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September 30, 2002. First day of new job today! It went well, I think. The first day of a job is always a little awkward, since you're usually being introduced into already-established social circles, plus no one knows how to really incorporate you into their day. At least I already had a lot of work to do, so that's good. Dave drove me to the gym this morning, and it was the such a nice walk from the gym to the office. It took about fifteen minutes, and covered most of downtown Portland (Portland's not that big, so you can cover it in twenty minutes or so). For the first time, Portland really seemed like a city to me, and I felt like a city person living in it, walking to my city job. There are a lot of interesting people to look at, out on the street that early, and shopkeepers are sweeping out in front of their stores. I walk by two independent bookstores and three independent coffee shops, and I love all of that too. My office has a nice big window, and looks out over a little brick-lined alleyway, where a toy/kite shop sets up all of the kites and wind whirligigs. I loved looking out my window and seeing the elaborate rainbow spiral flaggy things (I'm sure there's a more technical name for those, but I have no idea what it is) twisting around. There was also a seagull kite, attached to a long pole, so occasionally a paper seagull would be hovering outside my window. I took the bus home, which went well, but took some figuring. There were only two of us on the bus, and the other person got off at one of the first stops. When I asked the bus driver if he went where I wanted to go, he said he did, but then he sort of made it seem like he was going specially to my stop because I was the only person on the bus and it was his last run of the day. So I'm curious to see if the route is different with more passengers, or a different driver. Yesterday Dave and I went to the Fryeburg Fair, which is the largest fair in Maine. It's huge. My favorite part was seeing them make apple cider on a cider press from the 1870s. They just throw the whole apples into the top, and the machine chopped them into little bits. When all the apples are chopped, they literally press them down to squeeze all the juice out. I don't know quite why I was so fascinated by the whole process. We also go to see the sheep dog trials, and they were pretty different from the sheep dogs we saw at the Common Ground Fair. The two fairs' sheep dog events were indicative of the fairs themselves. At the Common Ground Fair, it wasn't a competition at all, and all of the dogs were working together to herd the sheep. At the Fryeburg Fair, each dog competed against the others, and the dogs worked alone to herd the sheep, working against the clock to perform a specific routine (with their shepherds). Both were very interesting, but I liked the Common Ground Fair's sheep dogs better. I always lean toward the non-competitive peace, love, and harmony stuff. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to hike up Pleasant Mountain instead of going straight home. It's my favorite hike in Maine. About 75% of the hike is on open rock, so you have gorgeous views of lakes and mountains almost the whole time. I overheard the strangest snippet of conversation: Hiker Woman
1: I haven't told anyone. I'm so ashamed. I'm sorry I couldn't listen to any more without looking obvious. I'm convinced that that stupid "Bridges of Madison County" book made people think it's totally ok to have an affair, as long as you can convince yourself that they guy is a passionate artiste and that your husband is a dullard. But that's a rant for a different day.
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September 26, 2002. Our guests, Steve and Dan, left yesterday. We had a great time with them. They were pretty easy and self-sufficient, which is a good quality in guests. We pretty much did a grand tour of Maine, including the lighthouses, forts, rocky coast, sandy beaches, lobster shacks, and (with Shannon) the Common Ground Fair. The fair was a lot of fun. I hadn't been before, and it's definitely something you have to go to at least once if you live in Maine. My favorite part was the sheep dog trial. I could have watched that all day. Those dogs are amazing. The alpacas were a close second to the sheep dogs. They're so pretty. Alpacas have a way of looking at you that looks like they're saying, "Oh! So glad you could stop by! Spot of tea? Crumpet?" My last day of work at my current job is tomorrow. Everyone seems to be in denial about me leaving. They still keep giving me work, even long-range work, and when I asked for the status of some jobs I was hoping to have finished before I left, no one responded. I'm really excited to start my new job on Monday, since it's sure to be more interesting and exciting work than what I've been doing for the insurance company. And, in a bold move, I have decided that I should take the bus to work. I was wondering how I was going to manage to park downtown for my new job, since parking garages are about $6 a day or $75 a month. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize I should take the bus. I kind of forgot the bus even existed. This is the first place I've lived in a long time that actually has a decent public transportation system, so forgive me for forgetting about it. I don't think I've taken a bus since I was about 12. I am completely perplexed by the bus map I picked up, but I think I'll get a super-early one so I'll have plenty of time to walk if I overshoot my destination, or if I end up on a slow bus (are there even slow busses? or is it only the subway that has local and express options?).
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September 23, 2002. World of Julie is a good reflection of who I am in real life, apparently...this morning I got an email from my long-lost high school friend John, who found my website, and could tell it was me just from the way everything was written. Amazing! Just in case you thought maybe I was actually a 15-year-old boy living in Nebraska. It was great to catch up with John, who is doing really well, living in San Diego, and has been creating brilliant works of art in his spare time. I am just so happy that he found me! I'm really excited to continue catching up with him. And now I also think Dave should become an industrial designer too. Or maybe John would like to move back to the East Coast and start up an industrial design firm here? Hm, Johnny? Qu'est-ce que tu pense?
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September 18, 2002. It's International Quit Your Job Month at World of Julie! Meredith was right, when she said that the universe would reward us if Dave quit his job. This past week another job literally fell into my lap. I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that Maine is all about who you know, and I've finally been here long enough to know some of the right people. On September 30, I'll be going to a new fun job (still only contract though) at an ad agency in downtown Portland. It will be good to get out and do some different things, workwise; it will be nice to be free of the Giant Corporate Culture; and hopefully this new job will be more stable than my current job, which is, shall we say, wildly unstable to the point of always being on the edge of breaking down entirely. To further the whole "universe converging" theory, today was my coworker Matthew's last day (he was a victim of the Corporate Ax-Murderer), but, instead of leaving, now he's going to transition into my job! So in one day, he went from wondering what he was going to do next, to having at least the next six months settled for him. Perfect! Tomorrow our fun friend Steve is coming to visit us with his brother Dan. Steve is from the other Portland. I'm really excited for their visit. It's been planned for a year now, so I can't believe it's finally here. I think the only item on the agenda so far is "eating." On Saturday Shannon is coming up and we're all going to trek to the Common Ground Fair. Anyway, so updates here might be a little lacking over the next week, as I'll be, um, eating.
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September 17, 2002. This is for my mom: the mole I had removed last week was fine. In fact, it was only "slightly abnormal." The doctor had thought it would be "severely abnormal." Since it's only "slightly," I'll never have to worry about that spot again (if it had been "severely," I would have had to go back every six months to check on it). Ok, off to give Dave a haircut. He completely rearranged the house today while I was at work. Well, not the whole house, just the office and hallway. It looks good! Though it was a little jarring at first. I told him that Julie Morgenstern says we don't have to throw out all our stuff, only figure out a perfect little place for it. He didn't seem to really buy that.
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September 16, 2002. Dave's parents left this morning. We had a great time with them when they were here. We did all kinds of touristy things like visit landmarks and eat at The Lobster Shack, and also just sat around and had nice slow meals at our dining room table. I'm sorry we only get to see them about once a year. Today was Dave's first day of not working. He's going into the office one more time this week, and then that's it. We cleaned out his office this weekend, and he spent most of today setting up his home office. It's weird. I'm so happy that he's not working there any more, but (understandably) I'm still nervous about what we're going to do. I know we'll be fine, but it's this teetering on the edge that can be nerve-wracking. I was thinking earlier about when we moved from Maryland, about when I walked in and told my boss there, "Dave got a job in Maine" and he said, "And?" so I had to say, "And...I'm going with him." Silly. And now here we are. Dave and I have talked a lot the past few months about whether it was the wrong decision for him to take this job. It's hard to say. I mean yeah, it was a bad job, and bad for Dave in many ways, but it did get us up here. Would we have been able to move to New England otherwise? I don't know. But I guess it's irrelevant to try to determine whether it was the wrong decision or not, because we're here now, and so much has changed. Maine has a way of making you into a better version of yourself, I'm sure of it. Before we moved here, I was stuck in such a deep web of consumer culture, where shopping was a pastime and everyone always needed more more more. Maine and its earthy frugality hit you hard on the head when you move up here. I'm here surrounded by all the possessions from our former life, and I'm glad I have these things, but they just seem funny to me now. I can't shop anymore. I look at sweaters, and just want to make them myself. I pick up books and think, "I don't need this. I can find out all this information on the internet." I'm just much more interested in doing things myself, and I know I never would have started knitting, or bookmaking, or have started a website, or bought a loom, if we were still in Maryland. Now of course we'll be living the simple life because we won't have any money, so I'm glad at least that I've been practicing. So it will be interesting to see what happens over the next several months. I hope Dave can explore Maine and just be Dave for a while.
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September 10, 2002. Ok! Back from the wedding! It was great. I love weddings anyway, but this one was particularly good. It was at a farm on a lake, in the mountains, so they definitely had everything going for them as far as setting. They got married by the lake, and then everyone walked back to the farm for the reception, which included mounds of lobster, steamers, and mussels, as well as dancing in the barn. Late that night, as all the stragglers were sitting around talking by candlelight, the Northern Lights started going. I've never seen them before. I had no idea how much they move. We all ran out to the field and lay on our backs, gaping at the sky. What a great way to end a wedding! --------------------------------- In other exciting World of Julie news, Dave quit his job. I'm so happy. This job has been killing him. Times may be rough for a while now, but I'd so much rather have a Happy Dave and have to eat rice and beans every night, than to have more money but have Sad Angry Dave. Life's too short to keep working at a job that is so stressful that it's all you think about, and that gives you back problems from so much tension. --------------------------------- Do you all go get your moles checked regularly at a dermatologist? Do it! I just went for the first time today, because there were some moles on my chest that were raised and sort of large. Turns out those are nothing to worry about, but there was an abnormal mole on my back, that she removed and sent out. She was pretty sure it was fine, but said I should come back every six months since I'm fair and do have many large-ish moles. I am super-vigilant about sunscreen, so if I can have an abnormal mole, so can you! Go get checked! And, in case you are at all squeamish about this sort of thing, I can assure you that having a mole removed doesn't hurt at all. I didn't even feel it. --------------------------------- Dave's parents are in town, but we only saw them briefly on Sunday night. They're doing an Elderhostel until Thursday morning. I'm sort of jealous; their Elderhostel sounds really fun. So far they've done a walking tour of Portland architecture, gotten a lecture about Longfellow, toured the Longfellow house, and did a lecture/tour at the Audobon Society. Tonight they're having a lobster dinner.
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September 4, 2002. We're off for four days tomorrow to go up into the mountains of Maine for a wedding. I can't wait. We're taking the van and camping, which I'm really looking forward to, and can only hope that it doesn't make us look disheveled at the wedding. Though since this wedding is on a farm, that might be ok. Dave's got the engine back in the van, and has started her up, so it looks like we'll be good to go tomorrow! Seems that the engine always needs to be rebuilt right before we are planning on taking the van on a trip.
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September 2, 2002. This was a weekend of loomy fun. I love my loom. Love it. It took me many hours on Saturday to set up the warp, but a lot of that was just figuring out my loom for the first time. I'm following the lessons in Deborah Chandler's Learning to Weave, which is a great book. I started weaving a sampler today, just to get the hang of things. Weaving is so much faster than knitting. I guess I expected that, but I didn't expect it to be this fast. I'm going to keep playing on my sampler until I run out of warp, and then I'm going to make placemats, I think. On Friday I came home to find a huge stack of 19 Handwoven magazines on my doorstep, and a "Happy New Loom!" note from Martha. Thanks, Martha! I can't stop looking at these magazines. Is Interweave Press a public company? If they are, I should buy stock. I love Handwoven, Interweave, and Natural Home, all published by Interweave Press.
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