Missing this boy:
(On a boat to Angel Island)
Missing this kitty, with her little fang poking out:
And if you can tell, missing my G11 and have been relying on camera phones of late, because it got destroyed in Costa Rica and has not been able to be resuscitated since. It was a blessing in disguise because I decided to make the leap into the DSLR world, only because the bodies are getting smaller and smaller these days and you won't believe how light the Canon EOS SL1 is!! Tiny, feels good in my G11-accustomed hands. I really wanted a Nikon so that I could borrow equipment from the siblings, but weight trumped everything.
So I'm one month into my back and forth schedule. Mon, Sep 9: Flew to Arkansas. Fri, Sep 20: Flew to SF. Mon, Oct 7: Flew to Arkansas. Thu, Oct 17: Fly to SF. Sat, Oct 19: Fly to ROME!! Sun, Nov 3: Fly to SF. Tue, Nov 5: Fly to Arkansas.
Most people are sympathetic and commiserating and yes, dealing with the 8-10 hours of travel each time I fly (including taxi's, layovers) is not the best thing in the world. But think about it, I essentially get a day off once a week or so--yes, spent awkwardly in a plane seat and sprinting through airports, but think about all the reading and snoozing I'm catching up with--and ultimately doing something that I really enjoy doing. It's been very hectic and terribly stressful because I've been running a one-man show while training others, but once they're trained and can work independently alongside me, it's going to be much better.
For now, this little town is a far cry from the big cities I am used to, but the nice thing about little towns is that the people are amazing and also a far cry from people in the big cities I'm used to. There's a great little group that I go social dancing (salsa, bachata, merengue, etc.) with regularly, and have been invited to all sorts of things I would never get to do in SF like tubing on a lake on new friends' personal boats, going to a corn maze with a petting zoo, etc. My biggest complaint though is that the food here sucks (I generally have hated everything I've eaten out so far, maybe with the exception of fried chicken and pretty good BBQ) and there are no dance studios for adults besides for ballet (which I no longer dare to do) and latin/ballroom, i.e. no contemporary dance, though there's a pole studio I'm not particularly fond of but try to attend because it's cheap and hopefully will help me retain some arm strength. Shrug. That's why I decided traveling back and forth would keep me sane and give me the best of both worlds.