tomorrow is the big day. i'm all snuggled up right now in my new apartment in the closest approximation to my big purple couch that i could easily move - my big purple chair.
i am blogging to avoid further unpacking.
how did i spend my first evening in chilli, aside from hauling laundry baskets and target bags up a really long flight of stairs? met up with some of the social workers and the outgoing pharmacy resident for some beers and bluegrass music at the dock, a local watering hole on water street (where the canal used to be). jon and kate plus eight must be really popular around here cause i saw about 5 women with versions of kate's haircut.
my anxiety about tomorrow has evaporated now that i am actually here.
wish i had remembered my camera because as i was driving into town, i saw this on the sign outside an autobody shop: "karen linzy. come back and get your bad check." they called her ass out.
so now i get to decide if i want to spend the rest of the night watching chocolat or harry potter and the order of the phoenix. i have no cable and i ran out of boxes before i could pack all the dvds i had set out. these two were on top. actually i should unpack. or study for my upcoming boards. decisions, decisions.
i miss my pugs.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
T-2
moved all the heavy stuff up to chilli yesterday. my new apartment is on the second floor. brian seemed very likely to push me down the stairs shortly after he and kevin had carried my treadmill up them.
exercise is essential. there's a lot of fried food in chillicothe and i don't want to become another heart attack in waiting.
the only thing that could improve my new digs is hardwood floors. i feel that they are there, lurking under the short pile industrial carpet, but i keep telling myself, it's only a year. i have ample windows in the front room that overlook the street, built-in bookshelves, and a fireplace. almost just like home.
i can't believe i am 30 years old and for the first time living somewhere other than cincinnati. hell, i've spent 25 of those years in the same zip code. in college i dreamed about moving to arizona or new mexico so i could hideout in the desert and climb the mountains and be all zen, like georgia o'keefe or d.h. lawrence. obviously didn't happen. most people move someplace like new york, chicago, san francisco. i'm downsizing. and i'm alright with that. while big cities are fabulous to visit, i don't know that i would be happy living in one. too impersonal, despite all the great food and art and activities.
exercise is essential. there's a lot of fried food in chillicothe and i don't want to become another heart attack in waiting.
the only thing that could improve my new digs is hardwood floors. i feel that they are there, lurking under the short pile industrial carpet, but i keep telling myself, it's only a year. i have ample windows in the front room that overlook the street, built-in bookshelves, and a fireplace. almost just like home.
i can't believe i am 30 years old and for the first time living somewhere other than cincinnati. hell, i've spent 25 of those years in the same zip code. in college i dreamed about moving to arizona or new mexico so i could hideout in the desert and climb the mountains and be all zen, like georgia o'keefe or d.h. lawrence. obviously didn't happen. most people move someplace like new york, chicago, san francisco. i'm downsizing. and i'm alright with that. while big cities are fabulous to visit, i don't know that i would be happy living in one. too impersonal, despite all the great food and art and activities.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
T-8
last night i started having the naked-at-school-without-my-homework dreams about the start of my residency. only in these dreams i am dressed, but i can't organize my desk and people start asking extremely complex, nonsensical therapeutic riddles.
how is a raven like a writing desk? how is vancomycin pharmacodynamically similar to chocolate syrup in a 65kg redhead?
like alice, i stumbled through the hospital, checkered floors interminable before me and the walls twisting.
when i was nine, i was starting 4th grade at a new school. for the whole month before, i wandered the halls of my house all night long. sleep was elusive. some things don't change.
i spend a lot of time now wondering if i made the right decision. it would be so much...safer...to stay at kroger and wear my nametag and stand behind a counter. it is the practice environment i know, where i am comfortable and confident. the iv room at the hospital alone terrifies me.
only time will tell. i was worried when i decided to go to pharmacy school, and it was the best decision i have ever made. it was one of the few decisions i made in my life that was solely mine, and not me simply being carried along by someone else's influence. and i loved it. hopefully i will feel the same about residency when i'm done.
how is a raven like a writing desk? how is vancomycin pharmacodynamically similar to chocolate syrup in a 65kg redhead?
like alice, i stumbled through the hospital, checkered floors interminable before me and the walls twisting.
when i was nine, i was starting 4th grade at a new school. for the whole month before, i wandered the halls of my house all night long. sleep was elusive. some things don't change.
i spend a lot of time now wondering if i made the right decision. it would be so much...safer...to stay at kroger and wear my nametag and stand behind a counter. it is the practice environment i know, where i am comfortable and confident. the iv room at the hospital alone terrifies me.
only time will tell. i was worried when i decided to go to pharmacy school, and it was the best decision i have ever made. it was one of the few decisions i made in my life that was solely mine, and not me simply being carried along by someone else's influence. and i loved it. hopefully i will feel the same about residency when i'm done.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
T-20
well, it's happened. i am officially a lessee of an apartment in downtown chillicothe, right in the heart of the bustling metropolis.
my new landlord seems super nice, which is very fortunate. in fact, everyone in chillicothe that i have met has been amazingly sweet. the shop owners i talked to during the apartment hunt were very welcoming.
i only foresee one problem in my new town, you know, besides having to live away from my husband and all. my i-pod wasn't working (piece of crap), so i perused the airwaves to find a new favorite radio station. people, it's bleak. not that cincy has a really great station (r.i.p. the sound), but wow. so i'm a little concerned about it. well, that and the fact that as i was leaving town today there was a disturbance at the dq that warranted 3 police cruisers.
my new landlord seems super nice, which is very fortunate. in fact, everyone in chillicothe that i have met has been amazingly sweet. the shop owners i talked to during the apartment hunt were very welcoming.
i only foresee one problem in my new town, you know, besides having to live away from my husband and all. my i-pod wasn't working (piece of crap), so i perused the airwaves to find a new favorite radio station. people, it's bleak. not that cincy has a really great station (r.i.p. the sound), but wow. so i'm a little concerned about it. well, that and the fact that as i was leaving town today there was a disturbance at the dq that warranted 3 police cruisers.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
T-22
i finally got my official residency start date - july 1.
i think i also finally found an apartment. after all that searching and stress, i will probably end up taking the apartment that the current resident has. that of course means i cannot bring the pugs with me unless i disguise them as very ugly children.
two things i learned about apartment hunting:
1) ask the waitress at a local restaurant. they are a wealth of information about where to live and where not to live, as well as potential slumlords.
2) if you call about an apartment, and the rent sounds too good to be true, it probably is. i called a place in downtown chilli. the rent was $375. fantastic! however, when asked what was included, the landlord said, "water and sewage. there's a stove and a refrigerator, but if they go out, they go out. that's on you". what the hell? i have never encountered a similar comment from a landlord. ever. does that mean if i have to buy a new stove i get to take it with me when i leave the apartment?
i think i also finally found an apartment. after all that searching and stress, i will probably end up taking the apartment that the current resident has. that of course means i cannot bring the pugs with me unless i disguise them as very ugly children.
two things i learned about apartment hunting:
1) ask the waitress at a local restaurant. they are a wealth of information about where to live and where not to live, as well as potential slumlords.
2) if you call about an apartment, and the rent sounds too good to be true, it probably is. i called a place in downtown chilli. the rent was $375. fantastic! however, when asked what was included, the landlord said, "water and sewage. there's a stove and a refrigerator, but if they go out, they go out. that's on you". what the hell? i have never encountered a similar comment from a landlord. ever. does that mean if i have to buy a new stove i get to take it with me when i leave the apartment?
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
T-28
it didn't take long. only 2 nights alone and i'm already sleeping in the middle of the bed. like a goldfish, i've expanded to fill the available space.
last week, we had our cat, hemlock, put down because he was suffering from renal failure. his weight was down from 11 pounds to 4.8. he was so pathetic. i buried him in the backyard. our other cat, eliot, seems to be taking it well, except he has suddenly become the most annoying pain in the ass while i'm trying to sleep. he kneads my stomach, he licks my elbows, he play-bites my knuckles. he does this all night. what the hell?
today i had to defend myself against a monstrous crawly thing on the basement wall. one of those critters with about a million legs that look like hair blowing in the wind when it scuttles across the wall. i realized how dependent i have become in the last 4 years on brian's bug killing abilities. i have not had to face such a task in the time we've been married. brown yuck gushed out of it when i smashed it with my flip flop and it continued to twitch its million legs, stuck to the shoe bottom. a paper towel took care of the carnage. i just thank god it wasn't a spider. i couldn't have done it. it's the eyes. i can't stand the thought of the eight glossy eyes sizing me up. why do you think they never show charlotte from charlotte's web with all those eyes? cause it's fucking creepy. instead of being a joyous celebration of life and pigs, it would be likened to something directed by rob zombie.
last week, we had our cat, hemlock, put down because he was suffering from renal failure. his weight was down from 11 pounds to 4.8. he was so pathetic. i buried him in the backyard. our other cat, eliot, seems to be taking it well, except he has suddenly become the most annoying pain in the ass while i'm trying to sleep. he kneads my stomach, he licks my elbows, he play-bites my knuckles. he does this all night. what the hell?
today i had to defend myself against a monstrous crawly thing on the basement wall. one of those critters with about a million legs that look like hair blowing in the wind when it scuttles across the wall. i realized how dependent i have become in the last 4 years on brian's bug killing abilities. i have not had to face such a task in the time we've been married. brown yuck gushed out of it when i smashed it with my flip flop and it continued to twitch its million legs, stuck to the shoe bottom. a paper towel took care of the carnage. i just thank god it wasn't a spider. i couldn't have done it. it's the eyes. i can't stand the thought of the eight glossy eyes sizing me up. why do you think they never show charlotte from charlotte's web with all those eyes? cause it's fucking creepy. instead of being a joyous celebration of life and pigs, it would be likened to something directed by rob zombie.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
T-29
today i ate all brian's orange and red sour patch kids because he wasn't here to protect them.
i've been creating ridiculous to-do lists just so i can cross things off and feel like i've accomplished things. it's very gratifying. i've even been adding things i already did, just to cross them off. somehow it helps relieve the anxiety i feel that things are spiraling and i have no control over them. i can control a to-do list. it is a tiny corner of the universe that i can completely manipulate. something for me to cling to.
the time i have not spent crossing menial tasks off a fabricated to-do list i have spent stopping francie from "dominating" crosley. she's a bossy little thing and likes to assert her authority as frequently as possible.
maybe i should add "buy more sour patch kids" to my list. and perhaps "watch dog whisperer".
i've been creating ridiculous to-do lists just so i can cross things off and feel like i've accomplished things. it's very gratifying. i've even been adding things i already did, just to cross them off. somehow it helps relieve the anxiety i feel that things are spiraling and i have no control over them. i can control a to-do list. it is a tiny corner of the universe that i can completely manipulate. something for me to cling to.
the time i have not spent crossing menial tasks off a fabricated to-do list i have spent stopping francie from "dominating" crosley. she's a bossy little thing and likes to assert her authority as frequently as possible.
maybe i should add "buy more sour patch kids" to my list. and perhaps "watch dog whisperer".
Monday, June 1, 2009
the countdown begins
one month from today i start my pharmacy residency at the va in chillicothe, ohio. i don't like to think about it too much because it kind of makes me want to throw up.
i have been trying to find an apartment and terrible luck has been finding me. i was put in contact with one slumlord who offered 3 apartments for rent. in any of the 3 of them i would fear for my safety. they were located in areas with an abundance of upholstered furniture on porches and a severe lack of shirts on the residents.
i would think, usually, when searching for an apartment in a new city, one could peruse listings on apartments.com or similar convenience sites. not such much good old chilli. a search yields no results.
my problems are compounded by the fact i have two adorable pugs that need room in my home, too. landlords in chilli do not care for dogs evidently.
tonight is the first night brian is in louisville. he left me a little note on my pillow that reads "love you. see you friday." this is sad because i know it will be the same note i will have on my pillow every monday for a year. and that's the best case scenario. really, we will probably only see each other back at our house in cincinnati every other weekend. brian has to work some weekends.
i have it better right now, though. at least i'm at home with our dogs. brian is by himself in a hotel.
i have been trying to find an apartment and terrible luck has been finding me. i was put in contact with one slumlord who offered 3 apartments for rent. in any of the 3 of them i would fear for my safety. they were located in areas with an abundance of upholstered furniture on porches and a severe lack of shirts on the residents.
i would think, usually, when searching for an apartment in a new city, one could peruse listings on apartments.com or similar convenience sites. not such much good old chilli. a search yields no results.
my problems are compounded by the fact i have two adorable pugs that need room in my home, too. landlords in chilli do not care for dogs evidently.
tonight is the first night brian is in louisville. he left me a little note on my pillow that reads "love you. see you friday." this is sad because i know it will be the same note i will have on my pillow every monday for a year. and that's the best case scenario. really, we will probably only see each other back at our house in cincinnati every other weekend. brian has to work some weekends.
i have it better right now, though. at least i'm at home with our dogs. brian is by himself in a hotel.
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