The pace of my life has changed drastically in the last week. Two weeks ago, Jake and I had several interviews and a busy week that ended with his birthday. I remember feeling a bit bummed on the weekend thinking we had no interviews scheduled for the week and worrying that I might not be able to get a job after all.

He started his part-time job on Monday and I started mine on Tuesday. I still looked all over monster, hotjobs and craigslist for more full time positions getting more depressed by the minute.

Then, within minutes, a friend of Jake’s decided to come for three days. His mom decided to come for a day. I got three calls and an interview. I went to the interview, which lasted much longer than expected and ended with my promising to learn part of a scripting language I had barely used previously. From the moment I left the interview on Wednesday to Friday’s interview I spent my minutes between my part-time job and studying for the interview. Jake ended up hanging out with his friend on his own.

Friday morning, the day of my 29th birthday, I woke up at 6 to go to my part-time job, worked till noon, came home to study some more for the closed-book exam and then went to a coffee shop by the company’s building to wait for the interview while Jake dropped off his friend at the airport.

The interview lasted from 2:30 to 9pm. It involved coding for a few hours and talking about details for another few. I came home to several days’ worth of TiVo and left the couch only to go to bed until Saturday night when my mother in law arrived and took us to dinner and a beach walk.

And this was supposed to be the quiet week.

Thank you for all who wished me a happy birthday. My first in a new home, a new town, with my new car and, now, my new job.

I can’t drink alcohol. As a teenager in Istanbul, I used to be able to drink Safari and peach juice but only when I absolutely had to. Since I’ve been in the States, I get a weird sensation with every sip of alcohol. My whole body burns and I feel like my clothes are strangling me, especially my underwear. I’ve been known to take off all my clothes after a wine cooler.

I’ve tried many different forms of alcohol, anything from wine to beer to hard alcohol to wine coolers. I seem to be okay with shots mostly because they don’t sit in my throat for an extended period of time, so when forced (or let’s say strongly urged) I will do shots. I only drank lemonade at my wedding and hated the sip of wine I had to have as part of the ceremony.

Recently, I decided it was important that I be able to drink wine and possibly beer. In an effort to help me, Jake took me to a local shop and we bought a bottle of Chardonnay and a bottle of Merlot. Last night, we opened the white wine and poured a glass for each of us. Fully determined, I drank the entire glass.

If I said I enjoyed it, I’d be lying. But I did manage to keep my clothes on and I didn’t chug the glass, I sipped it slowly. I’m told after a few glasses, I might even start enjoying the experience.

Lately, I seem to be suffering from a problem that only occurs when I have too much free time on my hands. I get fleeting moments of inspiration where I want to work very hard and finish a task I’ve been putting off. I’ll be sitting in a movie theater and think that as soon as I get home, I’ll write that code I promised Jake, or that I’ll update parts of my site that are outdated. Or that I’ll finish the presents I wanted to send to people who hosted us throughout the cross country trip. Or that I want to sit and write. I make mental lists. For that fleeting moment, I feel that I can do all those things. I feel energetic and enthused about my projects. I feel driven.

And then the moment passes. I come home and read my mail and don’t really feel like doing much else. I take a break and read for a while, hoping the moment will come back, but it doesn’t. Not until a day later, when least expected.

When I’m working I don’t seem to have time for these fleeting moments. I am generally too busy for them. I run from one place to another getting things done instead of thinking about getting things done.

I seem to remember Heather having a post about dying her hair black that I should have paid much more attention to before I used the Nice’N’Easy bottle I bought yesterday. My brand new tub is now covered with black stains that threaten to stay permanently. I knew there was a reason to let the gray grow.

After a morning at the DMV, I am now the proud owner of a temporary California license, my very first in the United States. My driving test is scheduled for the end of the month and I am scared shitless.

I started unpacking my books yesterday and it’s amazing how happy the act made me. I love my books, just looking at the titles and the authors filled me with joy. It made the everlasting unpacking considerably more fun.

After four days of extensive searching, we signed the lease on a place that was way above our planned budget but we got an unbelivable list of amenities, including two pools, two gyms, free yoga and pilates lessons, and a movie theather that shows films twice a week with free sode and popcorn, oh and free coffee each morning till 11. And they let me get a dog, which is appearantly a huge luxury in San Diego. All this in the very complex we live. We figured we could love like this for a year and then depending on how the job and living situation works out we will adjust accordingly.

At least we will have a home and a bed to call our own tonight. Cross your fingers. Next order of business is moving our stuff here, getting serious about learning to drive (this is just me as Jake is normal and drives perfectly. I have about 20 days under my belt and am not fully ready to make the progress to daily driving). Not to mention, I need a job.

If you have any advice on whether to get a company or UHaul stuff ourselves, we are open to suggestions, and of course, if you have a job to offer, I am open for those too.

After leaving our hard-worked car in the garage, we came back to New York City on Friday night. We spent the night at Thirty on Thirty, right by our old neighborhood.

It feels eerie being in the city but not having a home to go to. I spent all of Saturday morning at the public library, surfing, while Jake took his exam. In the afternoon, I went to Jason’s, our kind host for the evening, and had a great time installing Linux on my laptop. (yes, I know how geeky that sounds, but it really made me happy since I am thinking of getting the SAIR certification)

Also, thanks to Jason’s kindness, I got to put up all of the pictures from the first six legs of our trip. I put up photos from audrey and tom’s wedding and archived all the logs from the last month. You can find the trip logs on the same page as the pictures.

Last night we went to see Finding Nemo which was really well-animated and rendered. The shots of Sydney were lifelike. Ellen DeGeneres did a great job. The script was cheesy but funny. All in all, definitely worthwhile.

Tonight and tomorrow, we’re staying with another gracious host in Jersey. On Tuesday, we fly to the Caymans. I don’t think I can log in from there so I assume there will be no updates for a week. We then come to NYC for two days and then fly to Turkey. June will hopefully be a hectic but fun and relaxing month.

I have read some books since the last excerpt: Catch Me If You Can, Alice in Wonderland, Nickel and Dimed. Look At Me and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Excerpts to come at a later time.

While I’m gone, you can entertain yourself with the aforementioned pictures or the book excerpts, or the numerous archives.