I'm a slacker.

To anyone that may have been interested in my life these past few months....I apologize! I'm terribly lame for not writing anything. I think I'll start back when I moved to Cali.

We spent a very hot 2 days back at the beginning of August moving me, my stuff and Mr. Pants down here. Mr. Pants was not terribly happy about this, but, he survived (thank god!) and is doing well! When I first arrived I stayed with my friend Martina in her condo in Irvine. She let me crash there for 2 months while looking for work. I started the job hunt looking for office jobs, which was dumb. I really should have just been looking for restaurant jobs the whole time. I bet I would have found one quicker! Anyway...the first good thing to happen was because of my kitty! I went to Martina's vet to get some of his diabetic supplies, and while talking to the girl behind the desk, she asked if I needed a place to live! I ended up moving in with her at the beginning of October, and it has been great! She's a super-nice girl, we get along great, and there's room for me and Mr. Pants. Score!

Just a couple of days after moving in, I landed a job at Chili's. This was a huge relief, because I wasn't sure how I'd pay rent after that first month without a job! The best part about the job? It's a half mile from my house. Best. Commute. Ever. Especially for southern california! If I wasn't so lazy, I'd walk to work. I really should start doing that.

What else...I took one class this term at the community college I'll be going to. It was a technical math class. I honestly didn't learn anything new until the last two weeks of the semester when we did Trig. But, I can now do right triangle trig! And I even understand it! Hooray! Last week he told us where we stand on the point scale. If we had 148 points or above, we would have an A, and not have to take the final this week. I knew I'd have an A, because he gives a ton of extra credit. How many points did I have??? 243! Aww yeah. No final for this girl! Woo!

I guess that gets us to where we are now. I really could use a second job, and am keeping my eyes open for one. I'm definitely not going out and spending money when I don't have to....rent here is double what it was in Portland, and everything's just more expensive! Ah well...such is life.

Next semester: Anatomy and Physiology. Yikes. But I'm really looking forward to it!

Ta ta for now....

Ahhh California

Well, if you hadn't figured it out by now, I made it to California....safe and sound! Mr. Pants did very well on the trip, and is still alive! Hurrah! I'm settled in as much as I can be in the room that has been graciously given to me until I find a job. I've been applying for a few jobs each day, and I hope to get one in the near future!

My friend Martina has been taking good care of me...she's been inviting me to happy hours, and over to friend's houses, and all that good stuff. She's quite the hostess with the mostess!

I managed to get a lead on a decent apartment yesterday. I was at Martina's vet, asking how much the kitty diabetic supplies were, and the girl behind the counter asked if I needed a place to live! She's got a condo that she's wanting to rent a bedroom out for a very reasonable price. We exchanged info, and hopefully that'll work out! I'd love to live somewhere affordable and cute. :)

Well, I guess that's all for now. The sunny weather definitely followed me here, and I'm loving having a pool so close to my house! It's pretty awesome.

My Portland "bucket list"

Well...I'm moving to California. I'm leaving town on August 2nd! I still can't believe it, but, I've given my roommate and my landlord their notice, so I guess that makes it pretty official!

Before I take off, I've decided that there are certain things I need to do in the area that I just haven't gotten around to in the 10 years that I've lived here. So, I'll be blogging about the things on my list once I've accomplished them. I've already got 3 checked off my list! Go me!

The first thing on my list was the Portland Rose Gardens. I've been there multiple times before, but, I've never been there when everything was fully blooming. Well, I made it up there a couple of weeks ago, and my timing was perfect. All the roses were showing off their stuff, and it was gorgeous! I went the day after a rainstorm, so everything was still wet and covered with raindrops. I think that added a nice touch to the experience! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day...

Egypt!

Ok, I know people have been waiting for me to regale them with stories of my trip, so, here goes! I'll do two posts. This one for Egypt, and then I'll do another for Israel.

The trip started with one heck of a long flight. Salt Lake to St. Paul. St. Paul to Amsterdam. 8hr layover in Amsterdam...sigh. Amsterdam to Cairo. Arrival in Cairo at 2am. And once we arrived, did we have our luggage? No, we did not. Luckily, our tour company had sent Muhammad to help us with everything, and he dealt with the luggage thing while we sat there, blurry-eyed. After leaving the airport, we get to the hotel. It's about 4am by now. We go to check in, only to find that our travel agent had booked us in starting the NEXT day! No room. Awesome. But, they had a couple of free rooms, so my dad paid out of his pocket so we could actually sleep. Our first day in town was free, so, we wandered around close to the hotel, but, it was really dusty out, so we mostly stayed at the hotel.

Day 2 was our BIG Cairo day. We still had no luggage, so, we had to wear the same stuff as the day before…sigh. Anyway. We started out at the pyramids. They are incredible. They are a lot bigger than they seem on tv or in pictures. We walked around the big one, then our guide George took us up the hill for our camel ride! Yep, we rode camels at the pyramids. Here’s a pic of me on my camel, Moses.

After that, we went back into Cairo and went to the hanging church. It’s a really ornate, detailed church, and it’s called a “hanging” church because it sits up high so that it won’t flood and was protected, etc. We also saw another church (can’t remember the name of it) where the holy family stayed and hid for 3 months. After that, we visited Ben Ezra Synagogue which is where Moses was picked from the Reeds. I think that’s the right story, but don’t shoot me if it’s not! :) What else…from there we drove to the really big market/bazaar downtown. We just did a walk-thru, but, it was really impressive. There are hundreds of tiny little shops, and tons of VERY pushy salesmen trying to get you to buy everything! Those guys are actually everywhere in Egypt. You just have to ignore them if you’re not in the mood to shop. Our last stop of the day was the Egyptian Museum. It had a lot of amazing things in it, but, you’d never want to go without a guide, because none of it is labeled! You’d have no idea what you’re looking at. We saw all of King Tut’s treasures that they found in his tomb, and the golden caskets, and the really impressive golden head of his. Neat stuff. I still can’t believe that we fit all that stuff into one day. It was tiring! But, there was a treat when we got back to the hotel….our luggage! Hooray!

The next day we took a flight to Aswan. And the luggage stayed with us the rest of the trip, thank goodness! We saw the high dam, and took a motor boat to the Philae temple. The temple used to be on an island, but, when they built the dam, the island was covered with water, so, they took apart the temple piece by piece, and put it back together on an island next door. After that, we went to our cruise ship, that would take us up the Nile. Our ship was named Mojito. I found that especially amusing, since I’m a bartender. We set sail that evening, and by the morning we were at the Kom Ombo temple. It was another big, impressive thousands of years old temple. Pics can be seen on snapfish. We sailed again through lunch, then we went to Edfu. We took horse-drawn carriages to the temple there, and we also saw the unfinished obelisk that is still sitting in the quarry. That thing is enormous!

The next day was an EARLY day. We had to be out the door at 6:30am. We were in Luxor, and we started at the Valley of the Kings. The valley itself is not terribly impressive…it’s just a canyon in a mountain with a lot of small entrances into tombs. But, I’ll tell you what. Those tombs are amazing. We went into 3 of them. They are so well preserved, it’s amazing. They are of course covered in hieroglyphics, but all of the original color is still everywhere! Bright red, yellow and blue are the main colors. They are just amazing to see. Especially since they’ve been there for 4-5,000 years! There are 62 tombs in the valley, and they keep 16 open at a time. They rotate the open ones because even the act of breathing and the humidity that comes from it can damage the walls. Oh, and also…it’s soooooo hot down there. No ventilation. I was really grateful that we were there at 8am. It would have been awful in the afternoon. After that, we saw the temple for Queen Hatshepshut. See picture. It’s really impressive.
Then we visited an alabaster factory, took a felucca (sailboat) ride, then saw the Luxor temple. Lunch was next, followed by the Karnak temple. That one was amazing. It’s the largest temple in Egypt. You can get lost in there….there is even a man-made lake! After Karnak, we took a carriage ride through Luxor for 2hrs. It was really neat, but, we saw the extremes of life there. We went through the slummy, really poor parts of town. The children would run alongside us begging for money. They were super cute, but, it was sad too. Best part of the ride? As we were going through a market, there was a man holding a disembodied goat’s head! He said “take a picture!” So I did. Then he harassed me for a block or two to pay him for the picture! I didn’t have any small change, so I ignored him. Rude? Yes. Did I care? Not so much. Here’s the hilarious pic.

The next day we flew back to Cairo and went to the step pyramids. They were the pre-cursors to the pyramids that are so famous. It was pretty neat. We also stopped for lunch at a great outdoor place where a man had his camel kiss me. It was very soft and furry! And thank goodness the camel didn’t give me any tongue. Ha! Here’s a pic of that.
On that last night, we had dinner at a local restaurant with my friend Hoda, who is Egyptian, and that was really neat to catch up, and eat the “real” local food. I guess those are the main stories from Egypt…now I’ll have to start writing the Israel section!

A's!

Well, I logged onto PCC's website today to see if grades from the term were up yet. They were, and I was pleasantly surprised! I got an A in both algebra AND chemistry!!! Wooo hooo! I've never gotten an A in either of those subjects before! The chemistry was the big surprise, because I really wasn't feeling good about the second test we took. There was one question I know I got completely wrong, and another one really threw me for a loop, because the teacher had put blank spaces, where there didn't need to be an answer. Apparently you could put a one there, which was the same thing as leaving it blank....way to mess me up! I was sure I had gotten a B on it, but we didn't get them back before the end of the term, so I guess I won't know what I got!

In other news....do I have other news? Let's see. In a week and a half I'll head off to Idaho for my grandma's 80th birthday. 2 days after that, I'll leave for a week in LA/Orange County. A couple weeks after that, I'll be headed off to Egypt and Israel! It's gonna be a busy couple of months!

Smarter than I thought?

Well, I've kept up the 99% trend in the math department. I got my second test this week, and got 99% again....woo hoo! But, I'm kind of annoyed at the same time, because i missed the 100% by one stupid little thing! It was a problem about volume, and I did the math right, and came up with the right answer, I just forgot to put "inches cubed" at the end of it. D'oh! One percentage point for that. Boo! Oh well, I've never averaged 99% in a math class before, so, I'm happy!

In other school news, I also got my first chemistry test back this week. I didn't feel too great about it, and was hoping for a B. But, to my extreme pleasure, I got 90 out of 100! Yay! If I can pull an A in that class, I'll be REALLY happy, because chemistry is a lot harder than algebra! It makes more sense this time around, than it did in 10th grade, but, it's still rough. I don't think I could be a chemist. :)

In other news.....

I'm seriously considering moving to California. It doesn't look like I'll have all the requirements to get into the program here at PCC. And honestly, I'm ok with that. I've found a college in Orange County that offers 3 programs that I'm more interested in, than the one I applied for. And, none of those programs are offered in Portland, or the entire state of Oregon for that matter. I'm not sure how much I'd like living in southern California, mostly because I hate traffic, but, if it's gonna get me into a school that'll end up giving me a good job, I may have to go after it. I have a friend down there who has offered to let me crash with her until I find a job and a place to live. I'm not sure that I could pass up an offer like that! So, we'll see what happens!

Feeling rather proud!

We had our first test in my math class this week. For a minute there, I thought that I may not do that well on it. The last problem was a pattern problem where we had to find the pattern, solve the problem, then make an equation. These things really trip me up, and my brain does not like them. But, I pushed through, and I did it! There were only a few people left in the class by the time I finished, but who cares? We got the tests back on Wednesday, and I got 99%!!! Woo hoo! I think that's the first time I've ever gotten an A on a math test. Aw yeah. It feels great!

In other math news, I'm just about done cramming a term's worth of math into my brain. I'm going to take the placement exam this coming Wednesday. I've still got some reviewing and a little more learning to do, but overall, I'm feeling pretty confident. My tutor has been amazing, and I'm soooo glad that Ingrid hooked me up with him! We're meeting one more time on Tuesday afternoon to go over any last question before the exam. Wish me luck!

Retail therapy high!!

Who needs drugs, when you can hit a sale like no other!?! My roommate Larry, led me and Jocelyn to a warehouse sale this afternoon. It was for a fairly high-end, sustainable clothing line called Nau. They were having the sale of the century! Here's why I'm feeling so great: $150 jeans...I paid $15. $125 pants....I paid $15. $125 denim skirt...I paid $5! Also got 2 shirts that were tagged at around $50 for $5 apiece! Ahhhh...that much clothing for $45! Sooooo awesome.

Funniest part of the experience? The "dressing room"...it was a curtained off area with a lot of women crammed in, stripping, and trying on clothes with discarded clothes and hangars strewn all over the floor. Fun times. Bumping butts with strangers? Yes. Madness? Yes. People being pissed off? Refreshingly, No! What a great shopping trip.

One night in Seattle...

For a little while there, I didn't think that I'd be able to get to Seattle this weekend for my friend Jessie's baby shower! I-5 was closed for a couple of days because there was a major downpour and the freeway flooded. But, I guess mother nature decided to cut us a break, and they re-opened it on Friday! Jocelyn and I were originally going to go up on Friday, but decided to go first thing on Saturday morning instead. We rolled into town around 10am, had lunch with Jocelyn's friend Erin and her daughter. I went to the baby shower in the afternoon, which was very enjoyable. It was fun to catch up with a couple of old friends, and meet some great new girls! Here's a pic of me, Jessie and Becca at the shower. :)



After the party, I met back up with Jocelyn and Erin, we checked into the hotel, and then had quite a treat for dinner! Erin had a $100 dollar gift certificate that she wanted to spend, so we went to a fancy joint a couple blocks from the hotel. The food was AMAZING. I had a steak that was $46!!!! I would pretty much never order something that expensive, but, it was free money! After we stuffed ourselves with dinner, Erin insisted that we had dessert, so Jocelyn and I shared the Creme Brulee...shoot, I forgot to take a picture of it before we dove in! So, here's a pic of the delicious steak instead! After dinner, we nearly had to roll out the front door. We crashed pretty hard that night. Couldn't do much more than lie there and digest!



This morning, we went shopping at H&M (which STILL hasn't come to Portland!) I was rather disappointed with their current selection, but, managed to get a couple of things nonetheless. We went down to Pike Place market to play tourists for a little bit before going home. Here's a photo of some of the pretty pretty produce on display! More pics of this weekend can be found on my facebook page!

I hate everything!!!

Ok, maybe not everything. Pilates today was pretty rad.

But...I'm supposed to go to Seattle tomorrow for a weekend of Baby Shower and shopping at H&M. And I-5 has 10 feet of water on it! What the hell, mother nature??? You jerk. I guess that's a sign that I'm not supposed to leave this god-forsaken city until spring?? I swear to god, if I can't get to the Egypt/Israel trip in May, I might just lose my shit. I'm tired of re-arranging my schedule to leave town, then having the weather leave me stranded!

Oh, and here's a big YOU SUCK to whoever isn't making a detour around that mess!

Good day/Bad day

Today was the big "first day of school!" I had my algebra class today. It actually went really well, and was almost fun! My teacher is only a couple of years older than me....and he's cute, so YAY! The other best thing of the day? Feeling smart. We had a couple of in-class projects today. The first one we worked in pairs. We had to figure out the answer to a question, and then find the pattern to find additional answers. The girl sitting next to me and I figured out the problem a good 5-10 minutes before the boys next to us....YEAH! They were trying to over-analyze it and make an entire equation, instead of just doing the work. Silly boys. Then we got another hand-out and had to fill in a chart where we needed to reduce fractions from 12ths to 6ths, 4ths, 3rds, etc. It wasn't terribly hard for me, and I know I'm not perfect...I did miss a couple of them! But, it was making me giggle a bit to see the guy and girl on either sides of me putting down whole numbers...1's and 2's....why would they do that, when the paper asked for fractions? Ah, it's good to be a smarty pants!

After my intellect-high, I figured I'd have a good day at work. I figured wrong. The evening started out dead. It got pretty crowded after a bit, but, no one was tipping! When 9pm came around, I only had 19 bucks in my tip jar, and had to tip out my cook! Well, he got the shaft tonight, but I was getting it too! Worst part of the evening? A guy that comes in and gets spendy drinks for him and all of his friends came in. He always whines that I don't pour as heavy as Levi (my boss)... Of course I don't! He's the boss, and he can do what he wants. I have to do what I'm told. So anyway, after MANY rounds of drinks, the guy who always pays starts to head for the door. Without having paid. I sent my cook out the door to grab him. He came back in, apologized for almost running out. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt here...he always pays and never runs out on a tab. It was an honest mistake. His tab came to $99.75. He gave me a $100 bill. I took it, grabbed a quarter, turned around, and he was mostly out the door. Nothing on the bar. No tip, no nothing. Boy did I want to kick him in the balls!! I just can't get over how horrible people can be. Especially him, with his HUGE wad of cash in his pocket. He tends to hit on me when I'm working. I hope he asks me out again, so I can tell him to fuck off!

And now it's late...I'm off to bed!

Mother nature is a beeotch...

For those that don't live in the area, or didn't hear about the madness, Portland has been a mess the last few weeks. We had a freak snow storm that lasted two weeks, and the lucky children of the area got a whole extra week of Christmas vacation. Portland is silly. The first week only had a couple inches, or no snow on the ground at certain points...and no one can seem to function in it! The second week was actually bad. And being from Utah, I feel like I have some authority on the matter! There was a ton of snow, and driving without chains woulda been dumb. Anyway....I digress.

I had a fantastic Christmas vacation planned. I was going to fly to L.A. and spend the holiday with my good friend Evie, who was going to be alone in the town she just moved to. I was going to go shopping at H&M, which still hasn't bothered to come to Portland! We were going to visit my friend Martina, and we were also going to spend Christmas day at Disneyland! Martina got us reservations at Club 33, which was Walt Disney's private dining room back in the day. It's now the only place in Disneyland that serves alcohol. Cool right? I know! Well, that beeotch Mother Nature had other plans for me. Apparently that much snow makes Southwest a bunch of pussies, and they grounded all of their flights for 3+ days! I was gonna leave on Monday, and they said the first flight they could get me on was Friday. That was the day I was going to come home...sigh. Oh, this all happened AFTER I spent 2 and a half hours getting to the airport, and freezing my rear off when we had to wait outside for a shuttle bus for an hour! Brrrrr.

Even though my little heart was cold and sad that it wouldn't get to LA, my friend Jocelyn came to the rescue. She invited me to go home to Roseburg with her. It's no LA down there, but, it was better than being stuck in the snow for another week! It took us an hour and a half to dig her car out and get the chains on. The 3 hour drive down took us 5 and a half. But, we had a nice time down there, and by the time we got back to P-town, all was melty. Woo hoo!

Now it's the new year, and I start school on Monday....scary! More details to follow on my first week or two....