As of last weekend (May 23rdish), I felt socially deprived, slightly underworked, cold, and fairly sheltered from the surrounding areas of my little corner of Vermont. I used my GPS to get to the grocery store (two turns and one mile away), I was going to bed at fairly decent hours, and I was speaking to my father, friends from home, and cousin on a regular basis. I did laundry every few days, made my bed before I left the house consistently, and always had time for a bowl of one of my two favorite kinds of cereal-cinnamon Life or Frosted Mini Wheats.
That, my friends, has all changed.
This past week marks a noticeable difference in my day-to-day, and I’m still getting used to it. I’m close to socially drained at this point, as I spent time with so many new people this weekend. The weather’s warming up, leaving me wearing shorts (can you believe it?!) to bed and occasionally opening my window. I’ve all but forgotten the notion of wearing socks in the shower to keep warm, though when I mentioned it to K, she laughed her head off. I know it’s not feasible-I just wish it was. Additionally, my six blankets have now been subtracted down to just three. I have gotten into bed at around two thirty, three o’clock every morning for the past five days or so, and my bed has yet to be properly made before I leave the house. That’s my next goal-to leave myself 3 minutes to fix it the right way. I routinely grab a small ziplock bag with cereal and fill a nalgene bottle with milk on my way out of the door, and consume my breakfast of deliciousness at my desk while checking my work-related emails. My father and I catch up as much as we can, but he made the comment the other day that I’m beginning to remind him of the son in Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle.” He was joking, of course, but it does seem like I am channeling the subject of that song from time to time. My friends and cousin must think I’m a horrible person, though I can’t help my lack of free time before an ungodly hour. I’ll make it up to you guys somehow, I promise. My laundry piles up until I realize that my stock of clean clothing is becoming limited, and even then I have been known to wear a pair of jeans a few times more than once. Don’t pretend to be disgusted…you know you’re the same way. I haven’t turned on my GPS to get directions in days, except when I traveled 20 minutes outside of the area I’m familiar with.
Underworked? Hardly. I have now been subjected to what life is like working with deadlines in regards to this particular magazine, and I don’t mind it too much. To be fair, I am quite used to it. For those of you who don’t know, I was the feature editor of my high school newspaper for a time, so I’m used to the periodical timeline issues. Still, this is a much bigger fish I’m frying (with Cajun seasoning, of course), and I’m occasionally swamped with assignments. As of right now, my duties primarily consist of being a sort of liaison between our company and the stylists, advertisers, photographers, florists, and the like. I went on a photo shoot with K and S last week, which was an adventure in itself. We left at 7pm Thursday to drive the 7 hours to Ithaca, New York. I drove the last leg in our super nice rental SUV, and I’m still puzzled as to how I made it to the hotel without falling asleep. In the morning, we had the photo shoot, and it was a whirlwind of meeting with people and coordinating everything. We made it happen though, and everything turned out fantastic. As of this week, we’ve been working hard on making deadline, and I anticipate a few late nights coming up. Last night, I was at the office until 9:30 with K and S, and tonight, 6. This is what I’m here for, though, and I’m loving it for the most part.
Socially deprived? That’s the main thing I can say with full confidence has changed 100%. Ready for more initials? I’m not sure if you can handle it, but here we go. If you don’t care to read the day-by-day, skip down to the next section.
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Saturday night, I went downtown and met a new friend of mine, JB (Jersey Boy), as per P’s recommendation (they’re pretty much best friends). We ate dinner at Ri Ra’s and then went back to the house-where 2 of his friends were watching the LOST finale on their laptop. I was very eager to watch it, so after being filled in on what had come up in the first hour, we watched it. Later, JB and 2 other guys and I went out downtown. They’re so fun, and really took care of me the whole time-just good guys. I ended up staying down there for the night, as I didn’t feel comfortable driving 30 minutes so late in the night…or early in the morning, as it were.
Because it was so late and I had had a drink or two, I crashed at the party house (what I’ve dubbed the house where I know everyone from downtown) and woke up early the next morning. JB cooked breakfast, and we had it sitting on the porch of their house. I really have changed my views on Jersey boys in general. After meeting JB and P, I’m shocked that they can be polite, considerate, funny, and quiet on occasion. In the south, we have this idea that people from Jersey are brash, loud, and harsh. Good to know that it isn’t true. It was cool hanging out for a while with JB, and I hope to chill with him again soon. I left after a while, and went to get ready for my crazy day.
Next on the agenda was spending time with a pretty amazing duo that I met recently. BD is a 25-year-old corrections…person with the most amazing 2-year-old daughter, M. (BD stands for “Big Daddy,” as he’s 6′3ish…and a daddy.) I met up with them Sunday afternoon to help volunteer at a humane society fundraiser…cute, right? We had a great time, and I for sure have a new favorite person- M. (Thought I was going to say you, eh BD? Eh, close second.) M’s the most amazing little person, and I’m having a hard time not sitting here gushing about her cute laugh, sense of style (though that’s more BD than anything, I’m sure), adorable sleepiness when she gets up from a nap, and the precious way she says, “Jana.” I’ll try to contain myself here, for sake of blog space. After the fundraiser where I played the very exciting “chase me around, Jana, because I’m playing hide and seek even though I don’t really get it” game more than raised funds, we went back to BD’s house where he cooked me lunch while M took a nap. I left a little while later, onto my next adventure.
An hour after I left BD’s house, I needed to be 45 minutes away to meet another friend and still had to stop off at home. I rushed around, lost my keys for a while, and finally made it downtown, 15 minutes or so late. I met TB at Ri Ra’s, and we went to a great Italian restaurant called Three Tomatoes. TB’s a 27 year old British guy…hence TB (token Brit…not tuberculosis) who currently lives in Montreal. I had so much fun just listening to his accent and hearing about the world from someone who had so many stamps in his passport, it got voided at the airport as a result of there being no room for more. We went to the waterfront (typical, right?) and then Red Square for a drink. I honestly had a great time, and we have plans to go do something outdoorsy on Sunday. As an aside, we discussed my blog at length (he’s an avid reader, or so he claims), and I encouraged him to start one. This man is in a different city or country every week with his job, so I felt he had plenty of interesting things to write about. Surprisingly, he took my advice! He started his own blog, and judging by the first one, it’s got great potential to be a hit. You guys should bookmark it and follow along- Around the World in 80 Blogs. By the way, as you’re reading it, you have to envision the author speaking in a great British accent…it makes it that much better, in my opinion. We left Red Square and said goodnight at around 11:30 or so, and I started walking to my car, unknowing that I was about to start my next adventure…
As I walked past a bar called Nectar’s, I stopped to say hey to JB, who works there. I was about to leave a few minutes later when I saw one of the guys who had been watching LOST the other day walking past. He encouraged me to come inside for a while, and even though I had to work the next day, I decided an hour or so couldn’t hurt. Most people in my phone have a nickname- Jessy “Big Pimpin’” XXXX, Chip “Sexy Lovin’” XXXXX, Matt “Bootylicious” XXXXX, etc. I don’t know how that started, but it’s fun. When I asked this guy what he wanted his name to be, he said “McSexy.” So that’s what we’ve basically been referring to him by for the past few days, and it’s been pretty funny. So MS and I had fun and hung out for a while, I met tons more people, and finally got home late that night.
As another aside, I’d like to say that I typically wouldn’t have gone into such detail about friends, but a few have been hounding me to mention them on this world famous blog (*ahem* Mcsexy *ahem*), so here you guys go! I’ve had fun with you all.
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So that was my weekend! Now, faithful blog readers, you may be able to comprehend why the term, “socially deprived” no longer fits. I’ve got more on the agenda as well in the coming days, though it’s mostly with the same people. I feel very fortunate to have met so many amazing people so quickly, and I really love it…though I’m not sure how much longer I can keep up the staying out/up until 3am thing. This week is going to continue to be crazy in regards to work, but that’s what I’m here for, so I am intent on pulling it off with flying colors.
I have decided that I really should work my blogs to be a bit smaller, but I haven’t figured out just quite how to do so. If you faithfully read such nonsensical musings, I applaud you.
Next blog-An interesting realization I’m coming to in terms of what I want out of life.
Photo: Sunset over NY mountains on the way to Ithaca.
