hello! long time no blog, eh? i stopped around thanksgiving because the blog just wasn't going where i wanted it to. i thought i would be writing more about adjusting to life back in texas, etc. but i just couldn't get the motivation to make it super interesting. i'm much better at stream of consciousness writing about my everyday life. so that's what i've decided to do. i've re-arranged the blog a bit. i got rid of the "offbeat texan life" location and just re-posted all of those entries on here. one because my blog wasn't specifically about life in texas and two because i may not always live in texas. i'd rather have a blog i can use throughout my life, ya know?
so i'll briefly summarize what i've been doing for the past 4 months and move on lol
thanksgiving was fun! we spent it with jens's side of the family at his grandparents house and had lots of wonderful food and great company :o)
then the christmas season rolled around and it was pretty crazy! i had completely forgotten what christmas was like here. for the first time in my life i totally understood why people get stressed around that time of year and how they don't like the commercialism of it, etc. it's really in your face! i had gotten a break from it for 3 years in korea because it's quite subdued over there in comparison. here i felt like i needed to buy more and more which was bad because i still didn't have a job :o/ i tried making most of the gifts i gave but i still spent quite a bit.
overall though it was nice to be home at christmastime and get to spend it with all my friends and family. there were lots of parties and festivities and we had a great time! :o) some of the gifts jens and i made were photo collages, capes for our nephews, pumpkin butter, all natural cleaner and wine charms. it was fun making things so i think i'll try to do that next year too!
new year's eve was a bit weird...jens's band, the small gods, had a gig at the bandwagon in the fort worth stock yards and NO ONE came out except me, joel's gf and david's gf - so they did a show for the 3 gfs lol the employees there only let them play for about 30 mins. since no one else was there so we were "kicked out" before midnight and had to figure out what to do. joel, katie and chris went home which left me, jens, david and his gf who is only 18. we hadn't been under 21 in so long we had no idea where to go so she could get in lol we tried the chat room but they're 21 and up and we only had about 15 minutes til midnight so jens and i stayed there and david and his gf decided to go elsewhere. we felt really bad but there wasn't much we could do. we celebrated new year's with a bunch of strangers but it was pretty fun lol i definitely want to do something better next year though! we need a plan b in case things fall through.
we started 2011 off with a trip to colorado with christopher, lorri and ben and had an awesome time!!! we drove up and stayed about 5 days in jens's aunt and uncle's cabin in winter park. while we were there we sledded down the street, went snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing and sledding on hills. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! i loved it! i thought it would be deathly cold but it's so dry there that it doesn't feel as cold as texas does in the winter! it was so strange! jens and i liked it so much that we started thinking about living there. i think he's going to test for their fire dept. in june. we'll see!
when we got back from that trip i re-doubled my efforts to find a job. i was pretty shocked that i still hadn't gotten a job by 2011 and i started to feel pretty discouraged. but i got a couple interviews and was FINALLY offered a job in february at half price books! i couldn't believe it! i had heard from a few people that it's really hard to get a job with them but i did it! it was pretty much the only place that didn't require a degree yet didn't hold it against me that i had one. so many places that i interviewed for that didn't require a degree deemed me over-qualified :o( but half price books sees a degree as a plus which is the way it should be! hello!
i've been working there for about 7 weeks now and i'm really liking it! it's a great company! i like the people i work with, i like being surrounded by books, i like the variety in the job and they have great benefits! my 8 weeks of training are almost up and then i'll get health insurance and library privileges (meaning i can check out $100 worth of books at a time for one month at a time for free! so awesome!)
while i LOVE finally having a job it has been quite the adjustment! i considered my job in korea full-time but now i see that it totally wasn't! i pretty much only worked part time there. the other half of my time was spent surfing the internet/sleeping/socializing (and yes i mean AT WORK lol). now i'm REALLY working full time and it's definitely taking its toll. when i'm not at work i just wanna veg out. i've been pretty good about continuing to clean the house/do chores and have a social life but not as good as i would like. i'm wondering how long it'll take me to adjust.
anyway- update on jens! he graduated fire academy with flying colors!!! he was the captain and valedictorian of his class and got the highest grade anyone has ever gotten at weatherford fire academy!! pretty amazing! i'm super proud of him :o) since then he's been applying to/testing for fire depts. in various parts of texas and the country. and last month (or was it this month) he started emt training online. now he's doing the 1-2 week class portion of that and then he'll start paramedic school this summer. we're really hoping he gets a job before paramedic school starts because it's really expensive and if he's hired the dept. will pay for it! he recently tested in san marcos and is 5th on their list so our fingers are crossed for that!
as much as i would love to move out of dfw or even texas i'm torn because i JUST got this great job at half price books! i knew i would most likely have this dilemma but it's still hard. wherever jens gets a job (as a firefighter) he will definitely make more money than me and maybe have better benefits so it obviously makes sense to move wherever he gets a job. i'll just feel really bad if i have to quit mine. they've been really good to me and it takes of time to train a new employee. we gotta do what we gotta do though!
on another note- i went to two concerts this month! first- lady gaga! which was awesome but i (and my friends) were super far away!!! i'd love to see another one of her concerts with better seats! the very next night i saw devotchka with jens and joel and that was great too! we were only like 20 feet away from the stage- much better view! lol next month we're going to see gogol bordello which will be cool! i've just turned into a concert-going fool! lol i never went to concerts this much before but i am now and it's fun!
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