You’re totally right, anthropomorphic computer equipment. Thanks for the reminder. Stop talking about me behind my back, though, you’ll give me a complex and scare the cat.
Things have been a bit upended thisaway. Completely upended, actually. To the point that I have to reschedule the time I sleep and eat and such. Plus a gigantic move to a new town, and a whole new apartment, and a new town to learn, and a new JOB to learn, and and and…
I’m a bit chicken-head-cut-off here.
Overall, all’s well. I miss Albany, and I really miss my people there, but am learning my new home. My job makes it worthwhile; it’s a fantastic job. I love my coworkers, who are intelligent and sarcastic and make me laugh until I snort pretty much daily. I love the work, because it’s never the same and I get to be all crack-the-whippy about grammar issues and I get to be the night-and-weekend social media person, things I love doing AND I GET PAID FOR THEM. How often do you get to do things that you like, and get paid for them? I love the building, which is old and historic and filled with the best of newspapery ghosts whispering “extra, extra.” I like that my apartment is literally four minutes from my job, which will be fantastic when the snow falls (and that could be any day now…it’s getting chilly here.) I like that I know the news because I have to proofread all the stories so I’m all knowledgeable about what’s going on in the world. (Some days, I wish I wasn’t as knowledgeable. There’s a lotta shit going down right now, yo.) I like when the phone rings I get to answer it with “Newsdesk, Amy speaking.” I like that I had a hand in 5/7 of the newspapers that come out in this city every week. (5/7 only because I get two days off each week, not because I’m a slacker.) I like that when people ask what I do, and I say “I work for the paper,” they get an impressed look on their faces for the first time in my LIFE. I like that I look forward to going to work every day. Every single damn day. They even gave me a nametag with my PHOTO on it so I am all OFFICIAL.
This is NOT from my paper, but from my beloved cousin S.’s paper. I asked her if perhaps a tutor was revived IN the Tudor; the answer was no, sadly.
I’m getting used to a nights-and-weekends schedule; there are pros and cons to it. Nice to only have to set the alarm a couple times a week, but working until the wee hours still makes me a little loopy. I assume I’ll get used to it eventually and stop being so yawny all the time.
My new place is amazing. Roomy and beautiful and old. Dumbcat and I have moved right in. This morning, he realized if he sleeps right on a register grate, the hot air from the furnace is ALL HIS. I walked by and laughed so hard I hurt my stomach. He had a look on his face as if he’d discovered pirate gold. “ALL HEET! ALL MYNE! MOM, IS SO GUDE!” My birthday present from my parents this year was – are you ready? – MY OWN WASHER-DRYER. I don’t have to leave the house to wash my clothes! I FEEL LIKE A MILLIONAIRE!!!
Random apartment photos! Ignore the cat-hairy floor. LOOK AT ALL THE ROOM I HAVE!
Bookcase! Bedroom! All the space!
Kitchen! Frog-thing hanging on the wall! Random Amy-shoes on the floor! SO MUCH SPACE OMG!
I have also purchased many bookcases and filled them with many books. And there is room for MORE books (which is secretly why I purchased VERY tall bookcases.) Gigantic book sale going on at the library starting next week, yo. Guess who’ll be there? ME ME ME. (Dude, fifty-cent paperbacks and dollar hardcovers? Like I’d NOT be there. Please.)
Two of my six bookcases. The guy at the store where I bought bookcases was all “are these for books? YOU OWN THIS MANY BOOKS?” Heh. Yeah, kind of more than that many.
SIDE NOTE: I haven’t had time to read a single book since I moved. Not one. I KNOW. It’s kind of a travesty, yeah? I’m hoping to chisel out a little more time for that sometime soon. I also haven’t written a single poem. NOT ONE. Another thing I need to get a move on. I have scraps of phrasing scribbled on a million post-its all over this place. I need to turn them into something.
Very little theater here (at least compared to what I’m used to in Albany) but a decent amount if I make a bit of a drive. Went to a concert in Potsdam last night – about an hour and a half away – which was totally worth the trip. (Postmodern Jukebox – if you live on the internet like I do, you’re sure to have heard of them. They’re the ones that take pop songs and make them all swing-y or blues-y or big-band-y. They’re fantastic live, and they’re on tour, so I highly recommend if they come by you, go see them!)
Terribly actiony shot. They were very move-y. Such a wonderful show.
This was my favorite song they played:
(Also, we totally had a singalong to a “Baby’s Got Back” mashup that made me laugh and laugh. And YES, I sang along. Of course I did.)
All in all – all’s well. Some sadnesses, sure. When are there not? Those weigh heavy on my mind. It’s funny how the little sads weigh so much more than the big happys, isn’t it? Relatively-speaking, they should all weigh the same, like the pound of feathers and the pound of lead in that oft-repeated brain teaser.
So: yes. Alive: check. Well: check. In the middle of a billion things, most of them completely different than anything I’ve ever done or dealt with before: check. Mostly remaining upright throughout all of them and not collapsing into a pool of puddly tears: check (mostly, so I’m counting it as a win.)
I keep thinking of things I should blog, like things you learn working at a newspaper, and things you learn running a newspaper’s Facebook page, and I think Dumbcat wants to talk to you about how it is living in the new apartment, and I want to tell you about the new town, and the new library, and all the local fauna here (holy crap with the fauna that seem to live in my backyard exclusively!) but it’ll have to wait for another day. Hoping that’ll happen sooner than later.
Here is a teaser of local fauna. A GIGANTIC SKUNK WAS LIVING IN MY BACK YARD FOR A WHILE, YOU GUYS. HOLY HELL.
Happy Wednesday, people of the blog. Hope you’re all happy and healthy and wise. Wealthy would be nice, too, but let’s not push it. How about JUST wealthy enough to afford delicious HoHos. There you go, then.
October 22nd, 2014 at 2:29 pm
You’re back!
We’ve had a skunk visiting us the last couple nights as well. We’re really hoping that he doesn’t get startled anywhere near our back door. I don’t find skunk nearly as offensive as some other smells, when it’s just part of the general atmosphere… but I definitely don’t want it all up in my patio. (Not that we’ve been opening our back door much lately, but still.)
Congrats on the job and the move and everything going well, and boo to all the little sads trying to steal the happys’ thunder.
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October 22nd, 2014 at 3:09 pm
I almost got sprayed by this big guy the other night. We equally scared one another. But then he just mincily danced away and I retreated up to my porch whispering “oh, no no no, I mean you no harm, you go there, good smelly fella…”
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October 22nd, 2014 at 2:54 pm
So good to see this popping up in my INBOX! Glad to see you haven’t lost your touch with blog business now that you’re in the paper business! Love your new digs- and hope you come back this way sometime!
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October 22nd, 2014 at 3:08 pm
Hoping to blog more regularly, if I can…tough to get a balance between life/work/sleep/internet things. Lots going on right now. But things are getting a little more settled, so that might help!
Hoping to make it back “home” someday as well – probably won’t be until the spring, though. Too scared to travel when there’s a risk of a snowstorm!
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October 22nd, 2014 at 3:02 pm
First: yayayayayayayay! You’re back. So many happy sighs.
Second: I had a skunk in my yard for awhile and I considered her my security team. I called her Tasha for Tasha Yar and also after a dog I’d named that. And I wouldn’t let my neighbors relocate her. (They hated me.) Finally she got moved because: far more visitors than burglars in reality.
Third (and should be second, but just can’t move things around: so glad Dumbcat is seriously happy and glad you are.
Fourth: I worked that shift and here’s my input: do not come off of it on the weekends unless absolutely necessary. It’s the worst thing you can do. Keep the same sleeping schedule all 7 days of the week. It will help you to adjust and make you less sleep deprived. Second: get light blocking curtains. Make the bedroom DARK for sleepy time. Seriously. They will change your life. (You’ll have to set alarms once you get them, though.)
I want all good things for you, Amy. And so glad to see you. Yay!
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October 22nd, 2014 at 3:06 pm
Hoping to STAY back, but it’s a tenuous balance. Things are still messy. Fingers crossed!
I think the skunk is gone (the neighbor’s been live-trapping then relocating them) but he scared the CRAP out of me the other night!
Sadly, I have to change my schedule up on the weekends – I work three days a week one shift, then the weekends are a while different shift. (Still late, just not AS late.) So that might have something to do with my weird sleepiness. I did get dark curtains (and eventually I’ll upgrade to blackout curtains…these are ok, but it could be darker in there!)
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October 22nd, 2014 at 5:26 pm
Your post did not pop into my inbox. Which meant I almost missed it. grumble
Ok, if I blogged some more, I’d see you on WordPress but that neither here nor there…
I’m very happy that you’re enjoying your new place and your new job! You certainly deserve some happiness. Your apartment looks very spacious. And I love the wooden floors! I’m sure Dumbcat enjoys running back and fro and skidding around all day long…
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October 23rd, 2014 at 1:08 pm
What? What madness is that? Why does your inbox hate me?
We have no time to blog, Andreas. Our lives have become crazytown. It’s the saddest.
Dumbcat totally runs into walls with all of his skidding. Then he glares at the wall. “Damn you, wall! How dare you jump up and smack me like this? Where did you COME from, anyway?”
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October 22nd, 2014 at 7:01 pm
I LOVE YOUR NEW APARTMENT!
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October 23rd, 2014 at 1:05 pm
I will send you more photos (because I’m not embarrassed to show you my junk, which I artfully photographed around in these photos!) Wait, no, not THAT junk, sheesh. Not euphemistic junk. Actual junk.
I’m totally in love with this apartment. I can’t even lie. So much room!
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October 23rd, 2014 at 4:52 pm
Your junk. You’re going to show me. Euphemism?
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January 1st, 2015 at 10:36 pm
Ha! You can see my junk anytime, lady. MAYBE a euphemism!
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October 23rd, 2014 at 7:59 am
welcome back, Amy! I’ve missed you! No, really, I have, because I live vicariously through you and your many adventures. As such, I hope you keep sharing and sharing and sharing. Good luck (though I suspect luck is not needed) and congrats on your new job.
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October 23rd, 2014 at 1:03 pm
I don’t have that many adventures anymore, really…mostly work, sleep, work, sleep, repeat (and sometimes I do laundry! In my own house!) but THANK YOU!
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October 23rd, 2014 at 1:12 pm
I have missed you like WOAH! Yay!
P.S. At least it was not a revived TOOTER! (Unless he or she was a player of the horn, I suppose…)
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January 1st, 2015 at 10:37 pm
Aw, thank you! I’m very in-and-out lately. Hoping to be in more in the new year. Crossing ALL my fingers!
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October 27th, 2014 at 12:56 pm
Just getting around to reading this….been super busy doing a show, ya know! Love the new apartment! So happy you’re so happy. A road trip to all that is you is definitely in order! And don’t hurt that skunk….he’s cute.
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January 1st, 2015 at 10:36 pm
Don’t worry, the skunks got re-homed (well, according to my neighbor, at least, and they seem trustworthy!)
Once this terrible snow disappears, YES! ROAD TRIP! And I hope to make one back to see all of you in the spring/summer, as well! I need my theater and friend and Albany fix!
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October 27th, 2014 at 3:44 pm
Yay! Good to see you back! And now I want HoHos. And more posts from Amy. And Dumbcat. Your apartment is outstanding!
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January 1st, 2015 at 10:35 pm
Thank you! I love it – so much room!
Man, now I want HoHos!!!
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January 2nd, 2015 at 12:08 pm
HoHos for everyone!
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October 28th, 2014 at 3:57 pm
Wow….you’re back! Even if just for a quick “hello and goodbye,” it was great to see (read) you.
And your apartment…OMG….envy! I think my whole place could fit into one speck of one of your photos. Cheers to lots of space!
Wishing you all the best…more happy than sad…all the good things. Hope to see (read) you again soon!
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January 1st, 2015 at 10:34 pm
Back and then disappeared and then back again. I’m like a damn time-traveler.
I know, right? The apartment’s HUGE. Which is great for everything but cleaning and heating it. (My gas bill is GINORMOUS!)
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