Lookin' like a true survivor. Feeling better than I ever did..
If you're humming the Elton John tune..hahahaha - I did it on purpose.
I've made it through my first semester of graduate school after being out of the college atmosphere for over 10 years. It was quite an adjustment to get back into "student" mode AND adjust to living in a new state. At the end of it all I have my first 4.0 to show for it. Whew!
I've recently been comparing my trek across the US from GA to CA to that of Abraham picking up and leaving his "hometown" and going to the land that God showed him. Along the way, God promised to make Abraham a "Father of Nations" though he and his wife Sarah were yet childless.
It takes a lot of guts to pick up and move to a place where you literally do not know anyone. Ok, so I do have some good friends and several acquaintances from a vacation visit to CA last fall..so it was a starting point. While it has felt lonely at times, I had school to keep me very occupied.
In the past four months of living here I have experienced 3 earthquakes. One epicenter was only 11 miles away and woke me up at 4am. The other two were very slow rolling quakes that were centered down near San Diego. At first I thought it was my equillibrium that was off as the rolling wave motion made me feel a little off balance and dizzy. None of them lasted very long. This has to be a record of earthquakes felt by a new resident. They don't scare me. While it's a natural phenomenon of a different nature than hurricanes, it holds the same fascination.
Things that have frustrated me since moving to CA? The CA Labor Laws that require me to take a lunch when I'd rather just work my 8 hours and be done with it. Then there's the whole DMV thing. The process takes several hours - even with an appointment. You go from one window to the next - but occasionally you have to wait for your number to be called for the next window. I had to take a written CA driver's test to get my license. I kind of took it cold turkey and managed to pass missing one less than what would be a "fail". You have to get your car physically inspected there at the DMV. Oh, but before a visit to the DMV you have to have a passing smog test. This is slightly different from GA and costs about twice as much. For inspection at the DMV you need to have your VIN number in two separate locations. We all know about the one you can easily spot in the windshield. Well, a second location would be the sticker on the inside of your door (the one that shows your PSI for tires and engine stuff). My sticker was unreadable...so it failed. They gave me a temporary tag and told me I needed to take my car to a CA Highway Patrol office for verification. It would have been nice to have a list of those offices from the DMV - seeing as how I'm really new to the area and have NO CLUE how far some places are in relation to where I live. I prevailed, eventually. I found a CHP office not 5 miles from the DMV I went to...had I known I could have taken care of it the same day! Whatever. I also registered to vote while I was at the DMV - get everything over with in one place.
So I was able to vote for the primaries recently held in CA. This system is so antiquated! It's scantron - not computer. First, since the CA voter website didn't have me registered I had to call to make sure - and the live person on the other end said I was. The best part is my precinct is literally on the other side of the wall in the backyard! I was able to walk to vote. Well, I was not on anyone's master lists. I had to vote as a "provisional" voter. I was their first one...so the process took a little longer but no more than 20 minutes total. The voting booths are set up by party affiliation...so much for not letting others know how you vote! They have big signs over each one "Democrat" "Republican"..etc. And this is because you have to ink stamp your ballot with this old system. No, no hanging chad possibilities in CA..so the slots only have your candidates. I received my "I voted" sticker - in about 6 different languages - which is pretty cool.
One thing that has been slow coming is finding a church to call home out here. There are plenty of churches. I visited several which I quickly figured out were not a good fit for me and where I think I'm going. There were a few others that were great churches and I could easily fit in but again, I didn't feel that it was strategically where God wanted to place me. This past Sunday I visited a church I though could be the one..and I am satisfied. This has been a different season and hopefully, as Monday was the first "official" day of summer, I have entered into a new season.
It's a new season, it's a new day...a fresh annointing is heading my way!
