I just returned from 16 days back in good old Elyria and I must say that I had a great time.  I was there so long that it really started to feel like everything was back to normal, so coming back out this time was almost as hard as the first time.  It’s strange how quickly I readjusted there and the same goes for the quick readjustment once I returned to cold, blustery Bloomington.  That said, I’ve realized there are some major differences in my Ohio self and my Minnesota self.

For those who aren’t already familiar with the backstory, I learned really quickly that Minnesotans walk.  I mean they walk a lot.  I’ve been trying to join the craze and I’ve also been hitting up Planet Fitness several times a week while here (more on them later) and the results have been spectacular.  Along with my excellent diet out here (lettuce wraps, spaced out meals, less pasta and Jager, etc.), the workouts have helped me lose around twelve pounds since relocating.

Sadly, in my sixteen days in Ohio, I ate out probably a dozen times (including pizza, burgers, pasta and everything else I shouldn’t be eating) and I worked out a grand total of twice.  I also drank a bit more Jager, which is far worse than the whiskey I tend to gravitate toward when I’m working to make better decisions out here.  Those wonderful discrepancies took away half of the gains I made since the big move.  Yuck.

Another interesting bad habit that resurfaced was drinking and getting obnoxious about it.  See, out here I have a drink or two at home and then hit the sack… or I dive into the occasional Jager-fueled radio show (follow me on Twitter for the next one!) until I pass out.  Back around the girlfriend, I drank and wanted to party with her, sometimes quite a bit more than she wanted to party back.  I might spend every day shufflin’, but she has college, work, internship, etc. and needs that rest to get by.  I take it a little personally when I’m the only one who wants to party all night… so I bitch and moan about it, drunkenly thinking that’ll inspire her to get up and party when in reality it probably just makes her want to take a frying pan to my head (sexism not intended).

Now work, that was my shining star… I was very productive when it came time to do my job.  I’m fully confident that I’m ready to handle that aspect, armed with the knowledge that I need to escape the office and work somewhere else at least a day or two a week to keep myself from falling victim to cabin fever.  At least I know I’m ready for that.

The other stuff, though… all I know for sure is that living on my own and working in an office around other human beings makes me take care of business in a way that I haven’t completely applied to Ohio life yet.  Of course, it’s not for a lack of trying, but in my two nights back in Bloomington I’ve worked out, grocery shopped, cleaned the place, prepped meals, unpacked, ate healthy and wrote this blog.  And had half a glass of Jack and Coke without slipping into party mode.

And I’ll be going to bed around ten to get up early and do it all over again tomorrow.

The next big task in my life is to figure out how to do what I do here – when I get back there.

I’m not too worried, though… I tend to notice learning opportunities when they arise and I’m also fortunate to have a significant other who cares about me enough to tell me when I’m broken and need to fix myself.  Everyone should be so lucky.

Only 22 days to the next trip home where I get to test all the theories I’ve created around this.   You can be sure I’ll blog about it.