State of the Journey

This week marks half-a-year of surviving my crazy job (or at least the crazies that work there); learning to communicate with my Russian neighbors, my Hispanic landlord, the Slavakian cashier at the Lib, and alot of Middle Eastern taxi drivers; eating the same lunch five days out of the week; and blogging. Keeping up with this blog demands a certain self-awareness that I didn't always have before. It's like looking through a hole in a saltine cracker. I'm always surprised how much you can actually see.

The following aren't quite as deep as the preceding thought, but here are a few life lessons I've learned along the way:

-I don't need that much stuff. My previous life was packed with stuff -- excessive kitchen utensils, holiday decorations, crock pots. In fact, I had four trash cans in my apartment -- a sure sign of waste or maybe just one of laziness. Now, don't get me wrong. Down the road when I'm unpacking my boxes in my new Texas home, it will be like Christmas. But, I have to admit, it's nice to live a bit simpler/greener for the time being.

-I don't need a car. I don't even need the security of knowing that I have a car sitting in my parents driveway. (If I say this enough, I'm hoping to be OK with the thought of some Sidekick-toting, skinny jeans-wearing, wasn't-born-until-the-90's kid buying my Corolla.) *This is kind of a sub-bullet of the above, but just go with it.

-The grass is always greener. New York has always been on my list. Now that I'm here, I've realized that most days are pretty much the same as my life before -- a mindless commute, lots of work, a little bit of running, never enough sleep. I suppose it's the opportunity that makes this city so great. And, that's why, despite the weekly pleas from Becca, I can't leave here just yet.

-The first mile is never fun. My legs are always stiff, I haven't found my focus, and my stupid bangs are always in my eyes. Then, I hit mile two and it's like I can take on communism and terrorism and world hunger and artificial sweeteners. I'm not sure what's happened over the last few months, but I've become addicted to this feeling. The more I run, the less scary the 13 mile race is. Maybe I'll take on 26. Who knows?

-My family means the world to me. There's nothing like a little distance to make the heart grow fonder.

-IKEA is the devil in a blue and yellow dress. If the intended lesson in this entire experience is to learn how to deal with difficult people, then mission accomplished. P.S. A second shipment of BROWN drawer pieces arrived at my office today. Unbelievable.