Tomorrow I start my new "job." It's not really a job, per say, it's volunteer work, but it's getting me out of the house. I don't think I've ever been so relieved to do something for free.

Since my last post, Bill and I decided that instead of expending so much energy on finding a job in a city where I'm such a small fish, why not volunteer all the time I'm virtually wasting? So, the same day I offered my admin and clerical services, I got a phone call back, taking me up on them. I'll be working with the Points of Light Foundation which is a parent organization that provides support for smaller volunteer organizations like the HandsOn Network. I'll be volunteering on an internal level in the POL Headquarters doing special projects.

Here's the cool part....by doing this and getting my foot in the door, I could apply for a paid position when one opens up or, I'd have a leg up on others when AmeriCorp positions open up. That would provide me with health insurance and non competitive status for Federal jobs for 1 year. I don't see any downsides here.

So I'm all syked up and doing stuff to get ready. Stuff like painting my toes and trying on my work clothes, etc. Holy shit! That 10lbs that crept up on me because I've been sporting my Adidas pants for the past 4 months and didn't realize my ass was getting fatter has caused my pants to not fit. It's so bad, even Bill who totally loves my big ass said "Your not going to wear those pants to work are you?" Burn.

Luckily, there's one or two pairs I can wear that aren't too horrendous and upon scoping the joint out on my interview, there were people wearing jeans and such. I should be okay.

Plan of action:

1. go back to eating half of what I would normally eat. That's how I lost all that weight before. Unless it's fruit or veggies, of course.
2. exercise. Get up out of bed at 6 am and go to the free gym that is about 50 yards away from my front door and use it, for 45 minutes each morning. Make sure I sweat and can't sing along to my ipod; that way I know I'm working hard enough.
3. No snacking. I stopped snacking the first time I lost weight.
4. No more food after dinner. That worked for me last time too.

I think that just by being out of the house and away from the kitchen all day will help tremendously.

Oh, to add insult to injury, I'm insanely bloated. I can honestly say, without a doubt, that I totally hate you Mother Nature. Bish.

I can not stress how happy I am to be getting out of this apartment. I really hope POL needs me 5 days a week. Gotta go, laundry to do and dinner to cook.

Keep in touch

At the request, and altogether genius idea I might add, of Nikki, I am going to start updating my Blog (again) on a regular basis. Nikki says it's so she can keep up to date on what's going on with me since I moved to Atlanta and so she can get her "Tracy Fix." That makes me smile and gives me warm fuzzies that somebody needs a Tracy Fix.



Here's a brief synopsis of how I ended up in Atlanta for anyone who is reading and not openly following (make yourself known, don't stalk!). In March, I had a job that I had potential at, but was so burnt out at, I could barely face another day and I was taking the final 12 credits for my AAS as a Paralegal. Bill and I were tired of dating LD as we had been for a year so we decided it was best for us for me to move because he liked his job. So, surprisingly, my family was into it so I did it. I quit, moved Atlanta and finished the semester down here (all my classes just so happened to be online).



Now, four months later, I'm having many interpersonal struggles with my new leaf that I have turned. Let's get the negatives out of the way, shall we? The positives far outweigh the negatives so I'll just give them to you straight. Despite my constant resume tweaking, rewriting, re-doing and reformatting, I can not find a job. I am very very upset about this. My life has gone from a whirlwind of work and social life to looking for a job 5 hours a day most days and being a home maker the rest of the time. Those of you who know me best know that I need something to keep me busy, something to keep me occupied, structure; I need to have a job. It's what I've always done...sometimes I've had two at a time. I like to work. I CAN NOT believe I just uttered those four little words, but it's true, I like to work and earn a paycheck and buy myself shiny pretty things. It makes me feel like a productive member of society and gives me a feeling of being an independent woman that is able to provide for herself. Okay, that's all the negative things I have to say....pretty painless, right?



Here's the positives....

• I have weekends off and uninterrupted to spend with my boyfriend. Maryland and Virginia have beautiful mountains and valleys but I have never seen such wonders of nature like I have down here in Georgia. I am fortunate that I am getting see all of these things. Now that I am spending most weekends exploring Georgia, I am reminiscent of the time and all of the "life" that I missed out on in the past because I was so wrapped up in other stuff.



• I get to cook. I've discovered that I love to cook and I'm actually pretty good at it. I thought maybe I'd keep you abreast (heh, I said breast) (that was for you Nikki) of my "Adventures In Cooking" Lame, I know but humor me, I make some pretty good stuff.

• I get to work out, like for two hours a day. It's weird, I'm not losing weight at the rapid pace I did a year ago, but my muscles are definitely toned. Nevermind, it's not weird, that's what's supposed to happen, I just have never committed to exercise long enough to see results.



• I have a tan. I haven't had a tan like this since I lifeguarded 12 years ago. It's not like an end of the summer, not getting any darker, lifeguard tan, but I am tan. This is kind of monumental for me because I have spent that last 10 years or so indoors. With the exception of a day or two on the beach or one or two days poolside at my parents, I spent my twenties with a skin tone closely resembling that of Bill Compton. I feel healthy and I look healthy.



• I've got the time to get my life in order....fix things on my credit report, file papers, throw out unopened mail that I've been hauling around with me from storage unit to storage unit for the past 6 years. You should see the box of paperwork that needs to be shredded. There's so much of it I had to track down a professional shredding company that will do it for me.



• Get to know myself. This sounds like the ultimate cliche and is making me gag while typing it but I am going to force myself to say it anyway. I have discovered that I have a desire to be fiercely independent. Not having a job feels like I've lost my independence. The overwhelming desire to get back my independence is what makes me get out of bed in the morning and keep trying to find a job.

Tonight's dinner is chicken and sausage gumbo. Not sure if I'm going to like this...it has a shit ton of onions in it, okra and green peppers. I totes hate onions but will eat them sometimes. I can't define in what situations I will eat them, it just depends on how they were cooked, how stringy they are, if they had the shit cooked out of them and I don't even know they are there, etc. Raw onions are acceptable in salsas, etc. Anyway, pickled okra is fantastic in bloody mary's and fried okra is of course awesome, anything fried is usually awesome, but I've never had okra that's been stewing all day. I have gotten over my green pepper thing, I like them all ways, raw and cooked. Anyway, my first attempt at a roux this morning went very well, but the gumbo is not thickening to my liking. We'll see how this turns out. This might be a recipe I ditch.

I thought it would also be fun at times to attach pictures of things that I see down here that you wouldn't normally see back home.

First, we have this:

This photo was taken outside of our nearby grocery store, Kroger, as Bill and affectionately refer to it as, the Krogers. (as in, the walmarts, the kmarts). The old ladies down here insert "the" in front of a store name and add an "s" to the name of the store.





So, I'm walking to the Krogers as it's within walking distance of my apartment and I spot this gem written in what appears to be sidewalk chalk on the brick wall outside the store next in between the front door and a broke up generic soda machine.





I don't think I even need to comment further on this.








Next, we have another diddy that I found in the Krogers. This must be a southern thing because never in my life have I heard of nor seen such a thing....quite frankly, I am appalled.


That's right folks, you are not dreaming, this is aerosol pancake batter. I contemplated buying it just because i wanted to see what consistency the batter came out of the can looking like and I also contemplated buying it so I could use it as a food weapon against Bill.

I decided against it and opted for the Bisquik Shake n' Pour pancake batter (cause that's slightly less appalling).


That's all for today. I have some things to do around the apartment. Caio