directionally challenged

i haven't been lost for over a month. thank you, thank you. as doc always said when we were out in the everglades, "you're never lost unless you care where you are." the biggest challenge with adjusting to non-gainesville is that i can't just find places by knowing the street address. i'm getting better, but in this google map world, people who can do that are becoming rarer.

the worst part about trying to avoid mapping everywhere (i may as well get a gps if i want to do that!) is that giving directions is becoming somewhat of a lost art. people around here seem to not know the names of roads as they give you directions, or it's a local thing. you've got to know the "trick." ask for directions at a gas station this day, and you're more likely to get a look taht says, "why do you have two heads?" than one that includes clear directions. further, you not only need to know how to get somewhere, but also how to get back. more often than not, i'm taking a different route each way. i'll blame it on signage, but i'm pretty sure that it's often not possible to use the same path. last weekend, i took 4 different ways to and from BWI to get clowe and drop him off at the airport. i never figured out how to get back to bubba's house from arlington when i was interviewing in august. i am getting better with navigating the district, but i still can't keep straight the lettered streets. i know named ones will just give you a headache trying to figure out where they go.

winter is going to be awfully disorienting. i see the sun now when i leave for work, but it's pretty dark when i'm headed home. good thing i know my way pretty well. lord help me if i need to make a stop along the way!