New Routines

Well, still unemployed here in New City. This isn't really a bad thing as many of the positions I applied for have only just begun "interviewing," according to the job application website. So, I'm attempting to remain optimistic, though I suspect I'm not good at writing cover letters (hey, don't judge, I've never done this before).

On a more uplifting note, Boyfriend and I have successfully excavated most of the apartment out of boxes. We now have a fairly recognizable dining room/living room, kitchen, and master bedroom. The second bedroom is more of an office/work room where the last few boxes have gone to die. Maybe I'll get that a bit more cleaned up so I can start writing in there, as opposed to the living room. The dogs have adjusted better now that they have room to run around like lunatics.

One of the most often repeated bits of advice I've seen about job hunting, unemployment, or writing is to develop routines. Day-to-day jobs tend to force routinization as 8 hours of the day are taken up by a job and you still need to eat. Those of us with more flexible schedules need this same sort of routinization. Routines free up mental space to be creative. So, I'm working on making a routine for myself. I need to find time to eat, walk dogs, go to the gym, run errands, job hunt. I'm pretty good on the eating and dog walking part due to the whole necessity thing. I'm getting better on the gym thing. Still working on the errands. Need to nail down specific job hunting times so that doesn't bleed into evening. So, life continues to be more of a fixer-upper than I would like but renovation continues.

Boyfriend and I have started to (re)connect with old friends in the area. The socialization is good but many of these friends are in academia. So far, this hasn't been an issue in conversation. It just feels weird, like putting on old clothes that you loved but don't fit anymore. He hasn't mentioned it as being an issue but I get the impression he feels similarly. We will definitely need to start making some new friends to go with our new life here and hopefully that will help the weirdness. We would like to keep our old friends but I think some new ones would help with our transitions. Hmm...maybe I should look into writing groups while he tries to find a performance group (Boyfriend is a musician in his free time). I'll keep y'all informed on the transition if you do the same. Cheers.