Short

Can you believe it? I've posted 3 days in a row! Nothing of significance, but oh well ... "The Day After Tomorrow" was actually much better than I thought it would be, although I couldn't help but continually ask myself, "What exactly is the guy going to do when he reaches his son anyway?" It's not like he had special abilities to melt the snow or fly them out of there. That part was kind of corny, but it was a decent movie overall.

Sad - I haven't been writing very much lately (outside of what you see here). What a blessing those 3-4 months off were when we first moved! I wish I would have taken greater advantage of them, but as it is, I wrote a ton more last fall than I ever have while I was a working woman. My energy and motivation have been lacking lately, but hopefully I'll get a routine down soon so I can fit in the things I really want to do.

Media

I just saw "Garden State" and I have mixed reviews about it. I liked it overall, but at the same time I was quite disturbed by a few things - like the extreme, casual use of drugs and swears (more so than the average movie I see, anyway). And even when the main characters are at their best and we are supposed to be happy for them, I can't help but think how their lives are so devoid of hope and joy due to their lifestyles and beliefs. And although it's just a movie, it's probably like real life for more people than I'd like to think. You have to wonder which came first, the reality of messed up lives or the portrayal of such on TV ... and now the influence of the two are so intertwined that it's kind of sad (how society lives determines what sells in movies and TV, and what we see in the media influences society's actions). Anyway, after that profound thought ... I'm going to go watch "The Day After Tomorrow" (assuming I don't fall asleep, which I've been doing earlier and earlier in the evening lately :))

Sidenote: I'm really liking 2 songs I keep hearing on the radio, both of which encourage the listener to look inside themselves and see if their life is headed in the direction they want: "This is Your Life" by Switchfoot and "Escape" by Relient K.

Busy busy

To my faithful few readers - sorry I haven't posted lately. It's been a crazy couple of weeks with work, church stuff and Whose Line reruns (hehe) ... But seriously, I've been pretty drained lately and just haven't had the energy or motivation to write, especially since I don't have much news. I'm disliking my job enough to be job searching again already, but this time with the cushion of having a decent income in the meantime. I finally got my first paycheck, and I have to admit it does feel nice to earn a living again! But I'm sure I can find something relatively close in pay that I like at least a little bit more. It'll be a no-pressure, no-hurry job search ... which is the best kind :)

I've already had a mild heart to heart with my supervisor, as she pulled me into her office to see how things were going. I told her I couldn't see myself being a receptionist for very long and she said she'd take that as a "heads up" that I might not stay super long there and that she'd also keep her eyes out for promotion/transfer opportunities for me. She was very understanding about it, saying she would hate for me to feel stuck in a job I really didn't like, but I hope my honesty doesn't somehow end up biting me in the butt. I don't think it will - she seemed to really respect me for my honesty and I don't feel like I have that much to lose anyway. We'll see ...

Anyway, the ultimate complainer will sign off for now. Other than my job (and even in spite of my job), things are really going well here. I'll try to be more consistent with my posts in the future. Hopefully I'll have some downtime this weekend to catch up on things around the house and to catch up on some writing.

Cost of Living

I've been going on walks for the past several days now, as the sun is finally shining and even the evenings are a nice 60-ish degrees lately. On most of those walks, we've passed the same house-for-rent near our apartment complex and have gazed upon it longingly. It's a newer looking corner house in a nice, quiet neighborhood, with a fenced-in yard, a 2-car attached garage, and a fireplace. But if the rent is anything like the other houses in Santa Maria, it'd be $1500-$1600 per month ... (side note: most house rental prices here include a gardener - what's up with that?). If we ever decide to rent a house, we know we're in for at least $1400/month or so for rent ... (side note: the alternative of buying a house would cost twice that for a mortgage payment). Kinda crazy how that amount seemed insurmountable, unbelievable, completely out of the question in Milwaukee ... yet totally normal and acceptable (for the right place) here in CA. Ugh! Well, I like apartment living anyway :)

Ok, some random tidbits to complete my pointless post ... I had yesterday off of work for Martin Luther King Day (what did you do to celebrate? hehe) ... and today was the busiest day for me so far at work, but I was glad b/c the time went by much more quickly than in the past. I called the Family Feud line the other day to get my family's name in for an audition for next season (starting in August). Although I totally don't expect a call back, how cool would it be to try out for that show! In addition to Family Feud, some other shows I really like include 24 (this is the first season I've ever seen, but now I'm hooked), the Apprentice (not looking forward to the next season as much as the last 2 though), reruns of Drew's Whose Line is it Anyway, and the Biggest Loser (yes, I know, I'm pathetic).

Well, no other news (if you can even call what I wrote above "news"); just trying to keep anyone who cares up to date.

Youth Group

I don't know if anyone is still reading my blog, especially since I've only been writing once a week or so, but I thought I'd check in once again. This past week of youth group went pretty well. The jr. high night was Wednesday and it was quite fun. We opened a snack bar ($1 smoothies and other cheap snacks) and broke up into small groups (mine went really well). There were between 20 and 30 students, which is a good turnout for just 7th and 8th grade, and the few reports we got from the students were that they had a good time. High school met Thursday night, and although there didn't seem to be as much excitement as with the jr. highers, we still had a good turnout and I think everyone had fun. It's so weird to me that I feel a stronger connection with jr. high students than with the high schoolers. I don't know the exact reasoning, but I'm kind of glad I prefer jr. high b/c I know it's a tough age and it's harder to find leaders to work with that age group.

The rain has finally stopped and the sun's been out the past couple of days. I've gone on a couple short walks and Jason went riding on his motorcycle today, so we've finally been able to enjoy our first California winter. I have Monday off for MLK's Day, but I think I'm going to spend it helping Jason get some things organized for the youth winter retreat in February (I'm not going on it though b/c of work).

Well, that's about all I have to say right now. Kind of a boring entry, but my life's been pretty routine lately.

Busy Week!

I've had quite the first week of 2005! Monday night, I declined the opportunity to go to the college-age Bible study from our church even though Jason went to give ministry announcements. Tuesday we played games with some friends at Starbucks. Wednesday was the jr. high youth group and Thursday was the high school one (which I went to this time but might not always go to in the future - I'm sticking with jr. high for the most part). And last night (Friday) we went to the rescheduled staff Christmas party of Jason's. So all those events, in addition to the fact that it was my first week of work in 4 months, made for a long, tiring week. It was a good week, and for once a productive one for me, but a draining one nonetheless.

It's weird how much more restful I am when I'm not working. Not only for the obvious reasons (I can sleep in, take naps, etc. when unemployed) but also because when I have work on the brain, and I don't want to accidentally sleep through the alarm, etc., I tend to wake myself up frequently throughout the night. The past few months, I've slept rather soundly through the night, whereas last week, I woke up at least a few times each night. Also, I used to exercise everyday when I didn't have a job, but this week I didn't take one walk!

The good parts of my job include lots of holidays (it's a county job, so I get Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day off, for example), the potential for mobility/advancement, and job security b/c it's a union job. The bad parts are monotony, being with the public all the time, and b/c I'm the receptionist, I have to be there right at 8 and stay until 5 on the dot - no sneaking out early or switching lunch hours - I have to be up front whenever the office is open. Still, I'm just happy to be working. After all my posts on the woes of unemployment, I'd better be grateful for what I have :) ... and I am. Plus, I'm able to go home for my sister's baby shower in March without losing a day's pay (they'll let me work until 5:30 and take a 1/2 hour lunch for 2 weeks prior to that Friday). Cool!

First Day on the Job

My first day of work was today. I definitely liked living in California much better when I was unemployed :) ... j/k ... But first-day stress is normal and I just need to have a positive attitude. The girl who was in my position previously was only in it for 6 months before being promoted (largely a product of timing of course, as there was a large round of in-house promotions all at once), but at least I know mobility is possible. The most frustrating part of my position that I can tell will be distinguishing who in the department gets what call or appointment. In other words, if an applicant says "I want to build a swimming pool" or "I just bought a parcel of land" ... I have to determine (eventually on my own) who needs to field those calls and which section of our department needs to be concerned with each issue. Sounds simple enough once I get the hang of it, but it's frustrating in the meantime since every situation is different and the girl training me can't possibly touch on all the different potential scenarios.

I can't wait until I gain residency in CA so I can take some cheap computer classes. I'm really buying into this "career goal" of mine to eventually become a self-employed web designer specifically for non-profit organizations and churches. That way, I don't need a specific degree to join a prestigious company but rather just the skills I need for my purposes (i.e. the jr. college's "web certificate" might suffice). I can easily build up my portfolio by doing some "freebies" for churches I know and then go from there. Perhaps it's an idealistic, unachievable dream, but at least FOR ONCE I have a dream/career goal!

I was just talking to my mom about this - as a high school student when people said "you can do anything you put your mind to" and things of that sort, I don't know why I didn't believe them. Or maybe I believed them, but I just never knew what all that "anything" entailed. I was so limited by my own experiences and shortcomings that I never thought outside of the box. When I first entered college, I had never owned my own computer or taken a computer class before, so I was afraid of them, yet now they are my favorite thing and I feel I do fairly well with them ... so had I not been so afraid back then, had someone actually pushed me in that direction - or in ANY ambitious, applicable direction - had someone actually leveled with me and said "even though you feel inadequate, believe me, so did everyone else at first in your position ... you CAN do it!!!" ... I feel I could be somewhere so much "better" right now. Still, I can't dwell in the past and since I repeatedly say that I don't want to be in administration for the rest of my life, one action I can take to change my fate is to take classes and intentionally pursue a new direction. And by writing it down here, maybe I'll even have a few people to hold me accountable to this :) Because I know that like so many people, I have a tendency to get excited about something and then have it peter out over time ...

El Niño

Well, we came home yesterday after experiencing a balmy 40s & 50s Christmas season in Wisconsin and Illinois, only to find our apartment's tennis court flooded and a very cool and windy temperature in this "hot" state of California - a product of the El Niño season I guess. Kind of crazy, all the extreme weather occurrences this past week or so - from Texas snow to Wisconsin sunshine to a 150,000-fatality tsunami caused by an earthquake beneath the ocean. Craziness! And too terrible to even be able to react appropriately other than a dazed, "Wow, that's sad."

Anyway, we had a nice time with our families. We saw our new nephew Seth for the first time, and we'll have another nephew and a neice due within a few months. Yay! My sister, mom and I saw Spanglish (we all agreed it's a very good movie) and we all went to Ocean's Twelve on New Year's Eve after a delicious Infusino's pizza run (pretty good as well, though not as intriguing for me as Ocean's Eleven).

I have my first day of work tomorrow, and my main orientation is Wednesday with the county itself. I'll have to drive a county car out to Santa Barbara to turn in all my forms and discuss benefits, etc. I'm not as excited as I'd hoped to be about my first day, but I do hope it turns out well and that it doesn't seem to last forever!