Greetings from the Sunshine State... (Recovered from LiveJournal)

Well, that subject's not exactly accurate. The sunshine state's Georgia, isn't it? But I thought that was the peach state...

Regardless, we've made the move and I'm writing these words from my humble abode in Sarasota, Florida. Things have been hectic, but not that hectic, so the only thing I really have to blame for not updating the journal is laziness. There's a bit to catch up on, so I'll try to keep from writing any epics this time around.

The move was a lot more fun than I expected, not to mention more than a little longer. I'd been told it was 15 hours by Joe, but I suppose he was driving about 90 mph through the duration, and wasn't at the wheel of a 15' truck for the first time in his life. So that 15 hour guesstimate soon engorged itself to the unmanagable size of 18 hours. I had a blast driving the truck, after I got over my jitters, with the exception of the Tennessee mountains. I'd really have preferred driving those in daylight, and seeing 'runaway truck ramps' every 50 yards didn't help my mindset.

But we arrived, after staying the night at my Uncle Jamie and Aunt Karen's house. It was good to see them again, if a bit awkward due to the fact we hadn't seen one another in a while, the fact Karen had never met Autumn, the fact it was well after midnight, and the fact they had no problem producing multiple pets to create conversation. I swear, these two could start a small zoo. Well.. perhaps I exaggerrate. Perhaps I can't spell, as well.

Anyway, it was nice to see the two again, and I enjoyed every minute of the visit. We arrived in Sarasota, expecting we'd be staying the first night at the abode of the Momma Winchester, since the leasing office closed at 5 (safely locking away the keys to our apartment), and our journey would land us in Sarasota at about 7. Somehow, though, my father managed to wriggle his way in over the phone lines and got us into the apartment on that very first night.

We spent several days getting situated, and before long it was time for that first day of work. It was more than a little uneasy, but everything started falling into place quickly. Now I can't imagine life without employment at Rocket Digital. I love what I'm doing, and am extremely thankful for the chance to do stuff I never imagined they actually paid people to do and make a living with it. Life is good.

Oh yeah, except for that short little visit to the emergency room. Autumn went out to the local Supermarket relatively quickly upon our arrival, and a couple days after moving in, she cooked up what smelled like a delicious fish dinner. I dug in, and after swallowing up about 2/3rds of the fish felt a little queasy. I sat back on the couch and felt little bumps sprouting all over my lips, tongue and the inside of my throat. My scalp, neck and chest were itchy beyond belief. I could actually hear myself breathing. Usually, when you're breathing normally, it passes without function. I guess I was having trouble getting air, because I'd suddenly become a loud breather. Autumn insisted we head to the emergency room, and after a short wait (to 'see if it would go away'), I grudgingly agreed.

It was an allergic reaction, as I figured it might be. I reacted the same way I usually do with chicken, only to the nth degree. I'd never had the itchiness in the scalp. That really sucked. A shot of adrenaline was all it took to get me back on the street. We joked for a bit that the nurse might deliver the shot to me in the same fashion as Vincent Vega does to Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction. Luckily enough, that isn't common practice.

So we're falling into something of a rut by now. Autumn's job hunt looks to be in full swing, I'm headfirst into my new job without looking back, and I've joined a band; albeit not the band I figured I'd be playing with. Instead of reuniting Kilt, my old high school band, and reprising my role on the bass, I've instead picked up the sax and rounded out the horn section of former Kilt guitarist Yosef's new ska band, Punchline. That was a long sentence.

I'm having fun with the new group, and I'm really excited about my first show with them, this coming weekend at a local 'battle of the bands.'

Egh. Enough updating for today. Time for bed. More later.