At Long Last!

Ladies and Gentlemen (do any gentlemen read this blog?)...I am pleased to annouce that I am gainfully employed. I managed to land a job as an office assistant (i.e. secretary) for a pest control company here in the East Bay. Today was my first day and it was good. I will be interested to see how this all works out. But I am just so happy to FINALLY have a job. It will be nice to have a schedule again. So...yea! It has been a long time coming, but I am grateful for what I've got. Life is truly excellent right now.

Going Old School

Sometimes you just need to go back to the good old days. I had some friends over Friday night for an old school sleepover, where we rocked it like it was 7th grade. We hung out, eat a lot of junk food, and gossiped and giggled over nothing and everything. Then we watched Enchanted (have to include a girly movie in a sleepover) and turned out the lights and threw out the sleeping bags on the living room floor. It was like the old days, and then we woke up whenever, chatted some more and had breakfast. Good times.

Cycling

I've been talking about it for awhile, gathering my courage and trying to get my friends to join me in my plan...with no takers. Finally I decided to brave it alone. At the gym, they offer cycling classes. We've all heard the stories and seen the clips in movies and TV shows and it quite honestly seemed frightening. Nonetheless, I wanted to give it a go, just to try it out. And yesterday I did. I showed up at the gym, signed in, walked into the room, found the instructor, told her I was new and had no clue, got a bike, and waited for the torture to begin. To my surprise (and relief), it was not bad. I kept up with everyone (at less resistance, since I was the new kid) and managed to survive the full hour. My legs were a little shaky, but after I stretched they felt better. And today, I am not sore at all. Tomorrow is another class, so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Traveling Fool

I finally had a real Spring Break. In the past, I always had to work during my school vacations. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I always felt like I was missing a right of passage by not leaving the area. But I finally did it. During Spring Break from SJSU, I went to Texas with my cousin for a few days, and visited with Ben while there. My cousin and I are apparently not compatible traveling companions. The days were fun, but the nights, not so much. Once I hooked up with Ben, the trip became a great deal more fun. Oddly enough, I didn't take any pics the entire week, which is weird for me, but there you go. I visited a museum in Houston, hung out at the beach in South Padre Island, saw the stars and wildlife at a Texas ranch, and visited the Alamo in San Antonio. All in all, it was a whirlwind week and I enjoyed it. The weather was fairly decent (not too hot or humid) and I just relaxed and had fun. Good times. But I think that might be my last Spring Break spectacular.

And once I got back from Texas, the next week was General Conference. My bishop has a cabin a couple hours from here, and invited the ward up there to watch Conference. About 20 of us went and had an absolute blast. It is in the woods, and the weather was perfect. We rode on the ATVs, hiked in the woods, saw a bunch of deer, and had a great time hanging out with each other. In addition, we were able to share in the Spirit that came with Conference, and had some amazing experiences. It was a great weekend. But now that it is over, I'm back to the grindstone of school, and don't think I'm going anywhere for quite some time. Ah, well. I think I've filled my quota for some time now. It might just be time to stay home and get some work done. Boring.

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

I really am Irish, and you really should kiss me. It is tradition, after all. Anyway, Happy St. Patrick's Day to all you Irish and Irish at heart. It is a wonderfully festive day that encourages you to wear green and pinch people for the lack of green on their person. All in all, a great holiday. Maybe a little wasted on me since I won't be partaking of the green beer so prevelant on this holiday, but I intend to enjoy it, nonetheless.

V--Guess where we were this time last year!

Chillin' with the homies

This weekend I packed a bag and headed down to SoCal. I came with Vanessa and Robb, but left for my own mini-adventure with the girls. We went to dinner and then hung out at the house. It was nice. I quite enjoyed seeing them again and chillin' like we used to. Meredith and Julie were not able to make it, which saddens me, but hopefully we can hook up next time I come to town. So I'm hitting some old favorite places, visiting my brother and his girlfriend, and enjoying a somewhat leisurly weekend. Good times.

If it's not a good time...

One of the things I remember the Black sisters saying, pretty consistently, is "If it's not a good time, it's a good story." I've taken that to heart, and have endeavored to look at the events in my life with that philosophy. So far, it has served me well. Now I seek to pass on that bit of wisdom to those I've come in contact with. I've found a gym buddy up here, and have been doing pretty well at going regularly (hold for applause of congratulations here...and back to the story), but while we are there, she and I discuss our dating opportunites in the area. Just as an FYI/side-note, I've been on TWO dates in the 6 weeks I've lived in SJ, thank you very much. But I digress. My new friend isn't sure about some of the guys she says yes to. She hates to turn someone down who has screwed up his courage to ask a girl out. When she expresses her concerns over the social awkwardness or some other oddball characteristic of her date, I find myself uttering the infamous phrase..."If it's not a good time, it's a good story."

She agrees. The legacy lives on.