There’s a big hurricane coming to town tonight and I am prepared enough, I think. I got a little restless and drove around to find a grocery store so I can make a last minute meal and visit my parents. I also took my camera so that I could take some photos to see what the skies and places around looked like before the ‘storm’. Some of the things that I captured in a time in space were gas stations out of gas and boarded up, the clouds at high noon, and the level of the bayou. I know this storm is going to be crazy and am amazed how calm it is hours away.

But I wanted to get one more photo, one more piece of history that no one would really care about and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t pull the trigger, I couldn’t lift up an object that weighed less than a pound, the whole experience would have been lost if I did take that photo I so badly wanted. When it was all said and done I left and know exactly what will happen to that photo that I never took after tonight. When I go next time to my parents place and look under the bayou I will not see 5-10 bicycles laying underneath, clothes and grocery baskets laying underneath, a bed or two laying underneath, underneath a bridge that was and still possibly be a family’s habit and getaway from a mundane and routine life.

I didn’t take a picture of someone’s place because I saw the actual person who has been living there… way before I first took notice of something being odd in a typical American neighborhood. The older gentlemen eyes pierced through the space between us and connected with mines as if he was pulling my whole body over to him to really feel and see how he was living, while this being on top of one of many bicycles he owned coming back with more goods and items I couldn’t recognize for the storm to come. Damn, and I didn’t do much about it, the only thing I did was put up my right hand to let him know that I meant no harm, that I was only a curious kid who wanted to take a closer glimpse under the bridge. As I turned around to walk away the homeless man took baby steps down the embankment of the man made transportation design structure that was and still for now someone’s home. All I did was turn around , got in my bimmer, and drove to my apartment where I will be safe from the storm. Just thinking about that makes my stomach toss and turn.

I have been working at my new job for 3 weeks already and am enjoying it so far. It is hard to not like something only after 3 weeks, but I am still in the adjusting phase. For instance, I have been rectifying to waking up at 6 a.m. and arriving at work no later than 7:10. I am doing this by taking the city bus by walking to the bus stop from my apartment and arriving in downtown Houston. Relaxing on the bus has given me the freedom to take a cat nap, listen to podcast via the iphone, playing tetris, watching people on the bus and seeing what people are doing in the streets of Houston, and reading blog post also through the iphone. Riding the bus has giving me time to simply relax and not worry about traffic jams and other people’s car driving habits and actions.

So what about the actual job?

Work is refreshing and challenging. Tuesday thru thursday I am busy with meetings inside and out of the office sprinkled throughout the day while trying to get some real work done. The meetings are important, but at times can get in the way of the task that need to get finished. Since I am still in the learning phase of the way work is presented and completed, getting real familiar with the design manuals and policy criteria that I have to know in order to do my job to the best of my ability, and whatever else I need to learn. This is the challenging part of the whole situation at work and I am ready for all that I will go through and what I will learn about my company, about the people that I work for, and more importantly about myself as a growing maturing person.

After a month of work I will know for sure where I am and the best way for me to use my time at work and when I am off the clock. I have also decided to change my goals for the week to goals for the month and came to the realization of having a couple of key aspects that I care about and doing task accordingly. This sounds like a broken record, but I believe every time I do something similar to this I get a little closer to whom I ultimately and will become.