Monday, August 30, 2004

California Allergy

Apparently, I'm allergic to Northern California. Or the second bedroom in Kevin's mom's house; it's a toss-up. I sneezed all weekend and am now so congested, I feel loopy. Not that I'm allergic to Seattle, understand, I'm just dealing with the residual congestion. And it sucks.

Other than that, and being exhausting, the trip was pretty good. Santa Cruz was brilliantly foggy and pleasant, which was nice after being in super-death-hot San Jose all day. After looking at about a half dozen places, we decided to go for the safe bet: a rather nice place with a nice yard and a sorta-nice view of the foothills in the boring as hell suburb of Milpitas. The yard is maintained and has four fruit trees--two apple, one orange, and one lemon--and the house is spacious enough without fixtures that are too weird and ugly. Pretty much nothing is nearby, though we're told there's a park of some sort. And a Catholic church, in case I stop being agnostic and give in to the "guilt." Which is not, by the way, going to happen.

We have to drive to get to pretty much any grocery store, much less one that sells stuff I'll buy without cringing (closest Trader Joe's is in Sunnyvale; Whole Foods in Campbell or Cupertino; haven't found any obscure co-ops in the whole valley). Same goes for movie theaters. However, it's located at that southeast corner of the bay that means I could reasonably commute to Oakland or even San Francisco, if up to an hour is "reasonable."

I'll have to learn all the freeways, and Kevin's mom gave me a map so I can start memorizing. It'll be hard--the freeways in Seattle are pretty basic. There's I-5 shooting straight through town, with I-90 and 520 heading to the eastside 'burbs, and 405 connecting the two of those. It's like tic-tac-toe. Down there, it's more like a goddamn maze, and I can't print out directions every time I need to go somewhere.

And yes, my interview went well. At least, I think so. And I still want that job, because, well, it's a sweet job. It's pretty much everything I could want in a job right now--doing stuff I know how to do and improving on it, combined with gaining skills I want to have (namely, editing), to produce something that is valuable (stuff for ESL teachers). I liked the interviewers, and it's a small company where I'd be important without being lost in a large, corporate structure. But I need to stop enthusing because as much as I want it, I have no idea if they're even going to call me back for a second interview, and even then, who knows if I'd make the cut?

Other than that, I skipped coffee for two days, which sucked, but I got Jamba Juice two days in a row, which was pleasant. Just, you know, not coffee, or as cheap as coffee.

I still need to get my Bumbershoot tickets and do dishes. There are a fuckton of dishes, and I don't feel like doing them, and I can't eat until I do them, so I guess I'll starve.

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