And the Strangest Things Seem Suddenly Routine

We pick back up the fight tomorrow, but today, we celebrate.

There were been scattered cheers throughout the neighborhood all morning as people woke up to the news. I took a short walk to the store (Walking! In the boot, no other assistance! And it didn't use up all my spoons for the day!) and there were people waving signs and tambourines out their car windows, lots of happy honking, and someone standing outside Whole Foods literally banging pots and pans together. I was blasting "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye". :)

We are building up a new world, do not sit idly by
Do not remain neutral, do not rely on this broadcast alone
We are only as strong as our signal
There is a war going on for your mind
If you are thinking, you are winning
Resistance is victory, defeat is impossible
Your weapons are already in hand
Reach within you, and find the means by which to gain your freedom
Fight with tools!
Your fate and that of everyone you know, depends on it
--Flobots, "We Are Winning"

It has been exactly 2 months since I moved.

People keep asking me if I've settled in, and after many weeks of "I'm getting there!" I finally feel like I can say yes. It was only about a month ago that my stuff arrived, some of it broken and much of what wasn't broken needing to be donated or dumped because it didn't actually fit. Several donate-and-dump runs, Ikea deliveries, and minor furniture-assembly injuries later, I no longer feel like I'm still in the middle of "moving in". Even though I still have one single box left to unpack, and a lot of organizational optimization to do to make the most of the small and awkward space, I feel at home.

Homes need a name, and (with some helpful inspiration from friends and strangers on Metafilter) this one eventually told me its name was The Burrow.

It was very nearly Bag End, but that was just too too, even for me.

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It didn't take me nearly that long to feel settled into the spaces outside my apartment. Walking around the city, getting to know my new neighborhood, feels like I never left. I already know my way around on transit and bike and foot. Every event I go to, I run into someone I know. A couple weeks ago I got my hair re-purpled at the same salon I went for nearly a decade before I moved to Denver. Byron and I had dinner at a restaurant on Valencia and realized we'd sat together at the exact same table twice before--at two different restaurants. The Chinese massage place I used to frequent is still there, and they remembered me even though it was 4 years since I'd last been there.

There's a lot that's changed, too, both for the better and for the worse. And that, too, feels familiar and just right, even when it's bittersweet or infuriating.

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The new job is taking a little longer to feel settled into. Which isn't unexpected, because it is a new job, and I'm having to learn a lot of new things while also trying to sort out the baggage I've brought with me from all the previous jobs I've had here and navigating an entirely new manager and team. It's still exciting and interesting and I'm in exactly the right place, but I'm feeling the Smart Kid Syndrome pretty hard.

Next week my team and I are going to Denver for some face-time with our partner teams, which is a thing that will happen roughly quarterly. It'll be weird to be back, but I'm looking forward to being able to share what I like about it with my team, and enjoy it as a visitor without all the complicated feels that came with living there when I'd left my heart somewhere else.