Holidays and Such

Two weeks off school finally gives me the opportunity to sit and catch up with life and what has happened in the last 4 and a half months since I last posted.

It has been just over 4 months since I have moved down to San Diego and things are slowly but surely coming together. I ended up moving in with someone I barely knew but she and I had more than the love of the same man in common. The good thing is that man is my best friend and not a romantic love interest. I only met Tricia once, the last time I was in SD in 2006 but she was kind enough to offer me her spare room and her friendship despite all the situations that would have made it awkward. We ended up living together for almost 2 months and having possibly too much fun while we were at it.

At end of August things were still suffering from still not having a job so I took a job at a little grocery store, working as much as I could. Most of the rest of my time was spent at the beach as its free and of course because its fun.

The last week in September I was finally hired at a middle school here in San Diego. I am now one of two 8th grade Physical Science teachers and I am starting to enjoy the position and my students. Within a week of getting a job, I was able to find a cute 1 bedroom apartment with the biggest bedroom closest I have ever seen - a match made in heaven.

Adam came home on leave and it worked out perfectly with my week-long Thanksgiving holiday so that was AWESOME. We spent our time doing a whole lot of nothing but did take time to watch a lot of movies, visit the wild animal park, and jump out of a plane at 13,000 feet. Nothing says fun like 120 mph free fall!

Three days after Adam left, my friend Eoin came from Ireland on the initial leg of his around-the-world trip for the next year. He spent most of the week on the couch as he had to have some dental work done but was up and running by the weekend. We took a road trip to Las Vegas for the weekend as I was set to participate in the LV Marathon. It was fun to see the City of Sin through fresh eyes and we had a blast enjoying all of the American debauchery...and I am pretty sure we covered every aspect of debauchery in our less-than-24-hour visit. As I was still working two jobs and being slightly lazy, I definitely wasn't ready to do the whole marathon so I just did the half. I hope to get my stuff together and really train for a full marathon and rock it next summer. Because the world is so amazingly small, I was fortunate enough to run into a friend from high school while going into the MGM. Meagan came to run the marathon too and in another act of fate, we ran into each other again before the race. Guess that obnoxious song is correct...after all.

December has gone by super fast. I finally quit the grocery store. I am starting to feel more comfortable with my teaching role. I am starting to make more friends than just Tricia in SD. I have rekindled my love for men in uniforms - cops in particular. I am looking forward to not being so stressed with the two jobs thing so I can spend more time coaching Girls on the Run this next season, feel like a better teacher, and have more of a life in general.

As it wasn't feasible for me to head to the beautiful village of Medford this year, I took the short drive over to Phoenix to spend Christmas with Craig. Apparently I have brought some rain from San Diego with me but I would like to blame Eoin for bringing it down from Seattle first. Now I just have to figure out what to do with myself for the week and will be entertained to see how much of my "list" actually gets done.

I have a job, an apartment, some friends, and a California license. Let's see if I can manage to stay here for more than a year. To anyone who might be feeling the travel bug, I have a comfy futon and the door is always open.