I’ve been silent… but I have an excuse. August 24, 2008
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My grandmother’s house has no internet. I am living with my grandmothers house this summer while working for MSMWD (Mid-Sized Municipal Water District). This means that the only time I get to use the internet is at work. Which sadly makes it difficult to blog about… well, you’ve read my blog… just about nothing.
As far as this summer is going… Work is amazing, I have something resembling a love life (for once) and I love being able to spend time with my extended family. I also completely miss my friends and my sister, school, and my grandmother while I love her to death can drive me up a wall at times. So, it’s typical life. In all though it has been an awesome summer and I look forward to getting back to regular blogging. As it is I trek down to the Tully’s Coffee House here in Port Orchard, sit myself in the tall table by the window (experience has taught me that this table has the best internet connection) and do whatever it is I cannot do at work… generally read the questionable emails & links my sister sends me (thanks Kristin, I’d be ready to strip for that guy too. Gorgeous guys should not be allowed to join the priesthood… but that is another post).
This also was my hang out while watching the last few episodes of Doctor Who (Kristin now skip to next paragraph). So I would like you to picture this. You are walking into Tully’s to get you half-caff, non-fat, soy, extra foam, extra shot, white chocolate Mocha, you see this blonde sitting by the window with her fist pressed against her lips, eyes wide, possibly about to cry as she intently watches her computer screen. If this sounds familiar you probably saw me. I cried. A lot. I am going to miss Donna sooooooo much and as far as I care it almost would have been a better fate to have Donna die. I think she would almost rather die than go back to how she was before she met the Doctor. As for Rose. I guess she’ll be happy, and it works, but it is not him… it’s not. If anyone watches Doctor Who confidential I think Billie Piper said it perfectly. It just feels sooo wrong. Because no matter how you look at it, it still isn’t the Doctor. Now I just have to wait until 2010 *sob*.
Getting ready for a trip to Victoria with my Little Sis, Jesse. I booked the hotel today. Should be great fun. I’m looking forward to taking her out to a few bars and clubs. Seeing as we never get to do that stuff in Corvallis due to the drinking age (post on US drinking age and the recent discussion of lowering the US drinking age) and general lack of decent clubs.
I bought a new camera for the trip. Granted I’ve needed to go get a new camera since my last one died in January (with it’s lens open and extended, which is kinda like with it’s eyes open & you can’t close them). So I got a little Sanyo for less than $100. I don’t care if it’s the best camera on the market. I had 3 qualifications:
1. Takes pictures (in more detail I was looking for 8 mega-pixels, settled for 7.1 rather than spending the extra money for the 8… besides the 8 would have meant a few features would have slacked until I went up to about $160)
2. Cheap (I bought it at Walmart… I usually don’t shop there, but like I said I wanted it to be cheap)
3. Won’t break on me, unlike my last one. (Guy at the counter said he’d never seen a Sanyo returned. But he saw a lot of Kodaks returned.)
My little Sanyo fits these, so I’m good. And it is gold.
I will have more posts once I return to school, and my lovely studio apartment. See you all then!
19 days left… not that I’m counting May 23, 2008
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So so little time until I leave behind Cow-valley & the sweet scent of cow for… the scent of more cows.
The apartment situation is settled. I am staying in my lovely studio (which I am happy about considering the location and my lack of car) so I don’t have to move (double yay!) and my family is well-chuffed about me staying the summer with my grandmother since her health isn’t the best… to be honest she could be a case on “House”. They can’t figure out why she has a low red blood cell count. Thank god her bone marrow is OK (found that out Wednesday) and as far as they can tell it is NOT cancer. But they are worried about her losing consciousness and it makes my mom and her brothers a lot happier to know that someone will be in the house with her. Lately she’s been staying at her fiance’s (yes my grandmother is engaged… permenantly… think is has been… 7 years…???) or him at her house.
Detour. My step-grandpa died when I was 7. Grandma was single until I was about 12 then she dated this guy… we won’t talk about him… she left him and by the time I was 13 she met Bob. Bob is lovely. His wife had died two years before from cancer. He’s been a close friend of the family forever, he’s even the godfather of the younger of my uncles. Bob is this quiet, incredibly kind man, young at 76 (grandma is 66… yes I have a young family), and he is soooo very good to my grandma. And they are so obviously in love that it is adorable. I’m as excited about seeing him as the rest of my family.
I’ve had virtually no time with my extended family since I returned from England. Summer courses, the temporary job I had, and all other managed to prevent me from travelling to Washington to see anyone. So am I excited about leaving behind Corvallis for The Farm?
Hell yeah.
Odd Choice in Movies March 9, 2008
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Earlier today I was lounging around my room and what should be on PBS but a show about the g
olden age of musical films. This, of course, inspired in me an urge to watch a few of these classics. I called Hillary, one of my sorority sisters, and we agreed to meet later that afternoon to go rent and watch a few films. After a few hours we got together and walked to Hollywood. Once there we decided to rent GiGi (My choice), Roman Holiday (Not a musical, but a classic that Hillary had never seen all the way through) and Trekkies (The documentary on Star Trek fans, which Hillary insisted was somewhere between hilarious and scary. We got back and watched Roman Holiday first. Next was Trekkies, although the original intention was to save it for later. Rather than watch GiGi, some reference to Doctor Who came up and we ended up watching the final two episodes from series 2. Then three Catherine Tate skits. Are any of these actually linked to each other (well asid
e from Catherine Tate and Doctor Who)? No. But we didn’t seem to care. And yes, GiGi is still on top of my TV unwatched and my homework, undone. Awww, shit, better go work on my zine for Women’s Studies.
On another note, my mom came down to see Kristin and me. So my apartment got clean… Anyone noticing a pattern? Don’t worry, Kristin and Mom noticed it long ago.
Prayer Request February 27, 2008
Posted by smartblondece in Friends, God, Prayer, Sick, family.1 comment so far
I know not many people read this blog, but for those who may take a look and read this, and if you are the praying type: Someone very close to me has just gotten some bad news of the medical sort. If you could just pray for them, God will know who it is, I would really appreciate it.
Oh the Possibilities! February 27, 2008
Posted by smartblondece in Childhood, Civil Engineering, Pacific NW, Work, family.add a comment
I interviewed for an internship position with Acme Construction Company out of the Puget Sound area last Thursday. Acme Construction is a part Big Well Respected specializing in Heavy Construction, Marine Construction and some Industrial Construction. The projects are mostly located in Puget Sound (Well, OK, so only the marine stuff is actually IN Puget Sound, we’ll say in and around). I’m really hoping this works out but this seems highly competitive. If I were to get this position I’d be living with Grandma Pam this summer. Let me clarify what living with Grandma means. My Grandmother lives on a piece of land that was once a dairy. It is situated at the end of a valley that is still almost completely farm land. My famiy bought it back in the ’70’s. Built a brick house, dug a lake, and then my step-grandfather was paralyzed in a hospital accident. The farm was reduced in function and most of the land sold off. We still have a good amount of land, and the land that was ours was sold to neighbors, not developers. These days the only farming that goes on is a handful of cows, and calves, hay, my uncles two goats (Who are just so damn cute and know it, for they love showing off to passers by), and the occasional group of market hogs, although my uncle may stop doing that due to difficulties finding a butcher. But what the “Farm” still has, is a lake that has been improved since the original ’80’s lake, tennis courts, sand volleyball court, a 6 car garage with 1600 sq ft loft (studio apartment) above (which I might mention has an amazing view of the valley), my uncle’s house, his garden, and the brick house where my grandmother still lives (my step-grandfather died in 1994). This was the place where I grew up coming to. I was born in that town. I lived there for most of my early childhood. And when we weren’t in town we would spend many family vacations at the farm. Oh, did I mention I can be in Seattle in about an hour by ferry, which is an amazing way to travel, as Puget Sound is gorgeous. So maybe you see now why living there would be amazing.
I don’t want to diminish the internship. Big Well Respected is one of those companies that people want to work for. Hell, I want to work for them, and not just this summer. I would love to work for them in my professional career. I could learn a lot working for Acme Construction, and the work that they do, and where it is fascinates me. A lot of the challenges of working in the Pacific Northwest were what interested me in Civil Engineering in the first place (the CE in my sn is for Civil Engineering). There is a particular project that they are working on that I am fascinated by. I am praying that I get it. And I know I have a number of people praying and hoping for me, too. So, maybe God will answer those prayers and I’ll get it.
Missing England February 27, 2008
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In fact I miss it so much right now that it is actually painful. I miss everything there. I had a great group of friends (don’t get me wrong I love my friends here to death), I loved the land, the culture, and I think I loved the freedom I had living in Brighton. If I wanted to do something public transport was easy, or I could get into any club or bar without having to worry about being of age. I miss walking through the South Lanes just staring at old jewelery, clothes I couldn’t afford, and just people watching. I miss sitting on the beach listening to the waves, as pitifully small as they were, running over the rocks. I miss having London, easily one of the worlds coolest cities, so near, and so accessible. I miss the feeling that everything has been so well established. Here something is old if it was around during WWII. I miss how WWII was just The War. I miss the accents, their great variety and color. I miss the sense of humour, and the spelling, and the television (Oh, Doctor Who how I miss thee). I miss the trains. I would sit on a train, on my way somewhere new and I would stare out the windows at this absolutely beautiful country going by, inspiring me. I miss the creativity I felt there. I was inspired, and for what I write the land, the travel and the culture just continued to constantly feed me with ideas. And strangely enough, and my flatmates would agree this is strange, I even miss the tweeting midnight birds. At night in Oregon it is quiet. You open you window and you hear no tweeting birds. But in the South Downs they chirp back and forth to each other all night long. Like teenage girls gossiping at a sleep over. I miss jogging in the country, over bridle paths where I am all alone, and simply with me, nature, and God. That was pretty awesome. Here my town I am pretty much limited to the town itself. It’s not far out to remote places, but I have no car, and it is hard to get there with public transportation or a bike that really isn’t meant for anymore than city riding.
I’m not saying life in England was perfect. I missed my friends and family, I missed Oregon. I missed the remoteness you could get so easily, the ability to feel you were in an area so natural, very little is natural in England, sure there is the Peak District or the Lake District, but here in Oregon you can get amazing natural beauty that has been so unaltered, undeveloped, so readily. I missed big waves pounding into real stone (not chalk, as cool as those are) cliffs. And I missed the fog and clouds lingering in fir trees.
But I’m not sure I ached as much for Oregon as I do for Sussex. Maybe it was because I saw a definite end to my self imposed exile, or maybe Sussex will always be special to me. All I know is I miss it terribly.
The South Laines
I might just disappear… November 8, 2007
Posted by smartblondece in God, Missing England, Technology, What?!, family, school.1 comment so far
Been thinking a bit lately. To be honest I’m not really happy right now. There are a few things I am identifying as reverse culture shock (it’s been 4 1/2 months but it is still happening) and a few things that are nothing to do with that. One of my little weights on my shoulder, is something I’ve dealt with a lot before. I have slightly addictive tendencies. Thankfully this has not brought itself out in anything nasty such as drugs or alcohol or sex or gambling or anything else you might go to an anon meeting for. No this seems to come out in tv, the internet, The Sims and other things where I have a tendency to turn off my brain. Frankly, this is NOT good given my current amazing profession as a STUDENT. I need my brain to stay on. And to actually focus. I have not been focusing lately. I have been doing very little focusing. This is something I struggle with and probably always will. Not ADD. I know what I need to do, I just generally avoid doing those things in favor of the addictions listed above.
I am happiest when I am productive, close to God (I’m a Christian, I don’t talk about it much. Don’t really feel I need to. But I may more sometime not so soon… yes there is a point to this rambling) and when I feel in control of my life. But right now I don’t feel like I do. In fact I don’t feel like any of those things. I do not feel on top of anything and here is my big reason. I am spending too much time on this computer, on my bed, watching TV. I am not happy. I’m NOT happy! So why does that feel so friggin’ good to type? I don’t want this to be my life. And here’s the thing. This, how I am living right now isn’t what I want.
And I don’t need Doctor Phil, any life coach, self help book, or Pastor to tell me what to do. I wish I could say God told me. But no, my mom told me. And not anytime recently. No, she told me everyday as I grew up and never directly (or at least never as it sunk in with verbal enforcement). If I want to change it only I can. I need to get up off my arse and actually do something. My mother gave me that common sense. And if I learned anything while I was in England it was this: My mom is generally right. OK, not always but when it comes to a lot of things it’s generally a good idea to listen to my mom, to look at what she does, or at what she would want me to do. My parents have raised me, offered me every opportunity, and not so this would be my life. No, they wanted better for me. And here’s the thing. I want better for me.
This isn’t working. What I’m doing now. It’s just not. So here it is. A radical idea this day in age, among people in our age group. I’m turning off the computer. Granted, I am also a college student so perhaps I need to qualify this statement. I need the computer, the internet ect… for my school work. I need it to communicate with my classmates and my profs. So, tonight I turn it off and I only turn it back on to do homework, and check e-mails. I’ll work something out with iTunes, since it’s kinda my version of the radio. Maybe have it on but not allow iTunes store shopping. I just know I need a radical change right now.
Why stop there. Justin recently told me I watch too much telly. And after all he’s right. No more. I get wrapped up in stories. Thankfully with novels you have to wait a while if it’s a series in progress, or it just ends. No these shows that I get addicted to, they go on and on. Each week a new installment. I’m breaking these addictions. I don’t need them. And I am better than this. I am better than this life I am in right now. And here’s the thing. The life I should have, the life I have worked hard to get is right here. So close that I kinda float through it each day. I am sick of this. And here’s another thing. I miss God. And He hasn’t really gone anywhere. I just haven’t talked to Him in a really long time. So here it goes, heres the plunge. And if you don’t see me for a while, if I disappear… it’s because I’m out living my life.
Spring Break February 6, 2007
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The Meeting House at Dawn
My spring break plans are coming together! I am so excited this will be a great month. First I leave the day after classes end and I am going to Paris with my friend, Diane. Diane is among the many French students studying here at Sussex. Her family lives outside of Paris and I’ll be staying with them for a week. I just bought my ticket and I psyched beyond all else. After that I have three days off of traveling and then my mom, Larry, and Grandma Jeanne come to visit. We’re gonna travel a bit here in England while they are here. They leave and the next morning my dad arrives at Heathrow so I get to battle the London Underground during weekday morning rush hour to go meet him. 
We’re going to see a bit of England before my dad and I catch a cheap flight somewhere. Probably Spain and Portugal. After a winter in Oregon my dad wants sun. I on the other hand have been living in Sussex so I think I’ve seen more sun than rain. And I will return to England in time for the start of summer term (what we call spring term in Oregon) at US.
