It's been a long time ...

As I go about my days now, things will happen that I think I should blog about and then I never get around to doing. Right now, I feel like my life is on hold while the real world is flying by me. I've been home for one month and am still unemployed/homeless. This isn't for lack of trying either. I have repeatedly applied for positions but that darn license is holding me up. I mailed in my application to take the exam FOUR weeks ago and still haven't heard from them. This is getting increasingly frustrating. On top of that, I was called about one of the positions that I applied for in Austin. I was so psyched about this job. They wanted to interview me so I passed all of their minimum qualifications and had the preferred experience (my specialization sure is coming in handy). So I called the lady back and first question was do I have my license? I explained that I was in the process. She said to call her when I had it and we would set up the interview. That was almost two weeks ago. How long are they willing to wait? Ugh. I am so ready to have my own place again - to live alone again - and have ALL of my clothes! I am so tired of living out of two suitcases which I've been doing since December. This has gotten old. I'm ready to settle down.

At least something has been occupying my time this week. JURY DUTY. Let me tell you - it is the most boring experience of my life. I have spent two days sitting around and waiting. The only thing that was said to us today was that we could go to lunch for an hour and then we had to be back at 10am. That's it - no update on the status of anything. We're left in the dark not knowing. I think I'd rather get a root canal - at least Dr. Scotty tells me every step he's making. However, I have decided that the one good thing about this is that I have now eaten at Poor Boy Lloyd's two days in a row. I have missed Louisiana cooking so much. Their crawfish poboy can almost make jury duty worth it. I'm crossing my fingers that I don't get picked for the jury though. I try so hard to not judge people and this goes against everything. I don't believe that it's our place to pass judgment on others. If I do get selected - I hope it's for something minor and not a murder. Louisiana has the death penalty, and I'm not okay with that.

This past weekend, my parents and I drove down to Meraux, LA to help my sister and her fiance paint their house. He's been rebuilding it for the past five years. Meraux was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina and everything was destroyed in the floods. Homeowner's insurance protects against floods - not hurricanes - so people were left with nothing. The sense of community in South Louisiana is amazing. People have slowly been rebuilding their lives as they can. It's their home and they're not going anywhere. So my mom and I decided to have fun with the painting. We took a trip to the local goodwill to pick up some painting clothes for us and my sister....

Self Care

My research project has pretty much been freaking me out and causing me to have anxiety attacks. Not cool at all. The need for self care has increased. I thought that everything was already figured out given the sobriety of my internship but apparently not. So this week I started running.

I love running. I love the high that you get when you just finished running a distance you didn't think possible or the good kind of soreness you feel afterward. I love being out alone with my thoughts and some good running music. In April 2007, I had quite a health scare where I honestly thought that my days of being able to even walk were numbered. The pain and frustration that I experienced cannot be verbalized. I've slowly been recovering and despite my doctor's orders to give up running, I can't. I love it too much. I don't know if I'm putting myself on a fast track to new hips/knees/whatever but I can't have someone tell me I can't do something that I want to anymore. Now granted, I'm not being stupid and taking it easy. Today was day 3 and is my endurance running day. K joined me and we went for 45 minutes of nonstop running followed by a 15 minute cool down. I didn't really break a sweat and was never out of breath. It didn't even feel like a workout. But it felt good. I loved being able to run for that long.

Last night, I met up with a social work intern from the hospital for dinner. I felt so bad because I thought it was a group of us and when I got stuck at work talking to a patient, I didn't think too much about being late cause I thought I was meeting up with a group. Oops. So we ate at Pazo and then RA Sushi. Oh my. I love sushi. Waco is not the town for sushi lovers. I love to eat. Being back in a metropolitan area has been great for my appetite! It was so good to spend time outside of work and outside of the house. I needed it. But it made me miss all my friends back in Waco so much more. I'm definitely ready to settle down into an area for a good long time.