adventures from the couch

(as opposed to adventures from couch to couch/couch surfing)

It's true, life has been quiet since I left camp. Well, maybe that's only partially true.


JACK did the Lighthouse Challenge again (and it was awesome again). It was pretty much the same except we were missing our vowel changed out route a little, starting with the first lighthouse to the north rather than the one that was farthest away, and ending in home territory with Barnegat Light.

There was a new stop this year: US Life Saving Station 30. It was AWESOME. Ocean City, NJ recently reacquired the site and the house that sits upon it. It has a long way to go with renovations but the amount of work that they've put into it already it impressive, including a ton of research on the people who served at that station and some comprehensive plans for funding the place. Go historic preservation!



I spent a week in Virginia/D.C. catching up with various college friends who recently returned from Peace Corps service and grad school abroad (as well as some who have just been in the D.C. area all this time who I haven't seen in a while). This included favorite things like visiting my alma mater in Fredericksburg, wandering around the National Mall, having a few good beers with a few good friends; this also included a few new adventures-- camping in Bull Run (I lit a beautiful one match fire!), visiting the Old Post Office Tower, and also Ballston (but there's nothing really to see there).



I took a trip up north to Florham Park, where my friend Becky and her awesome baby Arlo are staying for the time being. This was after the freak Halloween nor'easter snow nonsense, which here at the shore was nothing out of the ordinary (aka: no snow) but up north really did a number on the trees. Streets were lined with piles of branches that were almost as tall as me. Trees and huge branches were down everywhere. There were so many leaves left on the trees that the added weight of snow was just too much. However, the roads were clear and so I had an awesome visit with these people (aside from the mourning of some impressive trees).



I've taken three trips to Double Trouble State Park in the last week and a half, after a first trip that yielded me several cups of fresh cranberries. How much do I love eating fresh good things? So much. How much do I love New Jersey? So so much. You see how this became three trips. I've been sharing the cranberries far and wide, so it's not like I'm stockpiling tons and tons of them, but I probably picked about 50 cups of them. The state park used to lease the bogs to cranberry farmers, but no one has leased those bogs last year or this year, so they're just full of gorgeous little cranberries, free for the taking. So I did, and you should too. They're really, really good.



I also traveled to Edison for Friend Thanksgiving with some wonderful people who live in that area. There were several vegetarians in the crowd, so aside from the turkey, everything was veggie friendly, including stuffing! and gravy! Things that omnivores take for granted. This was the first time that I can recall since going vegetarian nearly 8 years ago that I've been so completely stuffed, I could barely function. It was good.



You know, I was going to write this post about all of the adventures I've had in my living room at home since not working. It really seemed like I've spent way more time on the couch in the past five weeks, so I thought I'd recount the little things I've accomplished in that time. However, as per usual, it seems I've been up to more than I realize.

Couch potato activities have mostly included rereading the Harry Potter series, but I've also done a lot of cooking (and baking things using those cranberries) and a lot of applying for jobs (but I don't want to talk about that because it's a little depressing). I purged my closet. I've been getting all of the regular checkups a person should while they still have health insurance. I'm having a nerve block tomorrow, and in preparation, I got several John Green books out of the library as well as the Teach Yourself Icelandic guide and the first season of Community. I'm singing in choir and working with the punky middle schoolers again. I've watched a lot of Big Bang Theory with my dad. I will start running again one of these nights.



So I suppose the adventure hasn't been so bad, nor has it been so confined to the couch. I am looking forward to figuring out what's next and having a little more structure to my days though.