things i've learned: part one

moving to a new city has proven quite interesting.  i'm soaking up everything like a sponge (or at least attempting to), but in case you ever move to a new city i want to make sure i share my thoughts.  you're welcome in advance.

things i've learned: part one

1.  it may take maintenance two weeks to fix your sink.  and this may result in doing dishes in creative ways.

2.  it is hot as hades down here.  it's like i'll need to get new skin or something because i don't think i'll make it through july and august if november is in the 80s.

3.  everyone grocery shops late in the afternoon on saturday.  and i mean EVERYONE.  including kids from your school.  and they will come up and hug you.  even if your hands are full, they only kind of know your name, and you've been waiting in line for half an hour.

4.  i do not know how to 'wobble' ... which became apparent as i was chaperoning the sixth grade sleepover. if you also missed out on learning how to 'wobble,' feel free to watch the youtube video below.  i've been practicing all weekend so i'm in the know at the next sleepover.

5.  people straight up have NO idea what 'carolina' means down here.  no idea.  and there is some strange rivalry between clemson and SOUTH carolina (commonly confused as 'carolina'), but i just don't get it.  i didn't even really know those schools had fans.  but don't worry.  tuesday is (south) carolina vs clemson dress up day at school and i'll be sporting the true carolina colors.  there'll be no "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" in this case.

don't worry, friends.  there's more.  some of which i'll just have to tell you in person because it's too odd for the blog (shocking that something could be too odd for the blog, right?), other things which will make it in part two.  something i know you all will be looking forward to.  don't be shy.  i'm onto you.

happy early thanksgiving to you, if you're into that sort of thing.  i'm much more into getting my wobble on these days.

blogging from the box!

i have officially almost settled into my new box ... in my new city ... in my new adult life.  hooray for that!

trust me though, it was no easy task.  moving is SUCH a beast.  and even though i moved every three years as a child and every semester (or a year at the longest) in college, i had no idea it was such a pain.

i'll love this place if it's the last thing i do because goodness knows i don't ever want to move again.  sheeesh.

here are a few updates that i'm sure you were wondering about my new digs/city:
1.  the cooper river bridge is the most terrifying thing i have ever been on.
2.  however, if you keep taking the bridges back and forth you WILL make it back to your home.
3.  my bed-corner (not to be confused with bedroom ... since i don't actually have one of those) is so much more lovely with mature looking bedding instead of the 12 year old hot pink, barbie-like stuff i had before.
4.  my small, awkward quarters are no match for my mother.  she is the goddess of all things moving/puzzle related.  it's amazing how she can create cubbies and nooks out of thin air.  my father also proved he has outgrown his anti-handyman reputation as he created three little shelving units AND a media stand and none of it has fallen apart yet.  it's only been 24ish hours, but i'm hopeful.
5.  the hallmark movie channel AND lifetime movie network both come on my digital cable thingy.  THIS IS SUCH GOOD NEWS, PEOPLE.  not good news for my productivity, but GREAT news for my holiday spirits -- bring on the christmas movies!
6.  law and order: svu is JUST as wonderful down here as it was in chappy hill.  victory!

so far, so good.  come visit!

where am i supposed to keep my horse?

so the big move is upon us and there's really nothing anyone can do about it.  somehow it is here and life is starting.  woah woah woah.

before i take my last load of stuff to my new "home" (which can really only be considered a glorified closet), it was vital that i made my rounds at the public library to say goodbye.  i mean, these are some of my favorite people in all of chapel hill (and let's be honest, the world) so naturally i can't just peace out.  i'm going to swing back by tomorrow to see as many of these wonderful people as possible, but tonight i made sure to catch sweet susan.

after a wonderful catch up session where we were even able to combine our skills to help a patron with her middle grades book club, i took a hot second to look through a south carolina book that the library has.  i mean, you can never be too prepared for your new state, right?

i learned all kinds of things about south carolina history, the economy, the government structure, etc. ... you know, the basics so i don't say something stupid about seceding from the union or something.

but what was my favorite part of the entire book?  it was naturally the little snippet that contained the weird laws of south carolina.  BECAUSE THESE ARE THE IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW, PEOPLE.

i mean, anyone can memorize the south carolina state bird (which is the carolina wren for those of you with inquiring minds), but the real things you need to know are the laws that'll surely trip you up.  you don't want to move to a new state and get arrested or something crazy because you didn't know you couldn't keep your horse in your bathtub.

and you might think that last one was fake, but here are the three laws listed:

1. if a man proposes marriage to a woman, by law, the marriage must take place.  [good to know!]
2. it is illegal to keep a horse in a bathtub.  [i can't help but wonder why ...]
3. when approaching an intersection in an automated vehicle, the driver must stop 100 feet from the intersection and fire a gun or rifle to warn horse traffic.  [and scare the piss out of other drivers]

so i now ask you fine blog readers, where am i supposed to keep my horse??  i mean, obviously my bathtub won't work, but my apartment is so small that really was my only option.  the jury's still out, but this might be a deal breaker.

also, since these made me laugh, i did a quick google search and found a dumb laws website. some of my favorites for south carolina include:

•  No work may be done on Sunday.  [hooray!!]
• A person must be eighteen years old to play a pinball machine.  [thank goodness i pass this test! gotta get my pinball on.]
• It is considered an offense to get a tattoo.  [but is an offense punishable by law? because if not, the harry potter scar tattoo is still a possibility!]

also, if you're in the mood for a good laugh, check out the north carolina dumb laws. and be honest with yourself about how many times you have broken the third law.  

[hint: for me, every single day. also, just in case they ever change the order of those laws, the above hint refers to the singing law.  some of those other laws could be awkward to break every single day ... or ever ... so i felt clarification was important.]

 

no time for sleep

i feel like i'm wearing a zombie costume a week before halloween.  and it's not because i'd ever be a zombie.  don't be ridiculous.  i always aim to be something cute.  like a poodle skirt girl.  or tinker bell.  and just for the record, i choose to not include the year i wanted to be a military person so i wore my dad's BDUs and thought i was the bee's knees.  trust me, i wasn't.  i was just awkward and it was hard for people to see me in the night.  not cool.

[side note: if you don't know what BDUs are and you're having trouble figuring out how awkward i was, check out the wikipedia article here.  if you really know me, you'll understand why this doesn't fit my personality at all.]    

but back to sleep, or lack of sleep really.  when life is going at downhill-roller-coaster-speed, there's not much time for sleep.  as you can see, there is always time for blogging though.  thank god for that, right?

anyways, why is there no time for sleep?  well for starters, for 72ish hours this past weekend (friday-sunday, don't bother me about math) my wonderful mother and i adventured all over charleston, south carolina searching for the perfect place for me to make my new home.  and when i say all over charleston, i mean it.  i'm pretty sure i have been on every.single.road in west ashley and johns island, in addition to those on james island and downtown.  and yes, we adventured north into north charleston and accidentally over the bridge into mt. pleasant on our hunt.  it was a nonstop, little-sleeping crazy weekend full of hide-and-go-seek apartment style.

well it turns out that place is STILL hiding from me, but in the mean time i've at least found something ... and no, it's not a cardboard box.

although if we're being honest, it's about as big as one.  so for all you future visitors (and please come play -- we can go to the beach HOORAY), make sure you bring a sleeping bag (because that's about all there is room for...and even that will be on the "kitchen" floor) or plan to stay in one of the many nearby hotels.

and also, feel free to donate to the "get megan a bigger apartment" fund that i'm setting up asap.  but hey, at least i'll be able to get some sleep in my new box...which is more than i can say for the past days of chaos.  

slow down life!

in the words of my father, HOLY COW.  life has all of a sudden started snowballing at warp speed and everything is happening really quickly.  which isn't necessarily a bad thing since typically, when given the time, i figure out how to get out of things i've committed to.  not always (eh...maybe?), but it's not completely atypical for me to panic after thinking about things for a while.  i just scare easily i guess.  

i think i'll blame that character flaw on being a scorpio, but in actuality i have no idea if that's ever even attributed to scorpios.  but whatever ... if you want to take the time to look it up and share, please do.  otherwise, i scare easily because i'm a scorpio.

goodbye notes from elementary school friends.
so precious.

anyways, within the past 10 days i've been offered two jobs that happened to be down the road from one another (only one of which i could accept, obviously), had my lessons observed for certification purposes, set up apartment searches in my new town (ahhh NEW TOWN), finished my thesis research, and officially finished my school library internship.

close up of one of the notes.
too cute.

in the next 10 days i'll have picked an apartment (or a cardboard box), taken (and passed?) my comprehensive exam, and submitted my first draft of my thesis.  or at least that's the plan.  

as an unashamed planner extraordinaire, this all seems so fast.  and maybe that's how big girl jobs happen.  maybe you don't find out 6 months ahead of time with plenty of idle time to relax.  or maybe you do and my snowball just started rolling early.

and obviously i was searching for jobs to get everything started quickly, but i guess i just didn't think i'd be able to find one so really it was just practice looking through sites.  but now that i've started crossing that bridge into adulthood, my life is going into autopilot in order to get everything done that i have to get done in the next month ... because you know, in order to keep the job i was offered i do have to graduate and get certified, and obviously that requires the successful completion of comp exams and thesis research (both of which completely underwhelm me).  

hunky, right?
photo credit:
http://wallpapersunlimited.blogspot.com/2009/11/
aladdin-wallpapers.html

and the packing up my apartment thing also needs to be thrown in the planning scheme ... which is a migraine waiting to happen.

but instead of freaking out, which i'd really really like to do, i'm going to go watch aladdin.  because the disney channel is playing it right now.  and aladdin is my cartoon crush, street rat or not.

it's hard to say goodbye

every three-ish years as a child i moved away from whatever town i was living in and looked forward to a new adventure.  even once my dad retired from the air force, we still moved houses every three years ... it was just always in the same city.

military kids just kind of get used to this and i truly believe it's because of this that i can't commit to anything longer than a few years.  it's probably at least partially responsible for my college hopping days, the fact that i declared over seven different majors prior to junior year, and the fact that i'm notorious for starting projects and throwing in the towel once it gets serious.  no thanks, dude.  i'm used to having an out.

anyways, i've always thought of myself as a person that's good at goodbyes.  i'm able to detach myself the appropriate amount in the months leading up to my departure in an effort to make the split as painless as possible.  you learn at a young age as a military brat that if you don't do this, the waking-up-in-a-new-city-and-going-to-a-new-school thing kind of catches you off guard.

but it turns out i'm not so good at goodbyes if i'm not the one leaving.  one of my dear friends (kate aka weirdstuff) is moving away next week to start her fabulous job in the big city, holler!  we had our goodbye cookout last evening and when i finally left i was in some serious denial that it wasn't me leaving.  i mean, i'm not quite ready to leave due to that last semester of grad school i have to finish up, but it just felt so sad leaving the apartment.  it was like it finally hit me that our undergrad days were over ... even if they've been over for a solid two years now.  

so in honor of moving, big girl jobs, and the wonderful days of undergrad, here are five of my favorite pictures of weirdstuff and our friends.  and don't worry, i'll tell you a brief story for all of them.

1.  tar heel baseball -- one of our favorite things to do during undergrad involved going to brunch and then lazily walking up to watch a unc baseball game.  it was magical and such a good use of our time.  i promise.

2.  quadding -- despite the allergies and the terrible pollen every.single.spring, we always loved to go quadding in the afternoon.  i don't know if quadding is near as fun as an adult or if you aren't laying under the beautiful carolina sky, but some of my favorite afternoons consisted of quadding.  this picture represents quadding, but actually occurred at some end of the year dorm party and i was making everyone pose as if they didn't have teeth.  i'm not sure why, i just know it's on the facebook caption.  i was a strange, demanding friend, obviously.

3.  birthdays -- weirdstuff and tater schemed to get everyone together to celebrate tan's birthday senior year and it was so.much.fun.  tan was completely surprised and somehow everyone was able to get there and keep it a secret and celebrate with her - hooray!  we also had fun decorating for andy's birthday one year with some bright pink streamers ...  which really just resulted in some ridiculous girl-band-ninja pictures, but i don't know where those are.  but i promise it was something that'd make you jealous.

  

4.  christmakate -- one year we took this gem of a photo during christmakate (thanks andy).  i originally thought it represented us perfectly (hello christmas photo!) and after a few years i'm still convinced.  no one can remember what prompted these beautiful faces, but i'm glad it's preserved forever. 

5.  cheerio, kate! -- sophomore year i was able to convince weirdstuff, tan, and tater to join me at cheerio over the summer and this beauty was snapped during counselor photos.  don't worry.  we took another one where none of us were looking like this, but i'm kind of partial to this one.  what's not to love?

happy moving, weirdstuff!  go ahead and break in the big city for us - we'll be visiting soon!