bittersweet

it’s hard to be in a really cool place with really cool things to do and buy and eat and have really cool projects you want to start working on and…

can’t find a bloody job!!!

grrr. i should have known this wouldn’t be easy. i guess i’m just a bit naive about these things. i know i’m cool and fun and so i figure someone will just obviously really really want to hire me because my shy “hello” and artsy looking resume automatically conveys all of that if you just look hard enough. HAHAHAHAHAA!!!
silly Penney monkey.

sigh. not only is the economy in the toilet, but Oregon already had a 10% unemployment rate AND we picked a college town to settle into right when all the students came back and snatched up all the jobs. brilliant!
i had a few days of complete and utter hopelessness and depression. we’re about to be more broke than we’ve ever been. but the last couple days i feel better. my optimism is pretty tenacious usually. and we’re lucky because the girl we moved into the house with is totally open to work trade. so we’re going to brew a bunch more beer, build a chicken coop, fix up the basement and other various projects and she’s cutting our rent next month down drastically. thank goodness because otherwise i’d have to choose between paying rent next or paying the other bills- couldn’t do both- and i don’t like having to make decisions. so there.

we’re also converting most of the big back yard to garden space and i bought a bunch of plants that can over-winter. so on Sunday i planted purple sprouting broccoli, rainbow chard, kale and horseradish. and they seem very happy! Robert made a beautiful circular garden spot where we’re going to plant tons and tons of garlic too. i’ll take pictures of it all soon.

other lovely random Eugene things:
*the downtown area is full of amazing little independent culinary and coffee nooks. me love.
*people are friendly
*there are little parks in every neighborhood and blackberries grow everywhere
*the Farmers Market is unbelievable and there is one every Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday for a large portion of the year. one inside even during the winter
*there is an amazing flea market every few weeks with the best assortment of oddities and treasures you could ever hope for
*the arts seem very well supported. there’s a first Friday art walk and a last Friday art walk!
*the poor are extremely well taken care of. there are tons of free dinners, a food bank that’s completely free and that all the little local grocery stores donate really good stuff too, and the food stamp program is incredibly generous- even a lot of the veggie stands at the farmers market take the food stamp card! because poor people should eat excellent quality food too! imagine that.
*every neighborhood has a cute little independent market with natural and local foods
*the coffee shop closet to our house makes a vanilla latte with a REAL vanilla bean pod in it. so. delicious. and it’s about to be open 24 hours.
*there are cheap, fairly quick trains to Portland and Seattle every day
*lots of people know how to mushroom hunt and are sometimes willing to teach. Robert got to go already! check it out here: http://abzirkah.wordpress.com/2009/09/26/stalking-the-elusive-chanterelle/

i’m sure there are tons of other things i just can’t think of right now.

another exciting thing is that this Saturday i’m meeting with Howie Brounstein. he’s the guy that runs Columbine School of Botanical Medicine here in Eugene, does a bunch of the lectures in the class i’m currently enrolled in (the distance course through SW School of Botanical Medicine), and he was at the course i did in NM. he does an apprenticeship program where he takes people out in the woods for entire days. i have a interview with him and his collegue Saturday for that program and he does a tiny bit of work trade- he said i’m in a good position for receiving that because i’m here in Eugene and i’m talking to him early before many other people for this season. it’s so great that he’s so close. like i mentioned when writing about NM, he’s a wizard of the herbs and a lot of fun. when Robert and i first got here we just called him up and even though he was really busy packing for a camping trip he met us for a walk through a little forest patch here in town.

i have a new idea brewing in my head for a art/sewing project that i hope to sell here. i’m very excited about it and hopefully i’ll have some money here soon so i can get supplies. i’ll reveal more about what it is later.

Robert and i are again brainstorming about our non-profit ideas. the local community college has some fantastic resources for learning about and starting non-profits and small businesses. we’ve started to network and brainstorm and hopefully some of the things we’ve been talking about for years will be able to come to fruition.

in job hunting for myself  i’ve started thinking more seriously about certain things that i might be interested in making an actual career out of. Robert’s mom in a teacher and she’s always been really encouraging about either one of us doing the same. i’ve started looking into some of the teacher training programs and the wheels in my head are turning. i think it could be really rewarding work and i’d always have the summers off which is super fantastic. there is even a Waldorf school right here in Eugene that does teacher training- a whole different level of commitment and dedication, but if there’s any school system that i truly believe in with every fiber of my being, it’s Waldorf. it’s of course all a matter of money. no one is going to give me any more loans for school, so i’m not sure how to make it all happen, but we’ll see.

moving to a new place is a crazy feeling. my emotions have been on such an up and down. i was on a kind of high for a bit and then i hit rock bottom and now i hope i’m leveling out a bit. i did have a very tangible moment when Robert left for a couple days of mushroom hunting and i was alone for the first time in awhile and i felt such complete and utter loneliness. i have the worlds most amazing friends in Denver- especially the strong amazing women that have been my strength and inspiration for so long. i had this moment of sadness where i worried that i’d left the best people that i’ve ever known never to be replaced again. i know i’ll meet new wonderful people here, but it’s so hard to leave such a wonderful family. and family too! leaving Robert’s parents was really hard. they have been so amazing to me like my real parents never have. i couldn’t help wondering if i was completely bat-shit crazy for leaving all that as well as the Rocky Mountains and the 300+ days of sunshine for rainy Oregon. but despite all that i feel rejuvenated here. i feel inspired and ready to start new things in a way i wasn’t feeling in Denver. i think i had stagnated there and needed to break free.

i’ve applied for some 20 jobs in the last week and you know what? i forgot how much work not working is! i feel so drained. so, i’m off to do more of the same- wish me luck and send me your job-getting good thoughts!!

~ by dreamofgreen on September 30, 2009.