One Job Two Job, Red Job Blue Job

I threw copies of my resume around Seattle like confetti. I got offered a job last week and I took it. It was seasonal, ending on September 18, just in time for my trip to Mexico to see @tmcassani. It paid what I wanted, but I'd have to go through the whole rigamarole of getting fingerprinted, getting a TWIC card, renewing my Washington State Guard Licence & doing a drug test. No problem, but I'd be a lot happier not having to pay for all that. Some companies subsidize these things, some don't; this one doesn't. But hey, JOB. A very needed new job. I spent the next days wishing I felt more genuinely excited.

That bird in hand, I went down the list of other interview appointments, looked 'em over, and cancelled 'em all - except one, whose interview was today. So I went, and I got a couple of big fat surprises. :)

A Glowing Titanium All-Weather Magical Timepiece

For the first time in my life, I know exactly what I'm doing for the next eight months. I'm terrible at that usually, and I might get terrible at it again, but right now I have a map, compass, flashlight and a glowing titanium all-weather magical timepiece. I mean a calendar, sorry. It just feels like something special now that I'm actually using one, filling it out with an actual pen. It may or may not be glitter ink in the pen.

As of April 7, 2012, I've been back home in Seattle for three years. I needed the reprieve & I've done/figured out a lot of stuff. I was necessary & it was good, and as itchy as I've been to get going, it was the right length of time.

But now it's time to take off again. I'll come back home eventually. Then I'll take off again. *Next time will be Hawaii. Then I'll die and they'll burn & scatter me here at home, over Elliott Bay, so I get that Frasier view of my skyline).

Image Credit: Stern Grossman

Whys, what-fors and the schedule of events after the break:

Trippin'

I like that week between Christmas and New Year's Eve. It feels like a break from regular space-time, a black wintery bridge between two sparkly parties. It's a cozy lull before you're tossed headlong into a fresh calendar. I often fill it with whatever work I've got, a little post-holiday shopping if I can, reliving Christmas Day memories to seal them in & other cheery stuff to combat the early darkness.

This year, it will be done mostly SMACK in the middle of the United States of America. Two of my favorite friends, Thelma (@NWMargaret) and Louise (our mutual friend & co-worker SharonLee) will hang with me while I trip the road from sea to shining sea at the end of the year. Thelma & Louise will be flying home to Seattle. I will not. :D

Two other excursions prior to then:

1) My lovely sister Trinity Rose and I will be visiting my kid (@tmcassani) in Mexico from September 25 through October 9, then:

2) On some random, non-holiday three-day stretch between then & Christmas, I will go visit my heart in San Francisco.

SF had originally been the end of the first leg of the cross-country trip; I really miss my hometown away from hometown. But it cost too much time, as I'm

A) determined to make it to NYC by the afternoon of New Year's Eve and

B) I wanted fewer driving hours per day in order to maximize fun & minimize hurry - especially when my friends are with me.

More on how I'm now able to make this happen & what the whole deal is here, coming in the next post.