Life as I know it

Our enrollment is up. How up? 47% over last spring, which was 30% over the spring before that.

One of the signs of enrollment being up is toilet paper.
Toilet paper?
Yes.
Apparently the TP used to be changed twice a day around here. Now it is changed 3x per day.
(source: Facilities)

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Meeting someone new for coffee this weekend. I'll keep you posted how that goes.

Going to the Home and Garden show this weekend too -- I want to check out some flowers and sunshine amidst all this cold weather.

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Deep thoughts last night while I was in bed -- what if I *don't* buy a house this year? What if I travel to Europe for two weeks instead, seeing old friends in London and Dublin and then follow up with a family trip to Stockholm?

I'm seriously contemplating this.

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Bought my tickets to Seattle, WA and Jefferson, OR this week. Going to see Scully and my friend Duff from college. I'll be going the week of Memorial Day and will start and finish in Seattle. I will likely see some other friends from college while I am there and I am super excited about it!

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Also, sent out a check to Peteski of Wausau, WI for the case of Spotted Cow beer that is headed my way currently. My heart is soaring at the thought of Spotted Cow in FL :) Ultimately, it was cheaper for him to buy a case and ship it FedEx than it would have been for me to buy the same number of beers in Malarkey's in Wausau. Bizarre, right?

The Eternal Question I Face.

In this past week (and God-only-knows-how-many-times-in-the-past-3-years), I've been asked not less than three times if I ever plan to get married again.

Umm. I don't know? Maybe?

This question, much like "when are you having kids?," is probably ranked right up there in the most annoying questions of all time. Here's why:

1. Getting married is not like buying a car. I can't just go out one day, find someone and say, "hey, what do you think about a quick trip to the courthouse?"

2. Getting married is not like ordering dinner. As much as there is on the menu, I do have to pick just one and hope like hell I like him. Oh, and you can't send him back to the kitchen if you don't like him. Divorce is much more expensive.

I suppose since I've done it once, I'm a little more gun-shy about fucking it up a second time.

So the answer will remain 'maybe' with the caveat of 'maybe not.'

Now what?

Do you ever get truly restless with your life? So much so that you look around your house, assess the ten things you cannot live without and think about selling/giving away the rest, moving somewhere completely different and trying out a new life?

I get that way at times.

I'm not sure why I'm such a restless soul. I find myself dreaming of new cities, new jobs, new challenges. I've always loved living in Indy but in so many ways I feel tied here, by some invisible rope that keeps me within a 30 mile radius of the city's center.

Some of my restlessness, I know, comes from the fact my Hex won't let go. You'd think after 3 years of the-ink-is-dry-get-the-fuck-over-it divorce, he'd wish me well and let go. As I have of him. But no, the emails continue, the contact attempts continue. I've said this more than once, I'll say it a million more times, if he had put this kind of effort into our marriage we may well have just celebrated our 6th anniversary and not 3 years of divorce. Ridiculous.

I don't know if you do this, but each city I visit (meaning cities where I stay a few days, immerse myself into the local culture and really visit) I think about whether I'd live there or not. Then there is the ultimate 'feeling' of whether I feel at home here or not. The only thing I can liken it to is the feeling one gets, upon buying a house, that it is 'home' while the other houses you've looked at were just, at best, 'meh.'

Stockholm was home to me. I could see myself living there in a minute.
Washington, DC was home to me. I could imagine a life there.
Chicago has always been home to me.
and so on, and so forth.

My trip to Schaumburg this weekend has been theraputic already. Cousin Krin, with her cut-to-the-chase way of speaking says, "You just got your sister to move to Indy and now you want to go somewhere else?"

Ummm. Yes?

I don't know. Here's the things I do know, in no particular order.

1. I like what I do. I love the creative aspect of it, the research of it and the thrill of victory when a grant gets funded.

2. Although I'm a pale, pale human, I really like sunshine a great deal. This weather lately has brought me down.

3. I still have 7 months on two contracts I have out for consulting work. I do not intend to sign any more consulting contracts past their expiration.

4. I will 'vest' at my job in January, bringing me 15% of my salary into a retirement account. A retirement account which has, sadly, made me cringe of late. These funds, however, will help make my account a touch more solvent.

5. Sister's wedding is in May. Nothing will happen prior to that. I need to help her as being maid of honor is a hell of a big job and she already has two bridesmaids out of town.

6. This is not the time to sell a house.

7. I have some serious purging to do if I ever intend on moving. How does one collect so much 'stuff' anyway?

8. My family lives here and in Florida.


Stay tuned, my life could get downright interesting by this time next year.