scrabble pictures

this is a picture during the only game i won that night.


this is a picture of the two coolest buddies i made that night. the dude's name is paul and he is hilarious. i think the woman's name is heather and she was excellent company on the train ride home.



this is the facilitator going over how to use the timers. apparently he thinks we are morons. he is a little bit strict, but i still loved that he ran the show and got so many prizes donated. he is a good guy in my book.

scrabble, coffee and school

that is my life this past weekend.
this week is one of my busier weeks and i am sure that next week will be on par. it's the end of semester, so i am currently spending most of my days drinking coffee and eating bagel sandwiches at mercury and swim cafe, eyes glued to my laptop, highlighter in hand. it's not bad, actually. as much as i complain about it, i really enjoy the process of learning. call me a nerd, but i love school even though it can stress me out at times.

last night was my scrabble tournament. it started at 3:30 and ended at 10:30! it was a lot of fun. I played well for my skill level- not the best i've ever played, but not the worst. I got two bingos (one being 'persona' and the other being 'eloping') and walked away with two books, two cookies and a 15-dollar gift card for some japanese restaurant. i ranked 17/21, which goes to show how fierce the competition was. the fun thing about it was that it didn't seem competitive. people were there to play their best and have a good time. the high score of the night was 497!!! that is CRAZY!! it is inspiring, really! so yes, i had a lot of fun and i'm glad i went. also, food was included and swim cafe served free coffee and made this delicious sweet potato and black bean dish, salad and a homemade apple cobbler with ice cream for dessert!

i've also been practicing yoga a lot to maintain my sanity. it seems like yoga is the one consistent thing in my life and i really value it. this morning josh and i went to a 6:30am class and i feel great. i love practicing so early in the morning. i am really tired to start with, and my body takes much longer to wake up, but it heightens my body awareness and by the end i feel so energized and the fact that i am up so early and have that great of a start to my day inspires me to be productive and tackle the things i need to tackle. for example, it is 11am right now and i have a)practiced yoga b) ate a delicious breakfast of steel cut oatmeal and fresh fruit with soymilk c) read 4 articles for class tonight and d) updated my blog. and it's only 11!!!

okay. thanks for reading and i hope to post some pictures from the tournament soon.

fuck yeah!

barack obama is president and me and some of my closest friends were there to witness it.

it's been awhile

and i realize there is too much to update in one post.

things are okay. i am trying. just trying.
academically i am feeling a bit underwhelmed. I am happy with the amount of work- it's enough to keep me busy but not too much where I am going to go crazy. The quality of the work is what underwhelms me. I'm not convinced I have a place in urban planning. I just don't feel interested in a majority of the work to date. That's not to say it's not interesting or I could become more engaged in later semesters. I'm still going to continue working hard and trying to find my place within this sphere.

socially things are up and down. I am making a pretty big effort to go out and explore the city and make new friends. last week I went to the california clipper with a group-- it's been a bar/lounge since the 30s and has a ghost!

Here is a picture of the bar when it first opened:




Here is a picture of the woman who a psychic identified as the ghost:


Things that I am looking forward to include the following:
1. meghan's visit in december!!
2. getting to see julie's new apartment when i visit for thanksgiving
3. california for christmas!
4. volunteering for redtail farms next season! (i shopped there regularly this season at the market by my house and the farmers are this young, hipster couple and we discussed me helping next season at the market)
5. working on this new song i am writing for piano, maybe even finishing it

has anyone else seen the new commercials trying to stop the hate on high fructose corn syrup??

i can't figure out how to post the video in my blog, but here's the link

i'm sorry, i like hating on HFCS!
sure it's not the worst thing in the world for you, but it's what it stands for. it supports the entire system of unsustainable agriculture i am trying to fight. one that idolizes mass monocrop corn production, is ruining small, diverse farms and is probably one of the lease energy efficient ways to sweeten overly processed plastic foods that fuck with people's taste buds!

AND, the woman in the commercial was totally on buffy for a few episodes in the 4th season and i hated her character then, too!

more than a month??

well, i won't bore everyone with the entire past month, but here are some highlights (with pictures!) in my recent memory.

1. josh and i went to critical mass yesterday. there were literally thousands of cyclists and we took over the street and it was totally insane and so much fun. at one point i saw two cyclists with a stereo attached in the middle, blaring classical music. everyone went silent for a good minute to listen to it. eerie.

anyway, before the route got started, josh and i got our pictures taken for bike salute. there is a guy trying to get 1000 pictures of people with their bikes over their heads:




2. steven is such a good roommate. i have been craving sushi pretty much the entire month, but have been too broke to treat myself. steven decided to take me to coast, which is one of the better sushi places in chicago. it was just what i needed that day-- good company (steven, josh and i) and good sushi! i guess i sort of need that every day, but it seemed extra special last week when it happened. we went all out and here are some photos from our dinner:




3. we got a puppy!! well, it's steven's puppy, but since i live with him it's like it's mine. i was nervous at first to live with a dog. then i saw him, fell in love and all my worries went away.



4. classes have officially started. so far nothing seems too demanding.. it seems a lot like undergrad except more students pay attention. it's only the first week, so we'll see how long this phase lasts, but right now i'm pretty happy about the workload. still no word on my research gig, but time will also tell that story. i just get to wait it out.

pictures coming soon

as soon as i find the cord to upload photos from my camera.

the apartment is coming along, coming along. we FINALLY got internet and cable today. i don't care so much about cable as i do the internet. it's very nice to have you, back!

saturday i went to chris's housewarming party/birthday celebration. i had a pretty good time. played guitar hero for the first time and got to meet some of his coworkers, who were really cool. kevin and greg came in from lansing and it was really good to see them.

i've also been watching a lot of X Files with steven. he has the entire series on dvd so it is keeping me busy! i need to admit how cute david d WAS. so pouty and mysterious in the show! and young!

other than that.. not much. i am waiting joseph's arrival to the city. not sure what we're doing, but it's about the company anyway :)

the last of it

well i'm officially in that weird limbo where i'm just waiting to move. emotionally i am ready to get OUT of here. i'm tired of waiting and I can say that I'm ready to face the physical challenge of moving to just DO IT. i get to wait until Monday, though.

until then my days are fairly jam-packed. today i work 3 - 11 and then i am trying to get as many people as possible to come out dancing with me at Luna. so far i have a few people confirmed and a lot of possibles. julie is definitely going, which is most important and if Nicole can sway her bff's birthday bash to dancing then she is in, too. plus people from my work and hopefully a few fellow yogis.

tomorrow: suzanne's last vinyasa class followed by homemade waffles and scrambles tofu with the family for our last brunch together. then i work 5 until close.

and sunday i have Rob's last vinyasa class, which will be extremely emotional for me. but it will also be a lot of fun i bet. afterwards a bunch of us are getting tea and having brunch, which will be so nice. i'm really going to miss the yoga shelter a lot. i hope to practice every time i come back to visit.
then i get to finish packing, cleaning, get the van and hopefully some rest before i hit the road monday morning.

annnd, i'm out.
and i'm ready.

moving!

well, steven and I made a very brief but very productive trip to chicago the other day. Amidst many dingy apartments with coffin-sized bedrooms, we found and secured our new apartment.

It is cheap, close to the blue line in Logan Square and oh so cute and the bedrooms are a really nice size. The living space is tiny, but both Steven and I concluded that we'd rather each have a nice bedroom and sacrifice a little living space. Here are some pictures-- i didn't take them but they're from the craigslist ad.

oh, and the lease starts July 15 so i am totally freaking out about moving in two weeks.

official

so i am officially published!
the article isn't technically out yet, and it actually isn't in a 'peer reviewed' edition of the journal, but i am still really excited about it.

it's in the Journal of Food Research and Distribution and the title is
here is a link if anyone would like to read it. or at least see my name.

the yoga retreat was awesome
i keep processing it more and more every day, taking away something new.
the big crazy thing i did, that really pushed me to my edge was i HELD A TARANTULA. and yes, i am still scared of them, but the idea of touching one doesn't make me want to cry anymore, so i think that is progress.

retreat!

well, even though i am very nervous/apprehensive about going to this retreat, i am also very excited and think it will be very helpful and inspiring for me. In two weeks I am going to the very exotic land of Holly, MI for a yoga retreat

will i be the youngest person there? the most socially awkward? the only one to not make a breakthrough? the only one worrying about stuff like this? i'm not sure, but i am going anyway.

saturday morning

this morning has been really great so far. nothing extraordinary happened.. but i did get up and go to yoga, which is the best way to start my day. it was Suzanne's class and her voice is so angelic and soothing i couldn't help but feel at peace afterwards. Then I went to the farmer's market and picked up some mushrooms, lettuce and 'hydroponic cucumbers and tomatoes' which means they were grown in water, not dirt and in a greenhouse. organically, of course. i love supporting local farmers. it makes me feel good about myself, like i am taking action on my value system instead of just contemplating my values. same thing about riding my bike.

speaking of my bike-- i just went to Albe's Bike Shop and got reflectors put on so I dont' have to worry about dusk-time driving. for free, i might add. AND the dude was really cute! it was a good visit to the shop!

the other thing that made today so lovely was lunch at Inn Season with julie and my mom. i got the basil-pesto (yes nicky, i got pesto) seitan open face sandwich with grilled eggplant and coleslaw and corn chips.

work later, for now relaxing and watching my mom scratch her instant lottery ticket. cashword multiplier.

two for free movies

so i just got back from the longest bike ride i've ever embarked on. For the cycling enthusiasts it will seem like no big deal, but for me it was.

it started the other day when i rode my bike to Rob's for a bonfire and felt so good about not having to drive. i got excited and motivated and found myself thinking that i could bike to work and back. so today i decided to ride my bike to family video (i wasn't working) to see how long it would take. I think i am really fast because it only took about 32 minutes to ride 8 miles. granted i was a bit sweaty by the time i got there, but it didn't seem that bad! AND, there is a new policy where workers get the 2/$1 movies for free, so I rented



and



and i am still motivated/excited so i think i am going to ride my bike to yoga tomorrow morning instead of driving! we'll see how i feel in the morning though.

being mindful

so even though a lot has been going on, i always think i have nothing too important to update my blog with. that's a lie though because i think life in general is important no matter what one 'does' to occupy the time. i've been thinking a lot about time and what i do with it and how none of it really matters unless if i'm paying attention to it. one moment i could be planting a tree, pulling a weed, staring off into space, striking a warrior pose, reading, updating this blog.. all this stuff.. and it's not until i pass judgments on it that i deem it good or bad or become attached to it.
in theory, sitting down is just as meaningful as taking a run or cleaning the bathroom.

i heard this analogy the other day when i was listening to Guatam Jain
The analogy was about how when we attach to things our experience of something can change and either lead to suffering or to joy. He used the example of buying a new, expensive car and it's your first time driving it and you hit a giant pothole. The initial reaction by most is that it hurts your heart and you become worried or upset. Now, picture the same exact car and situation, except it's a rental. You may not even care about the pothole. In fact, you might notice the car's superb suspension! it's the detachment from the car that allows us to remain present in the situation.

anyway, he talked about a lot more things and i could probably discuss them forever but one analogy is enough for one blog update.

i get to hang out with Jenny tonight and i am so excited! We're actually going to Guatam Jain's third lecture so I am also looking forward to learning more from him. And maybe we'll go to the new Panera Bread that opened in Birmingham, too.

Okay, time for me to get clean and run some errands. Hope everyone is doing well!

east coast to the west coast

breathe. relax. settle back in. i have to remind myself of these tips daily.

two weeks ago i was in Washington DC visiting nate and meghan. I forgot if i updated anything about that, but in a nutshell it was a fantastic trip. i got to meet all three (yes, three!) of meghan's cats, sleep on a tempurpedic-padded queen size bed and eat lots of vegan food. and of course spend time with one of my best girlfriends who i wish lived closer so that i could gossip with ALL THE TIME. and start a vegetable garden with! unfortunately i didn't get to go dancing because it was raining the night of bliss and i didn't want to walk in the rain and dance with soggy socks. however, i did get to ride a tandem (a 2-person bike) with Nate and all i could keep saying was "this is so cute. i can't believe how cute this is."

last weekend i visited Joseph in Tacoma and Jenny + Evan showed up, too. it was so much fun and i got to see so many things in the city. Tacoma, Seattle and a day trip to Portland. We ate really good food, saw really beautiful parks and also got invited to a high school kegger. literally we saw a gang of 15-20 high schoolers carrying a keg, a tap and lots of red plastic cups to this abandoned manufacturing plant-turned park to party and we got an invite during their stroll. we declined. and joked about calling the police. ha. but it was really great seeing joseph and getting insight to how he's been living his life the past two years! i only wish the midwest landscaping was as beautiful as the west.

now i am sipping on coffee waiting to go to work for a whopping three hours. i am wearing a freshly ironed skirt and it still feels warm. my mom is sick and watned subway so i got myself a foot long veggie sub and somehow ate all of it plus chips and i am glad i waited on going to Shakers for a hot fudge sunday because i am really full right now.

oh, last night Jenny and I snuck into the movies, too. we are so bad!

more later
i hope you all enjoy your day

happy earth day

i don't have any particular plans.
i try to behave like you have to respect the earth every day.

but i might wear green.

and here is something very cute to look at:

never say never

so i am getting over being sick. i used to say that i never get sick, but apparently i am a liar because i got sick. and it was terrible! i spent the first two days denying that i was sick, one day spent completely bedridden and today i am feeling a bit better but have to take it easy because in a few days i will be on a plane to DC!

but yesterday when i was at work, hyped up on caffeine, kevin AND christy visited me! it was very exciting. I love getting visitors at work. It's like a breath of fresh air. Just the pick-me-up I needed.

Today I am trying really hard to not exert myself. I have more energy, so I want to do things like clean and go to yoga and it's really hard to relax.

fuck yeah

i just heard from UIC and it looks like i will be going there!!

full tuition scholarship.
living stipend.

i can't even believe it.

no encouragement needed

today is the first really nice day of spring. I thought yesterday was nice, and today it is really nice. I woke up and had a hearty breakfast and then went on a half-hour bike ride. My mom and I are going to play tennis soon. Later Kathy and I are going to do yoga and walk around outside and have a fabulous dinner. This makes me so happy.

I remember when I used to hate moving in general, but now it brings me so much happiness. I also remember never having the energy to be active (and usually forcing myself to be active anyway). Now I can just go for a bike ride because I can and I want to. No prompting by anything except my desire. it's so nice.

yesterday the fam came over and we had brunch and took a walk through the nature center. I don't know why I haven't been back there since I've been home (perhaps the weather, but I honestly forgot it was here). Afterwards I went over to Rob's and got to meet his cats and sit in front of his fire pit...

lately i've been doing things like this and it's been such a nice reprieve from boredom and disconnectedness. It's not to say that I'm happy all of the time. I'm not. But I'm getting used to the idea that I can be happy and I can be sad at the same time. It's not "i'm in a good mood or i'm in a bad mood" it can (and is) both. which i think is normal. and if it's not, please don't tell me. thanks.

sleeping in

this morning i didn't wake up until 10:45am. Yesterday I didn't get up until 10:30am. Maybe tomorrow I will sleep until 11! I doubt that, because I love suzanne's morning vinyasa class too much to sleep through it.

I started doing flyering for the yoga shelter in exchange for free yoga. I spoke with Steve, the owner, about working something out for yoga because I am struggling with money and he didn't even hesitate. The exchange literally took 3 minutes before i had a month unlimited pass. So the other day I went to Birmingham to put fliers in local businesses there, and people had a lot of animosity. I thought it was weird and it made me feel like i was some unwanted solicitor. Then, I went to Royal Oak to flier, and I literally ran out of fliers. The community there is so much more supportive and welcoming than Birmingham. It was totally bizarre.

Not much else... my sister Nicole made banana cream pie for easter and it was SO GOOD. My mom made rice pudding which was also delicious. It has inspired me to try and make it vegan style, since I like soymilk better. And I think I'll use brown rice, too. this is all a plan, anyway.

AND! I get to go to DC the end of April to visit meghan!! This make me very excited.
AND! the weekend after that I get to go to Seattle to visit joseph!!

Can April be almost over yet??

tax returns

are awesome. i now have enough money to pay for the groceries i just bought (yes, i am sort of a food snob and pay too much money for food, but i don't even care) AND i will be buying a new pair of jeans, i hope.

i work tonight at 4. not happy. but i can wear jeans to work because it's a holiday weekend!

lately i have been trying to acquire a taste for Kombucha. I just drank a whole bottle of the strawberry kind. It's still pretty potent to me, but it felt good afterwards.

last night i ate lots and lots of sushi. spicy asparagus rolls, futumaki rolls, edamame, and more. it was delicious.

oolong formosa

that's the type of tea i am currently drinking, and it's delicious. I almost always get the gunpowder green, but my life is changing drastically, why not my tea consumption?

yesterday nicole came into town and so i got to hang out with both sisters at the same time. we drank coffee and shopped and it was really fun. i also got a pair of brown rocketdogs for 8 dollars, which also made me happy.

today i have had nothing to do all day, so i laid in bed for awhile, and have been reading/writing/internetting most of the day at bean and leaf. it's been good, but i'm feeling a little restless now. i'll take the breather, though, because i seriously feel like my mind has been racing nonstop for the past two weeks. just so much stuff has been going on. it's really nothing too crazy, but i typically just close myself off to these types of things, so i'm not used to it.

another tidbit: i got into UIC! I won't know about funding, so it doesn't help my decision currently, but I did just decline to UBC. The idea of moving so far away was really stressing me out. as sad as i am about not getting to do that program, and not live by the mountains and the ocean simultaneously.. i feel good with the decision. the releif outweighs the sadness.

so, steven, we are one step closer to being chicago roomies!

and, meghan, i need to come to dc sometime soon and ashtanga with you.

decisions

i am so confused about grad school, still.

british columbia... the school itself is very cheap and i did get an international student scholarship to cover internation fees.. it would only be around 3600/year which is insanely cheap. however, i'd have to consider the cost of living in vancouver is much higher. I think I could hopefully get some more scholarships, and I think I could get a research assistancship, says my potential faculty advisor. He says that most students are on some type of scholarship/funding. Vancouver would be amazing. Beautiful. It's also very far away and it would be a huge transition.

university of Michigan... they are giving me a lot of money, so tuition would be close to free. maybe 2000? Cost of living in ann arbor is fairly high, too, but it seems more affordable because i wouldn't have to spend much money actually moving out there. I know I love ann arbor, and it wouldn't be such a huge transition. However, I feel like grad school is this next level in my life and I don't want to think that i'm just "moving back" to ann arbor.

UIC NEEDS TO GET BACK TO ME.

i wish i knew.

how fast can time go by?

as apparent from the past two weeks, it can go by lightening speed.

i don't even know where to begin. I am not going to bore anyone with all the details about what's been up.. but in general it consisted of a lot of hanging out and seeing old friends. I've put off sleeping to hang out more than usual, and that is coming to bite me in the ass today. The trip to South Bend/Chicago was really great. I went in the B+W photo booth with joseph and chris and got really awesome pix out of it. however, i was so tired that by the end of the night all i could do was get aggitated and keep saying "i'm not staying in chicago tonight. we're leaving tonight. i'm not staying." i was able to enjoy all the great company, though. Chase's band was really good and it was so cool to see a crowded room at a local show! they seem to have a pretty decent following. maybe it's just because chicago is cooler than lansing, but when a room is full and everyone is watching the band it makes me think they are going to 'make it' even on some small scale.

today i had to wake up at 7am for a work meeting, which was pointless. and all my coworkers talk about the AM behind her back and also this girl Katy, who is getting fired anyway. part of me likes being in on the gossip, but mostly i feel bad. i don't like when people are hating on other people, especially in a work setting. i guess i am just insecure and think they could be talking about me, too. they tell me they like me, though. it still doesn't make the whole situation any better. the thing is, I like the AM! I mean, she's a little strung out and 'by the book' but she's just doing her job and she's pretty funny and very efficient.

anyway. i took a two-hour nap today and am drinking coffee now. i work in a bit, which i am not looking forward to, but will gladly accept any and all hours.

hoping everyone is having a good day.

i am a vampire

i was sitting on a comfy chair at the Bean & Leaf, and the sun was shining brightly. This all sounds good, but the sun was really messing up my life at the moment, so I had to switch spots. Now I am in a cold, dark corner of the cafe. much better.

tomorrow joseph and i are going to drive to chicago! we are making a stop in south bend, first. I am very excited for this. I miss having joseph in my every day life.

tonight i might hang out with The Word Play + Jenny. I am also excited for this. I got these passes to see a free screening of City of Men at the main art theater. i feel really important when i get to see a movie before anyone else. especially since i never see movies and am always missing pop culture references.

nothing really is exciting at the moment, though. i am trying to relax and enjoy my free time. oh, i was talking with John earlier about yoga and how expensive it is, and he suggested that I work at the yoga shelter because then i get free yoga. that would be so rad. i think i am going to email them today to see if i can work something out.

shit.

time is flying.

i got another request to update my blog (yay!) and my initial thought was, "what? i just updated it like two days ago." turns out I did not. so here i am.

joseph is in town this week. he flew in saturday and jenny and I picked him up from the airport. I love the idea of friends picking up friends from the airport.. it seems really special. and it was. by the time we got his luggage and fought through traffic, and stopped at Chipotle for a burrito, we arrived just in time to see the word play. Literally, we walked in and they started their first song. it was meant to be, obviously. Afterwards we went to Krohn's for a party, but I knew the moment I stepped inside that I didn't want to stay. We stayed for about 20 minutes before I demanded to leave. Instead, we met up with The Word Play at Theios and it was actually a lot of fun. I mean, I was elated because joseph was there, but i've also never really hung out with just the word play before.. it's always been a multi-group thing and so i wasn't sure how it'd flow. but they were lots of fun. I am trying to convince them to put jenny and I on the list for their show with Blind Melon.

anyway.. the past few days have been either work, talking on the phone, or with joseph. I keep having really great conversations with people about life.

scand scand scand.

and now i am exhausted. i've been sleeping terribly. I attribute it to excitement and too much coffee. unfortunately i've picked up the habit of drinking coffee again. I am hoping I will stop again soon, because it really messes with my sleep schedule.

how can...

american idol be on for six hours this week? and how can my mom watch all of it without going bonkers?

anyway.. today has been a good day. for no reason, either. the days that are good for no reason i think are better than the days that are good for reasons. i didn't get out of bed until 9:30am (even though I was in and out from 7:30).. but i woke up refreshed and enjoyed a relaxing morning, a good breakfast and tea. then i got a call from work asking if I'd come in for a few hours. Since I am freaking out about money, i gladly accepted and it went by quickly. Before work, though, i went to Bean & Leaf and had a really good cup of coffee. and a banana.

After work I had lunch then I went over to Julie's house and hung out for a bit and then we went to Rob's yoga class. I know I think that every class is the best class, but i really think this was the best class. I took lots of breaks, but I found "my edge" the whole time, and I am pretty sure I didn't cross that line once. Maybe that's why I felt so good this time. Rob has this really awesome way of making me (and everyone, i think) feel super comfortable and in tune with their bodies and be able to break through that "i have to look really awesome doing yoga" mentality that I can get in (and a lot of people can get in).. making it easier to just do what feels right. and he's hilarious. and he wears tennis shoes in the studio, which makes me happy. it makes me happy because it reminds me that not every rule has to be followed by every person.

then i went to whole foods and got their hot bar for dinner, which was delicious. and now i need a bubble-pipe to complete my level of comfort. i am in my robe with a scarf and knee high, striped socks.

two down!

Just got an email from University of Michigan's grad program, congratulating me on my acceptance into their program!

that means i now have at least two choices for grad school!

i can't believe that chicago won't tell me until april if i'm in or not. i hate waiting and seeing. but for now, i am just happy!

screening calls

lately i've had numerous mysterious calls on my cell phone. i usually get scared and let my voicemail pick it up, but curiousity is a biotch.

today i had picked up a shift at work, but i got a call this morning informing me that they didn't need me to come in. This made me marginally sad, because I've had a recent string of problems on my car and I was really excited to get my first paycheck to blow it on really important items like a new yoga top, pants, aveda bodywash and other things. Instead, I got to buy new roders, a realignment and some other things i don't remember because i am not good with cars. However, this day off allowed me to go to Ann Arbor and start me new book, Candy, by the fire. It's cool, because the fireplace (or woodburning stove, technically) is right by many windows, so i can look at the fire and feel the warmth, yet still see the snow falling down. And, of course, two kitties sleeping next to the fire.

I do work every day for the rest of the week, so hopefully my hours will continue to increase, and i can blow my second paycheck on all the accessories.

for now, I will leave you with my new favorite icanhascheezburger cat.

something besides the weather.

it always makes me feel good when i get a requent to update my blog.

lets see.. my life really isn't that exciting, but if i only speak of the highlights, it might seem that way:

in yoga class this morning, the yoga instructor did this crazy realignment to my spine. it felt so cool. we had just finished this semi-intense series of asanas and we were resting on our stomaches and during that time he came to me and started poking around my spine. he told me to breathe into the spot he was touching and on my exhale he pressed down in this really bizzare way and.. i don't even know.. but it felt amazing.

today at work i watched The Last Unicorn, one of my favorite childhood movies. it is a really dark, twisted kids movie. the best kind. and, it has unicorns in it. who doesn't love a unicorn? AND, check out the fantastic animation:




More later.. for now I am meeting my sister at a cafe. we are going to drink really good tea and play scrabble. AND, the workers here are really cute, so that is always a plus.

sore elbow joints

i went to the gym with my sister last night and tried to lift weights. well, i didn't try. i did lift weights. just not very heavy weights or for very long. my biceps or triceps don't seem to be sore, but my elbow joints feel a little stiff. i wonder if i did something wrong, or if this is normal? i really don't know. regardless, sitting in the sauna and the jacuzzi was the best part. :)

i started my new job at family video. i'm still in training, so it's still hard to tell if i will like it or not. it doesn't seem too bad, though. my manager (who i think is getting fired or demoted soon) is really cool. about eight years ago he used to hang out with and kissed Summer Glau, of Firefly and Serenity. SO COOL.

umm.. not much else has been going on. i bought a new book called Candy, by Mian Mian. No, i haven't heard of it before and Yes, I judged it by it's cover. I did read the back of it and it sounded really good. it was apparently banned in China when it was first published. I figure a cool cover and it being banned (albeit in china. they ban children there, so it doesn't say too much..) was enough criteria for me to buy it.

i'll keep you posted.

you know what i love?

free brunch at the inn season. fantastic!

today has been a really good day so far, which is nice since yesterday was completely bogus. i went to Rob's yoga class at 10am, and it was so crowded. it was literally mat to mat and it was a lot of fun. i am not used to classes being that filled. it makes me happy when there are so many yogis in one room, all sharing their energy with me. then i went grocery shopping at whole foods, and got corn bread mix, which i am excited to make vegan-style. they also had really good food in the prepared food section which i got. So I went home, showered and was going to make myself lunch, but instead got an invitation from John to go to Inn Season for brunch! way better. So we hung out for a bit, then I got home in time for my sister to come over and play scrabble with me. I won! I'm not really that competitive, but I did get a Bingo, and i do like winning. I like playing more than I like winning, so either way I would have had a good time.

now i just finished dinner and am heading over to my friend kathy's in a bit. i am looking forward to seeing her house and where she lives. It's always really cool to get to see where people live. it seems like a.. solidification of some sort, like i get to see what she sees when she gets up in the morning and go to bed. Like I will get to know her better. I never like having people over.. I guess it's because I usually feel pressure to be a good hostess, but maybe it's because i am uncomfortable with letting people get glimpses into my real life. this is a fact i am trying to change. i want to be more open with myself to others.. i think it's really the only way i can ever connect with people and make good friends, you know?

anyway, hopefully you all are having a good night and find other interesting things to read about on the internet machine.

a few spare days

lets see. updates include:

finalizing starting at the video store. that will be friday

an upcoming show on thursday, which i am hoping chicago people will make it to. and if not, then i will be more than happy to spend all time with jenny. but her boyfriend just got back from china, so i think they'll want to spend their time together.

almost done with my banana yoshimoto book. it is not as good as the others i've read by her. this one, called Goodbye Tsugumi, is about a young woman going back to live in her childhood town for one last summer before the Inn that was there closes. friendships, family issues and lots of scenery descriptions.

i'm painfully cold, but am sticking to my new style of skirts anyway. tights help and i am becoming more comfortable with the look. and, i'm not painfully cold because of the skirts. it's just bloody cold outside.

tonight i am thinking of renting the third disc of alias, putting on my new microwavable socks, relaxing and maybe finishing my book.

living vicariously

today (well, really the past few days) I have been ignoring my life because I have been consumed with veronica mars' life. I just finished the second season, and I keep having to tell myself to not start the third for at least a few days. this way I can give my life the attention it deserves.

So, I passed the crazy family video exam and have an interview tomorrow afternoon. it was supposed to be today, but they had to reschedule because something came up. Seems like a theme today. I was also supposed to hang out with a new, potential friend, but i am thinking there was a miscommunication because it was just me and my journal. oh well, i am pretty used to going solo at cafes.

i also decided to give up (for now) on reading the fountainhead. it's really good so far, but i have some serious mental blocks reading a book that long. so, i am going to start reading this book by banana yoshimoto. I read two of her books already and liked them a lot. plus, banana.

only one piece of flare.

that was the ending comment by the woman i interviewed with today at family video.
backup.

the other day, i was bored and wanted to walk to the video store and rent some movies. While walking to the store, I was thinking about my financial stress in life and all of this free time I seem to be having. I appreciate free time and relaxing, but I am definitely the type of person who likes her free time in small, frequent doses. Lately I've had large stretches of free time. So I get to the video store and see that in two days they have open interviews for all positions. I recently called the library where I applied to find out that it is taking them awhile to sift through the applications, as they recieved 125 of them. Needless to say I am not banking on becoming a library assisstant any time soon. SO.. i filled out an application and went to the open interview today.

As a note to how Michigan's economy sucks, I got to the interview at noon. it started at 11, and I was the 35th person in line for an interview, and while I was waiting at least 20 people came in. But my interview went really well. The woman got my sense of humor and movie references, she asked me to come back tonight for part 2 of the process.

so being a video store clerk might be in my future.

I also started volunteering at the animal shelter by my house yesterday. It was okay. It's much better in theory. I spent the morning cleaning cat boxes and only marginally playing with the kitties. In my head it was vice versa. But I am going to continue going there about twice a week.

Right now I am oogling the new MacBoook Air, playing scrabble, updating my blog and people watching at a cafe, until it's time for my interview. Multitasker? yes. Bored? probably. Accepting of boredness? maybe. I really want to go ice skating.

bored kitty

so, i have been extremely bored most of the day.
i spent a lot of time wandering around royal oak, looking for skirts. not like i was going to buy one, because i'm pretty much broke.

luckily, jenny called and saved me from being bored all by myself. while i was waiting for her to show up at a cafe, i remembered the i can has cheezburger site and found this:




i hope it gives you as much joy as it gave me.

it did inspire me to check out local volunteer opportunities for animal shelters. i am going in to the animal welfare society monday to fill out some forms. i figure being around animals will be even better than looking at pictures of them.

happy cows

everyone has googled their own name before, right?

well, I just did and I found this from my old supervisor that i worked for. Scroll down to the end and look under Acknowledgments! AND, i found my name listed in an urban options energy center article under volunteers.

it's the little things in life that make me happy!

waiting, seeing, and trying to work.

well it's a warm, if not sunny, monday morning here. i came to royal oak with a surface mindset of getting some work done, but i think underneath that I knew I'd really just surf the internet and people watch for a good portion of my time here.

My weekend was okay. Some of the highlights include hanging out with jenny both saturday and sunday. saturday just briefly and sunday for most of the day, actually getting work done! it's just really nice to be able to see her on a semi-regular basis again. I didn't realize how much I missed doing that. You know the saying "you don't know what you got 'till it's gone" (or maybe that's a song lyric...). Well, for me, it's more like I don't know what I've got until it's gone and then I get it back again.

The lowlights include idleing my time away. I feel like I'm in this really transitory place and i'm not sure what to make of it. I don't know where I'm going. No answers, just ideas. And sure it's fun thinking of the future as a blank canvas sometimes.. but when it comes to living day to day facing that blank canvas, it really gets to me. I hate this "waiting and seeing" business about life. Maybe I'm just being too passive about life.. but I don't have it in me lately to stop waiting and seeing.

At least I have veronica mars to help pass the time.
That and games of scrabble, which i keep losing!!!

And: I need to start a budget. Except it's hard when I don't have a steady paycheck. I mean, really, how can I make a budget when I don't know what I've got? WAIT AND SEE!!! boo.

hopefully this will be better than livejournal

well it's a new year, and i really like the idea of having a new blog. my live journal account just holds too many memories, and it seemed like i was taking a step backwards rather than really living in 08. Plus, Meghan's blog just looked so pretty!

it's currently 8:30am and I thought I got up at 9, but in my sleepy glances I read the clock wrong. My plan was to roll out of bed, have some cereal then go to yoga. Now I have all this "free time." The last yoga class I was at made mention that new years are filled with the things every year is filled up with (different for everyone, i suppose.. but a common theme of sadness, anger, confusion, happiness, excitement, etc.) but that one thing didn't have to change: yoga. and while in bakasana, the truth of that clicked: sometimes life is not easy, but somehow we manage the strength to get through it. and yoga is not going anywhere in my life. so there will always be some sort of stability in my life!

I am also planning on working on some water diversion research later. I have been really nervous about this project, as I've only glossed over water laws and I don't understand them enough to write a publishable paper on it. But I was talking to Jenny about it, and she reminded me that I have a degree, and that this is like any other new job I'd have gotten. I just have to work hard and trust my ability to do the job I was hired for. Jenny is so smart sometimes. So I have been working hard and I am beginning to understand (gulp) legislative terms on water laws. Let me explain how much they need improvement! On second thought, let me not explain that.

Okay, I am going to start my day for real now.