The last time I had ever been to Maine I was a kid. Family had rented out a house, filled with my brother and his high school friends, alongside myself and little sister. It was one of those simple but fun vacations, where you just kind of go around and see the local sights and touristy things, and then when you got back home you bugged your brother and his friends to play whatever trading card game you were obsessed with. Still so appreciative of them indulging me, and that no one questioned when I ran off during packing to go watch the new season of the cartoon that game was based on.
We never did it again, but it had always kind of stuck out in my mind, but with a summer to kill till I have to start worrying about graduate school I figured “Know what, let’s indulge in some nostalgia!” With all the anxiety thinking about the future, a little bit of grounding in the past felt like just the thing to calm the nerves. Sure, I’ve never been to Old Orchard Beach but, eh, close enough. Besides, it’s just me, myself, and I: brother’s busy with his family, and the rest of the family’s all over the country these days, so it’s not like I exactly needed a whole house to stay in.
Of course, I should probably talk a little bit about myself, what, three paragraphs in?
To start, my name’s Caleb Jones. I just spent the last four years or so getting a bachelors in data science. Lot’s of math, programming, that kind of thing, so you know I need some of that beach sun! Currently looking at a couple options: there’s some jobs out there you can do with just a bachelors (especially outside of tech!), but a master’s degree does snag you a higher salary so as a backup I got a program lined up for the fall. But, you know, if someone offers pay now, well, won’t exactly say no.
Outside of that, I kind of hate to admit it, but not much else going on. School was kind of brutal, so outside of some online hobbies, the usual consumption of streaming and occasional book, and spending more than I hate to admit on trading cards (which really, Old Orchard, no place here running tournaments?), social life was kind of a bust. It’s fine, though: school’s an investment for the future, after all. So once I get settled in whatever happens I can take that step to try and be out more.
Though if I’m being honest, maybe this vacation will be the start of something. Apparently the room next to mine’s occupied by this girl, Kaitlyn. She’s about my age, starting grad school in psychology this fall with hopes of going into counseling. Having the first impression be running into each other going into the conjoined bathroom at the same time was a little awkward, but once we got past that I thought we hit things off. With her glasses and put-up hair she gave a bit of librarian vibe, but hey, I happen to like the library so, you know, I thought it was cute. Might ask if she’s up to going to the 4th of July stuff in town…
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