Practice for London?

I have decided that I must carry my digital camera with me at all times. I had it in my purse Wednesday and after work I quit literally stumbled across St. James' Cathedral. And on a beautiful day, no less. Now I just need to get a case for it. I mean, I have a case, but it is rather big to put in my purse all the time. I just need something to protect it from getting scratched by my keys.... knitting project, anyone?

Once is cool, twice is just ridiculous

So today I was all ready to head out to work, when I got a call saying that we had no power and that I shouldn't come in. This would be cool and all, except for the fact that this already happened less than a week ago! So now I have missed two days of work in a one week period due to the power being out. We haven't had any big wind/snow/ice storms, so I ask, "What is wrong with the stupid power company?!?" Why does the power just randomly go out? Hmmmm..... strange. All I know is that it sorta messes up my day (week) cause now I have to find time to go in and make up the hours, but I already have plans for pretty much the rest of my week. *Sigh* I might just say forget this and not even make it up. I don't know.

Anyway, like a good girl, I went shopping instead =) I bought some new jeans (oh no!!) and a purse and a new wallet. I needed the jeans, but the wallet/purse were just for the fun of it. And then I continued the fight against the fleas. We have traced them to our cat, Goldie. I'm not sure why we didn't think of this in the first place, maybe just because she has never had a problem with fleas. We sprayed all of downstairs and vacuumed and cleaned the cat. Tomorrow the attack upon the upstairs commences. Specifically my bedroom. I am sick of fleas! It wasn't as bad as a couple of months ago, but one bite is too many for me! The fleas love me and they take advantage of my sweet nature (or sweet blood) whichever it may be. But I am attempting to finish the last bit of the last book of the Chronicles of Narnia, so I am gonna go take care of that. Have fun doing whatever it is that people do between Christmas and New Years!

Merry Christmas (2 mins too late)!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and most joyous Christmas. I know that I did! One of the major highlights for me was just going to church on Christmas day. I'm not sure what it is exactley, but I think there is something so special about it. I may tell more about my day later, but I am going to sleep now.

I just wanted to put up a fair warning that I got a digital camera for Christmas... and if my lack of things to do and my free time continues (which it will for at least another week), you may find yourselves reading about cool Seattle places a lot. Accompanied, of course, by cool pictures. I hope that you don't mind!

Here we come a caroling!

So last night I went caroling. It was like 10 girls and what I have begun to fondly refer to as our two "token males"... Alex and Erik. It was interesting seeing as how it has been pouring down rain here for about the last 2 to 3 days. Last night when I left my house to go to the church, it took me ten minutes to get the 6 blocks from 81st to 75th. And there were sheets of water pouring down the street. So we all got to the church and were like, we don't really want to go caroling in this. But it actually stopped raining and we decided to just go to people that live near the church so that we would have roofs and porches and a quick escape if necessary.

Highlights of the caroling experience.... I knew it was going to go well when at our first stop we sang for an empty house. Then the next couple of stops were uneventful until we decided to go find the Lakes' house. We had the address and knew about where it was, but we didn't know for sure. And so in our brilliance, instead of driving in the car to find the house, we parked the cars and started walking. Now I'm cool with exercise and all that, but it had started to pour again and I was rapidly getting drenched. We finally did find the house, but we were a little worse for the wear. Then at our last stop they shut the door in our face! We found the house and they had a big enclosed yard with the house set back from the street and a "Beware of Dog" sign on the gate. We didn't hear a dog, and despite Katrina's worries that the dog was going to come out and attack us as we went in, we decided to go for it. We walked up to what looked to be the front porch, but there was a porch and a pile of ruble where the steps should have been. Apparently they were remodeling. So we sang in the grass... a long way from the door so it took them about a song and a half to finally hear us. Then they came and peeked out the door but the wife thought that they didn't know us so she closed the door and went back inside. Pretty soon her husband comes out and looks and he was like, "It's okay, we know them!" Poor Loretta, she came out and stared at all of us and was still like... "I know you??!!?" Talk about feeling appreciated =) By that time we were very damp and decided to head home. And the dog??? Yah... it was a little Snoopy dog on their front porch. Interesting. We also sang for some totally random people because we liked the big blow up snowman in their front yard.

Anyways, I think that I should try posting to this thing earlier in the day so that I am more awake as I am doing so. Right now, all I can think about is going to bed and unfortunately, I think that it is causing my performance to suffer.

What to say, what to say?

Tonight I discovered that one of my pretty good friends from high school is engaged. Engaged, can you imagine that? I've only been out of high school 2 and a half years. Its all well and good when its somebody you don't know, but when it is one of the people that was actually close to you, you sorta stop and wonder what is going on in this world. I guess I just sort of assume that since I don't feel old enough to be getting married, other people my age would feel the same way =)

Anyways, this has served to make me rather depressed (I think that I am overusing that phrase.) Of course for the obvious reason of her being engaged and me being jealous in a sort of jealous, but not really jealous at all, yet still slightly bothered because she is my age sort of way. But also because it made me realize how out of touch with some of these people I am. I just sort of stumbled across the news that she was engaged. If these had been people that I had only known throughout high school, it would be okay, but most of my friends from David Douglas I went to school with all the way through -- from elementary to high school. I have known a lot of them since 6th grade, some since 3rd grade and even a couple since 1st. We experienced everything together... mean teachers, band competitions, hard classes, band trips to Disneyland, solo/ensemble contests, horrible AP assignments, Aalberg!!! Not to mention the trials of just growing up and making it through school. I have gone through so much of my life with them always there, but it made me sad to realize that I don't even know what is going on with them now.

I understand that people and circumstances and times change and you cannot always stay in contact, despite your best attempts. But have I even attempted? Probably not. If I was to be a big baby about it, I would blame it all on moving to Seattle and how I got torn from my friends before my senior year and they all had an extra year together and they are now all at UO and so on and so forth, yadda yadda yadda. But that probably is not a good reason, its just an excuse. Its sorta tough to realize that your life is changing and you have to figure out how to incoporate these people into that new and grown-up life. How much do you want to contact them? How much time do you want to spend seeing them? How much do you actually care about what goes on in their lives? Are they to just be one of those people that you send a Christmas card to every year with an update letter in it and call it good? I don't know. I will let you know when I figure it out. And I have the annoying feeling that this is going to become a problem for college too... I know!! Never make friends, then you will never have this problem? *Sigh* I am going to bed... I have become too cynical for my own good.

So it happened again...

...the Lord came through for me and worked stuff out when I had been idiotic and messed things up, mainly by purchasing a plane ticket before my classes were finalized =) Well, after much searching and great anguish, I found a class that fit right into my schedule, was actually interesting and most importantly... had a final while I was still going to be in the country! So now I am taking the History of Ireland which may sound boring to ya'll, but I am thrilled because I love history. I was going to minor in history until I realized that just getting my requirements for psych fulfilled and doing all the prereqs for nursing would probably take up a great deal of the time I had left in college. So I am excited that I am taking a history class again. The only bad thing about this schedule as I see it is that I have chem lab every Monday night from 6:30 to 9:20. I am not super excited about that, or about the fact that I am taking chem AGAIN, but that is another story for another time.

As if this means anything to anybody, but I recently decided to switch from a BS in psych to a BA for the stupidest reason ever: I can't take the stats class that goes with the BS this term. Unfortunately, stats is one of those pesky classes that ends up being a prereq for a lot of other classes you need to take, such as my lab classes, so I decided that I needed to go ahead and take stats ASAP in order to be able to take other stuff later. The stats class is where the BS and BA start to differ and the BS one wouldn't fit into my schedule so therefore, by default, I am now getting a BA. I know this may seem like a rash decision, but I have been told multiple times by my advisors that unless you are planning on going into clinical research, which I am not, you don't really need to get a BS. So don't ask me why I was going for it... I probably don't have a good answer.

My distinct lack of school this week has allowed me to do other things that needed to get done... such as realizing that the tabs on my car expired last month and nobody ever told me. I didn't get a letter or warning or anything. The only thing I can figure is that perhaps it went to the old owner since I purchased the car less than 2 months before the tabs expired. Anyway, if it wasn't for the fact that I had been curious about it, then I would be driving around with expired tabs. So $129.75 later I had new tabs and I am good to go for 1 year. For those of you who don't live in the beautiful state of Washington or the wonderful city of Seattle, let me explain why this was SO STINKING EXPENSIVE. We get the privilege of renewing every year and due to the monorail tax, I had to pay $76 just because. Now the monorail is a funny thing in that Seattle doesn't have any form of lightrail system (think MAX in Portland). So a couple of years ago, people decided that we needed one, which I think is cool and everything, but the way it was pitched and the people planning and the sheer amount of money it was going to cost didn't go over well with the voters and they voted it down 4 times I believe. The latest one being this last November. But due to the huge expense these people racked up doing studies and getting estimates and needing salaries and all that, I had to pay taxes on something that isn't even happening anymore. And the worst part is that the debt from just planning the stupid thing isn't expected to be paid off for 2-3 years. So even if we do come up with another idea, we will still be paying for this old idea that we threw away. Brilliant! I could have used that money to pay for my tail-light cover that I smashed when I backed into our garbage can... but again, another story for another time. Go to bed children... tomorrow is Sunday!

So it seems...

... that there are an unusually large number of people driving around Seattle with one burned out headlight. I wonder, why can't people change their headlights??? It is serving to make me rather depressed.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..... I need that rock NOW!

So as of 5 minutes ago I had a post up here that had taken me about 30 mins to type and then my computer said that it had encountered an error and shut down. Grrrr!!!! In that previous post, I had detailed how I was in the mood for some hardcore, head-banging rock. I need it even more right now just cause I am so frustrated. Perhaps if I do enough head-banging I will get so dizzy I won't remember how frustrated I was? I dunno.... Thousand Foot Krutch is cutting it for now, but I may need something new soon. Any good suggestions from the peanut gallery? I know that I may not seem like a rock girl, but I am. My music collection, while it is mostly Christian, is still comprised mainly of rock and alternative. Wait... I have a better suggestion, anybody wanna go cruising with me? We can turn the music up and roll the windows down and drive way too fast. Ahhhh.... sounds nice =) Wait... I mean, I don't drive fast (well, I didn't there for awhile while my car and I were still getting to know each other, but now we get along much better!)

But since I most likely will not be going cruising tonight but to bed instead, I shall finish rewriting the post that was already written once this evening. This is the short version. Going to London in the spring conflicted with one of my finals. I contacted the professor about the format of the final to get an idea of whether or not it was something that I could miss or not (i.e. If it was a paper, I could have written it early and left early). The stupid professor never emailed me back so I had to buy the ticket anyways. Might I add that it was non-refundable too. Finally I decided that the professor wasn't going to email me back, so I emailed him again. He responded with this "I don't give finals early, that is why I didn't respond to your email." On what planet would I take his lack of a response as a sign that he wasn't going to let me take the final early?? I took it more to mean that the email got lost or he accidentally overlooked it in his inbox or something. But long story short, he didnt respond so I bought the ticket for Thursday, the day of the final, because it was the cheaper one and they were running out of seats. If he had just had the decency to respond, I could have bought the ticket for Friday and it would have been all good. So I dropped his class, looked up his profile on the UW website and scowled at his picture. To make matters worse, he looks exactly like the defense against the dark arts teacher off of the 2nd Harry Potter movie, Lockhart. I am tempted to send a nasty email since I will never have to see him again nor take his class, but I will not because that wouldn't be very Christian-like. I have included his picture here, just for your scowling enjoyment: http://depts.washington.edu/scand/faculty/nestingen.shtml.

Anyway, I have bored you long enough with my rambles about my miserable existence. I am tense and on edge cause I have finals Monday and Tuesday and while I am pretty ready to take them, I just would like them to be over. Maybe THEN I will go on that cruising expedition to celebrate. You guys are still invited to come if you'd like....

I. Need. Coffee.

Either that or sleep. I think I have formed myself a nice little caffeine addiction over the past week and a half or so. Something about the final week of the quarter will do that to you. Either that or I am craving the chocolate that they put in my mocha and not really the coffee at all. Knowing me, the second option is a definite possibility. I know that I said I would post again.... but I didn't, because I am a horrible person. I'm still getting to it, its just that my brain doesn't want to process anymore information than it has to right now. But I'll get to it... after finals... or after this year... or after college... or after my Master's. No need to rush things.

In the hopes of being able to maintain a wakeful state tomorrow without the use of any addictive substances, I am going to sleep now. I also have an 8:30 test tomorrow morning, so a good night's sleep would probably be a plus in terms of that as well.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

It SNOWED!!! Granted, all of the snow is gone now, but it was fun while it lasted. Unfortunately, the majority of the act of snowing took place while I was at work yesterday, so I couldn't enjoy it to the extent that I would have liked. I had to appease myself by getting up and walking to the window to admire the snow every 15 mins or so. *Sigh* Sort of ironic how when I was working full time this summer I was bemoaning the fact that it was sunny outside and I could not be out basking in it. Now I have gone full circle and was bemoaning the fact that I couldn't be out in the snow. Why do we even have work anyway?

Oh yah, I remember why. So I can go to London over spring break, thats why! The plan has been in the works for some time now, but I bought my ticket, lets see, a week ago today, so now I am officially going. I am going to visit one of my friends from band who is graduating at the end of this quarter and getting a work visa to live in London. I am so very excited. I love to travel, and while Japan was totally awesome, I have yet to go to Europe, so that makes this even more exciting. But that is a ways away, so I must focus on the present.

Like how I hate my stupid computer. Actually, it isn't my computer, per se, rather it is windows. I turn on my computer tonight and it says that there are new updates for windows and so I begrudingly click "install." A century and a half later, it is still installing and everything is running super slow to the point that I can't use my computer. Finally everything finishes and I restart my computer. Apparently one of the pluses of installing these updates is that it gives you a better security center, so now it is asking me if it can block part of iTunes. What, you have something against Apple??? Wouldn't it be interesting if my computer got into a fight with itself... hmmmm...I think it would turn out fairly ugly.

Anyway, I have been procrastinating all day long and I think I should actually go to sleep so that I am feeling refreshed when I finally make myself work on homework tomorrow. Gilmore Girls is a horrible procrastination tool. I borrowed the first and second season from my aunt and cousin on DVD.... bad idea. That and knitting... but I finished my latest project, so perhaps I can hold off until my homework is more under control. As I am sitting here wrapping this up, I remembered the topic that I REALLY wanted to post about, but I will save it for tomorrow. Its philosophical and such, and I am not into the whole thinking hard thing today. And on that note... I give you this fun suprise! (scroll down to get to the commercial): http://www.bravia-advert.com/