August and suitcases

I've felt a blog post coming on for awhile now, and just couldn't avoid it any longer. (Just realized it's been over a month since I wrote anything!) The last month has been absolutely insane, in good ways and other ways, but mostly great ways.

Started the month off with Camp Oasis, which pretty much rocks my life every year, and this year was no exception. Started off a little different, being in a new location this year, but we all quickly got into the swing of things and started rocking out almost immediately. Loved that I finally talked my friend Chase into coming back to camp after five years away! How in the world he stayed away that long, I'll never know, but it was great to have him there, especially when I unexpectedly needed some moral support and a hug one (or two) day(s). But mostly camp was amazing and wonderful and life-changing, as it always is...I'm still feeling that after-camp high that makes you feel like you can pretty much accomplish anything. On a side note, I had worn a temporary tattoo all throughout the week of camp (check out the picture) that symbolized the camp theme this year. Earlier this week, I looked down at my foot and realized that I had gotten a tan line from the tattoo, which for some reason made me super-excited...I couldn't stop smiling.

After camp, I headed back to Florida for a short weekend with my parents in Gainesville before driving to Orlando for my next work assignment. This was a short assignment, only one week long, but all that was available at the moment, so I took it. Spent the week at a hotel, met some great people on the job, which was such a relief because at my last assignment some of the people I worked for/with were just ridiculously awful. The week went by quickly, and I headed back to Gainesville for another weekend with my parents.

Left again the next week for a two-week assignment in the grand town of Perry, FL (population 6,669). I actually really enjoyed myself there, in spite of being in ANOTHER hotel, and living out of a suitcase for the what was now the fourth straight week. Met some more great people at work, the job was really laid back, and ate at a couple local restaurants that were really good and quite the experience. (This is one of my favorite things about traveling for work, finding awesome restaurants with great food.) First place was this down home BBQ restaurant called Goodman's. The picture of the cow tipping team sign was taken at this restaurant, pretty much sums up my entire Perry experience. In case you can't read the small print, it says, "Go for the rear when pushin' a steer, Wait 'til they're asleep & tip the beef." The other place I went was the place my co-workers took me out to lunch for my last day, a real dive of a seafood place called Roy Deal's. Great food, including some decent oysters. (I wasn't brave enough to try the swamp cabbage, which I found out was actually part of a palm tree.) The best part about this place was that at random intervals some lively music would start playing on the loudspeaker and this lady would come out with something she called a "pogo stick" but was actually some kind of instrument that looked like a cross between snare drums and bongos, but on a stick. (Tough to imagine, I know, so I've provided a picture.) She was actually really good at playing it and she'd dance around all the tables to wild applause, then go back to manning the cash register until the next interval. Good times...

I'm now back in Gainesville, on my fifth straight week of living out of my suitcase and waiting for my next assignment, which I can only hope is long enough that I have a chance to actually stay somewhere that's more like a home than a hotel, somewhere that I can settle in for a few months this time. There's a couple prospects out there that I'm trying to work on, it's getting really hard to be patient when it seems like the companies that I work with are trying to take advantage of me at every turn. I really just have such a difficult time dealing with people that don't give you the whole story, that beat around the bush, or paint a pretty picture where there isn't really one. I hate small talk, idle talk and I really despise when people try to blow sunshine up my you-know-what. Sooo...dealing with recruiters is pretty much my least favorite thing right now.

On the sunny side, I've had a lot of down time the past several days (being temporarily unemployed allows for that sort of luxury), which has given me time for things like running, reading, crocheting, a whole lot of (probably too much) thinking, and plenty of naps. The running thing has been mostly great, I'm trying to get in gear for an eventual half-marathon rerun next February, but mostly just running because it helps to relieve stress, clear my mind. It's such a no-frills sport, just put on some shoes, turn on the i-Pod and hit the road, I love that! The reading has been mostly The Chronicles of Narnia, which I'm thoroughly enjoying, having never read most of the stories when I was younger. The crocheting (yes, you read that right) is something I've always enjoyed, but rarely had time for in the past. I know it sounds old and grandma-ish but there's something very therapeutic about creating something beautiful with yarn, repetition and patience. The thinking has been mostly about my future in my career and whether or not I want to take a giant leap into something completely different and unknown by going back to school. If you're any good at reading between the lines, you probably already know that not only do I not find my job fulfilling or thrilling, I find it frustrating and maddening at times...and I definitely believe that life is way too short to spend so much of it doing something that doesn't make me blissfully satisfied to be doing it. I've known for a while now that I need to go back to school, but I'm not looking forward to it, having never enjoyed school much either. I need to take action, though, and the long talks with myself are definitely paying off. We'll see what happens in the next year or two...

In the meantime, I'm going to keep traveling for work, as long as there's jobs to be had. I'll keep everyone posted on my next location just as soon as I know where it will be. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about a potential assignment that I heard about, but it sounds nice, and like I told a friend this morning, hope is hard to kill. Fingers crossed!

Goodbye, Leesburg and Eustis...

It was a lovely Saturday, in fact it still is...I haven't done one single thing I didn't feel like doing, haven't expended much energy at all today. So much different then the past few Saturdays...Not that I mind being busy, having way too much to do or having way too much fun to be had, it's just nice to have an entire day with nothing to do but indulge yourself once in a while. Not that I could really afford an entire day like that, but I did it anyway. I really should have started packing, since I'm moving next week, but I have tomorrow for that. A friend once told me, "If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute." I try to live by that motto...but, as lovely as that motto is, and as much as I could expand on it, that's not what I wanted to write about tonight.

I've just been having these thoughts and feelings lately, actually over the last couple months, about just how great my life is...sometimes I feel overwhelmed with gratitude at where my life has taken me, and what I have to look forward to. Doesn't mean my life is perfect and wonderful and that I don't have obstacles...in fact, it's rather curious and odd that I should be thinking about how awesome everything is, considering I've been through quite a lot these last few months...But I'm learning to appreciate and see all the wonderful things about my life, and that has made all the difference. I have so much to look forward to that I can't help but celebrate.

The first thing I'm excited about is leaving Leesburg/Eustis, FL. Yes, the time has finally come, my job contract has ended and I can finally move on to a place where (hopefully) Publix does not close at 9PM. My last day of work will be this Thursday, and it can't come soon enough. I am not at all sentimental about leaving, there's not much here to leave behind. It's no secret that I did not enjoy much about this contract, especially the place I worked...the only things I'll miss are the friends I've made, but we'll keep in touch and they can always visit wherever I end up for my next contract...the location of which at this point is still unknown. Feels a little like deja vu, coming down to the wire like last time...although I'm taking the week after next off, so there's still some time. Which brings me to the next thing I am looking forward to...

I'm taking the next week off because I'm going to Camp Oasis!!! This is something I wait for all year, every year, I love going there, it's always so very much fun, refreshing and renewing and there's nowhere else I'd rather be every summer. I can't wait to see all my old friends, make new ones, get crazy, and live in the woods with a bunch of kids for a week with very little communication with the outside world (except for limited cell phone service). I seriously can hardly wait for July 31st!

I'm also just excited in general for what the next several months have in store...a new contract means a new locale, a new place to explore, new friends I have yet to meet, new challenges...I also can't wait for my cousin Megan's wedding in October, for several reasons...the first being that I'm just so happy for her, can't wait to see her walk down the aisle and marry the man she loves...I love happy endings. I also am just excited about going to Kansas for her wedding, since I've never been that far west before...and I'm excited about seeing my extended family again so soon, after just spending time with them last month at our family reunion! We have so much fun together! Then soon after that, there's the holidays to look forward to, hopefully a trip of some sort between now and then if I can squeeze it in...and then there's more new contracts and new locations, hopefully in other states besides Florida. It's just one good thing after another, falling right into my life and into my lap. I'm the luckiest girl in the world!

The countdown continues...

Just found out today that I'll be staying in Leesburg/ working in Eustis for an extra five weeks. Wasn't exactly what I had planned for the next month, but it was the best way to ensure that I got the time off that I need for Camp Oasis in August. But it's not all bad, things haven't been as rough here recently...

I've been having good times the past few weeks...My mom came to visit two weekends ago and we had plenty of fun exploring the quaint little town of Mt. Dora. It's this little hidden gem that is so cute, with all the little antique shops and cafes and old buildings. When I'm there, I feel like I'm on a movie set, it's just so different than all the surrounding areas. Here's a couple pictures that don't do it justice, but at least give you an idea of what it's like.

The first one is the entrance to one of the antique shops and the second is a telescopic view of a brick walkway with all the story windows of the different shops on either side of the walkway. It's a lovely place that's only about twenty minutes from where I'm staying...I'm sure I'll be visiting again before I leave this area. The one thing I still want to do in Mt. Dora is try out some of the restaurants. There's a couple right on the lake that look promising.

Last weekend my friend Meredith came to visit, and we hit up the city of Orlando for way too much shopping and some really bad food. We went to one of the outlet malls for some designer jeans, then headed to the Mall of Millenia for the remainder of the shopping extravaganza. Our original plan was to finish shopping in time to head to Mt. Dora for a nice dinner, but anyone that knows Meredith and I knows things NEVER go as planned. We ended up spending a lot more time shopping than we had originally planned (who would have thought that could happen) and found ourselves still in Orlando at 9pm, so we had to make do with what was in our immediate vicinity...which happened to be a terrible steak and seafood restaurant called McCormick and Schmick's, but probably should be called McCormick and Schmuck's. Poor service, and positively awful food...but we still had a good time, as only we can.

Anyway, the last few weeks have been pretty packed, and I'm having more fun than I thought I could here in Leesburg. I'm also exploring some local backwoods, riverside, and roadside eateries with my friend Dana from work, who's up for anything. We even went to this place called Sinbad's yesterday for dinner, they actually had old pieces of carpet on the table as coasters!

Also, the "blind mosquitoes" that I talked about in my last post had left...and now they're back again and worse than ever! How many "seasons" can these creatures have! I actually have to try to get in and out of the door as quickly as possible and not to open it very wide or very often, and even still, I get tons of these things in my apartment every day. That is one thing about living here that I will definitely not miss.

The next few weekends look to be just as busy as the last few...this weekend I'm heading back to Orlando to exchange some of the items I bought last week...and for some shenanigans with Dana as well. I'm also working six days this week, as well as the week after next, to make up for the time off I'm taking next weekend to go to my family reunion in Indiana! I'm so excited for it, can't wait to see all my family and especially my awesome cousins, can't wait to sleep in a tent for four days, stay up all night and sleep all day, and eat home cooked food on picnic tables for every meal. Pictures to come...

59 days and counting...

That's how many days I have left in Leesburg, FL. Can't wait to move on to the next adventure! Especially since Leesburg has turned out to be everything I thought it would be, which is really not much of anything. Not much has changed since my last blog post...

I'm still enjoying the lake, although from a distance now, since the warmer weather has brought on what they call here in Leesburg "blind mosquitoes". I don't know why they're called that, but all I know is they're EVERYWHERE! I almost want to wear a mask when I exit my front door so that I don't breathe any in. Who knew there was a downside to living on a lake. They tell me that the season for these blind mosquitoes should be over in a week or two, though. I did, however, get some pictures of Silver Lake just before the mosquito swarm took over completely...I decided to go for a quick run around the lake since it's about a three mile circumference...I haven't run at all since my race in February, and I wanted to see what kind of shape I was (or wasn't) in, so I laced up my shoes and took my camera with me to take pictures (also so I'd have an excuse to stop running, so that I could still delude myself into thinking that I was in decent shape). Enjoy the pictures.

I'm still not enjoying my job, but I'm learning to not hate it. Things have gotten somewhat easier since my first week, I'm learning the ropes, and starting to figure things out a bit. Well, at least I think I am. Some days, like today, I feel like the world's worst PTA. That's what happens when one of your patients ends up on the floor. But everything was okay, not the end of the world. I'm really trying not to let work get to me as much as it used to. I knew going into travel therapy that the assignments I would get would not be the easy jobs. They're paying me the big bucks to work here for three months because that's their only option, since they can't seem to keep permanent staff around (two therapists have already quit since I started there four weeks ago). Since I already expected this sort of assignment, I'm just trying to leave work stuff at work and not worry about it when I get home. I'm not doing travel therapy for the great jobs, I'm doing it for the experience and the travel, so that's what I plan to focus on.

With that in mind, I'm excited about exploring a new area of town that my co-workers have been telling me about. It sounds like the gem of this area...antique stores, boutiques, fine dining restaurants, casual restaurants on the lake, etc. I'm going to explore it soon, maybe this weekend. I have to scout it out before my mom and my friend Meredith come to visit. I've got to have something exciting to show them! Hopefully it will be a positive experience that will brighten the next 8 1/2 weeks here. Well, that's a little unfair. My first 4 1/2 weeks haven't been that bad...I've been enjoying a lot of quiet weekends, getting in some good reading and some great cooking. It's been very restful.

I'm off to Gainesville next weekend for Mother's Day...It's going to be weird going "home" to visit, but I'm looking forward to seeing my parents and grandparents, brother, and friends...

Eustis/Leesburg, Florida

"The eagle has landed." I finally made it, and what an undertaking it was to get here. I finally left Gainesville on Sunday afternoon, after an abundance of help from my mom, who was invaluable in helping me pack and get out of my apartment. With all of my possessions in storage, except for what I could fit in my vehicle and take with me, I arrived in Leesburg, FL. (Even though my job is in Eustis, I'm staying in Leesburg, which is about 9 miles away. I guess it's the only place they could find for me to stay on such short notice.) My apartment was not ready to be moved into yet, so the company I work for put me up in a hotel for the night.

On Monday I checked out of the hotel and headed to my first day on the job. What a first day it was. I walked in, introduced myself to my new boss, who never even bothered to get off of her cell phone while introducing herself. When she was done with her phone call, during which I had been awkwardly standing there, she showed me where on the computer to find the documentation program and how to sign in, all while whispering conspiratorially to her co-workers about, I can only assume, me. She then proceeded to take me on a "tour of the facility", which involved walking out into the hallway and pointing to the left, "That's Wing One," and then to the right, "That's Wing Two," in between chatting with EVERYONE who walked by, without introducing anyone to me. After that, she pointed to the map in the hallway that listed the location of all the (130) rooms, then handed me a list of patients I was to see that day, and walked off.

So began my case of the "Mondays". No orientation, no introduction to co-workers, no pointing me in the direction of a desk or space I could use to put my things...nothing. Keep in mind I haven't ever even worked in a 'skilled nursing facility' before, which she was well aware of. I eventually figure out where the charts are, locate some of the patients' charts that I am supposed to see that day, and then go off to try to find them after looking on the hallway map at where their rooms are supposed to be. I spend most of the morning wandering around lost, trying to find patients that aren't in their rooms, and when I do find them, trying to figure out what the heck I'm supposed to do with them. Mostly I just took them on "walks" around the hallways for exercise. Suddenly, I hear someone I've never met before yelling at me from down the hall..."What are you doing with Mrs. B, don't you know she's supposed to back in her room by 11:30??" Well, no I didn't know that, because nobody thought to mention that at any point until now. So I take Mrs. B back to her room, and head back to the rehab department to get my purse and head somewhere for lunch...but turns out, they also forgot to tell me that there was a two-hour meeting that day during the lunch period and that I was supposed to bring my lunch. The rest of the day was pretty much just more of the same thing...trying to figure out what the hell I was supposed to be doing.

The rest of the week wasn't much different, except that it got a little easier once I figured out where everything was, and watched other people to see what they did with the patients. There were a couple episodes of pure confusion and embarrassment, including the point at which one patient's PEG tubing got caught on the wheelchair, pulling the coupling apart and spilling her stomach contents all over the floor and on my shoe, right in front of the people that I had eventually figured out where my co-therapists.

Oh well, what did I expect? If this were such a wonderful place to work, they wouldn't be paying out some serious cash to entice traveling therapists into working there for a few months. (I later found out that there are several other traveling therapists working there.) On the plus side, I only saw my boss a couple other times that week, one of which was to yell at me for staying late on Wednesday to finish seeing all the patients that were assigned to me...But it meant that I got off early on Friday, so that actually worked out well...

Everything else about Eustis and Leesburg has been fine. The apartment that I'm staying in for the next few months is decent, and there's a lake less than a mile away. (There's so many lakes in this area, that you could probably find one less than a mile from anywhere you happen to be.) I drove by another lake that looks like it has kayak rentals, so I'm going to check that out tomorrow...and there's a gym a few miles away that I'm probably going to check out on Monday...assuming I make it through another Monday.

My destination...Eustis, FL

Wednesday I accepted a travel assignment in Eustis, Florida. In spite of having an interview that I immediately thought had gone poorly, based on the types of questions the interviewer asked me, I got the job. I was shocked, but mostly just relieved that all the worries about having a job by next week were gone. I'm not thrilled about the location because, for those of you who don't know, Eustis is a very small town outside of Orlando, nowhere near a coast, and with no claim to fame. As far as I can tell, it's quite possibly the most boring place in the state of Florida. But I'd love it if Eustis proves me wrong...In any case, this is a good stepping stone for me, for reasons I blogged about a few days ago...

Today was a rough day. The last two days have been spent scrambling to get everything in order so that I can start this assignment on Monday. I spent yesterday running around all over town getting a physical, getting blood drawn, peeing in a cup (twice), getting a TB test...all of which involved a lot of...waiting. It basically took up my entire day. I finally got home last night, and was up til 3AM filling out all the new hire paperwork and completing endless online "training" modules that I needed to have finished and faxed over to my employer this morning. Today has been much more of the same...running around like crazy, to get everything faxed, to answer a million calls, and straighten out a million questions, and ask a million more questions...all in order to get everything up and running for Monday. I feel so incredibly overwhelmed...

Part of being overwhelmed is due to the fact that I really felt today the impact of truly not having someone I can count on when I need to. I consider myself a very independent person, someone who supports herself, makes her own way, and doesn't lean on others. I think that's just how it's always been for me, I've always known that I can only count on myself, that it's always just easier to assume that everyone else will let you down, because everyone has at one time or another. That's not a judgment on anyone else, it's just an observation...We're all human and nobody is perfect; we're all going to make mistakes at some point. But today was one very rare day, and this weekend is one very rare time where I can't handle everything alone...but I'm finding that I have no other choice. I'm not going to go into details, it's been several things over the past couple days, certainly not just one. Situation after situation just keep arising, and piling on top of one another until I don't know how much more I can handle. But I guess I have no other option but to just wade through it, and try to keep my head above water...

It's certainly not all as grim as I've made it sound, I'm sure...I still have a lot to look forward to, if I can just get through this weekend...and I haven't lost sight of the big picture, which is that I'm actually getting to do what I've wanted to do and been trying to do for a while. I could not be more lucky/blessed. I'll post more about my new location once I get there and get settled and have a chance to check out my surroundings, or what little there is to see in Eustis, FL.

Reasons for choices, and choices for reason.

I'm trying to keep up with my blog more than I have in the past few months, especially since I had so much fun blogging during my race and my training the last few months (www.racetoerase.blogspot.com). Right now I'm sitting at home, taking a week off before I move and (hopefully) start my new job, so I have a little extra time to blog, in between gloomily staring at my apartment and dreading the packing process.

A lot of people, friends and family alike, have expressed doubts about the career decision I made...to leave a secure job and start travel therapy (contract work). I know that everyone who's commented is doing so out of concern for me and for my well being, but I just wanted to address some of the reasons why I did what I did, so that there is a better understanding.

First of all, I didn't foresee that I would be in this position, leaving my old job without a new one lined up and waiting for me. I have been pondering a change of this nature for about a year now, but have put it off in the past because I was unsure of myself and because I was still pretty green in my physical therapy career. Now, I have two years of experience under my belt, and I feel much more confident in my skills, and I'm also just in a better frame of mind personally to accept this kind of change. So, when my lease expiration started looming, I just decided not to resign like I did last year, and to start looking at other career options. My co-worker, who does travel therapy, helped get me started with the company that she works for. I have been working with them for a couple months now; basically, their job is to find me contract positions in the location/region that I want to go. They've been really great, working hard to find me a position, but unfortunately my lack of experience in anything but outpatient orthopedics seems to be hindering me right now. I had originally thought I'd have a job lined up before my other job ended, but that is not the case. Does this make me nervous? Of course it does! Does it stress me out? Absolutely. Does it cause me to doubt the choice I made to leave my old job? Nope, not even a little.

Here's the thing. I wasn't happy where I was. I wasn't happy at my job, I was bored in the town I live in, I didn't really have many friends my age, and the things/activities I do enjoy are difficult to find around here. So, even though I had a secure job, it wasn't enough. I purposely let my lease expire, because I knew it would force me to take action. I now have 8 days before I have to move out, so no matter what happens, whether I have a travel assignment by then or not, I have to be gone. Sure it's not an ideal situation, but at this point, anywhere is better than here anyway. I'm just not the kind of person to stay in a situation that makes me unhappy. I can't justify staying at a job that I literally felt miserable at, just because it's a job. I know that isn't the right decision for everybody, and I'm not saying that everyone that hates or dislikes their job should quit. It was just the right decision for me, personally. I may be worried about income in the near future, but I do have some backup plans...and my excitement about my future far outweighs any anxiety about my job prospects in travel therapy. If anything, I can take a permanent or per diem job anywhere in Florida for awhile, which are very, very plentiful, and gain some experience in other settings, then pursue the travel therapy a little later.

I count myself very lucky/blessed that I am in the position to be able to make this change right now. Because I have no children or dependents, I can make riskier career decisions and pursue my own interests without having to think about how it will affect anyone else, because it won't. It's a great position to be in, and I have to say that no matter what happens, I know that I made the right choice for me.