An apartment and a job in two weeks

I guess that's pretty good. Not even two weeks, really. The apartment's really expensive and the job's temporary, but at least they're real. Now I have two weeks to get my other things in order, including moving all our stuff out here, before the job starts.

I haven't really sat still and considered it yet, but I'm not sure my...self...has adjusted to being here permanently yet. I have a feeling I'm still thinking of this time here as another stop on my around-the-world trip, rather than as the beginning of a new beginning. I haven't had the chance to just casually take things in at my and their own pace yet; instead, I've been running around non-stop for 14 days trying to set up a life that I don't really think of as "real" and "mine" yet.

Even though we'll have to watch our expenses for a while to make sure we can afford our apartment, I can't wait to get into the sights and sounds here. At this very moment there are three different festivals that I'm interested in, two of which have events tonight (and one of which is entirely sold out). I'm sure there are plenty of free happenings, too, in case I get too anxious about our budget. But in terms of my priorities, music, literature, and other cultural events (including eating at restaurants, I guess, since that can be a cultural experience) come first--after paying rent--so I don't think I'll let those go so easily. I suppose one could argue that everything is, in a way, a "cultural event," though I don't think throwing money away on drinks at a bar on a regular basis holds much for me to learn.