We'll be on a road tripping across Missouri for the next 12 days or so, visiting Scientist's family. I may or may not be able to post anything during this time.
I hope everyone has a great couple weeks. I promise to post pictures and wacky anecdotes once we get to Morgantown.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Weekend Festivities
This weekend was pretty great. Scientist's defense went smashingly well: his presentation was very good, and his committee passed him without any trouble. Now, he just has to add/change some things to his thesis and he is totally done with that fucking thing (I feel some animosity towards Scientist's thesis, considering how much of a HUGE pain in the ass writing it has been over the last, oh, six years for him). All corrections should be finished up this week in the midst of packing and cleaning our retched apartment.
On Saturday night we had a fantastic little party at a local bar in town. I was actually really surprised at the number of people who showed up. Of course, not everyone who said they would did, but still, it felt like a real going away party. Thanks to everyone who made an appearance! I will miss get togethers like this one once we move.
I'm starting to get really nostalgic and sentimental about leaving Iowa City. I shouldn't be surprised: I knew this would happen. As a lot of you know, I've traveled and lived all over the world, but no matter what I've always come back to the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area. I know everything here, and even if I don't feel like I've made a bunch of friends since I came back to IC from Ukraine (after I alienated a group of "friends" I had made the previous two years), I know a lot of people.
Nevertheless, at first I was a little apprehensive about leaving IC. Then, I wanted to get the fuck outta here as soon as possible. Now, I don't know. Honestly, the thing I think I'll miss the most about this area is my mom. She's my rock. I love her to pieces. I also worry she'll get lonely and bored without me; we spend a lot of time just hanging out and doing stuff together. Who is she going to do that stuff with once I'm gone?
Other than missing my mom and a handful of other people/things,ultimately, I'm ready to go. I've lived here far longer than I ever hoped and I think there are much better opportunities waiting for both of us. This is our new start together.
One of my friends kept saying what we were doing was so "romantic". I'm not looking for romance as much as I am stability; I'm not at the point in my life where adventure and constantly moving is something that appeals. It isn't that I want to settle down, get married, buy a house and grow fat and old in the hills of West Virginia, but having something other than some clothes, a bike and a bunch of public health textbooks would be nice. I would like a desk and a car that runs. I would like to continue working on my degree. I would like to be in a public health program that is not totally disorganized and does not seriously suck in some ways. These are all reasonable things to want when one is about to turn 31. Don't you think?
On Saturday night we had a fantastic little party at a local bar in town. I was actually really surprised at the number of people who showed up. Of course, not everyone who said they would did, but still, it felt like a real going away party. Thanks to everyone who made an appearance! I will miss get togethers like this one once we move.
I'm starting to get really nostalgic and sentimental about leaving Iowa City. I shouldn't be surprised: I knew this would happen. As a lot of you know, I've traveled and lived all over the world, but no matter what I've always come back to the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area. I know everything here, and even if I don't feel like I've made a bunch of friends since I came back to IC from Ukraine (after I alienated a group of "friends" I had made the previous two years), I know a lot of people.
Nevertheless, at first I was a little apprehensive about leaving IC. Then, I wanted to get the fuck outta here as soon as possible. Now, I don't know. Honestly, the thing I think I'll miss the most about this area is my mom. She's my rock. I love her to pieces. I also worry she'll get lonely and bored without me; we spend a lot of time just hanging out and doing stuff together. Who is she going to do that stuff with once I'm gone?
Other than missing my mom and a handful of other people/things,ultimately, I'm ready to go. I've lived here far longer than I ever hoped and I think there are much better opportunities waiting for both of us. This is our new start together.
One of my friends kept saying what we were doing was so "romantic". I'm not looking for romance as much as I am stability; I'm not at the point in my life where adventure and constantly moving is something that appeals. It isn't that I want to settle down, get married, buy a house and grow fat and old in the hills of West Virginia, but having something other than some clothes, a bike and a bunch of public health textbooks would be nice. I would like a desk and a car that runs. I would like to continue working on my degree. I would like to be in a public health program that is not totally disorganized and does not seriously suck in some ways. These are all reasonable things to want when one is about to turn 31. Don't you think?
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
We're Moving....No, really....
So, as most of you know, there have been plans in the works for Scientist and I to move since Christmas. And finally finally finally we have a decision. We are moving to Morgantown, West Virginia...in less than two weeks!
Scientist had originally applied for a job in St. Louis (which, as luck would have it, he was offered almost immediately), where he would've been working for Saint Louis University as a post-doctoral fellow. Now, this job wouldn't have been so bad: I really like STL ( no matter what anybody says about it), Scientist's entire family is there, it isn't that far from my Mom and the School of Public Health at SLU (Saint Louis University) is very good. It's in a really shady area in which I was forbidden to walk through alone at night, when most of my classes would've been, but whatever.
Scientist's job in Morgantown, however, is SWEET. He'll be working for a branch of the CDC there, studying cool stuff like "black mold". When we went to Morgantown about a month ago Scientist met with a lot of people in the department, who all seemed cool, and gave a seminar about his work.
The School of Public Health at WVU isn't as old or well established as the one at SLU, but I was impressed by how unbelievably nice and welcoming everyone was towards me. The faculty member I met with was super super cool and very nice, and once I told her about my background etc., there seemed to be no doubt I would get in. Another bonus is she laid out an academic plan for me that allowed me to graduate in summer 2008, which is nice. That means I can plan and have my wedding in peace, without worrying about going to school, plus we can go our honeymoon, which will be overseas and awesome in September after all the tourists have left (more about the honeymoon in a different post).
When we got back from Morgantown we really agonized about what to do. We didn't want to base our entire decision on money, but the job in Morgantown paid $16,000 per year more and the cost of living would be considerably less than in STL. Still, the idea of moving to STL was very alluring; Morgantown is nice, but it doesn't have a lot going on. It actually reminded me of IC before the hospital began building facilities like crazy: the downtown was small, had mostly inexpensive stores and restaurants and a little on the boring side. That and it is a little isolated.
So, we deliberated and deliberated. Then, I got my financial aid notification from SLU. It was $9000 short of the estimated cost of attendance. That meant we would be living in a much more expensive city (rents aren't cheap unless you want to live in the 'hood), with a lot less money and barely enough dough to cover my tuition. So, we decided to move to West Virginia.
I'm very excited. Very. It will be nice to finally, once and for all, get out of Iowa City and see a totally new, not to mention absolutely beautiful, part of the country. We will be three and a half hours from two of my favorite people (Ellen and Brian), not to mention 5 hours from a good friend of our going to grad school in Charlottesville, VA.
I've got a good feeling about this!
Scientist had originally applied for a job in St. Louis (which, as luck would have it, he was offered almost immediately), where he would've been working for Saint Louis University as a post-doctoral fellow. Now, this job wouldn't have been so bad: I really like STL ( no matter what anybody says about it), Scientist's entire family is there, it isn't that far from my Mom and the School of Public Health at SLU (Saint Louis University) is very good. It's in a really shady area in which I was forbidden to walk through alone at night, when most of my classes would've been, but whatever.
Scientist's job in Morgantown, however, is SWEET. He'll be working for a branch of the CDC there, studying cool stuff like "black mold". When we went to Morgantown about a month ago Scientist met with a lot of people in the department, who all seemed cool, and gave a seminar about his work.
The School of Public Health at WVU isn't as old or well established as the one at SLU, but I was impressed by how unbelievably nice and welcoming everyone was towards me. The faculty member I met with was super super cool and very nice, and once I told her about my background etc., there seemed to be no doubt I would get in. Another bonus is she laid out an academic plan for me that allowed me to graduate in summer 2008, which is nice. That means I can plan and have my wedding in peace, without worrying about going to school, plus we can go our honeymoon, which will be overseas and awesome in September after all the tourists have left (more about the honeymoon in a different post).
When we got back from Morgantown we really agonized about what to do. We didn't want to base our entire decision on money, but the job in Morgantown paid $16,000 per year more and the cost of living would be considerably less than in STL. Still, the idea of moving to STL was very alluring; Morgantown is nice, but it doesn't have a lot going on. It actually reminded me of IC before the hospital began building facilities like crazy: the downtown was small, had mostly inexpensive stores and restaurants and a little on the boring side. That and it is a little isolated.
So, we deliberated and deliberated. Then, I got my financial aid notification from SLU. It was $9000 short of the estimated cost of attendance. That meant we would be living in a much more expensive city (rents aren't cheap unless you want to live in the 'hood), with a lot less money and barely enough dough to cover my tuition. So, we decided to move to West Virginia.
I'm very excited. Very. It will be nice to finally, once and for all, get out of Iowa City and see a totally new, not to mention absolutely beautiful, part of the country. We will be three and a half hours from two of my favorite people (Ellen and Brian), not to mention 5 hours from a good friend of our going to grad school in Charlottesville, VA.
I've got a good feeling about this!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
The Story
I should have known something was up.
About 3 1/2 weeks ago I came home from hangin' with my mom to find Scientist cleaning the refrigerator like a man possessed. Now, Scientist isn't a slob, or even a sloppy guy, but, like me, he's not one to take on big projects like cleaning the fridge for no reason. Especially on a really beautiful day. But he was, and figuring I should help, I decided to pitch in.
After we had finished, we started preparing some dinner. Since what we were making required us to marinate the meat for awhile, we decided to go for a walk at Kent Park, a park we started frequenting right after we met. It had just rained, so we figured there would be less people out there than usual.
Seeing as how I was totally stinky, I changed into something clean. Scientist did as well, changing into a nice clean navy shirt and some new shorts. I thought this was a little strange, as we were going to be gone for just a little while, but figured we had been cleaning, so he probably felt grungy or something and wanted to get into new clothes. He grabbed the camera and we headed out to the car.
Then, just as we were about to leave, Scientist said he needed to go get a CD, jumped out of the car and ran inside. When he came back, however, his hands were empty. He made some excuse about how the CD he was going to get was a "good" CD, as opposed to a burned one, and he didn't want to ruin it by putting it into the car stereo (for some reason, the car stereo eats CDs, so we try to only put burned ones in it, lest we lose it forever to the car stereo gremlin living there). I shrugged. Then, finally, we were off.
Once we got to Kent Park we started on our stroll. It had rained earlier, but the sun had come back out and it was late enough in the day that it wasn't humid and sticky, but rather pleasant.
Kent Park is unusual in the number of bridges it has. It has a lake where people fish, along with a beach and 4 or 5 bridges that surround the perimeter. There are always a lot of families with little kids running everywhere. It's very Midwestern.
At one point we stopped on one of the bridges and started doing cute couple stuff like making out and gazing into each other's eyes. After a minute though, Scientist said we should continue on to "our bridge". Like I said earlier, soon after we started dating we would go to Kent Park to relax and be together. The first time we ever went to Kent Park we took a bunch of pictures on this one bridge; this bridge, of course, gained some sentimental significance to both of us as our relationship progressed, and we considered it "ours". Disgustingly cute, I know.
But as we got closer to the bridge, we noticed it was occupied by three people with fishing poles and an extremely excited dog. When I pointed them out to Scientist he snapped his fingers and exclaimed "DAMN IT!" with far more annoyance than necessary. I was kind of surprised at his reaction, but he seemed to get a hold of himself and said something about how we could just stop on the bridge we were on.
That was when Scientist started in telling how much he loved and cared about me. Then he broke away and asked me to come stand away from the side of the bridge. I was a little confused by the way he was acting at this point, but followed him anyway away from the water.
That was when he pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him. After I had recovered from the shock of what he had just asked me, I told him yes.
We had talked about getting married for a quite awhile, but I had figured we wouldn't get engaged for at least another year, what with all the stuff that's been happening lately (my grandmother's death, his thesis, being unsure where we're moving to in the next few weeks, our impending homeless beginning on July 31st). He had gotten the ring on Monday and had been hiding it in various places, like the toolbox in the car and in his backpack, all week trying to figure out when the best time was to ask me. After he explained it to me it all made sense: him changing clothes, grabbing the camera, getting excited about people being on our bridge, etc. He had wanted me to stand away from the water because he didn't want to drop the ring in the water out of nervousness.
I'm extremely happy. We both are. The wedding should be sometime next year, probably in August.
And that is the story of how I got engaged.
About 3 1/2 weeks ago I came home from hangin' with my mom to find Scientist cleaning the refrigerator like a man possessed. Now, Scientist isn't a slob, or even a sloppy guy, but, like me, he's not one to take on big projects like cleaning the fridge for no reason. Especially on a really beautiful day. But he was, and figuring I should help, I decided to pitch in.
After we had finished, we started preparing some dinner. Since what we were making required us to marinate the meat for awhile, we decided to go for a walk at Kent Park, a park we started frequenting right after we met. It had just rained, so we figured there would be less people out there than usual.
Seeing as how I was totally stinky, I changed into something clean. Scientist did as well, changing into a nice clean navy shirt and some new shorts. I thought this was a little strange, as we were going to be gone for just a little while, but figured we had been cleaning, so he probably felt grungy or something and wanted to get into new clothes. He grabbed the camera and we headed out to the car.
Then, just as we were about to leave, Scientist said he needed to go get a CD, jumped out of the car and ran inside. When he came back, however, his hands were empty. He made some excuse about how the CD he was going to get was a "good" CD, as opposed to a burned one, and he didn't want to ruin it by putting it into the car stereo (for some reason, the car stereo eats CDs, so we try to only put burned ones in it, lest we lose it forever to the car stereo gremlin living there). I shrugged. Then, finally, we were off.
Once we got to Kent Park we started on our stroll. It had rained earlier, but the sun had come back out and it was late enough in the day that it wasn't humid and sticky, but rather pleasant.
Kent Park is unusual in the number of bridges it has. It has a lake where people fish, along with a beach and 4 or 5 bridges that surround the perimeter. There are always a lot of families with little kids running everywhere. It's very Midwestern.
At one point we stopped on one of the bridges and started doing cute couple stuff like making out and gazing into each other's eyes. After a minute though, Scientist said we should continue on to "our bridge". Like I said earlier, soon after we started dating we would go to Kent Park to relax and be together. The first time we ever went to Kent Park we took a bunch of pictures on this one bridge; this bridge, of course, gained some sentimental significance to both of us as our relationship progressed, and we considered it "ours". Disgustingly cute, I know.
But as we got closer to the bridge, we noticed it was occupied by three people with fishing poles and an extremely excited dog. When I pointed them out to Scientist he snapped his fingers and exclaimed "DAMN IT!" with far more annoyance than necessary. I was kind of surprised at his reaction, but he seemed to get a hold of himself and said something about how we could just stop on the bridge we were on.
That was when Scientist started in telling how much he loved and cared about me. Then he broke away and asked me to come stand away from the side of the bridge. I was a little confused by the way he was acting at this point, but followed him anyway away from the water.
That was when he pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him. After I had recovered from the shock of what he had just asked me, I told him yes.
We had talked about getting married for a quite awhile, but I had figured we wouldn't get engaged for at least another year, what with all the stuff that's been happening lately (my grandmother's death, his thesis, being unsure where we're moving to in the next few weeks, our impending homeless beginning on July 31st). He had gotten the ring on Monday and had been hiding it in various places, like the toolbox in the car and in his backpack, all week trying to figure out when the best time was to ask me. After he explained it to me it all made sense: him changing clothes, grabbing the camera, getting excited about people being on our bridge, etc. He had wanted me to stand away from the water because he didn't want to drop the ring in the water out of nervousness.
I'm extremely happy. We both are. The wedding should be sometime next year, probably in August.
And that is the story of how I got engaged.
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