Awesome/Awful Happenings

I love lists. So why not make a list of the awesome and awful things going on right now?

AWESOME
1. Moving into our new apartment! It's right next to my Mom's old high school, and a liquor store called 'The Golden Bull' which has a huge gold bull on the roof. Got some good wine there - Ravens Petite Syrah. Then drank it for dinner &breakfast (with the addition of juice and apple chunks).














2. Signing up for Salsa at Stamp. We're going to learn to dance! Just in time for Valentine's Day. Credit goes to Devin on this one. Hubba hubba

3. Worms eat our trash! Vermiculture is the urban homesteader's answer to the stinky trash can. We got our worms within a few days and now they are happily chewing up our slimy collards, lemon rind, breadcrumbs, etc.

4. Free / Cheap furniture! Tammy had a kitchen table for us, Value Village had four chairs for us for $32 -- not too bad, but we're refinishing them so they look super spiffy, and Ellicott City neighbors (who used to babysit me when I was a wee lass) may have a couch/loveseat for us. All we have to figure out is how to move these freebies.

5. Watching our first State of the Union Address in 3 years at Busboys & Poets. I. Love. That. Place. Good pecan pie, too. What I'm most excited about is his bold statement about ending subsidies for dinosaur oil companies. Urging investment in education and technology sounds right on to me, too.

6. Hyattsville Library. Finally got a copy of Cormac McCarthy's The Road; Fun DVDs like Robin Hood Men In Tights and permaculture book 'Food Not Lawns!' I love walking away with an armful of treasures. Free!










7. Swap Meet and International Food Stores. There is so much good produce in this ethnically diverse part of town! In the past week we made Miso soup w/rice noodles, Goat stew w/ginger mashed potatoes, Spaghetti with Squash, and smoked a lot of hookah.

8. Tagging along on Environmental Science and Tech trips! I got to go w/Devin to hear an engineer from Oklahoma State talk about Precision Agriculture (fertilizer delivery using real-time sensing of how much nitrogen the crops need). That was also my first time on the 4H grounds - good stuff. Devin was digging the shooting range next door to the lecture hall.

9. Neighbor's Internet + How I Met Your Mother Episodes = Giggle Time

AWFUL
1. Paying my credit card bill. Not only did the apartment complex take a month's rent out of my savings account, now I have to pay $500 to Capital One out of my checking account, or suffer inexplicable interest charges. How did I manage to spend that much.. AND split everything with Devin at the same time? We are clearly living a life beyond our means. Meaning I don't have a paycheck, why should I eat? Back to lentils and rice, kids.

2. Job searching. My noncompetitive eligibility doesn't seem to be doing shit for me. I'm just hopeful that an RPCV friend's referral will be enough to get me a gig out in Gaithersburg doing lab auditing with the National Institute of Science and Technology. Then again, what about that Youth Leadership Conference I interviewed for? Guess I could go back to the Insurance company that tried to recruit me.. or check myself into a temp agency. Total case of the anxious blahs. See #Awful 1 about anxiety.

3. My family thinking that I am not job searching just because I have had a 8% interview rate. I'm trying I swear! But these times are so different than previous times, it's just hard to relate to people's expectations.

4. Ice on Metzerott Road. Why did we choose to live on the hilliest road in 4 zip codes? How do we get home from Value Village with a trunk full of STUFF when it starts snizzling at 3:30 but threatens to freeze after 6? Who will salt the roads? Who will plow? How do I know I won't slide into the ditch? I'll just let Devin drive.. remembering that he comes from the land of eternal sunshine! His experience with dirt roads might translate alright, but that doesn't prevent me from giving myself little panic attacks.

The Smell Of The Idiocracy

In a way, it is a blessing to be poor now, in this land of extravagance. All of the wonderful shopping opportunities - shining Christmas windows, endless aisles of similar yet different products at the supermarket -- are not really available to me. In the smaller sphere of my existence, I am surprised by the mundane, new sensations. Everything in a house has a smell - objects and substances used to clean them. Those supposedly subtle smells are constantly overpowering my nose. It seems that the people who test for scent subtlety are obvious scent overloaders themselves. Now, I have to be careful not to breathe too deeply or I will feel a little sting, like the way chlorine products burn away your smell sensors.

Wasn't Malawi full of smells? And unpleasant senses? Sure we all used latrines. But if you have pretty good aim, and a nice deep pit below you, no problem. No lingering pee smells or what have you. Nobody wore deodorant so there was definitely some bo B.O. But that's what wind is for. Rain smells great. Burning/clearing of fields is unsightly and makes a lot of ash, but the smell isn't so bad. Kinda like a cookfire. Sickness is stinky - but no Malawian would ever let an azungu see him in a visibly sick state. I wasn't too sick myself, but I do have some pungent memories of when my cat yakked tuna all over my yoga mat. That was only a one-time occasion; what I experience now is a constant barrage.

It hasn't been easy on my eyes either. Grad school applications? Hours on the computer. Some days many hours. Early morning hours, afternoon hours, night hours. Job apps, same deal. Everyone wants you to register for THEIR career postings website. Just another flavor of vanilla. (My apologies to vanilla ice cream lovers) More hours trying to decide how to fit yourself into some nice, neat webpage drop down menu. Have I had secretarial experience? Sure, that was under 'leadership' in my college activities on my resume. But it was also a winter fill-in position at a teeny company my Dad worked at 10 years ago. So.. sure, why not! I'll say yes until I get a bite and have to prove it.

We love our modern conveniences in America. New, improved versions keep coming out all the time. But why can't they coexist with my senses? Or perhaps I am the one who is an antagonist to the system, not the other way around. I need to buck up and get used to the onslaught.

Thank goodness for misadventures like accidentally walking 10 miles with Miss E. next to the Patapsco river in winter. The only threat of overstimulation there was the idea that we might have to ford the icy river on foot, since the only bridges available were railroad bridges (quite active at that -- 2 trains passed during those hours). Could have been cold and uncomfortable. But we just walked on, and eventually there was a way out. But as for my nose, there's no way I'll sacrifice dignity and wear a nose plug.. so the way out is: through.