I had an awful awful encounter the other day with the Golden Gate Bridge. I was just driving along, minding my own business, when I was faced with the toll gate. I knew that I had to pay a toll, but for some odd reason thought that it would be perfectly fine to pay with a debit card. One glare, a 'toll evasion' ticket, and $30 later, I just have a good story of when I was fined because I didn't have any cash on me. Stupid big city sucking money out of tourists.
Well, that's the only thing that has really gone wrong in the past few days.
I'm now officially in my new house and will be spending my first night here tonight. There are so many pluses and minuses that I can't begin to list them all. The two biggest downsides:
- Shared bathroom
- The walls are thin, so I can hear conversations downstairs
Biggest pluses:
- huge room
- a real place to live
Every new place that you call home takes some adjusting and I think the biggest obstacle right now is moving in and unpacking everything to the point where each item has a place to go. Also, since the other 2 girls have been here for a while, I sometimes feel like their stuff is strewn about and I have to squeeze my way in, as if there's not really room for me and Erica and we're guests in our own home with a little corner of cabinet space.
It's weird to be living with people again and having to make compromises. In Santa Barbara, our only shared area was the kitchen. But here, we have the living room, the garden, the kitchen, and only one shower for four girls. Thank goodness our schedules right now are completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
The highlights of today were going grocery shopping and cooking for the first time in my own house, and my new set of bed linens. They're cranberry with a few gold and olive throws and one pillow that ties them all together. Having a bed with shams and a color-coordinated theme has been my dream for a long time. Now all I need is a four poster or really any bed frame and I will be completely happy with my bed set-up.
Where's your dad when you need him? I bought a bunch of furniture from Ikea that is really pretty, but I need a drill to be able to put my desk together. Of course, my dad probably could have made my desk, but that's a whole other issue.
Back to work tomorrow, but it was sooooo awesome to have a whole day off to get moved out and moved in and have some me time.
I'm slowly becoming more and more busy and getting out of the transition stage of moving.
All I have left on my list now before school starts is:
- move into house
- buy furniture
- study for placement exams
- figure out work/school schedule
- sell car
Currently I'm either working 9 hour days and trying to figure out how to practice as well or I have day trips planned on my days off. Erica just got here yesterday and we stood in line for a total of 2 hours to ride the cable cars. I'm not sure how many more times I'm willing to do that for visitors. It's sorta a pain in the rear. But then we had some amazing Italian food and cheesecake from none other than the Cheesecake Factory for dessert which made it all worth it.
I get to see my high school flute teacher in a few days! She moved to Texas a few years ago, so I haven't seen her since she moved and she hasn't heard me play since my sophomore recital. So I'm really looking forward to playing for her and just hanging out.
I should post some pics of my work here. It's pretty frickin amazing.
So scratch that whole 'housing sucks here' thing.
I have a place to live as of 9 pm last night!!!
So, basically everyone has to come visit me because my house (that's right. house.) is amazing, beautiful, and exactly what I want to come home to. We have 4 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, dining area, garden, and basement/garage. What a find in the heart of San Francisco. Here's the kicker though:
I can see the Golden Gate Bridge from my window! :0)
Given, it's about 4 inches in length and I saw it when it was a completely clear day, but it's still just plain cool.
My roommate gets here on Wednesday and I have entrance exams and auditions in exactly a month. So now that I have the two main worry things checked off, I can move on to the smaller (and yet somehow more important) worry points.
Well, I caved. I'm working for Williams-Sonoma again, even though I tried my best to not get sucked in. I guess that was my will getting in the way, because I'm actually really thrilled now to have the job that I do.
Basically, I was hired and given a high starting pay simply because I have so much experience and I would never have been given that privilege had I tried at some other retail place. Not to mention the fact that the store I'm working in is 4 stories tall, has a full time maid, chef, and shipping/running staff so that the sales people are really only just sales people. It's so nice to make other people do all the work. :) Because this particular store is in the heart of the San Francisco downtown shopping area (known as Union Square), they are the representative for all Williams-Sonomas in the country. So everything is done really right and there is a high standard of knowledge to be on the team. I feel like I'm back at school with all the studying I've been doing already.
Let's not forget to add that the chefs always have leftovers from their demonstrations, so I basically get to have professionally prepared food every time I work, which will be 40 hours/week for a while, and there are some very cute boys that work there that may very possibly not be gay. I think I'm going to have fun! If they are gay, I'll have eye candy and a girl friend. Sweet!
Housing is not going quite as well, but I've given up until my roommate gets here. I just don't have the energy between work and practicing and have already put so much time and effort into it without anything really to show for it. I'm content to just sit back for a week and work my butt off to save up some money for that first month's rent. (Ridiculous how expensive it gets here).
Some unforseen recent happy events:
- I got yet another tax return in the mail that I had no idea was coming. I love those.
- One of the ladies at work has just bought HP7 and I get to read it after her.
- A cute ambiguous guy at WS speaks French and we spoke for a little. Hottttt!
- My friend, Amity, might come visit me in a couple of weeks.
- I discovered a really good coffee shop near the conservatory.
You know that your life has become that of a 70-year-old woman when:
- you don't know how to get into the building because you've gotten home after 6:00 in the evening.
That's right, folks. For the first time in 1 1/2 weeks, I got back to where I was staying at 6:45pm and found that the front door wasn't open. Not a big deal, really, since I have a key and it wasn't that hard to figure out. The point was that I had never encountered this because I've always been INSIDE after 6:00 and never knew that after 6, the doors were closed. Man, that was a severe shock and I laughed at myself for a good minute. Or more.
- you wake up at 7 every morning.
My internal clock is set for 7 or 7:30 and I've turned into my mom saying, 'You just get so much more done in the morning!' Sadly for me, I don't have that much to do during the day as a result. Good thing I have a huge city to explore.
On another note, I saw Harry Potter 5 today. 5 movies??!!?? Really? It doesn't seem like that many, but after seeing flashbacks of little Daniel in his first "year" at Hogwarts, it certainly seems like I've watched him grow up. What an amazing phenomenon and a good testament to the consumerism of America. Oh, I completely and totally contribute to the Harry Potter mania, but I still find it a little disgusting every time action figures and video games are made from movies that were made from books.
At this point in the Harry Potter series, with two movies to go and one final book about to be released, there's no question that the rest of the movies will be made. Why stop now? Every other one has been a huge hit and each one contains the who's who of the British acting world. I have to say, they completely deserve all of the hype. They are so well acted and directed. Or maybe I'm just brainwashed like the rest... There's something about seeing a book come to life, or hearing a word pronounced differently than how you always read it. Like Seamus Finnagan. I always pronounced it see-mus, but it's really shay-mus. Go figure.
The question really is, what will happen when everything is done in the Harry Potter series and there are no more movies to be made, everything has resolved itself with Harry and the huge box collections are a few years old. What then? Will life continue as it has? These are life's important queries.
Today was probably the most hectic that I've had to date in San Francisco. I spent the better part of 7 hours travelling by train, foot, or light rail to various destinations.
What was the result of all of this arduous work?
- I discovered that I no longer want to live in Berkeley or Oakland. It's way too far a commute and not worth it at $50 a week just to get into the city. So *pbllttth*
- Consequently, I have to rethink all of my housing plans and areas that I was looking in. Count yourself blessed if you have a permanent place to live, are near the parentals, or have a place waiting for you in your new city (ahem Megan and Christa). Finding housing SUCKS.
- I ate 4 times. I think I'm over-eating simply because when I have time to kill or a $20 bill to break, I think of food.
- Four restaurants now have my resume in their hands and I have an interview tomorrow. Let's hope it goes better than the last one that told me I could be a food runner for 4-6 months before moving up.
- I might have to live with 3 other people instead of 1 and possibly get a more expensive place just so my commute to school isn't one hour one-way every day.
My purse is filled with business cards, maps, a planner that I bought four days ago and have completely gone crazy with, and resumes and I think my brain cannot handle any more. At least I know I'll sleep well.
My (now ex) roommate, Courtney, would be proud. Despite the need for mindless activity, I turned off my TV after only 2 hours of watching. One small truimph for the day!
He came out to play today and I was sooooo happy. It's amazing how much the weather can affect your emotions. I'm finding more and more reasons to live across the bay, and one of them is that it doesn't get the fog like out in west San Fran.
Well I promised some pictures, so here they are.
I went to this estate called Filoli a little south of the city today and it was so beautiful. The gardens were just what I imagine are on the grounds of some ridiculously wealthy king. I was having fun imagining I was walking around in flouncy dresses with my hand lightly touching a gentleman's forearm.
I also stopped to smell the roses. Hardy, harhar.
And the big house is actually where I'm staying, not the estate I saw today.
HAH. That's a good one.
After living in a place for a year that truly exemplified stereotypical California weather, I'm going through withdrawl.
Let's just put it this way: I pulled out my cashmere sweater today and was still cold while walking around my neighborhood.
That's just wrong to wear sweaters in the beginning of July.
My favorite thing about moving to a place where I don't know anyone is that I have a completely fresh slate. I could become goth. I could become a cheerleader. I could be a music nerd that shuts themself up in a practice room all day. Okay, well I'm not moving back to high school, but you get the idea.
My first night here and yesterday were a little rough just because it's weird to just have picked up my life and plopped it down in a new city. All the people that I saw every day, all my routines are just gone and it won't be the same again. But looking back on my life in Santa Barbara, I did basically the same thing this time last year and look how attached I am to it now. I think the biggest changes are going from a small town to a huge city and going from having all the time in the world to being a full-time student with a couple jobs on the side. I'm so glad that I have these couple months to get everything figured out, or else I think I would be going crazy trying to do everything in two weeks.
Two downers:
1. I left my retainer at the house in SB. No problem! you say. Ah, but it's in the locked guest room and my landlady won't be back until the 14th. My poor retainer has had so many grand adventures and they started back in 6th grade when I threw it in the dumpster and had to go digging in the trash to find it. Yes, I've had that little piece of hard plastic for 11 years.
2. I can't get into the conservatory to practice until Tuesday. I really should have checked into the schedule stuff before I moved because it's ridiculous to be here without being able to practice. But, c'est la vie. I can't do anything about it now and I'm glad they're so strict on their rules.
I figure the best way to get to know my neighborhood right now is to go for a run. You get to see much more than if you're just walking everywhere. So I'm on a mission to find a grocery store and a drug store. Can you believe that they don't have a Target or a Wal-Mart in the city of San Fran?? You have to go drive 10 or 15 min. outside of the city. What's with these Californians? In Charlotte we have 4 within 10-minute driving radius of my house. Sheesh.
And happy last day in Santa Barbara to me. I'm trying my best to stay positive, like I'm going to go have a picnic up on the cliffs over the beach with my good friend, Amity, later. Then we're going to watch fireworks. It should be fun.
My room is all packed up but I have all this random crap that I need one more big box for that I don't actually have. I do like being able to just stuff everything in my car and go, it's definitely the best way to move. I'm really stoked about the drive up the coast, it's going to be beautiful.
Maybe my blog sounds static because I'm trying to listen to music and type at the same time. Maybe it's because I'm feeling a little dead inside right now. I need something (like a large, life-changing move?) to get me out of this funk.
As a little girl, I was never popular in school and never had close friends, which made me feel rejected. Now I do have close friends, but I make myself believe that's not enough and I feel awful when I'm rejected in one way or another by a boy. I wish that I could just slap myself up the head and be like, 'Stupid! Look what's around you! Look who does care for you! You have so many amazing people in your life!' I wonder if it would help, because no matter how many times I try to give myself an ego boost, nothing hurts more than silence or lies, which I've gotten a lot of in the past month.
*sigh* okay. I'm going to go make myself busy somehow.
I know, what is the world coming to that I blog twice in one day, almost immediately after one another.
But I remembered a funny story from yesterday.
I had a lunch date and we were sitting outside because it was a beautiful afternoon, somewhat off to the side of the patio. We were having fun just talking and suddenly I realize that it's been about 10 minutes since we sat down and we don't even have menus. So our waitress finally comes up and apologizes profusely, but we tell her it's no big deal. I honestly didn't even notice, even though my stomach did. The rest of the meal goes fine, maybe a little slow service but it was a nice day and the restaurant was busy. (Can I just say, beer from a brewhouse in the middle of the day? With a cute boy? Perfect.)
Later that night my roommate invited me over to her friend's house for dinner (2 free meals in one day? Also magnificent) and who do I meet but my waitress from lunch. She said she was really sorry about the service but that my boyfriend was a really good tipper. I replied, 'Well we both work in the restaurant industry, so even when our waitress sucks, we still like to tip well.' Haha, no I didn't really say that. I said something like, 'Oh, he's not my boyfriend, but I wish he was.'
Today is most likely the last normal day that I'll have here in Santa Barbara. So much is happening in the next week and few days that I haven't really had time (or haven't wanted to) to think about what changes are going to happen.
I can't move my furniture up to San Francisco, so it all has to get sold/given away. However, the catch is that as of Thursday I'm basically going to be across town and busy all day for four days straight and when my program ends, I'm supposed to be moved out of my room. So, I almost have to be moved out of my room as of Thursday, only not really.
To add to this, I have a girl coming to stay with me for the length of the program because she doesn't want to spend money on a hotel. Fair enough, but things are going to get craaaaazy.
I hate moving. I love living in new cities and making new friends, but it sucks to leave your friends behind and a place that you've grown to love.
It's true. I bought a Justin Timberlake CD. I can admit it to the online world and I proudly (well while laughing and blushing) tell people of my recent purchase. I can't help it if his music is so dang catchy! And I know you know what I'm talking about because Megan is the first person I think of when I hear the lyrics "gonna getcha nekked by the end of this song."
In other news, I went back to Ann Taylor. I couldn't take the not working thing. I was going crazy. Plus I made another purchase, so I needed to have the money for it somehow. I'm awful - I told my co-workers that if I bought anything else there they were allowed to slap me. I'm serious. No more shopping!!
I went to a flute masterclass this afternoon that my teacher up in San Francisco was giving. The funniest part was when I went up to go say hi to him and it took us about 40 seconds before he could figure out who I was. Finally I was like, 'um, I'm going to be your student next year??' and then he connected the two in his mind. I don't blame him - I totally didn't expect him to remember me when he saw 50 some auditionees for 15 minutes each in one day. He probably knows my name better than my face. But it was still funny. I felt quite insignificant and special at the same time.
Random story: I went out with my roommate and her friend from MAC, Natalie. Natalie pointed out the bartender at a bar we were at, saying that she had just started dating him. The best part is that they dated for 4 years before splitting up about 6 years ago. He had proposed to her when they were in their early 20's and she wasn't ready to get married. Then they separated and thought that was that. Now 6 years later (and in a different city) they're back together! It totally gives me perspective on the fact that you never know what will happen in the future and who will come back into your life. Crazy.
It was amazing how quickly my mood changed the second I entered Santa Barbara. When I was home this week, I was lazy and proud of it. But when I caught a whiff of that sea breeze, I was ready for action. I haven't really stopped moving since.
The weather has been so perfect here - sunny and warm, without being overwhelmingly humid (cough cough Charlotte). I've just enjoyed walking around downtown with nothing to do but enjoying the afternoon. When I was done unpacking, I just took a stroll and ran a couple of errands but felt like I had had two cups of coffee, I was so energized. A natural caffeine - I guess that's what living in California does to me.
Today I went to an Afro-Brazilian dance class, went grocery shopping, washed my car, practiced, and am going to a photography show opening and then on to a cycling class. I think this whole no working thing will get old in about 2 weeks. Good thing I'm basically leaving then. My week is filling up with birthday parties, events, and shows and I'm glad because I love being busy.
I don't understand boys. I'm getting the weirdest mixed messages and I just can't decide what to do. But I'm standing my ground and not making the first move because I think I've made myself obvious enough. Another good reason I've been so busy.
Well, my family and birthday have both come and gone and now after having 4 days off in a week, I'm in denial about this whole 'job' thing.
I got into Ann Taylor today to find out I'm working 22 hours next week along with my restaurant for the next four days, which means I have a 2 hour break every day during a 12 or 13 hour day. Plus our restaurant is closing, which means glassware is disappearing, we're short-staffed, and loads of people are coming in wanting to hear the whole story, which takes a while to tell and is getting quite old. I'm already burned out and I haven't gotten through my first day back yet.
I sat down to lunch today with a glass of wine and then realized 'I look like an alcoholic.' Plus it turned out I really just wanted food, not alcohol, so I poured it back into the bottle. Wine at 3:00 in the afternoon.... hmmm.
I love my birthday cards, Christa. They'll stay up on my wall for quite a long time ;) I had so much fun that day and realized that I actually do have friends here that are willing to do a lot to hang out with me. Everyone that I invited to a nice dinner showed up even though it was expensive and I had 5 good friends to share a memorable evening with. Looking out my window the next day, it hit me that I'm really going to miss Santa Barbara and this year that I've had. Not having school to worry about, having the perfect job and apartment, growing musically and emotionally, and living so darn near the beach have made this year a time I won't forget.
Sigh, okay off I go again to get ready for work.
I recently went on iTunes and discovered that I had some extra money to buy songs and promptly got "Into the Ocean" by Blue October. It's actually a depressing song if you take it literally - about someone that commits suicide by drowning himself, but it's got a great beat. Anyway, I've been jamming to it every day.
So, I really didn't want to do anything big for my birthday, and I finally decided the perfect activity ; a hike. There's one called 7 Falls around here that isn't too strenuous, but has some miniature rock climbing and stream jumping involved and is supposed to have some spectacular views. And it's outdoors and something that most people like to do. And it's a great alternative to doing something boring like going to a club, or eating at a fancy restaurant. So I'm excited. I just wonder how big a group is too big, but I figure if 10 people tell me they're coming, then 5 of them probably will, which is a perfect size.
I've finally been socializing a little and got to go out with my friend Amity last night and have a ginger mojito (mmmm) at this little tapas bar near work and then I went shopping with my new friend Bonnie today and got the cutest patent leather pumps that are good for going out as well as concert wear. Not to mention I got them at Payless for $20. Score.
Life is good, and my aunt, uncle, and cousin are coming up in two days! I'm really ready for some family time...
I saved a baby bird today. Okay, it was a pigeon and most people think that pigeons are equal to rats or something, but it was cute and helpless. I drove it to a wild animal shelter that said they would do everything they could to help it. So, voila my good deed for the day.
I had a conversation with a couple from Spain in 3 languages tonight. I'm starting to have the confidence to speak to people in public in Spanish, but man it was rough. Then they found out I spoke French and when neither of us could think of a word, we said it in English. Somehow, we still had an intelligent conversation, but my brain hurt when I left the table.
Speaking of Spanish, I talked with my Spanish roommate about Latin guys and the difference in dating in their culture. Basically she was saying that guys like to be chased. There was more substance to our discussion, but that was the bottom line. And let me just say, I'm so sick of being the one that initiates. Seriously. Can I please have someone calling me and asking me out instead of vice versa?
I'm not sure I believe in good and bad energy, but I do believe that moods get passed on from one person to another very easily and that bad feelings can be felt almost physically. I've gotten to the point with someone in my restaurant that I physically get sick being around them and we have a very tangible dislike. I've tried so hard to think positively, but it's really hard when you have so many bad feelings towards each other and a bad history to boot. As sad as I am that I won't have a steady job in a few weeks, it's almost worth it to get away from him. Awful, isn't it? I wish that things hadn't turned out that way...
I used my first Spanish pick-up line today. With much giggling.
I've been avoiding practicing recently and I'm not sure why, but I think mostly this weather has me feeling sluggish and I'm sort of in a slump since I haven't had my studio class in a few weeks due to cancellations, etc. Today was not just nice; it was hot, and almost muggy like North Carolina. I didn't even want to work out on the patio because I was sweating profusely under my long black uniform. It was too hot to go to the beach!
So I stayed in and watched Garden State instead. Now I remember why I own it - it's just such a quality movie, mainly because Natalie Portman is so awkward sometimes and profound at others and I relate to that. Or, at least I relate to the awkwardness and hope that I'm sometimes profound. Plus the characters are so deep and real and yet you don't need all kinds of background to know what they've gone through. It's just really really well-written.
My Spanish is coming along quite nicely and I've been complimented by both Alex (Colombian boy) and my roommate, Sylvia (from Seville). I mean, obviously I still talk like I'm 6 years old, but at least I can get my point across sometimes without reverting back to English. That's certainly a whole lot more than I could do when I got to California. I'm just impressed with myself for the initiation of such a task and such semi-dedication to following through with teaching myself. It certainly helps to have so many native speakers around.
Mother's Day is Sunday. I'm such a good daughter - I already got my card in the mail :) Alas, a card and a sweet note are all my Mom is going to get this year. Cheap, but heartfelt, and the beautiful thing about mothers is that love is generally all they want anyway.
I have only slept on the beach a select few times in my life, and I have to say that while each time I'm fairly miserable that night, I love the memory of such a random activity.
Last night I went out after working 7 hours at the restaurant to go salsa dancing with a girl from work and our busboy who happens to be from Columbia. Okay, let me clarify. He happens to be a hot Columbian boy that has beautiful long curly hair and a voice to die for. Lucky me. Then after leaving the club at some ungodly hour, we decided that we still weren't tired and so headed to the beach (not exactly three hours away like in NC) and stayed up talking until we fell asleep.
As an aside, my friend Amity that was the girl with us, lent me her Uggs. I'm a convert. I want some right now.
So even though I got absolutely no sleep except for the hour and a half that I got this morning in my own bed, I'm still thoroughly happy with my evening. However, I'm going to need the largest cup of coffee in the world to get me through this shift today.
For the past couple of weeks, I've had so much going on and so many big things to decide, that I've been stressed out every single day. But somehow, starting this week, I feel like I should be worried but there's nothing wrong. I have a cat on my lap, I worked all day, my car is running fine, and I can't do anything about moving at this particular moment.
I also find that I only blog when I have been drinking or am severely tired...
The former is true tonight, and it shows in my lack of posts in April that I rarely drink now. When I do, it's more like I got a free bottle of wine from work and need to drink it before it goes bad. Or I'm out celebrating.
Speaking of celebrating, May is my birthday month! I love May! May is Amy anagrammed. May is the month of Gemini and twins! May is graduation month and it's officially been a year since I've been in school. Weird... May is the beginning of summer, the end of spring, and a relaxing time. June is when things start to heat up, literally and figuratively. I've got a good feeling about May.
Oh, and I got a call from Geico today saying that my car insurance went down $100. That little gecko rocks!! It was like an early birthday present or something.
Hm, I guess that's all I have to say. My work week is just getting into full swing today and will not end until Sunday or Monday, but I've got a good schedule ahead of me. I'm hoping this month will fly by because I'm sooooo excited about being home for a week or so. I miss Charlotte and I miss Chapel Hill. I'm not sure if I'll get to visit CH, but I was just talking with my roommates about Franklin St. and Carrboro and all the great restaurants. And I watched Patch Adams last night and wanted so badly to see campus again for just a day.
Some percussionist from Cleveland friended me the other day and he knows two of my friends from high school, grew up in Raleigh, and is going to SFCM next year. Man, this world is small.