Girl #1: My dad is so conservative! He won't let us wear Birkenstocks, tyedye, OR hemp.
Girl #2: I didn't know what hemp was until, like, last week!
Worker Girl: Hemp is just the non-hallucinogenic cousin of marijuana. People are afraid of it because they're related, but it makes really great fiber.
Girl #1: Like, to eat?
...conversation overheard while I was trying on clothes at Forever 21 (irony, I just turned 22). I thought it too good to keep from others. Am I sure I want to be a high school teacher??
7.30.2006
7.29.2006
Oh Lord, I'm tired, so tired from walking
On the eighth day, God created energy. Apparently, I was taking a nap and missed out on the mass-distribution of it.
Certainly, this was a tiring year, what with Biochem, the mono scare of winter 2006, and hanging out with people all spring and what little summer I had. However, after I moved to Eugene, the crazy cocktail of allergies, heat, emotional weirdness from moving, and all-day classes wiped me out faster than the plaugue. I found mysef taking 4 hour naps the first week I was here, and managed to whittle them down to 2 or 3 by the end of my first class. It was actually something to celebrate if I made it through an entire day without falling asleep!
Then, the lab class started this week. It's challenging and good, but I feel SO lazy because I'm continually exhausted and hardly moved voluntarily all week. I literally fell asleep at 8pm on Thursday night and slept for 12 hours...that surprised even me. The first week of 9-5 in lab is rough on the body like you wouldn't believe. Or maybe you would. They're trying to "prepare us" for the stress of our internships by giving us more to do than is humanly possible to see how we prioritize and juggle multiple tasks: totally bogus. I think internship will be WAY more focused on a single task. Call me an optimist, I suppose.
So, now with what we've learned this week, we have to create our own set of polymers with the properties we want next week. But there's a catch (there always is): I have three job interviews next week also! Shnikes...doesn't seem possible, but it'll work out. I interview at a paint company on Monday, a plywood resins company Tuesday and for an adhesives job on Thursday. While I'm fairly confident I'll get a position, I'm walking by faith completely, and just hoping the "right" place offers me the job first. Of course, I could hopefully do something I wasn't completely stoaked about for 9 months, but let's not go there if we don't have to. Be thinking good thoughts for me next week in my interviews! Hopefully my energy level will skyrocket with no known explanation this weekend....I can hope, can't I?
Certainly, this was a tiring year, what with Biochem, the mono scare of winter 2006, and hanging out with people all spring and what little summer I had. However, after I moved to Eugene, the crazy cocktail of allergies, heat, emotional weirdness from moving, and all-day classes wiped me out faster than the plaugue. I found mysef taking 4 hour naps the first week I was here, and managed to whittle them down to 2 or 3 by the end of my first class. It was actually something to celebrate if I made it through an entire day without falling asleep!
Then, the lab class started this week. It's challenging and good, but I feel SO lazy because I'm continually exhausted and hardly moved voluntarily all week. I literally fell asleep at 8pm on Thursday night and slept for 12 hours...that surprised even me. The first week of 9-5 in lab is rough on the body like you wouldn't believe. Or maybe you would. They're trying to "prepare us" for the stress of our internships by giving us more to do than is humanly possible to see how we prioritize and juggle multiple tasks: totally bogus. I think internship will be WAY more focused on a single task. Call me an optimist, I suppose.
So, now with what we've learned this week, we have to create our own set of polymers with the properties we want next week. But there's a catch (there always is): I have three job interviews next week also! Shnikes...doesn't seem possible, but it'll work out. I interview at a paint company on Monday, a plywood resins company Tuesday and for an adhesives job on Thursday. While I'm fairly confident I'll get a position, I'm walking by faith completely, and just hoping the "right" place offers me the job first. Of course, I could hopefully do something I wasn't completely stoaked about for 9 months, but let's not go there if we don't have to. Be thinking good thoughts for me next week in my interviews! Hopefully my energy level will skyrocket with no known explanation this weekend....I can hope, can't I?
7.24.2006
we frolicked about in our summer skin
i must be getting old. the first day of full time work (or lab, as it was for me today) is always so difficult, and makes me wonder if i can handle an "adult-job" that is approaching one of these years. that is why my ploy to stay in school forever and garner at least three degrees is so danged brilliant! however, these intensive, "job-like" lab days make me rethink my enthusiasm. perhaps it had something to do with returning from my fabulously tiring trip up to seattle at 11pm last night and attempting to sleep in an apartment that was 92 degrees.
however, the trip up was so great! i got to stop in and see my cousin chris and his girlfriend jenny in portland, and we took a bike ride around the city, which was wonderful. i spent some good family time on wednesday and thursday (well, mostly good, except mom's hives and dad's bike accident that i got a front row seat for), and then tried to cram every minute of the next 3 days with as much friend-time as possible. i had a total blast dropping in randomly on people, surviving the seattle heat, and simply enjoying new memorable moments with the people i love.
i will admit, even after living in eugene less than a month, i felt like a tourist. two more sites were crossed off my "to-do" list: discovery park and the locks (i know, it's amazingly pathetic), and i found myself bemoaning the traffic in the city i have called home for the past 4 years. still, i wouldn't trade the last 6 days for anything. i continue to be struck by the importance, meaning and utter joy that friends and family bring to my life, and maybe it takes weekends such as these for me to be reminded. watching my dad crash into the side of a car was obviously not a highlight, but it certainly inspired me to be more thankful for every moment and to be a safer cyclist (and conversly, driver).
i don't really know what i'm saying (it's the methanol, styrene and toluene vapors i breathed today, i'm sure), but i just keep thinking how completely blessed i am to have so many amazing people in my life. i had several friends over to my parent's house for some swimming and waterskiing on saturday, and after they left, my mom and dad told me over and over how much they loved my friends and getting to meet and chat with them! at the beginning of my senior year, i prayed for solidified and deep friendships; something i feel i always need to work on because of my "the more, the merrier" tendencies. God granted my prayers and then some - i have awesome relationships with old and new friends, and i haven't been this close to my family since the carefree days of pacifiers and legos.
so, now that my bits and pieces of "summer breaks" have officially come to a close and lab is now my life for the forseeable future, things will be that much easier when i remember laying in sand in seattle, a fantastic culinary experience at Cutter's (and an interesting encounter with an intoxicated man who insisted he was a musician, not a bum), finally seeing my bro track race in the top category, treading water for hours, sweating profusely while playing "round-robin" ping-pong with 10 people, and one last frisbee-toss in the loop. thanks for a great visit, everyone.
however, the trip up was so great! i got to stop in and see my cousin chris and his girlfriend jenny in portland, and we took a bike ride around the city, which was wonderful. i spent some good family time on wednesday and thursday (well, mostly good, except mom's hives and dad's bike accident that i got a front row seat for), and then tried to cram every minute of the next 3 days with as much friend-time as possible. i had a total blast dropping in randomly on people, surviving the seattle heat, and simply enjoying new memorable moments with the people i love.
i will admit, even after living in eugene less than a month, i felt like a tourist. two more sites were crossed off my "to-do" list: discovery park and the locks (i know, it's amazingly pathetic), and i found myself bemoaning the traffic in the city i have called home for the past 4 years. still, i wouldn't trade the last 6 days for anything. i continue to be struck by the importance, meaning and utter joy that friends and family bring to my life, and maybe it takes weekends such as these for me to be reminded. watching my dad crash into the side of a car was obviously not a highlight, but it certainly inspired me to be more thankful for every moment and to be a safer cyclist (and conversly, driver).
i don't really know what i'm saying (it's the methanol, styrene and toluene vapors i breathed today, i'm sure), but i just keep thinking how completely blessed i am to have so many amazing people in my life. i had several friends over to my parent's house for some swimming and waterskiing on saturday, and after they left, my mom and dad told me over and over how much they loved my friends and getting to meet and chat with them! at the beginning of my senior year, i prayed for solidified and deep friendships; something i feel i always need to work on because of my "the more, the merrier" tendencies. God granted my prayers and then some - i have awesome relationships with old and new friends, and i haven't been this close to my family since the carefree days of pacifiers and legos.
so, now that my bits and pieces of "summer breaks" have officially come to a close and lab is now my life for the forseeable future, things will be that much easier when i remember laying in sand in seattle, a fantastic culinary experience at Cutter's (and an interesting encounter with an intoxicated man who insisted he was a musician, not a bum), finally seeing my bro track race in the top category, treading water for hours, sweating profusely while playing "round-robin" ping-pong with 10 people, and one last frisbee-toss in the loop. thanks for a great visit, everyone.
7.16.2006
I've spent a lifetime learning how to live in Rome
Concert Ticket: $25.00
Friggin' Ticketmaster Fees: $12.80
Miles Driven: 250
Gas $$: Let's not talk about it
Crusing at 90 on the way home: pretty sweet
Possums Hit: 1
Witnessing Nickel Creek play TOXIC live: priceless
Watching Chris and Mark Schatz (the bass player) Irish Dance: also priceless
...and with that, we're off and running! I never thought I'd breakdown and start a blog. Of course, I said the same thing about Facebook once, and we all know what happened there. I thought it fitting to begin my blog with memories and stories from my crazy, impulsive and exciting solo adventure yesterday traveling to Bend, OR for my first Nickel Creek concert. In case you're wondering, even with the price of gas, it was SO worth it.
This whole thing was incredibly serendipitous. On a whim, I checked Nickel Creek's website Friday night just to see if they were playing in Portland before they come to Washington in August. July 15, 2006: Bend, OR. What are the odds of that? I took it as a sign, and with a little encouragement from Soren, I bought the ticket. I find it satisfying that on the 2-year anniversary of leaving for China (to the day), I'm continuing to be more impulsive and hang-loose. That was my biggest lesson from China. I also felt it appropriate to celebrate a little after finishing my first graduate Chemistry class (which I'll talk more about on a slower day)!
I made a couple wrong turns, and of course, ended up on the "scenic byway" to Bend (thanks, Google Maps), which added about an hour to the trip and got me to the concert as the opener was starting...whoops. In retrospect, though, it was a beautiful drive! I drove along the McKenzie river for an hour and then wound around an amazingly gorgeous forest until cresting a hill and seeing the Three Sisters in all their glory - what an unexpected treat! I absolutely love nature. It all turned out well, and the concert wasn't too packed, so getting there late was just fine.
When Nickel Creek waltzed out and played the first two songs off their most recent album "why should the fire die?" pretty much cookie cutter from the CD, I was a little surprised. They hardly said anything for the first 5 or 6 songs and continued to play fairly conservative, and I'm thinking, crap, I could have just stayed home and listened to the cd for free! I was soon shut up by the most amazing version of "The Lighthouse's Tale" ever beheld by man. Sean and Sara also got to strut their stuff a little more and show that they are also great musicians, not just the mighty mandolin master, Chris Thile (which is pronounce Thee-Lee, for those who are curious). From then on, they seemed to loosen up a little, with more solos and even a few songs I'd never heard, including "Trouble," which I've got to get my mitts on somehow.
They're pretty funny, but not the best at the whole talking to the crowd thing...something they'll get better at with time, I hope. However, they made quite a rucous with Brittney Spears' "Toxic"...I almost wet myself, and it was actually quite good at the same time! I finally got the inspiration to go to the front for the encore (and subsequently wished I'd gone earlier), where they all played solo (Chris played the second movement of Bach's Sonata in A...bravo!) and then collaborated with the opener, the Foghorn String Band, for the last two songs.
As they say, the third time's the charm. I missed Nickel Creek playing at my church last year, then decided not to see them at the Paramount right before finals this year, and both times I was in mourning for weeks. I'm really glad I picked up and took this little excursion against my better judgement. I've learned a lot living by myself already in the last 3 weeks. I can tell this year will be very good for me: introspection, solitude, spiritual growth and growing up a little (without becoming a bore, naturally) are all things I'm praying for. But, yesterday also made me realize that even though my whole life and most memorable experiences hinge on being in community (be it 2 or 20 other people), I can still live, learn and have a darn good time by myself! I can't depend on others to have adventures, and I'm determined now more than ever to never live the same day twice and to make many lasting memories this year. That started yesterday when I saw my favorite group live: something I won't soon forget. Now I'm off to a baseball game! Here's to a great year in Eugene.
Friggin' Ticketmaster Fees: $12.80
Miles Driven: 250
Gas $$: Let's not talk about it
Crusing at 90 on the way home: pretty sweet
Possums Hit: 1
Witnessing Nickel Creek play TOXIC live: priceless
Watching Chris and Mark Schatz (the bass player) Irish Dance: also priceless
...and with that, we're off and running! I never thought I'd breakdown and start a blog. Of course, I said the same thing about Facebook once, and we all know what happened there. I thought it fitting to begin my blog with memories and stories from my crazy, impulsive and exciting solo adventure yesterday traveling to Bend, OR for my first Nickel Creek concert. In case you're wondering, even with the price of gas, it was SO worth it.
This whole thing was incredibly serendipitous. On a whim, I checked Nickel Creek's website Friday night just to see if they were playing in Portland before they come to Washington in August. July 15, 2006: Bend, OR. What are the odds of that? I took it as a sign, and with a little encouragement from Soren, I bought the ticket. I find it satisfying that on the 2-year anniversary of leaving for China (to the day), I'm continuing to be more impulsive and hang-loose. That was my biggest lesson from China. I also felt it appropriate to celebrate a little after finishing my first graduate Chemistry class (which I'll talk more about on a slower day)!
I made a couple wrong turns, and of course, ended up on the "scenic byway" to Bend (thanks, Google Maps), which added about an hour to the trip and got me to the concert as the opener was starting...whoops. In retrospect, though, it was a beautiful drive! I drove along the McKenzie river for an hour and then wound around an amazingly gorgeous forest until cresting a hill and seeing the Three Sisters in all their glory - what an unexpected treat! I absolutely love nature. It all turned out well, and the concert wasn't too packed, so getting there late was just fine.
When Nickel Creek waltzed out and played the first two songs off their most recent album "why should the fire die?" pretty much cookie cutter from the CD, I was a little surprised. They hardly said anything for the first 5 or 6 songs and continued to play fairly conservative, and I'm thinking, crap, I could have just stayed home and listened to the cd for free! I was soon shut up by the most amazing version of "The Lighthouse's Tale" ever beheld by man. Sean and Sara also got to strut their stuff a little more and show that they are also great musicians, not just the mighty mandolin master, Chris Thile (which is pronounce Thee-Lee, for those who are curious). From then on, they seemed to loosen up a little, with more solos and even a few songs I'd never heard, including "Trouble," which I've got to get my mitts on somehow.
They're pretty funny, but not the best at the whole talking to the crowd thing...something they'll get better at with time, I hope. However, they made quite a rucous with Brittney Spears' "Toxic"...I almost wet myself, and it was actually quite good at the same time! I finally got the inspiration to go to the front for the encore (and subsequently wished I'd gone earlier), where they all played solo (Chris played the second movement of Bach's Sonata in A...bravo!) and then collaborated with the opener, the Foghorn String Band, for the last two songs.
As they say, the third time's the charm. I missed Nickel Creek playing at my church last year, then decided not to see them at the Paramount right before finals this year, and both times I was in mourning for weeks. I'm really glad I picked up and took this little excursion against my better judgement. I've learned a lot living by myself already in the last 3 weeks. I can tell this year will be very good for me: introspection, solitude, spiritual growth and growing up a little (without becoming a bore, naturally) are all things I'm praying for. But, yesterday also made me realize that even though my whole life and most memorable experiences hinge on being in community (be it 2 or 20 other people), I can still live, learn and have a darn good time by myself! I can't depend on others to have adventures, and I'm determined now more than ever to never live the same day twice and to make many lasting memories this year. That started yesterday when I saw my favorite group live: something I won't soon forget. Now I'm off to a baseball game! Here's to a great year in Eugene.
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