It's been about a year. Craziness

Clint Keller | The Journal Gazette

Boom, baby.

For July 4, 2008, a fellow I was dating came to visit. He brought Jell-o shots from a party he missed to come be with me. We grabbed a blanket and spread it out somewhere in the grass at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne and watched some awesome fireworks with a very odd soundtrack (I seem to remember the band playing Indiana Jones at some point?).

It was my first full weekend in Fort Wayne. I was excited but very, very scared. I had a whopping four days of work under my belt at that point, and I would spend the following full week at some giant festival everyone freaked out about.

Fast forward a year later. I've been in Fort Wayne just about a year (tomorrow marks that anniversary at the paper). I do not have to cover the Three Rivers Festival. I'm still excited (yes, still), but there are no nerves. I won't see IPFW's fireworks, however; I'll go visit my parents for the long weekend instead. I'll visit with an old friend and eat the best pizza on the planet (Giordano's, if you were wondering -- nothing in the Fort comes CLOSE) and go see "Public Enemies" about an hour away from St. Anne, Ill., a tiny town my former newspaper covers that is featured in the flick.

Currently, life is simple. It's not really dramatic. And I blame that on many, many factors, not least of which is the fact that I'm fabulously happy in Fort Wayne. Or maybe it's the other way around, that I'm happy, so things are simple.

Either or. In any case, thanks.

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Jaclyn Youhana is a staff writer for The Journal Gazette and just recently moved here from Kankakee, Ill. She writes about being a new resident and adjusting to life in Fort Wayne.