Labeling Fail

I'm easily amused.

Job Hunt part 2

Brookline Liquor (across the street) smells wonderfully like a winery and has excellent air conditioning... but is on a hiring freeze for the summer. Payless seems to be closed. The pet store is not hiring. Although Sammy is a very friendly dog.

This afternoon I need to ask at Staples if I should apply for other jobs, call CVS (or maybe wait until tomorrow on that one; now that I think about it they may have said Wednesday...), check Symposium Books and the Emerson Barnes & Noble, and somewhere in all that buy bread, because I'm out. I'd really like to get more since it's still too hot for much besides sandwiches, even though the air is finally thin enough to breathe again.

Also on the subject of jobs, I got my notice of termination from the census, along with the paperwork for applying for unemployment, though I don't know if I'm actually eligible. And I called the jurors' office, and apparently they don't care if I just hold on to the paperwork and wait until September to send proof of residence. So... cool... I guess.

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. ~ igoogle's Einstein quote of the day

Hibernating

I woke up to this message from Weatherbug:

"A Heat Advisory Remains In Effect For The Greater Boston
Area...Where The Combination Of Hot Temperatures And High Humidity
Will Bring Heat Indices To Between 100 And 104 Degrees This Afternoon.
The Heat Advisory Is In Effect Until 6 PM.

Precautionary/Preparedness Actions...

A Heat Advisory Is Issued When High Humidities Are Expected To
Combine With Hot Temperatures Resulting In Heat Indices Of
100 Degrees Or Greater. Avoid Prolonged Work In The Sun Or In
Poorly Ventilated Areas. Also...Drink Plenty Of Water And Try To
Stay In An Air Conditioned Environment."

Well, no kidding. The air's so thick it's like trying to breathe in a sauna.

Due to extreme sloth induced by said air, I am NOT going outside today. Not even to ride the air-conditioned subway cars back & forth, though I was considering it. However, I did go online and came up with a number of places to apply to, tomorrow.

Thunderstorm now? Please?

Learning the Neighborhood

So yesterday afternoon was one can't-get-there-from-here after another. The end result, however, is that I now know how and where I can buy T passes and groceries. Even if the subway did make me wait in the hot sun with my milk... trust that to be the longest wait yet for a train to come.

Today, I went to the museum. It was a bit of a walk, but not nearly as bad as it could have been because I took the T two stops down (saving myself a few blocks) on the way there, and was offered a ride back by one of the women giving the tour. The whole thing was a lot of fun, and I now know a lot more about Brighton's history. I also saw a couple pictures of Commonwealth - at least one of which was taken right about where my apartment is now - from a long time ago. In the first picture, it's just a dirt road! But it's in the process of being expanded... and presumably paved.

Another woman who volunteers there works for the T, and she's going to send me bus maps & schedules. I need all the help I can get with those - the subway's so much easier to understand.

Custom Library Cards

So apparently my window shades are white, not off-white. I'm very glad I decided to clean them and will be putting more time into that sometime soon.

This morning, I found the train station and the outbound Copley T stop - both of which I'll need to know for the trip to/from the farm. Then I went to the library, and I now not only have a card, I have a blue library card - you could actually pick what color you wanted!

Plans for this afternoon - buy another T pass, check out the grocery store, and figure out how to get to the museum tomorrow

Car Alarms Should Die

So where's all these thunderstorms everyone's been predicting? It's too hot to really go out much, but it looks sunny.

I slept in this morning, mainly because somebody's car alarm was going off in the distance from about midnight to...let's see... 3am or so? It kept echoing in my skull even after it finally turned off. I suppose they make them that obnoxious so that potential car thieves will think "forget this, I'd rather go steal ear plugs."

So basically, plans for today are various emails, cleaning up my itunes, and possibly washing the window shades. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit cooler.

Job Hunt part 1

I have now applied to both Staples and CVS, found a Borders I want to apply to and a mall I don't (though I can't wait to show Steph), and stopped by Trident Booksellers & Cafe which I definitely plan to apply to.

I will not be applying to the library until such time as I can find my way from the kid's books to the nonfiction without getting lost. This may require several month's time, along with the use of a map and a compass. Beautiful place to explore, though.

Because people keep asking.

This haircut comes with coffee!

After my siesta yesterday, I went back out in search of an Apple store and an AT&T. Emerson's off-campus student services sent me to the Hynes Convention Center stop. I was a little lost when I got there, but that's okay - starting off in the wrong direction took me past Allison, who stopped me to ask if I'd be willing to get my hair cut by her as part of her apprenticeship at Sassoon's. We scheduled it for this morning (it looks really cool, by the way), then I continued on.

I found the apple store first, and it was impressive! Three floors, with a clear glass spiral staircase going up the center... the genius bar was on top, and I was offered the elevator, but that wouldn't have been any fun. I went straight up.

There, I was introduced to Michael, who listened to the history of my quirky computer with a puzzled expression before attempting to fix its latest little hiccup, that of not being able to run time machine and the internet at the same time.

This is not supposed to happen. They are not supposed to be connected. He was especially puzzled by the fact that something that was supposed to be a hardware issue was acting like a software issue... or was it the other way around? Anyway, Michele's technologically challenging luck strikes again. While he was working on that, I continued down the street to AT&T and had my voicemail fixed. Then I went back to the Apple store and played with all their fun toys, waiting to be called back to the genius bar.

He fixed it by giving me Snow Leopard. Cool, right?

To celebrate, I went to a free wine tasting. Then I got back on the T, and got grinned at by a baby. Finally, I grinned back, which made her giggle and drop her pacifier. After that, she watched me suspiciously all the way home. Never trust a pacifier thief.

Siesta

I mentioned before that Boston reminded me of Spain, and it's certainly hot enough. Therefore I have decided that until a job or class forces me to change my schedule, I will plan on observing a siesta. I'll run errands in the morning, be back to the apartment for lunch, and then stay there until around 2. Perhaps this way I'll be able to stay cool.

This morning's errands taught me all about the many buildings Emerson has, mainly because each office I went to referenced another for some of my questions, and none were in the same building. All were helpful though - and I got a new Writer's Chronicle to read on the way home.

This afternoon - after 2 - I plan to get both my phone and computer fixed. I've got directions to a street with both stores near each other. Then depending on how much energy I have I'll either explore more or come back to hang posters and hook up my printer.

And now, time for my siesta. ¡Hasta mañana!

"Song and story, that's what we love. What did you do today? Tell me what happened. How did it go last night? Then what happened? What did he say then? That's what we ask each other every day, right? What happened? Well, after that, what happened? Well, then what'd you do? We love to know this. We want to know. Action and time with consequence, and then, consequently, what happened? We love stories. It will never go away. Humans, we were built on stories. We need stories."

- Marie Howe, in interview in Summer 2010 Writer's Chronicle

Boston

I'm finally here, and my family's on the way home.

Of course, it wasn't until they were almost ready to go that I realized I'd forgotten a somewhat important box at home... but that's kind of required for a move, isn't it? You always have to forget something. At least it wasn't my socks.

One roommate's here, but studying. The other two are away for the weekend but should be back today, to prove they aren't ghosts. I've been starting to wonder.

Packing

Well, unpacking's almost done now, and a lot of it's been re-packed. Essentially we moved my box mountain in from the garage and back out again, but I feel very accomplished because of this.

Quilt's here

Silverware - excuse me, flatware - is here

I have a bread knife, steak knives, and pans

I seem to have inherited various kitchen things from previous roommates. Including, for some odd reason, a cheese slicer.

Dishes are in the mail

Sheets are in the mail

Key should be in the mail

I'm actually doing this!

Starting Out

"What does 'toil and snares' mean?"

"Okay, picture this: Book report. Mrs. Kelly. Due tomorrow. Haven't even read The Book."

Now picture this:

Moving. To Boston. In two weeks. Haven't even unpacked from college...

I'm still not truly believing I'm in Emerson's publishing program, and I probably won't believe it until I'm actually in class. I can't wait. This is it - this is as far as my planning ever went, but it's taking me somewhere, and I can't wait to find out where!

You might wonder why I'm attempting blogging, since up until now I've insisted I only do fiction. Call it sibling rivalry :-)

I'm taking my title from Tolkien:

The road goes ever on and on,

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the road has gone,

And I must follow if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way,

Where many paths and errands meet.

And wither then? I cannot say.

So this will be my record of Boston - and maybe further.

But first, I need to make breakfast.