The first day

I’ve moved in and put everything away. There are still a few things that are waiting for a home and a few things I forgot at home. Like my coffee thermos and one of my favorite coffee mugs.

My walls, windows and floors are bare … except for the bathroom rug I bought last night for in front of the shower.

I need a couch and chair to sit on and something to shield the security lights that flood my apartment at night and a rug to keep my feet cozy from the bare floors.

I looked around last night and right now, it looks just like my bedroom did at home only with a kitchen (with full-sized appliances and cabinets I may never fill). I need bar stools to sit at the eat-in kitchen that will double as my work space. There is no need for a desk per-say since I have enough drawers and cubbies to hold all my cables and camera equipment.

My job is going well so far. I like having my own desk and my own beat, and I can’t complain about walking to work.

A room of her own … literally

On Friday, when I left home, my goal was to look at several rental possibilities, fill out paperwork for my job and run some errands in town. My schedule quickly changed at my first stop in town but it worked out in the end.

I had three options by the end of the day; an efficiency for less than $500 close to work, a one bedroom in the same unit for almost $600 a month, or a large one bedroom (I could seriously have a billiards league practice in my kitchen) for just under $500 a few streets from the office in a not so great neighborhood. Even though I could probably deal with the neighborhood, the idea of walking to work, having a laundromat next door and great landlords were too good to pass up. So I am waiting on a confirmation phone call to get the
efficiency.

I felt bad for Tim, who had to of heard the options a million times. Our conversations were constantly interrupted by phone calls and bursts of “what about ….?”

My adventures Friday night kept me on the road till almost 11. When I finally collapsed into bed, my mind was still racing with thoughts about my new job and my new exclusive space that will be mine next week.

I woke up early this morning and while I was sitting at the breakfast table … still crusty eyed, my mom called and I decided to ride in with her to Winchester. I got new dresses for work, a pedicure and the most expensive piece of underwear I’ve ever purchased. I decided to take in the day and enjoy it. It’s a celebration of graduation, job and apartment hunting. And lots of long days.

This evening I’ve been packing and going through things more closely, deciding what I really need this week – or at all. Knowing that I’ll have one room to myself is both daunting but releasing because I know that I’ll have only what I need.

The next chapter

When I first started this blog, it was a daily journal of sorts, following my adventures of a college student trying to make it in the big bad world of journalism. I was editor of my school paper and writing about my challenges was a way of venting.

Now I’ve graduated and moved on from that phase of life. Now we’re on to the next phase called “growing up and finding a job.”

I got an email yesterday, offering me a position at the paper I interned at last summer. Tomorrow I am going to look at several apartments and it looks like in the next couple weeks I’ll be relocating … back to where I’ve been the past four years.

When I got the message last night I sat down with my parents and we discussed some of the details – mainly the money aspect. Suddenly I was thinking about insurance, car payments and rent.

Even though I had sworn to never go back, I feel good about this. This is the door that opened as soon as graduation was over – almost literally. My goal this year is to use this opportunity to be close to my family and familiar friends, to be in a familiar setting where I can still be close to home but on my own. My plan is to pursue graduate school and possibly relocate after a year to pursue that endeavor.

I can only go up from here.

a continuation

It’s been cold here in the lower end of the eastern panhandle. Too cold to sit on the deck and read and soak up the sun. Today it’s raining. This has to be one of the wettest springs we have had in a while.

I actually set my alarm today in order to be up before 11:30 a.m. It’s nice that I’m able to do that, but I can’t stand sleeping the day away. Yesterday I refused to sit around the house, so I went into town and filled out thank you cards and went to the post office and the bank. Since Myra was sick, I offered to make dinner. I’m glad  I did because it’s been way too long since I’ve cooked; the past few weeks everyone and their mother wanted to go out and do something.

Sunday was the day of my open house. We never kept count or tried to figure out how many people were in our house Sunday, but it was a lot. I’m guessing around 30 family members and friends passed through. It was fun to see everyone and show off the 16×20 frame sitting in the living room but it was utterly exhausting. And all I did was walk around and eat and mingle.

I forgot to mention in the last post that on Saturday I got a phone call on the way to Winchester to meet my folks for dinner. A woman I go to church with called me about an apartment she knew about. Two hours after graduation! After I hung up I was like “whoa … ironic!” So I prayed that God would let me get a call this week from my former employer and if this door was supposed to open it would.

On Monday, as I was driving home from the grocery store, I got a call from that former employer, telling me something could happen this week. “So are you just relaxing now?” she asked. “You’re not beating the pavement are you?” “Only to find an apartment down there,” I said.

So life after graduation. I don’t think it’s set in that I am not going back in the fall, nor do I need to. Although I am looking very intently at grad school – especially after dad and myra put their seal of approval on the idea. Even if it means going more in debt, I want to do it.

At this point, even though I’m kind of scratching my head over all of it, it looks like a door is opening to go BACK to the Berkeley/Jefferson County area. I’m not complaining though. When I got a phone call yesterday I was excited. After I hung up I yelled “Squeee!!” in my car and headed home to tell the folks the news. I could be getting a phone call about a job as early as this week. Depending on the $, the timing and the status of my other applicants, I feel confident that this could be “the one.”

This means hiking trips, back in the familiar hand of Shepherdstown, seeing friends, being close to my family (but not too close) and close enough to the D.C. area that anytime I need a taste of the city, I can head down to Tyson’s or the metro and do it. Yay

I would rather settle down for now and have a steady income and be able to do some things with my graduation money instead of nickle and diming it away.

Writing about it before it’s too late

Even though it’s late, and tonight will be the first night I’ve been in my bed since before graduation, I knew I had to write while it was semi-fresh in my mind.

The cold I got mid-week finally seemed to be going away on Friday. After a conversation with my a friend of mine who was still in Shepherdstown who offered to let me stay at her place, I quickly packed my things for graduation and hit the road. It was amazing how my mood lifted as soon as I found out I was going.

After a fun adventure to the storage shed and some primping, Bethany and I headed out to meet her folks and aunt and uncle who collect rock memorabilia (just to give you a taste of their personality). Graduation gifts were opened, pizza and fries were ordered and we spent the rest of the evening laughing, sharing stories and talking politics (her dad and I were in the minority as registered republicans … woot!).

Throughout the evening, her dad kept announcing he wanted cake. So across the street we went to a little swanky place in Shepherdstown for fancy desserts. As I was sitting there, with virtual perfect strangers, I couldn’t think of a time where I felt more comfortable and at ease with a new group. We laughed and related to one another on our own levels and I was so grateful and amazed at how this family had made me apart of their’s for the evening. It was just that pleasant.

That night, I helped Bethany and her boyfriend, John, who picked us up from the airport when we got in from San Francisco and is one of the most intelligent, sincere people I know, pack the rest of Bethany’s stuff. We through stuff out, packed things for Texas where she’ll be moving and went through shoes she will be leaving behind in a storage unit. We finally crashed around 2:30 a.m. and woke up at 8 a.m. to start again.

At 10, I met one of my all time favorite women/professors/news-junkie and fireballs, Nerissa for brunch. She was my intro to print journalism/media law and ethics, writing for mass media and documentary journalism professor before she left at the end of last year to return to Marshall. We talked shop and caught up on campus news before we went our own ways until after graduation. I may be seeing her later in the summer for a road trip to Huntington to check out the campus.

So after I left her, it was time to get dressed for one of the biggest milestones in my lifetime thus far. I had not friend’s house close by and no place of my own, so I settled for the next best thing. Sheetz. And do you know where I had to change into my black wrap dress? In the men’s bathroom. Yeah. Classy. It was one of the quickest full-fledged priming session I’ve done in a while. I was impressed.

The ceremony itself I wasn’t at all prepared for. Honestly, it seems unreal. I saw my family; I saw all my friends and peers but it was just like a timewarp. Perhaps the sleep schedule didn’t help. Either way, the classmates on either side of me made things fun and interesting and we kept each other laughing and awake. When we finally filed out, there were no tears, no emotional spurts. I just felt really grown up for that period of time as it was all happening around me.

Afterwards, there were photos, a cup of punch, awkward moments with professors; introducing said professors to the family and quick good-byes. My parents and I went for a lovely meal of Olive Garden following all the photos and mass hysteria.

Mama got me a new 80GB iPod … a nice upgrade considering the state of my 2 year old nano that refuses to hold a charge. I refused to bring it home without a case so I stopped last night and picked one up. Since then, I’ve been updating my iTunes library – getting cover art, deleting what I don’t listen to anymore, etc.

Part 2 will have to follow because it’s getting too long. In summary; It was a whirlwind, surreal experience. I think it will all catch up in the next few days. It’s super cool to be done – a big sigh of relief!

Oh tomorrow…

Tomorrow is the BIG day. Graduation. I keep forgetting about it. I’m not nervous, anxious or anything. I’ve been chilling at home all week and I got a cold Tuesday night.

Last night I did a thorough overhaul on my room – and I can finally function. Before things were just put in here in random order.

This morning I pressed my gown – everything is ready for tomorrow.

Today I’m going to be emptying out my car and getting ready for my graduation open house that’s happening Sunday. My step-dad called last night and asked me what kind of iPod I want …. so apparently I’ll finally have  an iPod bigger than a mini or nano. Yay step-dad!

Briefly

I just returned home … around 1:30 a.m. My family and I went to dinner for my step-brother’s birthday at Applebee’s. First time I’ve ever had a scoop of sour cream and butter on top of my garlic mashed potatoes, but whatever.

Afterwards, we went to the hospital where my step-mom’s niece was in labor with her first child. It was awkward, being there with the in-laws who I don’t know well. I told dad later that it was difficult for me to be there since I couldn’t relate in anyway. I’m not ever going to be in a similar situation – of giving birth or having a sibling or close relative go through birth. Everyone was calling family and lovers and I was standing there with the pack looking in the window, watching the baby get cleaned up and measured.

It was hard to sit there with people I don’t know that well while all this was going on. While I am excited
for the birth, it’s hard to know how to connect with them I’ve never been the gushy, over the top type.

In other news, I got my final grades … thankfully, history made a turn around, and graduation is on! Hooray!