Back to the Island

Well, here I am again.
Living the dream in a hotel room in the middle of LI.

Trying to stay open minded about my location and embrace the island but it's a strange place.
We'll see what the week brings.
Looking forward to a few nights in Brooklyn though...

Patience? I think I found you.

The last few weeks have been intense...lots of travel downstate and putting in late hours at work.

I asked a friend from college to help out at an event that my office was holding and it was great seeing a familiar face - someone who knows me fairly well and can carry a great conversation. After the event, I took this friend out to dinner as a thank-you for helping and we had this awesome, two-hour conversation on life..and all of its possible outcomes and ways to deal with shortcomings, disappointments, and the unexpected. Being in your twenties seems to be the most chaotic and confusing time period; intriguing people come and go, job opportunities can change the course of one's life in an instant, and some friendships grow stronger as others fade away.  This friend of mine also expressed to me how he has decided to stop thinking about the 'What ifs' and just live - be totally content with the present. This is such a difficult concept for me to grasp but I think I am slowly starting to truly understand it. For a long time, I felt like time was literally slipping through my fingers and that I had to experience many different things in a short amount of time like traveling, working, loving, learning...I could go on for a while but this idea was really not working for me and I found that a job or an experience would bore me quickly and I was always anticipating the next 'thing'.

This just was not working for me - at all. Time to just be content and wait.

How to enjoy the insanity....

It's that time of year again.

What do I mean by this?
Spring travel for my job has started and that means I will be on the road at least twice a month. At this point, I pretty much have packing a suitcase, eating quickly, and driving fast (but not too fast) down to a science. Being on the road has its perks but it also has its downsides. Who wants to live out of a suitcase, not be able to cook their own food, and essentially, always be in a rental car? No one. However, perks about being on the road include the ability to travel and be in places that most people will never see. Working in Long Island and NYC is intense and exhausting but if I think about it deeply, both locations are places that thousands of people want to visit and maybe have once or twice in their entire lives; I visit both locations at least eight times a year, sometimes for extended amounts of time.

Being in an over-populated and heavily congested city requires one important ability though and that is to maintain a positive frame-of-mind...without this, being in both locations can quickly become a negative experience where escaping to a calmer location is the only goal. I have found that if I do not embrace my travels, I start to loathe being in a city environment and not all cities do this to me - in particular NYC and parts of Long Island do though.

Despite the fact that I have totally over-analyzed traveling to a large city, I found that my last visit (a few days ago) to LI and NYC was pretty enjoyable. It does help that one of my closest friends lives in Brooklyn and that I have found the few, cool reasons to embrace the diversity of LI.

With that being said, only four more trips to both locations are ahead of me...

I did what?

I ran that 5K in Ogdensburg last weekend and ended up placing for my age group; I received a medal in front of the crowd and honestly, felt pretty awesome. I was sick and hadn't been working out consistently but I still did well. My picture was in the paper but I think I will be hiding that from everyone - no one really wants to see me grinning from ear-to-ear as I run across the start line...right?

Dreaming of spring...

Well, here I am on one of those strange winter days that just seems to blur together with all of the days in January, February and frankly, most of March.

I have been working a tremendous amount - putting in 60 hour work weeks just to stay ahead of the game; at times, I really feel like I am treading water but apparently, I am staying afloat.

Last weekend, I ventured into Watertown with two of my colleagues and we had a nice day  - grabbed lunch and talked about the dynamics of our office. I picked up a few things that I would have to othewise order online. It is strange living in a small, isolated town with less options but sometimes, I think it is an advantage because I don't have the opportunity to go out and spend my money on frivolous things.

With my roommates now gone, I am more alone than ever; in some ways, it's okay that I am working so much because I don't have too much time to think about my situation but when the winter thaws out, I am going to start craving summer concerts and weekend road trips with my friends. I hope things turn around by May.

My roommates lived in the upstairs part of our house and so I have turned one of their bedrooms into a computer room which has been nice. I was thinking about picking up some cool lights and maybe a small couch at Ikea in Canada but we'll see what the spring brings.

On a brighter note, I impulsively signed up for a 5K this weekend in Ogdensburg. It's only my second winter race and I am sure there will be snow on the ground but I am looking forward to it.


    

                                                      During a pretty heavy snow storm...

Today...a rather blue day, in many ways!

Mid-week excursion ...part deux

I work on a computer all day. In fact, I use a computer so often that I have a full blown astigmatism in both eyes. One would think that after a long and tiring day at work, the last thing I would want to do is get on my laptop and write but I have been itching to do so.

Currently, a massive blizzard is brewing across the United States and I am hoping for a snow day but that is unlikely to happen. Either way, I will be wearing my pajamas inside out and backwards and praying to the snow Gods...whomever they may be.

Last night, my roommates and I went out for a rather indulgent dinner at the 1844 House because they are both leaving tomorrow to study abroad in Australia. The 1844 House is a popular restaurant here in the North Country and I was told to dress up for this farewell dinner but little did I know that I was in for the most incredible meal of my life. Mind you, I have lived in Chicago, Albany, and Burlington - all three cities are distinct and offer a variety of restaurants to eat at. Right now, I am thinking of a restaurant in each of those cities that I love and have consistently had a wonderful meal at, but the dinner I had at the 1844 House knocked these places out of the water. Again, I went to college in this little town and moved back here about seven months ago and I had never been to the 1844 House before - just like I had never been to The Birchbark Bookshop. I was told by friends that the food was 'fresh' and 'well prepared' but I can confidently say that the dinner I had at the 1844 House was amazing! I wasn't too daring with my selection...beef, mashed potatoes, and fresh vegetables but it was just a great meal. Besides the fact that when we were finished eating, all of us were in a comfortable food coma, I had a great time laughing and talking with my Australia bound roommates. The two bottles of red wine we drank definitely made the conversation flow smoothly and humorously but it's amazing what a relaxing and inviting atmosphere can do to a circle of friends.

Although I came online tonight to write about the great time I had at the 1844 House, I also felt the need to elaborate on a conversation I had with one of my roommates when we ended the night. I was sitting on the couch trying to read when this roommate asked me for some advice on how to handle talking to this new girl he had met over the weekend. Clearly, my roommate was smitten and felt like this girl was a great catch and we started to talk about how it is when you meet someone you get along great with or as he said, "I haven't been this excited since I met my ex". Well, we all know how that feels and yes, it is exciting! Knowing that he had my attention, my roommate went on to say that he finds the unknown in life to be one of the greatest parts of human existence and at first, I started to protest this idea. I find the unknown to be intriguing but I also find it to be terrifying. I find myself constantly thinking about the 'what if' or the 'if only' and frankly, it's starting to drive me insane. I listened more to what my roommate had to say and I realized that he had some valid points about expecting the unexpected but as if I needed another reminder of this concept, after the worst experience at the laundry mat today...ever, I looked down at my Honest Tea bottle and there was a quote on the inside that said something along the lines of, "Enjoy the stroll down the block and stop waiting for what is around the corner". It made me roll my eyes and gag a little but who knows, maybe I should start thinking differently?

In the end - great food, great friends, and a great night.

Random:
I woke up early on Saturday to go to work and this is what I saw outside of my window...

Just what I needed...

When I finished graduate school in 2009, I swore to myself I would not return to higher education. I was burnt out on academia because I had just completed a one-year, accelerated graduate program. I graduated from undergrad in 2008 and two months later, I was back in school. I undoubtedly learned a tremendous amount and attended an incredible program but by graduation, I needed a serious break. I have been working for the last year and a half and slowly but surely, the idea of returning to school has found its way back into the forefront of my thoughts.

I had a professor in undergrad that I really viewed as a mentor and decided that in order to gather my thoughts on returning to school, I needed to speak with her. I kept rolling these ideas around in my mind and at one point, I asked myself if going back would be worth it. Am I really willing to give up some of my luxuries in order to pursue ideas? Probably!

I met with this professor on Friday for lunch and she told me everything I wanted to hear. She told me that she never expected me to stay put in one place for long and that getting my PhD is what she thought I would be doing by now. Of course she understands why I am working because bills accumulate and loans have to be paid back but she seemed worried that I would become complacent here and her assumption is correct. Either way, this professor gave me all of the information I needed to get the ball rolling on acceptance to a PhD program. I will be spending a few months just researching places I want to attend and I already have two universities in mind - both of which she said would be excellent choices for Sociological research. I am going to narrow down my interest and I think I have a school of thought in mind but I have a lot of reading ahead of me and planning.

Honestly, I am excited about the prospect of going back to college in 2012 and I hope it's in a location that I truly love because I will be there for four to five years. I also feel like if I don't go for this - I will always wonder, "Why not?" I went to film school because I love documentary work but I knew that when I left the program, the odds of me getting a position in the field would be small. Now that I have been out of that program for a while, I can reflect back on my experiences and at least I know that I studied something I truly love. I also think there are still ways for me to tie my film background into sociological research - in fact, I know there are ways. 

We'll see what the next few months bring....