Whew!

Gentle readers, since I last posted, my life has undergone a 180-degree change. I have so much to share but have not the time nor the bandwidth (J and I are working on getting Internet at home) to do so. But I have been thinking of you and writing lots of postings in my head. Which, ultimately, does you no good unless I actually post. Okay, I'm feeling weird trying to write directly to my audience, so I'll stop addressing you and get down to brass tacks.

It has been wonderful having my family all together again under one roof. Though, the kitties are back to worshipping at the altar of J and back to eyeing me wearily and occasionally letting me pet them. Where is the love, my fine furry friends? I thought we had bonded. Alas, I guess I just lack the mojo J seems to have in spades.

This coming weekend, J and I are trekking back to P-town to pack up our stuff and move it out to WaWa, which means we can finally: 1) stop sleeping on a futon mattress on the floor; 2) stop sitting in lawn chairs; 3) have more than one spoon; 4) watch TV again; 5) have things for the kitties to hide behind/under; and 6) have people over to visit/stay the night. Yee haw!

My job is going fan-friggin-tastic, but is kicking my butt in a good way (if that is possible). I have tons to learn and even more to accomplish. I really like my co-workers and our office environment. And they gave me a cell phone and PDA. Tres exciting.

But there is one downside to my job: working with 18 to 22 year olds. Not that working with them is bad, per say; in fact, they're quite fun, full of great ideas and passion. No, what is bad is that it reminds me that I am no longer 20. I was fine, excited even, at the prospect of turning 30 (in April, ahem). But after my first meeting with the 20-somethings, I realized that I am no longer 20 (duh) and that, to them, I am old. In my mind, I didn't mind turning 30 because, surely, I still looked and acted younger. Apparently not, but for a good many reasons. A lot has happened in my life in the past 10 years: I graduated from college; got my first "real" job; entered my first long-term relationship; went to graduate school; moved 8 times; got my Master's; got married; bought a house; etc. All things I would not trade to be 20 again. But I realized that during the past decade, I've unknowingly underwent a slow right of passage into adulthood, trading certain freedoms for others. And it's good I didn't know because it would've made this almost inevitable process harder. At the same time, though, I do need to grieve a little this passing, and to reflect on the state of my "adult" life and where it and I am headed.

Another interesting thing I have been kind of pondering (and I may have already written about this -- if I have, I do apologize that I'm too lazy to go back and check) is my vegetarianism. You see, technically, I live in College Place, not WaWa, a town dominated by Seventh Day Adventists and home to Walla Walla College, an Adventist institution. One tenet of Adventism is being a vegetarian. So, something that has been more counter culture in the other places where I have lived is now considered a religious thing, both by Adventists and non alike. When I tell people I'm vegetarian, I often get asked if I'm Adventist, which isn't bad or a problem, just kind of weird. On the plus side, all the grocery stores have an enormous vegetarian selection, particularly of fake meat in a can. Yes, you read that correctly. I've tried the fake duck in a can, and it's quite delicious, if I do say so. And the fake meat is often sold in bulk size (thanks to those large Adventist families), so J and I can stock up and survive the Apocalypse as vegetarians. Hallelujah.

I think this is my longest post to date. I starve you for weeks without posts, then dump a humdinger in your lap. Such is the life of Cora's blog readers, I guess.