The opposite of silly season

There is not much for me to say this week. Not much really last week, hence the delay of a day before I managed to pick up an excuse to write.

My new job and the logistical hurdles of situating myself in a new place are taking up most of my time, leading to things I either can't write about or that aren't particularly thrilling.

Hopefully I will get over all that and start spending more time doing things I do feel like writing about, or maybe have more room in my mind to process my experiences into something of that nature.

On fighting navigation software

I am continuing to drive. As I am driving in still unfamiliar territory, I'm leaning on my cellphone's navigation app. It is not the best. It often gives me misleading instructions - although I feel some of the fault lies with the confusing and sometimes outright hostile road design.

I am told to turn right - but this leads me to turn before where I actually should, in turn forcing me into an annoying, and equally confusing detour. I am told to take a circuitous route using one exit off a highway, when an absolutely passable and simple alternative is waiting for me a few miles later - although there, too, I am mislead into a detour.

When turning right, I am told to choose one of two lanes - but one of them would force me to cross a solid line to take the left immediately after.

After a while I learn these nuances, so I am no longer mislead. I gain confidence in ignoring certain instructions from the navigator, forcing it to provide me with what I see as a better path. I have managed to accept when I have made a mistake, instead of dangerously trying to correct it at the last minute, and have also managed to avoid crashing into those who do not have such qualms.

I do wonder if I would have had the same issues if I weren't given suggestions, but instead studied a physical map myself prior to travel, or simply followed the road signs. Perhaps I will experiment more once I've settled.

On driving

Three weeks ago I spoke in favor of walking. And I have done a bit of that around here. But, unfortunately, my main mode of transportation, to work or otherwise, seems to be the personal vehicle.

I have had a license since my late teens, but I was at best a weekend driver. Suddenly, I find myself as potentially a daily vehicular commuter. There are advantages - having a car, visiting most places is a matter of simply deciding to do it and pointing my favorite mapping app at the destination, rather than using that mapping app to plan the right combination of transit, occasionally giving up, because, even though a location is reasonably close as the bird flies, it's a mess getting there with the existing bus or rail infrastructure.

But once I choose that destination, I'm constantly at work - looking around me, trying to parse what the mapping app actually means when it talks of an upcoming turn, unless I'm sufficiently familiar with the area to navigate myself. Perhaps a few weeks of this will make this easier. But I can't say I'm enjoying it very much so far.

An ersatz home

I have relocated cross-country, to temporary housing near my new job. It's a nice enough apartment, but it's not home. I don't have a home anymore - the one I had disappeared around me as the movers boxed it up early in the week. This is the first time in about a decade and a half that I move without a potential new home already set up, to ease the transition.

So, as I discussed before, I walked around. And I made sure to get groceries that will allow me to perform my meal-related rituals - my well-balanced breakfast interspersed with exercise and medication, my light, mostly vegetable-based dinner. Lunches I'm going to leave for the outside for now. My exploration has shown me some variety nearby, although when I have to go to the office later in the week I will have to take my new colleagues' lead in what to do about that.

I will have to go through this process again, soon - I will be looking for a more long-term living situation, which will definitely not be around here.

Despite the somewhat bland architectural surroundings, the scenery is already gorgeous, at least.