Another one of my favorite things that I did in Istanbul was the boat tour.
One of the best ways to see some of the city is to take a ferry tour down the Bosphorus. I love any chance to ride a ferry and take photos, so this was perfect.
Just look at that skyline and sunset!
The timing was perfect--the tour was about 3 hours long and I got both day and night views!
"You don't need to sign in," she said, "I remember you. Sarah, right?" As I wondered just what in the hell that was supposed to mean, I noticed they re-did the lobby; new chairs, a new TV and a decorative dividing wall. "I wish main campus had enough surplus money to spend on decorations, much less not firing all our faculty and staff," I thought to myself. I was here for the six-months-since-the-last-time eye check up following my PRK surgery in April. The surgery, which marks almost to the moment where everything in my world shifted and I started a cycle of confused lunacy that left me where I am today-- living on my own. I distinctly remember wondering what my life would be like by the time I came back here when I was handed that appointment card in May. I'm fairly sure I would not have guessed this. November 29th.... that seemed so far away.
A wave of nausea washed over me as another doctor-in-training pulled back the lights that were shining in my eyes long enough for me to see my own eye-veins.
"Any changes in your medical history since last time"
"Nope, everything is the same," I answered, thinking how completely untrue that was at the same time. Since the last time pretty much everything in my life had changed except my medical history (and my job).
"Are you satisfied with the results?"
"Yes-very" Yeah, well.... the results of everything that has happened since May? Jury's out on that one.
After another doctor (or doc-to-be) looked at my eyes, the doctor-doctor came in, checked me out and told me that a cloud had formed in my left eye. My vision is still perfect, but now, because of the cloud, I am to take steroid eye drops four times a day. Great. Another doctor-in-waiting came in to see my cloudy cornea. One of the drawbacks to getting the advanced cared offered at a university hospital is that all matters of one's body become learning opportunities. I look forward to the time when at least all matters of my heart won't turn into "learning opportunities."
Another trip to the CVS and back to work. I wonder what my life will be like when I go back to the eye doctor in 2 months?
Until then remember: nothing chases the clouds away like steroids.
This morning, I started to obsess over the application that I submitted to be a flight attendant last week. I checked back on the website and saw that my application was "under review" Then I googled their HR department and I got to this glassdoor.com website whereon someone wrote that they already went to orientation and accepted the job. Thinking I had missed my chance, I started to get depressed and think about how much I hate my job....especially went I went to a staff meeting.
When I got out, some 1-866 number had called-- it was USAirways! YESSS! So I just called back, had a 10 min phone interview and now I am apparently moving onto the next round (which is to go to Charlotte, NC, I think). They didn't have the times yet and said they would call back.
WOWOWOW, I want this job. I would be based out of Charlotte or D.C., thus maintaining my American Southeast preference AND wouldn't have the chance of being based out of some god-forsaken Detroit (uhum, Delta, United) or somewhere (but I don't HAVE to re-locate).
oh please, please, please, please, please Charlotte to Paris!!! Charlotte to Paris!!!
[or Osaka, Istanbul, Dublin, Sydney, Reykjavik, Casablanca, Seoul.....]
Here isyour Daily Chinese Horoscope forWednesday, November 28 |
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Change can be a very good thing indeed. So instead of pushing it away and being afraid of it, welcome it into your life. Get comfortable with the idea that anything that's not growing is dead. |
I started the day out at the dentist's office. My last cleaning was Feb 27 and I laid there in the chair thinking about how much my life had changed since that time. After my gums had been sufficiently poked and scraped, I was feeling strangely euphoric. Maybe it was because the sun was out. Maybe it was because I was able to abscond from work for the morning. Who knows?
I felt like I was getting my "me-ness" back for the first time since I lost it circa April-May 2012.
I even saw a friend at lunch and caught up, which was great! Then I solved a problem at work and I felt smart. So... everything is going great UNTIL
1) I notice my ex, the good one, the 'one-that-got-away' one, got engaged recently. Fucking facebook. I commence to immediately eating icecream with my friend (a friend that I sat in the ER with this Saturday, who is still in a lot of pain, poor girl)
just when I'm feeling that I can almost deal with that because I manage to score a bookshelf from my friend in Women's Studies for my balcony (and if I am able to get hammered tonight)
then...
2) I finally open my email to find an extremely serious message from another friend, who I completely and obliviously hurt. I am a fool. I had no idea. I don't know how to fix this. I had no idea I even did this!? Does lack of intention help my case!?
It's too bad that we are already through the S's in storm names (Sandy), because hurricane Sarah seems to be causing her fair share of destruction and pain. There is nowhere to run, there is nowhere to hide from ..............myself.
I wonder what Sam Adams is up to tonight?
So I just applied for a job to be a flight attendant. Wish me luck. I would actually make more money being a waitress in the sky than doing my current job. This is startlingly sad and a good sign that it is time to get out of this rut. Also....free flights and free flights and there is also the part about free flights. I'm hoping for New York to Istanbul, Dallas to Tokyo.... or hell, just give me Gainesville to Charlotte.
I also learned that crime-scene cleaners can make like $75K a year. Uhm, OK? So should I hope the murder/suicide rate in Florida starts to pick up? Wait, this is Florida-- there is probably a kidnap-murder-suicide happening right now. When can I start?
Here isyour Daily Chinese Horoscope forFriday, November 16 |
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Just when you think you've run out of road, a new path will appear before you. Or, retrace your steps and see if you might have missed another juncture on your past travels. Whatever you do, it's not likely you can stay on the path you're on. |
Apartment
I am making real progress on the set-up of my new place. This is largely because I decided (on election night) to post an ad on Craigslist for a roommate and BAM! Now I have one. This takes care of loneliness AND stress about money (and the fear that I could lie in my apartment dead for 3 days before being discovered. This would require a crime-scene clean up though, yes?).
In the past week I got a sofa, bed, dresser, set up my room, bought food, hung my Turkish lanterns (this involved me actually wiring together sockets) and am finally having the internet installed. Tom Petty was right, I don't have to live like a refugee!
My new sofa is so incredible and outlandishly floral pattered that I love it. The place is starting to look like me. The roomie and I are working on painting some coffee tables I was given and establishing our porch garden next. I kind of LOVE hardware stores and DIY projects. It is a shame that I will probably never own a home.
I've been back a week and a half now and I still feel like I'm in a funk. But, I gotta get on with it. So... I will start with some photos of Turkey.
I guess it would be a good idea to start with my favorite place-- Aya Sofya. Built in 537 by the Byzantines, it served as a cathedral. When the Ottomans took over in 1453 it was converted into a mosque. Since 1935 it was been open as a secular museum... and pretty much the most amazing thing I've seen in a long time.
the lanterns
I wasn't the only one gawking at them
My friend and tour guide, Bora
The cool thing is that there is a big second floor too and you have to walk up this pathway that looks like something straight out of Sunday School. Awesome.
view from the top
I found Jesus!
Love the patterns and colors of Turkey
Rotate your hand 360 degrees and make a wish! Not hard for someone with a creepy hyper-extended elbow! I can't remember what I wished for, but it was probably just to come back.
When people ask me what my favorite thing of the trip was, I say the food and the Ayasofya. More to come!
