Settling In Nicely

I've been busy lately!

Well, when I was living in China, my beautiful friend Aubrey came to see me. Sparks flew, emotions ran high, etc. etc. We talked on gmail chat and emailed almost every day. We were so excited to see each other again.

She came to visit me for a week and we took a road trip to Durango together for her friend's wedding. Long story short: she annoyed me beyond all reason. I can't quite put my finger on the reason... shrill voice? Bossy attitude? Little Miss Know-It-All? Hypochondriac? That last one might be it - I can't stand hypochondriacs. That's one of my biggest deal breakers. (And talk about being pessimistic.)

Anyway, she flew home a day early. I haven't talked to her since. One time I called her ex-boyfriend a "saint" for putting up with her - now I vividly remember why.

So, I live in Salt Lake City now. Lovely Mormons everywhere! And the backlash against the conservative Mormon culture means I see tons of "hardcore" tattooed people running around. Everyone is over-compensating to prove a point here. All the Mormons are trying to be holier than the others, and all the non-Mormons are going overboard to keep from being confused as being Mormon. It's weird ... I'm surrounded by extremists of both varieties. Where do I fit in?? A well-groomed, well-dressed, kinda-shy atheist boy with really liberal ideas... meh!

I have no idea how I'm going to meet new friends. So far, I've only been spending time with my family. In school, meeting friends was so easy! I had classes, roommates, dorm buddies, coworkers my age... but here, I have none of those. How do adults meet new friends in the "real world" ?!

I start my new job on Monday. The market value of my job (salary + benefits) is about $50k. I'm really excited for that - a great entry-level job for someone with a worthless Computational Mathematics degree. (Seriously, what do you do with that?) I'm a Development Specialist. That means I'll be getting sponsors and internships for the University of Utah from local engineering firms. Lots of organizing, communicating, and setting up events. My job is absolutely NOT related to my degree. But I guess I have that BA in English Writing, too, and the job will have a lot of publishing and editing. I'm not sure what all it will entail, but I do know that I'm going to succeed in it, because right now I have nothing else in my life into which I can pour my heart and soul.

I went in to fill out my tax paperwork. They gave me a small catalog to choose my new office furniture. (I have my own office!) They also put me on Apple.com and asked me to pick a new computer out. I opted for the $1800 iMac. (Stupid Apple computers. I'm going to finally have to learn OSX.) My office has new carpet and paint. Isn't that cool?? I'm a real adult with a real job. My own office, all new stuff, and I'll drive there in my new car and come home to my new apartment.

I like the shape my new life in Salt Lake City is taking. Now if I could just muster some motivation to meet real people. When did I get so introverted?? I swear, in college I was the biggest extrovert. Maybe being really shy is part of my reverse culture shock that I haven't gotten over yet. Let's hope that's temporary.

Oh, this is really awesome: www.drhorrible.com

Well, it's late and I'm exhausted. But I finally FINALLY have internet in my apartment, so I can start updating more often. This week, I'll update a bunch to record my first week of my new job! Then in the future when I'm nervous about my next new job, I can read back and be less nervous.

(I want to meet someone from okcupid.com in real life, but that freaks me out, too. Is that weird?)