Until It Sleeps

I've been back in the States for five days now, and it's been an interesting and surreal time. You may think that I started calling people as soon as I got home, and that I did everything in my power to see my friends as soon as I could.

Nope.

Much to my surprise, I really haven't made a gigantic effort. Don't get me wrong -- I did call several people over the course of the past few days, but not everyone...and not immediately. I've even seen people, but not in the numbers you might think.

There are several reasons for this. One is jetlag. I'm still trying to get onto a semi-normal sleeping schedule, and it's hard. I may actually have to resort to drugs and/or alcohol, since I've never had to re-adjust after living in a different time zone for a whole year before.

Also, I've had to do quite a bit of settling in. My room at my mom's house needed several things, including drawers and hangers. I needed to unpack, because it's enough of a shock to the system to be back without having all your stuff in boxes and suitcases.

The first thing that struck me when I started going through the things I left behind was this: I have a shitload of clothes. I already knew that, but in South Africa I got used to living with a 2-week supply of socks and underwear, as opposed to about a 3 ¹/₂-week supply. What the hell did I need all these clothes for? Then I remembered New York, and the fact that I had to use a laundromat. Back then, I was very determined not to do laundry more than once every three weeks. I don't need to worry about that now. For the first time in my life, I got rid of some perfectly good underwear and socks. Yes, it reminded me of the Kanye entry.

I also noticed that I'd hoarded a lot of marginal clothes, Oh, they were perfectly fine items, but I wasn't necessarily thrilled about wearing them. As I donated these, I told myself over and over: "Life is too short to wear ugly clothes." Repeating this mantra helped me to give away quite a few things. Yes, I know I'm such a girl. Thanks for reminding me.

I do feel a bit weird being here. When I go to the car, I find myself looking around nervously -- especially at night. I actually have to tell myself that I don thave to constantly worry about getting jacked, even though I'm driving a nice car. I also have to remind myself that there's a TV, and that I should turn it on to watch the news and weather so I know what's going on around me. I think this also ties into why I haven't been calling everyone: at some level, I still haven't internalized the fact that I can. I still worry about not having work, but I'm a bit too preoccupied with getting reacclimated to my surroundings that it's become a less-pressing concern. In spite of all that, this adjustment is a breeze compared to going from here to Joburg.

As for what else I've been doing, I guess my last few days have been marked by doing a lot of three things: unpacking, driving and a lot of shopping. I haven't slowed down too much. Paradoxically, I bought many things as I got rid of things. What did I buy?

• Two new pairs of jeans (I left at least 3 pairs in SA, plus I wanted to replace some of the ugly ones I found when I returned). Both were about 50% off.
• Hair clippers (my old ones broke).
• A new bottle of Fendi cologne (my old one ran out in SA. I got this one for $17.99 at Ross -- retail price is $45).
• A new jumbo-sized George Foreman grill for $60. Twice the size of my old one for the same price. Shit is cheap here. I love this place.
• 4 plastic modular drawers for my closet, so I had a place to put all the stuff I refused to hang.
• Hangers for the rest of my clothes.
• A headset adapter for my new cellphone -- Sony Ericsson phones don't take standard earpieces, but I'll be damned if I actually buy a headset that I can only use on one brand of phone.
• A tape adapter to use my CD/Mp3 player in the car (my radio tuner gets horrible reception in my immediate area because of station interference).
• A new electric toothbrush, a new bathbrush, and other assorted toiletries. I really missed some of these options in South Africa.

Believe it or not, I'm not even done yet. I still need three new pairs of shoes: running shoes (left my old ones behind due to age), sandals for the house, and new black casual shoes. I also need a leather case for my cellphone (I have to wait because I don't want the giant plastic clip, plus my phone is too new for the third parties to have made a case with a narrow, soft clip). Finally, I'm going to get a new laptop computer. My old one is officially dead now that I've tried to use it here.

However, this can wait because my mom has a little-used desktop in my room. The cable guy comes Friday; when he leaves I'll have high-speed internet and digital cable (including HBO and Starz). The prices are now absurd; it's $100 a month for the most basic combination of cable TV and high-speed, which is $20 more dollars than it was a year ago. Congress is thinking of intervening to control cable rate increases, and I think they should. The internet will be on my mom's cpu in my room, and the cable box will be on my TV in the basement to grant me some additional privacy. Right now I'm using my mom's "enhanced dial-up" connection. It's actually faster than my work connection in South Africa was. Unfortunately, the bottom line is that it still occupies my mom's sole phone line.

A lot of things have changed in the past year here in the D.C. area. Stores have come and gone, construction has been completed and has begun in new places. It's amazing how much I remember about driving to different locations, and where things are. After all, I only lived here for 7 months as an adult before going to Johannesburg.

Anyway, I've gotta go shop. I'm also going to try to swim, and of course catch up on my eating! On the way back rom the airport, my dad took me to one of my favorite pizza places, and I've already had Wendy's as well as Popeyes' chicken. Two weekends from now, I'll be going up to New York/New Jersey for Daina's birthday party and I'll get to hang out with the New York crew.

Even though I'm unemployed, it's good to be back. Now, I just need to get some more sleep.

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