finishing something

Today I finished the quilt top I got the fabric for in Ghana nearly 2 years ago. I will post pics once it's quilted.

Exploring

Yesterday I decided to go out and see friends instead of staying at home for no reason... I had an amazing day and I got to see new parts of the city I've lived in for three years.

Exactly

this.

It's OK to be Takei

I love George Takei

Lucky Timing

The day that I didn't have my homework done and I "snoozed" my alarm three times because I didn't want to go to class, my teacher emailed us and said she's out sick. Bliss is being able to turn off the alarm on a Wednesday and go back to bed.

Breaking News!

Yes, that's right, breaking news that I'm posting 2 days late! In the shock of the century, my mother actually seems to be in support of me dropping out of college and pursuing a career in writing. She didn't outright say it, but what she mentioned it in a sincerely cheerful way. What do you think about that, huh?

Board Game Meet-Up

I've been feeling pretty isolated lately, and especially not liking my lack of female friends in the area. (Come home, you guys!) I was so desperate that I actually started looking on Craigslist in the strictly platonic section. Out of the numerous times I've tried it, Craigslist has only yielded one friend worth keeping, (Hi, Kass!) and those are really terrible odds.

Fortunately, when I was sick of reading people whining on craigslist about how miserable their lives were and how everyone hates them, I remembered meetup.com. So last night, I went to a board game party for geek girls, and it was great fun! I can't wait to go to more meet-ups!

Something I should have done 8 years ago

I finally told my mother that I'm not going to get a degree.

Dorothea Brande

I'll admit to starting out somewhat skeptically, but after only three days of following her advice I'm already finding it much easier to write. This is a wonderful book!

Lost and Found

Six months ago I lost a new iPod. I was nearly certain that it was under my bed but I never managed to locate it. I moved this weekend, cleaned my entire room, and when I moved my bed... nothing. I really started to worry that I had done something incredibly stupid like leaving it at work. Tonight I washed some pants that I'm certain I've worn fairly recently, and when I checked the pockets, I found my iPod!

Free Parking

Okay, my turn to have forgotten the blog, but. Today it was a nice day so the parking lot near the wharf that I use on practice days was rather full. I found a spot and started digging through my ashtray for enough change to pay the fee. Some lady calls through my open window to ask how long I'll be there, and when I tell her it's just two hours, she gives me her parking pass. She had overpaid and had exactly enough left on her ticket to cover my practice.

the time!

Visit South Africa | Free Website Clock

Got this from www.sembeo.com 

Pretty cool, huh?

Photo Editing

Just editing some photos from our trip to Mt. Diablo park :)

Sounds other than Alex's video game

OMFG! this.

Done and Done

Yeah, I should have done my taxes sooner, but it's kinda fun to see everyone else dropping them off at the post office at the same time as you.

of happiness.

BIRDS!

I was going to talk about how I suck at blogs, since I've forgotten for so long, but that's hardly positive. So, instead....

Today Alex and I are going birding at Mt. Diablo park! I'm so excited!!! The weather is beautiful, and it's such a vibrant time of year!

Glasses!!

A little while ago, I lost my glasses to a river. I got around with my (very) old contacts. Now, I have my new glasses and I can see better and they're soooo much less of a hassle than contacts. Yay glasses!! (I'm rather excited about this.) :)

Home Safe

I heard tonight that a friend who was deployed is now safely back in the country. Two weeks from today, she'll be back in Oregon. Her family and fiance are planning a party. :)

Matching

This morning I was more than half asleep when I got dressed. Later, I realized that both of my undergarments, my shirt and my shoes were all purple. If only I owned purple socks this might have been an accidental perfect line-up of matching, but even so that's pretty cool.

Weekend

For at least the past three semesters, I've had school and/or work seven days a week. This semester, I have Fridays entirely off, and I'm gleefully anticipating my first weekend, even if it is only one day long.

Dinner

I "invented" a pot pie tonight. Totally cooking without a plan, I combined a pie crust and two cans of soup and baked it. It took way longer to bake than I expected (it seems I should have had the oven about 40 degrees warmer) but in the end it turned out surprisingly tasty.

Dovetailing Classes

My Tuesday/Thursday classes overlap nicely in their requirements for me. The first one has homework every week, but no tests; the second one has no homework whatsoever, just tests. I can work ahead in the one class and all I need to do for the other is show up every day.

Bills paid

I know it's silly, but I paid my rent and bills today. I always feel poorer but much lighter when everything is paid off for another month.

Timing, or Dumb Luck

My car was parked in this very spot on Thursday. I often park there. I'm glad I wasn't parked there last night.

Unexpected Dinner

Out of the blue, a classmate called and invited me to dinner. This is someone that I like to hang out with, and she's friendly toward me in class, but generally spends leisure time with others. :)

leftovers

nothing like corned beef and cabbage. and tomorrow? HASH.

Leftovers

I don't typically care for leftovers but I got onion rings at work the other night and put them in a box with the rest of my barbeque sandwich. Now I have amazing leftovers that all taste like barbeque sauce, better than the original.

Time With Friends

Thursday and again today I got to spend time with a friend that I'd been unable to see because of my class schedule. (This is totally what breaks are for.) Thursday I went out drinking with a friend from college and today I went to a ren faire type thing with a friend I've known since high school.

Break...

Okay, so apparently I lied, I did end up getting sick, but my good news is that it's now spring break, so I can go ahead and be sick without worrying about trying to make it to class. Also, y'know, hooray for break itself, right?

Not Being Sick

The sore throat I picked up yesterday has mysteriously vanished, without leaving any other worrisome symptoms. I'm happy to not feel unhealthy during finals.

things to remember

http://alligator-sunglasses.com/post/3827772338/its-all-about-perspective

I may need to buy the poster version...

Playing Catch-up

It's finals/prep week here, I simply forgot about this blog. However:

Monday - I work until three or four in the morning on weekends, which means I have limited time to sleep between work and classes on Mondays. I thought I'd be up all night with homework after work but I managed to move things around so that I got sleep AND finished my homework.

Tuesday - My class is presenting Shakespeare or poetry for our last speech this term and most of my class wanted my help translating Shakespeare and Poe and whoever else into "normal English, please".

Wednesday - I gave a classmate a compliment and it brightened her day, Someone else was having a terrible day and I listened, later she said I was the only one who was willing to listen to her tale of woe.

Thursday - We were assigned "inservice presentations" in theory class. We were to present a topic related to interpreting in an education setting, and present it as though our audience was teachers or administrators or whatever. The trouble with that is we actually already know all the information we're being given, because we all learned it together during class. I gave a twenty-minute speech on "how you, as a deaf high school student, should use an interpreter" that had the class engaged... most of my classmates gave speeches that left us half asleep.

Friday - I got to have coffee with a friend I rarely get to see anymore. And because we never can finish a conversation, it was two hours worth of coffee. :)

Yesterday - My friend's mom sent her a box full of things like old mail and a late birthday present and other things. She also included a stack of Sunday comics for my friend to give to me.

Family I didn't know I had

Growing up I always thought I had a very small family. Each of my parents has one sibling, each aunt/uncle had two children. I figured big crazy weekend-long family reunion picnics with people you've hardly met before were out of the question. (I love my cousins but I always was jealous of the people who had dozens of them, instead of my 4.)

Today I got a message through geni.com that my grandfather's uncle appears in someone else's family tree. I was contacted by my great grand uncle's granddaughter! Since he changed his name to sound more "American" and died before she was born, she was sure she'd never find the rest of his family. But my grandmother remembered the name change because she thought it was funny that someone would change their name in such a way as to create a rhyme, and told me about it when I was making this family tree. Now I have dozens of relatives I never knew!

Bonding

Today after class I stayed and swapped jokes with a couple classmates for a half-hour or so. It's nice when we can see each other for seven hours five days a week and still want to hang out.

Tire Issues

Last week, the world's cutest little old lady was driving behind me. She got my attention at a traffic light and managed to convey that my back tire was flat. (D shaped, it was so flat.) I thanked her and put air in it. Today, the same tire was flat again. I took it in to a tire center prepared to pay for two new tires and maybe a other new parts, depending on how much damage I'd done driving on it. Fifteen minutes later, the charming young man who had my car came back and informed me that my problem was simply that I had picked up a screw. He removed it and patched the leak free of charge AND I wasn't even late to practice!

The Dentist

Ok, I HATE going to the dentist, and haven't actually been since I was 18. I finally got dental insurance in January, though, and it's been hanging over my head that I've lost my excuse to not go to the dentist. I finally made an appointment, though, so that's a huge weight off of my shoulders.

This doesn't really count

But I'm still super stuck on Spark People. It's a good thing.

Calm Dog

My friend's puppy wanted to Run! and Play! and Chew On Stuff!!! today, but as soon as she left us, he curled up in my lap and slept. I like it better than a whirlwind.

Spark People

Just signed up again, and looking forward to losing weight. It's much easier when you can track it all :)

Fun Work

I finally got more of the parts that I need to fix up Kat's car so she can use it again. I just really feel happy when I get to take something broken and fix it up with my own hands. Car mechanics hate me because I refuse to donate to their cause for things that I can already do.

Weather

It has been averaging 19 degrees here, and today the rain came back and bumped the temperature up to a comfortable 40.

This Dinner

Tonight I am thankful for delicious homemade burgers and the wonderful boyfriend who made them :D

playing handyman

The ice wells and the sinks at my work all drain into grates in the floor. Yesterday when I cleaned out one of the ice wells, there was a huge mess on the floor. Most of the water that I used to sluice it out was making a puddle. Today I watched carefully and saw that it was backing up and overflowing, so I decided to bravely reach into the murky depths to investigate the issue. I discovered that a whole apple had somehow fallen into the space below the grate and it had a diameter about the same as the pipe in the bottom. Remove the apple, problem solved. I was happy that it took me only a few minutes to fix something that could have plagued us for months, and I was happy that it was a whole apple and not a heap of unidentifiable things.

CLEAN HOUSE!!!

It is amazing how much better you feel when you can just get things organized and clean. :D

Pet Reunion

For the past month, my roommate has been looking after a cat that has a broken leg because she was hit by a car. Today, the foster agency finally managed to track down her family and they came and picked her up. This cat is rather shy, but when the oldest kid called her name, she stopped hiding in the laundry room and came out to meet them.

This Song

How can you not be happy listening to this?

This Blog

So, as you can see, this blog has been thoroughly abandoned, almost starting from the moment of its conception. The original intent was to help us (the two bloggers) to be more positive by posting something for which we are grateful each day. I'm pretty sure I forgot about this blog entirely before my co-blogger even made her one and only post. I stumbled upon it again completely accidentally and it took me a while to remember what it was. SO- today the positive thing in my life is the revival of this blog!