go!

i have officially begun my job search. about a week ago, i re-applied at Walgreens to work in the pharmacy. Monday the manager called me for an interview. it went well, involving casual conversation and a test. but the interview was to work in the photo lab and second in cosmetics for pretty low pay.

that night i got motivated ... finally. i submitted my resume to two or three places online and planned my route for the next day. so yesterday i went out with resumes in hand and filled out three applications in town and even had a mini-interview with the HR guy at Blue Bell. i applied for any job at BB, a 911 operator for the city, and a graphics person at a trophy shop. then i came home and applied for three different computer related positions at Blinn College, all of which i'm not really qualified for, but assured them in my cover letter that i could learn quickly.

and yesterday afternoon, while i was running around applying, the manager at the Walgreens called and asked i call him back. i didn't know what to tell him if he did offer me the job, so i slept on it. i just got off the phone with him, and sure enough he offered me the job. i thanked him and told him i would like it, but asked if i could think about it more over the weekend before accepting it.

*sigh* every job i've ever had, i just realized, i've only interviewed one time during my search and ended up being asked to stay. which is wonderful, don't get me wrong. it's very assuring and good and wonderful. BUT ... all of those other times i NEEDED a job and/or WANTED the job i was applying for. this one, i'm not so sure about because of where my heart is, because of the pay, because of the wishy-washy hours, because of .... the list could go on, but i'll spare you.

but, maybe nothing else will come along? maybe this is where God wants me? and maybe, just maybe, in 6 months or less, i would start training to be a pharmacy technician and maybe get the job in another 6 months and then i'd be making a lot more and would have great training for the future and ....

i don't know what to do. but i have a few days to think about it. thankfully he positively agreed to let me think it over until tuesday. so, while i'm laying on the beach in Cozumel drinking Piña Coladas, i'll be thinking and praying and hoping for answers.

in the meantime, i appreciate your prayers as well. and if you get any confirmations or red flags or anything, please send them my way.

procrastination at its finest

i'm a procrastinator. i'm not one with ALL things, but there are things i just plain avoid until the last possible moment. one of these most recent things is getting a job. my way of procrastinating is by researching every possible idea i can come up with and traveling. where am i going NOW??!! thanks to my mom's desire to travel and non-desire to do it alone, we're going to Cozumel for a few days. :-)

we'll fly down there next thursday morning, stay three nights, and come home sunday afternoon. it's an all-inclusive plan where we lie on the beach, drink whatever, eat three (or four) meals every day, snorkel, swim, work on our tans, and logically shouldn't have to pay for anything else because we paid it up front. according to the website and the few reviews i read, it should be fun and relaxing and beautiful.

in spite of my procastination, i am getting closer to applying for jobs. i've had several different thoughts about which avenue to pursue. riverboat cruising? airline customer service? a desk job? graphics? houseparent? pharmacy tech? and so many others. part of my hesitation is the idea that i returned to texas to be with/near my family. if i then move to a larger city hours away, then i'll see them only a couple times a month. and, while that's ok at times, it sorta defeats the purpose of moving back to texas, at least in my head it does. but if i stay in Brenham, where i'll see them all the time, i may not find a contentable (yes, i think i just made up a new word) job. and so ... i continue to think, process, pray, research .... a.k.a. procrastinate.

BUT ... i did finally narrow it down to what was most important to me in working. 1) serve God. 2) serve His people. 3) make my family proud. 4) earn enough money for bills and food. 5) travel with whatever money and time is leftover.

with that established, i can now rule out certain ideas and further process others.

and in the meantime, i'll enjoy Cozumel. :-)

happy anniversary to....

it just occurred to me.... i've had this blog running for one year exactly, to the day. so though i don't have anything to say, i couldn't let today pass without saying something.

this last year has been quite a trip ... chocked full of life and change, laughter and tears, confusion and frustration ... pretty much a little bit of everything. and what's messed up is that a year later, after so much, i'm in almost the same place as i was then with knowing what to do with my life. let's do a little recap...

a year ago i was contemplating change. so i went on a cruise, for vacation, but to also try to see it from an employee standpoint. i came back and basically quit my job to go to language school in Guatemala. while there learning Spanish i lost my job completely. then i sold my house and moved to Texas. i worked for a while, but didn't like it. my dad died. i moved in with my mom into a new house. just recently i spent three weeks in Europe. and today, i'm blogging about the last year in my pajamas on a Tuesday.

the only thing i can say is ... ... i survived. i grunted through the tough times and came out successful. and i learned things, in every way possible.

it would have been so much easier had i gone on vacation, gone to Guatemala to learn Spanish, and just come back to Colorado to continue working at OC. but, had it happened like that, this blog wouldn't have nearly as much text in it. :-)

Florence pics

i just realized i think i missed uploading the Florence pics. so i've done that and they are now ready to view, in the same place as all the rest. :-)

final thoughts

ok. i guess i've written most of what was in my journal relaying the things i saw and did. but how did i feel about it? what was my favorite thing? would i do it again? before i get to that, let me share a few sidenotes...

restrooms in Europe are called "toilets". if you ask for anything else you're probably going to get a confused look. be sure to take some cents with you because it's highly likely you'll have to pay. some toilets were a set amount like 50 cents or one euro, others were whatever you wanted to put in the tray. a couple of toilets you HAD to pay in order to get in because the money in the slot would open the turnstyle for you to go through. if you didn't pay, you'd have to find a bush outside.

european service stops are really nice. they usually have great eating options with FRESH food in addition to semi-fast and regular fast food. the first stop we went to had a McDonald's and near the end we finally found one with a Burger King ... otherwise, it was just fresh, local food, clean bathrooms, and a convenience store with everything from special pasta, fresh bread, suveniers, and toy trucks.

Contiki had a saying we had to adopt for ourselves ... it's not wrong, it's just different. toilet seats, elevators, anything other than bread for breakfast, and extra room keys are all bonus in Europe ... it's not wrong, just different.

now, to my final thoughts. i had a really great time. doing the whole trip solo was pretty easy, but it would have been much more fun to have a companion to share things with. making friends in the tour eventually got easier as well, after everyone started loosening up. Europe is beautiful and different and fun. Contiki is a great tour group for people aged 18 to 35, depending on your personality ... i had a great time with younger people, but had to find the right people to hang out with. otherwise i would have been drinking/partying much more or i would have been sitting in my room by myself much more. my hope, if i were going to do it again, would be that there are always a few mature people like me in every group.

travelling nearly 5,000 kilometers in 12 days was a crazy plan, and though we succeeded, i didn't see much. sure, i saw TONS of stuff, but most of our time was spent on the coach travelling from one place to the next. by the time we'd get to the destination city of that day it would be late afternoon or early evening and then we might only have 3-4 hours to spend in that place. that's not nearly enough to actually explore. it was wonderful to see so many places because now i know where i want to go back to and what i'd want to see or not see if i ever go back to some place i've already been.

my favorite places ... Switzerland, as a whole. Rhine Valley in Germany because of all the castles! Venice, just because of its uniqueness.

my favorite moments ... that moment i saw Big Ben for the first time. wow! seeing the castles while driving along the Rhine River in Germany. boating into Venice and realizing it's exactly how i'd pictured it.

dislikes ... the German language. when having to read a menu in German and not understanding any of it, i felt very intimidated. i was afraid i'd order something disgusting like frog legs, so i ended up eating pizza. otherwise, nothing major. :-)

the future ... i'd definitely do a group tour again. having all my hotels, transportation, and most food taken care of for me was a huge help and made my holiday much more fun. i'd recommend a group tour, as well, but i'd put this caviat in there ... realize your time for exploring a city/area will be limited and there will be people in your group who will probably cause a few problems by being disrespectful or whiny throughout the trip. however, despite all that, it was fun to do things as a group, to make a few friends along the way, and to see so much in a short amount of time. plus you always had the option of doing things with or without people ... there were lots of times i'd go do things on my own, because i CHOSE to, not because i HAD to. having that option really helps as well, especially for an independent person like me.

did i make friends? yeah, sure, but only for the duration of the trip. i didn't grow attached to my tourmates at all. it was fun while it lasted, but no best friends made for me. for others? maybe.

where did i go that i would return to ... Austria, because i only saw a little section of it between Germany and Italy. it was beautiful, but i don't feel like i got to experience it at all. and i'd still like to go to Vienna and Salzburg one day. i'd also go back to Italy. and maybe see a little more of Germany ... it's really more beautiful than i thought it would be.

what else? i can't think of other questions you might have for me, so feel free to write me and ask me anything. i'm an open book. :-)

"It's where we go, and what we do when we get there, that tells us who we are." ~Joyce Carol Oates

pictures

i'm working on my pictures, but i took well over 800 so it's gonna take a while for me to get them all uploaded. just click on the "photo album" link on the right and it should take you to ALL my online pictures. then click on "vacations" and the country or city album you want to see. enjoy! :-)

home, home on the range...

i rested for less than two hours. got up at 6, got all my stuff ready, and walked to the metro station. lucky for me they couldn't sell tickets. don't know why, i just know my trip was free. :-) rode the metro to the train station, found my train, got on, and rode to London. on the train i had a soda and two croissants with chocolate. YUM. in London i got on a different train to take me to the airport. in the airport i had to take a train to the North terminal.

finally, i got in a line to check my bag at the British Airways counter. this line was huge, but moved rather quickly. i had plenty of time, so wasn't worried about the wait. the next big line was security. this checkpoint was for bags. once through there we went to another checkpoint just for shoes. finally, i was out of lines and ready to go to the gate. but in London they don't let you go to the gate until a particular time. so you wait in the main area where all the shopping is, looking periodically at a screen to announce your gate number. i bought fine chocolate at the Harrod's store, bought a smoothie, and changed the rest of my euros into dollars. then my gate was listed, so off i went to my gate where i got in another line. this line checked my bag again, AND patted me down. wow. they take this stuff seriously, that's for sure.

i'd been upgraded for whatever reason to the Plus section. this is the section between first class and economy. the seats semi-reclined. there was two to three times as much leg room. there was a leg rest and a permanent cupholder. a remote control that popped out of the arm even! very comfortable despite being in the middle seat. we were served pretty good food, had decent movies to watch, but i was so tired i didn't pay much attention to much of anything for those 10+ hours.

we safely arrived in Houston late. then i got in a long line for customs. and finally found my mom outside waiting for me. we got home around 8 p.m.

i was so tired and so happy to be home and so ready to go to bed. *sigh* i figured out i was travelling for nearly 21 hours. that's ridiculous!