Where's Dana?
This could be a bit like Where’s Waldo. Tis true, I’ve been a bit absent. The last couple of weeks have been a little difficult.
Two weeks ago I was stressing about the end of the semester (sure, it was almost over, but I still had to get everything done). While I was grading papers and finishing up my own coursework, I was also packing up my apartment. Most of the furniture in the apartment belonged to me (read: everything except what was in Kate’s room). I’ve been talking for weeks, months even, about how excited I was to move back home to Colorado. But as the deadline loomed, my excitement waned. I was moving back home without a job and I was moving back in with my parents. Not that I’m not grateful to have a place to live; I even like living with my parents. It’s just that I so want to lead my own life, have my own apartment, my own job. I’ve never lived on my own. I’d like my life to be fast forwarded a few months from now. Hopefully things will feel more complete.
In the week before I moved, I got a phone call from a business in Denver to schedule an interview for a technical writer position. The HR department wanted to schedule the interview for Friday (I’d still be in Iowa) or Monday (I’d be driving home for most of the day). Since neither day would work for me, I was asked to call on Monday to schedule an interview for later in the week. It was nice having a little hope.
So, a little over a week ago, my Ames apartment was virtually empty, and I had to say goodbye to my Iowa friends and my Iowa life. After looking forward to this move for so long, I felt just…depressed.
I said goodbye to my friends (I miss you all) and drove home on Sunday. I hit a bad thunderstorm in Omaha and spent a restless night in Lincoln at my Grandmother’s. I left early on Monday and drove home. Exhausted. Dana the Zombie. My dad had driven all the way home on Sunday. By the time I got to Colorado, he’d unloaded all the boxes from the truck (thanks, Daddy!). We finished up with the furniture. I called to schedule an interview and had to leave a message.
The rest of the week I spent unpacking boxes and setting up my room. I was still in my workaholic mode from the end of the semester and really didn’t take much time to relax until this past weekend. It was a difficult week. I missed my friends, and wasn’t sleeping well. I finally got a hold of the HR department for the tech writer position only to find out that by Monday, they had already scheduled so many interviews that they didn’t want to schedule just one more.
Thursday night Shaw stopped by and had dinner with my family. Friday I went up to Boulder. Shaw and I went kayaking (in an inflatable kayak, on a lake…completely lazy and relaxing). Then we went out for drinks with his roommate, Lynon (the bar we went to had a fabulous happy hour, bottomless glass of wine for two hours…mmm). It was a good night. Too much wine and a little flirting and I wake up with an awful hangover (I blame the wine—wine always gives me a bad headache—and the altitude, which I’m not really used to yet).
Saturday night was the first good night sleep I’ve gotten in well over a month. I’d weaned myself off my caffeine addiction (somewhat), gotten to see some Colorado friends, and finally felt somewhat at home.
So now I feel a little bit more whole. Today I start the job search all over.
Two weeks ago I was stressing about the end of the semester (sure, it was almost over, but I still had to get everything done). While I was grading papers and finishing up my own coursework, I was also packing up my apartment. Most of the furniture in the apartment belonged to me (read: everything except what was in Kate’s room). I’ve been talking for weeks, months even, about how excited I was to move back home to Colorado. But as the deadline loomed, my excitement waned. I was moving back home without a job and I was moving back in with my parents. Not that I’m not grateful to have a place to live; I even like living with my parents. It’s just that I so want to lead my own life, have my own apartment, my own job. I’ve never lived on my own. I’d like my life to be fast forwarded a few months from now. Hopefully things will feel more complete.
In the week before I moved, I got a phone call from a business in Denver to schedule an interview for a technical writer position. The HR department wanted to schedule the interview for Friday (I’d still be in Iowa) or Monday (I’d be driving home for most of the day). Since neither day would work for me, I was asked to call on Monday to schedule an interview for later in the week. It was nice having a little hope.
So, a little over a week ago, my Ames apartment was virtually empty, and I had to say goodbye to my Iowa friends and my Iowa life. After looking forward to this move for so long, I felt just…depressed.
I said goodbye to my friends (I miss you all) and drove home on Sunday. I hit a bad thunderstorm in Omaha and spent a restless night in Lincoln at my Grandmother’s. I left early on Monday and drove home. Exhausted. Dana the Zombie. My dad had driven all the way home on Sunday. By the time I got to Colorado, he’d unloaded all the boxes from the truck (thanks, Daddy!). We finished up with the furniture. I called to schedule an interview and had to leave a message.
The rest of the week I spent unpacking boxes and setting up my room. I was still in my workaholic mode from the end of the semester and really didn’t take much time to relax until this past weekend. It was a difficult week. I missed my friends, and wasn’t sleeping well. I finally got a hold of the HR department for the tech writer position only to find out that by Monday, they had already scheduled so many interviews that they didn’t want to schedule just one more.
Thursday night Shaw stopped by and had dinner with my family. Friday I went up to Boulder. Shaw and I went kayaking (in an inflatable kayak, on a lake…completely lazy and relaxing). Then we went out for drinks with his roommate, Lynon (the bar we went to had a fabulous happy hour, bottomless glass of wine for two hours…mmm). It was a good night. Too much wine and a little flirting and I wake up with an awful hangover (I blame the wine—wine always gives me a bad headache—and the altitude, which I’m not really used to yet).
Saturday night was the first good night sleep I’ve gotten in well over a month. I’d weaned myself off my caffeine addiction (somewhat), gotten to see some Colorado friends, and finally felt somewhat at home.
So now I feel a little bit more whole. Today I start the job search all over.
