Let's get this started

I've been meaning to get a blog going since the moment I deactivated Facebook (11:59 p.m. on April 20th, if you were wondering) but, as usual, I procrastinated and put it off. Thanks to it being mandatory for my photojournalism study abroad program in Berlin, I'm finally starting it - a whole two and a half weeks after I got home, a whole two days before I leave for Germany. My mom says my habit is driven by negative reinforcement. This is one thing I can't debate her on.

Since I've gotten home, I've pretty much done a lot of nothing. I spent the first week sitting on the beach and barely unpacking (and god knows I had plenty to unpack.) The first night home, I slept over 12 hours. Guess I enjoyed having a real-person sized bed and not being woken up by drunken shrieks at 2 in the morning.

In my quest for a pet, I convinced the mom to buy me a fish. Not a real pet, but I've grown quite fond of Henry. He's got a lot of personality for a little beta, and he's curious about the world outside his brandy glass-shaped bowl.

Despite the boredom that hit by day five, I'm always happy to wake up and see the ocean when I look out my window. Even though I miss my old house, there's just some instant joy that happens when you see that bright blue sky over the beach.

The previous week, I began work (once again, begrudgingly) pushing panties on Lincoln Road. As much as I hate my job, I enjoy the customers here so much more than in Gainesville. They're so diverse and some are absolutely hilarious in their brazenness. Mother's Day weekend, I was conned into going to Sarasota "as a gift" to the mom. While all the boating and dolphin-, manatee- and turtle-spotting were enjoyable, I'll just stay put on her next drive up.

That about sums up my life, so I'll try to update this on a regular basis, given that I feel deprived of sharing my life with the online world without my Facebook to log onto.