Musings on a Brighter Future

This is ridiculous. I'm in the library with hours of access to a great, high-speed desktop computer. I ventured here for the express purpose of preparing for my interview in two days. Instead of researching and taking notes, I have been looking at all sorts of other stuff on the Internet: information about nursing programs, my pregnant cousin's pictures on her blog, job postings on the UW website, salary information for various career pathways. Of course, Facebook and Gmail factor highly on the list, as well. But back in college, I used to procrastinate using solely those two websites as my distractions, plus the occasional joke website or cute Lolzcat picture. Now, after spending 2 hours on a computer without having tackled my interview prep, I feel that though I'm putting off my main goal, it's not a waste of time because I have not merely been browsing but actively researching. Thinking about things like the future, which in college my brain simply did not have time to process. I was too busy looking at the trees to notice the forest, too preoccupied with waiting for everything to slow down to wonder if I would hate it when it finally did.

And I'm there now. I'm working and it's boring. I have held the same weekly volunteer position for nearly 3 years. I live in the same house as last year. All my life, my circumstances have changed every fall, and I accepted it as frenzied but normal. All of a sudden, normal has become this feeling of treading water. Not regular water, either. Something thicker that inhibits movement. Oatmeal, perhaps?

Perhaps this is what settling down feels like. I'm not ready for it. Will I ever be? I can't answer that now, but I can set myself back on the track I used to ride, and see where it takes me. And that's exactly what I intend on doing.

Back from the Bay Area

And it was wonderful.

I'll add some more stories on here soon when I get a chance. Yesterday coming back was one of the weirdest days I've had, ever. A lot of funny things happened that make for great tales, and I'm hoping to share them all with you in the near future. But of course, life goes on in the interim, and I have lots to do in the next days. Tomorrow will be spend having a grand old time, since I have, oh, let's see, FIVE different events scheduled. FIVE. All with different people or groups of people. Should be a good time. Busy, but good.

Thursday will be spent mostly at work, which I did not expect. But that will allow me to have Friday off, and that shall be most excellent, as it will allow me to *hopefully* get my butt down to Oly and hang out with my family.

and THEN I will work every day from Saturday until Wednesday, 4:30 to midnight. Oh, the joys of a menial summer job. Sigh.

Next weekend I will hopefully pop up to Vancouver to see my German host father, who is going there on a business trip and will be staying for two weeks. The Bob Saget show is also that weekend, on a Friday, and I am REALLY excited for that.

Wow, so much to do. I love SUMMER!

Kyla is in San Francisco

And it is fantastic!

I got in yesterday afternoon, although it seems like I've been here longer. I took the BART to the city center, and then a bus to the neighborhood where I'm staying. My dear friend Tina is letting me stay the weekend at her lovely apartment near Russian Hill. Yesterday, we strolled through Fisherman's Wharf, shopped at Union Square, and admired the city from the top of a hill. We went to the flagship H&M, which I was excited about since I hadn't been to one since living in Germany. Dinner was really good, cheap Indian food near Union Square. Tina is also letting me use her digital camera while I am here, since I forgot to bring mine. When we got home, I was exhasted from all the activity and the travel from Seattle, so I napped for half an hour and then we watched Stranger than Fiction, which was a wonderful movie.

Then today, Tina left for work earlier than normal so she could be out early as well. I took my time getting ready, making a few calls and taking a shower. I left the apartment at noon and made my way down to Chinatown. I snapped pictures of the sloping streets virtually covered in signs and slogans, all in Chinese, and was tempted by numerous trinket shops. I ended up buying a BBQ pork roll and a sesame bun, both of which were delicious, and then I walked to City Lights, an independent bookstore that is both historical and rad. I could have spent all day in there, but in the interest of seeing more of the city, I moved on after an hour or so. From there I walked down Columbus until I hit Lombard Street, and walked up the hill to the section that is supposedly the curviest piece of road in the US. Or something like that. It was pretty curvy - basically a set of switchbacks for cars. Then it was time to meet Tina, so I hopped a bus to the Mission. We killed time until 5:30, which is when the Country Station Sushi restaurant opened. This was by far the raddest part of the day for me (City Lights took a close second). This place looked like a run-down hole-in-the-wall type of place from the outside. Inside, decorations covered every wall and most of the ceiling and chair backs. There were only 8 or so tables, and the sushi chefs were young, cute and already working on making sushi behind the counter that overlooked the rest of the small restaurant. They yelled out a friendly greeting as Tina and I walked in, following the waitress who had just flipped the homemade sign to "open". Japanese punk music played from the speakers above. The place had an open-air, urban feel to it, and I found it wonderful. The food itself was equally amazing, featuring handmade gyoza stuffed with a fantastic non-meat filling, and a "dizzaster" roll wih salmon and mango. Sadly, this place will be closing at the end of June, which I can't imagine because it is really a fantastic restaurant. But I'm glad I got to experience it.

Now, Tina and I are taking a break and resting before it's time to go out tonight. We will be going to a thing called Blow Up, which looks insane. Hopefully we'll take some pictures and post them on the internets... probably Facebook. I'd better go and get my resting on so I'll be ready for tonight's craziness. More updates later, but until then, you can just assume that I'm having a super fun time down here in the City.

Yesterday was a really weird day. Actually, this week has been a little bit strange, all in all...

Wednesday I went to College Inn for international night, but hardly anybody shows up anymore. I guess it's kind of hard when there's so much homework to do, and so much to take care of before everybody goes back to their respective countries... But I did get to catch up with an old friend, and that in itself made the night worth it. (And worth the fact that I had to get up early the next day to finish my homework.)

Yesterday was a day full of randomness. After finishing my assignment, I went to class and was unusually attentive and engaged in the material. After class, I spent some time with Jeff, which hasn't happened much lately because I've been busy and he's been sick. (Actually, I think I'll go visit him at his house after this...) Then I studied for a bit with Andrea at Cafe on the Ave. We had Mochi and enjoyed the sunshine while trying to work on our stuff. After this, I went to Lucas' house and watched Waking Life, a really awesome movie. We talked through parts of it, but it was nice to watch a movie on something so ethereal as dreams, and to talk about them. According to Lucas, if you sleep through half the night, and then wake up and stay up until you are fully awake, and then go back to sleep, you are much more likely to have a lucid dream. A lucid dream is where you're in your dream, and you're aware that you're dreaming, so you're able to control everything that happens in the dream. Imagine the possibilities... I think I might try to have one of these lucid dreams sometime soon.

After the movie, I bopped out to the Freemont fire pit to sit around a campfire and play violin with some of my cousin's friends from SPU. It was rad! Apparently they do this on a fairly regular basis. I shall have to come with them again sometime. Then my cousin came with her .83 friends straight from their bike ride. I've never been on a .83 ride, or even Critical Mass, so I got to talk with them about it and find out a bit more about the different programs and offerings. Some of us rode back to the U-District together, which was cool because it was kind of an introduction to .83 for me. I think I'm ready to ride with them...

Then I hung out with a few friends from work, because Erica turned 21 last night and it was time to buy her drinks. Actually, buying her a drink was my main goal of going to the bar they were at, but she declined, saying she'd had enough for the day, and asked me to wait until tomorrow to buy her a drink. Besides that, it was pretty fun. It was already late, though, by the time I got back to the U-District, and by the time we settled in at Finn's, it was 1 AM already. Makes me mad that Seattle bars close by 2! But, whatever. Gotta uphold the peace, or something. I can go to New York or Vegas (or Europe, for that matter) if I want to stay out all night.

Just got a call from Jeff - his cousin's finally here. Which means I gotta run so I can (finally) meet him. Have a good weekend and if you get down, just watch the video I posted in my last post. Man. Make me laugh every time.

Today and yesterday were absolutely GORGEOUS. The rest of the week is supposed to be all right, too. For once a good-weather week! Yoo hoo!

Of course, the onset of good weather brings with it a number of bad things. Jeff is sick, and I've caught something too, although I'm not entirely sure it's the same thing he's got. (I didn't see him hardly at all since Thursday, the day he started showing symptoms.) My roommate and her boyfriend are also infected. Then, as a I learned today from a frat friend of mine, it turns out that Greek Week is upon us. This means that not only do I have to spend most of my time sleeping and studying, but I also have to ignore the drunken din of partygoers in the alleyway while doing it. Nice. I got a taste of this walking home tonight from Jeff's house. Small groups of Greeks were scurrying away from a party on 19th. Looking at the first group of girls, who were wearing booty shorts and mid-driff halter tops, I thought they were dressed extraordinarily skanky. But as I got closer to 19th and 45th, I realized that everyone was wearing bathing suit tops and/or bottoms, and most people had bits of foam on their bodies and in their hair. Turns out the cops had just busted a foam party. I thought this was all a bit extreme for a Tuesday, given the number of people who were there, but then I remembered it was Greek Week. Sigh.

Okay, time to study. But here's a few more things:
- RENT tomorrow! EXCITED!
- Jeff's mom, aunt and cousin are visiting on Friday!
- We are going to do something fun this weekend, before the Germans all leave us to go home! Breakfast, maybe, or a trip to the Science Center or SAM. Something...
- I get to finally meet Jeff's cousin! I feel like I practically know him already from all of Jeff's stories about him.. He'll be here for a whole weekend!
- I like exclaimation points!

Last post was the 600th one on this blog. Happy belated blog day... to me.

Today was a good day. None too efficient, but I managed to entertain myself quite well. Went to play class for two hours and had fun playing the improv game where you re-dub old movies. In German, this managed to be hilarious, as we were dubbing German over an old kung fu movie. I guess you kinda had to be there. (lots of my stories have ended that way lately. Is that a bad sign?)

I also played frisbee, went on a small bike ride and had a chat with an old friend on a balcony overlooking Lake Union. It was pleasant, to be sure, but now I know I should probably be at the library. And I really don't want to go... it would mean I'd have to put more clothes on. And I am usually opposed to putting clothes on.

This weekend looks promising. My sister is coming up to hear the Senate play on Friday with me, and then Saturday we will hopefully go hiking. If that doesn't sound awesome, I don't think your definition of awesome is correct.

Speaking of awesome, I am on the verge of buying plane tickets for a weekend in San Francisco in June. I've never been there, and Tina says she'll put up with me for 3-4 days, so I'm 99% sure I'm going to go ahead and do it.

Alright, time to blowdry my hair and get going to the library.

drowning in skooooooooooool

got the day off today. it's been nice. went to coffee with Andrea nice and early, got some schoolwork done, bought 2 shirts for 2 dollars, went to the farmer's market, saw a coworker I hadn't seen for a while and heard some good news. am now cooking pork roast and cleaning my room (the second part is debatable). waiting for dad to call me back. tonight is kevin's 21st birthday party, and it's at my house. don't gotta go anywhere, the party's coming to me. sweet.

all in all, a rather nice day. am not looking forward to going to work tomorrow. or to school on monday. but that's how it goes.

sorry the video below is gone due to copyright. it was pretty funny... you can probably find it on the original website somewhere if you didn't get the chance to see it.

Hi.

I'm still here. Just haven't posted much.

Things are going okay. The new quarter is in its second week, and I have two midterms next week (!!!). Work is fine, too; our reviews are next week and I'll probably get a raise again. Which means more motivation to stay on, even though I am growing tired of the work. I was pulled aside by a manager yesterday for some "training", which is a little late, considering I'm in my 7th month of working for TJ's. We basically went through a checklist of stuff that I knew by the 3rd week. And he gave me a few pointers on how to improve my overall score at my review, like buffing up on product knowledge and finishing work quickly so I can help the managers more by asking for another task. This all sounds like brown-nosing to me, and I won't do it. Besides, I already got the maximum raise last time. I must be doing something right.

In other news, my skin is driving me crazy. I need to go to a doctor. Self-medication isn't doing the trick. I wonder if I'm allergic to something? Dairy? Wheat?

Niko is back from California, and I think he's actually at my house right now. He leaves for Germany tomorrow. :( So I'm going to go welcome him back, and hang out with him, and make an omelette, and probably do some schoolwork.

So. Spring break. Oh man.

My break ended up being a lot of things I didn't expect. Actually, I made a list of all the things I wanted to do while on break, and today I took a pen and checked off the ones I actually got to, just to create a small sense of accomplishment. The result? Out of 13, I only got to 3 of them. I also had a list of the people I never get to spend quality time with, and from that list, I only hung out with 1/2 the people.

But there were a few surprises during the break, too. Here's a run-down of the main events, in chronological order:

1. Redecorating the living room. Ashley and I were home together on Thursday (the day after my last final) when we came up with a brillant plan: it was time to make the living room a more friendly place to live. So we got up the next morning and biked to Ballard on the search for materials (and fresh, gooey bread). We were successful on both counts and we managed to bring back paint, skull-and-crossbones curtains, pink ribbon, and other little tidbits. The rest of the day was spent painting and drinking beer in celebration of the end of finals.

2. Vancouver trip. Ronda and I have an awesome friend from Germany staying with us. Sadly, he leaves tomorrow, but he had all spring break to chill with us and see some of Seattle. We did the usual Pike Place and Space Needle thing, and then Ronda and Niko revealed that they were hoping to take a road trip to Vancouver, BC. So I got someone to cover a shift for me, and we called up my good friend Rick from high school, who goes to school in BC and was nice enough to let us stay with him. Unfortunately, it rained pretty much the whole time we were up there, but what can you do. I mean, c'mon. It's Vancouver. It's gonna rain. We went to the aquarium, which was totally rad, and saw belugas and sea lions and otters and jelly fish. They even had a small zoo section to go with the tropical fish section, and Ronda got birdcrapped on in the bird sanctuary. The aquarium was definitely a highlight.

3. Party at my place. We don't throw parties at our place often enough, I think. I mean, we have a pretty big house and it's centrally located smack-dab in the U-District. I don't know if I'll ever live in another place so well-suited to parties. Anyway, this party came about because one coworker of mine decided 2 months ago to have a party, but didn't know where to have it, since his apartment was too small. I agreed to have it at my place, and so it was on. Usually parties that are planned so far in advance get hyped too much and they end up not living up to expectations. But this one was awesome, if I do say so myself. Lots of dancing, and lots of coworkers who I always want to hang out with but hardly ever get the chance because we have work and school all the time. Everyone gave compliments on how much fun the party was, and it's pretty much all we talked about at work today. And damage was minimal: sure, the house was covered in bottles and cans this morning, but I cleaned it up today in a matter of a few hours. There was no vomit, no broken furniture (save possibly for the disco ball), and nothing stolen outside of a few beers that were not designated for the party, and a little ice cream that belonged to my roommates. Anyway, I socialized for a good 3 hours, and then started taking dance breaks, and then switched almost entirely to dancing until nearly the break of dawn. Basically, it was awesome and I had a great time.

So that's my spring break in a nutshell. Tomorrow is the first day of school again, and it's going to be... well, school. Sigh. But I'm taking 3 bio classes and a German play class, so at least now I'm taking a schedule where I'm interested in all the things I'm learning (as opposed to last quarter, when I had physics). Wish me luck for my first day back!

Hi guys!

It's been a while since I've said anything on here. And since I have Internet access and only an hour until I have to have my PowerPoint slides ready so I can meet with my presentation group, I thought, "what better time than this to blog again?"

Actually, I should probably work on that PowerPoint stuff. But I'll do a little update, because I am a procrastinator and you guys should know how things are going for me:

-The end of the quarter is upon us. I have 2 finals, and one is a take-home, so not a lot of stress. I'm excited for next quarter, so I'll be glad when this one is done.

-No closure on the Birds vs. German Play class debate yet. I have to go see an advisor about that one.

-No big spring break plans, except that NIKO IS COMING and I'm really really really excited to see him! So I will pick up an extra shift in the next two weeks so that I am working 28 hours each week instead of my usual 21 a week.

-Jeff makes me happy :)

-There is a lot to do on Friday night: Sara's birthday party, and a coworker's party as well. Problem is, I work early the next morning (at 4 am). So I'll go to dinner with Sara, but I probably will have to skip out early on Dante's.

Okay, I guess I'll get back to assembling my PowerPoint stuff. Bleh. Have a good day!

This show is an obvious rip-off of The Daily Show. I don't think it will enjoy any of the widespread success that The Daily Show enjoyed (and, to some extent, still does), and it will probably prove to be nothing more than a feeble attempt on FOX's part to create a popular, intelligent, engaging show, even at the risk of being unoriginal. (Note to FOX: You had an original, witty show with Arrested Development! Why did you drop that wonderful gem?)

I've been feeling very contemplative lately, but too busy to think through my thoughts. Tomorrow I'll be cross-country skiing my way through the mountains, and hopefully the cold air and the natural beauty will bring me some moments of clarity. So I'd better go get some sleep!

I skipped my 2 morning classes today to work on a really hard ecology assignment. Horray!

I got a package in the mail today from my lovely German host family! Complete with pictures, CDs and Haribo! Hooray!

I'm going to eat a quiche, go to class and get my stuff done, and then come home and nap! HOORAY!

Peyton Manning! Congratulations Peyton Manning. You win!

Best Quarterback, ever!
Awesome!

This post dictated by Jeff.

Now on to Kyla's part (not written by Jeff):
Work was ok. I got my review from one of the managers. It went well, and I got a 50 cent raise, so I'm happy. I'm a good worker! Yay.

I want a pot pie for dinner.

Going out tonight with friends from work. Half price night at Finn's! Also, I've stopped using hypens. They're dumb. (see if you can find the two points in the post where I should have used them)

That's about it. School's fine, work's fine. Anything besides that is stuff I'm not going to post on the Internet. so ha.

Just when I thought I couldn't get any weirder with my lunch habits, I went a step further. This is by far the most, um, interesting lunch I've ever prepared for myself. It consists of the following (in the order that it occured to me that I should make and eat/drink them):

-hummus and sharp cheddar sandwich on whole wheat bread;
-spinach salad with goat cheese, walnuts, cranberries, and lemon ginger sesame dressing;
-orange juice;
-the last chunk of filet mignon from a few days ago;
-chile spiced mango, and
-a cup of chicken broth.

Once any of the aforementioned items was on the list, it didn't occur to me that I should take it off. Why should I? It's all good stuff, and if I don't eat it soon, it'll probably go bad. But I'm pretty sure I didn't have to eat it all right now. (Except that meat. Its days were definitely numbered.)
As it stands, I might not have any appetite whatsoever for the salad. But it's the healthiest part of this excuse for a meal, so I'd better save some room.

Last night, I read one of the best blog posts I've ever read. Actually, this girl's whole blog is good. An excerpt which I found particularly funny, if only because it relates to my life rather well:

Christmas treated me well this year, bringing me an irresistably adorable little digicam, Trivial Pursuit (Genus VI!), a wad of sweet green, and some atomic alarm clock that my mother ordered from her Big Catalog of Needlessly Complicated Gadgets and Oddities. Considering that my morning routine consists of an hour long conversation with my snooze button, in which I trade off increasingly necessary hygienic-upkeep activities in exchange for nine minute naps, I'm not really sure I need a (radioactive) timepiece that utilizes the same technology used by the world's preeminent nuclear physicists, but gift horse/mouth, etc.

You can read more of this girl's stuff here.

On Wednesday night, we watched a movie that Jeff has been hawking for a while. It's called The Room, and it is the single most hilariously horrible piece of cinematic disaster that I have ever soon. Watch it. Now.

Alright, physics homework time. Then bubble tea later... and a night of fun for Andrea's birthday. It's going to be niiiiice.

Today, Ashley and I combined our resources and did some trading: I gave her a latte, and she gave me pasta and pinto bean soup. I think it was definitely a fair trade.

I hate the UW bookstore, and I'm getting angry with the amount of stuff I have to buy there. You better believe I'm keeping those receipts. Even if the rebate comes back as store credit instead of a check like it used to, I'm still happy to get all the money back from them that I can. Oh well, it's all for my education, right?

What a better name for this than Hot Cock Sauce? I had it on my lunch today, and it was glorious. Some people call it Rooster Sauce, but I think I'll stick with Hot Cock. Sauce.

Time to go to work! YAY.

Work today wasn't too bad, considering that I covered a shift that I didn't really have to. As a result, I got two benefits:
1. Some really nice filet mignon that was going to tossed out since it was almost at the expiration date, and
2. The knowledge that I'll have Friday and Saturday off next weekend, and I only have 2 more shifts to work this week! (Thursday and Sunday, to be exact.)

But of course, there's homework to be done now, and so little time to do it (I have class tomorrow at 8:30 am!!!). Also, I need a shower, because I's smelly. Better get going on all that...

If you don't believe in global warming, then answer me this: Why is it -1 degrees celcius in Seattle right now, and 8 degrees in Stuttgart? Huh? That is just wack, yo.

Looking forward to the Senate show tonight - it's going to be rockin'. Gonna dance the night away and have a good time. In those two respects, the party at Erica's last night was outstanding as well. Lots of dancing to awesome music. Two of my favorites were a Flogging Molly song and Bombs over Baghdad - my dreads flew. Can't wait to see the pictures from that.

Right, well I have to get going if I'm going to be ready for the show in time. Later.

There's something about today that makes me feel worthless, but in an existentialist kind of way. Like, even if I could change and make myself worth something, it would be useless because there's no point anyway. I'm not saying this is true, but it's how I feel.

Feelings have been ruling my life a lot lately. I'm not sure I can deal with the consequences very well.

Last night was an exercise in randomness. A boy with a tendency to neglect his body in pursuit of his inner self showed up at my door, nearly frozen to the core after 6 hours of wandering Seattle on foot in the cold with minimal outerwear. He provided me with deep conversation and intense ramblings about life, love, and God in exchange for the use of a sweatshirt and a blanket, a place to sit indoors, a PBJ sandwich, and a cup of chicken broth. Two quick hours later, our mutual friend called to collect him, and we met up for bubble tea on the Ave. Later, some Arrested Development with a friend and a roommate, making arts and crafts with one and cuddling with the other. As a result of all this, none of my schoolwork got done. Looks like I'll have a lot to do this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, there are good times ahead. Naturally work will be in the mix, but outside of that there are some highlights: a party with my Trader Joe's peeps, a Senate show that will be rockin', and a day off on Monday for MLK Jr. Day. I'm thinking about signing up for something on that day, but then, refer back to paragraph #1 of this post. And then of course, there's today, which I might devote entirely to schoolwork. But that remains to be seen.

Alright, time for German class, and then I get 3 days off from school.

Wow. Last night was ridiculous. I feel like I'm on break again, which would be nice if it were true. But as it stands, I have homework to do. And I have work today and tomorrow. Grr.

So, yesterday. I got out of class at 12:30, and Jeff and I went downtown to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were really cool. We also got to look around at other parts of the Pacific Science Center, and we had fun competing against each other on things like grip strength testing and reaction time, and just basically playing on the exhibits and trying not to say bad words in front of the numerous children present.

After viewing the exhibit, I was due to eat dinner with Javod, Andrea, Bijan, Daniel, and one of Javod's med school friends. After much deliberation, we settled on Cedars, which would have been a ridiculous wait had a table for 6 not opened up 5 minutes after our arrival. The food was, of course, delicious, and we brought home leftovers. We decided to come to my house and hang out for a while after dinner, and we were pleasantly surprised to see that there were already 4 people in the living room when we got there: Ash, Ben, Fletch, and Joel. Max called and ended up coming over too, and drew us a wonderful new crest for our house (since apparently the old one needs to be burned). Various people kept coming and going, including our delightful neighbors and Andrea's brother's friends, and it turned into a party of sorts, minus the music (which, in hindsight, might have been nice).

And now it's 2 pm, I have work at 4:30, and I have a shower to take and some reading to do before that hour arrives. Better get going!