So here I am. In Houston. Friday I returned to the new and empty apartment for which I signed the lease last Saturday. The apartment remains largely empty. The only meaningful new addition is the bed IKEA delivered when I was in Dallas. When I returned on Friday, I was disappointed to find that the many boxes I had shipped from New Haven via USPS had not yet arrived as I shipped them over two weeks. The next day I unraveled the mystery when I found a slip from the postal service in my mailbox and then later spoke with a post women who was delivering mail to my building. Apparently since there were so many large boxes they hadn’t even bothered trying to deliver them. I had anticipated spending the weekend unpacking but that was not to be. Tomorrow, my friend Jen and I will meet in the morning at post office to retrieve the boxes. I hope they aren’t too beat up. The 3 boxes I shipped via UPS were fairly maligned. Not sure whether that was the result of UPS’s handling of them or the shoddy construction of the Home Depot boxes.
The last couple days have not proceeded as productively as I might have hoped. Certainly not a productive as my first 24 hours in Houston when I procured the bed and the bar stool I’m currently sitting on and many miscellaneous items form Costco. I went to many stores and even bought a few things, but have been most indecisive about procuring the things I need most to make the apartment quasi-functional. Items like an electric kettle, plates, pots and pans, a better place to sit, etc. I’m not particulary proficient at making these types of decisions for myself. I’m also not particularly good at prioritizing my needs. I hope this doesn’t bode poorly for my new career; the type of work we do demands prioritization and the ability to be “80/20.”
Well, tomorrow is another day.
Friday I got my first peek at the staffing process. Mid-day, during training, the staffing manager emailed me about a potential role. It was a fit in some ways and not a fit in others. There was back and forth between myself and staffing manager, between myself and my potential case manager, and finally between myself and various mentors. Ultimately, I decided that the case would be a great fit as long as it didn’t go on forever. I said as much to the staffing manager on Saturday and presumed have been officially staff by now–but as of this moment, I haven’t heard from either manager.
I know it’s only 3 days but I’m getting a touch anxious about what prospects my new life in Houston holds. The limited furnishings in my new place haven’t helped and that is certainly something I can fix in due time, but over the last 48 hours I haven’t interacted with anyone in any meaningful way (beyond retail transactions which are hardly fulfilling).
Feeling settled will certainly help so I need to stop being indecisive and stop fretting over money– “This is nice but can I get it cheaper elsewhere?”– and just buy the basics. I can take my time with less important items. But I need a functional kitchen and a place to sit other than this stool. Something I can plop into.
Onwards and upwards. Tomorrow is starting early which is already a sign that it will be an improvement over the last two. Cheers.
