So, the adventure to the Monk baths was my adventure a few days ago. I admit, I haven’t really been getting out into the wild like I had been the first few days because, well, I am tired. I’m using my brain a lot more than I had been because I was still on my 6-months off from my previous job. So, let me just summarize the past few days.
Wednesday: It’s a little fuzzy trying to remember this day. I went to work, continued reading different grants and learning some of the specifics for the job. I tried to catch up more on the grant that I would be working on with the fisheries biologists on the other island because I knew I was about to have a meeting (video conference) on Thursday. I remember taking a LOT of notes. And then after reading those notes, I thought to myself, “what if all these questions have already been answered? I need to just have more of a rundown or an update on what is happening now.” So, I stopped taking notes (haha). I decided to just read through it and leave questions for later. After work, Matt came over to try and get my kitchen sink hooked up and I figured we might as well make dinner because I finally got my gas hooked up and I was the only one between the two of us a with a functioning kitchen.
I made the dinner, and Matt ended up not having all the items he needed to hook up the sink, so we just spent time listening to music while I finished making a rice, veggie, and chicken dish (with liquid aminos!). He enjoyed the food, and I appreciated his company. He apologized for not getting my sink done but at this point it’s totally fine because I know he is going to get to it this weekend. We sit on the steps of the front porch and enjoy our meal over conversation. The night sky is lit up with the stars. It was a really nice evening, and after he left, I ended the night with talking to the bf over FaceTime and then falling asleep.
Thursday: I went into work, read a bunch of papers, organized some more things, and then I had that meeting I was talking about! I’m glad I stopped taking notes because this grant has been going for the past 4 years and here we are going on year 5. It’s pretty much worked out for the other island, but due to some circumstances, my island will end up being the pilot project this year and we will be basically figuring out what does and does not work for our particular island. That’s pretty cool though. After work was nothing special. I basically came home and did nothing. I was starting to feel exhausted. I saw Matt for about 15 minutes and then I just went back to my place and focused on myself for the evening, talked with the bf as per usual and went to bed, hoping that the roosters wouldn’t keep me up all night.
Friday: Let me tell you, I was really feeling the exhaustion that day. It was as if my brain wasn’t working. I kept making little mistakes at work and I was getting frustrated with myself. I started to lose all my energy. Don’t worry y’all, this all is unrelated to COVID-19. I know why I was feeling so bad, but I’m not about to spell it all out for you. We also found out that we will be working limited hours in the office and teleworking the rest of the time. That’s cool except I don’t have internet, so I will still be at the office, even if no one else is there. I’d rather be in that environment to work than at home, though. It’s like when you’re in school and trying to study – you go to the library because there are less distractions and the environment is one of work and study, not relax and watch tv. It’s helpful for productivity. At least for me it is.
And here we are at Saturday. I woke up and opened the front and back doors to let the wind flow through the house even more, and at the back door I saw this big green bug on my screen door. Turns out, it’s a massive leaf bug! Found out that it’s a Katydid and I couldn’t believe the size of this thing. It was definitely the full length of my index finger. It was really cool to see, so I took a picture and then went inside to let the Katydid do whatever Katydids did (haha I crack myself up).
Around 1030, Matt came over and got my kitchen sink hooked up! Yay! Now I can wash dishes in the kitchen rather than the bathroom (haha). We both were having a rough day, though. He wasn’t feeling great, I wasn’t feeling great (migraine!!), and so we just kind of kept out of each other’s way and did what we needed to do. I did get my room finally cleaned and organized and that makes me feel 10x better because I no longer feel like I’m displaced while in my room. At least there’s some sort of comfort in that. Moving somewhere new is definitely a weird feeling. You just feel so off, so displaced, so…weird. I don’t know how to describe it. But I do know that the best way for me to feel more at home is to just keep going out, keep going on walks, keep getting to know the island better. Then I can really figure out what kinds of things I will enjoy doing. I don’t want to just hunker down in my house. This island is big enough that I can still socially distance without being cooped up inside. Although, one plus to being at home is that I did finally plant my avocado tree today and I’m pretty stoked about that! We shall see how well it does; I hope it survives!
I’m going to get outside tomorrow. I think being out more and walking around will do me some good after not feeling so great the past few days. I just need this migraine to go away.
And with that, I’m going to stop staring at a computer screen in the darkness. Definitely not helping the migraine.
I bid you adieu.
-Curby
CURBY IN THE SEA 