I Be Bloggin!

I have decided to officially retire my old blog. In its stead, I have created this new one as a continuation of the old one to reflect my new life here in Northern Virginia (a.k.a. "NoVA"). Life in the D.C. Metro area is infinitely better than life in Ohio, and there's a lot more blog fodder. So much more, in fact, that I haven't updated my old blog in a year and a half because there simply isn't time. It's a pure leap of faith that I created this new one in hopes that I'll actually be committed enough to update it at least on a semi-regular basis.

So, what have I been up to over the past 18 months, you ask? Well, after moving to NoVA on my birthday, I began working as a Veterinary Assistant for a brief period of time, quickly realizing I was not getting paid nearly enough to pick up canine excrement 8 hours a day or deal with rude vet techs and uptight pet owners. As much as I love animals and need to be around them, a veterinary setting is just not where I was destined to end up in life. After that, I spent 3 months as a receptionist in a dermatologist's office. It was pretty much the equivalent of shoving bamboo rods under my fingernails.

Anyway, after that came a bit of a rough period as I looked for a job for the next 3 months, going on many interviews and receiving dozens of replies daily to my resume postings, but not actually getting hired anywhere. I made extra money by modeling and participating in blood pressure studies, surveys for website ideas with AOL, etc. I also occupied my time by singing with a couple different choral groups. But, those groups charged annual dues to sing with them, which I obviously couldn't afford to pay. One such group even "removed me from membership" after I hadn't been able to pay within the first 2 months. (They told me during the audition process that they would never exclude anyone for financial reasons.) It wasn't until the end of October, when I replied to an ad for a job in a law firm (which I wasn't particularly interested in doing but was desperate by that point), that I was placed in contact with a head hunter, who got me an interview at said law firm, which promptly hired me. I've now been there for 9 months and can say that it is probably the most perfect job for me. I do virtually no phone work, my day doesn't start until 9 a.m., it's located 2 miles away from my apartment (although the commute takes anywhere from 5-20 minutes, depending on traffic that day), I can work at my own pace on my own stuff and not have to deal with interruptions from anyone except my co-workers, whom I love and get along great with. No evenings (unless I decide to work overtime), weekends, or major holidays, full medical benefits, and I don't loathe my own existence knowing I have to show up there every day, unlike my previous 4 positions.

OK, so my employment issue was solved as of November 10, 2008, but I had a new problem: My roommate moved out and there were still 2 months left on the lease. I can only afford one half of the rent, so I needed to find someone ASAP. Most responses I got rarely evolved into an in-person meeting. I did manage to find someone who agreed to move in around the first weekend in January, but he backed out on me. So, I spent another 2 more months using every single penny I brought home to pay for 2 peoples' rent with nothing left over for fun or bills or anything. Needless to say, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep during that time. I finally found my current roommate (a fellow Ohioan!) at the end of February, who moved in the weekend of my 30th birthday, which was also my 1-year anniversary of living down here. She's cool and we get along great, so all is well. Well, except for the fact that I'm still dirt-poor due in part to the high cost of living in this area and the extra debt I accrued while being unemployed and roommate-less. But I've joined up with a local opera company (and have I mentioned that I'm currently on the stand-by list for the Washington National Opera chorus?), and I've made so many awesome friends here that I rarely have any time to be bored. I'm only able to write this right now because I'm recovering from last night's pub crawl and not getting home until 4 a.m.

How's my love life been, you ask? Pretty good, actually. I've dated several guys I've met at various outings, some of whom were very nice but just not for me, and others who were not as nice as they seemed at first. But, it's been a lot of fun doing my own thing and gaining all this life experience from it, something I never would've been able to do in Ohio. This past year and a half has really been a period of rapid transformation for me. I've gone from being a barely-employed, late-twenty-something who still lived at home with her parents and had almost no friends left in the area to a fully-employed (with benefits!), 30-year-old living 500 miles from her nearest relatives, with more friends than I can shake a stick at!

That's not to say life is perfect or that I don't have days where I wanna just throw my hands up in the air and scream.  But my worst day here is still better than any day in Ohio. I'm a person who craves stability in my life, insofar as money, housing, and relationships are concerned. But, I also crave excitement and fun to squelch the monotony of my daily routine. And I think that the rapid pace and unpredictability of city life coupled with the quaintness of living in the suburbs is the perfect balance of both!