Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm Yours!

Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours...school district in Phoenix. Yes, I signed the contract, signed my life away from August 13th to May 22nd, to a school district in El Mirage, AZ...which is just the outskirts of Phoenix. I think it's like 45 minutes to downtown Phoenix. I'm very excited because now I don't have to think about it anymore. I know exactly where I'll be in the fall and I can concentrate on finding a place to live, AND having an awesome summer. Yahoo!

Visitors

**I wrote this a week ago but it wouldn't post**

Hey :) My parents came out to visit last week. Let me back up, last Friday night was Lucy's 1st birthday party. Breigh & a date, and Mari & Jeff came over to celebrate. See, we never do anything, so it was a great excuse for me to be social! Anyway, it was fun, we ate, we drank, I drank, I drank, we played a couple games. They left, and I was hungover the next morning. Thing is, I didn't think I drank that much, and I purposely didn't because I had to get my parents from LAX Saturday morning...I was throwing up, driving to LAX with a bag just in case. Felt like crap, thought I was going to pass out. But it was ok. So, my parents came, Saturday I just showed them around Pasadena, Sunday we went to Santa Monica, Monday we went to the San Diego Zoo, and Wednesday we did Hollywood. It was all a good time. It was fun stuff, good to see them, and it's always nice to have visitors you know? Oh, and while in Hollywood we saw "White Boy" from "I Love New York," we pulled up next to him and he said that he was in town filming the reunion show (which should be on Monday I think) and we also saw Will Ferrall's son playing in the driveway while on our tour of the stars' homes.

This week was my spring break, so after my parents left I still had 3 days off work (plus this weekend). I don't think anyone could have been less productive than me in these 3 days. I did some laundry, picked up a few things from the grocery store, got a couple little errands done, and took Lucy to the park (keep in mind, that is over the course of 3 days), and other than that, I've done nothing but lay on the couch :) Which is nice...I guess...I slept until noon today. YAY! I also watched a lot of movies, which is actually out of character for me, I prefer TV to movies because there's not as much attention involved. Anyway, this week was the first time in my life I'd ever bought a movie off the cable (I know...I'm a bit behind). Thursday night Ivan & I rented "Babel". It was good...but in a different way. So Friday, I found that I was addicted to renting movies from the TV-- I watched "Stranger then Fiction" (liked it), "Little Miss Sunshine" (liked it), "Employee of the Month" (could have done without it), and "Running With Scissors" (it was ok...not sure how I feel about it really). See...very productive!

I did have my interview for Phoenix on Thursday. I think it went ok. You never really know with those things you know? You could answer great, but it's all relative, what are they looking for? Now it's just a wait & see. And if this one doesn't work out, I'm not worried. There are always jobs to be had. And it's still very early in the game. Last year I didn't sign my fall contract until mid-August. I wanted to get it done early this year so I wouldn't change my mind!

What else...nothing I guess. I'm looking for a summer job. I can't decide if I want to try & get an O.T job because the money will be good, or try & go back to the day care, because I love it there :) I think it will be kinda hard to get an OT job though because if I go the OT route, I don't want to work the whole time I'm home, only 4-5 weeks, and take 3-4 off. If I work at the daycare, I'll probably work the whole summer. Who knows. Financially, makes more sense to do OT, but I'd also like to enjoy myself, and I'm not that comfortable in nursing homes & hospitals, so I'd be a little bit unhappy everyday...I dunno!

Sadness

So, I work for a contract company. In that company I have my recruiter, Allison. She is the person who I call or email when I need to bitch, am happy about something, need help with something, have any questions, etc. I first got in contact with Allison in the fall of 2004. We started talking and and actually created a friendship, even though I didn't work for her company my first year in California. We still stayed in touch, and this year I worked for her company. I have a loyalty to Allison, not so much to the company, but me & Allison had an instant connection; although I think she's just a people person so I'm sure she has that connection with everyone she meets. Anyway, she called me yesterday and told me that she is quitting to stay home with her kids...good for her right? I tried to pretend to be happy for her but it makes me sad. I kinda feel abandoned and like, how am I supposed to feel about a new recruiter? It's an odd lonely feeling. In the world of travel therapy, you need someone you can count on and someone you are confident has your best interests at heart, and someone you feel has your back, and really, someone who knows what it's like. Not everyone knows about this business. I've had my share of complaints and everything between me & Allison, sometimes I thought we were too much of friends instead of a professional relationship, and so that made it hard. But now I'm seeing that it was a good thing to have.

My new recruiter called me tonight. She seems nice. But she's not Allison :( And we won't have that same connection. And it's hard to just immediately trust that someone is going to do everything they can for you. I had grown to know that Allison could understand where I was coming from, whether I was being irrational or not, I think she listened, and tried to understand where I was coming from. And whether she could change the situation for me or not, that is ultimately what mattered. She at least listened and would chime in with me while I was bitching. Ya know? I think it's kinda rare to find someone who will just chat with you. Maybe not. It was just natural for us. And now I'm scared! Allison knew how I was obsessive about things and might possibly email and call several times a day when I was excited about a job or a move or some minor detail...can I do that with a new person? I dunno. Anyway, I'm just a little depressed, I'm not going to lie.

It's so hot in Arizona...

As we prepare for the move to the Phoenix area...oh yeah, we're moving to Phoenix in the fall. I love California but I am ready for something different. Have to keep me interested in life you know. Anyway, any time I say that's where we're moving, people say "It's really hot there" or something along those lines. Yeah, thanks guys. I realize that it's really hot there. Maybe I haven't experienced the actual heat, but yes, I understand it's incredibly hot. With that said, here's some one-liners about the heat in AZ:

• the birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.
• the potatoes cook underground, and all you have to do to have lunch is to pull one out and add butter, salt and pepper.
• farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying hard-boiled eggs.
• the cows are giving evaporated milk.
• the trees are whistling for the dogs.
• you no longer associate bridges (or rivers) with water.
• you can say 113 degrees without fainting.
• you eat hot chilies to cool your mouth off.
• you can make instant sun tea.
• you learn that a seat belt makes a pretty good branding iron.
• the temperature drops below 95, you feel a bit chilly.
• you've experienced condensation on your butt from the hot water in the toilet bowl.
• you would give anything to be able to splash cold water on your face.
• you can attend any function wearing shorts and a tank top.
• The 4 seasons are: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!
• you discover that in July, it takes only 2 fingers to drive your car.
• you discover that you can get a sunburn through your car window.
• you notice the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
• hot water now comes out of both taps.
• it's noon in July, kids are on summer vacation, and not one person is out on the streets.
• you actually burn your hand opening the car door.
• you break a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30 a.m. work.
• no one would dream of putting vinyl upholstery in a car or not having air conditioning.
• your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, "What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death?"
• you realize that asphalt has a liquid state.
• a sad Arizonan once prayed, "I wish it would rain - not so much for me, cuz I've seen it -- but for my 7-year-old."

**Some of these I have experienced in the So-Cal heat...or because of the humidity in Key Largo! Although, I'm sure AZ is still worse**

And this...which could quite possibly end up on my blog in my own words... "Diary of Moving to Arizona"

May 15th: Now this is a state that knows how to live! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. Mountains and deserts blended together. What a place! Watched the sunset from a park lying on a blanket. It was beautiful. I've finally found my home. I love it here.

June 14th: Really heating up. Got to 108 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car, work in an air-conditioned office. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I'm turning into a real sun worshipper.

June 30th: Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

July 10th: The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least it's a dry heat. Getting used to it is taking longer than I expected.

July 15th: Fell asleep by the pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed two days of work; what a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though: got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.

July 25th: Dry heat, my butt. Hot is hot! The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the A/C repairman charged $250 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.

July 30th: Been sleeping outside by the pool for three nights now. $1,600 in damn house payments and we can't even go inside. Why did I ever come here?

August 4th: 115 degrees! Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $1,200 and gets the temperature down to about 90. I hate this [expletive deleted] state.

August 8th: If another wise a** cracks, "Hot enough for you today?" I'm going to tear his [expletive deleted] throat out. Damn heat. By the time I get to work the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and no deodorant works well enough!

August 10th: The weather report might as well be a damn recording: Hot and Sunny. It's been too hot to sleep for two damn months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this barren damn desert? $1,700 worth of cactus just dried up and blew into the [expletive deleted] pool. Even a cactus can't live in this heat.

August 14th: Welcome to Hell! Temperature got to 120 today. Forgot to crack the window and blew the [expletive deleted] windshield out of the BMW. The installer came to fix it and said, "Hot enough for you today?" My wife had to spend the $1,600 house payment to bail me out of jail.

August 30th: Worst day of the damn summer. I'm not leaving the house. The [expletive deleted] monsoon rains finally came and all they did is to make it muggier than hell. The BMW is now floating somewhere in Mexico with its new $500 windshield. nobody told me about staying out of the washes during a "flash flood" warning. That does it. We're moving back to California and buying a house next to the freeway for some peace and quiet.