24 September 2011

back from FL

I actually started writing this post on Thursday, the day after we returned from our 4 day trip to south Florida. But on Friday we decided to see my best friend in MD, since it was our last chance to do so, before the move.

We had dinner at some restaurant and went to his house to say goodbye to his mum, who I've grown close to as well. Played with some cute doggies. :)

The next day we decided to wake up early and take a fairly short trip up to Lancaster, PA (where we lived while I was going to college) to go to their farmer's market. We both miss it, and the hub wanted to say hi to his old fellow chefs at the restaurant he worked at in Lancaster.

I felt fine when I woke up, but as we were driving up there (which takes 2 hours 30 minutes) I felt a knot in my stomach that wouldn't go away, and began to worsen.

So long story short, and a few disgusting details later, I definitely had a stomach flu/food poisoning. Not good to have while on the move. Takeshi asked if I wanted to go back, but by that time we were more than half way there. So I said (stupid me), no we should still go. And at the moment we are driving through downtown Lancaster I end up having to open the passenger door to puke. Takeshi is freaking out a little, trying to find a place to pull over. And everyone around us is, I'm sure, is wishing they hadn't just seen that happen in front of their eyes. And it's pouring rain outside.

Our plan is to drop me off at a local cafe (because I just CAN'T be in a moving car anymore), so he pulls over in traffic really quick and drops me off at a small outdoor parking lot which is literally about 20 ft. away from the cafe. I stumble through a line of bushes to be in between two parked cars - and I can't stand anymore.

I never made it to the cafe. I end up in a fetal position on the ground next to a storm drain in between the cars. I'm getting soaked, my shoes, my socks, my pants, and I don't care. I want to be unconscious at this point.

I feebly get out my phone and text Takeshi through pain and nausea:

"I need you

Can't get to cafe

Outside now on grpound

in bushes where you left me

need to lie down

please

come find me

in parking lot outside

Please"

After what seems to be forever, I hear him calling my name. He finds me and tells me he'll have to run back to the car, where he parked it. He comes, he parks the car in that same parking lot, and I throw myself into the backseat and lie down. I'm just so happy to be inside somewhere, that's dry and quiet.

So anyway....after that we get home a lot later than we had thought, with traffic on the way back.

This morning at 8am we went to an urgent care clinic, and they pretty much told me the same thing I already knew. They couldn't give me anything to treat/cure it - the only thing they said they could do is give me an injection of anti-nausea medicine, but since we don't have health insurance, it would have cost a fortune, on top of the price of the visit itself. So we left, came home, and I promptly fell asleep.

Hub ended up coming in later and falling asleep as well on the bed. I woke up at 8pm feeling better, and just didn't want to be asleep/laying down in bed anymore. He woke up a few minutes after me, and being the wonderful man he is, made me chicken noodle soup from scratch! So, so good. And while I was asleep, he did the laundry and went out and bought me some juice. Did I mention I love my hubby?

So. It's good that I'm getting better (knock on wood). The bad thing is that this knocks our schedule totally off. Originally we were planning to have been packing our stuff and picking up the truck tomorrow or Monday already.

So we may still move to Florida. But we are talking about alternatives now, perhaps just finding a cheaper apartment in this area. I don't know. We'll see.

09 September 2011

throat scratch/research

Hah. What a weird combination for a title.

So I guess I scratched the back of my throat somehow a few days ago. Thought I was coming down with something (OH my god - anything but THAT right now). But I took a look with a flashlight and I can see a mid-sized red scratch on the right side. Ouch. Gargling with salt water will hopefully help it.

The research continues full-throttle, as well as me sending a TON of emails to....pretty much everywhere on the east coast. I've already sent about 20 emails tonight, to at least 8 states. It's part of the plan we finally came to put together today, of how the rest of the month will go. Since we were able to extend the apartment notice until the 30th.

You cannot BELIEVE how....horrible it's been to debate this issue of, are we moving? Or not moving? What if this happens? What if this happens?? What should we do?

There's been a lot of sleep lost, a lot of late nights talking until 2-3am. Frustration, a lot of helplessness, etc. All of the usual happy stuff. :D

I think things are still tense but in a better way - in a focused way, since we've made a decision on what to do. We can actually now work towards something.

Today was my last day with the dog walking. It was very anti-climatic. I guess it wasn't as hard for me to say goodbye to the doggies, because my mind is too busy thinking about our plans to move. Though it will suck to go from seeing them everyday, to not having them around at all again..........

We need to get a dog sometime sooooon! xD Heh.

07 September 2011

plans?

So this whole business has been going on for about a month now. And it's almost too much to spit back out in a blog post, but I'll do my best to sum up.

Basically, hub brought this up a month ago, saying that it was about that time for him to move on from his present job. He's big on what he can learn as a professional wherever he works. When the learning starts to ebb, he's usually ready to find another job. That time period, so far in the past, has been 1 year. We have been in the D.C. Metro area for 1 year.

And in that 1 year, I have unsuccessfully searched for a graphic design position. I have not been able to, in my eyes, start my career. I want to be employed. I can NOT dog walk or do other part-time job crap until I'm in my 30's or something...

So.

We hatch this 'plan'. For him to leave his job (which he was already going to do), and for me to quit my part-time dog walking, and to kick my job-hunting really into high-gear. And to move from our present apartment to perhaps somewhere else in the Metro area. We were more optimistic/hopeful about this plan, because recently I've been off to multiple interviews/hearing back from people I've applied to - the most I've had since we've moved here.

And to do this within a months' time.

But now.

The time is getting damned short now. The 4-5 interviews I went to ended up in nothing. I still have no sights for a job. Takeshi's culinary industry has always been, and probably will always be more reliable, compared to mine. And he's been out of college, working professionally now for at least 3-4 years.

But we've made decisions to end certain things now - we have until the 25th to move out of our current apartment. Both of our last days of work are this Saturday the 10th. Takeshi can only start looking for jobs until after he's left this job. Bad thing about being a chef is the hours. He doesn't have the time to actually go to interviews because he'd have to take time off. He works at least 15 hours a day.

It does feel like we were too hopeful, like I said. It feels like we've chosen to dig ourselves into a hole, we've chosen to be so risky. We've never been in such a clueless situation before.

So. What to do?

Last night we had a debate after hub got home from work at 11pm until about 2am.

These were our thoughts that night:

Basically, the way things are going (or NOT going...) with my job search, there is a HIGH probability that we'll have to move, again, with only Takeshi's new income at wherever he gets a job. But the cost of living in the D.C. Metro area is crippling us financially, since we got here. It's too damned expensive. We don't know if we'll be able to stay in this area that way.

A different way to look at my particular situation is that, with my entry-level experience that I have right now - perhaps I'm trying to reach a level in the D.C. Metro area, that I'll never be able to get to. The standards of, or what constitutes an "entry-level graphic design position" this area is more difficult than what I can qualify for. I need a stepping stone to start my career, but most or all of the "stones" in the D.C. Metro are too far away for me to leap onto. (Weird metaphor?)

So. With the issue of the cost of living, and my career troubles, we had to come up with a different way to try to obtain those things.

And our thoughts are now geared towards moving to a smaller city/town. Quite possibly not even within Maryland, DC, or Virginia. Smaller towns have lower costs of living for sure, and their standards for design jobs are different.

We saw both of these things in Lancaster, PA when we lived there. We actually saved money on TK's income ALONE, and I was still in college. We need to save money right now. And I need an easier way to get into the design industry. And if, in the worst case scenario, I'm not able to get "hired" in that new city/town right away, we need the backup plan of being able to sustain ourselves with his income alone. I could work as an intern somewhere to gain experience, and get another part-time job.

So yeah...........these past couple of months have been....heavy. And it's not over yet. It's going to get even crazier. But hopefully for the better.

I've started researching some locations already. Since we're working on a fast schedule anyway, we'll be hoping to make the best decision soon. And then even more decisions after that. There are so many "what-ifs" and so much that's just going to BE unknown. We just need to make the best 'educated' decision.

We have to make it work somehow, anyway. We don't have a choice. We have work to do. We have until the 25th.

Send us good vibes and rainbows. D:

Night all.

running out of time - where to go

I'm going to blog about this whole recent situation when I get home today. There's so much to say about it, that I've wanted to blog about it, but just started to talk about it tires me out!

Gloomy/rainy weather today too. Bleh...where am I, London?

More soon.