Today was a a selection of firsts. It was the first time I entered an apartment and didn't see much of anything I didn't like. First time I wasn't shunned or overcharged for being single in my pursuit of housing. First time I've been offered an apartment I'd like to live in.
I found it. After driving around for what seemed like hours, after receiving a speeding ticket when I erroneously made a turn onto a school-zone street in Orem and after a drug test A phone call about a apartment in a complex that was no longer available led me to a newer, nicer complex with a one bedroom apartment opening.
I was greeted with the normal, "Are you married?" When the answer was no, a series of follow-up questions were drilled at me. "How old are you? Are you in school? Why are you in Provo?" Then a him-haw 'we don't usually rent to single people, but you seem like a good guy...' followed by a credit check and suddenly there were two apartments available to rent.
First day of work at the copy desk. All the flashbacks of sitting at computers at The Sundial for hours on end came flooding back to me at the fifth hour of work. There isn't much different from my previous job, other than the fact that it is merely 20% of what I used to do.
Half of my day was pulling wire, formatting it, and laying out the pages. The the local sections went into place and I got to see how well paid reporters do. One writer's stories were so oddly constructed that I had to ask the others at the copy desk if she spoke English as a second language. They laughed. Apparently not.
Not much of an orientation was offered, but camaraderie has begun at the copy desk. I should meet more editors tomorrow. I found out that I'll be on the Tuesday - Saturday shift, with Sunday and Monday my days off for the first few weeks of working here.
Today was the first time I was able to say, "Yes, I am full time."
First time eating that ridiculous stuffed grilled crunch madness thing from Taco Bell. Not as tasty as one might think. It kinda tastes like someone wrapped a bean and chicken and cheese burrito around a tostada. Kudos to them for figuring out how to revitalize their same ingredients so many times over. Their menu is becoming larger than I could have ever imagined for so many similar tastes.
Today is also the first time I am using my loving friend's dialup internet access to post to my blog. I haven't used dialup in almost ten years. It is pretty slow, but it allows you time to do things on the side while things are loading. Makes you wish people used less pictures on the web.
