Almost to Tech Week and Other Silly Accomplishments

Dear Victoria,

I have made it to tech week.
Almost.
Technically (see what I did there? Technically?) tech week starts on Friday and it is currently Tuesday. But, since I have just begun the calendar week that is part of tech week, I'm going to go ahead and count it.

Come to think of it, I've only been here about three weeks, and already I've done a lot of things that, while I would never have celebrated doing them at home, are actually huge accomplishments when coming to a new place. Here's a list of some of the non-accomplishments that I am proud of:

1. I moved in.
I don't mean that I brought my suitcases in and sort of managed to function by living on top of the apartment, I mean I moved in. My clothes are in drawers. My desk is arranged, not how I want it to look if I'm having a skype interview with that magazine Martha Stewart runs, but in a way that is useful and practical and I'm not afraid of messing up.

2. I've cleaned.
I don't know whether you remember, but when you and I left our last apartment, we scoured the place. Granted, that was mostly out of fear of our crazy landlady, but I also thought it was just nice for whoever was going to live there next not to be walking on a carpet that is covered with our hair. Whoever lived in this apartment before me did not have that same sense of courtesy. The first time I walked through the kitchen barefoot, the bottoms of my feet turned black. But Julianne and I scrubbed it, and now I feel comfortable observing the five second rule like a normal person.

3. I did laundry.
Speaking as a recent college grad, I know that laundry can be a trial for many people. It's easy to keep going until you run out of underwear. By the time that happens (depending on the amount of underwear you have) you can have a mountain of dirty clothes that will take all day and a small fortune to cycle through. This unwillingness to launder clothes before it is absolutely necessary is exacerbated by moving to a new place. Especially here, instead of quarters, there's a confusing card system where you have to recharge it with cash. I mean, if you're going to accept cards, why not just accept regular credit or debit cards? Why does it have to be a laundry-specific credit card? How much sense does that make?

4. I know where stuff is.
I've been grocery shopping. I found the mall. I know where the bank is. I've walked through downtown enough to have a pretty good idea how to find what I need, even if it requires a bit of wandering to get there. I am, if not confident, at least capable of getting around Portland.

5. I turned on my oven. And toaster. And microwave. And the shower. And pretty much everything. But not at the same time. That would be stupid. It's always an adventure using that stuff for the first time since you never know what's going to happen. The toaster oven was smelly, and we still haven't figured out how to set the clock on the microwave, but otherwise it all went down without incident.

So those are my silly accomplishments over the last few weeks. For all of those reading this (That's realistically Victoria, my mom, and maybe Erika) I would invite you to take a moment and celebrate your silly accomplishments this week. Did you plan ahead and buy something you weren't quite out of? Get something out of the way that you were dreading? Take a shower before your 8am class? Go ahead, feel good about yourself. You earned it.

And then get back to work because your clothes are just going to get dirty again.

Onward and upward!
Emily