Live from West Virginia

So here we are, in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. I have a real grown-up job, and J is working on his MFA in creative non-fiction. Is this where I pictured myself at 25? Probably not. Still, life isn't so bad. I will cover the events (in my life) of the past year in bullet points:

• Moved from beautiful Virginia to questionable West Virginia
• Started my job as a technical writer
  
• Learned to drive like a jerk (assimilated)
• Discovered how my husband reacts to stress (agoraphobia)
• Discovered I do not want to pursue a PhD... at least, not right now
• Lost my uncle to cancer
• Learned one of my best friends is having a baby
• Learned I probably have endometriosis (faced possibility of infertility)
• Moved again (to a nicer apartment)
• Began getting migraines (triggered by aged cheese, chocolate, and action movies)
• Joined a local community orchestra
• Attended a single yoga class (did not return...the instructor's shorts were far, far, too short, among other complaints)
  

All of that is not in chronological order. My parents also sold my childhood home, but I didn't know how to fit that into a similarly-constructed bullet point. So, now you are caught up.

This past weekend, our little community orchestra had its second rehearsal. In our first, we found that the cello section had doubled since last semester, and the violin section had dropped by half. I also met my new stand partner, a 10 year-old boy named Isaac. I'm not sure, but I believe the conductor made him cry his first day... At least, the poor kid was sniffling all through the Schubert. This weekend, in our second rehearsal, we gained another cellist, one who appears to have some sort of mental or nervous disorder, judging by his sporadic movements. He is one of the more in tune cellists, so we are glad to have him. We also gained a couple violinists... two little old ladies, one of whom cannot hear (and makes up for this with the volume of her voice) and the other of whom seems to see our conductor, a young man, as a boy who should obey his elders.

Between the dozen out-of-tune cellists, elderly violinists who could not hear when the rest of the orchestra had stopped playing, youngsters who easily became flustered and lost, and a couple of violinists-turned-violists and violists-turned-violinists, we could not keep it together. All of these people are so interesting, however, that I didn't mind... I love them all for trying.

Snapshot of life right now. More later, if I remember.