It’s strange to think how American my life is right now, at least compared with the leisurely day-to-day pace in Norway last year. I wake up early to run on a treadmill before wolfing down some Kix or, if I was slow at the gym, grabbing an apple on my way out the door. I work from sometime before 9am to sometime around 6:30pm on an average day, though it gets later when projects are due. There’s a lunch break in there, usually microwaved leftovers and a free diet Pepsi from the office fridge, but I usually eat it at my desk. The commute is an hour each way, so I only eat dinner before 9pm by the grace of a supportive boyfriend, who does most of the cooking after his own long day at school (or summer vacation, as the current case may be). I wrap it up with a movie or a readthrough of the news, and then I do my best to sleep.

Of course that’s slightly exaggerated. I only really make it to the gym every other day. Still, the weekends are a brief blessing, and with the sunny weather they’ve been filled with day trips and hikes and picnics. This weekend we explored some new sections of Rock Creek Park (I live next to a rather sizable forest, which is a pretty neat perk for a city). We also explored Charlottesville, touring Monticello and the University of Virginia, both of which were exceedingly lush and beautiful. During the course of that trip I decided that I would very much like to sit in on a conversation between Thomas Jefferson and Grandpa Tom. I feel like they would have a lot to talk about. Adventures and time-travel fantasies aside, I still haven’t figured out how squeeze in all the routine extracurriculars I’d like to. I’m barely three chapters into the book Brendan gave me for my birthday, and I have writing projects piling up above my ears. I keep thinking I should bring my little voice recorder in the car with me so I can dictate ideas to myself, since they’re just spilling over and evaporating. I guess I could store them in my blog if I wasn’t so busy neglecting it.

What else is there? I took a wonderful trip home for Mother’s Day. I didn’t make it to Eugene, which was disappointing, but I accomplished quite a bit for a last-minute surprise visit. It was an immense relief to see Grandma Edith’s health returning. I’m a little embarrassed that I let that situation shake me up so badly, because I do pride myself in keeping a level head when other people are going through things, but I had been away from home for too long to be rational. Just one weekend of seeing the family, of eating together and going to church, filled my reservoirs up, and I can only hope I wasn’t too big a nuisance in return. I’m already planning my trip back in July, and this time I am going to make sure I get around the whole state and hug all of my grandmothers.

It’s not that I’m homesick, but the distance makes Oregon that much sweeter a destination. I am still settling in here and building up a life between the cracks of the routine. A young couple bought the pizza place that we go to for Wednesday wine night, but they’re maintaining the menu and prices and wine deal so I continue to support them. I bought a used bike, a pastel purple Schwinn, that I’m hoping to test out this weekend. It’s a steel road bike from the ’80’s (?), and I’ll have to learn how to work its crazily-placed gear shifters (they’re in the very middle part of the handlebar).

Erin May came to visit me the other week! It was wonderful to see her, she is in great health and spirits. She actually picked me up from the airport when I flew back from Oregon. She was a dream of a houseguest, perky and helpful and full of all those sweet, amusing little stories about our college experience that I have already managed to forget. I need friends who are as smart and patient as she is, because otherwise I think I’d just float away from reality. At least, reality as I experienced it two minutes ago. I notice this at work, too, that at some point I evaluate the same thing over again like new…which leads me to be very detailed but also, sometimes, inconsistent. I’m pretty convinced that my friends and family have all figured out at this point that I’m crazy. They put up with it pretty well.

Lately I’ve also been trying to sketch out a rough 5-year plan. It’s hard! I’d like to squeeze in some more school before I get old, but what kind of school? Business school? Law school? A Master’s program? Schools are so location-based, and there’s a juggling act between where I want to be now and in the future (the end goal is always the West Coast, but those pesky unemployment rates are so high over there!). I need to do a lot more research and ace some exams and get accepted to some schools before I can really start to worry, but just the spectre of life-impacting decisions is enough to get me worked up.

That’s actually all of May that I described right there. Oh, and Brendan had a birthday. Now that’s really it. I can’t believe it’s actually over because I really feel like I just got paid for April. I’ll still accept the May paycheck and everything, I’m just not entirely convinced that all those weeks actually happened. We must have skipped one. I’ll have to dig my heels in to slow the summer down before it starts snowing again.