Where Have You Been?

We haven't heard from you since Easter, and now it's Memorial Day - were you abducted by aliens and just released from the Mothership?

Well...uh...no, not exactly...although it kind of felt like it, at times.

If you were thinking that no blog posts means I've been naughty, rather than nice, well, O.K., you were right! There! You happy??

Let's see, how can I condense all the excitement down into a couple of scintillating sentences? Ummm, got here, had serious issues with the job, hoped it would get better, eventually gave up that hope, addressed the issues with my travel company, who were very fair with me. We hammered out a deal where I gave a month's notice, worked 2/3 of my contract, and, in return, they let me out of the contract with no penalties other than a $50 housing fee.

While all this was happening, my allergies kind of exploded, meaning I mostly spent my time off sneezing, and falling asleep on the couch after taking Benadryl. I was too out of it to read, much of the time, never mind blog. Thank God for internet radio! It's the barely conscious invertebrate's best friend.

It was a very unglamorous existence, in a very glamorous apartment.

Towards the end, I had to drag myself out of my stupor and start finding a place to stay, until I could take back my home from my tenants when the lease ends in July. Yeah, I could have taken another assignment, but then you couldn't call me Crazy Amy. Or, to put it another way - when would I get a chance like this again? Certainly not after I move back into my house and start paying for summer a/c and winter heating oil, not to mention gas (I'm out here without a car - and I don't miss it one bit!).

I was very lucky, and I found a terrific place, via Craigslist, with a really nice roommate in the Seattle neighborhood that I wanted to live in the most. That would be Fremont, which is Seattle's artsy/hippie neighborhood. Better yet, I'm about 1 block from a bus stop and a great little neighborhood coffeshop.  There's a tiny grocery store and several restaurants nearby, too.

Over the past 3 weeks, I moved my stuff over here, got used to the neighborhood and the bus system, and finally started doing some of the exploring I'd missed while working nights and sleeping on my days off. I've posted alot of pictures on my Flickr site - you should check it out.

O.K. - I'm glad I finally got that off my chest. Now I can move on to more important stuff - like explaining how "Fremont is not a zip code ... it's a state of mind."

More on that later.

(Photo of Fremont Avenue sign by me, 05/22/08)