03 August 2006

Hey, guess what?

Well, I've passed yet another "adult" milestone. I quit my first job, and for reasons other than "the school year ended" or "it's after Labor Day, no one wants to come to the pool."

I'm glad to report that I got another job in my field, located in New York (for those keeping score, this is where Frenchy lives!) and am moving in less than a week. I totally should be packing right now, but can't be arsed. It reminds me spookily of the evenings when I was supposed to be researching.

The story of how I was delayed on the way home from my (current work-sponsored) trip to England, extended my layover in Newark, fought with the damn Transit Authority ticket machines, got myself into the city and interviewed for the new job, barely made it back to the airport, and then flew through tornadoes to arrive home doesn't need to be repeated. Oh wait, I just did. Be thankful that you were spared the details of how the St. Louis airport was completely without power when we landed, including lights to see where you were going, electricity for the baggage carousel ("We're taking everyone's baggage to the Burger King," because every good St. Louisan knows where the BK is in the airport) and the sensors on the automatic-flush toilets weren't working. Fortunately my mom got to find that one out, not me.

The actual quitting process wasn't nearly the drama I was afraid it would be. I did hear one under-the-breath "well, we could see that coming," but really, they could see it coming from a thousand miles away. 1,024, if you believe MapQuest. Do they really think I'm going to be able to drive that myself in seventeen hours? In a strange U-Haul? And why, for the love of Weezer, don't they put a CD player in those trucks? Or at least a tape player. Everyone loves them some old skool mixed tapes. Anything to avoid the endless country music channels on the AM dial, which must be the only radio stations in Indiana. When you New Yorkers see a greasy, squinting girl with chocolate smeared on her face, hyped up on the sweet, sweet Dr. Pepper, narrating every billboard she passes, you'll know I've arrived.

Reasons why this is a life-changing event:
1. I'm throwing out armfuls of clothing. Me. The one who saves something if I've worn it in the past five years. Or if I might wear it before 2015.
2. And shoes. I dumped seven pairs of shoes, all at once.
3. (I'm moving in with a boy!)
4. I bought a cell phone. This is probably the one that will shock the most people. More so if I tell them that I actually have owned a cell phone before, when I was teaching English in Dijon. But that was France, and we all know that what happens in France stays in France.
5. I actually agreed to reduced the Eiffel-Tower-themed decorations in my apartment. This is love, y'all.

I barely recognize myself anymore. Brooklyn, here I come!