Thursday, October 8, 2009

Can you tell I'm procrastinating?

Yeah, so no blog posts in months, then you get three in two days. That could only mean one thing. I have other shit I should be doing. With my thesis, it was cleaning. Dissertation was first exercising (good) and then baking (negated the exercising). Moving is obsessively refreshing Twitter and catching up on blog posts. And a renewed interest in 90210 and Gilmore Girls reruns.

Oh that's right. Moving. We're moving to California (I know, WTF? where did that come from? what self-respecting Colorado girl? and all that). Actually we're moving to California next week. Hence the procrastination. I HATE packing. Hate it with the passion of a thousand burning suns. Or not. I like the organizational part, but I go through emotional phases while I do it (come on, I'm a doctor now. You knew this was coming). First, I'm all gusto and get-to-it-ness. This leads to the Oregon in me coming out and deciding that we are evil disgusting materialistic consumers and "why the hell do we need all this crap, whine, whine, self-rightous rant and compensatory recycling." Then I find my ass glued to the couch for a week with so many more *important* things to do *(see above re: 90210). From there I freak the f--- out, rendering myself completely paralyzed by anxiety and alienating all who know me with my amazing level of bitchiness. This inevitably leads to illness, leaving me whiny and useless. After that, I usually return to being a normal human being, and pull it off at the last minute. So the truck comes Wednesday and I'm just getting over a cold. We'll see how it goes.

I ended up taking a job at a women's prison in California, where they want me to start a chronic pain program. This is so exciting and so grown-up that I still have a hard time believing that I'm talking about myself. We found a house (thanks to my dad and brother who made sure there were no crack houses or dirty brothels next door), and C was able to transfer to a good position. E will stay with the same daycare company and so hopefully the transition will go okay. Fingers crossed. It seems a little bizarre to be moving somewhere none of us have ever been, but this is how we roll.

I'm excited that I was able to find a position in a prison, and even more excited that I get to continue working both with women and with the chronic pain patients. There aren't many, if any, chronic pain programs in prisons, so I get to blaze my own trail. California prisons are huge and well known for their "atmosphere" and so I'm interested to see how this will be different. Obviously going from a population of 500 to a population of 4,000 will be a big deal. California also has the furloughs, which means a lot of unpaid days off. It could be so much worse, so I'm just rolling with that part. Being me, I'm more concerned with whether I have to carry a clear bag and if there's a strict dress code. It's all about priorities.

E and C are excited about the change. C, who was ready to leave Minnesota by the end of November last year, and E, who says that he's ready for "fun in the sun." I'm not sure what he means, but he also wants to go surfing, take swimming lessons, and have a birthday party. I'm not sure how much he understands, but he's been a trooper through the chaos.

So yeah, should probably go pack some more boxes. Or just shovel it all out the door. Either way.

2 comments:

  1. So glad to finally hear about the job. When you get settled and have a chance, I'd love an e-mail with more details. Starting your own program, what an AD-ult! I hope the blog (and Tweets) continue so we can keep in touch.

    ReplyDelete