Being Known

As I briefly mentioned in a previous post, many of my co-workers in Virginia referred to me as "the quiet girl" when I first arrived in Virginia. I wanted to expand on that, mostly to explain why that was a negative thing to me.


I love quiet people. My sister can be partially described as a quiet person, and she is one of my favorite people in the world. She listens more than she speaks, which is a beautiful quality. The reason I didn't like being called "the quiet girl" was because it reaffirmed my belief that my co-workers didn't know me. It took months and months for me to become comfortable in that office, and I'm fairly certain that's because it's full of cubicles and hushed phone calls. That doesn't lend itself to getting to know one another. It just took time and thus patience. I've never been great at patience.


Part of the issue was the comparison of my old job with my new one. I had been at Vanguard University in an office of three people for the past three years. I happened to love those people and worked well with them. And man, did they know me. My boss there knew my favorite soda, my favorite TV shows, favorite movies, my strengths, my competitive streak, my love of all things creative...he even knew that I had a weird habit of smacking my lips together whenever I was thinking about what I wanted to eat (knew that and mocked that, and I'm glad the nickname "P-dawg" - in honor of Pavlov's dog - did not stick). I think I had grown so accustomed to coming to work with people who were almost like family to me that it was a shock to my system to go to a new place.

That's Drake, my old boss, and most of his family.

The happy ending to this (and the one that will also not get me in trouble if Regent HR reads this) is that over time, I've become known in my current office. Most mornings, I pop open my Diet Pepsi and someone shouts "Hello, Emily!" They laugh at my lame jokes instead of staring at me, wondering if I'm serious or not. They know I have a dog and a new baby and a husband who acts. Most are aware that I am leaving in five months to go back to California. All are painfully aware that I think California is superior to Virginia. 


I'm just saying...it's nice to be known.

what the...

Recently, I've noticed that there are things that I like about living here in Virginia. I hope that, due to my many posts of disdain against this place, you just audibly gasped. But I have to be honest that I really like the following:

• The weather has been mostly delightful this month. Today it is 67 degrees with clear skies and a cheerful sun. I simply cannot complain about that.
• Last night, Jeff and I took a couple of friends to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens to drive through their Christmas lights exhibit. At first, we were just mildly impressed. It was kind of like riding It's a Small World without the creepy dolls and obnoxious song. And in a car instead of a boat. And everything was made of lights instead of clapboard decor. Okay, maybe it wasn't like It's a Small World at all. Anyway, we started getting very impressed when we passed the dragon who was breathing lights in the shape of fire onto a tree and then they had some cool lighting on the tree to make it look like it was on fire. And then we approached the section that synced with the music on the radio. We drove up right as Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Christmas Canon" began. It BLEW OUR MINDS. Please read that aloud and yell, because we sure were yelling in the car. (A note: Botanical Gardens, even lightless, are always something I love about Virginia. They're a delight.)
• This year, I haven't been able to participate in a volunteer day at the Salvation Army that Regent goes to. I went the last two years, and I didn't realize just how much I love that day until I missed it this year. It was awesome to get to miss work to serve in the community while simultaneously getting to know new people from Regent. And it also tricked me into exercising for a day. 
• This year, I also missed Regent's Christmas party. The last two years, this has consisted of a kind of variety show in the main stage theater followed by delicious appetizers and a raffle. My first year here, the variety show included a performance from VIP, the Varsity Improv Players. I was fairly new at Regent, and most of my office referred to me as "the quiet girl." So it was double awesome when they asked for a volunteer and without thinking, my hand shot up - I got to perform (ehhh, it counts) on the main stage before Jeff, and my co-workers started to realize that maybe I wasn't as quiet as they originally thought.
• I love my church and the friends that we've made here. But I've said that all along. 
• We obtained these here: 

• My sister got this here:

(She got married. Or she got a husband. Or she got photographed by Sang You.)

FYI, this isn't like some hint that we're going to stay here or something. California has about a thousand percent more appeal to me still. I'm just saying that maybe it's not all bad here in Virginia. 

Reader Request: Bugs and the Things That Bug in Virginia

This request comes from my Uncle Tom. Hi, Tom! 


Bugs in Virginia:
1. I recently had a cicada the size of my husband's thumb hanging out on Eiley's nursery window. Luckily it was outside. It seemed to have some kind of fur, which added to its creepy factor. 

Horrifying.

2. Buster and I saw two giant spiderwebs and two giant spiders on the tree outside our apartment on a walk last week. Terrifying. (Okay, the webs were kind of beautiful.) 
3. Apparently Jeff walked into one of those spiderwebs a couple of days ago. I am still thanking the Lord that one of those spiders didn't land on him.
4. I went to a grassy area behind my apartment on Friday to toss the ball for Buster. I came inside after approximately five minutes with three welts. Vicious bugs.
5. I went to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens on Saturday. I imagined an idyllic afternoon, pushing my beautiful daughter through the pristine gardens, then sitting on a bench near the fountains to scribble my thoughts into a notebook. I sat on one bench and was promptly bitten twice. I moved to a different bench, across the park, and an unidentifiable bug which seemed to have ill intentions hovered near Eiley's face. She was napping and thus defenseless, so we left. It was too hot there anyway.


Things That Bug in Virginia:
1. Bugs. See above.
2. The DMV.
3. The weather. It's hot and humid for 5 and a half months of the year, frigid for five and a half months of the year, and bearable for a few weeks. I'd say there are about seven days of perfection. (Sidenote: Having poor weather all the time does not make me appreciate nice weather more. I lived most of my life in California, and I always noticed the blue skies, cool breeze, mild warmth from the sun. And when I move back in approximately nine months, I will continue to appreciate that beautiful weather. I will daily say, "Weather, you are beautiful. I love you. Those people in Virginia are suckahs.")
4. The natural disasters. Dismal Swamp Wildfire, a little earthquake, and Hurricane Irene, all in a week. I survived Virginia 2011!
5. The drivers. This is a military town, so most people are coming from different states with their own state's way of driving. It's a mess. 
6. The lack of a good beach. There's just something off about the beaches here. Perhaps it's that the sun doesn't set over the water. Or simply that I'm not close enough to the beach to bike to it. Or perhaps it's that the one time I went in the water here, I was attacked by tiny stinging sea creatures. (Also in this category: The complete lack of Disneyland.)
7. The ghettoness. Okay, I suppose there is ghettoness everywhere, not just Virginia. But really, why do people do stuff like this: 

That is all. Thanks for asking me to complain, Tom. That was cathartic.