Star Shaped

I had a relatively eventful weekend.

First and foremost, I’m pretty sure I have an apartment! I’m going to be moving back to the complex I lived in before we bought the house. I’m shocked they had a place open so soon; my move in date is June 28th. Yeah, this Saturday. So I’ll probably be hauling my stuff back over to South Bend in a rental truck this weekend. Weird. Can’t believe I’ll be moving again so soon. I just need to call the complex tomorrow and double check that the place will be mine, and I’ll be good to go. I’m excited to be living closer to work and back in South Bend!

Yesterday, I randomly made a trip to Cincinnati to pick up my housemate. Yeah, the Cincinnati in Ohio. Well, technically I didn’t have to drive all the way into the city, but still. 4 hours there, 4 hours back. I returned to South Bend at 2:30am and still went to work the next morning. I went to pick up my housemate whose poor car ended up dying on her drive back from Tennessee. I’m surprised I’m still awake right now, actually.

I hung out with some cool people this weekend. I knit, I talked, I had a good time. I actually pretty much finished my tank top! I just need to seam up the sides. I may wait until I move to my new place and have all my stuff unpacked before I attempt blocking the top before I seam it. I can’t find any of my pins and I’ll need them for the blocking process. So I’m happy about that.

I’ve gotten a lot accomplished the past few days. I’m pretty happy. It will be strange, living on my own again; I’ve never lived by myself in an apartment before, so I’m curious as to how it will go. I’m hoping it will go fairly well; it will be an adjustment, but an adjustment I need. I think I need to know how to live on my own so I can experience it just once in my life.

It is strange to me sometimes that I’m getting a place of my own, going back to an apartment, after owning a home for two years with my husband. Just thinking about what last summer was like compared to what this one has been so far has been strange as well. I don’t regret any decisions I’ve made.

Today I switched back to using my maiden name on a few accounts (my IM programs, Gmail account, and Facebook). It’s weird seeing my old name, the name I had for the first 24 years of my life, in writing. I’m so used to being Aubrey B that it’s strange going back to Aubrey S. (Not to mention that googling my first and married name brings up this page, but my first and maiden name does not.) I figured that now’s the time to go back to my original name, as the divorce is in full swing and I don’t feel a connection to my soon to be ex-husband’s last name any longer. I’d rather go back to my family name. I’ll be changing my name formally once the divorce is final, but it’s nice to be going back to my maiden name on a few things.

My weekend was good. Today has been mainly good. Sometimes I am emotional but in general, things are good. I’m happy where things are going.

Little by little, I’m answering all the questions that were asked of me two months ago. Two! This next set of questions comes from Carol, a friend of mine from one of my local knitting groups. If you’d like to ask me questions, feel free to leave some in the comments of my Questions entry.

(Also, if you are reading this entry through my Livejournal syndicated feed, please leave comments on Star Shaped instead of through Livejournal. Since there isn’t an email address associated with syndicated accounts, I never know when people leave me comments, and also the entries disappear after awhile so I may never see your comment if you leave me one there. Thanks!)

1. How do you picture yourself, your life, in 10 years?
This question comes at an opportune time in my life, as my life’s completely up in the air at this point, and I can honestly write where I want to be. In 10 years I will be 37. I’m hoping to live somewhere in New England, maybe in Boston or another city, working a job I love, doing things that keep me active, just living life and traveling and creating things. I don’t know if I will have children, I don’t know if I’ll be married again or in another relationship; I would ideally like to at least be in another relationship 10 years from now with someone who shares the same passion for life as myself.

I pretty much see myself doing what I’m doing now, only ten years older. I can’t really predict what my life will be like then; 10 years ago, when I was 17, I never thought I’d be living in Indiana. When I was 17, I never thought I’d end up getting married, much less divorced. So I never really try to plan much for my future. I never like really knowing where I’ll end up. The journey is half the fun.

2. What is your favorite place to eat out in your area?
Since I still consider myself a South Bend resident, I’ll be picking out my favorites from that area instead of here. I don’t know many Elkhart restaurants yet, and since I’m planning on moving again within the next couple months, I probably won’t have the opportunity to try a lot of places out.

In general, South Bend’s restaurants are… okay. Nothing spectacular, but nothing too too terrible, either. My favorite place to eat in South Bend is Mandarin House, an excellent Chinese place not too far from downtown. I used to live right near it, so we’d eat there on the weekends for lunches sometimes. It’s actually one of the best Chinese places I’ve ever eaten at, so I’m looking forward to living in the Bend again just to be closer to that place!

For wings and bar type food, I love Wings Etc. They’re leaps and bounds better than Buffalo Wild Wings in terms of wing size and the quality of the flavor of the sauces (though BW3 definitely has more of a selection of flavors), and I like the environment. I also love going to the Mishawaka Brewing Company for locally made beer, and the food isn’t too bad either.

There’s a couple good Thai places downtown; Cambodian Thai and Siam Thai; I can’t really choose which one is better! Both rock, to me.

I need to branch out and try more places! I’m attempting to get into Mexican food, so I’ll have to find some places in the area to try. Hopefully I’ll find something I like.

3. Where do you want to take a vacation?
I really want to go to Boston sometime this year. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a trip to the city, and I want to spend a weekend there this summer hanging out with people I know, wandering around the city, and just in general having a good time. I will be visiting my family sometime in August, but I don’t think I’ll get out to Boston during that trip.

I also want to visit my friend Kelly in New York City this fall. I haven’t been to NYC since 2002, so I’m due to visit. She’ll definitely show me a good time too.

I also want to see the west coast of the United States one of these days. San Francisco seems like a neat place to see, and I’m hoping I can get out there sometime soon. Maybe I’ll go to Oregon sometime too just to check it out.

And, of course, Linda, I want to come visit you in Dallas! I’ve never been to Texas before, and again, I’d love to check it out.

Internationally, I want to see… Canada. Yes, I’ve never been to Canada. I want to go to England again, and one of these days I’d like to see the rest of Europe. Japan would be cool to visit too. One of these days I’ll do a lot of traveling, because there’s a lot of the world I haven’t seen yet.

Today, things are good. Today, I like my life. I’m going out, enjoying my life, seeing new things, meeting new people. I’m looking forward to my future. I played games with a few friends of mine last night, laughed, ate cookies, and drank my signature drink of captain and pomegranite/cranberry juice. I’m knitting, and spinning, and writing every day. I’m figuring things out on my own.

I’m trying to make my life better, trying to live it as much as I can. So far, I’ve been happy with the results.

Jessa asked me a few questions a few weeks ago, and here are my answers. Finally. (Obviously, I like music a lot.)

1. What is your all-time favorite artist/band? What about song? Or album?
I… don’t know where to even start with these questions. If you know me at all, you know I love music, and choosing from all the artists I like is pretty difficult. I have to say, at this point, that my all time favorite band is Blur, as I’ve liked them now for over ten years. I got into them during the summer of 1997 when my cousin let me listen to her copy of their self-titled album. “I think you’ll really like this band,” she said to me as she handed over the CD. She didn’t care for it much, but I loved it so much that I bought the rest of their discography within a year of first listening to them. When I went to England in 1999 their next album came out, and I was in heaven; the UK loves Blur and everywhere I looked, Blur was there. When I came back to the US I heard nothing about the album. Made me disappointed.

My favorite artist these days, however, is Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I’ve seen them live three times, and they put on an excellent show. I’m not a huge fan of their most recent album, but I still enjoy it.

Other artists I’ve been listening to a lot these days include the Kaiser Chiefs, Hard-Fi, Caesars, and Muse. I’m always on the lookout for new stuff, but I’m not very proactive with it.

Favorite artists, by decade: 1960s - Beatles (of course). And the Hollies and Stones. I like music from the mid to late 60s the most, but I’ll take what I can get. 1970s - uhh. I actually don’t like a lot of 1970s music except for the occasional punk track. I don’t think I listen to anything from the 1970s currently, but I could be wrong. 1980s - Tie up between 1980s REM, Depeche Mode, or something cheesy like Genesis or Dio. 1990s - Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, Green Day; pretty much anything I listened to in high school mainly for the nostalgia factor. I have a hard time listening to 90s music these days. 2000s - Dandy Warhols, Guided by Voices, Stars, Ladytron; look at my recently played list on this here blog and you’ll see what I like now.

As for my all time favorite song… I have no idea. ‘Salvation’ by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is up there, as is ‘Enjoy the Silence’ by Depeche Mode. I don’t really have a favorite song; it changes so much that I can’t really name everything. Usually I just like artists, so the favorite artist question’s more accurate than the favorite song one.

I can’t even start with favorite albums… ‘Modern Life is Rubbish’ by Blur is what I usually cite as my favorite, but I also like ‘Howl’ by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I think those two count as my favorites for now.

Okay! That question practically could have been its own entry!

2. What is your all-time favorite store to shop at?
I honestly don’t do much shopping. I love looking through the clothes at Wet Seal and Forever 21, but the style of billowing, peasant style tops that seems to be so prevalent these days does not suit my body type well. (Do they suit any body type well? I don’t think so.) I like going to Target and sifting through their clearance aisles for cute paper invitations and desk accessories. I always stop and look at anything with a neat design, and Target lures me in.

Besides that… yeah. Not much shopping done these days due to the fact that I have no money.

3. What could you never live without?
I could never live without my computer, or my photos, or my notebooks and journals. Anything I’ve ever put even a semblance of myself into, I can’t get rid of. (No matter how cheesy some of the things I wrote may be now.) Obviously I can’t live without basic needs like food and water and shelter, but I figured this question was a bit deeper than that. I couldn’t live without creativity or motivation; I couldn’t live doing the same thing over and over again. I guess I can’t live without the desire to do and see and experience things.

4. What is your guiltiest pleasure?
This goes with question 1 in ways, but I’m a sucker for cheesy music. Especially 80s light hits. Michael McDonald, I’m looking at you. And you, Eddie Money. And, of course, nothing tops Phil Collins in cheesiness. I’m not ashamed, not at all.

I haven’t had really much to write about these days. My life’s going on as usual; well, as usual as it can be at this point. I go to work, I come home, I hang out with my friends; honestly, my life’s not that different. My drive to work and back’s much longer; I’m glad I have a place to live, but I don’t like the commute much. I live in a town east of South Bend and it takes me 30-35 minutes to drive to work. Yeah, I know, not incredibly long, but I’m used to getting anywhere I need to go within 10-15 minutes.

It’s strange how easily I’ve always adapted to a new chapter of my life. I’ve made many changes in my life through the years; seven years ago, I threw caution to the wind and moved 900 miles away to the midwest, just because I knew it was the right thing to do. I found my way, slowly but surely. I made do with what I had in my situation. I always found a way to make things work.

I feel like I’m entering another new chapter in my life. In a lot of ways I feel like the same person I’ve always been, and in others, I’m different. I’m more myself. I’ve been staying up later, talking more often, going out more. I have a space to myself. I’m planning to travel more often this summer. I don’t want to sit still and let life drift past me any longer. I’m going to do and be instead.

I’m excited about the possibilities the future holds.