I started my new job about a month ago - I love it! Just like downstairs, my coworkers are wonderful and I'm usually busy, so I don't get bored. The paycheck is also much nicer than I've been used to over the past year, so things really have fallen pretty well into place.

HOWEVER, I got an interview notice (3, actually) on Saturday – one for any of three “applications developer 1” positions with the Pennsylvania State Police (most of you know how I want to get in with the police!) and two for “applications developer 2” positions – one with the Department of Public Welfare (where I am now) and one with the Department of Environmental Protection (eh). I turned down the AD1 jobs with the state police, because they start at $5,000 less per year than the other two, which is only about $5,000 more than I’m making here, and since I love my job and coworkers and everything, it wasn’t a good enough offer for me. I accepted interviews for the other two, and I’m sure I will get the one with DPW, because it's working exclusively with Enterprice Content Manager/FileNet, and I'm the person in charge of training all DPW employees in ECM (I'm the local administrator, and was trained by the best guy we have working with ECM). That starts at $42,000 or so, and I will get a 3% pay increase in July. That’s $10,000 above where I am, and since I’m still qualifying for state subsidized insurance for Raime, I’m thrilled about it. Right now, if I never do anything fun or eat out (yeah right), the ends just come together (which is phenomenal compared to a month ago), but if I move to the AD2 position, I will have enough to pay off those charges, and still put something in savings, pay off my school loans, or even schedule an overdue trip to LA. :-)

Speaking of LA, I miss everyone very much! I'm almost unreachable by phone (my cell has no reception at home, if I'm even at home, and I hate talking on the phone anyway), so email is practically the only way to reach me! Then, when I'm at work (where I can do a little email), I'm usually swamped (I LOVE IT!), and when I'm not at work, I'm in class two night a week (if I get there, I enjoy that, too).

I'm supposed to be running a TT V:tM game with the new system on Wednesday night (once a month) but I've slacked on that. I don't get the new system, and it seems like the adaptation to LARP for it is bulky and tedious. I guess I won't really know until I've tried it. We finally got a chapter started out here. Yay, us and all of our five members! :-)

Things at home are going well - but there's not much to report, except that my non-working computer is taking up too much space, and I really need to do something with it. And if that's the biggest problem, I guess that's a good sign. :-)

My folks' divorce is almost final - I can't wait. I hope the paperwork goes through, assets are divided (or what-the-hell-ever needs done) and they never have anything to do with each other again - I flipped on my mom on Friday and told her that I was sick of hearing about the divorce and about her problems with my dad, that she was stressing me out and I just couldn't think about it anymore - and she's done a pretty good job of shutting up about it since then. :-) My dad, on the other hand, well - he's not as open to such criticism as my mother, and if I said the same thing to him, he may well never speak to me again. So, I'm still looking for a delicate way to say "back off".

I can't imagine what Christmas is going to be like! Usually, Xmas is at my dad's house (well, all my life) - we get up, open presents, have breakfast, and pack. Then we drive (together) to Johnstown for an extended family shin-dig. My dad's family on Christmas night, and then my mom's family during the weekend. This year, there's a ton of variables to add into the mix. So many, in fact (yes, some are petty, but some aren't), that I can't even begin to go over them in writing right now. I'm sure things will fall into place, as they always do, but I'm just not sure how yet. As some of you know, Christmas is my absolute favorite day/time of the year (for the spirit and energy of the holiday, not for religious reasons), so I probably make it out to be a bigger deal than it really would be to some other folks. :-)

That aside, today is election day, and I hope everyone got out there and voted. I've been pretty open about my political choices this year, which is neat when you consider that this is the same girl who didn't bother to register to vote for the last presidential election, because she thought her vote didn't count. I think the race will be very close this year, and while I wanted to give the Libertarian party (except their stance on gun control) some additional backing in the presidential race, more pressing concerns swayed my vote in another direction. Should my presidential choice not win, I will probably cry, and then move to Canada with LB. :-)

Time to get some work done (it's almost done, anyway) - hope to write again soon (and to hear from some folks!)