I'm in

Tomorrow is Thursday already. How did that happen? I have been living in Asheville since Saturday, though I don't feel like it is official yet. I'm moved in, partially unpacked, I have cable, internet, wireless internet, and a real phone line. Yet somehow it still doesn't feel real. How did I end up here? This city is a stranger to me. I feel like I just picked a random spot and moved and now I'm here. I know this is a well-thought out decision and if I can't remember how I got here, hey - I know, I will read this blog!

I am proud of myself. I made a decision to move, thought and planned for a year, patiently waited for my job situation to unfold, and now, here I am. I am also proud of myself for deciding on the type of place I wanted to rent and waiting until I found it. I felt myself caving a little bit at times, looking at apartments, trying to convince myself they would suffice. Thank goodness I was patient because I don't think I could have found a more perfect place. Seriously. Seriously, seriously. I am renting a townhouse/duplex that is about 5 years old and is about 3 times the size of my old apartment in Seattle. No shared walls. My own laundry. A garage. A pond. A lake. A loft for my home office. A fireplace. No yard maintenance. And a bunch of neighbors in the community that make me feel super duper young. I think I am the youngest person living here by about 30 years.

Some highlights from the week...if you can call them that. It may be too soon for highlights. Some items of note? Sure.

1. Did I mention I am wireless? I bought a new wireless router and now can wander all over the house blogging.
2. I met the "secretary" of the condo/townhome association I am renting in. She is about 150 years old and drives a sporty red Prius. She hates being secretary. She also told me to contact her if I had questions or wanted to hear the gossip. Awesome.
3. I took a walk down the street the other day and on my way back home another 150 year old lady let her dog out to bark loudly at me as she yelled from the front porch, "he won't bite!" Dude, clearly I am not going to go knocking on her door. Message received.
4. My friend took me to an excellent burger joint nearby. You know a burger and onion rings is going to be good when served in one of those plastic baskets and the 40 year old carpet is duct taped together. Delicious! I can't wait to go back.
5. Mom and Dad took me to Walmart on Saturday night. Yep. Walmart was pretty much my first outing...but I got a bunch of stuff including an awesome night light for the stairs! It's blue.

Soon I will post pictures and stories and pictures that tell stories. Hey, I'm wireless now. Anything is possible.

'Tis Asheville Eve

Months of blogging, talking, chatting, and teasing are about to come to an end. Tomorrow is it; I am finally moving to Asheville! Folks, I have been considering this for many years, very seriously for about one year. I am ready to start a new life, experience a new town, meet new people, and see the world from a different place. Thanks for sticking with me all these months, what with my whining and complaining and then blog neglecting. I appreciate it. You - I appreciate you - that's right, I said you!

The trailer is packed and my parents are poised and ready for a mini-road trip ending in manual labor. Those are some good parents. Tomorrow morning around ten I leave for Asheville, (OK, I get it - technically it's Weaverville). I am moving into an awesome place. I keep calling it my "apartment" but it is not an apartment, it is a townhouse. Yes, a townhouse. With a garage and a laundry/mud room, and two bedrooms, and a loft, and some other cool stuff. I will post pictures don't you worry.

I'm sure you're thinking to yourself something along the lines of, "What happens when Eme Ashe actually gets to Ashvegas? What happens to this blog? Will it get better or will it get worse? (Can it get worse?)" I think you will find this blog gets even better. It will be filled with new discoveries, new observations about new things, and fingers crossed, some seriously good times. The whining and waiting and self-loathing of my last Seattle Summer are over. It is time for the fun and flings of Asheville Autumn.

Stay tuned! My first 365 days in Asheville will be ones to remember and I promise to capture them here! The interim is no more.

Self-Described Blog Slacker Finally Posts New Entry

I don't know what you're feeling as a blog reader right now. Curious? Neglected? Angry? Impatient? You're entitled to feel any of the above and really anything else. I have been avoiding my blog. Why? Because it speaks the truth and is captured forever. Or until the internet goes down. Or until I delete it. It's pretty permanent. It's permanent enough. (Have I ever mentioned my commitment issues? Maybe another time.)

So.......some stuff happened this month. I have been working hard at my new job, which is going well thus far. I have also been taking many weekend jaunts to places such as Asheville, South Carolina, and camping in Virginia. I have spent time with friends and relatives not seen for 2, 4, even 6 years! It has been a nice time of re-acclimating myself to the east coast and exploring the life that was awaiting me.

Some bad stuff happened. (I'll spare you for now.)

Then some good stuff happened. (Yay!)

Soon, I will fulfill the quest of my blog. Ladies and gentlemen, I have rented a townhouse in Asheville. I move there this weekend. It is large and lovely, quiet and calm. And it will cost me less than I paid for my 1 bedroom apartment in Seattle. Ah, I can hardly wait!

As nice as it has been to be staying with my parents in a familiar place for awhile, I am ready to move on with my life. Start anew. Settle. The interim is ending.

They're cute I guess

To sweats or not to sweats?

How is it September? My blog is 3 months old! When I first started this blog I was in a dark place of uncertainty, sweating what the future would hold and how I would get there. I knew that summer was going to bring changes but I wasn't sure I would make it through to see them. I did, here I am, and everything has changed. Now, I have slowly slid into a new, interim life. In the 4 weeks I have been on the east coast I have visited friends, spent oodles of time with the parents, and planned weekends and weekends of upcoming fun. Fall fun. Because it is almost fall.

September to me means fall, football, maroon sweaters, changing leaves, coffee in the afternoon, and rain. Sounds a lot like Seattle doesn't it? It is the time of year I usually plan a trip to Oktoberfest in Leavenworth. A lot of things will be different this September, a lot of things.

This week has been work, work, work. Last night I stayed up until after midnight working. I was productive but slept in until nine this morning and was too burned out from my 15 hour day to concentrate. I thought it was time to make a list about working from home, specifically, why it is awesome and why it is not.

Why working from home is awesome:
1. You can work in the middle of the night and sleep in the next day if you want to.
2. You can lay on your bed or sit outside during conference calls.
3. You can actually get a lot of work done during conference calls.
4. You can get up 10 minutes before the start of your shift and be on time.
5. You can wear your sweats ALL DAY (hear that Sweats??)
6. You don't spend money eating out for lunch or coffee.
7. You can do laundry on your breaks.
8. You are home for the phone guy, cable guy, or Fedex guy.
9. You can work autonomously, without interruptions, and without having to be nice to people you don't like.
10. You can easily access your personal computer for such things as Fantasy Football drafts, Facebook, or online shopping!

Why working from home is NOT awesome:
1. You sometimes end up working in the middle of the night.
2. You work ALL DAY. There is no water cooler talk or anyone stopping by your office.
3. You sometimes end up wearing your sweats all day. It's not intentional per se, but really, why put on jeans if you ain't goin' no where?
4. After about 3 days of not leaving the house you start to hate and crave people at the same time.
5. It's less fun complaining to your co-worker over the phone. You've gotta do it in person so you can use hand gestures!

So far the awesome outweighs the not awesome. I'm not going to sweat this working from home thing, I'm just going to wear sweats while I do it.

PS: This post is dedicated to Sweats. :)

Who you lookin' at?

The next few weekends will take me away from Blacksburg so this weekend I stayed in town to relax, get a little more organized, and save a few gallons of gas. The 'rents took me on a scenic drive, that for some reason led to motion sickness. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the company. Perhaps the stomach filled with half a banana and remnants of last night's wine was a contributing factor. We stopped for lunch at a little tourist trap that has delicious food and dead animals everywhere. That's right, dead animals. You can eat a buffalo sandwich while sitting under a buffalo head. Don't believe me? I didn't think so. See for yourself.

Then there was this guy, who clearly did not want his picture taken since he was giving me the stink eye. I took a close-up; that'll learn him. My Asheville friends, E & L, have wild turkeys in their backyard. They wander around during the day and make bedtime dramatic by clambering awkwardly into the trees at night. It is quite a noisy and entertaining sight to behold.

There were a few other sights to behold on this outing, as you will see below. Most importantly, I learned the answer to the age old question, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" The answer is, wait for it...the egg. Second, came the chic cow. At least that is apparently what they believe out here in the country.

Some other sights from the day.





And it all comes back to the buffalo.

Really Eme?

A friend recently asked via email, "How are you really doing?" She didn't put the "really" in italics or bold, but it was implied. How am I really doing?

Tonight I read through a few old postings and frankly, I'm surprised I have any readership left. The last year was really hard for me and I just started to capture it in blog form in the past three months. I am glad the 9 months prior to that are not captured anywhere other than my brain, that is for sure. Thank you Eme Ashe readers for not giving up on me! I know life is a series of ups and downs but I hope you have found the last few weeks of blog posts more up than down.

Really, truly, honestly, I am well. Words cannot convey how I feel these days. So much has changed. The start of the life I waited for during 12 months of pain is here. I have a job I waited for, the breathing room I need, the east coast location I so desired. Tonight my Mom and I drank wine and had a good time. Last night my Dad killed a spider for me. Tomorrow I am cleaning my room and getting a little more organized in this temporary home. So what? Life isn't terribly exciting. For now, this will do.

My next two months are filled with weekend trips, reunions, and fun. I feel like the Eme Ashe of yester-year is gone. Sure, I have a few items of baggage I moved with me, but they are getting lighter each day.

Yep, tomorrow I just may go for a drive in the country, followed by a nap. The interim certainly is not bad. Nope, not bad at all.

"Change is certain. Peace is followed by disturbances; departure of evil men by their return. Such recurrences should not constitute occasions for sadness but realities for awareness, so that one may be happy in the interim." - Percy Bysshe Shelley

86 This

That's it. That is the Fantasy Football team name I took a week to decide upon. Perhaps my creativity has been stifled by the humidity in the air; perhaps it is my age. Maybe I am just not a creative a person anymore. Oh well, it's football season! It's Fantasy Football season! I am trying to convince my Dad to play in my Fantasy Football league. This would make for stressful Sundays, under roof rivalry, and hushed strategy sessions while we are both supposed to be working. Oh deer.

A super long post with lots of pictures because I waited too long to post something

Time for a new blog post passed several days ago. What have I been doing that is so important I could not make time to blog? Other than a weekend trip to Asheville and dinner with my parents for their 35th Anniversary, not much. Last week was hard. I found myself cranky a lot from work frustrations and feeling trapped in a small town, not sure what to do with myself. Apparently I didn't find my crankiness blog-worthy. You're welcome. This is a life transition that I'm in and by nature, life transitions are filled with hard days and insightful days. You learn a lot about yourself no matter what kind of day you have. I'm in the interim right now, feeling out each minute of each day, not sure where they will all lead. I knew when I decided to come to Blacksburg that I would have time to breathe and I do. It's a good thing, even though there will be days I feel like I am suffocating. There is no pressure to stay or leave, just time to breathe and figure things out. I am moving to Asheville but I am making sure the steps I take to get there lead me to a good place.

Here are some pictures to make you feel like I blogged the whole week. First, I'll start with sights and sounds from Blacksburg last week. If you're my Facebook Friend, you saw that I posted a video of the rain falling. It was pouring and the large drops of rain hitting the leaves were amazing. I did learn capturing that type of natural experience via video is probably not worth the time and technology. A chair, a sweatshirt, and a cup of coffee is all I need to capture that moment for myself. All that to say, no more videos of rain falling, I promise. I'll save my nature videos for awesome lightning shows, flooding, or significant snow falls. Or babies. Or kittens.

Kittens? Like this one?
In first discussing a move to the "lower east wing" of my parents' home, I voiced a concern about "peeping toms." It turns out, the only peeping tom was a kitten, sheltering itself from the aforementioned rain. Naturally, after his discovery his name became Tom. We fear for Tom, skinny and skittish. What has he been through? What is his fate? He makes rare appearances, seeking out shelter or food, running away at the sight of a large two legged creature. Someone left turkey on the deck for him and it wasn't me. He didn't eat it. Maybe he was craving cheeseburgers.

Cheeseburgers? Like this one?


FIve Guys is a small chain with delicious cheeseburgers and no milkshakes. It was no Red Mill but it hit the spot. Now, is there one in Asheville?

Asheville? Like this one? Ok, enough of that. I toured Asheville this weekend with the wonderful Ada Faye. We drove around looking at potential houses for me to buy. It poured the entire time so of course every place felt cozy and like home. Our day started at "Rise and Shine" in North Asheville. Ada ordered cheese and garlic on her hash browns. She is now my hero. Check out how awesome her breakfast looked!
In driving around we passed the "Orange Peel." The sign made my giggle so I snapped a photo. I'm 12, what can I say?
We ended our search for the day at these townhomes between north Asheville and Weaverville. They just about fit what I am looking for in my "starter" home, though they are under construction and I will have to wait for one that is just right for me. (Actually, if those people in the townhome on the right would move out, I would just live there!)
They are next to Lake Louise and just a 5 minute drive to where the magic happens. Sold!

In Memoriam: Three and a half years later

This weekend I visited the campus of Virginia Tech, a mere 5 minutes from where I currently lay my head. I'm sure we all remember what happened in April, 2007 on Virginia Tech's campus and if you don't, take a break, and visit Google before reading the rest of this. For some reason on that April day I felt like there had been an attack on my home front and I had to get to Blacksburg to see my family, mourn with the town, and be a part of the unfortunate, historical event. It doesn't define the town or the campus by any means but it will never, ever be forgotten.

I snatched up a last minute travel deal and headed from Seattle to Blacksburg a few days later. What I found when I walked onto campus the Saturday after the incident was nothing short of spectacular. It was a sea of maroon and orange with so much noise and pride I swore I was at a football game and a basketball game at the same time. It was pure Hokie pride, a mourning with color, and determination that life will go on. Impromptu memorials were set up, tents with posters, letters, and banners from schools across the state and country spread across the Drill Field. I signed one, stuck a "Today we are all Hokies" sticker on one and walked around, taking in the air thick with sadness and resoluteness.

Well, I didn't travel 3000 miles for such colorful enthusiasm. No, melancholy Eme Ashe came partially to mourn. The next day I awoke early and arrived on campus while the sun was still rising and the bright orange shirts were still folded nicely in hotel dresser drawers. I took a front row viewing of the signs, pictures, and flowers piled high for each student lost that day. And then it happened, the incident that would prove valuable for my Social Psychology presentation just a few months later in graduate school. An example of the bystander effect and social diffusion of responsibility.

Along with signs, pictures, and flowers were also candles. Candles in paper cups. Next to flowers wrapped in tissue paper. Any guesses what happened next? It's early Sunday morning and I am at the impromptu memorial with a handful of other mourners who got up early to see the campus quiet. I look down and notice near my feet a candle has burned its wick and moved on to the paper cup. As I keep watching I realize this flame, though small, means business. Sure enough, it ignites the tissue paper next to it and then a fire we have. All the while I am thinking, "That flame is going to catch that cup on fire. Oops, that cup is on fire! Whoa, that is totally going to catch the tissue paper on fire. Uh-oh, is that flower burning?" In the span of about one minute I can see the entire, flammable, memorial going up in smoke. I even take time to think, "That would really suck if this thing caught on fire. It's already such a sad time. That would be the last thing we want to happen." And still, I DO NOTHING.

Bystander effect: Everyone sees what is going on and yet, no one takes action.

Social diffusion of responsibility: "It's not my job, someone else will do something."

Eventually, I decide I can't let the flowers and pictures burn and no one else is stepping up so I have to. I recognize my limitations and rather than stamping out the fire, I pick up the flower on fire and hit it against the ground until the fire goes out. That's right, I picked up part of the memorial and beat it repeatedly against the ground while people next to me were crying. You can see why no one else wanted to do that. Meanwhile, by this point the burning cup is basically a raging inferno, determined to burn all the tissue paper in its path. I know it needs to be suffocated. I also know if I try to step on it, I will catch my leg on fire. (Anyone who knows me knows I'm right about that.) I start to panic. Seriously, this memorial cannot burn. It just can't. Why is nobody helping me? There are at least a dozen bystanders!

FINALLY, after several people watched me attempt to keep the Virginia Tech campus from burning to a crisp, a man hovers over me as I squat next to the fire, staring at it in panic, and says, "You got that under control?" No, no I don't.

"No, no I don't. I think we need to step on that," I say, pointing to the fireball at our feet. We both stare at it for a few seconds before he takes his huge, fireproof boot, and smashes the cup, suffocating the flames, and saves the day. HOORAY! What took him so long? Come on people, couldn't you see I was failing? Fascinating bit of social psychology in action right there coupled with a terrifying incident that really would have made the lingering media happy.

Here are some pictures of the memorial that day followed by some pictures of the campus yesterday, three and a half years later.

2007




2010