Facing the Giants

Maybe it's time for a new blog post. It's been a while, and, I know, I know, the last posts have been... well, uninteresting, to say the least. (There were a few that I was pretty much embarrassed for anyone to read. I deleted them.)

Today is day 4 of being in the "Real World." I have a "real job" now. 9 to 5. Er, 9 to 4:30, actually. And yes, I am writing this from work. (C'mon! It's my lunch break!)

Work has been good. Not much different, so far, from the things I've been doing for the last 3 years. Mostly I do a lot of the same things, just all day. I've been reorganizing/relabeling things in the music library, making slides for the Sunday church services, making [really awesomely fun] calendars of the youth group's summer activities, and other fun things like that. Pretty much I just love being able to go to work and go home, and not have to do homework or write papers or attend events. I'm free.

However, this week I've been dealing with some not-so-fun real grown-up stuff. Monday night I got in my car at Lilly's house to come home, and when I closed my door, it bounced back open. The latch was stuck closed. I (very carefully) drove home, where Brooks (who lives downstairs) and Kyle (who was visiting my house) tried everything they could think of to get it un-stuck. It didn't work. So I had to clean out my car (and by clean out, I mean I threw away trash, took a few things in the house, and put everything else in the trunk) and leave the door OPEN all night long. Tuesday morning I took it to Ronnie's, and it's STILL THERE. I called them about 4 times yesterday to check on the progress, and they finally assured me that they'd let me know as soon as the part came in and they could fix my door. It's Thursday. I want my car.

For another thing, when I graduated, I lost my health insurance. For some reason, insurance companies assume that everyone has a full-time benefits-included job the instant they graduate, or that everyone is insanely rich and can afford health insurance on their own. I fit into neither one of those categories. Dad found out from the insurance co. that under Obama's new plan, I can stay on Mom and Dad's insurance until I'm 26. But it wouldn't go into effect until January 1. I was blessed, though, and I was referred to Mr. David Kees, who goes to my church and deals with insurance for a living. I talked to him on the phone yesterday, and he called the Blue Cross Blue Shield guy, who informed us that BCBS realized that "Hey, there are gonna be a lot of college grads stuck in limbo from May to January," and I get my insurance back starting on June 1! Which is a huge relief. One bone scan, coming right up!

I've also been getting ready for my journey to KENYA! I am oh-so super excited about going. It's just FOUR WEEKS AWAY!! There's a lot to get ready for, though. I need 5 immunizations that I didn't have to get when I went to Romania. The health unit can give me some of them, but then I'll have to find out where I can get the rest of them. Somehow, I managed to make it all the way through college without ever getting the meningitis vaccine! That could be the most expensive one. I also have to get a prescription for some malaria prevention medication. There's one kind that you take once a day while you're in Kenya, and there's another that you take once a week. I'll have to see which is the cheaper route.

On Tuesday, Tara R, Morgan B, and I went to Alexandria's Hancock Fabrics and picked out fabrics to make my skirts for Kenya! I'm getting four long, flowy godet skirts in really fun patterns. I'm supposed to go to their house today for a fitting, and I'm super excited.

I've been spending a lot of time with my good friend Mariann and her family. She has an almost-3-year-old little girl named Ellie and 14-month-old twin boys named Jack and Woody. They're the coolest kids, and I very much enjoy hanging out with them. I've really appreciated Mariann's friendship, especially over the last year. She's very quickly become one of my dearest friends and one of the very few people in my life who I can talk to about anything at all without feeling stupid or judged. I only hope that I'm as good a friend to her as she is to me.

Welp, it's back to work for me! Later gator!