Not in Kansas Anymore…

“What the hell am I doing?” as I saw the “Welcome to Massachusetts” sign, this thought raced through my mind. Holding back the occasional tear of anxiety I kept driving on.

Eventually, I reached my destination, my new home in Rhode Island. I hoped my roommates would be nice and chill, but I had no idea what I was about to walk into.

Thankfully, my gut happened to be right settling on this particular house. Immediately, Joe, one of my roommates, was there to greet me. He helped me settle in and even gave me a bit of food since I hadn’t been able to shop yet.

In the days to come, I would then meet my other two housemates, Sean and Seth, who were also warm and inviting. In this regard, I was incredibly fortunate and thankful.

Staring into the Void

After a couple of days of settling in and getting a feel for my new home, it was time to go to my service site for training (work, but I’m not supposed to say that haha.) Over the next four days, I met two amazing people that I’ll be sharing this journey with, Maude and Sarah.

As we progressed through the training, two thoughts emerged. First though, “I’m so lucky to have such talented, driven, and compassionate co-workers.” The second thought was “I’m so inadequate, how the hell did I get in? ”

Hopefully, as the year progresses, I’ll be able to produce work which counters the second narrative, but time will tell.

Attempting to Adult

In addition to getting used to a new work environment and routine, I actually have substantial bills to pay again. Admittedly, I’m stressed out about how to make ends meet, but that’s part of the challenge.

I’m also navigating the world of taxes, all types of insurance, and other shenanigans. Part of my goal with this blog is to help another “apprentice adult.” To this end, I’ll be listing what I did and how it turned out so others can learn from my failures.

Additionally, recognizing that my ~800/mo won’t be quite enough to cover all my expenses, I’ll be applying for SNAP benefits and seeking out part-time work. Ideally, I want to use my writing and research skills to make side cash, but we’ll see. Also, Donald gently reminded me that plasma donation is a thing, which I’ll likely start doing.

On the Arrow of Time

So, at the moment, I have a lot on my plate, but the arrow of time moves only forward. My goals by the next update (done every 2 weeks) are to have my bare essentials sorted, find one fun activity to do outside work, and get back into reading.

On the bright side, this gives me ample excuse to explore the library here in RI! Yay library exploration!

Well, I think that’ll do it for this update, there will likely be more in the next couple as more stuff starts happening (job updates, adulting updates, etc.) Until next time, have a wonderful day/evening! 🙂