A typical Saturday. (Atypical Saturday?)

I've been feeling a bit restless recently. Probably because, after six months of this arrangement, I finally realized that I'm living out of a suitcase. I work about 70 miles away from home so I spend a few nights every week in a hotel to reduce my time on the road. With all the packing and unpacking that I do on a weekly basis (and can now do quite efficiently), it finally hit me this week that I feel a bit too transient and without root.

Lying in the hotel room, eyes closed and head nestled among pillows, I felt so relaxed and comfortable. Not the alien sort of comfort that one can feel in a nicely accommodated hotel despite being emotionally detached from the surroundings, but the sort of deep ease and comfort one feels at home, regardless of whatever state of disarray that home might be in.

Suddenly, my eyes shot open, and I thought, "Holy shit. I live in a hotel."

Since then, I've been looking more actively at apartments closer to where I work. Not sure when I want to move, but hopefully before the end of the year. (And since it's still only January, I guess that gives me some time to sort things out...like the fact that the only furniture I "own" is technically my parents'.) I've even been drawing up budgets, trying to figure out how much money I can afford to spend on rent and still have plenty left for food, other bills and necessities, and a nice amount of savings.

How mundane and...adult!

I think it'll be nice to have a place of my own, though, so I can settle a bit (but not too much) and stop rushing around. Since I spend so much time traveling for work, weekends are usually the only time I can see friends -- which usually requires more traveling and leaves me feeling more exhausted by the time Monday rolls around than when I got off work on Friday.

Sometimes it's nice to come home for weekend and just relax -- to not have plans, to not make plans. Today, I spent the afternoon in my room with a cup of tea and empty CD cases and loose discs strewn around me. I coupled the orphaned discs with their appropriate homes, and then reorganized my CD rack: alphabetically by artist name, and chronologically by the original release dates for each artist's various albums.

That's a totally normal way to spend a Saturday, right?

Anyway, I at least feel better having done that. All the elements of my music collection are in their right place, even if I'm not so sure about myself.