Hurricanes, Fires, and Alcohol...oh my

I've been working for 13 days and have already had once suicidal resident, an actual fire, vandalism with human feces, lots of alcohol violations, fights, two students removed from campus, two on contracts, 8-10 room changes, 3 students sent to the hospital, a title 9 investigation, and now a hurricane.  Not what I expected in my first two weeks.

Talk about trial by fire.

I'm not unhappy...just slightly overwhelmed.  Missing my friends.  Missing that sense of home.  Missing the freaking internet (currently in the office) and cable.  Missing my church.  Missing wearing jeans and flip-flops (These people have a prejudice against denim.  Not cool.  I can't even wear a nice denim skirt.).

This morning when I woke up I had no idea where I was.  I seriously couldn't remember where I lived and where I was sleeping.  Maybe because my dream was about me moving?  In the dream I had moved into a house on a base and one morning about a month after I moved in a family came into my house (22 people, I remember that clearly, grandma, cousins, everyone) and were fighting with me about how they had been promised this house.  I couldn't get them to go away.  I called security, the housing office, showed them paper work.  They didn't care.  I was about to jump out my window when I woke up (in the dream, not real life.  That would be scary).  It was very strange.  But then again, if you know me at all, you know I always have strange dreams.

Well, I'm gonna head out of the office towards my house.  My kitties miss me :)

The first two weeks

I've been in New Jersey for two weeks.  The first week I spent moving in with the help of my mother, my grandmother, and some family friends.  This past week was my first week at work.  It's been a long and busy two weeks.
I have decided I own far too much stuff.  Yet, I've had to go to the store an insane amount of times to buy more stuff.  Moving is never easy or cheap.  Inevitably (can't believe I spelled that correctly on the first try) you don't have what you need and have too much of what you don't. I purchased laundry machines yesterday...it was almost like buying a car.  Something I need and want yet don't want to spend the money on.  I know that I will be so happy when I am able to go to the basement and do laundry instead of wasting time and money at a laundry-mat.
I don't have internet at the house yet.  It's not an ideal set up.  I'm hoping that the school can figure out how to get the network to work there because I don't have the money to pay for internet myself...and since they want me to have it for work I think they should provide it.  I already had to pay for a personal cell phone so I might have to live without internet if the school can't get it to work.
Well, I have to go.  I popped into Panera but I have to go by the office today and get a bunch of other stuff done as well.  Just wanted to post an update.    

The time has come...

I've spent the day packing and getting ready to leave for New Jersey.  I'm still not sure that I feel it's real yet.  Guess it will feel real tomorrow when I sleep in my new apartment!

It's Official!

It's official: I passed my background check and I am now the Director of Residence Life at Centenary College.  I will be heading up to Jersey on Monday, stuff gets there Wednesday, and I start work on the next Monday.

Life is so strange.  I've been applying to jobs for 9 months.  I applied to 170 positions.  Had 8 on campus interviews, turned down two on-campus interviews, and did over 30 phone interviews.  I've been so frustrated.  It has felt like I was putting so much time and effort and money into applications and interviews and getting nowhere.  Many of the institutions didn't even bother to follow up with me after I interviewed with them.  Then, all of the sudden, in the last two weeks I've been offered three jobs!  One of the jobs was at an institution which I was less than impressed with but turning the job down was hard.  I knew I would be miserable but it was a job offer and I felt like I was taking a huge risk by turning it down.  Then the situation with Centenary was frustrating because they took so long with the background check and reference check process (who offers a job before they check references?).  The other job... uh...that's hard.  I loved that school just as much as I loved Centenary.  The people there were so amazing...and the job is less responsibility than the one at Centenary...but the pay isn't really enough to live on so I'm having to turn them down.  I hate it because they really were amazing.   But I think that New Jersey and Centenary is where I'm supposed to be.  

I'm nervous because this position has a lot more responsibility than anything I've done before.  I do have a professional staff to work with though, which I think will make a huge difference.  The staff seemed great and I'm excited to get to know them.  I'm excited for the challenge.  I'm excited to see what can happen...

Well, I should go start packing but I think I'm going to read for a bit.  Packing can wait :)

Let's Try This Again

Last time I moved, from Azusa to Jackson, I started a blog...it didn't last too long.  I thought I'd try again now to document my next big adventure: moving to New Jersey!  Well, at least I hope I'm moving to NJ.  

I was offered a job at Centenary College in Hackettstown, NJ but the actual hiring process has been taking longer than expected and has been frustrating.  I still don't know when I'm actually moving but hopefully sometime in the next two weeks.  I had hoped to be there and working already.  Oh well...

I'm not a talented writer so don't expect much.  This will just my wandering thoughts about life and such as I move on from my last job and home to the next.  I'm praying that this move, this new institution, this new life will be much healthier for me.  I miss my church and my friends in Jackson and I miss my friends and APU (and Disneyland) out in California but I'm ready to go somewhere that I feel like I can stay indefinitely.  I'm hoping Hackettstown and Centenary is the place for me.