good to be back in cyber space

i have to admit...life without the internet is incredibly difficult. i didn't think it would be so bad...and maybe if i wasn't new everywhere, it wouldn't be so bad, but i rely on the internet for all kinds of stuff...directions to the nearest target...or the post office...or whatever. i always look up mapquest to get a better feel for my surroundings, and it's soo hard not to be able to. no white pages for store addresses or updates on my current bank and credit card balances, which are incredibly important right now to be on top of, as my credit card limit and my bank account are close to maxing out...or running out...either one.

so, i have finally made it to a caribou coffee, which is open til 11pm and after a $3.95 fee for an 'unlimited' two hour use (doesn't 'Two Hours' put a limit on the transaction?? or is that just me...) i'm connected to my cyber world again. kinda sad...but true. i feel so far from people when i can't check my email or facebook/myspace/blogspot/hotmail accounts Every. THirty. seconds. ok, not every 30 seconds, but at LEAST once a day. ..so here i am. and there isn't really all that much to catch up on...a few emails, a few posts on myspace and facebook (all of which are INCREDIBLY appreciated..so thank you:):). still, life goes on...lol

anyways, here's an update from my first few days here in Illinois...i wrote this last night, and since then have made it to the city and back to wheaton again, discovered a few strip malls where i spent Way too much money on a Fabulous pair of Silver jeans (not the color, but the brand) and a few other things that will just make this adjustment a little more comfortable. i drove a new coworker home and made it back to the highway...and i love it...all of it..it's fabulous:)

so, here's from last night:

8/28/06
My first day of work in Chicago:

So, i have made it to Chicago (more specifically wheaton) in one piece and I survived my first day of work. I was really more nervous about getting to work than actual training. I’ve done a million first days of work, and I know it’s never anything to worry about in terms of stress, it’s orientation, so except for being late, you can’t really screw up.

But, things with my ‘host’ family…(aka Jennifer Lynn’s dad, sister and two college/grad students...) have been nothing but good so far. When I got to the house, I was trying to remember the last time I had been there, and I remembered the porch and the basketball hoop. I got out to look for the house number, and when I didn’t see it, I went back into the car to call jenny to get her to tell me if I was at the right house…but she wasn’t home, so I got out again, and decided i’d go up and ask and if I was wrong, what’s the worst that could happen... But on my way to the door, jenny’s sis came out saying ‘yeah, I think that’s her’…and she and her dad proceeded to welcome me with a hug, which was a nice surprise. her brother john didn’t give me a hug. I wonder why. Any ideas???


But, back to the main topic at hand...i’ve made it to jenny’s house, and to and from work. I was over 45 mins early this morning…and good thing cause I was up at the ungodly hour of 5:30am in order to leave at 6:30.. now I hope I can leave at 7 to make it by 8:20, which will probably still leave me with too much time. And after an ice breaker, we got to spend the rest of the morning learning stats about Thresholds and the afternoon learning an uber condensed version of my last two years of counseling and all my courses in psychology. Tomorrow will continue with Ethics...which I took a whole semester class in last semester. I’m not complaining. It’s just a little boring.

But everyone has been really nice. Though I almost got into an argument with a guy who’s hobby is finance and investing…so I chatted with him at one of our breaks about how I need to learn a lot about finance investing…to get rid of my student loans and try to be smart with my money now that I’m out of school…yada yada. This other girl chimes in and states how she’s glad that her educational loans will be deferred when she goes to grad school so that she doesn’t have to pay them yet. The guy, who is very nice, but a little too confident about his knowledge of money, stated that you should still pay the interest on the loans while they’re deferred so that it doesn’t get added to the final amount. And I was like, yeah, that would be nice, but it’s not always possible…seeing as I worked my ass off in grad school and couldn’t even afford to pay the interest on my school loans. But he was like, well, the Smart thing to do would be to pay the interest, so that it doesn’t accrue…blah blah. And I was like , Yeah, if you CAN that would be ideal, but some people can’t do that…’. He got a little annoyed, and so did i. oh, and before, he was explaining that he had read this Great book about how to invest and that getting an education isn’t a good investment, but is pretty much a waste of time. Maybe that’s why I got all hot and bothered…don’t tell me the thousands of dollars in loans for my Master’s degree was a waste of my time, pal.

Anyways, after that, we were quiet for a while and then I went to the bathroom. As I washed my hands, I thought to myself that I probably shouldn’t let some random guy , the First day of Training at my NEW job, get under my skin so much…why did I get so annoyed…geez girl, chill the hell out.

So, after that, I went back, and agreed with the next few things he said that were actually accurate and not so ignorant and we chatted during the next break again.

But, my psychology minded thought process, when I got there, was all about who was there, what were we all doing..who was late, who was 20 mins early, who was older/younger, black/white, male/female. I wondered if it was really training or if it was a test to see how people reacted in a crazy experiment, and if the trainer was going to walk in dressed in a cape with a rabbit in her hand. responses were going to be examined and added to the psych stats books for years to come.

But then I came back to reality…and my narcissistic paranoia subsided as the trainer came in appropriately dressed and didn’t end her first (or last) sentence with “well, this was actually a test, and you all failed”…

I made it back to wheaton in 45 mins…bought a few groceries at the Jewel Osco…which, dad will be happy to hear, sells President’s Choice food…and I came back to the house to eat some great food and chill in my room to write this crazy long blog entry that I won’t actually be able to post til later either tomorrow or Wednesday b/c I don’t have internet access.

A good beginning. I miss brayson, and hot EMT::winks:: but a good beginning none-the-less…
Time for bed so I can start it all over tomorrow


Random Aside: It’s weird though, I’ve had the song ‘for the price of a cup of tea’-belle and Sebastian in my head for the last two days…woke up with it this morning in my head, and periodically throughout the day have heard it going in my head. ::today it was Feist's Mushaboom, also fabulous:):: And now, as I write, I feel HAVE to listen to it…like ocd where I’m not satisfied until I hear it a few times…over and over. Like I need my ‘for the price of a cup of tea’ quotient for the day. Why it’s not a different song, I don’t know…but I’m compelled to listen to it…and I know that soon, I’ll have listened to it so much that I’ll be sick of it, and wish that I didn’t ruin such a great song by listening to it too much. But I can’t help it right now…a strange addiction or obsession or compulsion or something. I’m weird.