Not to despair!!

It occurs to me that I've painted a pretty sorry picture of my life on this blog to date. I need to correct this misapprehension right here, right now: notwithstanding the crappy job, my life in DC rocks. I love it here. Seriously: life + DC + Krystyna = good. Really good. (Be wowed by my mathematical talents.)

It's been an interesting change to pass from "student mode," where your status as student defines every aspect of your life to "grown-up mode." As a student, your eating/sleeping/studying/bathing/socializing habits seem to somehow become entangled and intractably linked, and your schedule is invariably dependent on what the syllabus says that week. In "grown-up mode," however, I have discovered a little something called the work/life divide. (We can make SAT-style analogies, to the tune of work::life as disengagement::enthusiasm... or something like that.)

This means that while I may have an unsatisfying job, I more than make up for it by cultivating my personal interests. Outside of work, I truly am leading a very personally fulfilling life: I've begun Arabic lessons, have taken up the bluegrass fiddle, and am putting my kitchen to good use by cooking up a storm (fyi, last night I made a delectable chicken pipperade -- YUMMM. Seriously, if you're in the area, lemme know when I can cook dinner for you!) Most importantly, I have already garnered a wide social circle, and have tons of good friends in the District, both old and new. I actually feel let down if more than two days pass without me running into someone I know around town. Two days ago, I heard that a friend from Pomona went to Trader Joe's and was checked out (in the supermarket payment sense, not the "howyoudoin?" sense) by another old friend of mine -- turns out that within the few minutes it took to make that transaction, they had already figured out that I was a link between them. Gotta love the small-town feel of this city.

So among the old hobbies (including standards such as avid crossword-puzzling), the new ones (like deciphering Arabic script), the bar scene (happy hour is basically mandatory for any young professional in this city), the time I have to dig into good books (currently working my way through "The Brothers Karamazov"), and the ever-expanding web of awesome people with whom to surround myself, I'm digging this life. I may still need to re-balance my priorities at some point, that is, put a little more value on work, but I hate to take any emphasis away from my personal development at this point. I figure as far as a "real" career path goes, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.