I'm not very good about posting here anymore, am I? You should probably blame my awesome friends, who hear most of the ideas and stories I have to tell via instant messenger, which means I'm not left with a strong urge to write about them here on my LJ. Also, when I'm not stressed out, I have less to process here.

Anyway, I feel like I should record the information that I am now officially a Sales Associate at Walmart in the Jewelry Department. I have . . . mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I need the money very badly. (Living on $200 a month all summer was . . . interesting.) And my coworkers in the Jewelry Department are all quite pleasant and fun. In fact, the work atmosphere is surprisingly pleasant, at least on the human end.

But then, you've got the corporate end. And that's not so fun. I've had to sit through hours and hours of what they call CBLs (computer-based learning)--it's basically a Powerpoint slide narrated by a very bored voice actor, with a quiz at the end. Some of them are to convey important information (like how to pierce ears or operate a cash register), but a lot of them are just corporate policies for convincing the employees that Walmart cares about them. For example, they REQUIRED me to go in and work up a 'career plan' for my time at Walmart. Sam Walton said, "You don't have to leave Walmart to change careers." . . . seriously, the rest of my life at Walmart? I would rather stab my eyes out.

Then there's the obvious downsides, like spending eight hours inside of a Walmart. Brr.

( What's going on in the rest of my life, in list format )

I'm thinking a lot these days about what I want to do with my life. Something about graduating college probably does that to a person.

I've always said how I hate, loathe, and abominate suburbs. I either want to live in a city, or in the country. None of that poncy in-between stuff with the strip malls and parking lots and row upon row of McMansions.

Anyway, I've been weighing the benefits of city vs. country. The city has . . . you know, actual culture. Museums. Art. Ethnic food that doesn't involve some sort of Chinese buffet. And public transportation, which would be great. On the other hand, it's also got crime, high cost of living, and . . . people. Everywhere. Also, pollution, which matters when you're asthmatic and prone to bronchitis.

The country has privacy, peace, a relatively low cost of living, and is actually a pretty good place for a fiber-obsessed person, because if you live in the country, you can conceivably get sheep or llamas or other fiber-producing mammals. (I think it would be AWESOME to keep a couple sheep.) It's also probably easier to have a vegetable garden, which is high on my list of Things To Do. Also, there's a much lower chance of being mugged, raped, or abducted.

On the other hand, you have to get in a car to go ANYWHERE, and although rural Colorado has some awesome hippies, the country isn't really the center of diversity, racial, political, or otherwise. Also, in my experience, a lot of people in the country don't really 'get' intellectuals, which would set me up for a lot of weird looks and head shakes. (I'm actually kind of okay with this, because I'm not sure I 'get' intellectuals either. We are some weird people, you guys.)

So, I was thinking about it, and it occurred to me that I would most likely find it much easier to live in the country and visit the city from time to time than vice-versa. I have never lived in a city, but I suspect that after a while, I would get worn out by the constant presence of other people and their noise. I really like my quiet. (I am, however, eager to live in some major city for at least a year or two, just for the experience.) The country doesn't wear me out . . . A city would be stressful--the country just gets boring. I would rather get bored somewhere and hop a bus to someplace more interesting than get stressed out somewhere and hop a bus to some place more peaceful. I'd rather have peace be my default environment, you know?

Anyway, there's five hundred words that I can't get back that didn't go into my Honors Thesis. Damn, why is it so hard to make myself work?

Also, do you think maybe the solution would be moving to a SMALL city?

I don't realize that I need drugs until much later than I ought to realize. That goes for everything from pain killers to asthma medicine to allergy meds. Tonight was the allergy meds. I had been sitting here and sniffling for probably a couple hours before I realized that I was completely miserable. I hadn't even realized I had been sniffing. This is very unfortunate, because Amanda is particularly sensitive to the sound of people making snorfly noises--it grosses her out. (Yeah, I know, and she's rooming with ME?) I could have saved her listening to that if I had noticed earlier.

On the other hand, now that the Claritin has kicked in, I feel lovely. It's that, "Oh, wow, I can breathe through my nose!" amazement that only antihistamines can give you. I spend so much time with my nose running that having it not running is a real treat.

Tomorrow is my final project for Egypt. This is actually not really a matter for stress at all--in lieu of a final paper in this class, we're doing "service learning". The whole class is marching out to the local children's museum. They happen to have an Egypt exhibit open right now, so we're holding an event there. My group is doing a puppet show and coloring station on the Egyptian gods. I put together a really fantastic coloring book for the station, if I do say so myself. So, tomorrow will be spent herding children and socializing a lot, which means that my introverted self should be thoroughly exhausted by the end. But, it will be good, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

This evening, we went out to Japanese for dinner, and afterwards went to Wal-mart. I bought myself a potted plant earlier this semester, and the poor thing was in desperate need of a bigger pot, so I finally got one.

( Click for picture! )

PS: Thanks to everybody who commented on my last post--I feel rather calmer now.