It's been soooooo long.

Time to get moving. Literally, figuratively, and bloggingly. New adventures are coming: http://beyondthequarter.blogspot.com/

The Quarter-Life Crisis is Real

Wow. It's been a while.

I'm back in the Northwest and am completing my most recent adventure a bit early. I've been in an AMAZING internship, but know that this career path is not for me. I have therefore decided to pull the proverbial rug from under my own comfortable little bit of existence and am forcing myself into the horrid world of job hunting.

Yes, I am diving head-first, with my metaphorical rifle (resume) and blaze orange vest (cover letter) in hand; with hopes of finding prey large enough to present a challenge, but still get dinner on the table. I am now officially in my mid-twenties, and have had enough of my supposed altruistic endeavors. The only way I can get to a place where I can really give until is hurts, is to build myself up enough to the point that I actually have something to sacrifice.
First thing's first, however, I must pay off many student loans. Shit. This could take a while.

My head hurts...

6 days 8 hours 13 minutes left of this job. One week.

It's real now. I'm really really going to miss this city, but I am now ready to go. Very ready to return home to friends and family.

19 days 5 hours and 17 minutes until the end of this job.

It has yet to totally sink in, but I am starting to feel slight pangs of... something. I will truly miss all the kids I have come to know this year. It has been the relationships I have developed with a small few that have really been the driving force of this year. If it were not for those teens, I would not have stayed or lasted the entire year. They made me stronger, they made me a success.

Oh wow

30 days, 4 hours, 17 minutes. Time is flying!

I recently ran a small girls' retreat here at the church. It went fairly well, but I have started to discover how strict I tend to get when I feel that I am getting attitude. Six months ago I would not have survived the weekend. Now I have turned into a slight New Yorker that does not want to be messed with. I really am becoming a whole new person. I cut off about 12" of hair recently and have gained some sort of metaphorical freedom with that. Interesting...

43 days, 1 hour, and 31 minutes until I am finished with this position and this year.
Freaky!

It's odd to think how much one year can change a person, how far someone can come when they didn't even think they had anything that really needed to change.

I am growing up, but I refuse to grow up. I hope I find a way to enjoy life and to make a living doing what I love. If this year has taught me anything, it's that work is not fulfilling if you dont enjoy it.

I swear I'm still alive...

Just... absent. For the moment.

I have... 52 days, 5 hours, and 50 minutes until the end of my last day of work in this job. (Courtesy the count down capability on my phone.) Three days after that I will leave this city to attend my "dis"-orientation to the Jesuit Volunteer experience. After that, I will spend a few days in DC until I fly out and back to Seattle.

August 27th will be the beginning of the next chapter of my life... which will be in theatre. I will be working as a design intern for the 2007-2008 season at a major regional theatre in Seattle (I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I don't feel like it right now).

After that... who knows.

Right now I am starting to dread the thought of having to move out of New York City. There is so much I haven't done, so much I still feel the need to experience here. I am 23 and have not experienced any sort of night life here. I couldn't (and can't) afford it- a volunteer's budget only lends itself to free forms of entertainment. Also, the culture and diversity in this city is something that I will sorely miss.

A friend just visited, and we saw the show Spring Awakening while she was here. Not only did I love the show, but it also got me into a frame of mind that I have not experienced in a while. The only way I can describe it is that I am on a "theatre high." I won't get into what that means for me, but I can say that I am irrational and feel desperate to see another show (or even S.A. again). I want to absorb all I can, learn all I can. See good lighting, see bad lighting; oh- and all that acting and singing stuff.

52 days, 5 hours, 35 minutes... add years to that, and maybe I'll understand what this year has meant and how it has changed me. I think I've changed... for the better.