Interim

Considering how much I find myself travelling, I should probably perhaps keep this blog more up to date.  A travel journal, so to speak.

So, tomorrow I'm headed to Seattle WA for a week.  Where have I been since then?  Let us recount:

After my "Semi-World Tour"...or maybe "Hemi-World Tour"?... I came home and got a job in June 2012 working as a contract employee for Bayer CropScience.  That was a whole lot of bullshit.  $14/hour slinging pots around a greenhouse while our boss, who didn't know jack about greenhouses, bitched about all the dirt.  But, at least I lost a lot of weight during it!  I finally found a job with Syngenta as an Assistant Sweet Corn Breeder, but it required moving down to Naples, Fl.  Which I did.  And so here I am.  My parents helped me find and move into a crappy apartment where I was stressed and depressed for the next 6 months as I learned a new job and a new town and tried to make new friends.  Fortunately, my parents and my best friend Susannah visited a few times, so I usually had something to look forward to.

 I finally sold my house in Durham around April (which I took a big hit on, I'm sad to say), and started looking for something more permanent in Naples...I got lucky and found the best little duplex!  2 bedroom, 2 bath on a canal... huge master bedroom and big bath tub with separate shower and screened lanai! It's so lovely (except for the kitchen)... I swear I'm keeping this house as long as I can.  I should post pics. Will try to remember.

It is a little old- built in '87 and hadn't been updated, but it's been fun working on it (except for all the money that goes into that--that's never fun!).  So I moved in in August. I slept amazingly well the first night without having to hear neighbors and traffic and having a parking light shine into my bedroom. My parents came to visit soon after and did awesome things like helping me clean it up and paint the kitchen and a bunch of other things.

I slowly started making friends-- dated a few very sucky guys very briefly, and then met this one guy, Jared-- who was fun until he wasn't.  We dated off and on for about 6 months.  Unfortunately, I don't think I can stay friends with him and that's about all I'll say about that.  Met another guy named Matt who I've been hanging out with, but not dating, and got really lucky and met this...triple?...a guy and 2 girls who live together, and they're all very cool.  I'm hoping to hang out with them much more in the future. I also found a meetup group I can see myself going to more frequently in the future.

So, yes.  Things are looking up.

But back to the whole travelling thing. In roughly sequential order since I moved to Naples: Went to Chicago/Champagne for a corn conference in February that I didn't understand most of. Chicago was awesome though, and I got to hang out with a good friend from Bayer and get in a really crazy fight with her guy friend who was also there. Traveled locally for work- Belle Glade and Clewiston and Bainbridge,Georgia. Made it to Lake Worth a couple times to hang out with someone while I was near that coast, and visited my sister and her grandmother-in-law in West Palm Beach. Went home to see family and Asheville for Transformus in July.  Went to St. Petersburg, Fl for a long weekend to hang out with a new friend on his sailboat (Dali Museum was awesome! His moped getting towed, not so much). Traveled to Stanton, Minnesota in September for work and hung out in St. Paul a grand total of 1 day.   Went home again for Xmas.  Drove back in my mom's Prius (yay new car!).  Went back to Minnesota for work in February (blizzard much?). Went kayaking up at 3 Sister's Springs with this professional kayaker guy who was down here visiting his family for a month (he lives on a houseboat in San Francisco! Another trip I'll need to make!). Visited Miami to meet my parents for lunch at the airport on their way back from Peru, and hung out with a very awesome guy (who is also very horrible at texting. So sad.). I will definitely have to put up a synopsis of my Miami trip. More local travel for work. And now I'm headed to Seattle to take a couple classes in Quantitative Genetics.

Future travel plans include Nampa, Idaho (right after Seattle- work related).  There's a possibility I may end up in Pasco, Washington for a week.  And an even slighter possibility that I'll be visiting Arica, Chile for a week or two late this year.  If that happens, I'm going to try and make a side trip to either the Easter Islands or Macchu Pichu.

Hopefully I'll get to post some interesting touristy things in the next couple weeks!

Rock on!