In the circle, post practice this evening, after Meg has finished expounding about how she wants us to be thinking on the rugby pitch, not just crashing straight into the defenseman (woman?) in front of us:

Amy: Hello, my name is Amy and I am a thinking rugby player.
Heidi (laughing): Is that what your blog says?
Amy: No, my blog says I over analyze everything.

From a local blogger on "How To Live in Austin", via Austin Metablog:

"If you don't like hippies, tattoos, piercings, poetry, metal, alt-country, tourists, politicians, science, technology, organic food, mohawks, hybrid cards, or anything else associated with these things, move to Dallas."

Well, that effectively removes the chance of most of my family moving here for several reasons or others. Thanks to the hippies and mohawks, or science and metal, I'm safe. Whew. However, it seems that I have other issues:

"Austin's Craigslist is great, but don't troll for dates on it. This town is one of the best places in the nation for dating. If you can't find love in Austin, you're doing it wrong."

My secret is out. I've been spending late nights furtively stalked Craigslist for love now that my thesis is out of my life. No, not really. Based on my track record of living here three years and not yet finding someone within the city limits to call my own, however, I am apparently a failure.

Though, I seem to be doing something right based on the great friends I've found and life I'm making for myself here. Though I really do need to do something about this living on the far north side.

contrast

There are so many things in my life right now that make me exceptionally happy I am alive. Today while at the grocery store I ran into a couple, one a post-doc, the other a lab tech, I know from my graduate school career, which threw just how much better my life is now into sharp relief. I walked away from our brief conversation about PI's and other academic people with the strong reaffirmation that, for me at least, all the misery is just not worth it. Terrors for PIs, failed experiments, long hours, lack of job satisfaction, never seeing any good come out of excruciating painstaking work...not worth it. I'll take high quality of life over a few more letters after my name any day.

It's been about a year since I bottomed out. Three since I moved to Texas. Grad school got me to Austin, and thus is the reason for so many of the wonderful things I appreciate so much. I wonder though if I shouldn't have realized earlier just how miserable I truly was. Then again, hindsight is always clearer.

wish I'd known

or seen this a month and a half ago. As it is, I'll just go with the defensive driving I opted for.

I Enjoy Being A Girl

Muddy rugby players in preparation for this weekend's tournament in Corpus Christi. Rugby on the beach sounds an awful lot like heaven. We leave tomorrow afternoon, stay with one of the Corpus girls generous enough to offer a patch of floor for us to crash overnight, play rugby and drink beer on Saturday, camp on the beach Saturday night, and I plan on spending some quality time with the ocean Sunday before we head back to Austin. I'm praying to the rain gods and hoping for the best.

Harry Potter and other goodness

And I'm reading it again, because I think I missed a bunch of stuff. (No spoilerage under the link.)

Today was a good day. An extremely good one, particularly considering how it started off. I got new rear tires because I am blessed with some amazing friends and while at the the tire shop a company I submitted my CV to a few weeks ago left a voicemail in reference to a position as a "Project Director." It's a desk job, but their benefits package is very tempting. I received a response from a contact I emailed at the state finally, but all she had to say was they would be starting the initial screening "soon." No indication as to what "soon" means in state bureaucracy terms, though in my case it means I need health insurance by the time rugby season starts. Not to mention that I'm getting really sick of not making enough money or truly utilizing my talents and degree working at a bar.

Early this evening I went to dinner with my old lab and one we(they) collaborate with closely. My ex-boss footed the bill for some excellent Indian food (I have curry leftovers in the fridge!). Seeing my old lab mates made me realize how much I miss them, and listening to the ex-boss reminded me how much happier I am out of that situation. Upon parting ways after dinner I felt so light I would have sworn I could fly.

New music: Colbie Caillat (myspace.com/colbiecaillat)

Exactly

Seriously people, our culture has some crazy standards that aren't even based on reality.

There's a link under the link to the before Photoshop and after Photoshop of Faith Hill on the cover of Redbook which makes me feel much better about myself.

More linkage...

Opinionista has another hard-look-at-reality post today, this one about "codependence." While the use of the term doesn't seem to be as extensive in the dating scene here in the Southern part of the country the theory behind it certainly has. (Warning for the sensitive, Melissa did drop a couple of f*bombs here and there in this particular blog.) Seriously, though, just where does one draw the line? And at what point(s) in a relationship is it acceptable for said line to move?

teenage angst

Just got off working a double shift and don't have much in the way of a capacity for coherence at the moment. It may be the delirium induced by spending over ten hours in the bar today, but I ran across Mortified today and think that it's a great idea. Especially since they're starting a "chapter" here in Austin. Airing my teenage angst in public sounds fabulously therapeutic. I've been back over some of my journals that they're talking about and read some of the truly horrid poetry I wrote. The only word to truly describe them is hilarious. Hilarious in an excruciatingly uncomfortable way that makes me exceptionally happy to no longer be a teenager.

These girls could kick your ass

These girls could kick your ass
Originally uploaded by r3dcurlz.

Giddy scrummies, barefoot and victorious. Pretty cool seeing a photo of us that someone else posted to flickr. Thanks r3dcurlz!

In anticipation of the rugby world cup...

From Wes Clark at Rugby Readers Review: