Back From a Blogging Hiatus

I'm back to posting. I cannot believe how long it has been since I wrote a post to the blog, but as you can see from the previous post, I just moved. That, and work has been busy. I've finally kicked my school work in high gear and I've also become addicted to this word game on Facebook that has sucked up an enormous amount of my time. So everything but that latter is a valid reason for not blogging.

The past few weeks, I've had random things happen and then I meant to blog about them, but didn't and now I kinda forget what they were. So, let me just rehash the past month.

MY NEW APARTMENT
My friend Andee said it best, "Ghetto can be very inspiring." The paneling on the walls here is odd and the bathroom has some strange pegboard wall. So to say the interior is interesting would be correct. But, it has character and is different and I think that suits me well.

The handyman still did not fix the outlet at the kitchen counter, so I make coffee from the TV stand in the living room. I don't have a TV- I left that for Dave because he deserves it. I figure I will get a TV, but I am not going to until after June 28th. I want to finish my memoir draft before I get sucked back into 6-hour CSI marathons on Spike TV every Sunday. My dryer broke two days ago, so I need to get that looked at too, or I may have to venture to the, GASP, laundromat. Ugh. Although it is a scorcher and could probably air dry my clothes- but then again, I don't have much in the way of a drying rack. I have a couch and a bed and a coffee table and two end tables. I need so much still. I need a desk, I need a dresser and a need a storage cabinent thingy. So, I am settled, but yet, not settled. But I can sleep, cook, shower and write. That's all I really need.

I think two people have called me on my new home number since I have been here. The first time, it was a weekend morning and it was Dave. I kept hitting the alarm clock. Both the phone and the alarm clock are new and I hadn't heard the phone ring yet, so I didn't know what it was. So, that was comical.

I realized that I waste a lot of food. I already had to chuck two loaves of bread. Since I live alone and really don't eat now since I have no one to cook for and am too lazy to just cook for myself-- so I buy groceries, but then they all go bad and I throw them away. I finally learned this week that instead of buying a whole gallon of milk, I can buy a half at a time. Instead of buying the bigg ass half and half, I can get a pint. Of course, that lasts a while anyway. I threw away these great onion pouch bread pocket things-- there were eight in the bakery bag... and I couldn't have the same thing eight days in a row, so they went bad. I bought a loaf of wheat bread-- I had three sandwiches, but then the bread went bad. Mold. Ick. The only thing that seems to keep is Diet Pepsi, Miller Light and iced tea. I fare okay in the bevergae arena, but I can't keep food to save my life.

FREEDOM
It's weird being nearly 30 (one more month to go!) and somewhat starting over again. I work with some of the coolest people in the world and I have so much fun hanging out. Right now, I am having my second cup of tea with honey because I have no voice. I had that much fun last night. Not that Dave or I ever had to ask each other permission to do things, but it is just cool to be on your own and just pick up and do something. I like that. Being in a relationship is nice too, but I forgot what living on my own meant. I've also reconnected with a few older friends I haven't seen in a while that maybe I didn't hang out with because it was just too hard to get together, so it's nice to just be able to do what I want without having to leave someone out. I have so many people I need to go see- I want to see Laura in DC-- she's lived there for years and I just never took the time to drive down. I want to go to Tulsa to see my family and old friends -- and also to do research for the book.

The important thing for me now is to just take time for myself- I am in the process of writing that memoir, and am really in a discovery phase-- it's strange to be this old and then are still learning about yourself- but I guess we all do, every day. Having my own space right now is the wisest choice I made. I can focus. Who knows where I will end up-- maybe being on my own was something temporary and things will go back to the way they were just two months ago. Or, maybe I will end up being a cat lady. Or, maybe I will meet someone. But I am not looking. The bottom line is that- I am just taking each day as it comes.

WRITING
My third creative writing residency is coming up in two weeks- June 20. I cannot wait. I absolutely can't. For anyone who just has that dream of writing a book- look into the MA in Creative Writing program at Wilkes. Even if you don't want to be published- just for personal enrichment- do it. This program is amazing. It's low residency which means that you start with an 8-day residency, then have a "project semester" where you learn two genres. Then, you come back for the second residency, choose a genre to specialize in and come with your story pitch-- you spend the week, in addition to classes, pitching your idea- you leave that Saturday assigned to a faculty mentor-- all whom have been published and we have some crazy, talented and successful authors on the faculty-- then you spend the next "project semester" drafting. So, that's where I am at. These next 8-days are less structured- we do readings, meet with our mentors and gain direction for the final "project semester".... between June and January- we revise. I go back in Jan. 2009 to graduate, read and also get to meet with agents, etc. So, that's the program in a nutshell- more like the mechanics of it because i didn't even get into what happens outside of class- the hilarity that ensues when you put a few dozen creative people together in a dorm or a hotel-- with or without alcohol. The friendships that are formed are amazing, the mentor-student relationships that are formed are too.

So, that has been my life recently. All good positive stuff. Are things hard being on my own? Sure. Can I manage? Yes.