12.09.2006

Lady in Red is dancing with me, cheek to cheek

~Chris De Burgh

I should be packing my apartment up, sleeping, or exercising, but instead I had to make you laugh.

What a week it has been. I started studying for my inorganic test 3 hours before it commenced, and it went fine (disaster averted there). My other finals responsibilities I treated with about the same level of procrastination, and turns out I did the exact right amount of work. There's something about that last-minute rush of adrenaline that I love. So I am officially done with classwork for my master's degree - how odd, especially when you consider I graduated less than 6 months ago!

This week has made me slightly sad to be leaving because I finally made friends! Rachael, my back-row buddy in inorganic, is awesome, and just today we went to the holiday market together with her son and got some fun presents. The best part of this week, however, was Thursday night at the Chemistry Christmas Party! Every year, the Chemistry department sees it appropriate to wine and dine the grad students with our tuition money in a beautiful holiday banquet. It was great, my friend Marie and I were 2 hours late, and there was still tons of food because 90% of the people there go straight for the free booze. Ah, what a lifestyle.

The polymer girls decided to get all gussied up, so we felt extremely overdressed, but it was fun to actually look nice once while living in Eugene since I wore my gym clothes to class everyday and completely stopped wearing makeup when I moved down here! We had fun at the party, and then most of the students from the lab I worked in last summer and many of the students in my program went to a bar to hear my friend Jen (also in the DT lab) play at an open mike night. Commence the ridiculousness.

Before the huge crowd arrived, a few people went hog-wild with my new digital camera and took some hysterical pictures (picasaweb.google.com/katiebugk). We listened to painful guitar "artists" for what seemed like hours until the rest of the group showed up. And boy, did they show up. Plastered, that is. When Jen and Garrett finally played, I got to see my first drunken dancing and was dragged into it by my good friend Justin. Their set of covers was awesome and people were having a great time. I took some video to highlight the evening. Even sober I still had a blast!



Then, the night took a turn for the interesting. All night I had noticed a little bit of attention on me by lots of older guys. I always chock it up to my height, especially since I was wearing 3" heels, but Thursday night, I think it also had something to do with the red dress I had on. Now, to preface the coming story you must understand I had never been truly asked out or "hit on" until I moved to Eugene. For the story of my first experience, read my blog from this summer (or don't). So, while Jen was getting sick in the bathroom, all the guys started to descend upon me. All of a sudden I hear: "Miss, I just wanted to tell you that you're super beautiful." It took me a second to realize he was talking to me and then, of course, I tried to dissuade him by telling him I was moving this weekend. He said he'd commute. I was stuck. So, taking the advice of magazines and much more knowledgeable friends over the years, I told him he could give me his number. Big mistake. He then proceeds to introduce me to his GRANDFATHER who came to the bar too, and then sit down with me and write his number on a powerball ticket (because, he said, "love is like the lotto") .

This piece of work is 34, lives with his grandpa, doesn't work, lives off "investments", "will be a millionaire in 3 years", and "cooks lots of organic meals." I couldn't even think of anything sarcastic to say back, I was just completely blown away. He wouldn't go away or stop telling me how pretty I was, so when he started to argue with a guy sitting next to him, I got up quickly to go talk to Justin. At the end of the night, this dude comes back to say goodnight and says (I'm not kidding you here): "I just want you to know that it's unanimous. I asked every guy in here, and they all think you're gorgeous." OH MY LORD. Luckily, my friend Jen was sitting next to me and was so drunk that she quickly chimed in and said "too bad she's with me."

The rest of the evening (which lasted until 3:30am, and also included a trip to Burrito Boy and of course, fulfillment of my Designated Driver duties) was filled with lots of attention from a certain guy that I really liked last summer and haven't talked to since. When he had had enough to drink, he got up the courage to come talk to me and then stuck around and got a little friendly. It was, again, very interesting. There really isn't another word to describe this evening.

So what have we learned here? Don’t say the guy can give you his number if you’re totally freaked out by him. Give him the simple truth: dude, I’m not interested. Also, if I'm feeling blue, all I need to do is sport that red dress, some heels and hit up a bar in Eugene. If I don't want guys rubbing my leg or trying to hold my hand, I should probably stick to my normal guy-repellent of no makeup, hairy legs and sweats. It works like a charm.

12.04.2006

oooh, baby, baby it's a wild world

~Cat Stevens

It's funny, I look back on these last 5 months as the biggest slump of my life (yet). While that's sad, and mildly depressing, it's changed me. A lot. Coming to Eugene was going to be my first real chance to be away from home and I was going to go it alone successfully and adventurously, while taking the solo time to get to know myself outside of SPU and Seattle and, most importantly, to be more in tune with my God I want so badly to know better.

It started off okay. I really liked my first polymer class and July was full of fun (in comparison to the months to follow, at least), including an impromtu road trip to the Nickel Creek concert in Bend. This event prompted the beginning of this blog and the statement that I would never again live the same day twice. How idealistic of me. Well, that was a nice thought, but as fatigee, very weird health issues, lack of both friends and motivation all set in over the rest of the summer and fall, I have now realized that I'm not a fan of the "Katie" in Eugene, and I certainly live the same boring existence over and over. Well, if you consider the different knitting projects I work on and movies I watch each day, I guess they're technically not identical....but you get the picture *sigh*

I'm determined, however, to shake myself out of this apathy, and even though I just had to cut a painful check for $1800 to buy my freedom from my landlord, my impending move to Bend, Oregon after the Holidays has me hoping that sunshine (and apparently a lot of snow) are just around the corner. I really can't explain what's been wrong with me, but I can tell you I've learned quite a few things about myself recently, which I'm hoping will be worth it in the long run:

1. Being alone for long periods of time does crazy things to my psychological health and motivation in all areas
2. I really, really want to keep in touch with people
3. Cooking isn't as fun when you're eating alone
4. I have brought myself to a level of procrastination I never before thought possible (which is why I'm blogging now instead of studying for my final tomorrow)
5. While I like spontenaity, I'm finding I need a small amount of routine so that I actually DO things (especially when it comes to quiet time)
6. Living by myself would be okay for me if I had my friends in the same city
7. I miss very simple things: talks with Kellie in my room, playing UNO and Balderdash with the pals, Falconettes meetings, going to Quest church, having people over for dinner, and seeing my family
8. I get very weird ideas/thoughts when I'm alone with my thoughts
9. TV is a drug
10. I'm finally officially sick of school (for now)
11. I actually am capable of crying occasionally (I was beginning to wonder!)

However, there is a silver lining. I have picked up some new hobbies (other than being a total bed-potatoe) and bettered myself at others, and this has been my reason for living. I absolutely love racquetball now, I'm getting pretty good at knitting and making jewlery, and I've got surprising potential in Tai Chi, which I plan to continue with in Bend. I have found that the only time I can consistently feel great is after a Tai Chi class. I also am building my tolerance to spicy/hot foods, and have come a long way. Oh, that and The Office is the single greatest TV show ever.

In addition, as I said above, I am much easier to please now. I still love being outdoors and doing activities, but as long as there are people around, I'm officially good. That's why the last couple of weeks have been a bit of a deviation from the mean. I've made two good friends in Eugene, and we hang out, knit, watch The Office and cook fabulous meals, which has been wonderful. November is always the best because it houses my all-time favorite holiday which was great this year because it included both sides of my family, Kellie, and my cousin Megan's boyfriend who just arrived from Burkina Faso (West Africa). It was also wild because I skipped TWO classes to come home a day early (my first time skipping ever!). This year was a little more crazy because my cousin Chris finally proposed to his awesome girlfriend Jenny, and my brother made it official with his new girlfriend all in the week prior to Thanksgiving. Cap it off with some good time with friends from SPU, a freak Seattle snow storm, and two of the best desserts I've ever made, and I had the ingredients for a great week at home!

So you see, I will live. I have less than a week in this city and then I get to go home! Life isn't always perfect, but mine has been pretty amazing up until this latest experience. I really can't complain.