Street Signs: The Drinking Game

The question of the day: Is it that hard to label streets? Answer: Apparently it is in Boston. Driving from Somerville to Brighton and back again has been an adventure over the last couple of days. I bought a street map of the entire Boston area and it has been a lifesaver. I have, however, still missed many turns while attempting to follow my carefully laid out directions due to the ambiguous, confusing, or completely lacking street signs that I have encountered during my travels. Seriously, what's the problem here. This shouldn't be that difficult. It could be a great drinking game really - take a shot every time there is a poorly marked intersection. If it weren't for the fact that drinking and driving is a terrible idea, of course. I bet this idea could be adapted though. Create a map of how the streets are actually marked, make it into a board, and let the drinking board game begin!

Long time, no update

It has been a long time since I last posted on here and quite a lot has been going on. I drove across the country with my sister. I saw good friends and incredible sights along the way. I will post some pictures one of these days. We went to Manzanita, OR; San Francisco, CA; Las Vegas, NV; Zion National Park, UT; Grand Canyon, AZ; Mesa Verde National Park, CO; Colorado Springs, CO; Grinnell, IA; Cleveland, OH; and back to good ol' New Hampshire. It was a whirlwind of activity for about 10 days. Lots of driving, not a lot of sleeping, seeing many different places, and driving some more. One thing I discovered: The west coast is very possibly the most beautiful part of the country.

Right now I am sitting outside under a tree at my new college, where I will be starting classes in a week. My housing situation fell through, unfortunately, so I am currently looking at possible apartments with my future roommate. The goal is to find a place in a residential area populated by grad students and professionals (ie no undergrads!), near school and public transportation, for not too much money. And we need a Sept 1st move in date. Oh and we want to find it in the next couple of days. Yeah... wish us luck!

Right now I'm staying with Jo and Jess in Somerville (thank you, Jo and Jess!) so that I am in the general Boston area rather than up in NH. I very much appreciate all the people who have let me stay with them, but I'm really looking forward to having my own space again soon, hopefully. I have been bouncing around staying with different people since the first week in June!

home is where...

This is a sampling of the results that came up when I googled the phrase "Home is where..." :

-happy memories grow
-we park our house
-the dirt is
-the heart is
-the airport is
-the cash is
-you dig it
-the wind blows

And the countdown has truly begun. 22 days until I leave Seattle. 22 days until I leave my home. Or am I returning to my home? Almost exactly two years ago I moved to this city. I'm not sure when Seattle truly became home. Somewhere along the way during those two years it just seemed to happen. Seattle is the first place that I lived on my own as an adult. Seattle is where I had my first post-college employment. Seattle is the first place that I just up and moved to for no reason other than to move somewhere new. I will miss my friends here. Yes, we can keep in touch, but relationships change and some that are important on a day to day basis fade though years and distance. No matter what happens with my friendships, there are some things from Seattle that I can't take with me. I will be leaving behind the view of the Cascades and Mt. Rainier that I marvel at as I drive across 520. I remember very clearly the first time I caught a glimpse of Seattle. I was driving my car on I-90, coming over the bridge, when I saw the mountains and the water. It was in that moment that I new I'd made the right choice by coming to Seattle. Now here we are two years later and I'm getting ready to leave.

Is Boston home? No, not yet. But New England, the Northeast... that is still home in many ways. That is where my family is. Many people I was friends with from elementary school through college are still there. I'm getting ready to make Boston my next home. Maybe it will happen faster this time.

Internship!

Things seem to be falling into place. I have an apartment to live in when I move, I am registered for classes, and... I got the internship with the Big Sister Association! Now I just need to find a job. And figure out just when it is that I expect to sleep... Rugby is seeming more and more unlikely when I move. I really want to do some other active things with the limited free time I might come up with. I want to go kayaking (I've never been!), climbing... get a bike... maybe I could learn to snowboard!

Or, y'know, I'll be so busy doing school and work that I won't have time for anything else.

Regardless, I'm getting ready to leave. Just a little over a month to go...

Not Ready

I'm not ready to say goodbye. The first of the goodbyes is this week. Then four weeks left of work and two more weeks in the northwest before packing up the car and driving east. Leaving is going to be hard. This is the first place i've lived on my own. It took some time, but I've come to call this place home. It's almost time to leave home again. I can't help but wonder, will I continue to think of this place as home? Will I make my way back? Or will I continue to make a new home every couple of years? For how long will it be important to me that I am able to fit all of my possessions into my car? I'll just have to wait and see...

Course Crisis

Registration for courses opened on June 2nd. I was kind of distracted by various things in life and forgot about that for a few days. When I went to register for classes on June 6th, I figured I might have to settle for not the best times, but thought that I'd be able to work it out okay. What actually happened? I tried to register for courses and discovered that every section of every course I'm supposed to take my first semester is closed. Yup, that's right, I can't register for any of my courses because they're all full! Now, of course, after a stopped freaking out a little I realized that they have to let me into courses - I mean they accepted me into the school and they're trying to get me a field placement, obviously I have to be able to take classes. Still though, kind of weird, don't you think? I left a message and emailed someone at the school but since it's the weekend I will have to wait until monday. Wish me luck...

Beer Olympics!

My teammates and I are the reigning roboboot champions in the beer olympics! Jeannie and Anita, co workers of mine, along with Caitlin, a friend from NY, joined me in some olympic fun. We had a western theme for our team, and I found some pretty sweet accessories at a costume store. These accessories included animal print cowboy hats, sheriff stars, squirt guns, cap guns, and a whip. I was pretty psyched that I actually managed to put together a team without rugby players. Non-rugby friends, who knew?