FML

Generally speaking I am enjoying my new life in Seattle and am pleased with my decision to move. It would be silly to assume that everything would be perfect, but that's life-- there's always going to be a few things that are less than spectacular. Over the past few days it seems like those irritating things are overshadowing their awesome counterparts, and because it's my blog and I can write whatever I want, they are as follows:

*I am living above an aspiring rock musician. He smokes, is unttractive, and has a really weird cough (so any of you thinking "Maybe he's your McDreamy!" you're wrong). I don't think he's actually playing anything himself, but the "music" coming from his very fancy sound system is ridiculous and obnoxious. The mind numbingly irritating nature of this noise will be potentiated by the fact that...
*I start night shift on Monday. This means daytime sleep will once again be something I practice regularly irregularly. To start my downfall with a bang, the scheduling gods decided to have me work day shift on Saturday and Sunday, then start nights Monday and Tuesday. Wtf.
*I have been under the weather for three days. I am pretty sure that the culprit is a little kiddo that got put on viral isolation in the middle of the day I was taking care of her.
*Tuesday I had to make up the afternoon of Orientation I missed due to my sudden sickness during Week One at work. At the end of the day a representative from the nurses union came to talk about the union. I was looking forward to this as I have no idea how unions work-- we didn't have one in Chicago. She didn't say anything super helpful, and the part that makes this situation worthy of the "FML List" is that union dues are absolutely ridiculous! It's over $800 a YEAR! Please join me in my outrage-- $68 every month will be going to 'the union.' I don't WANT a union! I was sooo put off that at the end of the schpiel I went up to the lady and asked if being a union member is optional, and when she said "No," I asked her to tell me something that would make me feel better about paying them $800 a year. She rambled off nonsense reasons like we'll get a Journal in the mail every month, etc. Excuse me, it had better be one HELL OF A JOURNAL that is printed on GOLD PAPER for it to be worth EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS A YEAR! Not a one time payment of $800, but EVERY YEAR. SERIOUSLY-- think about how many nurses there are... and EACH one is giving EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS?!?!? Someone is making serious bank and to me it seems CRIMINAL.
*My drivers license expires on Wednesday. Yesterday, I went to the DMV to not only renew it but get it transferred to my new state of residence. After waking up early and getting dolled up (quite a long process) in anticipation of a new picture being taken, I drove to the far away DMV (several of them are closed indefinitely) only to realize as I pulled into the parking lot that I forgot my proof of address. So I drove back and got a "Proof of Address" card the public library sent me, drove alllllll the way back to the office. It was a pleasantly short wait only to be told that my proof of address wasn't one of the acceptable forms. Apparently, one needs super official mail-- something from the government, utilities bill (mine won't come until mid-February), cable bill (yea right), anything government issued with the current address on it... etc. Bottom line is I don't have any of these things. One can be a pay stub, but the only pay stub I have is detached from the garbage part with the address on it. I only kept the necessary part. They won't even accept a copy of my lease! wtf?! All of this is to say that I drove to the DMV twice and still don't have a license that will last more than five days (and I'm working 4 out of those 5 days and will be sleeping on the 5th.)
*Despite the fact that my head feels like a hot air balloon, I decided to play in an outdoor soccer game I found on Craigslist-- I feel like these opportunities are few and far between and didn't want to let one slip by. I should have let it slip. The highlight: I took a ball to the face, kicked by some male toolshed trying to prove his masculinity by how hard he can kick the ball, nevermind if it was to a teammate or AT an innocent opponent. Face-balls (insert immature middle school boy chuckle here) hurt under any circumstance... the fact that I have a budding sinus infection and that my frontal and maxillary sinuses are oh so tender made it that much worse. It wasn't awesome. It was ridiculously cold (not in comparison to the frigid Midwest, but still very uncomfortable). I seriously considered leaving at half time.

It's my sincere hope that life will shift back to the pleasant side sooner than later. I am encouraged by one thing: when living in Chicago if I'd had a week like this (and trust me, there were PLENTY of these weeks), I would get that much more enthusiastic about leaving that city. However, this week hasn't started me on a search for a new city. It hasn't done much but piss me off to be honest. Perhaps it's the fact that it's the first rocky week, but I will hold on to the fact that it's because this is a good city to live and I like it.