Roller coaster, wah ooh ooh ooh, roller coaster, of loooooove (a.k.a. My roller coaster of an Indian Summer)

Yet again I am face to face with that seemingly eternal problem of where to begin… Ever since leaving tennis camp in August, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends – and from the middle too. First, there was Vladimir’s visit, which lasted a good three weeks. We went together though Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Washington, D.C., and New York. I came back on a rainy Friday afternoon to my cheery, amazing Technicolor apartment and have happily stayed put since. Relatively speaking. My new task is to find that elusive beast called “job security.” In case I need any more evidence that the old adage “It’s not what you know – it’s WHO you know” holds true, I need to look no further than my dream house teammate, Annie. Annie works at a fitness center for senior citizens, and recently she told me that her supervisor had asked them to recruit possible new employees. And while I am typing this post sitting at Annie’s very own fitness center, I am still only less than part-time. A substitute. I do have a rather busy October, but now come the first time in my life where I really have to consider how to make ends meet (and how to justify my membership to Netflix and a pair of new running shoes…). The holiday season might be interesting since I did agree to work at an outdoor Christmas market for a Polish home goods store. At the very least I can practice my Polish with the shop owner and hopefully earn a tidy sum in an environment that I can only hope resembles the Rynek Krakowski.

Now when I sat down, I thought I would have oh so much to write about: our fabulous apartment and neighborhood, how much I love biking in Chicago, how my bike got stolen, how I found a new bike, adventures in domesticity (how I actually like cleaning and cooking!), being in Obamaland during election season, the orchestra I want to try out for, the books I’m now reading, my upcoming Fulbright deadline, the joys of paying bills, the hassle of banks, my fabulous running finds……. but it’s so hard to take the time out from living my life to write about it. Maybe that’s been my problem with feeling overwhelmed. The other day, when I simply did not want to get out of bed –and, in fact, I spent plenty of the day there­– Annie did say to me that she thought I needed to write. Yes, I do. I have a good WDN article in me. I think I have some other things in me as well. Perhaps with the time and the office-like space we have at home, I’ll finally be able to get something down in the way of writing once again. Aside from the notable downs, there have been a lot of ups in getting to know not only the city but, after traveling around the world, I’m finally getting to know myself.