Why am I so scared?
It's not like I've never done this before. I spent all of last summer pumping out packages like nobody's business, and I still managed to be an story-writing machine two days a week last fall.
I just haven't done this in nine whole months, and I'm worried the higher ups will expect me to be as good as I was in December. I was hoping my first day would be a sort of reorientation, that I could follow another reporter around and relearn the routine. It doesn't sound like I'll be afforded that luxury.
Tonight I need to sit down and come up with three decent (and easier) story ideas. I also need to press my dress clothes so I'm ready for the whole week. My schedule this week is a little crazy. I work Monday and Tuesday, have Wednesday and Thursday off, and then work all weekend. I have a feeling I'll need to have Wednesday off just to recover from my first two days back in the business.
Mission Accomplished
I was able to accomplish one huge thing during my weekend of technical unemployment. I bought a new car and bid adieu to the Taurus. The boy I've been seeing spent part of the weekend in Sioux Falls (he does not live in town) and was a great asset in the car hunt.
After I finished work with the city Friday evening, he joined me on a few test drives.
I had actually been considering getting a newer Taurus, but the two we tried out were awful. Just awful. The first was silver (boring) and the interior was shot. The leather was beat up, the paneling was peeling up on the doors, and it didn't actually have a sunroof even though the website said it did.
At first I said the interior's condition wasn't a deal breaker as long as it ran well, but it did not. The engine was horrendously loud and the transmission had serious issues. Twice it made a sickening thud and seemed to have something similar to a seizure.
The second Taurus was gold and Flex Fuel and appeared to be in beautiful condition. At first it even seemed to run like a dream, until I tried to brake at the first stoplight we came to. The rotors, it turns out, had been stripped and were now grinding on each other. I almost didn't get the car stopped. So, we took that vehicle on a very short test drive--around the block--and returned it to the deal with a few choice words about both vehicles.
The boy didn't seem very fazed by the lack of success on Friday. He said I shouldn't have been surprised by the condition of the Tauri--the dealership they were at is called Cheap Cars. He seemed to be much more optimistic about the whole thing than I was at that point, and he took me out for a very nice date to cheer me up (more to come on that later).
Saturday afternoon, things took a turn for the better. We were sitting at lunch looking online at a Ford Focus I had found in Tea. We decided we liked it enough to run a CarFax on it (they needed to be rationed as I was running out of them), and sadly discovered it was a salvage. I then remembered a dealership near my apartment had a Kia Spectra that was always on my list of possibilities, but everyone in the inner circle suggested I go after different vehicles.
We then ran a CarFax on the Kia and found no flaws. He then took the computer and did some serious research on the Kia. Literally, the worst problem he found with the cars is that people noticed the paint faded quickly. Definitely not a deal breaker.
Long story short, I bought the Kia. He was amazing with the dealer. A very cool cucumber. And, the Taurus stayed behind as a trade in. I had warned him in advance that I might cry when I parted ways with the first car I ever bought all by myself, but fortunately I held myself together a little better than I had anticipated.
So far so good...
Things with the boy are going very, very well. After I dragged the poor guy to car lots on Friday afternoon and then to Wal-Mart to pick up pictures I had ordered, he still wanted to go out on a nice date. We hung out at the apartment for a little while, waiting for the dinner rush to wrap up, and then went to the Lob for a nice meal.
After we finished eating, we went to a movie. I think he really wanted to see Inglorious Basterds, as did I, but I was torn between that and The Time Traveler's Wife, and he decided we would see that. Great chick flick--he was a real trooper for sitting through it. He did admit it was better than he thought it would be because of the sci-fi aspect.
That was about as adventurous as we got, though. After a long last week with the city and his first week back at law school, we were both pretty exhausted and went to bed fairly early for a Friday night. I guess we're getting old.
I really like this boy. I hope things work out--I'm becoming very attached. Nothing is official (as far as I know), but I'm certainly not feeling the need or want to date other boys. I'm very content with what I have for now. I just wish he lived in Sioux Falls. Oh well--no one gets everything they want.
