"In just 15 minutes...

... you could save 15% or more on your car insurance by switching to Geico."

I hate to have to say it, but forget the little green gecko. I just saved over 50% on my car insurance. How is this possible, you ask?
Well, let's start at the beginning. As a new driver, I was getting killed by my family's insurance provider. On my part, this was caused by a combination of ignorance (tort? as in tortellini? fruit torte?) and the laziness of not wanting to search very hard for other rates (I was, and still occasionally am, terrified to pick up the telephone). For almost 4 years I was content to accept the quote I was given, and somehow managed each year to save the necessary funds to pay it.
This lasted until September of 2008, when I left the country. Seeing as how I would not be able to drive my car in Nicaragua, I ended my policy and let the task of insurance-paying fall to my sister, who is currently learning how to scare others off the roads. ;) I planned on picking the responsibility back up after returning to the States. Well, I returned about two weeks ago and I confess I have been putting off the insurance search until now. However, today I found myself with several free hours in a row, and decided that today would be the day - I would tackle the internet (hey I did say I don't like the phone...) and demand its submission. I would fill out forms, get new quotes, search the reliability of insurance companies that I had never heard of. God help me...
Approximately 2.83 hours of torture and 23 quotes later, I found a number staring me in the face that was much lower than I ever dreamed. Could it be? Oh the anguish I face now - the reality that had I put a little more energy into research back at the beginning of my driving career, had I recognized a premium of $1,100 a year as an insult to a driver of a small 4-door sedan (that is NOT a sports car), perhaps I would not have quite the debt I do now. I could have set aside more money for school. I could have invested in stocks. I could have started a retirement fund, even.
Then again, I probably would have just spent that money if it had been in the bank, so... I guess I owe a thank-you to my old car insurance company. Without them, I would have had more stuff and the same amount of debt. They have wisely kept me from the materialism that plagues the majority of my generation.
And some people say that insurance companies are evil. HA!

{welcome}

It's anticlimactic to be back in the States, I think. I have the same job as when I left. I live in the same house, in the same room, sleep in the same bed as before. I am different, sure... but I don't quite know how to fit the new me into the old surroundings. It's a struggle right now to not revert back to my old habits (and sins).
It seems to me that this would be easier if I changed my surroundings. New job, new friends, new church, new house, new hair... anything. Maybe everything. There lies the other side of my struggle: I want to just make it easy on myself. Why is it that change, for me more than others, seems to be easier than familiarity?
At any rate, I am making some changes (like getting rid of that horrid naturally-sun-lightened hair color, and getting a new blog page up), and considering making more (like pursuing bigger job opportunities). For example, there are a few auditions coming up for costuming:

• Walt Disney World - Orlando, FL - June 18th.
  How special that they would fall on my birthday... This would be a great experience, I'm sure (though I don't know how housing would work since I'm told they don't pay so well), but my goal would not be to play a semi-obscure character in a giant amusement park. Ultimately, if I pursued this, I'd like to end up on Disney's cruise line. Sure, maybe that doesn't pay so well either, but the food and housing would be free. And c'mon. It would be a cruise.
  
• Busch Gardens. Williamsburg, VA - June 23rd.
  I have to say I'm really interested in this one. Virginia is beautiful, even if it is a bit far away from home. And, as I discovered this past week while visiting my best friend Meredith, it always seems to smell like flowers. I could be a Sesame Street character. Before you ask, NO there is no chance of me playing Elmo. That costume is a bit too short (curses on my height...) so I shall have to content myself with some other toddler-amusing character. All this REALLY sounds like a good thing, especially if I keep looking ahead to...
• Sesame Street LIVE Tour - ... all over. - Sometime next May, I think? I missed them this year. :(
  Have I ever mentioned that toddlers are my favorite age group of people? Well, they are. And this job would not only let me entertain them and get paid well for doing it, but I would get to travel, and watching TV would count as research.

I suppose I should have warned you before, I am CRAZY about costuming. (Which does prompt the question of why I paid $16,000 to go to school for something else... hmm. Well, at least no learning ever goes to waste, right?)