Oh. My. Lord.

I did not intend to be truant for a month. But I'm not so sure I'm even back, but I thought I'd say hello.

Hello!

Work is definitely going well, but I am cutting back on some online activities as I try to sort out my new schedule. This is actually my favorite time of the year, what with the State Fair (I went, I saw, oh my god I ate), the Renn Fest (next week!), and the back-to-school weather.

What I am slowly discovering is that I miss back-to-school. This might mean the Dreaded Grad School Decision, but I'm trying not to think about it too hard just yet. 

In the meantime, have two things that sum up my summer: Mini Donuts and Turtle Crossing.

Day one.

It went well-- my new place of employment is a very relaxed, very chill place. I did a lot of paperwork today, and a lot of observing. But I got three hugs from small children so life is pretty good.

I'll be working with preschoolers, mostly, and hopefully enjoying every minute of it.

Summer is fading fast, sad to say. Yes, I know it's only just August, and really, the state fair is the true marker of when the season is coming to a close. But my brother and our cousin are on their annual journey together, this time to New York City. Every ten minutes an adventure, I'm told. They've made the pilgrimage to the Apple Store of all Apple Stores, as well as some other touristy things. 

I'm slowly getting ready for fall. Their trip usually signals the beginning of that slide into shorter days, and of course now that I'm working at a school again, the sight of notebooks and backpacks on sale at Target mean even more. 

The past two months have been a hidden blessing. I didn't know how much I needed the break until it was forced upon me, and I didn't know how much I appreciated working until I was nearly desperate for a job. 

So the good news of today is that I am employed again. I don't have much more to say, other than that I'm very very relieved. He's some shiny for you from the amazing Treasure City. 

Right now I'm watching Ace of Cakes, and I am endlessly amused by the show. My mother once told me in all seriousness that it reminded her of me, and my friends, and yeah. I can totally see it.

We ran the newspaper office much like they run the bakery. Madness, creativity, and laughing until we couldn't see straight. One thing in particular I recall is my Editor in Cheif's tendency to leave notes for people, written with sharpie on duct tape, and taped to their desk. 

It was fun. I miss it. I'm hopeful that my new job will bring as much to my life as my previous ones have.

I went north for my Aunt's birthday-- three days in deep lake country, it is fabulous I'll tell you what. My brother and I had many adventures in flea markets and barely escaped with our lives. 

Also we bought a book of crappy North Shore ghost stories and he read to me while I drove home-- this is the best sort of entertainment. There's nothing quite like MSTing a book while it's being read aloud to you in ridiculous accents.

 This is an example of what it is you can find at a horrifying tourist trap in the North Woods. Yes, that is the Boy, as a southern belle, and a confederation hand fan. Why?

I do not know.

At any rate, as you can see from the aisle in the picture, many a soul has stopped at this place and soon they were NEVER HEARD FROM AGAIN.

We only just made it out with our lives. 

The job hunt continues. It's unbelievable how slow going it all seems-- and it's not really from lack of jobs to apply for. I've applied to about 15 places in the last month and have only heard back from three. Yes, three. At one interview, the hiring manager told me they had 50 applicants for one job. That's not an astounding number if it were for a high profile position, but normally this type of job merits about 15 to 20 applications. Where my brother works there were hundreds of applicants just for three jobs.

But! I keep applying. And I sold a few pair of earrings over the weekend, these things really do help. (No, fiends, they were not as special as the Drunken Earrings, that was not just jewelry, it was an experience.)

I'm considering selling one pair of earrings per post here on this blog. Any thoughts? 

Poor lighting, yes, but here is the Wall Crap at Gustav's in Minneapolis. My interview on Tuesday went well, and in celebration my parents, brother, and I went to eat ALL THE FOOD IN THE WORLD at Gustav's. 

We were very entertained by the accordion player, sang along with the Wandering Song and Roll Out the Barrel (a family favorite!) and generally were obnoxious. 

You might not believe me when I said ALL THE FOOD IN THE WORLD, but I assure you it's absolutely true. On one plate I got spaetzle, croquettes, chicken, pork, asparagus, bratwurst, cabbage...well. You get the idea. 

I should be hearing back in the next few days about the interview. Thanks to everyone for the good thoughts, it's amazing how much better you feel when someone is rooting for you.

I don't have much else in my life that's bloggable today, so I'll leave you with a few lines from something I'm working on.

"How do you know my sister," she managed after a moment, surprised her voice didn't betray the shaking inside of her.

He shrugged. "I was trying to help her. She's in a lot of trouble. But after about a month she was gone. Before I could teach her anything really useful, other than just basic mending. Not that she had any natural aptitude for it. But it would have helped."

Knife stared at him, trying to make sense of anything he just said.

"We were in California," he added, completely unhelpfully.

"Oh."

I wish the above picture was not a lie. There is not more art laying about in this entry. Though I have been thinking about it quite a bit.

Today I did nothing. That is not a cute exaggeration or a complaint. I really honestly did not move from my bed (aside from food/bathroom breaks) until 9pm when I came out to the kitchen and made cookies for no reason. I spent most of the day watching Leverage.

I don't know why I couldn't do anything today, and quite frankly I feel a bit sick now. Inactivitiy settles into my stomach like food poisoning and can very quickly build up into a panic attack of sorts. Right now I'm focusing on little things, like the blog and baking cookies I won't eat.

I have a job interview again tomorrow. I would really like to get this job-- it's full time and would be fun, unlike the other I interviewed for. I need something to do with my days or my creativity can be drained.

Over the weekend I kept busy, and got the urge to pick up the 11,000 words of a novel I'd written some time ago.  Today when I had all the time in the world to do it? Zilch. Stupid human brains, eh? We're so contrary.

But tomorrow is another day, filled with an interview and a museum trip, I should think. And maybe some work on the novel-- but beware! If you ask me about it, be sure to schedule at least an hour of time for me to ramble on and on and on and on. It never gets old to me. ;)

So I had an adventure! We heard this beast before the sirens even went off, a low sort of roar that you recognize immediately when you grow up in tornado country.

We're a bit stupid, my papa and I, so we went outside. The trees on the property blocked the view to the west, but we knew it was in town and that it was close. And then, just like that, it was all over. 

I drove into town a bit later, to get some things before I headed home. Driving on the outskirts it didn't seem like much-- but there were trees down as close as a half-mile away. Our neighborhood didn't even lose any branches. One street was blocked by police, I figured it was a downed powerline and then I made the drive home quite peacefully.

This morning a friend who lives in North Dakota called me, fairly early. "I'm on my way to work," she said. "CNN was on this morning and they said there was a tornado and lots of damage and is everything ok?"

"Uh. Yeah," I said, half awake. "It wasn't that bad, at least not by us."

But when the conversation ended I got curious and went to the local paper's website. The above picture is what I found. (Yes, I stole it. Don't hate me, WC Trib.)

Yeah, that's a big tornado. And when I looked at the caption I realized the photo had been TAKEN BY MY NEIGHBORS. If the tornado had continued moving east, (moving right in the photo) it would have landed smack on my parent's house. Our neighborhood is just off the right side of the frame.

So that's the second in two weeks. Let's hope they're at an end, now.