NU Here we come!

Before we get started with this chapter, dear reader, we need to let you know that "A boy, a girl, a dog, and an Element" is Jay. For some reason, I can't figure out why I can't make that say "Jay" but I can't so I'm not going to worry about it anymore. I spent a chunk of my Sunday morning trying to figure that one out but to no avail.

This morning I got started on my next iPod playlist, NU Mix. That one turned out to be a bit tougher than NAU Mix since the period of time was shorter and since I was broke most of the time, CD buying decreased. I had to really focus in order to remember what was hot at the Boatslip in P-Town in 1990. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's talk about how I got to Boston and how I convinced (it wasn't hard) Brenda that she needed to be here with me. I graduated NAU in 1988. I spent a year on the beach in San Diego- trying to find a job in HR is a down economy in a small city. A recipe for diaster. I did have fun living in Ocean Beach with my best friend Scott (that is another story for another blog). Brenda, at this point, was finishing up her last year of drinking, um, I mean studying, at NAU. Since I couldn't find real employment, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what was next. As I moved from temp job to retail job and back to temp job, I decided "screw this, school was more fun" and I did what most underemployed people do--went to graduate school. Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts chose me in a way and I've considered this, next to getting married, the single most important decision in my life. I only applied to NU and only found out at the last minute that I was accepted to the program. All of my mail had gone to my mother's house in Scottsdale. She called one day and said "honey, I think you got in". So it was off to Boston. I got a full ride assistantship with the housing department--run a dorm for 20 hours a week and we'll give you an education and an apartment in Boston. I packed my bag and was there August 15th, 1989.

So, 1989-90 was my first year of graduate school and Brenda's first year of underemployment post graduation. This was the year we spent on the phone. She had plenty of time to chat at work and I had plenty of free time. The most memorable conversation "honey, can you hold on--the 800 line is ringing"...From there, the 800 number was out and the rest was history! As first quarter came to an end, Brenda decided to join me at Northeastern and we got her hooked up with her own dorm and apartment and we had the funnest year ever. I spent a small fortune on going out and going out we did--6 nights a week. I'm not sure how I had money to go out that much but for some reason, I did. Thank god classes met in the late afternoon and the dorm job didn't require a lot of effort.

I think the entire housing department was a bit taken aback at our antics. Brenda would frequently show up with some sort of injury from a party (once it was rug burn but that will be another posting and I might let Brenda tell that story). I think the "adults" were a bit bummed that they were not having the amount of fun that we were. We had a "posse" of other grad students in the housing department...Alan, Stephen, Jenn A., Jenn J to name a few and they were always up for a beer or three at almost any time. To this day, I miss those guys and wish we were all together. They were always amused at my hair color (Jenn J and I went "dark" since we became full time hall directors) and Brenda just went short, short, short. I really wanted her to shave her head like Sinead O'Connor but she wouldn't do it.

So, reader, that leaves Jay and Brenda safe and sound and influencing young college students in Boston.