bethb's Diaryland Diary

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the boring details

well, not a lot to do in buchannon west virginia, so i'll tell you about my day...
got up at 6, went to the gym around 7, got to work around 8:30. printed out directions and maps, rounded up some bungees and a packing blanket and went on my way.
the drive is really quite lovely. once you leave the 270 spur of the beltway behind, it's pretty much cake. and it's fast. only when there's road work does the speed limit go under 55 mph.

i get to morgentown WV (only stopping a "scenic overlook" that turns out, not so scenic. i mean, there's a silo and fields and it's pretty and all, but meh. but it's something i've passed a bunch of times and always thought about stopping so i did) around 1:30. morgentown is cute. kinda dense. i wouldn't mind going back there maybe.
had a bland lunch, got back on the road.
i make it to buckhannon at pretty much the exact time i told the guy i'd meet him to pick up the sidecar (the whole reason i'm here)
the directions aren't bad. actually, the ones he gave me are uncommonly good. i soon find out why.
if you don't have them, you'd never find him. to call what i drove on "roads" would be a gross overestimation of pavement.
there were points when i thought "good lord. i am going to die. they're never going to find my body".
i get to the house and pull up and i see the sidecar so i pull up next to it. i stick my head into the barn and say "hello?" nuthin. i walk over to the house and ring the bell and no one answers so i walk back to the sidecar and try to lift an end, and thus begins me in a pair of mary jane mules and a long skirt, wrestling a heavy sidecar into the back of a minivan. oh, and it had just finished a torrential downpour so evertthing is wet and slippery muddy.

after i finish i call my boss to say "what should i do? he's not here?" and chester asks "are you sure you have the right sidecar?" and i say "well, yeah? it's the same in the photo?" and finally gary comes outside and looks at me, looks at the sidecar in the van and he says "how did you get that in there?" and i shrug and i say "i've been going to the gym"
he shows me around the barn and his other sidecars (and again i have a brief "um....where do you put the bodies?" moment) and then i'm on my way. i figure i'll check out downtown buchannon plus i see a billboard that says "we have over 200,000 books" for a used book store (more on that later) so the town looks cute. there are a few antique stores. i call chester and say i have the sidecar. everything is good. it took 5 hours to get out here and chester says he'd feel better if i stayed over night, and the theatre will pay for it and then my phone starts beeping and i let it go to voicemail. so now i'm in the used book store (where they're unfamiliar with jonathan lethem. and chuck palahniuk. no joan didon. 2 kurt vonnegut, one i've already read.) so i check the messages as i'm looking at the essays and it's the guy from the place where i interviewed yesterday and he offers me (or my voicemail rather) the job and i'm so happy i start giggling and there's no one to talk to so first i call my parents. i'm kinda freaking out because this is a really cool job (short description: i'm going to find local artists and place their work in public government buildings)
oh my GOD i have that job....
ok, back to my boring day.so i'm on the phone being kind of loud and giggling and talking to my parents and i think they're happy and then i called kc and by that point i'm outside and still giggleing (by the way at&t, your W va coverage is shoddy) and then i go and check into a motel run by chatty Bud.
this place is a totally charming little motel. my bathroom is aggressively yellow.
then i walk downtown, check out one antique store (at the strike of 5 everyone *everyone* is stepping out of their stores and locking up)
it was mildly overpriced. they had a dukes of hazzard game for $25 which is too much.
so i walked to the old dairyqueen and ruined all the work i did at the gym and had a small celebratory ice cream cone with the chocolate magic shell stuff.
i walk around a bit and then back to the motel. i find a non descript pizza place and get some dinner and now i'm back in the motel typing and reading and calling people.
i haven't accepted the position yet. but i'm 98% sure i will. i'd be dumb not to.
pros:
more money
metroable
gov't job (gov't ID = Apple discount too!)
no more actors
no more 95 degree work room
no more playing jenga with large furniture pieces

cons:
i will miss chester and the majority of my coworkers
won't be able to shop on company time (this actually does distress me. now i'll have to shop on weekends and weeknights with the rest of the riff-raff)
i probably won't have my own office any more.
i know someone who had a gun put *in her mouth* at the columbia heights metro. not by her. this was about 5 years ago.
this is a job i've never really done before. i'm thinking i fare pretty well in those situtions. fear is a good motivator for me.
it's a wash:
chances to scare away hookers is probably about even.
there is some storage with this job. in terms of their stuff too. but even so, there's no way it can be worse than shakespeare.

oh man, my gym membership is the shakes. corporate rate. shoot. do i need to tell them? maybe after 6 months?

9:15 p.m. - 2007-08-07

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