I’m starting to settle into life out here, and that comes with pros and cons.
Post grad life is presenting itself with basically nothing but time, and that’s as much of a problem as it is an opportunity. I’ve never been good with using my free time if there’s something else to do in my day, no matter how far it is away. The 3:00 p.m. shift I work currently is definitely best fitted to my schedule, particularly given the alternative is a 7:00 a.m. shift. That said, my entire morning and early afternoon, it looms over my head paralyzingly. I can never seem to convince myself that, in fact, there are quite a few hours between myself and it, even with an hour at the gym and half an hour to get ready for work.
Nonetheless, I sit and scroll, feeling like I’m just killing time until it’s time for work. Part of this is practical, especially since I obviously don’t want to get caught up in something and then end up late for work. Still, though, as much of it is just bad time management and excuse making. I have more than enough time to adventure, or play some guitar, or go take pictures, or run errands, or… well… anything but what I do now. I need to get in the habit of doing things when I get up, not just burning time.
To give myself some credit here, I think I’ve been getting better with this lately. My biggest vice has always been sleeping too much and too late, and I’ve been doing well to overcome that. I’ve cut myself back to waking up at 10:30 at the latest, which those who know my degenerate ways will acknowledge is quite impressive indeed. I’ve also used a bit of my morning time to play some guitar or take some pictures, although the latter caused me not to go to the gym one day, which I’d prefer not to be an “either/or” situation in general.
I definitely also want to get outside more than I am. That’s why I’m here after all, and though it’s an excuse I genuinely do think I’d be doing more if I were working a 9-5 or something. Still, it’s my fault for not using the time I have, and I need to force the habit. I did get to go see the stars the other night, which was tremendous. I drove into the park around 11:00, which evidently isn’t late enough to get a full picture of the sky at this time of year. Still, it was pretty close, and the later it got the more my eyes adjusted and the sun continued to set. By 11:45, the sky was in close to full effect, and for the first time in my life I got to see the Milky Way. It’s definitely not like those pictures you see with purples and golds and silvers all across the sky (cameras must have more sensitive “eyes” than we do), but it’s still pretty amazing to see as an east-coaster. The stars are actually countless, as it turns out, even though you’d probably be able to count them on your two hands in the skies back home.
It also seems nearly impossible not to see a few shooting stars at night here, which is absolutely amazing to me since I’d never seen one in my life prior to last week. If for no other reason than that, I feel like I’m still in the right place.
I was told this week to look into going to grad-school out here, unrelated to the fact that I’m already out here anyways. After looking into it, it might not be a bad idea at all, and if I live here for a while, I’d even be able to get in-state tuition (I think). So… I might end up out here a bit longer than I’d anticipated. It’s pretty amazing out here though, so maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing (though -20 degree winters might have something to say about that).
Anyways, I’m thinking about doing some music analysis on here. I figure it’ll give me more reasons to write, and more excuses to keep listening to new music and paying better attention to old music. Look out for that, I’m thinking I’ll try to post those on Fridays (and these on Sundays, I’m counting this as a Sunday posting since I’m still awake).
Song of the Week:
The Line 
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