It seems fall has finally made its actual arrival in Houston. After temps in the 90's earlier in the week (supposedly summer's last gasp), it has settled into the 70's and 80's during the day, and today we haven't even broken 70 yet (which means we probably won't). This a welcome change; fall took way too fucking long to get here.
Then there is the changing of the seasons...I alluded to it in an earlier post, the first time that fall made a tentative appearance, and then got bullied out of the room by an overzealous Gulf pattern. There's just something about it...makes you aware of where you are, makes you consider in more detail where you're going...or at least try to. Where am I? Right here, not even a quarter of the way into what I hope will be a long life (well, I hope for that at the moment anyway. Maybe I'll get to 80 and decide I've had my fill...). I'm in Houston, and still in a bit of a state of unsettledness (yes I know that's not a word). I'm waiting for certain things out of my control to get settled, therefore alleviating my sense of unsettledness...

So, that was earlier in the day, at work. I saved it there, as a draft, and I'm now coming back to it. I don't remember what i was going to write, but I just wrote a letter to a friend which I think sums up the last week or so pretty succinctly, so here it is...most of it anyway:

So, the last week or so...well, things are starting to get interesting, as I got a job interview at REI (yessssss) which I thought went well (yessssssssssssssssssssssss), but I haven't heard back from them and its been a little more than a week now (......) so I'll call them tomorrow to see whats up. One of the guys at the store got a real job, so now I"m working more hours, which is good, cause i'm making more money, but it also means I have less free time...I don't mind much because its giving my life more structure, I"m getting tired earlier in the night, which means I'm going to bed earlier, which means I'm getting more sleep...mostly...also haven't heard back from the ambulance agency I applied to yet, which is starting to frustrate me.
I know its a bit late now, but tell me about your birthday! Mine's actually on Tuesday. I have nothing planned...I'm a bit of a loser that way. Maybe I"ll pull something together tomorrow when I'm doing yet another 12 hour ambulance shift. We'll see.
Mostly though I'm still waiting for my life to get into more of a rhythm, though i suppose that's sort of happening on its own. My room is all nice now, I'm making extremely slow but somewhat steady progress on other things that I need to get done (website for work, etc). Running also got a lot better this week, now up to about 70 miles or so, which is where I should be anyway. I also now have a schedule to keep for running as well, which is always good.
Don't have much of a social life though, don't have a girlfriend either (sucks). (Well, maybe that's not true, I do have some of a social life....just not nearly as much as in college. Or maybe it just feels that way...)
Oh well. Such is life I guess. And really, I'm pretty happy. All I need to do is let a few months pass and then I'll be right in the thick of it. And that'll be good.
Oh yeah, and it finally has gotten cool here, like semi-permanently-winter cool. This morning I actually did my long run in a long-sleeved shirt.
Which, if you know about Houston weather, is kind of a big deal.

Yep, so there it is, my life recently. I guess I hadn't really mentioned the job interview...or had I? Oh wait, yeah I did....so yeah, that's sort of the big news in my life at the moment. That and I'm working more hours at the store now. Which is good.
So, now I have to go to bed, because I have three 12 hour ambulance shifts this week, and I need my sleep. So really quick, here's the week in review:

Oct 16-Oct 22 Summary:
Monday-Workout: Ballbuster. ~3 mi warmup
2 mi-10:20 ~3 min rest
2x1 mi-5:01/30 sec rest/5:19/~3 min rest
4x800m-2:34/30 sec rest/2:37/30 sec rest/2:36/30 sec rest/2:28
~2 mi cooldown. ~11 miles total.
This was in hot weather with the second mile not being marked very accurately.
Tuesday- 1 hr easy, ~9 miles
Wednesday- 1 hr easy, ~9 miles
Thursday- 1 hr easy, ~9 miles
Friday- 40 min moderate, ~7 miles. I hit 5:30 pace in there for a while...
Saturday- 43 min easy. ~6 miles. All I had time for.
Sunday-1:30 easy. ~13 miles
Total: ~64 miles. Not as many as I thought, but still, back on track. That is a sort of light average week.

Which, in short, means I'm back in the saddle. And as it happens, I finally have a running schedule as well, so now I have something to stick to, which will help a ton. I also think a race is in the wings, so I should have a real gauge of where I'm at soon.
Until then, its time for bed...