Happy list and Annoying list

Things that annoy me-
A girl in my class today was complaining about those morons who drive 25 miles an hour down the freeway when it's so foggy that you can't see 5 feet in front of you, so when she's driving along at 65 she cant stop in time and risks hitting them. I was about ready to call CHP right then and there. Let's see, she acknowledges that it's really foggy, that most people slow down for the fog, and that when she drives 65 she is in danger of hitting them because she cant see them soon enough to stop, and yet, think they're the morons. She also had her license taken away for two years because of excessive tickets (seriously, I've known people to get 5 tickets in a month who didnt have any problems, how many tickets was she getting???), but still insists that she's a good driver.

Speaking of driving, people who drive 30 down Ming and Stockdale. During the day. When it's nice and clear. And the speed limit is 45.

Doctors/techs/nurses who have abhorrent sterile technique. I wont go into more detail here, but yeah, some of the stuff that goes on in OR's is scary.

People who clap their hands and stomp their feet every time they laugh at one of their own jokes.

People who raise their hand after the teacher says "If there's no more questions you can leave now."

Getting up at 4am.

Filling out job applications.

Filling out job applications for a job that will require that I get up at 4am.

Things that make me happy-
Good books!

Food!

Sleep!

Cuddly kitties in my lap when it's cold and they're all warm and soft and cute!

First scrubbing a case from start to finish ("first scrub" is the person who set it all up and passed all the instruments), without having the doctor have to ask for a single instrument (it was only a circumcision, which is a pretty easy case, but still!).

Walking into a room when people are not only talking about how well you're doing, but are actually arguing over who noticed it first (this really happened today. Very cool!).

Christmas is 8 days away!



Where am I going for Christmas anyway? Do we know yet?

It's everything that is connected and beautiful and now I know just where I stand

Today at Vons it took me three tries to enter my phone number, not because I kept hitting the wrong buttons, but because I kept forgetting what my number is. Then I'm at my door, trying to get into my apartment, but I can't find my keys in any of my pockets, or my purse. I set down the grocery bags to get my phone to call somebody when I realize they're in my hand. The following is an explanation as to why I'm so tired.

Thursday, Oct 29- SJCH Endo from 6:30-12, class from 1-whenever we finished our final exam(it took my 20 mins, I got 167/170 questions right), supposed to meet with my trainer at the gym, but I got sick, so I canceled. Went to bed at around 9.

Friday, Oct 30- Woke up at 10:30 (I was sick!). Work from 4-9

Sat, Oct 31- Work from 4-8, then a Halloween party with some people from work until midnight or so.

Sunday, Nov 1- Work from 10-4, gym for an hour.

Mon, Nov 2- Signed up for a new checking account, then random errands all day, walmart, petsmart, groceries, etc, then Monday Night Football at Firehouse, where I got a little drunk, and then spent the night with some friends.

Tues, Nov 3- Picked up my car from Firehouse, then work from 11:30-2:30, then LA with Michael for a concert (I feel bad, everytime we go to a concert together I fall asleep on the drive home. I try really hard to stay awake, but dammit, it's after midnight and I'm sleepy!)

Wed, Nov 4- Gym for an hour, work at 4.

Thursday, Nov 5- Hmm, it took my editing this post three times to remember Thursday. Interesting. (edit one)I know I cleaned Tabasco's tank at some point recently... That was probably today. (edit two)Oh! And I think I made soup today too... Which takes like an hour and a half (including all the time it takes to cut the veggies and boil the water and let everything simmer and all that). I still have a little left. (edit three) Then I met up with a friend at the Marketplace and hung out at Starbucks until they kicked us out at 11.

Friday, Nov 6- Hiking all day (we left at 8, got back at 5:30) with Kim

Sat, Nov 7- Work from 11:30-4, late lunch/early dinner with family, then walked around the mall a bit, then Girl's Night Out with some girls (obviously) from work. home at midnight

Sunday, Nov 8- Cleaned the apartment (trash, dishes, vacuum, kitchen, laundry), then work at 5:30 (closing shift, luckily we close early on Sundays)

Monday, Nov 9- KMC from 6-3, class from 3:30-5:30, then more laundry, and groceries.

Tomorrow, Nov 10- KMC from 6-3, class from 3:30-5:30, then maybe sleep.... that sounds good.

Wed, Nov 11- Holiday (I dont know which one.... hmm.... Not important.), if they're open I need to get my oil changed. And go to the gym. And then sleep some more.

It's a good thing we dont get weeks off of school very often, cuz if we did I might just die of exhausted. Damn vacations!!

And seriously, how do all of you do this when you have kids and husbands/wives? I am impressed!

I am boring.

Hmm, it's been over a month since my last post. I suck, sorry.

So I only have 3 more months of school, yay! Sorta. I have three months of actually being in school, but there's a gazillion breaks until then, so it'll take 4 months. Starting Monday I'll be working 2 8 hour shifts at KMC, then in 5 weeks I'll be somewhere else (hopefully doing more than two days).

So that's fun.

I actually have this week off though, which has been awesome. Because I have this weird thing (free time is what I think most people call it....) I've been trying to actually do stuff. I went to a party on Halloween (as a faerie), I hung out at Firehouse watching sports, I went to see the Silversun Pickups and the Dany Warhols in LA with Michael (The Loss Adjuster), and tomorrow, provided the weather cooperates, I'm going hiking with a girl from work. Yay! :)

Today... I don't really have anything to do. I need to go the gym at some point, and I need new pants for work cuz we're getting new uniforms, which is awesome (black shirt, no tie), but I have to have spiffy new pants cuz faded ones will stand out too much.

And.... uh... this is why I havent been posting much. I just really cant think of anything to say.

So, bye!

I have mad skills!

So I'm walking up my stairs after work and I notice a praying mantis kicking it under my lamp. Neat. I happen to have my phone in my hand, so I snap a couple pics, and continue up the stairs. And trip a little, but recover, and keep going, and trip again and land on my knees. Seriously, who manages to trip TWICE while going UP the stairs?

Tonight I made $78, which sounds good until you consider that my sales were $750 and I was there for 6 hours. Ugh. Given that the last three shifts I worked I made over $100, I can't really complain too much, but still!

A girl I work with is a trainer at Body Exchange, and she's agreed to give me a discount for personal training sessions, which is awesome. I signed up to do a 5 or 10k charity run next month, and I'd really like to be able to do it without dying.

Happy birthday, Abby! :)

There was totally something else that I was going to write about but I dont remember what it was.... hmm....

Yeah, I give up.

Ok then, bye!

Yay, it's Surgical Tech week!

So I walk into the break room at SJCH to get my paper work and change so I can go home and this guy calls my name and is like "Hey, you worked at Copelands, right?" omg! It's been 5 years since I've been there and Mike, who I worked with for a few months actually recognized me. Which was awesome. Unfortunately, I was kinda busy, so I couldnt talk much, but still. Apparently he saw me at Memorial, but wasn't quite sure it was me until he saw my name tag.

Crazy!

So in honor of surgical tech week we had a big competition between our class and the freshman class, and then a huge potluck. I was excited cuz I won a travel mug as a door prize. Woo! I competed in the blindfolded sponge stick competition, but I only got third place, oh well.

Ummm.... oh yeah! I'm on my new computer, yay! I couldn't figure out how to hook it up to the internet, lol. Apparently with Scientific Atlantic modems you have to unplug the modem completely before you plug it in to the new computer. Oddly enough, Matthew is the one who came over and fixed it for me. He randomly emailed me a week or so ago, and we've been sorta talking, and he kept offering to hook it up, so I finally let him. I was a little nervous about it, but it wasn't as awkward as I thought it'd be. He seems a lot happier, which is good. I think I'm just gonna get some thumb drives for all my pictures and stuff from my old computer. That seems easiest, and that way I wont have to worry about it if I get another computer.

I guess that's about it for now. Fuzzy is trying to climb onto the keyboard, and it's kinda hard to type.

Bye!

(oh, we took a "quiz" in class today to kill time, and one of the questions the teacher asked was "who's the quietest person in class, and one person actually said me. The teacher was like, "what? trust me, Susannah can talk!" It was funny)

Happy Constitution Day!

Yay! I got my evaluation for my 5 week rotation at Mercy Southwest, and I got the highest score possible in ever single category cuz I am just that awesome apparently.

And then I went to class and was ready to kill some people cuz they were being seriously obnoxious. A

nd then I went to Memorial to turn in my paperwork and got lectured by the lady at the front desk because they leave at 4, and I really should come earlier. Um, yeah, it was 3:30 and it took all of 30 seconds. If they're open until 4, I should be able to come in any time before then. *rolls eyes* Lazy people.

And now I'm doing laundry.

I'm thinking at some point I really should eat something, cuz I'm starving.

Random Susie Thoughts

I am happy that Starbucks has the pumpkin spice latte again. This makes me happy. It is yummy.

If Vons didnt have a Starbucks inside I'm pretty sure I'd never go grocery shopping and I'd slowly starve to death.

I bought a parsnip today, which confused the check out guy. He didn't know what it was. It was kinda hilarious.

I have decided that I want a window in my bathroom. It's too dark in there.

Cassie would like the world to know that she is starving TO DEATH and needs to be fed. Unfortunately, I disagree with her.

I was all sad that I got a 94% on my midterm until I realized that half of the class did way worse. The other half got around a 94%. :) It sounds like it should be a good grade until you realize that every single question was taken, word for word, from the quizzes.

I introduced myself to a tech I hadnt met yet at Mercy Southwest and she said "Oh you're Susannah? I've heard a lot of good things about you!" Which was awesome. And then I got a review from my teacher who had apprently came to watch me. I didnt notice her. I didnt get a very good score cuz I wasn't really doing anything. She just came in at a bad time. I was first scrubbing (being the main tech, doing most of the work), but the case suddenly got way more complicated, so me and the preceptor switched places and I just watched. My teacher said I need to take more initiative in handing the surgeon's instruments. grrs!!! I explained what happened and she was like "Oh, I figured it was something like that," to which I have to wonder, "then why did you give me a bad score?"

Whatever.

Wed we were surprisngly busy, which was nice cuz I made $110. I'm hoping I do that again tonight so then I can throw this useless piece of electronics in the trash and buy a computer that works. :)

This morning I dreamt that Mom and I were looking for a lost piece of luggage and accidently stepped into a magical universe that was being controlled by an evil wizard. We then helped innocent people escape his clutches and brought them to a really pretty oasis in the middle of the desert. I have the best dreams.

music is my hot hot sex

The line in the book was "The urachus, a type of connective tissue that forms the umbilical ligament, is excised." The moron from my class was reading this and interrupted the teacher to ask "what's the urachus?" My response? "It's a type of connective tissue that forms the umbilical ligament."

I'm kinda surprised I haven't gotten in trouble for being such a smart ass, but come on, she was reading the definition of it when she asked! (keep in mind that she did (or should...) know what connective tissue is and what the umbilical ligament is and what excised means and all that, and that I don't expect you to know that, but still, if you were reading that sentence wouldnt common sense tell you what the urachus is, even if you dont quite understand what you're saying?)

In other news, I've been listening to a lot of Brazilian techno lately, thank you very much Michael. :)

This scares me.

So I go to sit down with some hosts while I was on a break.

Moronic Host (MH): "When I was in Florida there was this alligator like right next to where we were practicing our cheers, it so freaked me out that I stayed inside the rest of the week!"

Me: "Aw, alligators aren't gonna hurt you!"

MH: "They could! Haven't you ever seen Lake Placid? Same thing with Jaws! I wont go swimming in the ocean past my knees cuz I dont want to get attacked by a shark!"

Me: "When I was in Australia there was a bunch of poisonous jelly fish everywhere, it was kinda neat"

MH: "Wow, could you actually see them?"

Me: "Yeah, I mean, they're clear, so it can be hard to see them, but they are visible."

MH: "Oh yeah! They glow, right? Like in Finding Nemo!"

Other Host (OH): "No... They sorta look like toilet paper floating in the water."

MH: "Really? Did you touch them?"

Me: "Did I touch the poisonous jellyfish? No."

... Conversation moves on to Hawaii for some reason...

MH: "I would never go to Hawaii, have you seen The Getaway yet? So scary!!"

OH: "I went there when I was a kid, it was boring because my parents just did tour buses and that kind of thing."

MH: "Is there actually a trail in Hawaii?"

OH: "Like, through the mountains? Yeah there's lots...."

Me: "That's sorta like saying is there a trail in the Sierra Nevadas"

MH: "What are the Sierra Nevadas?"

Me: "Seriously? They're the giant mountain chain that runs all through California..."

MH: "Oh, the Rockies!"

Me: "What? No... The Rockies are in Colorado up through Canada..."

MH: "Oh, well I dont know, I'm not good at my atlas!"

OH DEAR GOD!!! This girl is 20 years old and apparently believes everything in horror movies, and doesnt even know what the Sierra Nevadas are? At that point I had to just walk away, cuz there was no way I could still sit with her without saying something mean. But COME ON!!! This is the same girl who asked me "What's a gas? Like, farts?" when I was talking about gas explosions (in particular propane, we were talking about some of my cases at the hospital, in the most general terms obviously). She's nice enough, and she's a good host, but she may be the dumbest person I've ever met. And this includes the dumbasses in my class (like the girl who announced that she doesnt think drugs kill brain cells, cuz all her years of drug use didnt kill any of her cells).

Good eye sniper! I'll shoot, you run

Yay it's Susie! I'm updating my blog! I know you're all thrilled. You should be anyway cuz I am the awesomeness, and therefore my blog is also the awesomeness.

Or something.

It's my last week at SJCH. At least, for the time being. I might go back. I don't know. The next 5 weeks I'll be at Mercy Southwest on Mondays and Tuesday, and Bakersfield Endo on Thursdays. CPK is getting annoyed at the fact that my very limited availability changes every month, but they can just suck it. :) Yesterday my preceptor told everyone that I'm the best student ever and she wishes we were all this good, today my surgeon told me to request his room whenever we're both there, so I'm taking that to mean that I'm doing very well. Hopefully I'll have a job before I graduate! Sorta. Cuz then I'll feel somewhat obligated to stay here, but it'd be worth it. I figure if I get a job before I finish I'll just stay for a year and then leave.

Umm... That's really about it. I pretty much just go to school, go to clinicals, go to work, and do homework. And occasionally housework (I cleaned the house on Sunday, I keep having to debride (I have no idea how to spell that... we'll just say "surgically clean out") spider bites and it's making me kinda paranoid about bugs and stuff).

Hmm..... Yeah. It's realyl hard to have a social life when you have to get up at 5am. I'm usually in bed by 9 and unconcious by 9:30. Which is kinda nice actually. I'm not used to sleeping so well. I don't even wake up when people call or text me, even though the phone is right next to my pillow. :)

Oh no! Simon is trying to escape!

Rawr.

I was kinda feeling like shit yesterday (for lots of reasons that I don't feel like going into here) so I ended up going to bed at like 9. Which meant that I woke up feeling all refreshed and awake at 8:30. Since then I have gone to the grocery store, gone to Target, gone to Petsmart, done 2 loads of laundry, cleaned the litter box, made a new fruit fly culture, cleaned out my animal room, took out some trash, took a nice hot shower, and enjoyed some Starbucks (but now I have no more gift cards, it is sad). In about an hour and a half I'm going to class, then off to work.

I feel so accomplished!

So the clinicals are going well, I think... I haven't actually had any feedback yet, which is kinda annoying, but whatever. I feel like I'm doing well. I'm more confident than I was anyway, and I've learned a LOT, which is sorta the whole point. Next week I'm going to start asking my preceptors to stand back and let me do more when that's an option. I'm also already learning what specicialties I like, and which ones I don't. I don't like the laproscopic stuff cuz there's not a whoole lot for me to do, I don't like ENT cuz it's just gross, but ortho and burns are really interesting and tend to keep me busy, which is good. I'm sure by the end I'll have changed my mind at least a dozen more times though. :) Today I should get my assignment for the next 5 weeks. Next week is my last one at SJCH. So we'll see!

In other news... um... Actually that's about it. I did go see Jarvis Cocker at the Wiltern with Michael a couple weeks ago. That was a lot of fun, despite me only vaguely knowing who he is, and not getting home until 1 when I had to get up at 5 the next morning.

I can't believe I did that

So I started my clinicals this week, yay! I'm at San Joaquin Hospital 3 days a week from 6:30-12. It's pure torture! At least, the having to get up at 5 thing is. My body is just so not used to that. I've decided that that's the reason that I almost fainted today. Seriously. It was really embarrassing. We were in the middle of an ENT surgery (not entirely sure what they were doing... Something with the nose, obviously) and all of the sudden I got really nausous and really hot and lightheaded. Luckily, I'm not a complete moron, so I had enough sense to back up and say "I need to break scrub and sit down," which I did, just for long enough so that I was sure I wasn't going to pass out, and then I went outside so I could take off my mask. I did feel a lot better when I found out that right after this happened, another student actually did pass out. Like, hit the ground and everything.

But other than that it's going well! I was kinda surprised cuz there was no orientation or anything, we got there, they told us what rooms to go to, and that was it. My first case ever I was passing instruments and suture and was holding the retractors and the suction and I gowned the surgeon (in every surgery I've done actually... hmm) and yeah. So far everyone has been really nice too, which always helps. The first day the tech I was following around was actually a former teacher at SJVC and was the one who did my interview. I walk up and say "Hi, I'm Susannah," and she's all "Hi! How are the frogs?" It was funny. :)

Better pics, otter pops, and being a kid again

Ok there's a better pic of my new tattoo. It is the awesomeness. :) And that concrete was really hot. lol

So I'm kinda getting used to this whole not having to do anything all day thing. It's quite nice! I've actually cleaned up my apartment a little even. And then today I went by Starbucks and got a a triple venti espresso truffle or something? and a fruit and cheese platter. It was heavenly. I only $4 left on my gift card though. It's sad. :(

Last night I got to babysit Lauren and Alex. We had a blast. We played t-ball and ate otter pops and I felt like a little kid again. I had the blue one. It tasted like summer. :)

I've been wearing my new bracelet from Portugal everywhere and getting tons of compliments, which is always super fun. Yay!

Ok, that's it for now. I really just wanted to post the better pic.

star tattoo on my foot

Yay I got a new tattoo yesterday! I'd been wanting it for a long time, but it's tricky to get your foot tattooed when you work and go to school and all that, so since I have Mon-Thursday off this week for some bizarre reason, I thought I'd go get it.


You'll have to forgive the shitty phone pic. I might get around to taking some decent ones, but eh. It's the top of my left foot. You can kinda tell that one of the points is red. It's the Star Trek symbol. :) I am just that cool. My friend Andrew drew it for me ages ago. Ed at Naked Al's did it.

:)

Yay a picture of me!

Yay me in Florence Lake! :)

So I just got back from the mall. The mall is scary. *shudders* I'm trying to learn how to be a girl though. I'm even wearing a dress! It's the only one I own. Well, the only one I own that actually fits. I bought some shorts. And a cute lacey top.

Yup.

So I'm on vacation, yay! And, of course, they only scheduled me for TWO shifts this week, which pissed me off. I was able to pick up three though, so that's good, although one of those is on Sat, which means that I wont be able to make it to Rachel's for fireworks. But that's ok. Once I start clinicals I'm not gonna be able to work very much, so I need to be working as much as possible now.

hmm.... yeah. exciting stuff!

Yup, this is my life.

Hulu finally has season 4 of Stargate SG1. I am very pleased with this. :)

My teachers are awesome. They both gave us "study guides" for the final that consist of about 150 questions (complete with the multiple choice answers) and are strongly advising us to just study those. The final will consist of 200 multiple choice questions.

The ignition in my car is going out. When I left school today it took me turning the key about 10 times before it finally started. When I got gas at AMPM I just left it running. I'm gonna get it fixed tomorrow, but I need crickets today, so I guess I'll be walking to Petsmart.

Walking past all my neighbors hanging out in the parking lot while carrying dirty underwear is somewhat awkward. Especially since they all try to talk to me. I hate doing laundry.

I should probably start either putting away my left over stir fry, or at least, dont eat it after it's been sitting out all day and night, but dammit, it tastes good and I'm lazy! I just wont be suprised if I get sick later tonight.... *munch munch*

I haven't hung out with Michael in forever and am starting to miss him. It makes me sad. He keeps insisting that nothing is wrong, but only sometimes answers my texts and is being vague about when his days off ate. He tells me I'm just being paranoid.

Today Thelma beat Dustin at arm wrestling twice. The second time looked like she might lose, but then Jonsie called her Mexican (she's Salvadorian) which gave her a surge of power and she beat him. Dustin cried.

And that is my life.

Big fires, cold toes, and scary surgeries

Ok so I didn't conquer any rocks. But that's only cuz it was freezing cold. Like, one night I woke up with toes that were completely numb (I couldn't move them at all) and had white splotches on them, despite being in a sleeping bag that's supposedly rated to 20. And it was raining half the time.

But aside from that! It was still a lot of fun and I'm really glad I went. We went fishing for a bit, hiking for a bit, played lots of cards, drank lots of beer, made lots of good fires, it was grand. :) I took like 80 thousand pictures, which I don't normally do, so I'm very proud, so I'll post more when I get those. I think I'm just gonna take them to walgreens and get them all printed and put on a cd cuz I didnt just use my digital camera, I also used an old disposible one. I have no idea if any of those pics will come out, but that's ok. If they do I think there's some of Peru on there.... It'll be a grand surprise. Actually, I think I'm gonna go ahead and drop those off now before class... Then I can pick them up afterwards, and then go to work, and then come home and maybe put some on here.

Oh! I got my hospital assignments! Starting July 13th I'll go to San Jaoquin Community Hospital from monday through wed from 6:30-12. Yay! I'm really excited and terrified all at once. :) I'll be there for 5 weeks, then go somewhere else after that.

Yay!

I'm so excited I started jumping up and down

campingcampingcampingcampingcampingcampingcampingcampingcampingcampingcampingcampingcampingcamping YAY!!!!! :)

In other news, I just found out that I did indeed get next weekend off, despite being the fifth to request it off, so yay! I so didn't think I was going to be able to go, but now I can. Which is the awesomeness. Because I need some wilderness. So... um... Can I borrow some camping/fishing gear from anyone? :) I kinda want to actually fish myself this time, which requires a pole and all that. Which I dont have.

AND I AM GOING TO CONQUER THAT FUCKING ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

*ahem*

So I start clinicals next month, yay! Oh! And I have the first two weeks of July off from school, so, anyone want to go camping then? :) Or something else?

umm.... yeah. My life is boring these days. Except, of course, for the awesomeness that will be Florence Lake next weekend.

Yes. That is all.

camping.*nods*

lots of water, algea, and laundry

I think I drink too much water. My water filter pitcher thingie is supposed to last 2 months, but I have to replace the filter every 3 or 4 weeks cuz I refill it at least twice a day. I can't help it, I'm thirsty! And that's like all I drink. Granted, not ever having to buy juice or soda or anything really helps me save money, and helps keep me skinnier, but still. I just need to move somehwere that has good tap water.

Anyway. It's been all warm and sunny which means that the algae is growing out of control in my turtle tanks and I have to clean the filters every week. It's gross and smelly.

Damn turtles.

I think I'm going to Florence Lake from June 12-15. Yay for camping! :)

I was only getting 3 shifts a week at work, but then we started getting busier and we suspended one of our bartenders/servers and I was bitching a lot about only getting three shifts a week, and now I'm working all the time and it's nice cuz I have lots of money, but it's also really annoying. Cuz I'm always working.

Except last night cuz I didn't have any hot water and I wasn't about to go into work without showering.

Ew.

But it's working now, so that's good.

Today I was actually scheduled to have the night off, so I've done 4 loads of laundry (yay for clean sheets and towels!) and various other chores.

I need to go to the bank . I have lots of money to deposit. It's hot outside though, and, well, I'm lazy so I don't think I will tonight.

Seriously why does the radio still insist on playing nickelback? Isn't it kinda common knowledge that they suck? I don't know anyone who actually likes them...

grrs.

Anyway. I just figured I'd better update this before everyone starts complaining about it.

So there ya go.

Isn't it so exciting.

Go me!

I went jogging this morning. As all of you who know me know, I do not jog. It is just not something I do. But I'm getting tired of being in such terrible shape. I've been doing pretty good with my diet and actually cooking and all that, but I really would like to be in better shape, so I ran a couple miles today. Ok, well, I half jogged/half walked a couple miles. It took me 25 mins. But still! I'm proud of myself dammit.

:)

I'm at Chris and Lacey's right now watching the kids. We watched Elmo, ate some dinner, played with some play dough, played outside for a long time, and now we're watching Elmo again cuz I couldnt find the choochoo movie.

Lauren had one of the grossest diapers I've changed in a very long time today too. ick.

But other than that she's been super easy. Trying to catch a football while holding a baby was a little tricky though. :) I kept trying to get Alex to play soccer instead, but he wasn't really interested.

Blah blah.

Ummm... Yeah, that's pretty much it. My life is boring these days. I've been insanely busy, but not doing anything really blog worthy. *shrug*

Neon and pink and orange

Oh yeah! Somehow I keep forgetting to mention this. On my way to Tehachapi on Sunday I almost ran over an albino corn snake. How weird is that? Obviously it was someone's pet that they had released, but still. Craziness. Usually I just see lots of rattlesnakes and the very occasional king snake.

Also, I was insanely busy last night and actually made more than I did on Mother's Day. Which was the awesomeness. Yes. Especially since A. it was a Monday night, and B. I normally only work weekends. Gotta love those extra shifts where I make $130! I only had $750 in sales too! Go me! Actually, go professional football player's wife who has a black amex and gave me an extra $20 on top of the $22 autograt, and go cool people who gave me $15 on $66, and other cool people who gave me $20 on $66. With three tables equally about $260 I got $77. Like I said, awesomeness.

OMG I'm alive!!!

Shocking, I know.

For some reason I'm in a really bad mood today. I dont know why. My neck and back kinda hurt, maybe that's it... I need a cute boy to give me a massage. hm...

Anywho. I know I haven't posted in forever, sorry about that. What can I say? I suck! :) yay!

Get over it.

So! What have I been up to? Let's see.. work. More work. School occasionally. Going out drinking with friends a little more often than I should. That's just what happens when you're best friend is somewhat of an alcoholic though, lol. And then of course, we had to celebrate Jen (girl from work) finishing her internship, etc.

Umm, yesterday was Mother's Day. Work was crazy, as was expected. But I still made it up to Tehachapi and went out for a fabulous dinner with Carina, and gave Dad a present. Yeah, there wasn't so much of my mother involved in my Mother's Day, lol.

Umm.... see this is why I haven't update in forever, I don't really have anything to talk about.

I think I'm gonna go eat some leftovers now.

A sad story.

Michael's battery died today.

And so did my turtle.

The end.

Bakersfieldvivicosis

I am sick. I have decided that I have Bakersfieldvivicosis.

Roughly translated- a condition of living in Bakersfield.

Symptoms include- coughing, dry throat and the inability to light your fireplace.

Treatment- Move somewhere else.

Possible side effects of treatment- Insufficient decent tacos, cold weather.

Benefits of treatment- the ability to breathe without choking, the ability to walk across a parking lot in the summer without your shoes melting.

My cats are on crack.

Yeah I dunno what's gotten into my cats this morning, but they are insane! They've been running around meowing and playing and fighting and jumping for over an hour and they're still going strong.

Crazy kitties.

It occured to me yesterday while I was at Petsmart that since I have a seperate room for my animals I can finally get a hamster! I only didnt get one before cuz the kitties would mess with it too much. But now it'll be ok. :)

I'm not saying I'm getting one now, mind you, just that I just realized that it's an option that I didn't have before.

I'm gonna go get ready for school now though. :)

My week.

Lets see, I guess it's been a week since I last updated, sorry about that.

I've been working a lot, which is good.

I'm getting sick though. Stupid cold. It started this morning with a tickly throat, and now I'm coughing a lot from deep in my chest, which is annoying cuz it really hurts and I haven't actually gotten anything to come up yet either, but meh.

And yesterday me and the Loss Adjuster went on a picnic to Hart Park. It was grand fun. And then we came back here and played some Trivial Pursuit. He won. And then we went to Mama Roombas and sat next to the most obnoxiously vapid woman ever, so we left pretty quickly and came back here again. And played Trivial Pursuit again. And he won again.

I suck at that game. I knew all the purple answers though!

Umm.... school's going well enough I guess. It's school. *shrug* I should probably be doing homework right now, but I'm really tired.

Stupid getting sick.

blech. I made some yummy soup today though! Creamy potato with kale, green onions, and celery. It is fabulous. And incredibly filling. I was barely able to eat one bowl. :) It did have an entire stick of butter in it...

Umm... yeah that's pretty much it.

Bye bye Froggies!

I had to sell some of my frogs. Actually, almost all of them. I've still got the luec (the orange and black dart frog), but I sold all the mantellas. The problem is just that I've been too busy to be cycling them properly, or feeding them properly (they do better on a diet of crickets, and I don't breed those, and apparently they need supplements cuz they can't process vit a as beta carotene or something or another) and I am one of the very few people known to have a certain bloodline of one of them, so when an experienced breeder contacted me about buying them I went ahead and sold all of them (at a very good price too, the guy should consider himself very lucky). I'm kinda bummed about it, but it does take a huge load off my back cuz now I don't have to worry about fruit flies, yay!! Those were a pain in the ass. I'll still have to buy crickets for my geckos, so I'll just switch the one remaining frog that I have to a staple of crix and just give her the occasional fruit fly from those little containers that Petsmart sometimes has.

Ok where was I? Mom just called to ask me about the frogs. :)

And apparently it's St. Patrick's Day! Woohoo! Or something.

Today one of my neighbors asked me why they never see me. Which I thought was a kinda strange question. I mean, they don't see me cuz I don't hang around outside in the parking lot like everyone else. I actually go to work and school and all that. I see people while walking to and from my car (and having minor arguements over where I can park, I say it's a public street and I can park wherever I want, but one of my neighbors thinks that not only is his driveway his, but the street in front of his apt is his too, a point on which I disagree, so he keeps yelling at me when I park there, so I always just smile and wave and pretend to not hear him as he's telling me to move my car) but that's pretty much it.

I've been hanging out with Michael (The Loss Adjuster), and Michael (boy I'm sorta dating), and Kim (bartender from work) a lot lately. It's been quite nice, but it barely leaves me any time to do things like homework and laundry, but of course, the busier someone is, the more they get done, so I've actually been keeping up with my homework (it helps that it's annoyingly easy) and sorta keeping up with laundry. The dryer still doesn't really work, but it's been so nice out, and so hot on my porch/balcony/front step thingie that my clothes dry within about 15 mins outside anyway. See! I'm saving the environment! Go me.

Ummm....... That's pretty much it. I actually need to go do some laundry now. My blanket on my bed is fuzzier than Fuzzy is, which is annoying.

:)

Veggies are good for the soul.

mmmm..... that was soooo yummy!!! I finally went grocery shopping today, and since I've basically just eaten fast food for the past like, 2 weeks I was just craving vegetables, so that's pretty much all I got, but then when I got home I made a lovely caprese salad (I think that's what it's called? tomato, mozzerella, basil and o&v?) with some fresh french bread, oh it was heavenly. :) And I have enough to make more later. Tonight I'm gonna make a huge batch of veggie soup for me to eat for the next week or so (I seriously got a LOT of veggies), so yay! :)

S-M-R-T

So continuing in the vein from my last post, I was also the only one who knew what the doppler effect was. One girl tried to explain it by saying that it had to do with the vibrations off of other cars, and like, when an ambulance is closer to you it's louder because there's more cars around it to be vibrating.

*bangs head against wall some more*

No, hon. It's louder because IT'S CLOSER. oi!

But anyway. I went to Smith's yesterday and bought a bunch of smiley face and shamrock cookies. I was just going to go pick some up, but then Amanda said she wanted to go with me, so ok. I had to go to the bank first, so I do that, and she waited in the parking lot for me, and then I buy some cookies, which took all of 2 mins, so then we went and got some enchiladas and Mauricios next door, even though that place isn't very good and has the world's worst service.

And apparently charges $2.50 for a coffee, which she never refilled.

Whatever.

My life lately has been sleeping in until 10:30 or 11, going to school at 12, coming home, going to work for the shift that Judy asked me to pick up on behalf of someone else (I've only been scheduled 3 days the last two weeks, last week I worked 6, this week I'll work 5), working, then maybe going out after work. And on my rare days off (or work or school) I'll hang out with some non work friends. With the exception of last Friday it's been quite fun being busy and social and whatnot.

I'm also doing at least one chore a day (not including the cat litter and sweeping the kitchen floor, which I do every day), which I know, isn't enough really enough and I should be doing more (dishes should probably be done every day too... but that's not gonna happen), but it helps!! Right? Or something?

blah.

I need to call my landlords cuz they still haven't cashed my rent check and it's making me nervous, like maybe they didn't get it. And I forgot to pay SJVC last month, so I owe them twice as much this month, which isn't good. There wasn't any penalty charge though, so tha'ts nice.

Yup, that's pretty much my life lately. It's not all that exciting. I mean, it's been more interesting than when I was with Matthew (when it just consisted of getting up, watching tv all day, going to work, and then being annoyed cuz I never saw him), but still. It's not like I'm off having grand adventures (that I want to blog about).

But I guess that's ok.

It's not that I'm smart, it's that you're stupid.

So my whole class thinks I'm a total know it all because, unlike every single other person there I:
knew what the "c" stands for in E=mc2,
knew what absolute zero was,
and knew what a calorie is.

I get that most of them haven't had a chemistry or physics class in a long time, but none of that is particularly complicated or difficult, and knowing it does not make me some kind of super genius, it just makes me someone who's paid attention in school once or twice.

*bangs head against wall*

Chores are just no fun!

Last night was my night off, so I hung out with some friends, which was fun, but then today I've been watching tv and they keep playing commercials for Hoover and well, it's all making me feel dirty (meant in a totally pg way of course). So today I have unpacked a couple boxes, vacuumed a little, did the dishes, cleaned the stove, and (just cuz I've been needing to) trimmed my hair. So I feel very accomplished.

Of course, what I meant to do was laundry, but somehow that never happened. I suppose I could now, I still have 2 hours before work after all... I really do need to wash my blankets too. They're starting to turn white and fuzzier than my cats.

Fun times!

I'm a dinosaur.

I got a new turtle today. It's a baby red eared slider from a girl at work. I named it Patty from Priscilla (cuz I like to be allerative, and it's flat and round) and if it turns out to be a boy, I'll just change it Paddy from Priscilla and say he's Irish.

Score!!!

I have the best sister ever!

Yeah, so Abby came into town today, took me out to lunch, then took me grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, then got my Starbucks, then we went to Target where she bought me a toy, then we went to PetCo and I finally used my gift card that I got from work. So much fun! I got to play with Aiden and Abby bought me food and toys, good day all around. :)

And now!! Now I can make CEREAL!!! Woohoo!! I have MILK!!!

It's an exciting life.

Now I just need a cute boy to call me.

hmm....

secret money, stamps, and stupid security questions

I'm sitting here reading random blogs and procrastinating (I need to do chores, but I don't particularly feel like it) and then I saw that I got an email! Yay! It was just a message from Discover saying "Hey, feel free to pay us now," which normally would kinda suck, but then I looked at the balance and remembered that I'd gotten it to below $4,000 a couple months ago, and I didn't use it in OZ, like for some reason I kept thinking I did, so it was way less than I thought it was. For some reason I thought that card was maxed out. And it's totally not! I could still spend another $1,500! Woo!

Not that I'm going to, mind you.

It's just nice knowing that I can.

And, more than that, it's nice knowing that that's an extra $1,500 that I don't still owe.

I need to buy stamps so I can mail fuckface the deposit check. I'm not going to mail it until I get the check from him, but still. I also have another credit card payment I need to send out, and that one is due on the 4th, so I kinda need to send it now. I'd just pay online like I normally do, but I can't figure out what the answers to my security questions are. What is the foriegn country I'd most like to visit? What was my most unusual job? How the fuck am I supposed to remember what I put to those? I set that thing up years ago! And I've never had an unusual job!

grrs.

This is why I always try to pick easy questions like "What is my father's middle name?" Cuz now I'm gonna have a late payment, which is never good. I don't think it'll hurt me cuz it wont be that late and I do have a grace period, but still!

At least I'm back on CA time. And I've had some good shifts and made good money. I still can't make rent by myself (I love you Mom and Dad!!), but now I only had to ask for $300 instead of $600.

I hate being poor. grrs.

Me in Oz

So I stole some pics of me off of Carina's blog to post here, yay! I know most of you have seen them already, but there are a few people who go to my blog who actually don't read hers, so yeah. Those of you who have seen them already, well, you can just deal with it.


Here's me in Surfer's Paradise in Queensland. It was kinda awesome. Definetly not the Pacific we're used to here.

Here's me petting a red kangaroo in the Australia Zoo. It was VERY soft.


Here's me and Carina at Barwon Falls, on the way to Kuranda, which is in the rain forest outside of Cairns. It was lovely and wonderful.

angry commercials

Commercials for syrup make me angry cuz they make me hungry and crave pancakes. And I don't have any pancakes. grrs.

Back to the real world

The trip is over. I am back home. :(

Kinda. I mean, it was grand fun, I'd love to go back someday, but I'm glad to be home. There's just too much going on here!

I promise to post something better later, but I'm actually going to work now. I wasn't scheduled today, but I got a text at 11 this morning asking if I could, and since I had just slept for 14 hours I was feeling quite refreshed and ready to work, and of course, I'm poor, so yeah. :) But then I realized that I had no clean work clothes, so I tried to do a load, but they all came out dirty (dark brown spots all over my white shirts, I'm kinda pissed) and of course the dryer doesn't work either, so yeah.

Hey Dad! Wanna come down to Bakersfield tomorrow and try to fix my washer and dryer? Yeah? Awesome! :)

So instead I'm wearing some of my old clothes from OG. At least I managed to find some that didn't have marinara stains on them.

Last night we arrived in Sydney! Yay!! It's the last leg of our trip, which is kinda sad, we've been having fun, but we still do have all sorts of fun things planned for here too. Last night we went out for a nice fancy dinner with Will, which was fun. He wanted to hang out some more while we're here, but I'm not sure how that's gonna work, so we'll just have to see. Right now Carina's wandering around some shops and stuff downstairs, and then we're gonna meet up for lunch, and then go to the aquarium cuz it's right across the street, cheap (only $10 a person!), and everyone has told us that it's really good, and then we have our dinner harbour cruis tonight, which should be fun. It's been somewhat cold and rainy here, but that's ok. The rain looked really pretty on the water last night, so yeah. I don't knowabout the whole dancing outside on the boat while it's raining thing though. That might not be so fun.

Anyway.

The internet here is insanely expensive, so I'm gonna take off. You'll pretty much just have to wait until we're back to get better updates.

Adios!

Dingoes (or is it dingos?), Uluru, and stupid itchy rashes

Well I'm out in the middle of the AUstralian outback, and it's actually quite lovely. Much greener than I was expecting, and also a lot cooler (I guess we just got really lucky, last week was really hot, and with the heat comes the flies). Unfortunately I don't have any pics. We've been taking them, but Carina lost the cord to dl her pics onto her computer, so then we started using Mom's camera and then we don't have wifi here, so the pics from that camera are still on her computer, and yeah, I know, we suck.

Get over it.

You'll see pics when we get home. Not from me, mind you, but when we make the book.

Anywho. Uluru was lovely, although we were too sleepy to appreciate it. Last night was our "Sounds of Silence" dinner out in the desert, which was very nice (I ate the crocodile (somewhat fishy) and kangaroo (tasted like roast beef) but I don't know that Carina did. We met some really cool women there too, and really enjoyed ourselves. They gave us lots of champagne and wine though, and then we had a presentation by an astronomer, which was a lot of fun. Needless to say, we didn't get back until 10:30 and apparently our bar here at the hotel is the place to be, and I was still wide awake, so Carina went to bed, but I felt like being social. So I grabber a beer, sat down, and approximetly 7 seconds later some guy sat down next to me (I hadn't even taken a sip of my beer yet!) and we ended up staying up all late talking and whatnot. I actually stayed up later than I meant to, when I got back to our room I saw that it was after 2, and Carina wasn't there, which was a little worrisome. I guess she couldn't sleep and was in the hotel lobby and seemed a little irratated at me for staying out so late. I saw a wild dingo though! :) That was fun!

Anywho, so then when the alarm went off at 4:30 it was a little tricky getting out of bed, and then our bus didn't even show up until 5:30, which meant that we could've slept for another 45 mins, but whatever. We watched the sunrise on Uluru and then walked around the base of it for a bit with our guide. That was pretty cool. There were a bunch of really neat cave paintings that I got a bunch of pictures of. They don't know how old they are cuz everytime scientists ask to date them the aboriginals say "no thanks." The paintings have been around for "awhile" and that's good enough for them. We tried to get several shots of the both of us too, so hopefully they come out. Either way, you'll get to see them later.

But not now.

Ummm.... yeah.

Apparently Grace is living in Vermont with her boyfriend, their son (who looks EXACTLY like her) and is expecting a girl any day now, which is kinda awesome.

I'm getting all tan, and my hair is getting lighter, which is also kinda awesome, but in a more shallow way. :) I think I'm allergic to the sunscreen? or something? though which sucks because I'm covered in very itchy rashes. I've been taking benedryl and using both the benedryl cream and the hydocortisone, which helps, but it's still annoying and pretty ugly. And somewhat tricky cuz I don't want to just not wear sunscreen until it goes away, but I also can't really wear sunscreen when it's giving me rashes.

Very tricksy.

Luckily I brought my super lightweight pants and long sleeve shirt that I got for Peru, so I was wearing that today to protect my skin, so that was good.

Still though. It's annoying.

Alright, well I think I've killed just about as much time as possible on this thing, so i'll go ahead and stop writing now.

Jealousy

I just got back from snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef.

You are jealous.

Cheap Mexican beer, greedy bastards, and wildfires

Right. So I'm on again. After dinner last night we were sleepy and the internet was being slow so I just went to bed.

I'm less than thrilled with this hotel. It looks nice, and it's in a great location as far as swimming in that very fun lagoon/pool that Carina had a picture of, but on closer inspection it's probably not worth the money we paid for it. For one thing, if we want them to clean our room it's an extra $20. It's $2 for beach towels. It's $2 to get new shampoo, conditioner, etc. You get one of each when you check in, and that's it. It's not like I really need to have our room cleaned (we're only here for three nights), or extra shampoo (although that would've been nice since I have long hair) but come on! How much more can they charge us for? Also, the furniture is all faded and cracked, the toilet seat isn't attached straight, it's tiny, the mini fridge/freezer barely gets things cool, much less actually freezes them, the restaurant is closer due to "unforeseen circumstances," etc.

But I do like Carins! So far we haven't had any really great, ohmygod this is unbelieavable food, cuz it seems like all that food is insanely expensive. Every time we've asked for suggestions on where to eat they tell us somewhere that's really good, and over $50 a person. When we ask for something a little cheaper (there are tons of them) they tell us to try one of the many cafes along the boardwalk. Not too helpful.

But the beer's good! Although at the first place we went to they tried to sell me a Corona, which I just thought was hillarious. I didn't fly 7,000 miles to get a Corona.

Yesterday was, unfortunately, our only free day while we're here in Cairns, which is too bad cuz apparently the casino next to us has a cool little zoo complete with the option of taking your pic with a koala. The guy who told us about this said they have evening tours too, but I think by that he meant 5-7, and we don't get back until 7, so yeah. Maybe next time.

Oh! And for the reef today we rented a nice camera witha 2 gig card, so we'll get TONS of pics. We were only going to buy a disposable, but the girl quickly talked us out of it. Granted, it really didn't take much convincing. It's $40, which is a little expensive, but well worth it.

At least, I think it is.

I mean, how many times am I gonna get to be here? Do I really want to risk shitty pics?

Oh, and not to worry, the fires are nowhere near us. At least, not right now. When we're in Sydney they may become a problem, though. I guess there are 34 uncontrolled wildfires in NSW at the moment, although most of the deaths have been in Victoria. Which is all very sad, and not something I particularly feel like dwelling on while I'm on vacation.

So I'm gonna go grab some breakfast.

:)

Bats, lungfish and a lot of art

Hi everybody! I'm in Cairns (pronounces "cans" not "cairns" as one might expect). It's quite lovely. I mean, it's a rain forest resort town on the pacific coast right next to the Great Barrier Reef. Obviously it's lovely. And humid. And a little hot. And there are a gazillion bats swarming around. They're huge too! Like 2 foot wingspan! Ok, so maybe that's not huge in the strictest sense of the word, but they are bigger than most bats I've seen. They're sure fun to watch too. :)

I have a rash covering my entire left arm, half my right arm, and parts of my legs. I'm thinking maybe it's from sunblock? It's itchy and annoying. And ugly. It looks like I'm covered in zits. And if I accidently touch them they hurt. Not cool. Luckily I have a mommy who loves me and cares for me and made sure that Carina brought a nice supply of meds, including benedryl cream, which I have been liberally applying to all itchy areas. It's helped stop the itching, although the rash is still there.

Oh, apparently we have to go to dinner RIGHT NOW cuz we're falling asleep and we didnt realize how late it is. I didn't anyway.

I'll try to post more later since I still have a lot to say.

I mean, I didnt even have time to talk about all the lungfish we saw!

:)

Continuation of previous blog.

Make sure you read the blog below this one first. :)

Alrighty! So right after I said that I was just gonna leave the cops showed up!

Well, security did first, and I described in great detail what happened to her, and then the cops (a constable and a senior constable). Which was fun. They all looked at me like I was crazy when I said that I didnt immediately call down to the front desk, but come on, I was half asleep! So I gave them my email cuz we don't have a contact phone number, but they said they shouldn't need it.

I have to admit though, now I'm more curious than ever about what the heck happened. We tried to ask, but they were reluctant to tell us. grrs.

Anywho, so now that that's over (I hope) I'm going to beach.

It shall be wonderful.

Yes.

Mysterious Strangers, a silver bag, and an angry blonde woman

So I have an interesting story.

Last night I was chatting with Will about our trip and all was lovely and whatnot and after awhile I got sleepy. I'm not quite on CA time, but I'm not quite on Queensland time either. So I went to bed at 9:39.

I get all comfy in bed and was about to fall asleep, I'm sorta in that half asleep/half awake everything is nice stage when I look up and see someone on the balcony. Since we're on the 30th floor I was like "Hey Carina, what are you doing on the balcony?"

silence.

"Hi Carina!"

silence.

I look a little closer and see that this person is A. way taller than Carina, B. way skinnier, C. male, and more to the point, Carina is still asleep in bed.

"Ok.... Umm.... Hi?"

So this guy walks in. He asks if he can pass through.

"Sure go ahead" I mean, what else am I supposed to say to this strange man in my room who just walked in from the balcony on the 30th floor.

He mumbled something about his girlfriend kicking him out, and walked out. I told him to have a good night cuz I'm just nice like that.

So Carina wakes up and was like "Was there someone in the room?" "Yeah, some guy just came in, it's ok though." and I get up and close and lock to balcony door, and lock the regular door as well.

So then this morning.

I go outside and find a silver bag full of lingerie stashed behind a chair. Interesting. I take a quick shower and me and Carina go downstairs to turn it in and tell the front desk what happened. I told the girl who was there and she was just like "Oh my God. Ok... Lemme go get my manager...."

So he comes out, sees the bag and was like "Ok, so what happened? I've been looking for that bag all night." I tell him the story and then request a room change. Sadly, they had no more regular rooms available, so instead we got stuck with a suite with a huge bathroom, a spa, and a view of the ocean. So very sad. (see Carina's blog for pictures, which she'll put up later)

Right now I'm waiting for security to come up and take my statement and my limited description of the guy(it was dark after all).

Except that they're not here yet and we've been waiting for like an hour and I wanna go to the beach, so I might just leave.

We'll see.

In other news though, it is a beautiful day, the ocean looks way calmer so I might actually able to swim, and I have discovered that I drink what is called a "flat white" coffee. We just refer to it as a lattee, but they have crazy names for coffee here. Also, when getting a regular coffee at, say, the breakfast buffet of your hotel (for $20 a person, eek) make sure to only fill up the cup halfway to leave lots of room for milk or water (if you put water in it then it's a long black) cuz it is insanely strong. Also, they apparently love stewed tomatoes here and serve them with every meal, which is awesome cuz they are the yumminess. I didn't go for the canned beans for breakfast though, that just seemed weird. And waffles are made with cake mix, so don't worry about putting syrup on them.

Yes.

So that was my morning, how was yours?

Surfer's Paradise, Cute Koalas and expensive breakfast

Hi! I'm in Australia. I know you're all insanely jealous. I'd put up lots of pics to show off to you, but well, I'm lazy, and I haven't been able to figure out how to put batteries in Mom's camera (I have hers cuz I forgot mine, oops). You'll have to amuse yourself with the pics on Carina's blog, although the one of me at the beach is a truly bad picture. I look fat. And you can't even see the water. The waves were all huge and crazy. The have different colored flags stuck in the ground every few feet, and you're only allowed to swim in between the yellow and red ones, and only out to about your knees. Try to go in an deeper or swim (you had to keep both feet on the ground at all times) and the two lifegaurds who are watching that 10 foot stretch of beach will come yell at you. Needless to say, it's pretty crowded, but those waves really were crazy, and even in the "safe" part right close to the shore you could feel the rip tide pulling you.

Anyway, where was I?

Ok, so today we got up all early (at 5, cuz last night we laid down to rest for a couple minutes before dinner at 4:30, and then I vaguely remember Carina getting up at 10, and then yeah, I was out) and went to the zoo.

Dude.

I got to pet a freaking koala.

Awesome.

We got to pet lots of kangaroos too. They were super tame. At first I was a little nervous, but I dont think they even noticed us. We didn't get a picture, but there were dozens of them in this little area. The red kangaroos (the ones that Carina put a picture of us petting) were super soft too.

Oh, and I petted a wallaby, but I didn't know that that's what it was, I just thought it was a different kind of kangaroo. The Australians thought that was funny.

Come on, it was the first time I'd ever seen these things!!

blah.

So we went to see the croc show at the zoo. That was funny. We got Carina to stand up and be silly in an attempt to get birds to land on her arms. And then she got a free picture of Terri Irwin feeding a crocodile.

Umm.... yes. So it's really pretty here. The pictures Carina took of our view are very nice, but still. You kinda have to be here.

Anywho. I think that's about it for now. More to come later!

I got to pet a KOALA!!!!

Brisbane, new nieces, and pretty bracelets

I'm going to Australia today!!

And I have a new baby niece!

She's like, 2 hours old! :)

What an exciting day!

Now I need to go pack, but first I think I need to eat something, which is tricky cuz I have no food. Hmm.... Maybe I should just pack first, and then grab some food after class.

I think I"m ready...

Alrighty

Bought crickets- check
Showed Mom how to feed my animals- check
Did laundry- half check (the heat doesn't turn on in my dryer, so I can only air dry, which is taking awhile, but I have completed one load, and I have two loads to dry)
Paid rent- check
Packed-not check (kinda hard to do that with wet clothes)
Called the bus depot- check (it leaves for LAX at 6, which should still give me three hours to check in at the airport)

So let's see.... that means that all I have left to do is pack and go to Australia! Yay!! :) It'll be nice and warm (HOT)! I'll get to go swimming in my cute new bikini (also hot! lol)! I get to pet koalas and feed crocodiles and tour the Sydney Opera House! And go on a REALLY long flight... I get to LEAVE BAKERSFIELD!!!!

YAY!!!!

Orange bikinis, leftover Thai, and mean Mommy looks

Yay we leave TOMORROW!!! :) Awesomeness.

I'm busy doing laundry, Mom should be here in an hour or so so she can learn how to feed my animals, I still need to call the bus "depot," and pay rent... and.... uh.... I dunno. Pack I guess! lol, that might be helpful. But I can't do that until I have some clean underwear to pack.

That's really it. I'm boring these days. I've just been busying doing nonfun, nonblog worthy stuff. Although I did hand out with The Loss Adjuster last night. That was fun. But other than that it's just been school and work and homework and many, many trips to Target. I swear I've spent like $200 there in the last week. Ugh. I did buy a cute new bright orange bikini though. And some shorts. And little mini shampoos and soap and all that.

And now I think I'm gonna try to put my apartment in some semblence of order cuz otherwise Mom will give me dirty looks.

*nods*

mysterious boys

So I still don't get what turned Matthew into such a jerk after being nice for so long.

I don't think I ever will know what happened.

blah.

I'm cold and white, I'm holding on, I'll try to breathe for you

Alright Matthew, here's the deal. You want me to stop blogging about how you're being such an asshole? Fine. Stop being an asshole. Then I won't have anything to write about. But when you hack into my computer without telling and try to steal pictures of me you're being an asshole and I'm gonna blog about it. You don't seem to get it. I don't want your passwords. I don't want to get into your email. After the way you've been acting the last couple of days I don't want anything to do with you. I'd kinda like to forget about the past three years.

Ok? Ok.

In other news, I'm in LA waiting for my passport. We drove down here last night and got a hotel room cuz my appointment was at 7am. Then we got up bright and early and went down there, the whole thing took about 45 mins, which was awesome. At first she said that I'd have to come back on Tuesday or Wed, but then I asked if I could get it today cuz I came down from Bakersfield, and she was like "Oh! I didn't see that that's where you live! Sure, we can get that today." So that was nice. :) It always helps having an early appointment and giving them a big "Good morning! How are you?" when you want to get things done your way. So that means that I'll be able to get to work on time too, which is good.

We had a big fundraiser at work last night. It was funish. I didn't like the idea of being on tv while working, and the mascot and Jam dancers kept getting in the way, but that's alright I guess. All the guests were having fun, which makes our life easier. Except for one table I had. I didn't like them.

*ahem*

hmm.... I think I'm gonna read some more of In a Sunburned Country. :) yay for Australia!!

And now that I have a passport, yay for being able to get back into the country!

Matthew is an asshole.

So after blowing me off yesterday because he had a headache, Matthew finally came over to help me clean today. He was there for about an hour, told me that he was lying about several things during our three year relationship, and then announced that he was done cleaning and was leaving because he did way more than he needed to anyway.

FUCKING PRICK!!!

So the apartment is still not clean. I just came home to grab some food and empty the van. Honestly I'm pretty tempted to just not clean it at all. I mean, what difference does it make? It's not like I'd get a deposit back anyway (well, I would, but it requires both our signatures to cash it, and if I did that then he'd probably end up getting some of it, which is NOT HAPPENING so I've decided to just not cash it) so I don't really have to worry about cleaning it.

fucker.

Staphylococcus aureus, lame excuses, and not nearly enough sleep

I find it entertaining that despite the fact that I am totally busy these days and always stressed and exhausted I still find time to blog.

I think my priorities are a little messed up.

Anyway.

So Matthew was supposed to come by the apartment today to help me clean cuz we have to be out by Thursday, but then he said that he actually was working until 7, not 3 like he normally does, and then low and behold, he calls me at 6 to tell me that he wont be able to make it all cuz he has a headache.

Whatever.

So I cleaned a little bit, made several trips to the dumpster, and then came home cuz I have a presentation to do tomorrow for Gomez. It should be pretty easy. It's on Staphylococcus aureus, which is really common, so it was really easy to find a TON of info on it. And it's only a 5 minute presentation, so no worries there. I couldn't find my printer though, so I had to draw and stuff for my "visual aid" so hopefully that's ok. I'm not exactly the most artistic, but it's bright and colorful and I think it looks ok. I put a paper on there that says "Fun Facts!" in big letters and then says stuff like "Causes Toxic Shock Syndrome!" and "Has several antiobiotic resitant strains!" and "Can give you food poisoning!"

I mean, come on, does it get any more fun than sudden, possibly life threatening fevers that don't respond to any medication?

:)

So, I go to clean my litter box the other day and it was suspiciously not full. I think Adam cleaned it out while I was in the shower. He threatened to do that while we were all drunk, but the only time he could have was the next morning, when we were sober again (we're responsible people, we decided that we were too drunk to drive so he crashed here and Monje drove home cuz he hadn't drank nearly as much as us). And then I noticed that all the empty beer bottles were lined up on my counter with all the labels facing the same way.

I don't know if that was really nice or kinda creepy... Either way I've decided that I need to invite him over more, I could use all the help I can get to keep this place clean.

Anyway. The last few nights I've been going to bed after midnight and then having to get up at 6, so I really just want to go to sleep now.

Night!

my boyfriend is music, my boyfriend is music

I've had that song stuck in my head the last few days, which is a good thing I guess. I only listen to upbeat music when I'm in a good mood, so yeah.

School was soooooo boring today. I'm pissed that my anatomy class isn't more interesting. I mean, I LIKE anatomy! ugh. I hate boring teachers. And then in my other class we were going over basic chemistry again and OH MY FUCKING GOD PEOPLE THIS IS NOT COMPLICATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!GGGAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH By basic I mean "This is an atom. It has electrons, protons and nuetrons." "Wait, I thought they had a nucleous?" This is like the 5th time we've gone over it. The teacher has started to just give us information that's only sorta right to make it easier for people. Like saying that the atomic number (referred to simply as "that number in the corner") is the number on electrons. The thing is, he obviously is a smart guy who totally understands chemistry, and I'm actually very impressed with his patience. I don't have any. Not when it comes to trying to teach people stuff that's easy for me and hard for them. But SERIOUSLY???? This is very basic stuff. I learned this stuff in FIFTH GRADE!!!!!!!

ugh.

In other news, I have an appointment in LA to get my passport on Friday morning, which is good. I made sure that I have my birth certificate (at least I didn't lose everything), and I've already got the applications, so all I need is to get my pictures. And talk someone into going with me. I'm trying to get Adam (a friend from work) to go with me. At first he said he was busy, so then I was like "Oh, well that's ok then. I just get all freaked out when driving around LA when I don't really know where I'm going and I'm by myself." "Oh, you're going by yourself?" "Looks like it. I don't really know anyone else who could go with me. I know you work that night, but so do I, so I'd be back by then anyway, which is why I asked, but it's ok if you're busy." "I might be able to go...."

bwahahaha I love manipulating boys.

That makes me sound terrible, but I don't want to drive down there by myself!!! It's kinda tricky to ask people to voluntarily get up early (I made an early appointment so I'd be sure to have plenty of time before work) and then go hang out at a passport office all day.

Anyway.

*yawn* sleepiness, lost passports and killer spiders

I'm still sleepy. Wed night I hung out with some friends after work. It was fun, we played some pool, drank some beer, and crashed at around 6 am, and then woke up at 8, and then after making sure everyone got home safely I went to school, then searched for my passport which I cannot find anywhere (I knew where it was in the old apartment, but moving kinda screws everything up, I think I'm just going to try to get another one expedited cuz mine expires in a year anyway) then went to the old apartment to help "clean" it, but I was too tired to do much. That and when the third spider jumped on me I was too freaked out to actually touch anything. I did get another load in the van, and Matthew started cleaning one of the bathrooms, but that's it. Given how busy we both are these days I don't know when we're gonna have time to clean it. I guess they're promoting him so he's working more hours than usual.

Anyway.

I'm gonna go buy some bug bombs, go set them off, go the bank, the post office, and then to work.

I am seriously ready for a vacation.

Australia, water heaters, and a depressing lack of photographs.

So I paid for Australia this morning. I am officially going. Craziness!

I still haven't figured out what to do with my animals. Anyone wanna volunteer? You'd only have to come over 3 or 4 times while I'm gone. I was going to ask Amanda (well, her son), but she turned me down before I could. She said I could still use her as an absolute last... uh.... brain fart! What's the word? last.... umm........

Ok moving on!

I'll try to get some pics of the new place up soon, but no promises. I'll have lots of great pics to put up in a month or so! :) Carina said she'll bring her laptop so we'll be able to update while we're there, but no promises about that either. When I'm vacation I tend to not be too interested in blogging. I'd rather be laying out on the beach or petting a koala or whatever. :)

I'm gonna see if I can pick up some extra shifts at work. It shouldn't be too hard. People always want days off, but people also always want extra days. I'd like to use my credit cards as little as possible, so that'll mean having as much cash as possible.

I have some sad news. I do not, as it turns out, have hot water. Nope, I only have warm water. Which is annoying, but at least I can take a shower. I'll have to talk my neighbors into letting me into their garage so I can turn it up. I think they're getting irratated with me, but whatever. It'll be less annoying to get this all taken care of at once so I'm not bugging them every other week. Much better to just bug them every day of one week, right?

Anywho, I have homework. As always. So I'm gonna go do that so I don't have to do it tonight after work.

Bye!

FINALLY!!!

Hmm, apparently this is not my first post entitled "FINALLY!!!" Interesting.

Anyway, I have internet, yay!!

And even better than that, I have HOT WATER!!!!

Oh man am I looking forward to taking a nice hot shower. Since the PG&E guy came while I was at school (for the THIRD time) and the Brighthouse guy was supposed to come right after I got out of school I was waiting for him, but then he was late, and now I figured I really needed to write on here, cuz, well, it's been a long time, and I have a lot going on.

So here's the full story for those of you who didn't know. My old apartment flooded and was sucky anyway, and then my boyfriend (of almost 3 years) dumped me so I found myself needing a new place to live. After much procrastination and drama with apartment managers I found a place that looked ok so I applied for it, and was approved about a week after they said they'd let me know. So all excited and happy I start the very long process of moving in. Granted, it could've gone much faster, but I'm lazy, and as mentioned earlier, like to procrastinate. That, and I couldn't get my gas turned on. See, way long ago in the dark ages when this place was built some genius decided that I can't be trusted with a water heater, so to be safe, they put it in my neighbors garage. Really quite considerate of them. I mean, had I had access to my water heater (or less flaky neighbors) I only would've gotten to experience the joy of waiting for the PG&E guy once, instead of three times. I also wouldn't have gotten to get up bright and early every morning in my nice new (to me) apartment and then drive to my shitty, old, dirty apartment to shower. There was one time when I just couldn't be bothered to do that so I just took an ice cold shower, but that gave me a really bad headache, so I'm not doing that anymore. I didn't have hot water in Peru, but since the air outside was so warm the water was much warmer, and it didn't feel nearly as bad anyway. I mean, who wants a hot shower when you've been hiking all day and it's 100 degrees out and so humid you feel like you're drowning?

Anyway. So I finally have hot water, and Brighthouse finally came by to turn on my internet (I made this appointment 3 weeks ago, and this was the soonest they could come) so all is well.

Mostly.

I'm still not completely out of my old apartment, which is kinda tricky cuz Matthew is coming by on Thursday to help me clean it, mwahahaha! Little does he know! He's actually helping me to finish move out! And then clean on Saturday!

He dumped me! I don't have to be nice to him!

meh.

So there's that.

And then, on Sat, Carina tells me that she's going to Australia, yay!! On February 5th! And wants me to come with her!

uh...... welll..... I'd love to Carina, but that's really short notice, there's no way I'll be able to talk school into letting me miss two weeks, in two weeks.

Or.... will I?

So I go and talk to them today, opening with "So my older sister has brain cancer and it's been her lifelong dream to go to Australia and her church just gave her a bunch of money to go and she doesn't want to go by herself..." and of course by that time, who could say no? Granted, I almost couldn't cuz they have a maximum number of days that you can miss in a row before you're automatically dropped (no exceptions), but there's a holiday in there so that means that I'm at the max, instead of over it. I'll also be going to lab two or three times for the next couple of weeks, which kinda sucks cuz I don't like getting up at 6, but it'll be good practice for when I"m working and will be getting up at 4.

Actually, right now, I can't even comprehend getting up at 4am on a regular basis.

That's just too freaking early.

And it's not like I can be lazy and just shower the night before cuz when you're in surgery you really have to be as clean as possible. It's an actual, stated requirement that I shower in the morning.

grrs.

For some reason Mom and Dad are more concerned that work wouldn't let me leave, but I'm a server. It's kinda just understood that I'll be taking a few weeks off all the time. Everyone does. We're all young and well paid, so why wouldn't we take vacations? And since we all want to work as much as possible when we are here getting shifts covered is NEVER a problem.

Umm.... I think that's pretty much it. They let us out of lab early today so we could watch the inauguration, but I didn't. Yes, I know, very exciting, historical moment, and definitely cause for celebration that Bush is gone, but I'm just not one for speeches. They're boring. Even the good ones. So instead I used that time to drink some Monster and then get really hyper, so that when I had to go to anatomy and sit "quietly" for 2 hours I was having trouble, but that could've been cuz Dustin kept poking me. With his nice sharp pencil. It hurt!! Finally I had to move seats (I don't think the teacher even noticed me getting up, much less me laughing and yelling at Dustin for the previous hour and a half) but then I was bored.

It's a conundrum alright. Sit near Dustin and Amanda and be distracted the whole time (although still do very well on the tests cuz I'm just that awesome) or don't and then be bored.

Tricky.

Alright, well, this is a very long entry. And I really want to take my first hot shower in my new apartment that I've been living in for a week and a half, so I'm gonna go.

You all have fun.