tupelo_sol

01:50 am: a change is gonna come
I officially can't wait to move.

someone decided it would be a genius idea to light butane under a smoke detector for kicks. fucking pyro.

as i stood outside with my housemates, i realized i no longer have the slightest inclination to socialize & be cooperative. i just wanted to walk the fuck away. (please take no offense those who i love dearly and read my lj...you're obviously excluded) it's too bad our house has been taken over by idiots. and i hate it's made me care enough to vent on lj. how lame.

peace out.

12:16 am: I was let in on a shit load of office gossip and i dont like it. why cant we all just get along? most of it was about a guy i thought i would have loved to hear bad things about...but it was most unsatisfying. in good ol' kc fashion, it just made me feel bad for him. is there such a thing as being too nice? cuz i think i am. but since when should that be a bad thing?

10:26 pm: i don't know how to be alone for extended periods of time anymore.

10:30 pm: Many of my co-workers and i can never quite remember the cute things kids say in classes...thus i am going to try and document them here when worthy.

in pond class, a little girl asked me with a straight face & an immense amount of excitement if i thought she would catch a mermaid in the pond. when i asked her if she thought mermaids really lived in ponds, she said yes. i didn't have the heart to dispute.

on the way back to the classroom, she asked if hissing cockroaches like ice? so random.

p.s. spending lots of time pent up in my room makes me want to use live journal, read books, & get an account at elephant pharmacy to rent dvds.

10:29 pm: they've created Diet Coke Plus. Diet Coke with vitamins & minerals. yikes. i'm never gonna drink water.

10:44 pm: feeling better...
To counteract the depressing post, this is one of the many cute things kids have done in my classes lately...

Me: So, where have you seen this before?
(object = helium balloon)
(expected answer = birthday parties)
Enthusiastic 4-yr. old: (shouts) TRADER JOE'S!

too cute.


Another time...when trying to hint at the word "Pattern"...

Teacher: So, what's the word for when something gets repeated over & over....
5 year old Student: boring.

04:38 am: blue.
After being called 'mopey,' being asked if 'everything's alright,' randomly being told to 'take care of myself,' I'm beginning to think people around me may be on to something. I wonder if I've taken on too much. I feel like I'm failing at everything. Failing being a strong word...yet, I'm definitely not able to give even 70% of what I should to each aspect of my life. And then, my great aunt dies (g.aunt is not a representative term. she never married so she was like another grandma to me)...and I begin to wonder how one balances all of life's ups & downs when you're unable to stop time for a moment just to catch your breath.

I'll be fine, just can't sleep. I seem to only use this thing when I'm down & blue. nothing like a little e.smith, j.taylor, & such when you're down & out.

12:27 am: a fresh start...by eliminating distractions
Summer's over, the house is full of wonderful new energy, & my goal is to be as busy as possible. I'm loving it.

The basement is like one giant room since it is now almost entirely populated by my good friends, aka 'the allstar team'...problem is, we have no reason to go upstairs besides food. Best of all, I wake up to a beautiful floor-to-ceiling window. It's really awesome.

I can hear them giggling in the next room right now.

Anyways...I've decided to make this 'friends only'...yet really it will probably be pretty non-existent. comment and i'll add you...but i dont think many people read this anyways.

10:14 am: under house manager arrest...
having to stick around the house 24-7 is hardwork.

09:28 am: motherly instincts....
I love my job.

This week I got paid to do the following;
crayfish...
hold hissing cockroaches, a baby chick, bearded dragons, frogs, toads, turtles, walking sticks...
wear ladybug wings, fly around, and eat aphid popsicles...
get chased by 11 'yellow jackets' (my campers)
play hopscotch, banana tag, and red light, green light...
fish for water striders...
build with building blocks...
converse with adorable 4,5,6,& 7 year olds...


Ok, so having 2 camps was...awesome. Thursday was the only day that was extremely exhausting, but we went on a field trip to strawberry creek with Bugs, Beatles, & Butterflies which didn't go so well and I'd slept like 2 hours the night before.

I'm so sad camps are over. :(

I scared my friends the other day by admitting that I realized this week I really want kids...3 or 4 of them...and not as far in the future as I had thought previously. I thought this summer would have done the opposite.

Although, the little buggers got me sick. Thing is...I don't mind; I don't mind at all.

09:52 pm: My room is clean and organized from under the bed to my dresser drawers. I loooove it. :)

I somehow volunteered myself to do morning and afternoon camp this week. Hopefully, it will be exhausting enough that I won't be too sad that this is my last week of camps. :(

I'm remembering what it's like to have the majority of my friends be outside of the house. It is nice being a bit solitary and to have to plan to hang out with people. A bit of normalcy after 2 years. I'm glad that I'm feeling ready to move on from co-operative living.

I'm on a discovering new music kick...and it's filling most of my free time. I should be figuring out how I'm gonna get into classes since I waited so long to get my advisor code.

Oh yeah, I saw 'Little Miss Sunshine' this weekend & I highly recommend it. It's funny, yet tragic. I'm still resisting ben's desire to see 'snakes on a plane.'

Oh, and I can't believe I hurt my ankle playing banana tag with 5 year olds today. I dunno if I'm clumsy or just getting old.

04:55 am: i was gonna go to bed at like 9pm.

instead,
harmonized beatles songs with ben and dan.
then we ate spaghetti,
played soccer at maxwell with no lights,
went shopping at safeway on college,
hacky sacked, ate pizza, and drank way too much 'jazz diet pepsi'
sang 'the sound of music' songs while talking about snakes on a plane and taledega nights (Sp?) in our new clean and organized study room nook.
was somehow convinced to play beer pong by another daniel. which is actually more fun sober...well, kinda...might have been the people.
played guitar hero, buzzed while talking to evan, and still won! ironman!
talked to french tourists randomly sleeping in our common space.
conversed with ben and dan for hours.
chatted with 'heroclix' party and ate ice cream...

now it's 5am.

co-op livin' at its best.

05:30 pm: There is a god.
I DONT HAVE TO STAY IN THIS GODFORSAKEN DUNGEON OF A ROOM IN THE FALL! OMG OMG OMG! I CANT CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT!

IM GONNA HAVE A WINDOW! SUNLIGHT! ONLY ONE NEIGHBOR IM BOTHERING! A PAINT JOB THAT DOESNT LOOK LIKE AN EXTERIOR OF A HOUSE! AND NO CRACK IN THE FLOOR!

HALLELUJAH! PRAISE THE LORD!


(thank god i was too lazy to paint this hell-hole.)

11:29 pm: A Fine Sonoma County Weekend
On a whim, after work on Friday, I went home to Petaluma. I've been ignoring my family the whole summer, with the exception of the Pacific Northwest roadtrip...and had a slight feeling of guilt which made me think that maybe going home was a better idea than trekking through the woods with the Ridgelings I've spent the entire summer (and spring and fall) with.

Well, I think it was.

first, the weather was amazing all weekend. not too hot, not cold at all.

caught up on entourage friday night.
sunbathed and chilled with dog saturday morning. he's the best & i swear to god he talks to me like scooby doo when i scratch behind his ears.
took a looooong afternoon bike ride through town with a stop at the farmer's market to taste delicious locally grown nectarines and peaches.
ate way too many homemade cookies with the lil' sis while catching up on each other's lives & i finally met her boyfriend.
walked downtown and had a delicious three course meal at a fancy thai food place with mom followed by a stroll along the river with a soy latte for dessert. walked home while the sun set.
fell asleep early on the couch to a dvr recording of 'Felicity.' (o man, i loved that show back in the day).
ate my favorite brunch with my sisters sunday morning, (avocado, black bean, & cheese omelet with mango salsa and homefries...and my sis and i split a blueberry pancake)
followed by shopping at my favorite trendy thrift store and an hour browsing copperfield's, the local bookstore.
took the backroads to rohnert park and got CPR certified by my uncle, the sfo cop, in about an hour.
followed by a delicious bbq with portabello mushrooms, aunts, uncles, sisters, cousins, and such...good company, good wine, great brownies.
came home just in time to catch the new entourage and eat my red pumpkin curry leftovers.

i swear, i must have gained ten pounds this weekend.

but i'm enjoying summer again. something about being home.

i dont think i'll be living in petaluma again anytime soon, but it really has an undeniable organic & relaxing feel (albeit, it's pretty damn yuppy these days), but i'm glad i came.

02:46 pm: Feeling Good.
So, things are looking up.

1. I finally activated my new cell phone and found out my older sister is still talking to me despite completely blowing her off. Things are good and I love her. I feel like we are really growing up and talk about way cooler things now. It's nice having a friend that is a few years beyond college life, cuz I'm feeling the need to get responsible and way more independent ASAP.

2. As much as I miss them, I don't need Rose or Hadas...my friends here rock too. After two very great convos yesterday, I feel so much better about the upcoming semester and the future in general.

3. Work was so amazing today...for no particular reason. I just love working with kids. As much as I miss the little tykes, fourth graders are amazingly bright and you can joke around with them so much more than with the youngens. I think I've found a focus for the future in this job. Probably not teaching, but kids, definitely kids. They're so cool. Even the brats are awesome. I also like the feeling of being looked up to and having a bit of authority is kinda nice too.

4. I'm slowly refocusing to get the day to day junk done that I've been ignoring and enjoying life without constant MCAT studying. Since, well, I've essentially failed to master it in time. I admitted this to my parents. Dad took it really well...no guilt, only support. Mom, not so much. O well...i know ill get it done when the time's right.


I guess as one would expect, time is slowly but surely healing the depression hangover from this weekend.

05:44 pm: omg it was so hot at work.
Holy shit, LHS gets miserably hot. It has got to be 30 degrees cooler here than at work. I had a group of rambuctious 3rd graders who had a full day camp and were stuck indoors all day...it was a bit tiring to say the least. Frustrating too...considering it's actually cooler outside than inside those goddamn windowless classrooms. 3rd graders are worse at standing in a straight line than the 5 year olds. Still, they're pretty cute. One is the son of my bio 1A lab coordinator.
Must remember a water bottle tomorrow...

Yana today.
Rosemary tomorrow.

It should be a good week.

02:09 am: jimmie jackcorn & i don't care.
I wonder if central office will let this fly as a welcome letter...
I did do some editing from ben & daniel's original masterpiece, but don't tell them. Parts of it definitely still reek of their humor...can't tell if it's amusing or just really strange. But, then again, i laugh at everything daniel says. it's kinda exhausting.

Hey future Ridgelings,

Welcome to Ridge House! I am the Head Tomato (aka House Manager). You will soon be a member of a Posse known (around the globe) as the Ridgenites. Pack your things; tell your Maw; tell your Paw: you can move in starting Thursday, August Twenty-faw (24). When you arrive, knock three times softly, followed by two hard knocks, and a medium knock; this is the secret code. Ask for the Head Tomato. As the Head Tomato, I’m here to make your move in experience a smooth one. I’ll be around the house all day both Thursday and Friday, but don’t hesitate to call and make arrangements for another day so I can be at the house to greet you. If you don’t arrive by Sunday, August 27, your contract will be cancelled as of Friday, September 1st. I know, this doesn’t make much sense; what happens if you come on the 28th, 29th, 30th, or 31st? Basically, we have a vaporizing laser to avoid having to ponder such ambiguities. Seriously, though, if for any reason you cannot make it by the 27th please contact Central Office (CO) or the Head Tomato (HT).

If you plan on traveling to Ridge by box (FedEx, USPS, UPS, or DHL), address yourself to Ridge Rd., Berkeley, CA, you will be placed in your personal mailbox for which your address is (Your Name), Ridge Rd., Berkeley, CA.

Here is a list of the things that we provide for you: one bed, one desk, one dresser, one closet/wardrobe area, one chair. Here is what we don’t provide: one lamp, one pillow, one linens (extra-long twin), curtains, wastebasket, Ethernet cord (maybe), jimmie hats, and unconditional love.

As soon as you walk in the door, you will be required to deliver a $25 Room Key deposit/Secret Club Membership Fee to the Head Tomato. Fellow Ridgenites will refuse to talk or make eye contact with you until this fee is paid in full.

You will be placed in a temporary room for the first week and will sign up for temporary workshifts (which begin the first week of your arrival). You will also make temporary friends and engage in temporary flings during which you will make temporary love to a beautiful, yet confoundingly ephemeral, Ridgenite boy or girl. Permanent room assignments will be made at the mandatory meeting; room bidding order is determined by seniority or, alternately, soccer-tennis ability.

Food delivery begins August 25th (unless you haven’t paid your Room Key deposit). There will be a fully dysfunctional kitchen at your disposal, and a gaggle of robotic ducks to serve you breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Seriously, though, we only serve dinner, and there are no robotic ducks (in this house…or anywhere on the face of the Earth…I checked…believe me, I was pissed too). Vegetarian and vegan options are available at all meals.

There are five glorious, gold-trimmed parking spaces available, which are covered by the impenetrable fortress walls of CZ…unless there is an earthquake...then you’re in a whole heap of trouble…and rubble. Or you can buy a street permit from the City of Berkeley (CoB). Parking is done by seniority and soccer-tennis, also.

We have storage space available, but on the other hand we have this dude, lets call him Jimmie Jackcorn, who goes to UrbanOre everyday and buys stereo equipment, drum sets, and Mr. T blow-up dolls, so, needless to say, we don’t have very much space. Pack light. And we look forward to your arrival.

Love,
The Head Tomato & the rest of the Ridgenite Posse

P.S. Word of warning: don’t look any of the managers directly in the eye for the first few months. Or Jimmie Jackcorn. Definitely not him.

01:25 pm: too apathetic to use complete sentences.
so yesterday was a pretty horrible day...
doctors appointment. which had forced me to miss a swing dance lesson at work which would have doubled as making me try swing dancing again & as a way to get to know my coworkers better.
too much public transportation in 100 plus degree heat to get back to berkeley. (altho, it was free and i looooove hot weather, but still it was wasted on the 42)
no one was around the house.
generally feeling pretty crummy...
studied outside, returned to be reminded of my unique ability to be a complete spaz.
went running, found out just how out of shape ive allowed myself to become which is probably why i accidentally ate a gnat while trying to catch my breath.

ran every hill i could find to make my way to grizzly peak & euclid to see by far one of the top sunsets i have ever witnessed which made me forget about the crummy day. picture perfect postcard worthy bay area sunset. unbelievable. i made it to the rose garden to see the actual setting part...but wow. the fog engulfed the ocean side of the city & and blanketed the lower part of the golden gate...you could literally see it rolling into the valleys and it looked liked ocean waves where it met up with the marin hills. blue skies towered above and the sun lit up downtown sf. the sun a firey orange.

i was so enthralled, i almost missed ice skating. but, they waited for me. i didnt fall & was shocked at how quickly i wasnt dependent on the wall. some woman offered some pointers to me...it's amazing how much one can learn in a single lap around the rink. i'd like to go back again soon. then, we went to a potluck...which just served to remind me of how awkwardly silent i can be in group situations when i dont know the people. watched youtube videos in common space...still laughed my ass off at the Apache video, o man. too much.
alright, maybe the day wasn't so crummy...but parts of it felt like it.

it's a chemistry day. all day & all night long. anytime now...

o yeah, and i got a falafel at truly med for the first time in weeks and the guy asked me if it was a study day and when i was taking the mcats...kinda shocked he remembered and felt bad i wasn't more talkative. but also lost my appetite when i had to say, in less than a month. there is no way on earth i will be ready. but i must carry on.

02:02 am: so thoughtful...
dlmwong: u need to look at this book i bought you
dlmwong: that im keeping
dlmwong: ud like it
Kcobpu: thats hilarious
dlmwong: hey, its the thought that counts

10:18 pm: Sweet Home California
I spent the last week on a road trip throughout the pacific northwest. We drove to Portland, then along the border and up into eastern washington where we met up with my older sister, her boyfriend of almost four years, and his parents (meeting the 'rents was the point of the trip), then into Seattle, and finally spent the night in Ashland, Oregon before heading back to the bay area. I can now say I've been up and down pretty much the entire west coast and seen more of Washington than I ever really cared to. I'll give better details later, but a few highlights:

1. I tried shrimp! this was my first conscious bite of non-vegetarian food in four years and my first taste of seafood really.
2. Lake Chelan in Eastern Washington is the site of my first motor vehicle accident since some idiot from Boston hit me as I was leaving the gas station on a sea doo.
3. I was trying to get a diet pepsi on Sunday night in Portland only to be informed by some rude woman with a rat-like dog that liquor stores are closed on Sundays by law in Oregon & Washington. um...ok. Two other noticeable differences...soda is pop and you can't pump your own gas in Oregon.

Overall, the trip was really great...but...I've decided that despite the beauty of both Oregon and Washington, there isn't much there that isn't better in California. :) (yes, I'm a california snob...but we all know it is better.)

I think I'll stay where I can enjoy drinking beer from a paper bag on Sunday while pumping my own gas.

When I returned home, I really wanted to get back to Berkeley...but instead went home with my parents...which turned out to be awesome. Maybe it's having a backyard to sunbathe in or the hotter weather or that I finally took a vacation...but, I think I need some time at home home for things to feel like summer.