Long time, no blog...

In case anyone is still reading this, I thought I better pop by and post a little sum'n sum'n. I am totally embarrassed that my last post was 4 months ago or so. Pathetic. I apologize. Life's been crazy. I got a job! A really great job and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It does require a commute, however, as I am continuing to reside in the same place I've been for the past several years now (therefore, truthfully, the job itself does not require a commute, but I, insanely, am opting to commute so that I may continue to live where I do). Thus, I anticipate the continuous presence of something driving-related on my "hate" list.

So, speaking of residing in the same place I have been for several years...I recently had an epiphany that has left me semi-depressed (well, the epiphany coupled with student loan repayment notices arriving daily in the mail for the past week). After grad school, I didn't feel the motivation I used to feel about things I love doing, such as biking and running. I initially chalked it up to something fundamental shifting within me during the whole grad school extravaganza. However, I recently caught myself in a daydream about riding a trail back home and realized that I haven't lost the motivation to ride, I just don't want to ride here. Woe is me! That little gem sent me into a bit of a downward spiral for several weeks. Here's what's happened in the meantime...
1) I've decided to make every effort to get back home (this entails finding and obtaining gainful employment, which is actually harder than it sounds in the land of sun and fun)! In the meantime, fall has arrived here and with it the usual perfect riding weather and amazing transformation of colors. It is my favorite time of year to be here, which makes staying here much more bearable.
2) I've joined a group of women that do group rides each week and have discovered two other groups that I'd like to join for weekly rides as well (Yippeee! As most of you know, one of my primary problems with riding here [aside from the relative monotony of trail conditions - meaning smooth, totally ridable singletrack -yawn] is my fear of bears. For those of you who don't know, I have seen bears on a majority of my bike rides here - both on and off road endeavors have elicited such undesirable results. For a desert-dweller, bear-sightings incite a particular brand of fear that renders one almost completely incapacitated. So, group riding = no bear sightings = less fear associated with riding = more riding!
3) I've gotten incredibly ill...twice. I had anticipated that working in a school would increase my exposure to common colds and flu viruses, but I had not anticipated getting sick in such rapid succession. The most recent cold (the one with which I now suffer) is particularly nefarious and was actually compliments of my significant other. Between this and his new found love of spreading his schoolwork throughout the house (on any available surface), he is really clawing his way to the top of my shit list.
4) I've had a birthday! Thanks to those of you who remembered. I was actually sick at the time (we should start a tally on how many times this theme will recur on future posts) and can only hope that illness is excuse enough for not acknowledging your birthday wishes. Especially because it meant a lot to me. It wasn't the best birthday ever as my little residence epiphany occurred right around that time. Thankfully, things have improved drastically since then.

I think that is about it. I am hereby vowing to post at least once per month from here on out. I actually hope to do so more frequently, but I like to set myself up to succeed (which translates into: I like to set the bar low, so I can clear it)!

Blah

Today I am bored. Bored enough even to post a new entry on the blog. It's a sad state of affairs, I admit. Imagine my desperation for something to do if my best option is this! I graduated over the weekend and have STILL not found a job (devotees will remember that I have been searching for some time - reference posting #1, "Look at me!"). The most recent excitement was receiving a letter in the mail from a particular agency (who will remain nameless) informing me that I could not be considered for the position for which I had applied because I did not have a master's degree. The irony is, I got the letter on Saturday (the day I graduated...with my master's degree). The whole process just makes me take a step back and marvel at the wondrous and, I'm sure this goes without saying, EFFICIENT hiring process in which the federal, state, and county governments are currently engaged. I know I thoroughly enjoy it myself. Hard not to, frankly.

Hmmmmm...while I was desperately trying to grasp around at the remains of creativity and intelligence lurking in the deep, dark shadows of my brain, I decided to write the label for this post. Apparently, I turned on a special feature and am now totally unable to turn it off. Well, for your information, the jibberish (how's that for cultural competence?) below says, "blah blah blah." I know - clever.

Well, back to my riveting life. To be honest, I'm procrastinating a run. The weather is horrible and I can hardly bring myself to do it. Motivating to run on a sunny, beautiful day is challenging.

Thanks for stopping by. The fact that you have tells me that you must be as bored as I am, and it comforts me!

Social Experiment

I went to the grocery store a couple of days ago and, as I stepped out of my car, I heard classical music playing rather than the standard quasi-rock that is usually playing at the strip-mall setting in which my grocery store is situated. The quality of sound indicated to me (what with my powerful and keen skills of observation) that the music was being played live, so I began to look around, wondering what was going on. As I approached the front of the store, I spotted a man sitting on the sidewalk, just to the side of the entrance, playing a cello with his open case off to the side. The case had several coins in it and I have to admit, I was surprised there were no bills. This guy could really play. It was puzzling, though. What was he doing begging at the grocery store?

I suppose I operate under the assumption that people who beg come from destitute families. I readily acknowledge that many homeless are mentally ill (thanks to the deinstitutionalization that took place in the 70s and 80s) and a few may have some degree of education. I never really considered the depth of my assumption until this moment. Regardless of individual traits and charactersitics of the homeless (individually and collectively), I have always figured that they have no family to whom they can turn. At any rate, the guy playing his cello at the grocery store had obviously been formally educated (unless he was one of a very small number of people who is naturally inclined, which is not terribly likely), which indicates that he had access to financial resources at one time. This is why I found an apparently homeless man playing a cello outside of the grocery store strange. I began wondering why he was there. Many ideas came to me - perhaps his love of playing the cello superceded his interest in earning money and since he was unable to secure a paying position playing, he would just do what he loved and hopefully get by. Maybe he had a substance abuse problem (also very common in the homeless population) and was not able to keep a job (playing cello or nay) at all, but discovered that he could make enough money playing outside the grocery store to earn a meager (or maybe even substantial) living. And then, I thought that it was funny that none of the usual panhandlers were in front of the store that night. Apparently, the cellist had embarassed them. After all, he was earning any money he got, while they were simply begging. Then, it all became clear - the cellist is part of some social experiment! Maybe the cellist was conducting the experiment himself, but I suspect it was the state. The research question would be:: "Does having live performers (homeless or otherwise) decrease the incidence of panhandling?" In this case, the answer was a resounding yes.

Look at me!

I'm officially a sell-out! I often make fun of those who blog. Why? I can't imagine thinking that my thoughts are so riveting that other people (outside of the group I call "friends" who are forced one way or another to tolerate my drivel) might actually care to read them. So, for those of you with nothing better to do, here are my thoughts and activities for the day. Brace yourself.

I applied for a job today. A job I want very much. So far the job-seeking activities have not gone as well as I had originally hoped. Things looked good. I was getting interviews for each job I applied. However, two weeks later, I would inevitably receive the "thanks-but-no-thanks" letter that I'm going to continue believing most of you have seen at one time or another. With graduation looming in the not-so-distant future (not to mention rent which is in the less-distant future), my interest in finding a job increases exponentially each day (I would make a chart to demonstrate, but have not yet discovered all of the ways in which I might be able to blog such captivating items, but I'm sure you can all imagine the j-shaped curve that such an exponential increase would create - scintillating, I know).

If anyone out there has the time (and clearly you do if you're reading this) or the inclination, please focus your thoughts on my getting this job. I'll keep you posted...