is not easy. I thought it would be. But I guess since I'm only here for a month and have fairly specific requirements for the type of job, it's not surprising that I don't have anything yet. It's just really frustrating because I love being busy and I have this incredible future that is so close I can taste it, but just not quite there and I have to sit on my butt for a month instead. It's also frustrating because I think how much money I could be making if I was only working at this moment and how much I'm going to need it as soon as I get to Santa Barbara...
Well the encouraging thing is that Christa's mom told me that she used to live there and she said that getting a bike is the best thing to do. (I have no money to buy a car yet) And that you can put your bike right on the bus, which is even better! I will be in such good shape once I get out there.
So all I can do is think about California (can you tell? I sorta have a one-track mind) and sit in my house doing piddly things like emptying the dishwasher and re-vamping my shoes to turn them into fairly comfortable dancing shoes.
Ooh which leads me to ... I have a date! Well, I'm not banking much on it because it's the same guy that I went out with over Christmas, the French guy named Marc. He's not exactly reliable, but after Christa, Jon, and Danny and I went dancing last weekend I called him up b/c he's a fabulous dancer and teaches at the place we went to and all that jazz. So we're supposed to go dancing on Thursday but who really knows if that will happen or not. But still an exciting prospect to go dancing w/ someone that really knows how but that will be patient with my lack of skills.
I think this week also sucks because Christa just left for Prague and Jon's not back yet from his travels so I have no one to hang out with. Which is totally not true at all - in fact I have a list of people that I need to call this week, but it just seems that way because they're not people I hang out with all the time. Hmm okay out of my interview clothes and on to the many household chores that await me. Joy.
It is really easy to make me happy. My birthday was one of the best I've had and it was perfect for all the little reasons:
- Christa made buttons to wear when we went out and mine said "Birthday Girl"
- scavenger photo hunt - need I say more.
- Matt sent me an article on twins
- Preston and Angie came!
- I was dubbed the Goddess of .... something. Dang, I should remember this better.
- The bars we went to (with the exception of Coyote Ugly) were classy, quiet, and unique. We even had a mini-trip back to Europe!
- I barely got tipsy, which is an indication that night was truly fun just because I was with my favorite people.
- We ate at Waffle House
- We had quite the collection of awful pick-up lines including, "Where would you shop around here?"
- Jonathan put two postage stamps on the card he sent me just to make sure that nothing would get in the way of it getting to me.
- The bartender paid for my drink.
- I wore my green shirt
That's about it. It was just the right mixture of low-key and all-about-me. Haha. I mean, I gotta be honest, right?
Christa's leaving in less than a week :( But she will have the time of her life, so it's okay!
These are a good document of the trip.
Christa is excited about driving in the mountains, but is being a good girl and keeping her eyes on the road.
It's 5:15 am. I'm feeling and looking a little rough. 
Once I got home, I crashed for the rest of the day. But look at my fun t-shirt!!
Well, the trip to Asheville and Biltmore for the 15K was a complete success, if an "adventure", as Christa's family apparently likes to call all the things that go wrong during their vacation.
Christa and I actually had a really fun time and although we may have gotten frustrated, since nothing was really a big deal, we just laughed it all off. I introduced Christa to Jon and Patrick's game of the British 10pm-12am Cursing and Punctuation. It's really just a way to let off steam. We got to Biltmore and our hotel fine on Saturday and were right on time at 4:00 to check in. Then the fun started...
After going about 25 miles in the wrong direction to get to downtown Asheville, we turned around and went in the right direction and continued on our way. By this time, I was semi-hungry. We parked in downtown at 5 and decided to find a place to eat (keep in mind we have a big race the next day and need carbs). Well, the only decent place we can find is Mellow Mushroom, which for my lovely companion that cannot eat wheat, was completely out of the question. At this point, I am very hungry. So we drive out of downtown - which by the way is very hard to navigate - and get to Asheville Mall (after another 20 minutes). Christa really wants Outback Steakhouse, but we have no idea where one could be, but Ellen confirms that there is a Carrabba's nearby. I have the bright idea to call 411 to get the number of Carrabba's so we can get in right away when we get there. I call, they say.... there's a one-hour wait. Right, it's Saturday night at 6:00. S*%$. As the British would say.
Oh, there's more. We have to make several u-turns to get to the stupid restaurant that is completely invisible from the road and then finally decide to order out and wait for the food for 20 minutes and then chow down in our hotel room. By this time, I'm ravenous. I decide that it's a good idea to order an appetizer, a salad, and a huge pasta dish because I could eat a cow about now. It also seems a good idea that while waiting we should get dessert to bring back to the room. And Glory be! there's a Dairy Queen right up the road. Hah... we totally ate the entire Blizzard before we even got back to the restaurant - talk about spoiling your appetite. As we're driving past the Dairy Queen, we see a sign for Outback.
oh the IRONY!!!
Despite the fact that by the time we got back to the room, we had been driving for 3 hours, I had completely ruined my appetite, and I was facing a huge meal, it was amazingly delicious. It was one of those times when food just tastes so good simply because you had to work for it.
Needless to say, Megan, we missed you a lot.
So we got up on Sunday morning at 5:00 AM. That's right. The race started at 7:20 and we were encourage to get there early, so we were there about 1 hour and 50 minutes before the race actually started. But we got to see a sunrise over the Biltmore grounds and it was gorgeous. It is impossible to describe what it's like to run a race like that unless you've actually done it. By mile 7, I was ready to stop running. By mile 8, the only reason that I was still running was that I was on automatic pilot and my legs didn't know how to do anything else. The scenery was spectacular, we got to run right in front of the house and up two HUGE hills, and all around the grounds and gardens. It was the best run of my life. I achieved my goal of running about an 11 minute mile and ended up running for 1 hour and 40 minutes (and some seconds).
The rest of today I have spent doing absolutely nothing. My entire body has shut down and gone on strike after what I did to it this morning. At the end of the race I:
- drank 2 bottles of water
- ate 1 orange, 1 banana, and a whole bagel
- couldn't move once I sat down to stretch
That's a whole heck of a lot of food in about 20 minutes.
I am so glad that I pushed through the training, that I set this goal for myself, and that I not only ran the entire race, but I stuck to a pretty good time. Of course it could get better, but for someone that has never run that far in their life, it's pretty darn good. Christa and I saw some runners that were in such good shape and the ages ranged from younger than us to in their 60's. I was definitely passed by 2 guys in their 50's that were just chatting up a storm as I huffed and puffed up a hill. I totally want to be that fit when I'm older.
So the guy that I meet must now meet the additional requirement that he will want to run races with me and keep in shape for the rest of our lives. Because it is SO much easier to keep up with a regiment when you are doing it with someone else and have someone to run with.
Hmm, longest entry ever? You bet! Amazing life experience that will never leave me? Definitely.
I was extremely stressed out today because I had to take a test.
Wait what??? Didn't I graduate?
Yes. But I had to take a proficiency test in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and a typing test. Gah. It was timed, I had to know really finicky, minute details about every program and it was extremely rough on my nerves.
I think mostly this is all because I hate to do badly on a test, no matter what it is on, whether it is in Cosmo or is my final Philosophy of Feminism essay. I just hate not feeling like I'm 100% ready to ace whatever test comes my way. I think this is something I need to work on since normally if I feel even halfway good about a test I just took, I've done really well, so basically I stress myself out for nothing.
So watch me go into the temp agency next week and have them tell me that I'm an AWESOME typer (typist?) and they want me to go to court right away to be a court reporter or something. I mean, not really. I was pretty proud of how fast I typed... it's all those countless hours on AIM... ahhhh the computer generation and the skills we have gained from chatting and playing video games. What will our children know how to do that we will feel completely lost about??
My birthday is in 3 days. And everyone that reads this is coming. That makes me feel GREAT :)
I just found some old graduation pictures from high school.
Now, do I look older or younger 4 years later?
Hm, I thought I was going to make a point that I looked about the same, but now that I've posted them both I think I do look older. What do you know.
Really, this was just an excuse for me to play with adding photos to a blog and procrastinate from doing nothing. Hah.
So I told myself that I wouldn't think about the next few months and year beyond that until I graduated.
And now I've graduated... and I still don't want to be responsible...
Basically, I just want to move out to California and have someone already have figured out where I'm going to live and what job I'm going to have. I mean, isn't everything always handed to you on a platter? NO??? hmm...
Perhaps I repeat myself, but just to set the record straight, I am thrilled to be a graduate. Our graduation day couldn't have been more perfect and the music department ceremony filled in the holes of the big commencement (a good speech, getting my name called, seeing all my friends). But when I said goodbye to everyone, it seemed right, like it was just time.
Today I spent a good 2 hours looking on Craig's List for a room or apartment to rent in Santa Barbara and the prices are everything from reasonable ($400) to normal California prices ($800-$1100/month). I also called a temp agency and felt about 10 years old when I asked what I should do to get a job for the month of June. So I'm jumping right into my responsibilities as an almost-adult (ONE WEEK TIL I'M 21!!!!!), but I'm not thrilled about it. I wish the perfect job could just be handed to me, but something tells me it's not gonna work that way. *sigh*
On another note, I'm really proud of my dad. His hard work on his art has finally paid off and a museum is going to show some of his pieces. If you like or appreciate modern art, you should visit his website: www.paulsedan.com
I have thoroughly enjoyed spending as much time as possible with my family these past two days. It's strange - normally I can't wait to get away to have fun times with my friends, but it just hasn't seemed that important recently.
My uncle, aunt, cousin, and I had breakfast at the Ye Old Waffle Shop this morning (way better than Waffle House cheeseburgers that we had had the night before) and I recognized a guy working there. Apparently when my uncle went to go pay this guy, Dave, asked if he was in town for graduation. My uncle replied that yes, he was. So Dave continues to explain that he and I went out on a group date about three years ago.
#1. That's a LIE. We had a very awkward Valentine's Day date ALONE in which he was sure he was going to get into my pants, but I'm sure that's not something you want to tell someone that is obviously a relative.
#2. Why the heck would he even bring that up? I could see him telling a fellow waiter/waitress, but my uncle??
Anyway, it was quite random and oddly enough, even though he felt quite comfortable telling my uncle that he remembered me, he decided to pretend like he didn't even notice me when I looked his way. hahahaha - oh freshman year.
I also just wanted to say that I'm slightly ashamed that I quoted an Avril Lavigne song. The lyrics have most of the sentiment, but there is also a lot of girlfriend/love interest context that isn't in the real situation. However, the heavy beat, tempo, and rage-filled voice are spot on. Too bad I can't recreate that in a blog.
I just thought you should know that I told Christa that she needed to post more and now she has! Yay blogs! Go here for an update on Prague (soon): www.christaelaineoakes.blogspot.com
I think it's true that this is a good way to keep in touch when there isn't really time to sit down and write a mass email. I can't truthfully say that I'll keep them up, but today happens to be a day when I don't really have anything big to say.
Graduation is upon me and I'm really really ready. I think it's because I know that I have a place to be next year and it's new and exciting. I'm looking forward to the challenges (especially monetary ones) and the new people that I'm going to meet. Jon reminded me that I need to learn to surf from a hot, intellectual boy (I added the specifications of who to learn from). I'm just really excited about living in California and can't seem to stop thinking about it.
In other news, I'm a coward. I had the opportunity to tell someone that they hurt me deeply and that I thought we shouldn't hang out any more. But I lost courage and instead pretended like everything's fine. My view is that now I'm okay with the fact that we will grow apart and so I can keep the friendship that we have on a very surface level. Basically, I just don't like to hurt people so even when some relationship isn't working in my favor any more I still can't let go because there's too much history, too many pleasant memories, too much good to let the bad overcome it.
I guess that leads me to another conclusion - that even though I have regrets about my college experience, the good far outweighs any of the bad and I'm sure that the bad has helped me to grow as well.
Somewhere in that post I stopped talking to Megan and starting talking to the world that doesn't read my blog ;) Oh well, I'll keep on pretending like many people are interested in the day-to-day life of Amy when it's really my lovely blog stalker that is diligent enough to notice when I post 2 months after the previous one.
I feel like it's been a sufficient amount of time since I have posted.
But just in case, I'll be slightly subtle. Let's just say that I'm really really ready to graduate and get away from old friends that create drama. You're not in a healthy relationship when the entire mood of your friendship drastically swings from one extreme to the other within a week on a regular basis. This Avril Lavigne song very aptly describes my feelings:
Are you aware of what you make me feel, baby?
Right now I feel invisible to you, like I'm not real
Didn't you feel me lock my arms around you?
Why'd you turn away?
Here's what I have to say:
*Refrain*
I was left to cry there
Waiting outside there
Grinning with a lost stare, that's when I decided
Why should I care? Cause you weren't there when I was scared
I was so alone
You, you need to listen
I'm starting to trip, I'm losing my grip
And I'm in this thing alone
Am I just some chick you place beside you to take somebody's place?
When you turn around, can you recognize my face?
You used to love me, you used to hug me
But that wasn't the case, everything wasn't okay
Refrain
Well, I'm done. I'm graduating, moving away, and not keeping in touch with those that don't even put effort into keeping a friendship going.
Our friendship is the awkward turtle, awkward salmon, and awkward squid combined. Funny on the outside, but most of the time very appropriately awkward and full of tension that I'm not just making up in my mind.
Whatever.
okay, I feel a lot better, but I seriously hope no one reads this...