Brains!

Reading Game of Thrones
It's no Lord of the Rings...I mean was it really necessary to put your name as George R. R. Martin on the cover...I mean R. R.??? Like J R R...and why are there characters called Pyp, Samwell and Arwen? I guess it's hard to write an epic fantasy series after LOTR...you're always going to be compared. Do I like the book so far? There are parts I like...have yet to find that uniqueness however.

Cicada Diaries - May 23rd.
They are swarming! Well clearly it's nothing like what it's going to be...but on my drive home yesterday they were smacking in to my windshield, I have no AC so I have to drive with the windows down and I know one of these days ...they'll fly in my car. The cicadas seem to be heavier in the southern part of Nashville where I work. But that may be because they emerged there first this year. I am having to watch my step in the back yard but soon I think it will become to hard to avoid stepping on a cicada, there are just so many.

Morning May 24th
The sound of distant thunder, rain and breeze can often be the most relaxing sounds. But on tuesday morning we woke up around 5am to a very different kind of thunderstorm. Drack closed the window and it was still so loud I asked "did you shut the window". Then the power promptly went out and all I could hear was hail and wind. But I could see in shifting shapes and movement as 100 lighting strikes hit within 5 minutes. The thunder was practically continuous too, never stopping for more than a few seconds. I looked out the front window and could hardly see across the street from the torrential down burst of precipitation that crushed east Nashville in 15 minutes. The wind was like nothing I had ever seen before and it was only 80mph. I read later that something like 80 trees had come crashing down on people's houses and one only needs to walk a neighborhood walk to realize how bad downed trees really are. There are power lines still dangling limp or strewn across sidewalks and folks without power days later. And this reader...wasn't even a tornado. Drack said to me he had never seen a storm like that. It was a singular cell entity that swept over middle Tennessee and decided to dump on East Nashville and East Nashville alone. These are the kinds that produce tornadoes....generally we've been getting squall lines which just produce straight wind. I was scared...I have to admit I was very scared.

This week had been odd...in so many ways. It's like the storm blew open a door. Later in the week I started looking for places to live and am about to go meet a J. Wes Yoder (apparently a published writer) to inquire about renting a room in East Nashville. What happened to the one bedroom idea you might say? Let me copy paste an email I wrote to a very important person in my life who's been integral in many ways over the past 6 months.

thanks!
Although we've been doing well in the little room, I think it's important for me to have my own space for a little bit. Start paying some bills and budgeting money that I'm responsible for. When I was living with roommates in college I wasn't living on money I had earned. Gotta grow up at some point! Start paying for things on my own and saving! Ideally I would love to have my own little studio apartment or 1bedroom, however after a lot of thought I made the decision to seek out roommates. Although I would love to have my own kitchen, kitties and my own porch, I'm not sure if I'd be able to put enough in savings.

Another option maybe for me to find a 2 bedroom house and then search for a roommate myself. That way I am picking and choosing people for my own home, not the other way around. Mostly I'm going to meet this guy tomorrow because it is an all inclusive situation, which makes life easier. But if I feel like the room is too small, or I wouldn't be welcome in the rest of the house I definitely won't go for it. No worries I won't move unless it's better than here and here is going to be hard to beat! I definitely don't want to rush in to anything. I want to make sure I'd be happy and comfortable and able to use the kitchen and bathroom without being in someone's way.

AND who knows I may get lucky and find something that's affordable and my own space (like that attic apartment that I was going to get in February but he picked someone else).Lots of options and routes to take, I'm just really grateful to know I have wonderful people in my life who want the best for me like you, ____, Drack and even Junie (sometimes). I really appreciate it :) and I really feel more welcome here than anywhere else I have lived, even with my own Dad and stepmom!
<3

I shall report later on my findings at this house.