2011 in a Blogshell

not every day has been accounted for in writing, but most have.  i've looked over the morning pages to try to remember what really made up each month.  so much happens in a day, in a month and of course, in a year.  here's a short list for me to remember and for anyone else who is interested in where i've been and what i've been doing.

January: Still employed at Sun and Sea and Hairy Monkey Books.  I'm extremely bored most days and know that I need to work on finding a different job.  I try to supplement my part time work with some part-time tutoring.  This falls through.  I even interview at my old elementary school to see about becoming a substitute teacher.  This also falls through.  I continue the Artist's Way which I pursue like a religion.  I draw wheels of balance to see if my day to day living is healthy and full.  I find one area lacking in particular: my social life.  I attempt to be-friend a girl at work, but it doesn't really go anywhere.  I throw myself into my writing especially on the novella, The Letters.  I do meet interesting characters at work inspiring pieces for my blog.  I begin to look into MFA programs. 

February: Roseanne Barr visits Hairy Monkey Books.  I stand in the longest lines I've seen at the mall to fill out an application to work at Safeway.  The doors close before I ever get to fill out an application.  I waited for 4 and 5 hours respectively.  I get a second interview for a dental technician position.  I go to Ross and buy fancy shoes and dress slacks.  I put on make-up for the first time in years.  I do not get the position.  I entertain thoughts of becoming a professor.  More research into graduate school.  Superbowl sunday with my grandfather.  I have to work so I miss the first half.  But i make it home for the second half.  The Steelers lose :(  I'm fired for the first time in my life from Sun and Sea and Hairy Monkey Books.  I have poor customer service apparently.  I'm silently overjoyed to be out of there.  I become obsessed with Chelsea Handler and watch as many of her clips on youtube as possible.  I also buy her book.  It is hilarious.  Watched some roller derby.  More writing.

March:  Pounding the pavement looking for a job.  Jobs are scarce.  I start my newest writing project: a love story about a hopeless romantic.  The project is more or less fictional.  Looking for jobs is miserable.  So many applications.  Life feels mundane.  Then in the middle of March, a break from Home Depot working as a sales associate in the building and lumber department.  Still working on The Letters

April:  Have to get used to the guys I work with in Building and Lumber.  They don't take quickly too me.  Plus I must learn all the products and their proper uses.  However, I make friends soon after hire and pick up the product information fairly quickly.  It is hard work and I do lots of running around in the store.  Loading 10 or more bags of cement for a single customer begins to strain my back and at the end of the day I'm fairly tired.  However, I get recognized by customers who write positively about me in their comments surveys.  Rains steady for 2 weeks, but feels more like 3 months.  I get a call from PTA.  I interview and am offered the crew leader position for the invasive plants program.  The pay increase is great and I will be able to work outside.  I take the position instantly.  My last day at Home Depot is the 28th.  Still writing.

May:  Start work at PTA.  At first it is good as I'm taken under the existing crew leader's wing.  She leaves in the middle of the month and I'm stuck with my new co-leader.  We do not get along at all.  It is a rough transition with some personalities that are difficult and even down right mean.  I do my best, but I feel close to awful most days when I get home.  It has never been this difficult for me to make friends.  I wonder if I made the right decision.  I register to take the GRE.  Continue work on the relationship novella (still without a title) and it's really starting to take shape.  I begin my character study on a particular person and compose several short pieces.  My attempt to write as I discover, to dictate the layers of the individual.  This will be a reoccurring theme. 

June:  Working conditions not getting any better but I'm getting smarter.  Learned my endangered natives and figuring out the system within the organization.  I wish to be with a different department as I do not seem to bond with those within my department.  Don't know who to trust and debating who I should go to with my myriad of issues.  My story is really coming into its own.  Applied to Vermont Studio Art Center residency.  Start writing on the commute to work.  Trying too hard to befriend a strange and stand-offish creature.  Really productive writing month.

July:  Camping trip for work.  While out in the field that week, we get along well.  I have high hopes for our return.  Upon return things resort back to normal.  I'm not too happy.  Made crew work out in rain even when they didn't want to.  It was important.  We finished our task.  I made a decision and stuck with it.  Another very productive and fruitful writing month. 

August:  Things getting slightly better at work.  Getting a system, understanding some folks a little better.  Take my mother to an America concert for her early birthday.  It was one of the highlights of my year, especially our dinner watching the sunset.  That was pretty awesome :)  Accepted to Vermont Studio Art Center with partial grant.  However, without a full grant, I knew I couldn't jeopardize my job so I decline the offer.  Contemplate getting Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" tattooed on me.  I become ever more frustrated with a certain acquaintance. 

September:  My friend Stephanie comes to visit and gives me a much needed break from all the hostility at work.  It's nice to have a friend my age around.  We do all sorts of things around the island and go to Maui to watch my Aunt's halau compete.  Stephanie even makes biscuits that are hot, just out of the oven when I get home.  awe...  I take the GRE.  ugh...

October: Back to the grind and this will be my last month of employment with PTA because I was on a temporary contract.  I hope I get hired back but I don't want to assume anything.  I remain in good graces and finish out my time.  My last day is the 21st.  I pick up The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.  Totally changes my perspective.

November:  I join a gym so I don't go crazy during my time off.  I get really into bike riding and happy for the workout, the vistas and some quality time alone.  I try to work on my writing but I do more bike riding than anything else.  I contemplate a trip to the mainland, but I don't want to miss a possible interview or anything.  I even contemplate a short stint at SCA but even the shortest stint would require more time than I have.  I get the interview and get the job with a slight raise.  I start again on the 28th.  I stop taking my journal to work and use a small notebook instead, one I can fit in my pocket.  Much better.  Much safer.  GRE scores are okay, ready to apply to schools.  But not... 

December:  Don't apply to MFA programs, unsure if now is the time.  Back at work.  Things looking good with certain troubled colleagues but then things turn a bit sour again.  Christmas holiday.  Went to company Christmas party.  Interesting experience.  Went to parents for Christmas holiday.  I made it through.  I love my mother and thank her for helping me through.  Buy a fishing charter trip for my folks and I as a Christmas gift.  We sail in January.  Still writing.  Saw the bardo realm for what it was.  Nearly missing the van twice and had to run for it.  Submitted a section of the story without a title.  Called it Something Like Entropy.  Have high hopes and am crossing my fingers.  A quiet New Years.