call me ishmael

hello december!

2009-11-30T21:07:00.002-07:00

I'm so excited tomorrow is December! I am more than ready for it. December means I have finals, which means I will have a break, which means I can spend more time with AJ, which means I won't be so stressed even though I will be getting more into the wedding planning stuff. So I say hooray for December! AJ and I got our Christmas tree yesterday which is awesome. I just wish we weren't so broke so I could get a big, monsterous tree!!! But I still do love our happy little christmas tree and can't wait to get some lights and ornaments on it.

On Saturday we went to Apple Hill with my folks and Michael and Asheena and it was G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S up there!!! But it was crowded...very crowded! The trees were awesome but pretty expensive, so we just helped everyone else pick out trees. It was sooo windy and cold, but sunny!!!!

Well, not much time to blog tonight since I have to prepare 3 portfolios! Yikes! Here is a picture from Apple Hill. I love Aj! He is adorable!

Gobble Gobble

2009-11-16T20:57:00.004-07:00

Thanksgiving is over for me- or so it feels. My family's annual Thanksgiving Tahoe vacation has come and gone. It was so nice to get away for a few days and not have to worry about work or school or wedding stuff. Oh wait. I did do homework, and I did do wedding stuff. Well, 2 out of 3 is ok I guess. It was beautiful at the lake, and there was some a little bit of snow on the ground, but boy was it C.O.L.D! I took the Nikon up with me in hopes of getting the cliche lake shots and maybe do some other stuff so on Saturday I woke up at about 5:30 and drove down to the lake. It was sooo cold and I wasn't well prepared- flip flops.... anyways it was cold. I got my tripod and camera all set up and was waiting for the magic to unfold (which felt like a few hours but was really only about an hour and a half) and while getting some landscapes I met the cutest dog ever and his scruffy owner. The dog was actual a boxer puppy named Cornelius Clark :) So as they walked away I snapped this picture. Cornelius was having a grand time sliding around on the ice.

By the time I left the beach I couldn't feel any of my extremities, but I did however get my cliche shots. On Sunday I was down at the marina getting some shots of the boats and docks and what not when the camera broke. One minute it worked and the next it didn't- stupid kit lens! So that was the end of my photographs for Tahoe which was very disheartening. But we still had fun playing pool, board games, scarfing down food, and watching football. I LOVE our tradition!

Other than that there is not much news. AJ and I returned home to find our bathroom sopping wet. Apartently there was a plumbing issue before we moved in that they thought was fixed. Which we found out today was not fixed. As much as that sucks it felt so right to come home to our happy little apartment. Normally after our family vacations I go back to my house and Aj goes back to his- but this time WE went back to OUR home. I love living with Aj. And I love being engaged; it is so much fun!!! Here is an old picture of Aj I took awhile back- he was giving me 'pensive'.

The only sad thing about coming home this time was that we took Moose back to my parents. My poor girl was getting restless in our apartment and we didn't feel it would be right to keep her pent up when she was so used to having 5 acres to roam. So I miss her a lot- even when she would keep us up at night by pawing our faces or biting our feet. I thought of her today when I was going through some older pictures and found this one. She is a weird little cat!

And that's it for now. Not too much on the wedding front. Asheena picked out her dress and Katie is going tomorrow to pick out hers. I changed my colors for the last time and we even know what we want our cake to look like. Next step is finalizing the caterer and dj (not my area) and the photographer (my area) which should happen later this week. I'm so excited to have found someone so passionate about photography!!

Peace easy lemon squeezies!

Something Borrowed

2009-11-02T20:44:00.007-07:00

I'm sitting in class, I-Pod on and everyone around me turned off. Open lab is the best part of my monday nights because it is my "alone time". I get to sit and edit pictures, play on photoshop, listen to music, and just be. However, right now I want to be home, crashed on the couch with AJ and Moose watching a movie. Living on our own has made the last two weeks very interesting. It's an intimate way of not having much privacy, but I love it! We are starting to finally get settled in and almost all our stuff is unpacked. We've put together our Ikea furniture and filled the pantry and even moved in the kitty-cat, and we all seem to be adjusting quite nicely. My favorite thing is making dinner or lunch for Aj and I and then he insists on doing the dishes... it is so sweet- and I wonder how long it will last :) . His mom bought us a g-r-e-a-t table and it's nice to have a place to sit and eat and talk. We do lots of talking now that we don't have TV or Internet. I thought this would be harder as I have my weekly line-up of shows: Amazing Race, Project Runway, The Office.... But when I go back to my parents house to do laundry I get time to catch up on those while my clothes are in the wash. I've been spending a lot of time in our tiny kitchen- yesterday I put up this little rail thing to hang stuff on, and I like to keep things tidy in there. Oh! And I'm growing basil! I was skeptical when I bought the little package from Ikea- it was a super dried-out, hockey puck of dirt and you just add water and sprinkle the little seeds on. It sprouted the next day and continues to grow like crazy. I can't wait to harvest my little crop of herbs!

Our complex is pretty nice for the area we are in and the price we are paying. There are so many trees that we feel like we are in Tahoe. The slightest breeze makes all the branches and leaves rustle and you can't hear any traffic or anything, it's really pretty cozy and hidden. However, we do have two new neighbors that just moved in and already we are a little annoyed. The guy upstairs, Bobby, seems pretty nice and when we met him he told us two of his friends were moving into apartments next to ours. This seemed ok since he was around our age and whatnot. Well, Sarah moved in just across from us and we know all her business already. She has a boyfriend of sorts who stays there a lot (not sure if he lives there) and they like to fight. A lot. Loudly. Come to think of it, I think everyone she associates with is loud- they had people over and we could hear them clear as day! She also has a yappy dog that I borderline feel sorry for when it's not barking. I keep an eye on the peephole for Sarah because i

t entertains me quite a bit.

Yesterday, I called the cops on another person in our complex- we

ll, rather her baby's daddy (I kid you not). Daddy and a woman he was with were stopping Mommy at the gate and they were shouting, really getting into. They were threatening eachother and the women were about to exchange fists a couple times- all in front of their kid, 7 year old boy. Poor kid. He was the only reason I ended up calling the Sheriff's Dept. Well, and the fact that a week ago someone was murdered at the complex right next to ours (two neighbors having a dispute). It put me on edge and I figured rather be safe then sorry. Dad's parting words were, "Shut the F*** up you F***ing Kyke." Talk about father of the year.

In other, more happy news, progress is being made on the wedding front. Dress- check! Venue- check! Colors- check! Photographer- almost check! I still have to get in touch with her to work out the details, but I'm thoroughly excited to be employing the services

of a fellow photography student. Sara G's ex-roommate, Gladys, has so much passion that I feel inspired in my own photography! I've read through her blog and fell in love with her spirit as well as her photography. I can't wait to get in front of her camera! I think we will mesh well because rumor has it that she changed her wedding date solely based on a certain photographer's availability! Now that's what I'm talking about; Us photographers are picky! So thats the next thing on my list along with getting the bridesmaids dresses confirmed- which should happen soon. My mom is on top of the catering situation- it was too stressful for me to handle so I handed her the reins. Aj is on top of cake design- his sole task! And supposedly it is coming along, but I'll believe it when I see it.

School is going decently; I wont be earning an A or a B in my nutrition class, but I'm not too torn up about that. My photo classes are going swimmingly, except that my beginning digital class is soooooo boring. I know there is always more to learn, but seriously.... Well, I won't get into it. But why a 5th year photo student has to take a beginning class after taking intermediate classes is beyond me. My color class is a-w-e-s-o-m-e! We are moving into more haptic-expression assignments and I'm thrilled! I hate technical assignments- I don't want restrictions!!!! Our latest assignment is to express how we perceive time by using photography- it can be manipulate or straight. :) :) :) I can't wait to shoot! It would be so nice to have my own camera..... sigh...

Ok, well I'm just about to sign the roll sheet so I can get out of here for the night. I'm glad I've used my time in such a productive manner! Oh, almost forgot to show this guy- I drive by him in Wilton all the time and finally stopped, braved the speeding cars, and snapped a picture. So random!

something old, something new

2009-09-26T23:26:00.005-06:00

I'm so bad at updates and I don't even have a good excuse. Good things have happened and bad things have happened and more good things have happened and here I am. Eppie's went extremely well; I came in 21st in my division which I was just happy I finished. Rocky Votolato came and played the house show which was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! He is such a cool guy, very down to earth. It was so awesome to get to talk to someone I greatly admire and then to here him perform was beyond words. Even my parents loved it! And as amazing as it was, the house show is no longer the highlight of my year. A week ago tomorrow I will have been engaged for 1 week! (It already feels like a lot longer though.)

Already I am overwhelmed by all the tasks that I have to do and on a timeline no less. Pick a date, pick a place, create a guest list, select colors, find a dress, and bridesmaid dresses, choose bridesmaids, pick music, catering, photography, etc etc etc. The list goes on for every impossibly small detail. Who knew so much planning went into one single day.

But aside from all the stress of planning I'm still getting used to the idea of being engaged. My ring is so beautiful. It's simple but a little different- AJ knows my taste :)

I could tell the story of how it went down, but you really had to be there.... so instead I will move on to other news. School and work are dominating my life. This makes planning anything very difficult. Working at Panera is not where I envisioned myself but I am trying to make the best of it. I'm working my butt off and it's beginning to be recognized. Already I am making as much as the employees who have been there for 2 years and I will soon be moving onto the catering side of the cafe. This is supposed to come with a hefty pay raise, regular hours, and weekends off- but it might be a little while until that happens.

School is also going so-so. My classes are as follows: Monday 5-10PM Beginning Digital (which sucks because so far I know 98% of what we have been going over) Tuesday 5-10PM Digital Imaging (the course itself is pretty interesting but the guy I have to sit next to is really driving my crazy. Do I really need to see every picture he has taken and every manipulated version he has saved of it?) Wednesday 5-10PM Color Photography (by far my favorite- heavy emphasis on color theory but annoying guy is in this class too along with an old senile lady who asks endless questions), Nutrition and Management- online courses (sucks because they are so much work). This schedule mixed with my work schedule leaves me with minimal free time and since I like to fill that free time with ANTM, Project Runway, and the Office I have hardly anytime to plan a wedding. Ughhh, I might have to give up one of my shows...

Since I'm diving back into photography I suppose it wouldn't hurt to post some images.

Until next time.....

Prologue

2009-07-17T12:13:00.000-06:00

I feel like my life has played out as if it were a book. Two chapters have been fully written sent to the editor but no revisions can be made. The next chapter is still unknown, but there is a lot of hope for what it could hold. I’ve been dreading this, but I knew it was coming and as things often do, it gets here before you know it.
Chapter One: High School and everything preceding it has all been wrapped up in one big ball of memory. Good times, bad times, sad times, and mostly awkward times. I think everyone’s high school years are roughly the same when it comes down to it. Remove the names and the people, places, and experiences are all the same at heart. We laugh and we cry and we think of things in exaggerations. If I don’t go to Senior Ball with this guy my life will be over! If he doesn’t ask me out I will die! I can’t believe my hair is so bad on picture day; I will never live this down! And what did any of it matter? No employer has ever asked me about how perfect my hair was on picture day, and my dates never asked who I went to Senior Ball with. The memories are fuzzy and distant for those who experienced them. For me, I wonder if they even happened or if I only imagined they did. Either way, it doesn’t really matter.
Chapter Two: This encompasses everything from graduation to last month. My first failed attempt at junior college, my first ‘real’ job at Panera, and my first heartbreak were all milestones that make this chapter so important. The first year of this era was similar to my Chapter One and serves as a transition period. I experienced my first love in a way- I had loved a person before but this was a different kind and it was the first person I believed loved me back… There was a month that closed out that year that was wrapped up in a best friend’s betrayal and losing other friends along the way- losing dead weight I suppose. It also was reminiscent of chapter one in that I thought I would never trust anyone again and that I would be sad and lonely for life. But life did go on and good things happened. The next three years were thus far the most interesting, exciting, and intoxicating I’ve had. And for that reason it’s hard to let this chapter end and move onto the next. That’s why I’m writing this now and not a month ago when the chapter actually ended…I’m hesitant to let it go.
I was cleaning up my room today and in an old cardboard box that has never been unpacked since I first left for Colorado and returned. In that box was an old paper bag filled with notes, papers, and memories I took with me on my last day as a temp., my last day before I left for Colorado. Those days came back in a flood of memories- getting in trouble for talking too much, writing each other cute little notes, shamelessly flirting with one of the photo guys, and promising to always keep in touch. Those days were amazing. I was reckless and young and doing exactly what a teenaged college dropout should be doing. But then an opportunity that I had passed on before came around again and I wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice, so I left. It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make and it may seem simple on the surface, but it’s so hard for me to listen to my head and not my heart. But both pointed me eastward.
Then I returned and everything changed. It’s hard to move out and then move back in your old house again. It stops feeling like home in a way. Anyways, things kept moving forward and I found myself back at the sheriff’s dept and back in the company of a certain photo guy. And that’s when life really started moving in fast forward. Time stood still and went by so fast at the same time and the next thing I knew I had two weeks left at work. Mentally, that is when this chapter ends.
Chapter Three: The past month has been difficult emotionally. The job I had isn’t in itself what is so hard to let go of- it’s everything that being in that place has given me and I feel now, as if I never gave it its due. I feel as if I owe it something or should pay tribute somehow. That job gave me friends and made me realize which friends to grow on without. It gave me endless memories and the beginning of a life with someone. It’s hard to let that job go. It’s hard to let that chapter end. But now a new one really begins and the transition period is nearly over. I have a new job (which is my old job), and it will provide me with new things- like the money for rent for an apartment. It will give me something new to talk about, or write about, and it too will come with both new and familiar experiences.

I’m excited to see what else this chapter has in store for me. With Eppie’s tomorrow and Rocky Votolato around the corner it’s already beginning to look like the start of a very interesting era.

Woe is me

2009-06-24T12:04:00.002-06:00

Reality is finally sinking in. In one week I will no longer be working for the sheriff's dept. It's bitter-sweet really; this job is my comfort zone and financial security (well it was asteayd paycheck). We were told a year ago that we might not have a job anymore and that has been the story since then, and yet every week that went by and we were still here that fact slipped further and further from our minds. And now it is hitting me like a brick wall. It is official. I can't take unemployment, nor do I particularly want to. And I have been job hunting for a little while now and find that every day it gets harder. Every time I open my email with no new messages and every call I don't receive makes me feel more and more defeated.

But I'm trying to stay optimistic, as hard as it is to do. Originally I wanted a new job so I could afford t move out. However, the more pressing issue is now just being able to pay my bills. I hope I find something soon.

hello?

2009-06-22T14:04:00.001-06:00

is there anybody in there?
just nod if you can hear me.
is there anybody home?

And the secret ingredient is....

2009-06-16T23:14:00.002-06:00

Giant Lobsters!

I'm a little sad. I thought a healthy dose of Iron Chef would shake me out of my lousy mood. However, this episode has me a little more depressed. The secret ingredient being giant lobsters in interesting, but I don't like that they are still alive when iron chef and challenger race up to fill their pans with the poor things. Then it shows the chefs shoving a knife into the shell and the giant lobsters snap their claws and flail their limbs trying to get away. Not that I haven't eaten my fair share of meat (but I've never had lobster), but the reason these guys are so "giant" is because they are 30 years old... I can't help but wonder how these lobsters are feeling. Are they scared because they don't know why their lives are ending in a pot? Do they wish they had told their family they loved them before they were plucked from the sea? Will their mate miss them? I would be horrified if I were one of these lobsters. hmm.

The past few days have been painfully long; my emotions have been a mixture of anger, frustration, and sadness. On Sunday my mom and I went to the river to take kayak the first half of the Eppie's route. We were with a group and were out on the water for about 3 hours and when we came back to the car we were met with an unexpected discovery. We didn't realize anything was wrong right away because we went straight for the trunk to grab towels and our purses. I looked for my purse and realized it wasn't there, my moms was gone too. It was starting to dawn on me when mom echoed my thoughts, "Katie, someone stole our purses." We then saw the tear in the side of the soft-top... my heart just sank. Both the glove box and center console had been busted open (even though my mom locked them before we left). They had tried to steal the car but apparently weren't well equipped. The ignition was somewhat messed up but we were able to get the key wiggled in and the car started. But they thoroughly went through the car and took our purses, cellphones, and loose cash that was in the car.

It was the weirdest feeling in the world to know that someone had not only gone through our things but stole personal items. I don't like knowing that someone out there is looking at my picture on my license or reading my texts, or looking through my family pictures. It's uneasy knowing that these criminals now know everything about us. They know where we live, they know our names, our faces. They have my mom's SSN and my birth certificate- enabling them to do endless harm and reek havoc in our lives and credit scores. They have the purse my mom bought for me in Colombia, and the camera I saved up to buy a couple years ago. They have pictures of my family and of me and AJ. They have my chapstick collection and my new cell phone. They have all our credit cards, debit cards, and ID cards. They have a check my parents wrote me, they have gift cards, and my moms pearl earrings. But worst of all, they stole our sense of security.

My original reaction was quiet shock which evolved into deep sadness. Now I'm angry and frustrated. Nothing taken was irreplaceable, and I'm grateful for that. Most of what we lost were material possessions. But we worked to have those things. We are the ones that put in hours to earn the money to buy these things. What did these thieves do to deserve or earn everything they took? Nothing. One of my original thoughts later on Sunday night was, "Do they feel bad they are hurting other people? Do they look at the pictures in my camera and realize they have stole something incredibly personal from someone?" But no, they don't think that. It's clear that they are only thinking about themselves and don't care about the people from whom they are stealing.

My anger reached a plateau when I realized that I now have to watch my back for a long time to come. I fear that somewhere they are using my ID or birth certificate to ruin my life. Although they have not used any of my cards, at least that I know of yet, that doesn't mean they won't try to obtain credit cards or loans in my name down the road. I have put a fraud alert out on my name so that they would have to jump through hoops if they did indeed try to get a line of credit, but seeing as they have my birth certificate I imagine it wouldn't be all that hard to do. I also have for the first time in my life (with the exception of when I was young and had a very active imagination and believed in monsters) that I have not felt safe in my own home. These creeps have our home address and what would stop them from trying to get into our house and steal other things. We have been locking the doors religiously the past few days and we have even been keeping the keys to the vehicles locked up in the house with us. That may sound weird, but before this we never had to worry about people stealing our things, locking our doors, or locking our cars. I feel uneasy when I go to bed and do a mental rundown of where the guns and ammo are. I never used to do that (again with the exception of werewolves and boogiemen).

And today was soooo frustrating. My mom and I had a marathon day of trying to get things back together. We went to the bank to get new cards and make sure accounts are protected (which I don't feel convinced mine is). Then we went to Target to get new wallets and purses, and then on to Verizon. Mom was due for a new phone and got her upgrade discount while I got a one year discount....which isn't much but it's better than nothing. Then we went to DMV....enough said there. Our day started at 9 and didn't end until 3. Of course as soon as we got home I left again to go to class and try to get some studying in. And THAT is a whole other story. So now I resign for the evening. I'm tired from all these emotions and I'm tired from stressing about my impossible summer classes. I'm not doing my homework that is due tonight and to be honest I don't give a crap. Right now I want to get some sleep so I can get through another day. I'm ready for the end of the week. I just want everything to go back to normal. I want to keep training for Eppie's - but I can't until I get a new inhaler...mine was in my purse. I want to pass my stupid classes- just got my books today, go figure. And I NEED to find a job. Yes, I have a long few weeks ahead. But if I can just get through the next few days I think I might be able to survive the summer.

I think this is the one thing that always makes me laugh...meep meep :)

the times they are a-changin'

2009-06-08T23:52:00.004-06:00

I've been listening to Bob Dylan a lot as of late. Sadly, I just learned that All Along the Watchtower was not originally by Hendrix (oops). I'm kind of embarrassed to not know this before, but hey, I can't know everything about music and songs and what not. But it makes me want to expand my collection of Bob's songs to more than just the three that I magically have on my itunes. Anyways, the point is that some of these songs have got me thinking.

It seems like everything is changing right now and I think I'm going to welcome it. My job is up in the air, which doesn't really matter since I need a new one anyway and it just lights a little fire under my ass (which is what I need). I just really want to be able to move out this summer and even if it means working more hours for less money, I'll be willing to do it. Sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done and if that means taking a job that isn't quite what I had in mind- so be it. I'll be happy to have a job and hopefully I'll find a way to challenge myself in it.

I feel like for the past few years I've been holding back. With school and work and everything I just don't put in a lot of effort. It's not like I try to find ways to slack off or I consciously decide to goof around- I just have a serious lack of motivation and I don't know why. I don't know if I can say that it is the same reason I did so poorly in high school which was "I wasn't being challenged enough." But if that isn't it, I don't know what it is. I mean, I know what it's like to work hard and feel that satisfaction of a job well done, but maybe that's what I'm missing. I like to accomplish things but when it's not a challenge, what is the point? Winning doesn't feel as good if it's an easy victory. So maybe that's the answer. I know I can do well if I put in the effort but I need to make myself put that effort in. So the challenge doesn't lie in the task itself but in motivating myself to give something my all.

This all comes in at a good time since I am a multitasking girl these days. Things to accomplish include: (1) Find a job- preferably one with good pay and benefits, but beggars can't be choosers, (2) Pass my Spanish 402 class- an A would be nice, but this prof needs to seriously see a doctor about that stick stuck up her.... (3) Complete the Eppie's Great Race- this will be my biggest challenge since exercise is the main component here.

So there you have it. Change is happening and I'm so ready for it. I have a really good feeling about this summer. I think things are going to work out for the best and even though I might find myself with some new challenges, it could be exactly what I need right now. I'm so hopeful for my future and what's in store for me. I think as long as I keep my head up and pray, I'll be just fine.

These pictures don't have much to do with anything other than I was looking at photographers who are interesting and one of those is Jerry Uelsmann. All of his work is done in a darkroom- no computers or photoshop. Just him and as many as 11 enlargers. Crazy! Just felt like putting a couple pictures up.

Paz,
me

As the world turns!

2009-05-26T11:50:00.002-06:00

I am a girl with a plan- believe it or not. Typically I have an exit plan for every commitment I make and I always keep one eye on the fire escape; I have a bag of excuses that I can use anytime I feel the need and I’m great at wiggling my way out of anything. I rarely make plans, especially anything more than a few days ahead. But this time I have actually made a plan of action for myself. Well…in a school related sense. This time next year I will have an AA degree and a certificate in photography. A semester after that I should have a certificate in weddings/portrait and studio photography- and maybe commercial photography. I originally planned on transferring (which still might happen post my AA) and the units required for transferring are almost the same as those needed for the AA; all I would need is one or two extra classes. And at the same time I did want to get a certificate which is very similar to the courses needed to have an AA in photography. So I figured I might as well secure some sort of academic accomplishment and if I want to keep going for a BA after that then I can. But at least I’ll have something if I decide not to. I’m excited about the next couple of semesters- I’m taking mostly photography classes since I’m pretty much done with my lower division general ed stuff. I’m even getting into digital! Hopefully this summer will bring a new job and money to buy a camera with. I suppose I could throw it on a credit card, but I’d rather not go down that road again…lesson learned. So, I’m saving up for a nice Nikon or maybe I’ll stick with Canon…not sure yet. But saving up is going to be hard since I’m looking to move out by the end of summer. Or should I say move in? Hmmm.
Life seems to be heading in a good direction. I’m really excited about what this next year will bring. I’m especially excited for this summer, I think some big changes are coming my way. I’m trying to find a different job- preferably one with full time, day hours and benefits. My classes are all night classes so I can hopefully snag a admin assistant job during the day. I’m working on revamping my resume and maybe I’ll get a few bites. Who knows. But I do finally feel like I’m in a good place. I don’t remember the last time I was this happy with my life (especially while being this broke!). Speaking of broke, my truck will be paid off in full in 9 months! Whoohoo!!! Ok, guess that’s it for now. Peace out blogosphere.
vv me and aj after we dyed easter eggs vv aren't we cute?!

I'm baaaaack!

2009-05-18T16:02:00.002-06:00

Not that anyone really cares. This is more for my entertainment than anything else. I would seriously doubt anyone still checks this and if they do they might have less a life than myself. And while the fact that no one is likely to see this tempts me to discuss current work related topics...errr, yeah...I would rather like to keep my job, or at least until I find a better one.

Nothing too exciting has been happening- the last few months have sort of melted into one blob of homework, exams, and undue stress. Who would have thought that I would actually start caring about my grades? Weird. The first semester back I got C's across the board and didn't quite deserve them either. Last semester I had straights A's except for that damn C in history (not my strongest subject). And this semester it's looking to be mostly A's with a B or two...and I'm taking 20 units! Boo Ya! Not really though- I hasn't been as much work as it should have been. I'm pretty sure I'm getting a faux education. I mean for what it's worth- a job, future earning potential, bragging rights- I'm not getting properly educated. But I am howevere learning a lot and retaining most of it. My education I've decided is not to end in earning a degree. I want to be educated for the sake of being educated. If in the end I never end up graduating- so be it. In this economy, true education and determination beat out a degree that any old stoner could earn anyways. Why do I need a peice of paper that says I'm "educated" to get a job? All that really shows is a 4 year comitment to something and doesn't express true value.
Look at our education system these days- teachers are requiring next to nothing for a student to pass. And in their defense, if they did require actual work, and not just busy work but actual work that requires serious thought, then most of their students would fail. If most of their students fail the college sees it as a poor teacher not doing their job. My aunt tries to uphold standards but when your facing a majority of faculty, parents, and students against you than is it worth sacrificing a paying job over? The students in this scenario don't help much either but it's more due to the influence of society than anything. In Newsweek there was an article that ran and gave the figure (this is a guess because I don't recall clearly) but 2/3's of students think that they should get a B in class just for showing up. Really. Just for showing up; not doing any homework or taking exams, or putting thought into papers. Is getting a good grade one of our fundamental rights as students? No. When a C is average you shouldn't be getting an above average grade for filling a seat. If that were the case, than the chair in which you sit should have an A. But alas, it's not just the students fault. This generation- my generation- is being raised by the "never-let-anyone-fail-ever" society. This society has created "equal opportunities" for everyone in every scenario so that we are all equal, so that no one is above or below anyone else. What a bunch of bullshit. Some people are better than other people. If you have to make everyone equal than the group can only be as strong as it's weakest link. Our society is becoming a nation of low achievers. What happened to competition? Winning in losing is being taken away from kids now more than ever. Some sports are even go so far as to saying there was no winner in a game. What is that teaching the kid? That there is no point in working hard or giving it your all? Great lesson parents! When you take away the opportunity to fail, you set up a life of mediocracy, low standards, minimum effort, and inevitable failure. When you don't allow people to fail you make them weak, you take away the lessons that they would have learned from their mistakes. They no longer have to take responsibility or face consequences.

This is part of why I'm unhappy with the government bail outs. They are not allowing these businesses and banks and people fail. Yes, I know it would be very difficult if there was no bail out, but the consequences down the road are going to be catastrophic. All these people facing forclosures need to face them. They made the mistake of taking out loans that they didn't understand or they lived beyond their means. They need to face the consequences and accept responsibility so that they can take this experience, learn from it, and pass the lessons onto their kids. The businesses and banks too- they have to fail in order to rememdy the problem. We have already seen what happens when you bail people out! Look at the car companies that were given bail outs- did they take it seriously? No they fell into the same old habits and took a company vacation! What have they learned from being in a financial crisis? The government will give them a handout when they need it. They are not learning what they need to be, which is finding out why this happened in the first place and what changes need to be made in order for it to not happen again. By giving them a light slap on the wrist and 70 billion dollars we are only hurting ourselves and the economy will continue to spiral downwards. The same is true with education- which is what this was originally about- by giving students a pat on the back and saying "well, it was a good effort" your only misleading them and setting them up for future and certain fialure. You are not preparing them for life.

Narcolepsy ain't no thang

2007-09-07T08:38:00.001-06:00

This is my sunbeam. It looked so much more rad in person, but you get the general idea.

The weather is starting to get colder and the other day it even snowed for all of 10 minutes. It was short-lived, but amazing none the less. Out at Breckinridge (ski resort) they have already quite a few snow days. You can actually go skiing, but rumor is the snow won't be very good for another 2 weeks. Soon though- very soon.

Last night some of my friends came over and Matt (the aspiring chef) cooked us dinner. Having a home cooked meal would be awesome enough, but it was also probably the best chicken I've ever had the pleasure of eating. Along with the chicken we had cheese and crackers and some champagne. But don't get too excited- mozzarella and saltines, and an $8 bottle of the worst champagne in Colorado (I'm guessing) - hardly sophisticated. Still, we had a good time and watched Thursday night football. It was a good time.

Work is going great! Being a bartender is pretty much the best job ever- finally a job where I'm supposed to stand around and talk! Love it. However, it does have a couple downsides. Every now and then you get the feeling that the guy sitting at the bar is there for some booze and a glance down your shirt. But yesterday I had an old guy flat out say he comes in to check out our cleavage and that he was glad they put me behind the bar. Ewww. And it's hard to be flattered when the guy is in his 70's and probably wears diapers. So gross.

But on the plus side you get to meet some pretty cool people. Another guy that came in yesterday was really nice and we talked for 30 minutes or so. He works at a salon down the street from the restaurant and told me to come in and he would hook me up with the "poor starving student" discount even though I informed him that I wasn't any of those things. Another guy, Reggie, comes in pretty regularly and always has a joke waiting for me. A couple days ago he told me that if I went back to school he would pay my tuition- it was a nice offer but one I could never in my life accept. The guy is made of money and just bought a $1.2 million home. Don't get any ideas like he is trying to be a sugar daddy, he just is a genuinly nice guy with no kids to spoil.

The tips still aren't what they could be- which is ok because I'm still having a lot of fun just mixing drinks and chatting with people.

Ahh, my home sweet home!
Lunch shifts are usually pretty slow at the bar but there are three TV's, all of which I am in complete control of, so I stay updated on my football and soccer. (And bad, made-for-tv movies).

After some minor convincing I decided to throw up the pictures of nasty toes. That's right my toes are naked, well two of them anyways. You can kind of see the new nail starting to grow, but it will still be awhile before I can wear flip flops out in public again.

Everything else is going pretty well. I had a soccer game on Wednesday; it was a really close game the whole time and we managed to pull out the win. Not to brag or anything, but I did have two really great saves.

Be back to update again in a week.
Love you guys!

You look like I need a drink

2007-08-31T00:19:00.000-06:00

My toe hurts like a you-know-what. For the past two or three weeks my big toes have been put through hell. It seems like everytime I play soccer they are getting stepped on or I make an immediate stop and they get slammed in the end of my shoes. All this trauma caused my toe nails to turn a nasty shade of black and now it seems they are starting to fall off. I first noticed a few days ago that I could lift half of my toe nail up and stick stuff between the toe and the nail. Now I can see that both are starting to detach themselves and be pushed up from a new nail growing underneath. Well today I was walking around the house and when I opened the door to the garage I opened it right into my big toe. It took just about every ounce of strength I had to not start swearing like a sailor and/or cry. I looked down to see my toe covered in blood. I hobbled over to the couch and began to inspect where exactly the bleeding was coming from. Basically the door ripped part of my nail off (the part that was still attached). Even now, about 12 hours later it is still throbbing, though, I did have to work tonight which I'm sure didn't help. So that's my toe story for you. I'll be sure to keep you all updated on the further disintegration of my foot.

Tonight was my last night of training for the bar and it was by far the craziest yet. "Thirsty Thursday" as we promote it is our happy hour to the max. We have tall beers for $2 and margs. for $3- along with other cheap deals, so we get a lot of business on Thursday nights. I made drink after drink after drink and it was a-w-e-s-o-m-e. I love this job! Finally, I get to work and not get into trouble for talking to people! We were busy all night and the only bad thing that happened was I had to work and close with Shawn- the cockiest bartender who thinks he is God's gift to the world. His idea of "training" is making me do all the stuff he is too lazy to do himself. He is the worst person ever to work with because everything has to be done his way or he won't stop complaining about it until is. So closing down the bar tonight involved me doing all the work while he ate some food and drank chocolate milk. I can't stand that A-hole.

Saturday is my first official shift as bartender- and I'll be on my own all of lunch. My friend, Alex, that was also training to be a bartender is no longer going to be and might be fired from serving too. He was taking his final bar test and got caught cheating. It sucks that he might get fired but it's fair. So I have to take all his shifts (which I'm totally cool with) and another guy, Chris, is going to start training now too. Chris is a super great guy and always nice so it will be good to work with him. Besides, he is really tall so he can get stuff from the top shelves for me.

Alright, thats about it. I just thought I'd give everyone a quick update.

He's a real Cannibal

2007-08-26T22:43:00.000-06:00

I should be getting to bed but I know if I don't do this now it will be another week before I get around to it.

Today was fairly low key- cleaned the house, got my cell phone replaced, played some frisbee with Joe, and met Aaron's new fling. I've decided to stray from using "girlfriend" since most of them we only see once or twice. This one, while I'm guessing is in her late 30's, is actually decent looking and friendly. She sat around and waiting for Aaron to finish with his chores and so Joe and I struck up a conversation with her; it was just your basic small talk, but she seemed nice enough. They left earlier this afternoon to go hiking so Joe and I tossed around the frisbee for a bit and then watched the end of Ice Spiders on the Sci-Fi channel. If you've never seen this movie I highly recommend you go right now to your local Blockbuster, rent this movie, grab some popcorn and subject yourself to 2 hours of the worst acting since Gigli. Sci-Fi channel is such a wonderful way to spend your free time. I have a fond memory of being captivated by The Cube 2 with Michael and Danny.

Last night my friends and I drove down to Pueblo for the Colorado State Fair. The crowd was quite interesting; imagine California's State Fair being held in Rio Linda... Don't get me wrong, I had a ton of fun. They put on a great fireworks show and I even got into the fair mood with a churro and fake tattoo. I would have pictures of the fair but sadly my phone went all crazy on me for no reason.

I did take this one from the car on our way down the interstate. It was a gorgous sunset with the sun's rays stretching up from behind the mountains.

I've been working everyday for the past week and it feels so nice to finally have a day off. Most days are pretty good; I make good tips, I have nice guests, I get more tables in my section. I actually have a few regulars now that ask to be sat in my section and that makes me feel pretty dang good. But then there are those days where I get one person that occupies my table for an hour and leaves a $2 tip. I thought that was bad until my friend Mark had a good sized group leave a terrible terrible tip. I can't explain how frustrating it is to work so hard to provide great service and then be left a crappy tip...ugh. A lot of times though I think people don't realize that what they are leaving us really isn't much. So to do some clearing up, here are my tips for when you dine out:

1. Tipping used to be 15-20% depending on the service. A lot of time- usually during lunches- we only get 10% from our guests. I depend on tips to pay for my bills- most servers do. Right now I'm making a $3.83 hourly wage and what I make in tips isn't all mine- we have to share with the bussers and bartender too. So if your service has been good please tip 18-20%. If it was great- tip more.

2. If your steak comes out under cooked/ over cooked it is not our fault! The only thing we are in complete control of is the following: nonalcoholic drinks and side salads. Most everything else is not in our control.

3. If your not happy with something, food or otherwise, tell us- your server. Don't wait until your check comes and then ask to speak to a manager. Most of the time we can fix whatever is wrong. We really do want you to be happy so give us the chance to make it right.

4. We understand that you want to sit and chat with your friends/family but if your sitting at a table for 2 hours then your sending us home with less money. We don't want to rush you out but we do want to get as many tables as we can.

5. Unless your bill is under $20 please never leave a $2 tip, even if you are by yourself. Unless your service was really really bad.

6. If you are dining with a big group and the restaurant adds the gratuity on, its still ok to add a little tip of your own. Our auto-grat is %15 divided between however many servers there were. And then more is taken out for bartenders and bussers.

7. If your server is doing a really great job, please please please let us know or better yet- let the manager know. We get recognized and rewarded when we get guest compliments. Besides, it makes us feel good to know we are going beyond what is expected of us.

So the next time you go out to eat, keep that in mind mmm kay?

Tomorrow kicks off my first day of official bar training. I have an intense training course and then by the end of the week I should be all certified and ready to be back there on my own. I am so sooooo excited.

Right now I need to get some sleep cause tomorrow I have a 10 hour day at work. Yuck! I better get used to it though since it's going to be like that all week.

Keep me in your thoughts! Love you guys.

addicted to the shin-dig

2007-08-20T20:14:00.000-06:00

This morning when I went into work my managered informed me I was promoted to bartender. Yay me! I can't even begin to tell you all how excited I am for this! There were 15 people in the running and only 2 of us got it. So my friend, Alex, and I will start training this week. I am totally stoked and can't wait to start mixing some drinks!

are we, we are the waiting

2007-08-19T12:20:00.000-06:00

Oh boy.... It's been awhile since I updated this. I'm trying to remember what even happened two weeks ago. Lets see- Aj came out for a few days and that was a ton of fun. It was so nice to have someone from home to keep me company. We went to Garden of the Gods like I had wanted to and it was awesome!!! I forgot to take my camera (oh well) but I was able to get a picture off the internet so all of you can see what the heck I'm talking about.

So this is it, Garden of the Gods. Basically a bunch of red rock formations jutting out of the ground. We walked around here for a bit and it's so much more impressive on foot than it is just driving by. The rocks are huge! And you also had a great view of the surrounding mountains and pikes peak. We tried to do a hike through a place called Queens Canyon that includes a waterfall and some natural pools you can swim in (which would have been so nice since it was a hot week) but the trail was closed.

Sadly, the fun was over. I was totally bummed AJ had to leave and I had to get back to work. Which is exactly what I have been up to for the past week; working my ass off. It's been sort of frustrating working so hard and getting paid so little. Tips still aren't as good as they could be and we still haven't been getting more than 2 table sections. Despite that, I'm doing pretty well. There is a lot of drama at the restaurant and sometimes you could cut the tension with a knife. Last night for example was extremely busy. At 9:30 we were still on a wait. Everyone was running around like chickens with their heads cut off. One girl was so stressed that when she got bumped by another server and dropped her tray of drinks, she walked out and quit right then. People were getting pissed at eachother and at guests and at every little thing. I got the greatest compliment from one of my managers when he told me that I was the most calm and collected server he has ever worked with. After feeling little recognition for working so hard it was nice to get a compliment. And, my night only got better. One of my tables was the best I had yet. This couple had come in and right away I knew they would be fun. They reminded me a lot of Randy and Mary...a lot. They pretty much told me their life story and inquired into mine before they even ordered drinks. They kept me laughing and left in good spirits for the night. And before they left, they gave me a $20 tip and the promise that they would be back to see me.

Another table I had that night also kept me laughing, but for a different reason. Three guys came in and I could smell the booze a mile away. They were trashed! They tried to order more drinks but I did my best to steer them away from alcohol- and they obliged. It wasn't too hard to talk them into ordering appetizers, huge meals, and desserts. They were pretty fun and making total asses of themselves but like the couple before they left me a good tip and put me in a good mood. They were however, messy. We called them a cab.

All in all, the night went well and I went home exhausted. I worked 11 hours and I was feeling each and every minute of that.

Aaron has been on "vacation" for the past week. He didn't exactly go anywhere though. It just meant that he could go out all night and stumble in early in the morning. At least he has been pretty good about passing out in his room though rather than on the porch, in the hall, or some other random place. A couple nights ago he brought back some girl- yes girl, not an old lady. But this girl had the most irritating and piercing voice. She somehow thought that I was a threat to her new man and questioned who the mysterious female roommate that he had for sure hooked up with. Gag me. If she only knew...

Other than that not much has been going on. Just working hard and playing harder. I decided to put up some pictures of my friends so for future reference you will know who I'm talking about. That, and my mom always likes to know who my friends are.

Alex and Kristen

Chris and Matt and the back of someone

Kristen and Matt

Scott and Me

Alex: He shares an apartment with Scott and their other roommate ( I don't remember her name). He is fashionable, catty, and gay. He keeps me laughing and we are supposed to put pink in his hair this week. Eventually he is going to go to cosmotology school.

Kristin: This girl is awesome. She is very blonde and very loud. She moved her from Kansas around the same time I did and lives with her ex-best friend. I guess it's true- you should never live with your best friend.

Chris: He claims to be one of the first black guys to ever live in Coloraod Springs... he is hilarious and has an extremely deep voice that carries - and it gets him in trouble a lot.

Matt: This guy was playing football on a scholarship out in Kansas but decided to come back to his home town and become a chef. I told he could practice by cooking for me- it hasn't happened yet.

Scott: I'm pretty sure I found my soulmate in Scott. We have a ton in common including a love of America's Next Top Model and a hate for all salad dressings. We also have the same taste in guys... yep, he is as gay as they get. He is my closest friend out here and is the most fun person to work with.

So there you have it, the people I hang out with all the time.

I think that about does it for now. I'll try to be more timely next week when I update and hopefully life stays interesting enough to write about.

PS Almost for got to tell you about the bartending. A bunch of our bartenders have quit and now there is a spot or two open. I'm competing against about 15 other servers who want the position. I talked to my GM and I feel like he is the only one not taking me seriously. So I talked to two of my other managers and one said my availability is perfect and the other said he thinks I would be great behind the bar. Also, one of the current bartenders is going to put in a good word for me since I help him out with setting up the bar and running drinks. Hopefully I hear something about that in the next couple of days.

ok, thats it. Peace out.

Love you guys

tastes like life with a hint of nutmeg

2007-08-05T19:01:00.000-06:00

Ya know, I told my dad earlier that I would update my blog today but the more I came to think about it I realized that the week has been relatively uneventful. And right now I'm glad I procrastinated and didn't write this morning because the day has suddenly become quite a bit more interesting. But I'll start with the blah-ness of the week and get to what happened today towards the end- that way you have something to look forward to.

Last weekend was actually insanely busy. I worked 3 double shifts in a row which meant that I worked from 9:45 to 3:00 and then from 3:45 to 11:00 ish. By the end of the first night, I could hardly walk because my feet were so tired. And fishnets? Not comfy!!! After working that schedule all weekend- I was exhausted and felt like I was going to die. But the good news is, I'm still alive and going strong. The section situation is still not worked out yet and some of the servers are getting pretty impatient. Usually during lunch or dinner on weeknights, we get two table sections. But on weekend nights everyone is cut down to one which causes a few problems. The restaurant is not only jam packed with guests but you also have 40 servers running around. And our kitchen isn't very big so imagine all these servers trying to push through a 4 foot wide line, making salads, getting drinks and bread, and running orders. It gets really hot and everyone is fighting to get their big ass trays through a sea of people without dropping or spilling. It's quite a challenge.

A few people have quit and several more are considering it. Everyone is frustrated that we aren't getting more tables but most of us know that it will get better in the coming weeks. I mean, we haven't even been open for two weeks yet. But I'm looking forward to getting more tables and therefore more tips. Right now I'm making about $40 for lunch and $60 for dinner- which isn't too bad considering we only have one or two tables to our name. So far I have had great customers! There was one couple that lived in Stockon for a long time and actually had been to Wilton. I thought it was pretty cool and quite the small world considering that most people in Cali have never heard of Wilton. And a couple days ago I had an old couple that came in to celebrate their 61st anniversary. How cool is that? The only bad customer I had was this guy that came in with his wife and was a total jerk the whole time. He ordered a tall Fat Tire after I not only told him, but showed him too, that it cost $5. When the bill came he tried to tell me that I told him $4 and he refused to pay the extra dollar. And then after he ate all of his appetizer he said that it tasted burnt and wanted a refund on it. Of course we comped him the appetizer and the one dollar (cheap bastard). Its hard being nice to people like him and I was doing ok for awhile; but when I dropped off his change (a ten and 2 ones) he said "Miss, if you want more than a $2 tip you better bring me change for this" and then proceeded to hand me the ten. I was really floored at his attitude and the way he said it to me. But if nothing else, I did want more than a $2 tip. But like I said, that was really the only bad customer I've had so far. (Other than the army cadets that left a crappy tip and their phone numbers- what a bunch of tools.) So thats work.
We had our first soccer game earlier today and we got killed in the first half and somewhat redeemed ourselves the second. Our first game was supposed to be last Thursday but when we got there they said "Oh, your game is pushed back til Sunday." Thanks for telling us ahead of time! Oh well, we got use the practice field and we just goofed around for a bit.
I've also been spending a lot of time over at friends houses which is good because it gets me away from my own.

So...
Work is good.
Soccer is good.
Friends are good.
Now onto the interesting day I had today.

The story actually starts last night when a bunch of my friends came over here to hang out. We were up pretty late, 4 or 5 ish in the AM, and I realized neither of my roommates were home. Of course I knew Aaron was out at the bars and I figured Joe was out with Luke doing whatever. I finally went to bed and was a little bit relieved that Aaron still hadn't showed up, hopefully he was staying the night somewhere else. Although, I will say he has been pretty quite the last week or two. I'm not sure where he had been since the bars close at 2 and every liquor store closes at midnight but around 7 or 8 this morning he came stumbling in still very drunk and passed out by the door. Then about an hour later I opened my door to find Aaron laying half in the hall and half in the bathroom and only half dressed. His pants were nowhere in sight and his tighty whities were down around his ankles. Not something I ever want to wake up to and I pray I never have to see his um...erm... privates ever again! How that guy is still alive is beyond me. Joe came in around 9- sober but very hungover and thankfully, fully clothed.
The other interesting thing that happened today was a thunderstorm. While I've seen a ton of them already and been awe struck by the lightning- todays was quite a bit more intense. We were playing soccer and could barely hear eachother over the sound of the rain pounding down on the roof and the constant bellows of thunder. When I went to leave I got drenched from head to toe (I'm not exagerating) in the 20 seconds it took me to get into my truck. The rain was relentless and I could barely see where I was going. The thunder was so loud it was setting off car alarms and half the streets were flooded. I have never seen it rain so hard in my life! My parking spot is on the street and today it was a small river. Our whole street was flooded with about 5 inches of water and the curb (where I park mind you) was a few more... two hours later you would have never known that it had rained at all. The sun was shining and all the water from the river going down our street had left no trace that it was ever there. It was quite the storm and left as quickly as it had come. All in all, it was awesome.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning- house and room. Aaron made a social appearance for the first time in awhile and impressed me even more when he mopped the floor! Of course, he was the one laying naked on it so maybe that's why....

I'm totally stoked for tomorrow- AJ is flying in to visit for a few days and this time we don't have to unpack a truck load of my stuff. It should be a really fun week and I'm going to try to get out to Garden of the Gods. My mom and I went there last year and its really beautiful. If your ever out here in the springs you have to check it out! I'll try and get some pictures up too.

Thats it for now. Lets hope I don't have another naked run-in with Aaron.

Oh me! Oh my!

2007-07-27T08:08:00.001-06:00

Good morning all! I know I'm early on this update; I was actually going to do it yesterday since I had the day off but put it off. And I would like to start by saying to whom it concerns: I apologize for making a complete ass of myself and if it helps, I am suffering the repercussions.

The restaurant I am working at opened...Finally! We were supposed to have a "soft open" on Monday and Tuesday but things weren't wuite up to code in the kitchen. Of course we didn't know that until we showed up for our shift and then got sent home an hour later. Wednesday was our grand opening, and grand it was! We had about a dozen or so notable VIP's- mostly from the chamber of commerce- there for the ribbon cutting ceremony. As dorky as it might sound, I was actually pretty excited; I had never witnessed a ribbon cutting before. We all gathered outside to take a picture and to hear some head honcho give a little speech. Aside from standing in the hot sun for 15 minutes it was kind of fun. I managed to get a crappy picture of it, but its hard to see because we were all gathered behind our GM. The scissors were pretty sweet- all shiny and gold! (But not very sharp, it took awhile to actually get through the ribbon.)

My first day serving was sooo much fun! I love this job! Even though I only had four tables my whole shift- it was more than anyone else got. I can't wait for things to start picking up and we get more than one table sections. But I'm glad I got to start out a little slow so I could get used to serving. I already feel pretty comfortable with it and I've been taking a leadership role with the side work. Hopefully management notices and I can start moving my way up. But hey, we have only been open for one day so I won't rush it.

This session of soccer just end on Wed. night. I won't be playing with the D3 team anymore because with work it would be too much to try and schedule around. I am playing again on the D4 team though, which I'm totally excited about since we have so much fun. We were actually a house-team which means that the sports center put a bunch of strangers together rather than one person organizing a team. But now, we are stepping away from being the house-team and forming a team-team. The benefit of this is that it costs less money and ref fees are already included- that and we get to pick our own name. That session starts in about a week, so there will still be updates on that.

Everything in the house is going just dandy. Last night was the first time I saw Aaron in 3 or 4 days and if I hadn't heard his stumbling footsteps around 4am every night I would've thought he had moved out. No such luck. But at least he isn't bringing any women over anymore. I still hope Joe asks him to leave and we get a roommate that isn't an alcoholic and likes to hang out with us.

I cooked my first real, substantial meal the other night. I whipped up some sort of chicken alfredo pasta and it wasn't altogether bad. It could have been a little less bland, but the only seasoning we had was salt, pepper, and cayenne. The cayenne was a mistake- I didn't realize it was so spicy and I put in like a teaspoon too much. Oh well, it was nice to have something other than hot pockets. I was so proud of myself for attempting to cook, so I took a picture of it! I offered some to Joe, but I don't think he has faith in my culinary skills so he made his own dinner.

I know a lot of you have been asking about my leg and I'm happy to say it is much much better. It doesn't hurt at all, unless you poke it, and the holes themselves are actually starting to get smaller. It's definitely going to leave some scars though. Other than that there isn't much to tell. I have to work everyday this weekend but hopefully I can bring in some good tips.

On a side note: We are still missing some of last years contenders for fantasy football. Go sign up, the draft is less than a month away! If anyone else, family or friends, wants to join in I can forward you the link. Just let me know!

Love you guys!!!!

smarmy

2007-07-22T08:44:00.000-06:00

Someone out there owes me $10. I was so right about my leg. I went back to the urgent care center the very next day because my other leg was extremely painful. Sure enough, it had to be drained too; I'm so glad I got to go through that again. So once again the abscess was cut open, drained, then packed with gauze. That was on Tuesday and I had to go back on Wed. to get the packing removed and then new packing put in....which is very painful because they don't numb anything. So imagine someone stuffing gauze into an open wound; wouldn't feel to good would it? Then on Fri. I was back again to get packing out and they said I wouldn't have to go back unless something came up. I'm finally done with that place! Well, except that two of my doctors and two assistants are going to come to TXLC (the restaurant I work at) for dinner and I said I would hook them up.

This looks pretty nasty- you can see the packing sticking out a little bit. This is probably the worst it ever felt. And I almost passed out because I was staring at it too long and started feeling woozy.

I had two soccer games on Wed. and I ended up playing in one of them because I didn't want my team to have to forfeit. And I figured if I'm going to be out on the field, I might as well give it my all, right? Maybe not the best idea, but hey- I did score a goal. Anyways, it filled up with a bunch of nasty fluid.

This is it getting better. I didn't have to get it repacked thank God. Still looks a little gross though.

Moving on....
This past week has been pretty busy between work, soccer, and my friends visiting. Our training for work is pretty intense. We have 4 different classes a day and then tests on every little thing. I never realized how much work goes into serving; it's not just the "what can I get for you this evening?". There is a specific order to things and time constraints and you can't say certain words like "appetizer" "drinks" or "desserts". It's a little stressful, but give me a week and I'll have it down perfectly. During our training we get cooked up things from the menu, and the food is sooo good! There are a few things I haven't tried (ok, more than a few) but if you saw the "trail quail" you probably would be like me and not eat something that looks like tweety bird.

About 25 people have already been fired or quit. I have a feeling that number will grow once we open. There are 6 of us who have never been servers before, and I think we are doing pretty well- except this one chick who has cried almost everyday because she is so stressed out. I feel kind of bad for her, but she is really over dramatic. There is this other girl, Ashley, who is probably one of the dumbest people I've ever met. In our bar class she didn't know that chardonnay was wine, and thought white wine was the same thing as champagne. I've been lucky enough to be in her group everyday, and her questions only got worse. When we were going over our dessert tray -the display tray- she asked:
"It's going to be set up like that all day? Won't the ice cream melt and get all yucky?"
It's butter Ashley- not icecream. So it won't melt.
"Wait. So we are serving butter?"
No.... we serve ice cream.
"But won't it melt????? I don't get it!"
The dessert tray has butter, the real dessert that you will bring out has icecream. It's for display purposes.
"Oh, so we don't give them the one off the dessert tray?"
No, thats the display

I think my IQ went down a few points after that conversation.

A couple of my friends flew out Tues. to stay a few days with me. I felt bad that I had to work for a few hours a day so they had to find something to do on their own. Since I had work it was hard to find time to do anything super cool or give them a real tour of the springs, we pretty much just chilled, went out to eat a few times, went to the movies, and stuff like that. It was still a lot of fun to visit with them and Maggie was stoked to have so much attention. We probably looked dumb too, driving around all three of us crammed into my little truck- it was a cozy fit...
I did take them down town and to Old Colorado City, which is kind of cool and we ate dinner down there too. Then I drove them back to the airport, and they came really close to missing their flight (which I admit, was my fault) but the plane was running behind too so it worked out.

Today I have the day off. I have a few errands to run and stuff but for the most part I am going to take it easy. I might try and take a shower today- because of my leg, I've been taking sponge baths and washing my hair in the sink....- but today, I think they've healed up enough to where it won't hurt too bad. I have a couple soccer games today and other than that I think I will just brush up on my server stuff. Tomorrow and Tues. we soft open, and then on Wed. we have our grand opening complete with banners and those lights that go back and forth across the sky. We are going to be crazy busy! But that just means more tips :)

Well, I think thats it for now. It was great talking to everyone last night!
Miss and love you all!

There's a hole in the bucket, dear liza.

2007-07-16T15:55:00.000-06:00

Just to give a quick update:
My spider bite turned out to be a lot more than just that. Yesterday (Sunday) I was at training for work for about 6 hours and most of that time all I could think about was how bad my leg was hurting. Moving it at all sent pain shooting in all directions. When I got home I decided that I needed to go get it checked out. Due to the fact that my health insurance is for Kaiser Permanente in Sacto, I wasn't sure how to go about getting help. There is a KP out here, but its totally seperate from the ones in CA and isn't even a medical facility. So they recommended I go to an urgent care place near by. I went in this morning and got some much needed medical attention. The doctor told me what was really going on: I did in fact get bit by a spider, but then the little bite which normally wouldn't be too problematic got infected with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -aka- staph. infection. In case you didn't know, thats not good. Well, the staph. infection actually made my little bites turn into abscesses. The main one on my left leg infected another small one right next to it. So they gave me a shot in the butt of antibiotics, and a shot of local anesthetic under each abscess to numb it. Then she pulled out a scalpal and went a-hackin away- well, not exactly hacking, but she had to slice them open to drain them. I decided to watch what she did next- which was stick a big cotton swab in the hole in my leg and swirl it around. grosssssssss! After three cotton swabs it was finally cleaned out and I could clearly see in it. The actual hole-opening is about the size of a dime, but underneath the opening its about the size of a nickel. Then I got another shot under each abscess to keep it numb for awhile since I had to drive and one last shot for Tetanus. Here is the worst part; I started watching but had to turn away because I was so grossed out. She had to stick a long, thin strip of gauze-like stuff into the hole to help soke up an extra goo that might be coming out. It was the nastiest thing ever watching her take a piar of tweezers and shove it into the hole in my leg. Then she wrapped it up and sent me on my way. She wrote out a perscription for antibiotics and Vicodin- so I'm set for awhile. My bum still hurts from the shot and moving my leg hurts quite a bit too.

There is another spot on my right leg, right below the knee that I told her about and she said it was just infected, but not with staph. But I really am pretty sure its another abscess because it feels exactly like the others and is continuing to hurt more. I have to go back on Wednesday to get the gauze removed and I will ask them to look at it again. $10 says I'm right and it's another abscess. We will see. In the meantime my big concern is showering- or more like sponge bathing- and I have two soccer games on Wednesday; hopefully the pain has subsided by then. My last concern is how I got the staph infection. Usually they are picked up in hospitals or gyms or something of the sort- but where could I have gotten it?? I was giving my mom all the details about what had happened after I left the doctors this morning and she is almost positive that I picked it up in the house- most likely from the bathroom that I share with my disgusting roommate Aaron. So now I get to scrub the shower with bleach and use sanitary wipes before I touch anything. Awesome. Here are the pictures:

This I took early this morning before I went to the Urgent Care Center. It's a close up of the main abscess, but you can see the smaller one on the upper left.

This was right after she cotton swapped all the gunk out of the open abscess. It's starting to fill up with blood again and you can see the other abscess bleeding- yummy. She didn't swab the smaller one but she did squeeze it- that hurt!

and here I am all bandaged up. I didn't get one of her stuffing it full of gauze because my mind was...well, I was freaking out a little bit.

The good news about all this is that I don't have to wear a skirt and tights for the rest of training!!!! And I will finally get some sleep now that I have Vicodin.

"The heart has reasons that reason cannot know" -Blaise Pascal

2007-07-14T20:51:00.000-06:00

In California nearly all my friends had been born and raised there. Here in Colorado the only person I've met thats lived here their entire life is Aaron; most everyone else has moved within the last 5 years. When I left home I thought I was headed for a city where everyone already knew eachother and they wouldn't accept an outsider like me into their circle. But I'm not quite the pioneer I thought I was. Colorado Springs is the watering hole of America, the true melting pot. It's diverse and refreshing, a chance for opportunity and growth, a place for fresh starts and wandering souls...

As big a city as the springs is, it has a very intimate feel. It's like we have this secret from the rest of the world; Something so light and precious that if you don't hold it closely to you the wind could come at any moment and sweep it away. And even if I wanted to tell you what this secret is, there would be no possible way to describe it. Maybe it's one of those things that when you venture out and take a big risk that doesn't seem to make any sense but some part of you is telling you to do it anyway- maybe thats when your granted what your looking for. When you find yourself there- wherever that may be- the mountains, the rain, and the lightning all lean in and quietly whisper in your ear and the secret is unveiled.

_________________________________

For the past week I've worked almost everyday. It's been boring for the most part (I brought in books, rubiks cube, gameboy...) but every now and then it would get a little busy and I would have people to chat with. I have mastered the art of small talk. We have gotten a few more weirdos applying for jobs:

Robin- This fellow is 17 and at first I thought he was gay. There is something very fruity about him and I'm pretty sure that he mistook my small talk for me hitting on him because after a couple minutes he got a strange look on his face and then wouldn't stop mentioning his "girlfriend" (whose existence I question). Anyways, everytime I see him I can't help but think of a jolly little lad in tights skipping and singing while strumming his little harp and spreading joy, sparkles, and overall merriness. He was hired.

Jessica- This lady had "crack whore" written all over her scrawny-self. Her hair was an afro of curls and most the time she was waiting- she was having a full on conversation with herself. I couldn't quite make out what she was saying and its probably a good thing. Every now and then she would burst out laughing for no apparent reason. Her interview lasted almost 2 minutes and when she left we all looked at eachother with the same thought: psycho. Not hired.

Nameless guy- I've already told some of you about this guy. He is the one that came in to eat; then, upon discovering we weren't open yet, considered applying. Here is the only part of what happened that you really need to know: Him: "Well, the only job I wanted is already taken." Me: "What's that?" Him: "Taking care of you." Gag me! This was after he asked if I had a boyfriend and proceeded to give me the third degree about my imaginary man- because of course I lied and said that I did have one. Not hired.

Stephanie- At first she seemed normal. Me, her and another gal, Stacy, were talking about waxing and hair cuts. Then, Stacy got called up for her interview and I was left alone with Stephan.....ie. She was in the army, shaved her head twice, was discharged from the army due to a bolt in her knee, was fired from her last job for breaking a guys nose, broke her boyfriends nose (and you thought she was a lesbian didn't you?), and once beat up a girl for looking at her the "wrong way". Not hired.

Today, instead of sitting up front all day I got to clean. I have never been more excited to clean in my life! We spent 4 hours scrubbing chairs and tables and setting up the bar and walk-ins. There is a group of about 10 that has been working for the past couple weeks and we've all become friends, so it's a lot of fun. One of the guys, Matt, and I were going to go play volleyball tonight, but it ended up raining- maybe next time...

Orientation was today and it was long and boring- but it wouldn't be complete without cheesy videos on prejudice/discrimination and sexual harassment. (Ironically enough I was sitting next to Jon, who had been harassing me all week. mostly in good fun of course). The worst part about orientation and training is that we have to wear are uniforms... black v neck shirt, black skirt (no frills, lace, pleats, or pockets) must be one inch above the knee, black stockings or classic black fishnets, black shoes 1/2"-1 1/2" heel. My "full length" mirror is me standing on the bathroom counter trying not to hit my head on the ceiling, and from what I could see I was a nightmare in black. And do you know how hard it is to find a black skirt thats the exact length in summer??? I finally found one at Ross, but its too long so I have to roll it up a few times. Ugh, its a sucky uniform but guess what? My shoes are the all black converse! yeeeaaahhh!!

Things with Aaron have been quiet the past few days, but tonight might not be the same. One of his friends is in town and staying at our house. Joe called Aaron around 8 and he was already quite drunk, so I'm sure he will only get worse. And if I didn't have mandatory training tomorrow I would be in Fort Collins with Joe and it wouldn't be a problem. But I'm not in Fort Collins, so we will see what happens.

I got bit by a spider (I'm guessing) on Tuesday night while I was sleeping. I woke up to what I just assumed was a little bug bite, but now it's looking really bad. It has gotten really swollen and painful- it hurts to even walk. It's red all around with a black center. Here is a picture of it:

The top picture was taken on Thursday and the one below was taken about 10 minutes ago. It's looking blotchy too- I hope thats not a bad thing.

Hopefully it gets better since I don't have health insurance yet... I just want it to go away soon.

Soccer is good. I had two games on Thursday; My D-3 team absolutly dominated while my D-4 team got dominated. The sad thing is, I had more fun losing than winning. Attitude makes all the difference and the D3 is so uptight that its no fun, even to win like we did. But D4 was so much fun- we were all laughing and having a good time. After our game we went to Old Chicago and I didn't even get carded!!! But I only had water anyways because I had another game that night- but it was a good bonding experience none-the-less.

The weather has been perfect this week! Everyday has been mid 70's to mid 80's and every afternoon it's rained. I love it!!! After todays little shower there was a rainbow that spanned the whole sky. This is a picture of one side of it from our back yard.

Sorry the pictures kind of suck, but I don't remember where I last put my camera and so all I have is my cell phone.

My friends Sean and Daniel are flying out here on Tuesday and I'm excited to see some familiar faces! The only downside is that I have training while they are here so there is going to be a large chunk of time that they will have to entertain themselves.

That's all for this week. I'm sure there are some things I'm forgetting but oh well.

Hope you guys are doing good and I hope to hear from you all soon!

Love you all!

Do you wear underwear, or does it wear you?

2007-07-08T13:01:00.000-06:00

It's been a busy week and there is a lot to tell so I'm just going to dive right in.

I don't quite remember where I left off last, I believe it was Joe had gone out of town and it was just me and Aaron. Well, I would have been lucky if it were just me and Aaron, but lets not forget his mom -err- girlfriend. Last weekend they went out to a bar and did some drinking and then around 3:30 decided to head back to our house. So they were driving and Jeanie had to pee so they pulled over and she got out and went to do her business. Well, Aaron- in whatever state of mind he was in- decided to get behind the wheel of her car and drive off, leaving Jeanie with no shoes, purse, or phone...did I mention it was her car? Around 4ish she arrived in style in the back of a police car. She then proceeded to wake up Aaron (he had passed out in his room) and then hit him repeatedly all the while yelling profanities between her gasping sobs. I figured they had broken up but much to my disappointment she was back the next day and they cooked dinner together. I guess they didn't feel the need to their dishes and so we went without bowls, spoons, and knives for a few days. I'm aware that I could have done the dishes, but I don't like to clean up after other people. (To mom and dad: yeah yeah, but I don't leave my dishes for a week, and besides- we had more than 3 bowls and 4 spoons.)

Joe came back the next day and I filled him in on all the going ons and what have you. He wasn't very happy about it, especially since now she was showering here (leaving her disgusting thong on the bathroom floor), eating here, and generally making a mess in the house.

Then, just as I thought things had settled down they got worse. Joe had gone to Boulder for the night and I had soccer til kind of late. After I got home there was a knock on the door and immediatly I knew it was Jeanie. Aaron had gone out to the bars so I just ignored her knocking. But me, being an idiot, didn't lock the door. She let herself in, peeped into Aarons room and realizing it was empty decided to knock on my door. I didn't say word, hoping she would think I was asleep. Finally, I heard the front door open and close. A couple hours later I was still awake and had to pee so I went to the bathroom. No sooner had I turned on the bathroom light, she came back into the house. I am almost certain she was sitting outside waiting for Aaron to come home or for me to wake up. Creepy, psycho, you-know-what. I didn't even finish doing my business before she started up.
"Katie?" Ugh. What?
"Where's Aaron? Have you seen him?" No.
"Not at all? He has my phone" No, I haven't seen him.
"Well, he has my phone and he won't answer it." Oh. I can't imagine why.
"Can I use your phone?" Oh, uh...I left it at work, sorry. Lie.
"You don't have it?" No. Did I not just say that??
"Well, can you tell him I stopped by and I'm looking for him?" Yeah. No.

She left, I went to sleep for real this time and didn't hear anything the rest of the night. But apparently, I slept through a lot. Around noon the next day Joe and I were watching tv when Aarons door opened and out came Jeanie. She shuffled her way into the kitchen holding one hand over her eye. Then we watched her shuffle back to Aarons room now holding ice up to it. Joe and I looked at eachother with the what the hell? expression and tried to stiffle our laughs. We couldn't wait to hear what had happened.

On Friday night Joe's friend, Danny, drove down from Boulder to hang out. Before he got there though, Luke (Joe's friend) and I were talking about Jeanie when Aaron came in. Luke is good at getting info from him and we got much more than we anticipated. The other night Aaron had gone out to the bars and brought back another woman. They saw Jeanie was sitting on our front porch and so they circled the block a few times until she was gone. They came in the house and were making out in the kitchen when Jeanie, who had been sitting in his bedroom closet, came out and let him have it. The woman left, and Jeanie started punching Aaron. In a drunken state he put up his hands to block her punches and accidentally hit her square in the eye- that explained the ice. So now, they are really broken-up this time and Aaron is dating this new chick. Don't worry, she isn't 35 like Jeanie ...........she is 37. Not only that, but she has three kids- 15, 11 and 8. Wow.

So anyways, we hear that story and then Aaron leaves with his new woman, Kathleen, to go out to the bars. In case your wondering, I've only seen him sober 3 times...maybe 4. They came back not too much later, but I didn't get a chance to see her because I was out back on the phone. But according to the guys she looks like she is 50... even though she is only 37, or at least thats what she told Aaron. Hopefully she isn't as crazy as the last one.

Now, while we give that a chance to marinate, lets move on.

I started work on Monday and I got in about 35 hours this week. The restaurant opens on the 25th and in the meantime I get to sit at the door and hand out applications and make small talk with the people waiting for interviews. It's pretty boring but it pays $10 an hour. And I've become a pro and talking to strangers...if thats a good thing. The managers are all really nice, especially the FOH manager, Adrian, who I'll be working with the most. He is originally from San Diego and our GM is from Lake Tahoe, weird huh?

Someone, I won't name names, suggested that I shouldn't give applications out to ugly or weird people. Though I think either would qualify as discrimination, I have given more thought to the later. I can't tell you the number of people that come in and say, "I just don't understand why no one will hire me." Of course they leave out why they got fired from their last job which ranges anywhere from a fist fight with their boss to getting caught doing a line of coke in the bathroom. And I'm not making those up. Then you get the people who come in for an interview dressed in torn up shorts, stained t-shirt, and flip flops. A few girls came in more appropriatly dressed for a strip club than nice restaurant. And then of course those people that are lucky enough to get a second-interview (which pretty much means your hired) and show up 10 minutes late to their scheduled time. And they can't figure out what they did wrong. One girl was so upset that she didn't get hired she dropped a few F-bombs on me on her way out of the building. She looked like she was on crack so I decided it wasn't a huge loss for the company. I get today and tomorrow off which will be good since I need to catch up laundry and clean my room. I also need to go out and buy clothes for work; orientation starts the 14th and we have to be in uniform. I'm looking forward to training and actually working as a server... but in the meantime I'm content getting paid to sit around all day...even though it could quite possibly be more boring than the Sherrifs Dept. at least I'm supposed to be talking to people. Can't wear my converse though. Oh well.

Soccer is going good. My Division 4 team had a game last Thursday. Even though we lost, we played really well and finally clicked as a team. This team is a lot more laid back than my D3 team, so usually the games are a little more fun because we can laugh at ourselves. Tonight I have a game with the D3 team and I'm going to try and get them to lighten up a bit. I think we would play better if everyone didn't take it so seriously, we'll see what I can do.

I ate chinese food for the first time in my life. Though, the guys say Panda Express doesn't count as chinese food and especially since I ordered "the whitest thing" I could... BBQ pork and fried rice. Which, I would have gone with steamed rice had I known the difference. I really hope it was pork I ate, it didn't really taste like pork.... I almost tried Salmon and Halibut last night, but I figured one new food experience was enough for the day.

I signed up for fantasy football today so you guys better watch out; I'm not settling for second place this time. That means, Pancho, no more trophy for you.

Ah, a severe thunderstorm warning was just issued for our county and a tornado warning is also in effect..........for our county.... sweeeeet.

Well, I suppose thats just about everything; or at least thats all I can think of at the moment. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying summer. Miss you all!

7/6/07

2007-07-06T08:28:00.000-06:00

"The Atlantic was born today and I'll tell you how
The clouds above opened up and let it out
I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere
When the water filled every hole
And thousands upon thousands made an ocean
Making islands where no island should go"

"Coming on strong Baudelaire...

2007-06-28T18:38:00.000-06:00

…seems to me like all the world gets high when you take a dare.
Can you feel the voltage?" I can!!!

Actually, all I feel this morning is pain. Last night I had two games and while I don’t care to discuss them in detail (mainly because we lost) I will tell you this: I am still pathetically out of shape. I have been running and getting more exercise than I intended (I’ll come back to this) but I still woke feeling like I had been body checked by a gorilla. Oh wait, that’s right. I was body checked by a gorilla. This same gorilla got in a fight with a guy on our team and things got a little out of control. I swear, some guys need to lay off the juice. So, other than sore muscles, 9 blisters (yes, count them) and a majorly messed up ankle, I’m doing pretty swell. Due to all the stupid blisters I went through a box of band-aids already. (I can almost guarantee my parents are laughing right now. When I was little “Santa” would put Band-aids in my stocking because I liked to wear them a lot; it was more a fashion statement than a bandage to me.) The ankle does hurt a ton though. I got kicked pretty hard, but good news is that the swelling went down and I have the best bruise I’ve ever gotten. Here is a picture of it:

Pretty gnarly huh?! The red spots are blisters.

Ok, back to the inadvertent exercising. On Tuesday night I went out to run and noticed there was a ton of lightning in one direction. As you all know, I am a fan of lightning and decided to run so I was facing the storm; I figured it was moving away from me. The lightning was relentless and there seemed to be a whole stretch of clouds where several bolts would all come down one right after the other in a line. I went further than I normally do when running but I didn’t want to turn away from the show. I kept going and going; I saw several people in lawn chairs sitting outside watching the same thing I was. The lightning was getting more frequent and seemed brighter than before. Eventually I stopped at a park just to sit and watch in awe. After a few minutes I realized that it was indeed getting brighter- actually, it was getting closer. I had thought the storm was moving away but I was very wrong. Soon, the bolts were crashing right over my head and I concluded that now would be a good time to head back home…quickly. I also decided it might be a good idea to work on my sprints, you know, for soccer. =/

When I got back to the house I still wanted to watch so I planted myself in the driveway, securely up against the garage door. I was out there for quite some time and I really couldn’t believe what I was watching. Bolt after bolt cracked through the sky. I was able to get a couple pictures on my cell phone (it only took me a couple tries too.) So I’ll throw them up on here. I wish I could better describe just exactly how awesome it was, but its one of those things were you have to be there to appreciate it. After awhile it started raining and then hailing, so I decided to go inside. Even at 2am I could still see flashes coming through my window. It was intimidating but most spectacular.

Getting back to running- on Wednesday I went out for a light run and was gone for just over 2 hours. I somehow managed to get hopelessly lost and spent most of the two hours walking around trying to find a street that looked familiar. After awhile I found my way home, so much for a “light” run. I found out yesterday that I ended up about 5 miles northeast of where I thought I was. Some of you might be wondering why I didn't just stop and ask someone. Here is why I didn't do that: For the first hour or so I figured I would find my way back soon enough. I mean, how far could I possibly have gotten, right? Well by the time I decided that maybe it wouldn't be so easy to find my way back, it was pretty late and most people had called it a night. I didn't want to knock on someone's door and I didn't really want to try stopping a car at 11pm. See how that makes sense?

A few other interesting things happened yesterday. There was a tornado warning for our area- how sweet is that?! Unfortunately, I never even saw a funnel cloud; I was disappointed to say the least. There was also a flash flood warning, which isn’t a big deal since I live up in the hills. I had my second interview with the GM for the restaurant I’m working for. (Texas Land and Cattle Steakhouse) I don’t get to be a bartender, but if I work hard I can eventually move up into that position. Guess that means I get to bust my ass, and strangely I’m looking forward to that. I hate sitting around not working; Though, I have made somewhat good use of my time. I’ve been reading a lot more than usual and I learned how to juggle. I also put up some posters- Mr. Cobain graces one wall and is being watched by Mr. Quixote a la Picasso. On another wall I had put up 50-something pictures of family and friends, but due to the fact that I bought cheap tape and my ceiling fan is on almost all the time, there are now only about a dozen left up on the wall. I was going to put the others back up with better tape, but now its sort of become a “who will be the last to survive” kind of thing. I'll let you know who wins.
This is Don Quixote.

The rest of this week is going to be slow. On Wednesday Joe and Maggie left for Iowa and won’t get back until Sunday; so it’s just been me and Aaron and sometimes Jeanie. She really could quite possibly be 38. I obviously can’t move past that.

Something I’ve learned this week: When living at home I really took things for granted, mainly the little things; good knives, cutting board, strainer… I miss those.

Quick shout out to the folks- today I received the greatest care-package ever!!! Contents included: Two churros from Costco (twice wrapped), Cocoa Puffs, Peanut Butter, Goldfish, Fortune Cookies, Jello, deodorant, Q-tips, several “scene” sections of the newspaper, my mail, and a little American flag. How cool are my parents?! However, in my excitement to open the box, I cut my finger pretty well with the knife. Good thing my new job offers benefits.

Well, that’s it for now. And look at that, I’m ahead of schedule.

Aliquando et insanire iucundum est

2007-06-23T11:38:00.000-06:00

It's Saturday morning and cartoons just aren't what they used to be. Actually, it seems as if the Disney channel has replaced cartoons with "sitcoms". So if my options are update my blog or watch a show starring Billy Ray Cyrus and his two kids, I think I'll take the former.

Life in the house is going pretty good and actually the little life I have outside the house is going good too. As some of you already know, the job hunt was off to a rough start. I decided to decline the job at The Egg and I, as flattered as I was that I was egg-material, I felt there was something else out there for me. After filling out countless applications I finally scored an interview at a bar and restaurant called Meadow Muffins. (Way back in the early 1900's it was a whore house, hence the name.) The interview went really well and the manager I was meeting with even agreed, but then informed me that they weren't hiring. Not only that, but they hadn't hired anyone new in a few years and they wouldn't be hiring anyone in the near future or so that he could see. I'm sure I had a puzzled look on my face and when upon asking him why he bothered interviewing me his response was a mumbled "errrmm, I don't know." I thanked him for wasting my time (well, I said "thank you") and left.

Another interview I had at a really posh, underground, lounge went so-so. By some miracle I remembered how to make a Rusty Nail, but I think my lack of knowledge for French cuisine may have kept me from getting the job. Oh well. At least this place was actually hiring.

I do have a job. It doesn't start for two weeks, seeing as they are still finishing the actual building. But the upside of that is I might get to be a bartender (should find out next week) and I will get to train with everyone else and not just be thrust into something new. So it looks like I will be making my employment debut at the Texas something something Steakhouse!!!

I'm on two indoor soccer teams and tonight I have two games. I can already tell you what tomorrow will be like and it will involve very little movement. I haven't been running regularly so I'm in for some sore muscles...

In other news, Joe (roommate #1) will be asking Aaron (roommate #2) to move out sometime next month. Why? Well, at first the reason was bad hygiene- which seemed to get a little better since Aaron recently got a girlfriend. But now it looks like she is just another reason he is being asked to leave. A few nights ago, they got in a spat around 4 in the morning. After 40 minutes of slamming doors, crying, screaming, and more slamming doors it ended with Aaron passing out on the porch and nameless girl passing out on his bed. But it looks like they have gotten over that because this morning when I saw that both Joe and Aaron were gone I was quite surprised to see Aaron's door open and out come nameless girl. The puzzled look I had at the interview I mentioned prior was now back for this. Now, I should mention that Joe, Luke (Joe's friend), and I had all been discussing this new girlfriend and rumor has it she is 38 years old. Aaron, in case your wondering is 23. Well, this morning I got a good look at her and I don't think she is 38 but I also don't think she is close to 23 either. I could be wrong, I'm not very good at guessing peoples age. Anyways, she introduced herself as Jeanie. So to make things more interesting Joe came back and when he saw that she was here and Aaron wasn't he was pretty unhappy. Between that and the fact that it smells like Aaron hasn't washed his sheets in six or seven months, it doesn't look like he will be with us much longer. I feel kind of bad for the guy, its not like he is a major jerk or anything. When I did manage to get him to talk a little, he seemed pretty nice. Guess we will see what happens. MOVING ON...

Here are a couple more things to add to my list of why I like it here:

1) Red Rocks- this is a music venue in Denver that is almost entirely made by nature. These big red rocks stick out of the ground forming a sort of circle around one main big rock. The acoustics are supposed to be amazing and the whole place is sort of this natural wonder. Joe and I are going to see the String Cheese Incident there- I'm pretty excited about it even though I don't know what the band sounds like. But it can't be any worse than what I heard at the Black Sheep... knock on wood.

2) Urbanness- While I would much rather live out in the country, being in the city isn't without some benefits. It's kind of nice to be 5 minutes or less to anything I could ever really need.

3)Foxes- Instead of gangs roaming the streets at night we have foxes. Packs of about 5 or 6 run around unafraid of people or dogs. Last night was the first time I got a really good look at them. It's so crazy, they lay down in the middle of the street, just chillin there. I want one.

4) Weather part deux- I know I already said the weather was cool, but I'm still amazed. While all of you in California are enjoying the sweatyness of the 100+ temp. I am basking in the all the glory of high 80's with a slight breeze. HA! Besides that, it's mostly the lightning that I'm in awe of. I bet the odds of getting struck by it are greater here than most other places. Annnnnd, come to find out that one only need go 30 more miles east to be in tornado territory.

And now for something I've learned #2:
One can survive solely on beer, frozen pizzas, and popsicles. (btw, this is not my diet)
(this whole section in general is becoming "something I've learned by having two male roommates")

Here are pictures of the rest of the house as requested.

living room.

dining room and door to back yard

kitchen- pretty clean huh? only because none of us like to cook

the freezer and fridge- i've come to love hot pockets (thats right pancho)

i was taking a picture of the kitchen when I saw this cute little squirrel on our fence.

and last but not least, the view of pikes peak from the driveway. It looks closer in person. Not much snow left on it anymore :(

Thats it for now, I'll try and be better about updating.
P.S. Thank you for all the letters and postcards, I really really appreciate it!

damn, i forgot my handkerchief

2007-06-14T18:21:00.000-06:00

One of the places I applied to was the Black Sheep, an underground live music place. According to the manager they aren’t hiring but I filled out the application anyways. Another guy that works there, Spencer, talked to me for awhile and seems very nice. He has his septum pierced and it’s not as distracting as I thought a septum piercing would be, though obviously I noticed it. Anyways, he invited me to come back later that night for the show. I obliged. Unfortunately for me my roommate, Joe, couldn’t go. Lucky him. Spencer got me in for free and I talked to a few people here and there, nothing of substance, mostly just music and about the bands that were going to play that night. I was actually pretty excited despite the type of crowd that was there. This was supposed to be a “big night” according to the guys that worked there. And 60 some people did seem to fill the place. Once the band took stage and started playing I knew what I was in for. The crowd didn’t deceive me, stereotypes here ring true.

There were 21+ people there; at least the bartender was busy. But the place was mostly cluttered with high school kids enjoying being “out” on a school night. If you wore tight pants, heavy eyeliner and sported the mostly-black-except-for-one-blonde-streak hair, and had a handkerchief as an accessory than this was the place to be- undoubtedly. The band started playing around 8. If you could call it a band, and if you could call it playing. I’m not saying they didn’t have any talent- it would be hard to know. The sound that came out of the speakers could only be described as extremely loud static with perhaps some sort of distant thumping (drums). Even when the lead “vocalist” wasn’t screeching at the top of his lungs, I couldn’t distinguish the guitar or the bass and most the time I couldn’t hear the drums. I stood there wondering if he even had lyrics or if he was just making noise. But with songs titled “Can you keep it down im trying to do drugs” and “you would be cute if you were a spleen” im not sure the content of his lyrics even mattered. They “played” probably about 8 songs all of which sounded the exact same. To my amazement the crowd seemed impressed. I desperately was hoping the second band would be better, and they were. Slightly. I could actually hear a distant rhythm in the background of all the screaming. Let’s just say they got two songs through and I was out the door.

I consider myself pretty open minded when it comes to music, I’ll give just about anything a listen. And I can respect music I don’t even like, because it does take talent. Even rap and hip-hop, while I dislike it, I have respect for it (little, but its there none-the-less). But this, this was not music. This was noise. For all I knew they didn’t even know how to play instruments. And there isn’t much to be said for the people that were at this place cheering on the bands. It was like I was trapped in a room full of clones. I couldn’t distinguish the guys from the girls. For trying to be “punk” or “emo” or “different” they all looked the freaking same. I have a distinct feeling that I was the only one not wearing skin tight, straight legged jeans and the only one that didn’t have hair strategically placed over half my face. They even started “moshing” in unison. Is this what Ive been heard called "scene"? Is this what they have reduced themselves down to? The "none trend" trend.

You lazy hipsters make me sick.

I will definitely do my homework before going to another show there. Make sure the band is actually playing “music” before I go in. I’ve learned my lesson on this one.

if colorado were a cracker, it would be a triscuit

2007-06-08T17:25:00.000-06:00

tomorrow will mark the end of week one in colorado, and its been fairly uneventful. ive managed to unpack and get somewhat "settled in". im still getting used to the idea of living in such a big city with so many people, houses, and streets that all look the same. dad, you would be proud of how many u-turns ive done this week, im pretty sure it blows your record clear out of the water. i have applied to a few restaurants and ive been given the grand opportunity of working at "The Egg and I" fine dining establishment. i'm aware that beggars cant be choosers, but its only my first week. but who knows, if i dont find something in the relatively near future there could be more egg in my future than i would care to admit.

anyways, despite my homesickness im trying to remain positive. so here is a list of the things i like:

1) pikes peak: pretty much anywhere i go i have an amazing view of this mountain still spotted with snow. it is absolutly beautiful and it keeps me sane.

2) chipotle: there are 7 within 10 miles of my house. the other day i waited over an hour in line with a can of green beans in hand....all for a glorious free burrito (and to make a donation). nothing tastes better than free chipotle.

3) my room: its smaller than i expected. its unconventional and cramped but i love it. in this big city with its 4 targets, 5 home depots, 7 chipotles, and 328 starbucks (im guessing)- my room is my own little cozy pocket.

4) weather: its rained, its been windy, there have been severe thunderstorm warnings, and yesterday.....it snowed!!!! and yet, everyday it has been sunny. im lovin this weather.

________

and now for something ive learned:
when sharing a bathroom with a guy, make sure to check for a) toilet paper and b) handtowel. apparantly my roommate uses neither.

here are some pictures of my room (this is mainly for danielle because im not good at describing the size of rooms. hopefully now she will leave me alone (: . )

this is what you see if you were to first enter the room. under my computer is a cardboard box being used as a bedside table. its fantastic. the thing over my window is actually a towel. i noticed a nail sticking out and since i dont have any hooks anywhere else... at least its not on the floor. (thats for you dad.)

here is a view of my closet and bookshelf. notice all my clothes are hanging up (after 5 trips to target for hangers, i kid you not). also, more boxes- 4 in total- being used in the closet as little shelves or something. the bookshelf i assembled myself, which was retarded of me. it turned out to be twice as tall as i thought it would be. 2 hours of cursing and chasing after little plastic screws and viola! fully stocked with all the crap i didnt know where else to put.

here we have my tv and videogames sitting on the only real furniture i took with me. isnt it nice? the door is serving as another hook, and the cardboard box here is only being used as a fire hazard.

and for the last corner of the room... from left to right we have: water, books, laundry basket (box), snowboard, and my other bedside table (another box).

this is my roommate's dog, maggie. she is such a sweetheart and enjoys laying on my bed. and on this chair. isnt she cute?

so there you have it, my first week in colorado. its not as cool as california, but we'll see how i feel next week. i miss everyone a ton!