as such my apartment has morphed from a neatly ordered little nest of tranquility into a kleenex-strewn den of illness and relative misery.  i’d clean it, then i remember that i live alone and no one cares what my apartment looks like (speaking of which, sorry mom, but i’ve put the Star Wars poster back up in the living room; i’m 25 and no one cares or should be surprised that a shrine to the Skywalkers hangs over my tv).

in late-breaking news, the next Jeopardy! exam is on my birthday.  if this isn’t a sign from the Almighty that my destiny is firmly entrenched in whether or not i answer in the form of a question, i don’t know what is.