Time Keeps on Slippin' Slippin' Slippin' Into the Future

Somehow, over a week has passed since my last post.  I do not understand where the time is going and how the days could possibly be flying by so quickly while simultaneously dragging on endlessly.  In the words of Confucius, "Time is a sneaky, sneaky bitch."  Oh, wait, no.  That was just me.  Although, Confucius did say this, "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."  Creepy!  Also, this one would have been good to throw around while taking my Air Force physical fitness test, "It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop."  I mean, seriously, if someone wants to shoot me, I don't think running an eight minute mile as opposed to a ten minute mile is going to change the outcome.  But anyway.  I digress!

I've been managing to keep myself fairly busy in Colby's absence--an absence which is officially one-quarter of the way over.  Hallelujah and thanks be to God!  Sometimes that seems like quite the milestone, other times I need to focus on my deep breathing exercises, because oh my God, I'm not sure I can do this for another three months.  And yet, I know I can, and I will, so the dramatics are fairly unnecessary.

I have a wonderful group of girls with whom I've been spending a lot of time.  They're other wives and girlfriends, so we have a common goal to get through this thing in one piece, and I'm still always so surprised when I can find other people to hang out with and actually ENJOY their company.  Last week alone I did a couple of gym classes, had a cookie baking, martini drinking, So You Think You Can Dance watching get together at my house, and went for a five mile hike in the Snoqualmie National Park.  And let me tell you, you have not had a chocolate chip cookie until you have had these chocolate chip cookies.  They're so good it hurts.  I've also been spending most of my waking hours tearing through the Twilight series.  Current verdict?  Fun and quick read, not as good as Harry Potter, but I'm thinking a more thorough review post will be coming as soon as I finish Breaking Dawn.

School has also been keeping me occupied.  I'm getting very close to the end of my first class, and I'm pretty sure that I'm dominating.  I've spent the last few weeks in the throes of group work agony, and let me tell you, group work over the internet?  Not easy!  I thought my first group was a bit difficult, mostly because many of them seemed to have problems with basic spelling and sentence structure (please, don't judge me based on my blog!), but I will say that they were all hard workers and very kind girls.  We managed to coordinate on a fairly complicated 18 page paper, most of it a chart in Word (product of hell as I stated previously) and it came back with a 100% grade.  This next paper I'm much more nervous about as it's due in exactly five days and I haven't even heard back from my group on who is going to work on what portion.  Group work, how I loathe thee!

Finally, the miserable, esteem crushing job search continues.  I have been rejected from the store from which I very much like to buy my furniture, with a name something along the lines of Earth Shop, and am having an awful time gettng the store where I would LOVE to work, beginning with an N ending with a strom and filled with multiple floors of delicious, buttery clothes, shoes and purses, to even take my application.  Their online application site doesn't appear to work, or it's just not compatible with my computer, and when I went in to do my application at the store, their system was down.  Because it's all done electronically, and as much as I love my computer, my internet, my TiFaux, and indoor plumbing, I think we all know that technology is a thing of the devil.  Then there's the coffee shop route.  There are actually two very well known coffee shops right down the road from my house, but seeing as I have zero experience serving up a cup of joe, I'm not sure that I'm their ideal barista.  Also, it could be dangerous working around that many pastries.

So, there, that's pretty much been my life lately and about all I see stretched out before me.  Colby is doing well, just working hard and flying when he can, and I'm just doing my homework, trying to convince a company to give me both money and an employee discount, and trying to imbibe as much vodka and eat as many cookies as I possibly can without going up a clothing size.  It's a tough life, but someone has to do it!

Comments

[katelin]

glad you've been keeping busy and having fun!

and those cookies sound amazing, i may just have to make those, yummm :)

[Anne]

I'm not even LOOKING at the cookie recipe because just the name looks good. :)

It sounds like you've been having a great time in the process of keeping super busy - having a life as they say - I'm so happy that you've met people you enjoy and connect with over the same difficult time. Getting those two things together is pretty special!

As for the job, no doubt it will fall into place when all those college and high school students head back to full time school. August probably is a hard month to find work no matter what you're looking for. Hang in there!!

hugs,
anne

[shani]

Martini watching?

Meanwhile, I'm going through a similar job-searching torture. I think Dante missed a level of hell...

[Kate P]

ITA group work sucks 99% of the time--and like you I was horrified when I read some of my classmates' papers. (Please don't tell me you also had a professor who said you had to read them all and "reflect" on them like I had to!)

Hope you find the right job; I'll be in the same boat while I'm student teaching this fall.

[Larissa]

Three more months! You can do it!

[Tipp]

I am so glad you have a great group of people to hang out with during this time! I might have made it through with my sanity had I had that!:)

Hang in there with the job search, I am thinking of you lots! Hugs.

[MaryB]

Group projects - AACK!! Unless you actually know the people and get to pick your team! Then, not so bad.

Deployments suck! BTW, was totally embarrassed that you read my whiny post about Rich being gone so much. It would be like me complaining to you about my headache if you had a brain tumor.

Are you specifically looking for a job that comes with an employee discount? Are they rejecting your appplications because you are over-qualified?

Glad you are hanging in there and having some fun along the way! Save a martini for me!

[slynnro]

Good luck with the job search. But damn if I'd work at Nordstrom. I'd be broke.

[Annie]

You can do three months! You can do it! Part of me is very thankful I didn't know my boyfriend both times he was deployed (6 months, 1 year), but other times I wish I had so I could've been there for him, you know?

Please let me know how many cookies and how much vodka you can drink without going up a clothing size. I'm very interested in that equation!

[Supergirl]

Hooray for making it 1/4 of the way in Colby's deployment. I give you so much credit for being able to do that -- it takes a special person to be a military wife :-)

And I agree, pastries and yummy coffee shop drinks in my workplace would NOT be a good equation.

[Becky]

I was so glad to see that you updated & how exciting that you're 1/4 of the way there!

Couple o things - when you do that book review, could you maybe suggest what order to read the books? I've read tons of blog posts on this series, but even amazon.com couldn't help me figure out where to start. I will send cookies as payment. :)

Secondly, I also LOATH (loathe?) group work. I am the "leader" type and always hate trying to walk the line between 'getting stuff done' and 'dictator'.

:) Becky

[TasterSpoon]

Oh, I was wondering if those cookies were worth the 3 day wait!

Mary8 makes a good point. If your resume looks like you have too much going on, they may be afraid that you're going to leave. Although, that's kind of the point of a clerk-type job, I thought.

Coffee shop might be fun, you'd listen to good tunes all day. I think experience depends on where you apply. Some baristas are incredibly talented; one told me, though, that Starbucks "ruined" it for everyone because their machines are so comprehensive that a monkey could make a half-caf skinny latte. I thought I also read that SBUX treated their employees pretty well.

[Cat]

Sounds like you are keeping yourself busy, anyway!

I'll be interested to hear where you get a job. I applied at Starby's when I was unemployed, but 4:00 AM did NOT sound appealing to me... nor did cleaning the restrooms. (Everyone shares the duties. No pun intended.)

[Fraulein N]

Everything sounds so EXCITING, except perhaps for the group work. I HATE group work; it always brings out my highly judgmental grammar Nazi.

For Becky, the Twilight books are (in order): Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. How utterly stupid of Amazon not to be clear on that.

[RisibleGirl]

I'm glad you're having fun with women who are going through the same thing. I think that is so important! I don't know how you do it- that's an awfully long time to be apart. :(

Good luck on the job front! It took me a while to figure out the World Store reference... but I did. Go me! :)

[Anonymous G]

I just love that you relocated to an entirely new part of the country and already have a group of friends to share martinis and TV and general good times with. :-)

You're so adorable. I love the way you write, Ang!!!

I'll be keeping good thoughts for you and Nordys, or the next big thing.........

[The Narcissist]

Ya, sounds like a REALLY tough life. And I'm sure no one else would do it quite as well as you. ;)

[Jass]

I can't for the life of me figure out the Earth Shop! Maybe because I am on the East Coast? Email me with the name, it's driving me crazy! ;-)

[Becky]

I just finished reading the first two Twilight books and have the 3rd/4th ones on order from Amazon. I was pretty glued to the first two as well and have been looking up info on the movie coming out in Dec. I've heard Breaking Dawn is getting horrible reviews from fans, though I have a feeling of what the end is like already (I guessed about Jacob after his first conversation with Bella).

For Becky, it's Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.

[Becky]

Thanks for the book order everyone!
:) Becky