Off-Topic, but on passions...

I will start by saying that this will not be a post talking about my move or my new town directly, but more I guess about me. I have been thinking about passions lately and not in the steamy sense, more in the fulfilling sense. One of the things that this move and the changes it has brought has taught me is to have something that you feel passionate about and do it and that passion can get you through almost anything.

I have never really been someone who has been incredibly fulfilled by what I do professionally, this is not to say that I don't love what I do at points, but the only time I have really felt fulfilled emotionally and spiritually by a professional experience was my time at Project D.E.E.P.  It is a small non-profit that provides exam prep and tutoring for middle school kids in Boston to get the into the exam schools or private schools in the Boston area. I was deeply committed to the program, my siblings were students in their middle school time and I tutored all through high school. When the opportunity came to work there professionally, I jumped at the chance and became so invested in working there that when I applied for the position, my mother stepped down from the Board of Directors so as not to present a conflict of interest. Although the work I did was challenging, over the time I was there, the students were amazing, the tutors were remarkable and I could feel the difference that this program made in people's lives.

But like every good thing, it had to come to an end. In 2010, after the start of the recession, funding was simply not there to sustain the staff as it was, so at first my hours were scaled back and then I was told that the position I held was being eliminated. I understood, and although it was hard to say good bye, I started to look for another position and found one at Northeastern. That job was good, but it was not a passion project like DEEP was.

I was always someone that found passions elsewhere, whether it be writing or my latest project sewing. And I have found that sometimes sewing is the only thing that gets me through the day. Being in a big house all by myself all day, the whir of the machine and the feel of the fabric is calming. Before having this time, sewing was something I often put by the wayside because of other things in life, but now, having the time, I realize that passion, really any passion, makes a bad day bearable. It turns the tense conversation with a boss into an afterthought when you are playing your guitar. You can take out your frustration from a customer or client on a mutant in a videogame. Yoga can make the stress of wedding planning a quiet hum in your life. I guess the point is, take time to do something for yourself, indulge in a passion and reap the rewards.

Another (albeit somewhat odd) passion of mine is sports. I love watching them and even occasionally playing them. Particularly, I care about hockey. It's a sport that my husband and his friends have gotten me into (although my mom was a bit of hockey fan back in the day) and it has quickly become a passion. I have started inhaling knowledge about the sport and now, stuck in a gameless lockout, feel somewhat adrift. I have tried to make a concerted effort to pay attention to the actual content on the CBA talks, rather than just railing against one side or another. I have quickly become disillusioned with the whole process though, in particular commissioner Gary Bettman. This is the 3rd lockout in his tenure as commissioner and the third that had ultimately come down to less money for the players. Men that put their lives on the line for fans enjoyment. The owners are simply risking their livelihood, and in most cases, the team is not their sole source of income. I am also cognizant of the fact that this is millionaires vs. billionaires, but at the end of the day, it is about the fans enjoying a sport that has shaped lives and brought families together.

In the end, I just want the season to start again so I don't have to get depressed every time I see a tweet from Tyler Seguin or Andrew Ference about them playing overseas. I completely understand that it what they have to do, but gosh does it bum me out. 

Kind of Like Hotel California

Similar to the Hotel California, I feel like I'm on a vacation where I've checked in, but I can't ever leave.  At least these past two weekends, we've had some visitors. My best friend, Dory, and her boyfriend came up to escape the city for a long weekend. They are both teachers and she is in grad school as well, so needless to say, they needed some relaxation.

They were scheduled to arrive Saturday, the same day as our town's "Fling into Fall" festival, which included a parade, car show and some other cutesy small town events. The parade was scheduled to happen at 11, and based on when they left, they would be arriving at 12:30-ish. Knowing what I did about parades, I assumed that it would be hours long and the entire street would be closed all day. I also assumed that there would be floats and bands and vendors selling all nature of obnoxious noise makers... I was wrong. Around 11:10, I started to hear sirens and noise, so I took a walk out to the main road to investigate this "parade," and the first thing I saw was what I thought was a woman walking two dogs, looked like labs. I was a little bummed, had I known that I could have dressed by pooch up in some festive attire and show her off to the town, I would have gotten involved. Then I noticed that the chocolate lab had horns and.... this is a goat. A woman was walking two goats on leashes down the main road. She was then followed by Captain Jack Sparrow driving an ATV... that's pretty much all I needed to see. Clearly when they say parade, something is lost in translation.

So after our guest's arrival, we took a look to go see the sights in town and check out the "Fling" events. There were a few cool things at the local craft fair, although nothing I couldn't make myself. Except maybe the whittling... I don't trust myself with sharp tools. Well then took a spin through the antique car show and headed back to the house and over to Belfast, which is the bigger town. We discovered (and I literally mean that, I didn't know it was there, that there is a brewery in town and they do free tastings in the afternoons. So after sampling a few brews, we picked up some growlers and wandered some more. We stopped in the Army Navy Store, which reeks of old man and then headed up the great hill to the car and back to the house so that the men could nap and the ladies could catch up on my DVR'd Project Runway.

Sunday involved a trip to Camden, which is a cute little town, similar to Belfast, but a little more concentrated and somewhat more upscale. I always enjoy Camden because it's like the kind of town my mom would love visiting and vacationing in. All the stores are charming with a lot of bespoke goods and unique finds, unlike Searsport, which is an antiques (fancy for other people's junk) mecca.

 Mr. T enjoying the scenery in Camden (also checking Twitter)

 Chains holding a dock in the water.

 Waterfall and brook outside the Smokestack Grill, where we had lunch.

 Just some Banquet Coors (not ours).

And then after some breakfast on Monday, they headed back to the big city. It was amazing to see them both and to know that even if she is 10 feet away or 100 miles, it's still the same.

My in-laws followed the following weekend and it was largely the same plan, except change the beer tasting to a trip to the hardware store and to find a rug and it's the same format. I'm pretty unoriginal when it comes to planning, so anyone else who is planning on visiting can expect pretty similar, depending on the time of year and guest.

Visitor in a Foreign Land

Sometimes here, I feel like there is no way that I can still be in the real world. Like I have left New England and journeyed to some quaint foreign country where everything is 10 years behind and just a little off. They still speak English, but it is just different than what I speak. They wore things that people wore 10 years ago with pride. It's a little off-putting, but in a sweet, naive way.

As an example, Mr. T & I went to Dairy Queen for some takeout the other night. To start, there are families that eat in restaurant at Dairy Queen, and Wendy's and consider that a fancy night out. I understand that may be all this town has, but I don't think I have eaten in a fast food restaurant sober since my 6th birthday at McDonald's. It's fast food, you're supposed to grab it, drive away and then eat in shame in your car. Now, back to the family eating, they seemed nice enough, but something was just a bit off. They got along... and not in the "we're being civil, but under this thin film of civility, there is serious resentment" way, but they actually liked each other. They were laughing and joking and everyone was sober. It's just not what I'm used to, my family is awesome but we put the fun is dysfunctional in the best possible way.
 

And as the icing on the cake... the mom was straight up dressed
 and coiffed like Nikki from Big Love, fundamentalist flowered dress, pouf and curly blond hair...
 It was damn near panic inducing, like I had stepped into some weird religious sect. "Join us, Join us."

Beyond that, the technology that I took for granted in the city is just not there. When moving, we ordered the biggest cable package and the fastest Internet they have, so at home everything is pretty good, but I am accustomed to seeing "Free WiFi" signs everywhere and being able to count on them to check email and surf the web on the go. Well... I'm S.O.L. here. I have encountered a few places in Bangor, which is nice, but even the local coffee shop gave me a strange look when I asked. Not to mention that flashing my iPhone around here is the equivalent of "making it rain."

Even if I do consider this a foreign land, at least they are friendly and welcoming.

I Apologize for my Absence

So I think I have started like 8 blog entries in the past two weeks, but not finished any of them. To catch everyone up since I last wrote (in short form): went back to Boston for a family wedding, completely moved out of our old apartment, applied for some jobs, got an interview, and did some shopping. In long form,

The Return

Despite living in Maine for 3 weeks, we still had some things to clean out of our place in Boston and a family wedding to attend so we made the trek. And what a trek it was, I seriously have no idea how people travel sometimes, it took damn near an hour for 2 adults and 1 dog to get packed and in the car and on the way. It takes about 3.5 hours to get to my in-laws north of Boston and we get there and get settled just after 11 on Thursday night.

Friday morning, we get up and head in to the city to clean things out. After some additional packing and two more runs to Goodwill, I was able to indulge in my food weakness. A food that is a narrow first over an In-N-Out Double Double with me... a Pat's Pizza Buffalo Tender Calzone, a delicious amalgam of Buffalo Chicken Tenders, mozzarella cheese, and just a little undercooked dough, with heaps of Blue Cheese. I'm pretty sure that my brother, sister and I would choose this as our last meals. It's like tasting home to me. You can order it other places, I've even tried to make it at home and nothing quite compares. Like people that say bagels from NY are better (totally are by the way), this is something that is just better in its original form. My sister even stopped by and shared some after she was out of class. After a little additional cleaning, we headed back to the in-laws to shower and head out to dinner. We pretty much crashed after that, we were exhausted.

The wedding was Saturday, so after a morning sojourn for diner breakfast and to return our old cable box to some awful hellhole in Lowell, we showered, dressed and headed to the wedding. It was in the couple's backyard and really adorable. I was like completely obsessed with the bride's dress. It was a second wedding for both bride and groom, so it was understated and the dress matched that sentiment. Tea length and very vintage looking (which is totally not normally the bride's style), it was perfect for the occasion. I even told her like a million times that I loved it, I would have personally done it in a different shade of white, but it was just divine.

I had too much wine at the wedding, and I don't say that because I was hungover (a little), or because I found the only group of cultured gay men at the wedding and was drawn to them like a bee to honey, I just moved like molasses on Sunday. After a couple more errands around the city, picking up a burrito at one of my favorite joints (Anna's Taqueria for inquiring minds) and we were northbound.

Employed?

Because of my past experience in higher ed, I applied to the state university up here, took an interview and didn't get it. I'm not all that discouraged, since I wouldn't have taken it anyway. It was an hour commute, and I would be taking an significant pay cut. I applied to a couple positions at Mr. T's company, he sent an email of reference in for me (more or less just saying that I applied, since he's my spouse, he can't be too involved, it would seem biased) and I got a call within a few days and have a phone interview schedule for this week. 

Shopping

In addition to all the boring life things, we have been able to do some major shopping as of late. Part of the draws to moving up here was the fact that Mr. T got a large bonus because of the move, like more than 10% of his salary kind of bonus. With said bonus, we were able to purchase a bunch of random housewares and things that make life a little more comfy around here, but mainly, we bought a fancy, schmancy washer and dryer set. It's being delivered next week, so pictures will come after that. It was odd buying them because I really felt like an adult doing so. I got them on sale, used a couple, and used my store card with 0% financing. We'll be paying off the store card in like 2 weeks, but it got me the good credit of buying it and paying it off. 

That's about all I can think of to catch up on for now, but I promise to be better about this in the future. No more 2 week breaks from blogging. 

"Thank you, Come Again"

 This will be short, but I had to get it out there as it is a tale of awesome customer service:

I had to call Apple today to upgrade my OSX. Basically, my OSX is so old that I can't get the newest version of iTunes and am having issues with upgrading Flash and can't upgrade my iPhone to the newest iOS until my OS on my computer is upgraded. Unfortunately, I discovered that I can't upgrade to the newest OSX without buying the step in between. This is arguably frustrating, but it makes sense. You don't go from training wheels to a 10 speed.

So I called Apple, got a Sales rep who was polite, answered my questions, confirmed everything that I thought and reassured me that installing new memory was not that hard. She even walked me through the steps that I'd need to take after. All in all, it was like $100 fix to get my computer up to the latest OSX and two additional GB of memory. Considering that I was contemplating a new computer, it's such a cost effective fix.

In a world where people get angry at large companies, like Apple, for constantly making new items and making old things obsolete, Apple goes a long way to providing good customer service and making upgrading your "old" technology much easier. As someone who used to provide phone customer service, I am always impressed by great customer service.

Can I Sue Pinterest for My Burns?

Being voluntarily unemployed for the moment has brought a lot of positive things in to my life: my stress level has plummeted, I have not had a headache in 2 weeks (they're usually pretty frequent), and I have had time to do things that I usually would not. Some of these are boring, doing laundry during the day being chief among that lot. But it has also allowed me to explore my passions: sewing and attempting to cook.

Sewing is something I love, it's my yoga, to relaxes me, centers me and makes me feel like a person. I love the sounds, the feel of fabric and the productivity associated with it. Mostly, I have made bags and wallets, but more recently I've decided to branch off into clothing. Here's a couple examples of things I've made:                                                                                              

Wallet Clutch:rolls up for easy stowing, pockets for cards, cell phone, elastic closure.

Suse Tote: Quilted Cotton Exterior with contrasting lining. 3 interior pockets, 1 exterior. Grosgrain ribbon trim and canvas webbing straps.

My Favorite Dress: Cotton tank with pleated tea length jersey skirt. So incredibly comfy, but still dressy, it really is my favorite dress.  

I plan on doing a lot more of all of those in the future. But more on that in another entry.


The biggest thing I have been taking the time to do is cooking, or rather attempting to cook. My mom will be the first to admit, she doesn't love to cook, but she adopts the "Go Big or Go Home" philosophy. She can make big holiday meals for 10 people like it was nothing and everything is amazing, but left to her own devices, now that we are all grown, she'd sooner make a waffle than cook something from scratch. Although my dad likes to cook and makes a decent meal, neither is extremely adventurous in the kitchen.

I made the decision to change that, I have been spending some of my time, planning, shopping for and cooking meals from scratch. Things that can be made simply:meatballs, macaroni and cheese and my favorite, buffalo chicken calzone.

My meatballs came out pretty good, but it was a hell of a lot of work. The true show was my macaroni on Saturday. I got the recipe from Pinterest, the source of all incredibly creative but overly difficult ideas. and tried to follow it to the letter. In addition to having not enough of any of the three cheeses that were required, apparently, the people at Pinterest think I have 9 hands and a helper monkey. Sadly, I have a not very helpful boxer mix who mainly just stood under me waiting for me to drop cheese. At the end of the day, it was amazing mac and cheese, but going forward, I am going to be a little less adventurous from now on in the kitchen. Mostly to avoid burning myself and running around my kitchen swearing for 45 minutes.

Sadly, the buffalo chicken calzone was decent, but nowhere near the quality I am used to. Someone please ask Pat's what the delivery charge would be to Maine. Extra Blue Cheese.