First of all, I need to say something. For awhile now I’ve been feeling a little weird about this blog. I’ve been doing the online dating thing, and I have had many amusing anecdotes that would have been fun to share, but I have been trying to be sensitive to the fact that a few of my readers might not enjoy reading these tails of woo (or woe, as the case may be). But lately I’ve been thinking…wait a minute…this is MY blog. I can write what I want. So that’s what I’m going to do.
That said, I had a super fun weekend. Happy hour with co-workers on Thursday night. It was very amusing and sweet that everyone was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find my way home from the bar. (Because I’m new to DC, not because I had lots of drinks at the bar.) I mean, I am from Maine, but I am familiar with the concept of the Cartesian plane, which is basically all this city is.
I did, in fact, have a date on Friday night. He was cute and had a good sense of humor, although I wasn’t feeling the spark. (Maybe we’ll be friends.) At some point over sushi he said, “You have a bit of an edge.” Ya think? It may have been our discussion of Marilyn Manson, or possibly roller derby, that clued him in. An edge. I like that. Nobody has ever said that about me before, I don’t think.
Saturday I went to a talk on Dorothea Lange at my favorite neighborhood bookstore, and later in the evening I went to Virginia to see an old friend I hadn’t seen since high school. (She’s a professor now.) It was fantastic. We got caught up on all the gossip and drama of the past 16 years and marvelled that two little country girls from rural Maine had made it all the way to the big city. Neither of us could have imagined where our lives would take us.
Today I wandered from my place up to Dupont Circle, about three miles in each direction, just to see what there was to see. It was about 65 degrees and sunny, and I had a great time walking and people watching and ducking into fun little shops. Just a quiet day of exploring.
One of my favorite bloggers gave me a best blog award, and I am very honored. MrMacrum was the first reader I had who didn’t actually know me. It kind of blew my mind that someone who didn’t know me would want to read about little old me. But then again, it turns out that I like reading about him, too.
I’m supposed to pass the award along to four other bloggers. My picks are:
Erin and Bridget at Green Bicycle. This is a glorious blog. I’ve known Erin for a long time, and I knew she had good taste, but I never knew how good. Eye candy.
Kristen at The Maine Maven, who I am sure does not read my blog and will never know about my award. A fabulous lifestyle blog.
Dawn at Weldable Cookies because she is just freakin’ awesome. A great writer and thinker, and she challenges me with her honesty every time she writes something new.
Alice at Henbogle because I cannot believe the crazy gardening and home improvement projects she accomplishes with ease.
Yesterday as I sat at my desk poking around the Oracle database that is the back end of our grants management system, the Code of Federal Regulations open beside me somewhere in the middle of the hundred or so pages that outline all the laws pertaining to my program, the thought crossed my mind: This was my dream job?
Don’t get me wrong. I think I am going to LOVE this job. It plays to my strengths and is perfect for me in many, many ways. And my co-workers seem like an amazing group of people. Sometimes when I am near a window (no windows in the cubicle, alas), I look out at the big buildings and the busy streets and think, am I really here? Do I really live here now? Same thing when I put my key in the elevator. I think, holy crap, I’m allowed to be here! They let me in, and gave me a key and everything! And sometimes I catch a reflection of myself in my suit and my heels, and I think…wow, that’s me. Who would’ve thought?
But here’s the thing about the job: it’s not rocket science. It is very specialized. My prior experience is helpful in this regard, but there is still a lot to learn. It requires a certain skill set, but it’s a skill set that I have. So I can’t help thinking, I should have done this a long time ago. What was holding me back? Well, if you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know the answer to that question. I was holding myself back. The biggest obstacles I seem to face are the ones I make up in my head.
This is a good lesson.
Because it turns out that my dream job is less dream and more job, and that’s not a bad thing.
Time to start thinking up some new dreams.
I survived my first week on the job. And my first week of full-time work in four years! I’m still getting used to the new rhythm of my days and trying to get into the swing of things. Riding crowded trains. Coming home from work tired and hungry. There was a bunch of stuff I wanted to get done this weekend–errands and personnel paperwork and things like that–but I haven’t fully mastered the time management thing yet, apparently.
I did go to roller derby on Saturday, which was very exciting. Some of my co-workers were there, and I think it is a good sign that my co-workers are the sort of people who go to roller derby.
I need to get out and do some more exploring. Soon.
It was a long day. Lots of people talking at us about personnel policies and such.
I say “us” because there are 3 other people starting the same job as me. That’s going to be nice, I think. We can help each other out. Sort of like fraternity pledges.
A couple exciting things I found out today:
They will pay my subway and/or bus fare to and from work. It is an incentive to use public transportation.
Also, I get to pick my hours. I can start anytime before 9:30 am and have to work 8.5 hours (that includes lunch) from whenever I start. I was pondering whether or not 9:30 was too decadent a start time when Brian (my old trainer friend) happened to text me. I asked him about it, and he said that I should come in whenever my superiors do, and also that if I come in that late I will miss all the good gossip. He also said it might depend on what states I get assigned to work with since it would make sense to come in later if I was working with people on the west coast. I thought those were all very helpful pieces of advice.
Tomorrow they are having a welcome breakfast for us so that we can meet more of our co-workers. That’s kind of cool. Nobody ever gave me a welcome breakfast before.
I made a conscious decision to slow down and take some time to process this weekend so that I can start the job tomorrow well-rested and clear-headed. There was part of me that wanted to be running all around the city like a tourist, but I reminded myself that the city will be here for awhile, and so will I. There was also part of me that was feeling guilty because I didn’t go to the party that my neighbor down the hall threw on Friday night, and I didn’t take A. up on his offer to hang out yesterday. I feel like I should take every possible opportunity for human interaction since I only know four people in this city, and there are probably going to be some lonely times ahead. This was the source of my guilt. But truly, I just needed to be by myself for a couple of days.
One of DC’s most beloved independent bookstores, Politics and Prose, happens to be less than a block from me. How awesome is that? So I went to the bookstore for awhile–going back tomorrow night to hear Taylor Branch, author of The Clinton Tapes, if my first day of work doesn’t tire me out too much–and then I came home and spent the afternoon on the couch reading a book, Pema Chodron’s Taking the Leap, and getting myself mentally prepared for tomorrow.
Part of this mental preparation involved acknowledging the fact that I have been given the very rare opportunity to create a whole new life for myself here. Aside from my job, I have no commitments in this city. There is nobody here who wants or needs anything from me. I really can do whatever I want. I can create the life I want.
Which made me ask myself, what exactly is the life I want? For instance, what would I want my life to be like a year from now?
It seemed like this was an important question to ponder for awhile. You know…beginning with the end in mind? I think it was Stephen Covey who coined that phrase. One of his 7 habits…but I digress…
Here is my vision for late October 2010:
I enjoy my job. It’s not perfect, but it is challenging and fulfilling. I feel that my work makes a difference both to AC members and to the communities in which they serve.
I get along with my co-workers and enjoy socializing with them outside of work sometimes.
I have made one or two close friends as well as a small, comfortable social circle that sustains me. I also have time and space to indulge my introversion.
I have a healthy work-life balance that allows me to take advantage of the cultural opportunities available in DC on a regular basis.
I am comfortable and familiar with the city, which means I don’t have to think so hard about how to get from one place to another and so forth.
I have developed some routines that bring me pleasure and help me relax.
I am running three miles three times a week, dammit, and doing the other things I need to be doing in order to be healthy. (Like getting enough sleep.)
I have one or more romantic interests. None of them are psychotic. All of them inspire fantastic poetry, which I write on a regular basis.
There you have it. Beginning with the end in mind.
First of all, the metro. I did a practice run on the metro today (see last post). For the first four of the five stops the air condititioning system did not seem to be working, and it was freakin’ hot in there. This is, perhaps, unladylike to admit, but at one point I looked down at my arm, and it was covered in sweat. Why did I bother to take a shower after I ran this morning, I wondered. Here is something else I wonder: how do people in this city go around in business suits all day and not look all sweaty and disheveled all the time? This is an important question since I will soon be walking around in a suit.
Speaking of trying to look good…I am trying to turn over a new leaf in the fashion department. This means attempting to wear something besides athletic wear in my down time. In other words, dressing up and looking cute. Between the humidity and my lack of comfortable footwear to wear with my cute outfits, I am not sure how long I can keep this up. And then there is the issue of my hair. I envision a lot of limpness and frizz in my future.
Despite these challenges, a couple of exciting discoveries:
Zips Dry Cleaners, where you can get any garment dry cleaned for $1.99. According to their website, they are able to keep their costs low by requiring customers to prepay with cash only. Apparently customers pick up their orders more quickly when they have prepaid, which requires Zips to pay for less storage space, and we all know that cash only saves businesses money on processing fees. There’s one on my way to the metro, and I dropped a sweater off there today. It was very exciting.
The DC Metro website has a super cool trip planner that tells you the quickest bus and metro routes to take to wherever you want to go. You can tell it what time you want to go, and it will tell you how long the trip will take and everything. It is very awesome. I keep thinking how great it would have been to have something like that when I was living in Valencia. Of course, back then I didn’t even have email!
Finally, did you catch that reference to running? I went for a run this morning in my building’s fitness center. Since everything is new to me at the moment and I don’t have any routines in place, I figure this is the perfect time to recommit to some healthy habits that will eventually become part of my routine. That means getting back on this running program, and hopefully progressing beyond Week 5 at some point.
Today I practiced the route from my apartment to my office. It’s pretty easy–a ten minute walk to the metro, five stops on the red line, and about two blocks to the office–but I just wanted to make sure I know where I’m going on Monday morning.
Did I ever mention that my former business partner, SL, and I went to visit this particular office once when we were in DC for a meeting. We walked into the reception area just after 5:00 pm and the receptionist had evidently gone home. We weren’t really sure if we were allowed to be there or not, so we giggled and took pictures of each other next to the sign with the organization’s name on it and then left. It was, to borrow an analogy from a soon-to-be colleague, a little bit like visiting Oz.
This is my building:
Here are some photos of my new place. Some of them are kind of dark–I think the flash on my camera is broken. The big window actually makes things very bright and sunny. Standing in the entryway, there are two closets and a bathroom on the left:
The kitchen is on the right:
Standing in the living room, facing the kitchen:
Standing in the living room facing the window:
The sleeping alcove:
Isn’t it great?
I should mention that CSB was a huge help during this move. From driving the U-Haul, to helping me unpack, and a million other little things. He had no reason to help me, but he did, and I appreciated it so much.
My apartment is large for a studio, but I still did everything I could to make the most of the storage space. I am so proud of my organizing abilities that I couldn’t resist taking some pictures of my closets.
A few organizing tools I couldn’t live without:
Over-the-door hooks to hang things on the insides of closet doors.
These are the two closets in my entry-way. One has jackets, bags, shoes, folded up sweaters and other clothes that would ordinarily go in a dresser. The other has mostly linens and utility items along with a few drawers.
Plastic shoe boxes from the Container Store. (You can buy them by the case to save money!) The small ones fit most of my shoes. The large ones fit the rest of my shoes and are also great for storing and organizing anything you don’t have room for on closet shelves or kitchen cabinets. I even have some under the bathroom vanity to hold first aid supplies and things that don’t fit in the medicine cabinet.
An over-the-sink dish drainer. Mine is half-size so I can still use the sink.
Clotheslines for drying clothes in my shower! Because who wants a drying rack in the middle of the living room?
An extender rod for my bedroom closet that doubles the hanging space. Skirts on bottom. Shirts and jackets on top.
And last but not least, do not forget the space under the bed! I have some plastic drawers under there, my suitcases, my guitar, and my Christmas tree and ornaments.
