Update, finally

A pictorial review of the past month.

Trip to Florida: June 27-July 2


Grandma has a wonderful tropical garden. Bananas.


She had four pineapples coming up while I was there. She has a wonderful Key lime tree, too.


I've been going to John's Pass since I was a baby. I think it's one of the only touristy spots we hit.


My favorite place for seafood, The Friendly Fisherman at John's Pass.


One day we went into Ybor City in Tampa for lunch and to buy some cigars. Ybor is the old Cuban district in Florida where many Cubans opened up their own cigar factories. I don't think these folks wanted to be in the picture.


We ate at the La Tropicana. When I go back, I'd like to eat at the Columbia, it's been in business since 1915ish, I think.


Ah, Pass-a-Grille. I love the beach.








This "thing" washed up on shore and I couldn't figure out what it was until a wave flipped it over. It looks kinda like a cow's head.


But it wasn't. I also found a horseshoe crab and these little girls were wondering if it was alive or not. I picked it up and showed it to them, but it was already gone. I should have taken it home and cleaned it up and mounted it, but oh well.


The Don Cesar. I've wanted to go there since I was a little girl. And yes, I took this while I was driving.


A trip to my grandmother's can't be complete without a Cuban sandwich from Rio's.


Fourth of July Car Show in Culpeper: July 4, duh.


This is my car, kinda. Mine's brown with black fenders. And has a "P" Card. Don't ask. 1932 Ford Model-A Sport Coupe.


Who in their right mind? What is this thing?


Here's Aaron. My dad's behind him scoping out a Dodge Charger? I'm not sure, I just know that the orange one behind them is a Super Bird.


Trip to Pittsfield, Massachusetts: July 22-24


This past weekend Aaron and I drove up to Pittsfield to see my family and to pick up the bike that I bought from my Uncle Tom.


I met two of my cousins for the first time. It was Heather's sixth birthday party. And my cousin Andrew (9, right) didn't seem to be having very much fun. But he can sure climb the heck out of the trees in his backyard!


I spent some time catching up with my aunts and uncles and cousins and looking at old photos of the last time we all saw eachother-- close to eleven years ago! Andrew gave me a green Harry Potter wristband.


And here's my new Raleigh 2005 SuperCourse. It's beautiful and fits perfectly. Aaron and I are going riding later this week once the cold front hits. I don't have clipless pedals yet because I know I'll kill myself using them. Give me some time.


We had some down time, so Aaron and I went up to the top of Mount Greylock, Massachusett's highest point. It overlooks Pittsfield.




We're really happy to be there. Really. It was relaxing to sit on top of a mountain and take in the view.


When I was three years old (and living in Pittsfield), I got it in my head that I wanted to climb a mountain. Dad took me up Greylock and it made the rest of my life, it's one of the best things I ever did with my Dad. I have the pictures of me somewhere. I may post them later. It was good to be there almost twenty years later and share that with someone important.

So that's been the past month. I'm having a get-together at the new apartment this weekend, so I may post some pics from that.

And one more thing:

Oh, Baby.

Apartment

Moved into my new place yesterday. It's in a nice quiet neighborhood in Falls Church. The commute to work shoudln't be that bad either. The job starts Monday. We'll see how this goes.

Party at my place sometime by the end of the month.

Break

Greetings from Florida.

I'm somewhat home for this week. I'm in St. Pete staying with my grandmother in the house in which my dad grew up. I have until July 11 to live it up before the new job starts, so I thought I would come down here and vegetate for a while.

Job. Yes, I said job. The past week has been a whirlwind of luck for me. Monday, June 20, I got a call from SAIC. They wanted an interview and of course I said, "Sure!" The next day I drove three hours to their Falls Church office (three hours in traffic from Warrenton). The interview went well, and at 2pm I was offered the job! They're giving me a secret clearance and great benefits to do technical documentation for DISA. I start July 11.

Friday I had another meeting at the SAIC building, I had a meeting with another one of my supervisors. Afterwards I met up with Theresa and we had lunch with her brother, Tom, and his friend David. Or at least I think his name was David. After lunch I went to Aaron's where I changed out of my business attire and watched The Bridge on the River Kwai (love for Alec Guiness). On the way to P.F. Chang's for dinner I got a call from Margaret, she told me that the awesome apartment in Falls Church for cheap that I applied for was mine! The next day I signed the lease and dropped an insane amount of money on security deposit and first month's rent-- but I have my own place now! Only four miles from my new job!

And Saturday was my 22nd birthday. Yes, the same day I signed the lease. Aaron and I went to the 9:30 Club for the Sleater-Kinney show. Although their new album, The Woods, is rockin', it's made them really popular with a totally different crowd. The show was really different from their last because of the change in audience and it wasn't that pleasant. I don't know, maybe the change in label? Kill Rock Stars to SubPop? Oh, and their opener, Dead Meadow, sucked. Sorry. Rolling Stone magazine said they were an "opening act to show up early for"-- not so much. Sorry Dead Meadow. Rolling Stone also got their name wrong, announcing them in big letters as "Dead Meadows."

Anyway. Will update soon on my adventures in Fla. Going to Ybor City tomorrow. Buying some hand-rolled cigars. Cuban cigars. Just not exactly from Cuba.

53.3 kbps

Last winter, my parents bought a new computer from the Dell Man. Thinking to replace our Windows 95-running, Age of Empires capable (but by no means stellar) Gateway computer that we bought in 1996, we now own this royal P.O.S. As we do not have high speed internet, our average modem speed is 53.3 kbps--even with the Earthlink Accelerator for no extra charge per month. And for some reason Google gmail will not open. This means that on the weekends I call Aaron at home and ask him to check my Gmail account.

I still haven't bought my bicycle yet. Tom's been looking out for me and it's narrowed down to either a Raleigh Supercourse or a Grand Prix (both the '05 model). Can't wait. I want to start riding soon!

Sleater-Kinney is playing the 9:30 Club on my birthday next weekend. I can't wait! Their new album, "The Woods" is great, I really enjoyed it. A little heavier than their earlier ones, but a great listen. Rolling Stone gives it a great review.

Last night I went to Red, Hot, & Blue Happy hour with Bennett and Theresa. We had cheap food, cheap beer, and lots of laughs. It was definitely a great evening. I think after talking to them, my next feature piece will profile my great-aunt. She would travel around the world collecting rocks from famous places...these rocks were more than likely chipped off the famous places she had visited. She gave me a few of her pieces as a birthday present one year. I have a piece of the Sphinx. Yes, that Sphinx. It may be its nose, even. Ah, my family.

My Super 8mm Kodachome movie film experiment was a success! I have a camera that works beautifully and the film was processed and transferred without a problem! The test rolls are funny to watch. The film looks like it could be from the 1950's or '60's, but there's Aaron and I at Burke Lake and Bill and Aaron riding bikes. It's definitely a laugh. And of course no sound. Now, if we could find some old cars to set the scene, we could really throw folks for a loop.

Sorry, no pics for now, but I'll try to have some of that 8mm footage up soon!

Bikes, etc.

I'm in the process of buying a road bike. I'm not exactly sure when I'll get it, I've been talking to my Uncle Tom about what's available and what I need for a recreational bike. It gives me an excuse to visit my old old hometown Pittsfield, Massachusetts and stop by Tom's shop.

Aaron and I are off to buy a hitch rack for my Jeep today!

Doves at 9:30

Doves at 9:30 Club on the 23rd was spectacular. The show was rockin' and so was my date.

The night went well, missing the last train and forgetting we parked John's car at Clarendon made it even better.

Graduation

I'm living part-time at home and at school this summer until I find a permanent full-time job. We don't have high-speed Internet at home, so I couldn't upload anything until now. So, without further ado, here are some pictures from graduation last week.

Amy and Aaron

Me and John

John and Aaron bored during the ceremony

Bill, myself, and Aaron meeting our parents

This is what happens when you don't say you're taking a picture (Phil)

That's better (Mimi and I)

Aaron's parents

BR, Kate, and Bennett. We've had a fun past couple of years. Now what?

Jobs

Spent today at work bored, so I went online and started applying for fulltime jobs. We'll see what this turns up. I think I applied for three and then I filled out my government applications. Took forever. Wish me luck!

I'm excited! John is coming with me to see Doves next Monday! The show's sold out!

Finals

Rough, but I'm almost done. Last one is Tuesday.

And then the residents start checking out.

Cute

One of Aaron's hobbies is cycling. He rides his bike(s) a lot. Before he hit the road the other day:

Weekend.

Here are some pictures from Mason's First Friday on May 6.

A blurry Dave and Lisa


Mallory and Raul (I mean, Raul and Mallory)


John and I


The one and only "Father" Jason Rogers


Mallory and Lisa kicking some A'


TAP girls


All of us (minus Dave behind the camera)

Close to the End

Wow. School's almost over. After tonight, I'm finished with classes. My Film class for tomorrow was canceled, so as soon as I hand in my final film paper on Infernal Affairs, I'm finished until my finals.

Next week I have to worry about polishing my Tulsa piece (I'm finishing it up this weekend) and my Biology 104 final. Yes, I know, I waited for the last minute to take my last general education requirement. So sue me.

My film final isn't until the 17th, so I will have plenty of time to study for that and review all the vocabulary in the book. Last final exam ever.

Addition

And yes, Tulsa is that flat. And it didn't turn green until the 1930s thru the 1950s cos that's when all the lakes were built. They used to get their water from the muddy and oil-contaminated Arkansas River till the Spavinaw Water System was built in the 1930s.

The Spavinaw Dam:

Project

This semester I've been working on a popular nonfiction piece for my ENGL 497 Writing History class. I'm writing on Tulsa.

This is the Tulsa where I grew up:


And this is the Tulsa I'm writing about:


My project is about the 1921 Tulsa race riot. It was kept quiet by the city of Tulsa and even I didn't know much about it when I lived there. It was just a dark cloud that hovered over the city that no one spoke about. They didn't even mention it in my required Oklahoma history class that I took in high school.

The piece is due next week and it's shaping up well. I may post pieces of it at a later date.

That's it.

I officially have a thing for Kevin Spacey. Oh, man.

Cactus

This weekend started at 5pm on Friday when I got off work. I came home, did some laundry, and got ready to go to Aaron's. When I got there I promptly handed over my computer and Bill installed MacOS X Tiger. It's so much fun. I played with the new Dashboard and figured out how neat the Spotlight search really is.

Bill, Aaron, and I went to Chili's for dinner. I had their chicken crispers. They're the best thing on the menu. It's my favorite of all the chain restaurants, probably because I've been going there since I was a little kid. Don't go to the one in Manassas though. They're jerks.

We got back and decided to watch the movie Se7en. I had never seen it. It was very good. I liked it better than Fight Club. I fell asleep at their house and the next day I thought I'd be nice and make them breakfast. But it went horribly, horribly wrong...

I was going to make scrambled eggs and all I needed was a whisk. So I found a whisk, but it was in a tall canister with spatulas and spoons and I had to get it out. Well, my hand slipped and I ended up hurting myself. No, my fingers weren't burnt on the stove, I didn't hit a knife...I hit Aaron's mom's cactus that she keeps on the window sill. I'm that talented. So it hurt, a lot, and I almost wanted to cry cos it stung more than I thought it would. I got some tweezers and took out what I could, but as of right now I have like five spines still under the skin and my middle finger is all swollen. It looks like I'm flipping everyone off. My mom made me put antibiotic over all of it and band-aids.

These are cacti:



Stay away from them. They hurt.

So that happened Saturday around noon time. The rest of the afternoon/evening Aaron and I worked on homework and we left back to campus after watching the SNL re-run.

Sunday was just normal. I woke up kinda early and went straight to the library to work on my nonfiction project. I got tired of it after a while and decided to go to the store to shop for necessities. I unloaded the truck and decided I'd go home for dinner. My oldest brother was home from CNU, so I got to see Phillip, finally. I hadn't seen him since Christmas. He had a great semester. He took me out for coffee (the reason why I'm still awake). Mom made turkey burgers. I got some new furniture. Our neighbors were having a yardsale on Saturday and they had these nice teak cabinets that weren't sold. One had regular doors on it with shelves and the other had sliding glass doors. We got them both for 15 bucks! Great!

I came back to school tonight. Finally caught up with Bennett and edited his folklore paper. Went up to the JC for some soup with Jason. And that's it. And for real, watch out for cacti.

Things I Want/Need to Do

1. Learn enough (X)HTML to edit my blog
2. Finish school (two weeks left!)
3. Go through all the boxes of my stuff in my parents' basement (and donate most of it to the Salvation Army)
4. Pay for the Jeep's auto insurance
5. Find a job
6. Maybe then find an apartment
7. Get my new living room from John "The Hotness" Levock as soon as his new furniture comes in
8. See my grandmother in St. Pete, which would also entail going to the beach and getting a tan for once

I Wonder if This is Telling Me Something.

American Cities That Best Fit You:

70% New York City

65% Boston

60% Chicago

55% Philadelphia

55% Washington, DC

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

We are Cool

This is just a reminder to everyone that Jason and Katy know how to have a good time and that they aren't geeks.



We later got up to number five. Guess the Google = Best game ever.

Experiment

This is a photo Aaron took of my Dad and two of my brothers at my house. Dad was showing some of his old slides from Vietnam.

Aaron developed it using PMK processing. And I'm still trying to figure out this whole photos on the web thing.

This Weekend

Friday was the most fun I'd had in a long while. Friday I went into work later than usual since I got the morning off to recover from Mason Day on Thursday. Got off at 4 and got ready to take Aaron out for dinner. My knee had hurt the day before--it actually kept me from doing Apartment rounds for Mason day, but somehow on Friday, I woke up and it was fine. Weird. Aaron got it into his head that he wanted to go to a Ruby Tuesday's in Vienna. Why there, I don't know (there are two in Fairfax). So we start driving down 123 towards Vienna and when we get down there I point out the Toilet Bowl building and Aaron makes the point that that's where we're eating: at the Tuesday's in the Toilet Bowl building. Oh, no, honey, that's a Friday's, I say. Aaron was disappointed nonetheless, so we drove back (cos neither of us really like Fridays') and stopped at Famous Dave's for Bar-be-Que. It was good, I had never been there, but the restaurant wasn't exactly very comfortable. Definitely good food though.

We got back to campus and I thought I'd let Aaron call it a night since he was leaving for Buffalo, NY in the morning to celebrate Passover with his Dad's family. I called Jason to see what was up and Theresa and I ended up meeting Jason and his gang at Il Lupo's. It was nice to see Adam again and I finally got to meet Gurdeep! We had a great time, but Lupo's was kinda empty. We left Jason and Theresa talking at the bar and Adam, Gurdeep, and I walked down to T.T. Reynold's to check that place out. We felt sort of out of place. I mean, I was in a suit jacket, Adam's in a ball-cap holding a Budweiser, and here's Gurdeep in all his goodness. Everyone else had either something pierced, or tatooed, or Mohawked. So after a drink, we left and went back to Il Lupo's till we shut the place down. Then we went to Denny's.

After a great breakfast, we got back to Il Lupo's to pick up my truck. I'm so embarrassed. I'm really a good driver, but my truck is old. It sometimes doesn't go into reverse the first try. So it was in neutral and I kinda rolled a bit before I hit the breaks and hit the clutch again to roll the gears and to get it into reverse. I really can drive. It's just that things like this happen when I'm in front of boys. The end. Theresa and I got home in one piece. We had a great night. Thanks guys!

I spent the rest of the weekend at home. Thought I could get some writing done while my family was out of town. Yeah, right. I ended up coming back this afternoon with only two new paragraphs written. Went to Viet House for dinner with Aaron. I love pho. It's one of my favorite foods. Just don't ask me what's in it. Later we came back to his house and Aaron put PhotoShop CS on my computer, so hopefully now I can put pictures up on el blog. Just as soon as I take some.

Music

Anyone up for karaoke sometime this weekend? I've had it in my head all week. Let me know!

Funny.

"Is that Peter-fucking-Frampton?"

Activity

So, I've decided to go to the gym regularly. Not just going when I'm mad or depressed or anything, but going for my own sake. It's important. Activity is good. It makes me feel good. Sweat is good. I think I have a schedule: MWRS at 4:30. I have to be at work in the mornings at 8, so going in the AM isn't possible or else I would.

I have a biology test tomorrow. I have to make an A on it-- I have to. I did poorly on the last one, so it's obviously going to be the one that gets dropped. My lab grade is fine, I just got my pig practical back. I made one of the four As in the class. The average was a 63%. But I studied my butt off for that one.

Thursday, is Mason Day. I will be working all day with my bio exam thrown in there at 1:30. I'll be wearing my RA t-shirt, so watch out! Thursday night, Theresa and I are going to work on our board for the Innovations Conference on the 27th (11am-4pm in Dewberry Hall). We have to present our fellowships. Fun times.

I'm not quite sure what I'm doing this weekend. I have a lot of writing to do. I have to punch out at least ten pages for my Tulsa project in Scott's class and I have to finish my creative project for Prof. Fuchs's film class (I got an extension). So with all this writing, what do I want to do? My family is going down to Newport News for the weekend to see my brother's spring concert at CNU. It's an overnight trip and my friend Tiffany says she'll take me out while I'm down there...but I have so much writing that has to get done!

So, yes, everything for this weekend is up in the air. Plus, this weekend is Passover. Not that I celebrate, but happy Passover. Can you say happy Passover?

Doves

Oh, and I bought two tickets to see Doves at 9:30 club on May 23rd. Why two, I don't know. But I am going.

Monday

I asked my dad whose 'klutz' genes I got. Were they from him or my mom? He asked me what kind of klutzyness I was experiencing: "Oh the usual, you know, runnning into things, not knowing my corners, tripping over my own feet..." Dad said I get all that from him. Good to know.

This weekend was somewhat uneventful. Danny came over for Friday. We watched movies and went to IHOP. I didn't really have anything planned for us to do. Saturday we went to lunch and then to the mall. Why is it that fifteen year-olds love Hot Topic? I don't get it. I got some shopping out of my system, too. I needed to.

Saturday afternoon I drove Danny home and hung out with my parents for a bit. They were gardening-- ripping out sod to make new beds, digging holes, etc. All kinds of fun. I still can't wait to have my own garden. If I move north enough, I can have some lupines.

Sunday I woke up. I took my camera outside and took some pictures of these red tulips. I don't know why. They were pretty. I guess I like pretty things. I took my film to get developed. Of course I took it to his work. I said Hi. He asked for the mix tape, so I gave it to him. Why I did that I don't know.

Last night was my last go at Expulsion. I quit. I was copy editor for about a year and some. I just grew out of it I think.

Huh.

The same day I finish his mix tape. Took me over a year to make, too.

Thinking

I haven't taken very many pictures in a while. It's strange because it's something that I enjoy. Recently, Aaron and I switched lenses on our Pentax cameras. For some reason, my lens would work on his camera and his on mine, but my lens wouldn't work on my own camera. Funny thing is that its the same lens that my mom bought on the camera when she bought it 25 years ago. Weird.

This is one of the best photographs I've ever taken. I processed it myself and did the developing.




I'm going into DC this weekend with my brother, I'll take some photos there, I hope.

What a Week

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been working at the library and this week I did my conferences for the Conflict class I'm fellowing. It was a very busy week. When I wasn't at the library, I was in Sub 1 tutoring my students and when I wasn't there I was doing homework and working my RA job.

Last week we did a couple programs. I had my RAP meeting on Sunday night and on Tuesday I did a sleep-deprivation program with Edi. Wednesday I was stressed out cos I had writing to do for my nonfiction class, or at least I thought I did, and I had to watch La Haine for my film class. I took Wednesday afternoon off from the JCL and spent the rest of the afternoon doing work with Aaron and BR. Didn't end up watching La Haine until Thursday morning, but I'm so lad I did. I think it's one of the most powerful movies I'd ever seen. Powerful in the City of God sense, maybe. My heart was pounding when the silent credits came up at the end. I had to sit there for a couple minutes.

This weekend was RAP. I had fallen asleep at Aaron's house Friday night, so he had to drive me back to school at 6 in the morning. We stopped at Dunkin' Donuts and I got a cake donut and a huge cup of coffee. Saw some other RAs there too. We had to be at work at 7am to set up and then room selection began at 7:30. RAP was supposed to run until 4pm but everything closed by Noon. It was crazy. After RAP I had to come back to the TAP area and open the desk till 2.

Aaron called at around 1:30, my new computer had arrived! My brand new 12" Apple iBook is beautiful. I got extra RAM and all my files are transferred from my stupid Dell. Only problem is that I was hoping to use the trial Microsoft Office to do my work so I wouldn't have to hassle my brother into sending his so I could use one of his licenses, but it doesn't let me print or send files which I need. Now.

My project for today: Get Microsoft Word and send in my paper!