The experiences and exploits of a college grad trying to make it in the "real world:" leaving school and friends in New England, moving south, and living with her boyfriend. Watch as I pretend to be an adult.
I think it's always a bit more fun to explore a city on a tight budget. Don't get me wrong, the high life can be a blast...but the challenge of enjoying your weekend on a grand total of, say, $10 dollars, can be intriguing. Here's where I explain that since I am now being mailed my checks from EC, I haven't actually been paid in three weeks. Yeah, that savings account is starting to look reeaaaly tempting right about now...ehem. Anyway, since Elija hasn't descended into the morass of schoolwork that he'll have to slog through later, he actually has time to play with me- so this weekend we go to explore Raleigh a bit. On Friday we went to an engagement party for a girl in Elija's studio. Basically, it was me, a guy who did microbio at Chapel Hill, and a whole bunch of architects. Yeah. Everyone was really friendly, but older, and definately bonded by, you know, the designing and building of things. Needless to say, there was a lot of shoptalk that went totally over my head, but all in all I enjoyed myself. Saturday dawned, and we went on a mission to find used book stores. Now, I have to admit to being hopelessly spoiled by the local used book store in Va. It's been around since I was a little girl, add I swear in 15 years their prices haven't changed. I don't think there's a thing in there over $5, and you can generally get books for $2 or $3 each. Well, the Raleigh stores (we stoped in two) weren't quite up to the caliber of McKay's, but they were close. One has a great selection of $.10 and $.20 books outside, and the other has a really great cultural studies section I can't wait to start going through. Also, while they aren't quite as cheap as McKay's, they do give more in trade; so it works out. In fact, if I buy used books at McKay's and then trade them down here, I might actually break even...hmmm (schemes, schemes) Saturday we also saw the Brothers Grimm at the local "el cheapo" theatre. It was entertaining enough, better than most of the crap out there at the moment. Definately an interesting approach, in any case. We also looked for a decent laundromat, without success. And so, on Sunday, we hauled our dirty laundry back to the ghetto, broken down laundromat near us. I thought I dispised doing laundry before, but now it has taken on a whole new meaning. Truly, I don't kid. I absolutely hate it. This laundromat is a dirty little hole in the wall with no AC and the least comfortable seats it has ever been my misfortune to plop my bottom into. Ugh. We spent a sticky, uncomfortable two hours outside the laundromat trying to cool off in the nonexistent breeze and avoid snaping "you're touching me...!" at each other. I think the only thing that made it bearable was reading about the miseries of the main character of my book- he was traveling through Borneo, and had to deal with 98F heat, 98% humidity, leeches, worms, and some truly stomach turning vitals. My life didn't seem nearly as bad in comparison. Today, of course, I am working from home and trying to sort out the latest snafu at work. Back to it!
After 22 posted at 12:44 PM
