On Monday I got back from a two week vacation with my family that was wonderful and tough all at once. I started the vacation being sick and having to finish up a fact checking job so I wasn't fully on break until a few days in. While I was there, my parents told me that my sister had been told some bad news about her cancer but no one seemed to have the specifics. We didn't get those details until yesterday when she finally had an appointment with her doctor and its not good news, but there are plans.

One of the best parts of the visit was that my brother and his oldest son who's three came from France to visit. I was partly sick while they were around, coughing and spending time curled up reading but there were some good moments. At the moment, my nephew adores Cars and the Cars' movie which I've always liked too. I took my nephew to the library for storytime and reading, helped my mom buy all sorts of fun beach toys and toys for him. And then he had so much fun with everyone and it was adorable how much my nephew loved my nieces who did puzzles with him, they're both young teens. Having so much of the family together was wonderful and complicated as my sister's so clearly sick and hanging over everything was wondering about this latest scan.

One useful thing I did while being there was I went to see the allergist I'd had before who gave me antibiotics which really helped and maintenance inhalers along with prescriptions to use up here. Before the month is out, I'm going to try and make an appointment with an allergist up here.

Then in the midst of all those family and health things, I had two different schools call me for interviews, two each that felt pretty good. On the drive back, I had one horrible moment as the skid guard on the bottom of my car decided to come apart, bumping and terrifying me. Thankfully at a rest stop, there was a garage and they took off and it was okay. On the way down, my sister had some debris pop her tire so hearing this rattle and bump made me really nervous.

I came home to a lovely pile of packages that I'd ordered on amazon with points from a hotel-lots of Star Wars' toys and only one dud, a cute t-shirt that was cut absurdly small. My Fourth of July was pretty quiet, I went downtown and walked around pretty Boston parks enjoying all the people that make up America. For the rest of the week, I have another fact checking job and all the driving gave me ideas for a few fics that I want to write.

Thank you for all the help and advice on the last entry, I love this job and I'm glad its challenging me. I will figure out how best to present myself and make it work.

So far this week has just been strange and I feel like I'm fighting off something. I ended up not going to the DMV after work because some students were using school laptops in the library that I had to put away and didn't leave until 5:30. Since the DMV closed at 7 and I was already feeling rather worn down from the other stuff, I decided to go tomorrow. Due to exams, after school has been much quieter, which will allow me to leave a little earlier. I hope the paperwork won't take too long and when I hit the weekend, I'll get a long weekend. This new year is just off to a tough start but I'm going to keep growing and learning.

The weather this weekend has been windy and at times quite rainy and apparently knocked out the power at my school. Last night I had a hard time getting to sleep, I was just awake, which meant I stayed up to finish reading my latest Christie mystery and kept the bedside lamp on to insure I didn't oversleep. I didn't, I even got to school earlier than I did last week, but almost no one was there and the middle school head told me there was no school. They were meant to have called me to let me know but I didn't see any message and now I have the day off. I went and actually had breakfast at my hotel and am now sitting in the Starbuck's in Birmingham, which is becoming sort of my local cafe. Due to sleeping oddly, I'm a bit sore and I'm considering going to a movie later today as its that sort of day.

Yesterday was unexpectedly exciting as I got hugely lost, while the storm was raging. There are two Barnes and Nobles not too far from where I am and I decided to explore the one I hadn't been to before. It turns out that one is sort of close to where I'm staying and has a much bigger selection, so I plan on going there more often. On the way back, I decided to stop at a grocery store as I've been feeling sick and getting some good herbal tea seemed a good idea as well as a chance to grab a quick dinner.

At this point I was on one of the big main roads and I knew that if I turned around, I should be able to get right back on the street I needed. That didn't happen because when I finished grocery shopping, it was pouring sheets of rain and windy enough that it was going sideways. There were points when driving that I felt my car shift from the force of the wind. I thought I knew where I was well enough to find my way back, but sadly this wasn't true. Instead I ended up going the wrong way, but it wasn't easy to figure out due to rain and most of the streets look the same.

I pulled over and got directions back to where I needed to be but somehow either didn't take as many u-turns or too many u-turns and ended up on the right street going the wrong way. I didn't catch just how far off I was until I hit the end of the road. I need to explain something about Detroit streets to show just how far gone I was. The big streets around Detroit go by something mile, the Detroit city limit is 8 mile, the place my hotel is on is called Maple and 15 mile. So I turned onto 15 mile and took it to a point that it dead ended into another street, I think I was actually close to the shore of Lake Michigan. Basically I ended up in the next county over as I work and am staying in Oakland county. I'm posting up the map, because I'm still kind of boggling at how I was on the right track but so much the wrong way.


View Larger Map

The weather was amazing to drive through as I kept going in and out of the storm, which meant sometimes the rain was in sheets, then drips but the wind was always there and the light was fantastic. I ended up getting two beautiful pictures of it and getting home to find out that I actually bought a tasty frozen dinner and had a nice hard cider. It was the sort of adventure that was good to have on a weekend when I didn't have anywhere to be, but it left me feeling a bit worn out today. Batty reminded me that I can make my phone directions tell me when I'm going wrong, which would probably help. Though when I had a GPS that spoke to me at the job interview in Rhode Island, it annoyed me more than it helped me. It's just a matter of figuring out what works for me.

I have my Yuletide sign up pretty much set, I know my requests; two that I keep doing in hope that I'll finally get them and two new ones. I'm still debating on my last offer and need to put in the details of my Yuletide letter. My offers haven't changed that much either as I've learned what I can write and there are some I'd love the chance to write.

I'm also posting in this post a list of what I have accomplished since starting at my new school and what's in the works. In time, this list will hopefully grow into a professional blog post, but for now as I'm feeling tired and worried about what parent-teacher conferences are going to be like, I need to have this down.

( What I've done )

This morning I picked up the huge pile of papers that I need to fill in and sign and tonight there's a party for new faculty. I'll do a little filling in tonight and then bring them with me tomorrow and work with the HR lady that I keep missing, it was her day off today and finish them. Today is being a day of decompressing and adjusting. Tomorrow morning orientation starts and next week there's no class but lots of meetings and orientations.

I have a room with a door I can shut, space in a nice place that's close to the school with a friendly dog and nice woman who's a former teacher and one of her daughters is a librarian. Its also a huge place, I'll have to take some pictures of it, the room I'm in clearly for one of her daughters but it feels kind of staged and not lived in. I had to shift a little TV to get a bedside table and there's no bedside lamp, which gives me the impression of a room not well lived in. I also think that she and her husband haven't lived in this place very long, its all a bit too clean. I'll take some pictures as its hard to explain but will be a good in between spot. The trick will be figuring out how to be social without too being too much as her husband works in another state during the week and her two daughters live elsewhere. She also has lots and lots of stories of the school, which are good but also kind of daunting. It also turns out that the new Lower School librarian is someone I went to SI with, she graduated in April, I in August and my favorite professor from SI is also close by. This makes me feel a lot better, because it means there won't be quite as many new meetings to do, and I have people that I can ask for help.

I'm in an area that reminds me so much of the suburbs around where I grew up though more like the ones on the Main Line, the slightly nicer ones. Swarthmore always tended towards the odder side of things, but just on my drive to the school, I've passed nice apartment places, there are great little downtowns. So I think I'm going to have to end up driving to school, but I'll be able to walk to one of these downtowns. That makes me so happy, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to do as much walking because this part of the country was truly designed with cars in mind. Ann Arbor isn't too far away and it turns out that the directions I got to go back and forth from the school were unhelpful and there are easier ways.

My drive back here was rather exciting in some not always good ways. I hit a lot of traffic going through Maryland and parts of Delaware. The first part of the drive is on small highways, mainly single lane one way or the other through Delaware and Maryland. For some reason, there were just a lot of people who didn't want to go the speed limit. Thus I created a new driving curse, may you be pulled over for speeding as there are speed traps in some of the little towns along the way.

Then I got into such a driving groove that I almost forgot to eat lunch but was good and did get something. When I was on 70, not far from the Pennsylvania border, I drove into a storm, I could see it as the sky grew dark. It was a pretty awful one as this was in a really hilly area so there was fog, misty rain and cars. I was listening to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack, which was incredibly appropriate. I forget which bit I was in but as the storm lightened, the music went from dark and dramatic to lighter. Oh and there was road work everywhere, it felt like every single major highway had road work of some form or another on it.

Yesterday was long, not bad just long as it was mainly turnpike driving that just went on and on. When I hit Toledo, I went a different way as I was heading more to the East and discovered I like 280 and 75N, though I ended up in a thunderstorm and roadwork. The absolute worst bit of the drive was that 75 took me directly into Detroit during rush hour, 75 is one of those huge highways that goes in and around the city. I did end up getting where I needed to but it seemed a stupid way to get there as I could have just as easily gone around Detroit another way instead of straight through. By the time I reached the place, I'm staying, I was ready to fall over, my car is going to be properly unpacked tonight. I think this will be a good short term solution and that I'll have lots of good options for long term stuff.

Another bit of good news is that I'm finally happy with where my ineedmyfics' story is going. I got an idea for it as soon as I saw the prompt but haven't liked anything I've written. Well, last night as I was driving around I got a new angle and have a first paragraph that I like. It still needs a lot more, but I know that I can take lines from my earlier stuff and this will end up something good.

For now, I'm finding that Caribou Coffee does pretty tasty tea. I think my favorite part of what's coming up is getting to know the area and all the people connected to the school. It just gives me such a good vibe, this is going to work. I also need to figure out a good tag for the school.

Life is being all sorts of full and surprising at me. On Thursday, I went to meet with my mentor at the public library but my car was terribly dead. My mother gave me a ride but it gave the day a bit of bump. The meeting ended up being hopeful and wonderful, but after a nice lunch at a wonderful new Italian place, my bank in Michigan called to check that me using my card in Delaware wasn't fraud. I also learned that they hadn't properly changed my address yet so that had to be done.

Then I got to baking for the Democratic event that evening which was lovely but a lot, one woman was shooting ideas of what I could do at me, it was lot. I'm all for confidence and thinking I can accomplish a lot, but I wasn't sure what she heard. It does make me hopeful for the Democratic party as this candidate is grassroots all the way.

Friday, I woke up, got pulled into a Captain Awkward series of amazing posts and the Olympics before going must call AAA. I did and it turns out that a little interior light that I thought was automatic wasn't, my battery was charged without a problem. As the AAA guy was leaving, I had a call from the school in Michigan who wanted to talk to me again. Today I had a long phone interview and I'm a finalist, which leaves me kind of breathless and then I watched Olympics' diving with my parents on my laptop. Oh Tom Daley, you're amazing, I know an American won, but they all did fantastic dives. Last night I also dreamed of being lost around Christchurch on my way to a job interview and going, I know Wellington not Christchurch, quite apt. I hate being lost and this was a dream where I couldn't turn where I needed to and so was feeling like I know where I need to get but can't get there.

Another wonderful thing is that I've introduced my parents to Jim Henson's Storyteller, which they love, they even though they were adults in the 60s and 70s an 80s, never knew of his darker stuff. I get to introduce my parents to Labyrinth and Henson, Henson was the kind of creative soul that makes me hope and believe that the world can change by stories and people. In other odd but happy news. I got back my security deposit from Ann Arbor, they took off some for holes and carpet but not enough to make me go that's unfair and money is good.

Oh and the weather has been exciting here, lots of clouds and storms that hit hard and then leave, yet the sky stays grey. It's made everything cooler and is a nice reminder that Delaware is by the ocean.

Now yesterday, I wrote a few FridayFics, not terribly many as honestly I was busy and so were many other people. Life just keeps on happening. This is what I wrote and my [Bad username or unknown identity: ineedmyfics"]'s story is finally more in progress. It's been moving slower than I like but it'll happen.

( Words spill out )

Work is quiet and nicely air conditioned. Last night I slept wonderfully and wanted to sleep more but had work. The walk to campus was awful as its so hot that the air feels like its sitting on you. Last night I didn't make it home until about 12:30 but I did return to power, which was fantastic. Since yesterday was so long, I want to write it all down and on my way home I'm buying beer or ice cream. I'm in the mood for cold goodies.

6:30 am to 3:30 pm-cafe hopping in Ann Arbor. I went from Starbucks to Sweetwaters to Crazy Wisdom Tea Room

4 pm-get home and get ready to drive to work, which I did. Arrive in downtown and get more iced tea.

5 pm to 10 pm-on campus, at the end of my shift I had about four questions including someone who wanted me to find them a person's phone number. I kept explaining over the phone, the library is about to close and finally got through to them. Also one guy asking me if we could hold books and if not, could I go down and ask circ to hold them as I could sweet talk them. I don't think I ever fully answered him as I was sort of stuck going wait, what?

10 to 11:30 drive to park-n-ride, which was actually easy to find and then wait and wait for the Megabus.

11:30 pm to midnight-pick up artist for Kids Read Comics and try to get her to the place she's staying which is out in a close but surprisingly rural area. That drive involved navigating roadwork, going too far, one scare of wait, did I turn against a red light on a major intersection? I actually think I was fine on the intersection, it just seemed like I wasn't. It was one of those branching ones with like five roads coming in at once. Neither of us had slept a lot, she due to traveling, me due to power outage and I kept wanting to go, honestly I'm not this bad a driver normally. And I wasn't awful, I was just going through parts of Ann Arbor I wasn't terribly familiar with in the dark. Then out into the countryside around Ann Arbor, finally found the place then I thought I knew a quicker way home, I didn't, so had one turnaround before figuring out oh that road leads back to my place.

12:30-finally home, went online to check in with people and then fell over to sleep.

Since I've been working all afternoon, I won't get a chance to get to Kids Read Comics until tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'll be doing but I know that picking up the webcomic artist was a good thing to have done. Yes, it was a lot on the top of an incredibly long day but I did something helpful. Depending on how I'm doing, I might not actually volunteer for that long but it'll be fun to look in and see what's going on, it seems like a fun even.

I feel like my horoscope from Free Will Astrology this week about you have to grind through and do all the right steps feels true. This has been a week of getting through and getting things done, which I've done.

I had something happen today that reminded me how my life is changing this summer. The hours in the library are a little weird of late because the plumbing is being fixed in one library so I go an email asking me to pick up some extra hours and telling me at the end of August, I wouldn't be a student worker anymore. This makes sense as it will be a year since I graduated and I hope that by August all the job hopes do come together as that's when my lease is up. So it feels like all signs are pointing onward to whatever's next.

Today I'm slowly getting errands done like contacting the car dealership about replacing my side mirror, laundry and I might send an email to my job connections to ask for advice. I need to go and look at the referrals they sent me as I got swept into the places that did contact me and need to keep putting myself out there.

This meme is still open as I'd love ideas as I want to do more writing this week.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In December 1946, three Bedouin shepherds
were tending their flock near the Dead Sea. They found a cave with a
small entrance. Hoping it might contain treasure hidden there long ago,
they wanted to explore it. The smallest of the three managed to climb
through the narrow opening. He brought out a few dusty old scrolls in
ceramic jars. The shepherds were disappointed. But eventually the scrolls
were revealed to be one of the most important finds in archaeological
history: the first batch of what has come to be known as the Dead Sea
Scrolls. Keep this story in mind, Gemini. I suspect a metaphorically similar
tale may unfold for you soon. A valuable discovery may initially appear to
you in a form you're not that excited about.

Well, Uncle Rob, I think this is the second or third horoscope I've gotten along the lines of good change is coming, but you might not know the shape of it. I have to say that it really does feel true. My new job direction has brought results that feel right faster than anything else. Now its a matter of finding out where I might end up, which isn't fully up to me, but if the journey's like what I went through this past week and a half, I look forward to it.

I'm also amused that one of the benefits of this unexpected road trip was that I drove through driving rain on Sunday, which cleaned my poor car. The garage attached to my building has put a solid layer of dirt on my car and I've been meaning to clean it. In the end driving through really awful rain accomplished that. So I'm going to keep following every lead and knowing that way will open.

Also I get to go see my family at the end of this month and if planning works out meet some millimuns. Once my dates are set, I will send out an email as I want to meet people.

Today I got back the first paper I wrote for my grant writing class and I got a solid A on it. The professor seemed to like my style of writing and my conclusion. This makes me more hopeful about the paper that I turned in today, which was interesting to write.

My week has suddenly become quite busy due to offering to help at the Book Festival since I have meetings two days this week and a meeting with the campus career center. I know I should do more with job stuff but my resume needs to be put into shape first.

In terms of Monday to Monday, it sort of got left behind these last two weeks so I'm coming back to it. This weekend my parents come to visit and I'm looking forward to seeing them.

Monday to Monday
-Change oil in the car, needs to be good for driving with parents
-Cook something fresh this week (probably will happen tonight with chicken wings and sweet potatoes)
-Walk every day
-Clean apartment more, possibly invest in a proper fruit fly trap, I hate them
-Write something either one of Sam's OOMs or a fic

Today has been so restful. My friends and I didn't see Inception, we had a lovely lunch and then just talked all afternoon. I arrived at their place around noon or so and didn't leave until five.

I decided to splurge and stop in Whole Foods on the way home and then wandered for ages since shopping when slightly hungry is a bad idea, but I have lambic, empanadas, salad and nutella like stuff.

The trouble came when I left, I wasn't familiar with this shopping center and didn't realize I needed to turn. I ended up heading down a road and thought well if I just turn right at some point, I'll be fine, so I did. I ended up in Saline, a town south of Ann Arbor and after some problems trying to find a place to turn around out in the country, headed back to Saline. I turned around in a church parking lot and then got on the Ann Arbor-Saline road, which finally brought me to an area I knew. Yet for some reason, cops weren't letting folks go forward for one part so I had to turn again and I went for a while. I saw another road I knew and went, this crosses my road. Well, yes, it eventually did just in Scio, a suburb near my place but south again just on the other side of town.

Finally I made it home, luckily I had good music, my car had gas and the day was lovely, also this way, I only met up with the game traffic near the end and beginning. It was just all rather more excitement than I expected and I'm glad I was lazy and have already prepared food. Now I'm going to just rest since I'm feeling a bit shaky due to driving for almost an hour when I wasn't planning on it.