It pours

I knew I was hitting rock bottom when I said to myself "Maybe I should start watching One Tree Hill." Until that moment, I had zero interest in the show. Especially since a friend of a friend made out with Chad Michael Murray at a party in the Flatiron District. While he was still married to Sophia Bush. But in the SoapNet midday line up, sandwiched comfortably between Melrose Place and the O.C., One Tree Hill seemed like the next logical step in my journey to full-on tv junkie. It wasn't until I spent two endless hours watching what can only be described as "everything wrong with the teen soap drama...with none of the good" that I actually turned off my television, my partner in crime for the weeks since I moved home from Chile, and vowed to never watch SoapNet again. The strange thing is, that's when the phone rang.

I got a job. A real "what-I-want-to-be-doing" kind of job, in a crappy neighborhood with awesome people. When the Deputy Director called me, after four days of speed bumpy inter-continental reference checking, it was almost as if she knew how narrowly I escaped CMM and his overacting crew of soulless adolescents, and the job offer (which I accepted so eagerly I was greeted with a slight, but audible, giggle) was my reward.

Then, perhaps because I was overjoyed at the prospect of having something other than Riverdale gossip and the New York Giants throw-myself-off-a-cliff season (and now this?), I left SoapNet off for the remainder of the day, and actually worked on a short story (in which my protagonists always get the cool nicknames I never had). I was snapped out of "Jules'" plucky world by a gmail chat "plunk", and with it a freelance offer. In my inbox, the long-awaited response to a blog pitch. Followed by three separate announcements that friends are engaged, which is getting old very quickly (I'm so happy for all of you, really). And I think I'm getting a temp job in the meantime. Big stuff.

That was Monday. Am I gloating? You bet. After weeks of making things up to tell my friends about my "day" and wishing I had a dog, I actually have news. It's good news. And as my blog struggles to re-find its voice, I believe you'll now be hearing about how (or if) it's possible to throw myself, 100%, behind something new, with the memories of Chile and the volunteers still so much in my mind. So for now, we'll start at 50% new place and take it from there.

And 0% One Tree Hill.