"Adulthood"

These past two weeks have been filled with a lot of major life changes: graduated from college, moved into a Big Girl apartment (with a male roommate, who probably doesn't appreciate it being called a "Big Girl" apartment), acquired some stand-in furniture - most of which belongs to my roommate, paid my first rent check, and also for the first time ever I am now a full time employee at the over-priced restaurant I've worked at since October. I'm ready for things to settle down.

A grown-up-type friend explained to me that in the 10 months after graduating college, I will become an adult. I'm pretty sure that's what he said. There's a chance I may have taken what he said out of context, and I'm missing the point completely. I don't know. This is all I took away from the conversation: I have 10 months to reach adulthood.

So what does this mean? What makes a person an adult? How come I'm not adult now? How does one become an adult in 10 months time? Do I have to physically do anything to be an adult, or will it all just happen to me? Why 10 months? What's wrong with a whole year? Do those two extra months really hurt the process that much? Did he go on to explain? Of course not. Thus, I'm left to my own devices to make sense of this cryptic message that probably wasn't as significant as I took it to be after chugging two glasses of wine.

I think it's a decent goal though, so I'm gonna run with it.

By March 5th, 2013, I will have accomplished the following (or tried my hardest):

• Get a real job
• No longer make sandwiches to earn a living
• Work at a place I don't hate with a fiery passion
• I realize those are all related, but that's how badly I need a new job. It's worth 3 separate bullet points.
• Not be unsure of how I'm going to pull off paying rent by the end of the month (Magic? Stripping? We'll see...)
• Be in the habit of waking up before 8am
• Also be in the habit of working out regularly
• Be proficient in the kitchen (or at least be able to properly feed myself)
• Not get sad and binge eat chocolates and cheetos
• Keep my room/apartment tidy and organized
• Always replace the toilet paper when I run out instead of forgetting for the next 2 or 3 urinations and having to do that awkward ass-wiggle thing
• Do laundry regularly so I don't run out of clothing options at the end of the month
• Successfully maintain responsibility for something other than myself (e.g. - a dog, or a plant or something)
• Realize that a dog and a plant are not comparable, and how unsettling it is that I so easily lumped the two together
• Be in a healthy and fulfilling romantic relationship
• If not the previous, then at least be very much involved in some sort of hobby to avoid being pathetic/fat/alone
• Get my oil changed every 3,000 miles, and always have money set aside to pay for it
• Have actual furniture: 
• a real couch so my roommate and I don't have to share a love seat to watch television (not like we'd EVER resort to that anyway.)
• an actual dining room table with chairs
• a fancy & comfortable chair by a window so I can sit and read books that I will actually read
• if "books" ends up only meaning "magazines," I suppose I can be flexible
• Have a decent amount of money saved up, geared towards my "future"
• Figure out what the hell I want for my "future"

I think for the most part, all of that is attainable. The ones I really don't have control over are "Get a job" and "Get a boyfriend," but the rest I can do.  I think. I'll do monthly summaries of the progress I've made or haven't made. If in 10 months I've made something of myself, I will be thoroughly impressed and throw a big party in celebration of reaching adulthood. However, if I fail to make anything of myself... well, I'll blame the grown-up friend. 

Here are some [mundane] pictures of my pretty apartment (the completed parts, excluding my roommate's bedroom because that would be weird) for your viewing pleasure:

My pretty baffroom :) 

Kitchen

A bad attempt at capturing the view from our living room window