How much money is 21 days worth?
Today was the 21st legislative day (out of a whopping 40), and it was productive. 7:45 a.m. committee followed by constituent letter signing, email forwarding, copy making, and meeting scheduling.
The majority leader hosted a Republican leadership meeting over the noon hour, and while I was welcome to attend, I opted to run to the DQ and grab a salad. I've started noticing that if I don't eat something by a certain time, I get dizzy and nauseous, so I figured food was the smarter choice in the short term. The afternoon went long--session didn't end until 5:15. All in all, a pretty normal day.
Out of the blue...
Normal, except I don't usually get phone calls from my broadcasting advisor telling me I needed to apply for a reporting position in Grand Forks, ND. And then lecturing me on how I need to be open minded about North Dakota because I might not get a job anywhere else. That was probably the worst part--he knows I have my heart set on going back to KDLT for a year, and while I realize that might not happen, North Dakota is the last place on earth I want to work in. Seriously. I'm sick of being cold and in the middle of nowhere.
I told him I would send the news director a tape--apparently she asked him about me specifically--and that I'd keep an open mind, but after I hung up, I started freaking out. Quietly for most of the afternoon--no need to rub it in to the boys that I might have another job lead (they didn't take the news of my being approached about an internship in Sioux Falls well). But after work, I lost it.
And then it hit me...
We were supposed to go to a military ball tonight--sounds like enough fun for a Thursday night. I didn't have a ticket in my hand yet, and that made me nervous, too. Apparently one of the boys convinced his representative to give me his extra ticket, but when we got there, the man was nowhere to be found. He was probably somewhere, but I was in no mood to search him out from the throngs of people in full formal wear (another reason I ditched out; I was still in business casual). I gave up at that point, stole Jordan's car, and drove to a liquor/grocery store.
At the store, I found my favorite red wine (Prairie Berry's Calamity Jane) that I've been searching for for weeks, so I bought two bottles (to be consumed over the course of the entire weekend, not just tonight) and a bar of super dark chocolate, went home to shower, and then watched a two hour Grey's Anatomy while trying to calm down. Eventually I felt well enough to hit intern bowling night; I just needed something comforting and consistent.
It's actually going to happen...
I think what scares me the most is the fact that in the next coming weeks, I will actually have to decide where I will spend the next one to two years (depending on the contract), and there's a very real possibility that I might not be in Sioux Falls. I never thought I'd be so set on staying in South Dakota, but I'm just not ready to leave. I have a lot of family obligations over the next year--Tessa turns 4, Julie and Mike get married, Barbara starts college, Julie graduates from college--as well as friends' weddings that I really need to be in the vicinity for. I know I have to leave the state at some point, I just really, really, really don't want to leave it for North Dakota. As I once wrote in an editorial, if you're going to make a big change, go bigger, not equal.
A nice distraction...
Working out is starting to pay off. I'm not sure if I actually see any physical improvement (especially in the upper arms), but I can run and bike longer and lift more weights in more reps. And I'm making it a habit. I've been going at least three times a week since I moved to Pierre (with the exception of the week I got sick) and think I'll be able to stick with my plan when my horse rides on to the next town. I'm still not sure about running that 5K, but I sort of already told Krystle I'd run the Brookings 5K with her if I was still in town, so I guess I kind of have to. That means in the coming weeks I have to move off of the elliptical machine and onto solid ground. My knees are going to hate me, but Krystle will be happy, so I guess it's worth it. And then I can actually say I'm a real runner.
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