Perhaps fitting for the soon-to-be Easter season, I get to resurrect this blog! I’ve been teasing you guys for a good six months now that I wasn’t updating for a good reason and hoped to soon, and now I finally get to tell you all why:
Last October, I got accepted into Goddard College’s playwriting program, which was EXACTLY what I wanted to do. You can imagine how exciting that was for me, taking a step forward in my life goals. The catch, however, was that I couldn’t afford to go, unemployed as I was. I decided not to tell you all until I got a job, so I wouldn’t be announcing things that might then fall through.
Fast forward nearly six months later, and I finally – finally – have a job – that is, other than the many pet sitting gigs that have been keeping me relatively afloat for the last century. Actually, as luck would have it, a lot of things have been happening at once:
Nearly four months ago I applied for a government position in Lane County, and I’m one of six candidates in the running for it. But that’s four months of waiting and getting jerked around not knowing how long the process would be, and it actually cost me one temporary job waiting to hear back from another interview. This would be full-time, with benefits, and really nice pay, so despite the fact that I don’t particularly love urban Lane County, I’d of course say yes. But I spoke with HR there today, and that won’t happen until at least the end of May. Next week I have a group interview (lame) for a really crummy, low paying job in Salem, but it is full-time, so I still have to go. What, then, about this job that I must be posting about?
Well, thanks to a very generous family friend, I’ve got a part-time, seasonal job at a winery in Yamhill County (one of the more beautiful counties in Oregon)! It’s going to be a bit of a drive, but it’s April through November, and it’s the most I’ve made since I worked for Ft. Vancouver in 2008. Six years of steadily worsening employment – if that doesn’t mirror the economic crisis, I guess nothing does. Even knowing I may be leaving for this other job, they’re taking me on board – that is, provided I pass my drug test tomorrow, but you all know the only danger of that not happening is because I ate some bread with poppy seeds on it for lunch, not because I’m doing anything illicit.
Staying away from the blog has been both hard and easy: I’d see stories I wanted to update you all on with my classic wit and snark, but I also didn’t want to pop on to say nothing of any substance and leave you all hanging with the real goings on in my life. I was supposed to start school last February, but without funds, I’ve had to delay. I can delay starting one more semester before I’d have to reapply, and I do NOT want to do that, for many (probably obvious) reasons. With something to at least get some funds in the bank, I feel comfortable at least starting one semester of classes – probably not this summer, but I’m hoping next spring, like I had originally planned, just pushed ahead a year.
It’s also good I can finally post again because we are coming up on three years of the Undiscovered Country. That’s right, three years of me slobbering over old, dead guys and tearing movies a new one, among other things. I don’t necessarily plan on changing the tag-line, because I think it reflects most of this blog’s content, but nearing 25, I don’t feel so confused. Oh, the future is absolutely baffling, even terrifying, but I feel like a real adult, diminished circumstances not withstanding. Adulthood is far, far more than the state of one’s finances: it’s a feeling of wholeness I did not have when I was 18, and not that much at 22. Even in situations that stress me the hell out, I can walk in with an air of confidence and poise, at least faked if nothing else. A feeling like I can survive most things. A lot of this is because I’m lucky to have an EXTREMELY supportive family who has helped me grow this strength, but it still has to come from me.
So it’s an exciting time. I don’t know what the world will be like at 25, but it’s going to be fun to find out.
(Well, that’s a good general survey of the last several months, but hopefully I’ll start getting detailed soon. Leave comments for the things you want to hear about: my misadventures in online/physical dating? My puppy? Video games [I’ve been playing a lot of video games…]? My writing projects? More updates in the weeks to come, HOORAY!)
The Undiscovered Country 