Oh the frustrations of being a responsible adult under 25
So my friends and I would like to go to Florida for spring break and rent a house. I somehow found myself being the one to do all the grunt work and have, therefore, had a few unique frustrations. First, when planning a trip like this, it's pretty important to know exactly how many people are interested so that I can find the right size house. You might think one person being wishy-washy is a pain, but try 6 people. In addition to this pain, about 75% of the places out there don't rent to people under 25. It seems that the rest of our age group has behaved so badly on other people's property, that no one will trust you as soon as you mention the word "college". I was on the phone with one guy who, when I tried to explain we aren't there to party a lot, we just want a place to relax, actually laughed at me. Why do you get to be a jerk to me just because you remember when you were 21 you couldn't get laid and therefore had to resort to alcohol and breaking things for entertainmnet? Needless to say I'm getting annoyed with the whole thing, but I'll keep chugging along because we all really, really want to go.
Two things I dislike about myself
What an upbeat title for my blog... I guess I just need to get these off my chest.
First, I hate when I know what is good for me and what I should do, but I choose to ignore those thoughts in my head and continue on with what I am doing. For example, tonight I was really tired and new that I should have gone home and gone to bed at midnight. But instead, I stuck around and chilled with friends until 2:30, when David suggested I get some sleep. Now I know this isn't destructive behavior or anything, but why not listen to myself in the first place?
Second, the other thing I dislike is a little fear I have. To put it plainly, I am afraid that I'm going to fall on my face at some point, and someone will realize that this has all been a charade - that I'm not smart and together and relatively mature. You may think this is all some made up crap that I am just saying because it's late, but it's true. Rest assured, I only get good grades because I study. Take away that ability, and I'm nothing. I promise. Well I guess I don't have to fear everything finding out it's a charade because I already told you. :-)
California Adventures
I am going to take us on another flashback to 2002, when I spent six months in California.
I got a co-op job at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA for the summer and fall of 2002. While normal co-op rotations are only three months long, JPL thought our first stint out there should be six months because of the "rigorous" work. As you will soon find out, this rigorous work entailed playing with optics and traveling to Hawaii for work. Oh shucks.
Lindsay and I lived together in the heart of Pasadena over the summer. I think we learned too much about one another and had too much fun at the same time. I never realized how pleasing our Saturday ritual would be: wake up around 10, get some
Jamba Juice (only the best smoothies in the world), head to the beach for the day with the boys, play volleyball, come back and order a Big Papa (a monstrous 36" pizza), and eat and drink beer with the boys for the rest of the night. Such a hard life. If only JPL were closer to the beach and we could have gone on our lunch breaks.
While at JPL, I still kept up with the college scene thanks to Lindsay at Claremont. Her school loves to sponsor parties and get their students drunk. Why? I have no idea. But sometimes I definitely wish I went to a private school. Except for all the debts I would then have. But warm weather led to small, low-cut shirts, and her homecoming gambling night led to me in a sparkly, partially see-through dress and how shall we say it - better friends? That's for Lindsay and I to laugh at only. But a hardy laugh it is. When I wasn't there in the spring, people at her school wondered where I had gone and why I wasn't at school anymore - they thought I went to her school because I was there so often. If only they had Aerospace Engineering...
Other cool things I did was visit Stanford and San Francisco to visit our friend Sean, took a weekend trip with my dad and uncle to the
Sequoia National Forest and along the coast, and then toured the southern states with my dad on the trip back, all of which were tons of fun. And the Jimmy even hit 100,000 miles at the
Grand Canyon.
But let me not forget the coolest part! At JPL, the project I worked on was a set of telescopes located in Hawaii. It just so happened that they needed an extra hand and that I could test out some of my programs by GOING OUT THERE. So we went to Hawaii for a week, all paid for my JPL. Granted we worked 10-11 hour days, but still! We got to go to the
Volcano National Park, snorkeling, hiking, shopping, and swimming at a black sand beach. I wish I had more of my pictures digitalized, but here is the sunset over the
Keck Telescopes, on the top of Mauna Kea, at 14,000 feet. Gorgeous. :-)
The first time I slept through my alarm...
was today! I have an 8 am class every Tuesday and Thursday, and I set my alarm for 7 this morning and slept right through it. I've never done that before!! I don't even think I've really skipped a class without an excuse, and here I go missing the third class! I guess I should shut up now because I sound like more of a dork than I am, but I mean, jeez, what's gotten into me? So I started the day off restful but pissed off. But the little things made it all better...
At the gym, Livia and I were talking and Kamber came up, and she said I looked like I was in really good shape. And this coming from a person who I think is in great shape made me feel extra special. Lesson? Tell people they look really good. Instant friend points.
Then David came over and I made pancakes and potatoes, and breakfast for dinner is so damn good. Don't you agree? I know Melissa will, but her breakfast consists of just cereal, not quality menu items like chocolate-chip pancakes. So anyways David and I talked after dinner and we're going to keep dating. So yay for all the supporters, and boo to the one naysayer. ;-) (I guess I haven't really written much about this dilemma because I wasn't sure how much was appropriate to write, but Joey and I broke up and we're still friends, and I started dating David. But we weren't sure how to deal with this because of graduation looming so near. But screw May, let's jsut have some fun!)
Planet Quiz
You Are From the Sun |
Of all your friends, you're the shining star.
You're dramatic - loving attention and the spotlight.
You're a totally entertainer and the life of the party.
Watch out! The Sun can be stubborn, demanding, and flirty.
Overall, you're a great leader and great friend. The very best!
|
Doors closing, windows opening
Sometimes I'm involved in something in my life for very few reasons, but I don't get out of it, and I'm not sure why. Familiarity? An occasional fun time? A challenge? But, if I keep my eyes open, I see something I should have seen a long time ago: there is something so much better out there, and I shouldn't blind myself to that fact because I am caught up in what I am doing.
Now if I could only find a solution to half-heartedly being involved in my sorority...
Some Resolutions
So it's back to school time. Today was the first day of my last semester as an undergrad. I wish I could say it's my last first day ever, but we crazy people like to torture ourselves with 5 more years of school. I hope I can have more fun this semester and worry less. I guess maybe one could call those New Year's resolutions. They're just kind of hard to enforce.
I also realized recently that I am a bad friend sometimes. I think I get distracted by new friends/interests, and I hang out less with people that really mean a lot to me and that I have fun with. Especially when I become interested in a guy, I forget to take time away from this new person to spend time with other friends. Maybe another resolution? I noticed this looking back to last semester. As soon as I started dating Joey, I would blow off people that definitely should have come first. I'm sorry for that, and I definitely will try to change. So I'm sorry roommates, Eric, Dave, Ansley, and anyone else I might be forgetting at the moment.
2004 in recap, finally
I got this from Katy who got it from other people
best _____ of the year:
1. party: both of David Redwines & Co's (ben murdock, jason fletcher, chris ryan, frank fearon) parties. Although mistakes were made at the second one, it's always a ton of fun. And the party we threw in January in the dorm with like 60 people. And Jen's birthday party, where we got our first keg and did our first keg stands.
2. show: One Tree Hill
3. cd: Maroon 5 "Songs About Jane"
4. movie: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
5. song: Marc Broussard "Home"
6. experience: We don't talk about those experiences... ;-)
7. concert: Marc Broussard
8. book: The Last Juror, by John Grisham. I'm a huge Grisham fan, and although it wasn't his best, it was definitely good.
9. month: August - made some money, had some time off, got back to school, turned 21.
10. day: Dec 11, because the hardest semester and most stressful 3 weeks were over
worst ____ of the year:
1. party: I hate to tell someone they had a bad party, since I know it wasn't one I threw. ;-)
2. show: I can't say I watch enough tv to pick one, but the eating bugs on Fear Factor grosses me out and I will never ever watch it
3. cd: can i cop out and say i don't know?
4. movie: Garfield (but I only saw half, and it wasn't my choice)
5. song: something on the cd that i don't know
6. experience: the polynidal cyst ordeal
7. concert: the guy that opened up for Marc Broussard
8. book: Flight Dynamics by Nelson
9. month: mid Nov - mid Dec. finals suck.
10. Day: April 27 - I think that's when the system dynamics final was
hopes for 2005:
1. predict something that you think will happen in 2005?: I will look into buying a house or townhouse
2. what do you hope changes about your country?: We have more unity
3. what do you hope for yourself?: I am happy with whatever decision I make that will guide the next 5 years of my life
4. what do you hope for your family?: that my parents will exercise more and my brother will find a real job
5. what do you hope for your friends?: that we keep in touch after moving away
during 2004:
1. where were you when it began?: at nick saldivar's house with the high school crew, celebrating the New Year for every time zone
2. did you stay up?: yeah, at least until California celebrated New Year's
3. what was your new year wish?: to be happy
4. how many boy/girlfriends?: one
5. broke up?: still dating
6. have any crushes?: that's my life
7. care to mention names?: other than the one i am dating, the rest don't really matter, now do they?
8. new friends?: yeah, and more/better aerospace friends, which is good
9. had to say goodbye?: not for good
10. missed anyone?: friends from high school, family while at school
11. win anything? a free t-shirt at an AIAA meeting
12. best place you went to?: tie: LA to visit Lindsay for Spring Break and NYC - it was random and fun
13. worst place you went to?: structures 2 class with craig
14. happiest moment?: there hasn't been anything outstanding this year, but seeing I kept my GPA is always rewarding, simple things like hanging out with friends, seeing my family, etc.
15. how was your birthday?: awesome. I turned 21, and we partied for 4 nights straight. Bryan, Katie, Eric, and I got drinks at Fox and Hounds after a long search for an open bar at midnight on Wednesday. On my birthday (Thursday), a huge group went to Intermezzo, and I realized how lucky I am to have such great people in my life. Friday Eric threw a party at his place, which was a lot of fun, and there were some great pictures from that night of Dave and I passed out on the floor.
16. best present?: My car! (a 2005 Toyota Corolla Sport)
Lindsay's Visit
I dropped Lindsay off bright and early at the airport this morning, which has led to quite a productive day. I can't believe it's almost time to go back to school, but I'm excited about seeing everyone and having a somewhat lighter semester.
While Lindsay was here we of course did some shopping and lots of catching up. Since we lived together in California, it almost feels as if Lindsay is my sister sometimes since we know each other so well. We saw lots of high school friends - some I see every week and some I hadn't seen in 3 years.
Saturday we went into DC with Sean Duffy to see the new American Indian Smithsonian. It was decent, but I wasn't overly impressed, as I normally am with museums downtown. If you plan on going and want more details, ask me about it. It was a gorgeous day (about 65 degrees), so we walked down the Mall to the WWII Memorial. Lindsay and I feel lucky to call a place like DC home (or almost home, since I'm in northern Virginia), and whenever I feel like it, I can go into DC to visit museums or memorials or whatever else strikes my fancy that day. An added bonus that day was the beautiful weather, which made for a great New Year's Day. We then went to Georgetown to go to a happy hour I had found, but we were thwarted when our back-alley (read: way hard to find) bar was now an upscale bar. Damn.
In high school we had the coolest AP History teacher junior year (Mr. Lindo), but he quit teaching after our year (he tells us it's not our fault...). Lindsay and I and a friend Skye had history together, and we spent a lot of time with him inside and outside of the classroom. We took weekend trips to Philly, Gettysburg,
Falling Water, and Deep Creek Lake. We all got together again Sunday night, and it was so great to catch up. We met Mr. Lindo's partner, caught up on our life stories, and talked about current events like the good ole times in class. He's trying to adopt, and I'm praying that they are able to soon.
Yesterday we had a 3 state adventure with the crew. We played
disc golf at a huge course in Maryland, continued the ethnic lunches at Caribbean Cafe, then snowtubed at
Ski Liberty in Pennsylvania. We were supposed to go skiing, but the unusually warm weather again thwarted my plans (this was the third time) to go ski. It was definitely a good replacement day though.
