Ways To Feel Important:

1) be handed a cell phone strictly for work
2) be handed a lap top
3) be signed up to go to a conference in Dallas
4) get treated to YoYo's by family

Pay cut aside, I already feel like I matter in the world - I'm so important I have to be given my own phone to take work related calls! This is something I never experienced while teaching. Although being yelled at by a parent who didn't know the definition of "plagiarism" at 8pm on my personal cell number - this I know well.

After looking at several houses/apartments today - ranging from so horrible that there was animal excrement smeared on the walls to so super snazzy that there is a communal organic herb garden next to the gazebo and "bark park" for doggies - Eirik and I found a place in Hyde Park, walking distance to Mother's vegetarian restaurant! Forget learning to cook, it's all over. (Truthfully I'll be switching to a strict ramen and Taco Bueno diet in the near future to fit my budgeting needs).

Considering the pay cut, (again), though, I hope I can find a restaurant or bar willing to hire me for a couple evening and weekend hours. Then I hope my stamina is somewhat comparable to what it was during my days of 5AM and 5PM swim practices. I suspect this is not the case...

I have House of Leaves sitting by my bed and the urge to read it in a marathon sitting, the same way I read such classics as Twilight and Harry Potter, has snuck into my blood. This desire to spend the next several days reading voraciously after a brief lapse, in addition to finding a job, apartment, etc, affirms my (hopefully) growing belief that things happen when they want to. And no amount of rushing or cajoling on my part will hurry things up to my desired speed. Now to internalize that.

A new favorite song: