The Next Stage of Life

The Short Version:

I lost my job in May and have been looking for a new one ever since. For the last several months, my roommate Melody and I have been planning on moving into a house with another friend (Amanda E.) when all our leases are up. After playing musical chairs with different roommates, the final addition was Lindsey.

On Monday, Melody found out that we did not get the house the four of us had applied for. I was in Georgia visiting a friend when I found this out and as soon as I read the text message, I felt like God was saying this was my time to bow out. The bottom line is that this whole process has been incredibly stressful. Each house has required all of us apply and have background and credit checks. This means that I, without a job, also had to apply. As if life weren't stressful enough, there was the chance we wouldn't get a house because I was laid off. Wonderful.

So I called Melody and bailed out on them. I felt like a jerk, but I just don't think it would be wise to move into a house and stress even more about money. Instead, I'll move in with friends and save money.

My wonderful friends, Daniel and Amanda, have a house in Greensboro and they offered to let me live there for a while. A couple of opportunities are available in Greensboro, so I'm praying one of them will work out. And so, on Saturday, July 25 I'll be moving to Greensboro.

In Which I Quote GK Chesteron [AKA: The long version]:

When I was in high school, Amanda and I would often drive up to the summer camp where we'd worked. Our least favorite part of the drive was through Greensboro. I'm pretty sure they had been working on I-40 through Greensboro for 47 years. The traffic was horrible and always added 20 minutes to the drive. That's a lot of precious camp time to spend on the road.

With that in mind, Greensboro was among the few places in this world I did not want to live. Sanford, NC is also on this list. I apologize to any Sanfordians out there, but it's the armpit of North Carolina

So when Daniel and Amanda moved to Greensboro three years ago and began trying to convince me to move there, I laughed and moved on. I had a good job, good church and good friends. No need to stir the pot or take a chance with moving. Then I lost my job, couldn't find a new one and became concerned about what I should do. Literally, I started applying for jobs the same afternoon I lost mine. I've applied for everything and anything in NC and all over the country. Anything with a job description I understood, I applied for. But no dice.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is from GK Chesterton:

"An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered."

With that in mind, I will now be considering this surprise move as an adventure. I'll meet new people, in a new city and hopefully have a new job. I'll also get the chance to live with my best friend and her husband. Their generosity blows my mind, especially considering that this is a new house and life is stressful enough without an extra roommate.

The grand and fabulous news is that Greensboro is 80 minutes closer to the mountains and 80 minutes closer to my dear friends in Georgia. Heck to the yes. The sad part is that I'll be leaving other wonderful friends in Raleigh. The last two years have been a roller coaster and I've come to the end with great friends.

I'll keep everyone updated about what's going on in my life. You'll know about my next great adventure.

On Saving Britney

I just finished reading an article about Britney Spears from Rolling Stone: The Tragedy of Britney Spears. I found it by way of the Burnside Writers Collective blog. At the beginning of the year I made a list of 50 things I wanted to do this year. Not so much resolutions, just things to do. Some are 'serious' while others are silly. One of the things on the list was to read less celebrity gossip. I'll admit I have a weakness for that sort of thing. After reading about a 21-year-old British man who has had seven kids by seven different women, or after reading about another bombing in the Middle East, it's a nice reprieve to read about the escapades of the rich and famous.

But Britney is in a whole different category. She's the biggest moneymaker for tabloid magazines and gossip sites. She has around 20 paparazzi who follow here wherever she goes and will do just about anything to get a picture of her. It's sick. Not just that they are following her and taking advantage of her, but that everyone around her seems to be doing this and she seems on the brink of a complete meltdown. It seems like it's only a matter of time until the Associated Press will be using the obituary they've been preparing (this is actually a common practice for older celebrities--older being the key word). I don't know if our culture's obsession with Spears (and other celebrities) is a sign that we like to watch their downfall so we can feel superior (I may not be rich, but at least I'm not like her...). Or is it just the byproduct of our naive, selfish culture that would rather worry about whether Britney is in rehab than if children in Africa have clean water?

It's all just very sad. It's like the person in high school who you could tell had such great potential, but they wasted it in pursuit of popularity and the temporary and often-fleeting approval of their peers. I don't know what's wrong with Britney--if it's mental instability or if she just needs to be taken out of the spotlight--but the bottom line is that it's sad. And I can't help but believe that the way our society has treated her is one of the many things that we'll be held accountable for. The fact that we crave stories about her public breakdown is just a small indication of much greater problems in our society.

On UFOs and Rednecks

Welcome back! Yes, I still update this blog. Every once in a while when I have something to say. I'm currently tossing around the idea of writing about the education system in America and how craptastic it is, or about art and its importance. But for today I'll write briefly about UFOs.

A story on NPR details a report that dozens of people in a small Texas town have seen a UFO. Around 40 residents reported seeing the flying object, although many were reluctant to say anything until others came forward. Here's where the fun begins: the sheriff said the object was "bigger than a Wal-Mart."

I have a new joke for Jeff Foxworthy: You might be a redneck if you use Wal-Mart as your measuring device.

"The house was the size of the women's department at Wal-Mart!"

"That cat was so large, you could have fit him in the biggest fish tank down at the local Wal-Mart."

"I saw a truck the other day that was so big, it couldn't have fit through the front doors of Wal-Mart!"

Another interesting tidbit about the whole thing is that the incident is "eerily similar" to one that happened a year ago at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Hmmm...

Stay tuned for more developments. Or for more pointless blog posts about news stories I read.

Also--it snowed this weekend here in the Piedmont of North Carolina. My roommate and I were driving to church on Sunday morning, admiring the pristine white of the snow and its light dusting on the world. We pass by something on the road and pause in our conversation because we both noticed something.

Even the roadkill looks a little prettier when it has a light topping of snow.

That's all folks! I'll be here all week!