I can't complain

~Nickel Creek ("Can't Complain")

(written January 12, 2007)

Temperature reading on my car at 7:30am: 0°F
Temperature at lunchtime for the outdoor workout: 22°F

I never knew what it felt like to have my nostril hairs freeze....until today. Now that’s one of the strangest feelings ever. My first week in Bend has been full of fun, new life experiences, nice people, early mornings, even more beautiful scenery than Seattle, and some intense workouts!

In a week, I have become a semi-saavy snow and ice driver...something I never thought would happen. The drive from Eugene was fairly epic. For some reason, the designer of my car thought: “let’s see how small I can make the clearance between the tires and the wheel well,” making it nearly impossible to put the chains on the car. But that’s not all. At the second pass on the way to Bend, we were forced to stop and chain up. Dad jumps out in his shorts and has his chains on the suburban before I can even get all layered up. I was feeling good because I was totally going to do this on my own. I get the chains out and layed behind the tire...and I can’t fit my fingers under the wheel well. Turns out that 300 pounds of books and other most likely unneeded shit in your car weighs it down a little....who knew? So, after unloading the trunk and using the jack, my chains were on and things were looking great. It was actually fun (and beautiful) driving over to Bend.



So now, I live in a house that my roommate, Jinn, owns. We also have another roommate, Beth. So far, we are having fun and doing more than I thought I would in my first week here. Jinn and I went running on Saturday, which was an interesting experience when I started to slip on the ice and contemplate how badly injured I would get if I bit the dust. Supposedly they have these things called Yak tracks which are basically strap-on snow shoes to run in....I might have to invest. Jinn played D1 basketball at Montana State and has already recruited me to play post on their way-better- than-me city league team, which could be fun or frustrating...I’m not sure yet.

Work went amazingly well this week. I wasn’t as exhausted as I usually am the first week of a real job, the snow and ice were hardly ever a problem, I love all of my coworkers, and as far as I know at this point, I really like what I’m doing in lab. Bend Research, Inc. is an awesome place to work. I’ve already been invited out for beers twice, we get free food and drinks all the time, I can see about 6 mountains from our parking lot, we have really awesome outdoor workouts with a personal trainer a bunch of times a week, and then there’s the holiday party tomorrow. Hm. This should be interesting since I swear 98% of my coworkers, although they’re mostly only in their late 20s to late 30s are friggin married. Lots of cute guys...all with rings. Blast. That’s worse than all ugly guys by a long shot!

So far I’ve made a couple freshman mistakes in lab, and I don’t feel like I’m getting the respect I deserve quite yet, but there’s time for that. I made three different polymers, and started getting trained on some equipment too. There is also, apparently, time for like 6 meetings a day. Not including my first day, which was all meetings, I’ve been to 5 in the last 4 days. Not too shabby for a first week intern. Of course, don’t ask me whether I understand what they’re saying or not.

So there we have it. I’m alive and loving Bend so far. Even the crazy-ass coldness isn’t that bad, and I will be going through a bottle of lotion every day. Did I mention I got paid today? Things are definitely looking up. Oh, and this is my view from work:

So, this is the New Year...and I don’t feel any different (written Jan 3)

~Death Cab for Cutie (The New Year)

At least not quite yet.

In retrospect, 2006 was a year I could never have predicted. Even just in December: the “northwest windstorm 2006” hit with a no-holds-barred attitude (it will probably be remembered even more than the Inaugural Day storm in 1993), James Brown died on Christmas, I set a record for most Christmas cookies eaten in one week, Sadaam was noosed a couple days following, it snowed in Seattle twice, Gerald Ford passed away last week, and I had a lovely liquid New Years Eve following a day of driving in pretty much every district of Seattle to see friends. For me, some of 2006 was good, a lot of it was mediocre, and a small portion I’d rather not recall. Oh, it also rained an insane amount.

Driving home last night from Seattle to Eugene to prepare for the big move across the mountains to Bend this Friday, I hydroplaned enough to make me eligible for the Seafair races this summer. White-knuckling for 6 hours straight and streaming profanity at trucks is not my favorite activity. Now I get to prepare for some snow driving this week...yee haw!



This past month while I was at home, even though I was often busy knitting, baking cookies, cooking dinner for my parents, wrapping gifts, watching TV or sleeping, I made some pivotal realizations. First, I finally had to understand that I don’t have money. Any. Not working for 6 months really can stick it to ya. Perhaps I’ll have to take a stab at (gasp) budgeting in the near future. Secondly, Christmas wasn’t as magical this year. I’m not fully certain I can explain why, but things just seemed different, less joyful and rushed this year. Plus, apparently I’m “growing up”? It was still fun, and having some new additions to the family was certainly a treat. At Quest Church on Sunday, we had time to talk about the past year and share with each other. It’s so easy to say that I was busy this year and just didn’t prioritize time with the Lord, like I could say every year. But, I can pinpoint it a little more this year: the word for 2006 was distraction. The first six months, when I was loving my senior year even in the midst of some health problems, I allowed myself to be involved in seemingly everything, yet left some of the most important goals at the curb. Then, of course, when I moved to Eugene, I had a ton of time to exercise, read the Bible and other books, pray, et cetera. But, did I, you ask? Of course not. I allowed my perceived fatigue, knitting, classes, crippling loneliness (just kidding), incessant movie watching, slacking and zombie internet-surfing to squeeze out most of the time I could have spent doing more valuable activities.

So, as I look forward to 2007, I have a lot of hopes. Sure, you may call them resolutions, but whatever the nomenclature, I have lofty goals for what will happen in the next 12 months. I will be going to an insane amount of weddings, which is all good, as well as a much anticipated family trip to Hawaii and hopefully lots of outdoor fun in Bend and wherever I can afford to go. But more than doing, I hope this year is a year of thinking, prioritizing, reading, renewed commitment to health and being active, and most of all, putting my relationships first. I also have committed to flossing and doing 30 pushups a day. We’ll see how long that lasts...although, I shouldn’t jinx it on January 3rd.

Will Katie (and her coworkers) live through her first “real” job as a Chemistry researcher? Is there romance in her future? How about friends? Can she ski without breaking a bone for the first time? Will she freeze to death? How will the BMW fare in the snow and craziness? Will Katie meet and marry John Krasinski? How radical will her knitting skills get?

Stay tuned as Katie’s 23rd years unfolds and probably surprises even her at most moments...

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.

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.

This where we used to live

~Barenaked Ladies (Old Apartment)

Awoken at 4:31am Sunday morning by the fire blazing inside the dumpster across from my apartment (and the firetruck about 10 yards from my window), I layed back on my pillow and thought...I can't wait to move to Bend. Waking up twice to fires, once to a bum urinating in my alley and countless times to profanity being shouted by passersby, I'm ready to not live in apartment #205.

Now, granted, I was the one who told everyone how neat Eugene is before I moved. I'm not recanting that statement, but coupled with having about 5 friends and living in the middle of downtown, I'm getting tired of being alone and I'm ready for something new (after 5 months...ha!).

That said, I've compiled a list of things to look for in your upcoming apartment hunt, should you find yourself there.

1) Look for an apartment building not manufactured in 1927. Sure, everyone thinks old is "cute"...until they live there.
2) Similarly, look for an apartment new enough that there are double-paned windows and screens so that you don't freeze to death in the winter and get all sorts of dirt on your floors from the neighboring gravel parking lot when your windows are open.
3) Find a place NOT on an alley in a semi-shady area of the downtown district (especially when bums run rampant in your city). This could lead to all sorts of bathroom, drinking, ranting and tagging sounds at all hours of the day and night.
4) When looking at neighborhoods, try NOT to choose an area directly in between the hospital and the firestation, both being 2 blocks from you.
5) Find a place with a bathtub that drains and a toilet that is far enough from the tub that you don't have to sit side-saddle to sling a deuce.
6) Non-creaking and somewhat insulated hardwood floors would be a plus.
7) Electrical outlets in the bathroom could be handy at times.
8) Being within eyeshot of the chain-smoking "hairdressers" and skater teeny-boppers in the parking lot isn't the best.
9) More than 2 square feet of counter space might be useful.
10) Don't live on "High Street". You'll hear no end of it from your family.
11) Find a landlord that doesn't strip you of everything but your milk money for rent, and then stab you repeatdely in the ribs when you break the lease early.

Not exhaustive, but a good start for you, I'd say. In a related story, I think I just found a roommate in Bend on craigslist today! She sounds great, and the place is a sweet duplex very close to my job...so far, so good. More to come...

your palms are sweaty and i'm barely listening

~The Postal Service ("The District Sleeps Alone Tonight")

There's nothing like a good ass-kicking by three tiny, perky aerobics instructors to make you re-evaluate your level of fitness. This week was fitness week at U of O, and in addition to my Friday racquetball date with my friend Bevin, she made me do the pushup challenge and the free "stretch and flex" aerobics class.

We started with pushups in the weight room, in front of many boys who are much stronger than me. The previous day's winner for modified pushups (I know, I'm lame) had done 24. Psh, I can beat that by a LONG shot, I thought. 33 pushups later my arms were shaking around like the torso of an overweight belly dancer. Bevin did 50....and she's been sick. Racquetball was fun, but the whole time, there was this dark cloud of doubt over me...am I going to eat shit at this aerobics class and look like a complete imbecile?

The first of the 2o minute segments was okay for me. Lunges, balance work (which I'm much better at now that I do Tai Chi, I must say) and some others to beef up my already disproportionate Klug thunder thighs. Ah, but the second girl must have seen me and whispered to her fellow instructors: amazon girl in the back? I'm going to break her....real good.

Most of the stuff we did I'd seen before in my exponentially increasing workout video library. Mostly pilates moves, but the pace and intensity was a bit faster. Of course, my arms are still feeling the pain from the little contest earlier in the afternoon, which didn't help. My abs were feeling it, but I was holding serve until....dun dun dun...the isometric work. I'm always amazed that holding still is so much harder than doing situps or lunges or cardio. Ever heard of the plank? You basically hold yourself still in a pushup-mode, except your elbows are on the ground. I do this from time to time, but the instructor had us do this once, let us rest, and then killed me by making us lift one leg up at a time. Ouch. Okay, too many details. But, by this time, I'm completely sweated through my shirt, dripping from the forehead, and of course slipping around on my mat like a grape evading chopsticks, which made staying still very difficult.

Thank God for the stretch lady...that I can do. Overall, a fun workout extravaganza, but sheesh! I thought I was in pretty good shape and could hold my own in pilates-type classes. Nice try. I guess almost 4 solid years of working out doesn't mean you can do every move anyone throws at you the first time. In fact, I bet there are a ton of performance athletes that would suffer at the hands of many a pilates instructor. It really reinforced to me also that exercising with others is not only more fun, but is much more motivating. It's even strangely fun to listen to all the disco/techno remixes of popular Maroon 5, Ricky Martin and 98 degrees songs pumped up and sped up to keep with the pace of the class. Classic line of the day: "it hurts so good" (my brother says that too).

I think I may start doing pushups every night so that I never embarrass myself that badly again.

I'm nerdy in the extreme, I'm whiter than sour cream

~Weird Al (White &Nerdy)

Since I seem to have a tendency at this point in my journey to be depressing, I thought it time to share some of the more simple joys in my life with you (at least those that can be linked).

1) Weird Al finally made it to the top ten. Check out the new video from whence my title came. This man is a genius.

2) Few things or people make me laugh more than Conan O'Brien. It's a shame I'm an old foage and can't stay up that late anymore. My all-time favorite Conan clip. It's worth the 7 minutes, I assure you.

3) This cute and hysterical ad never quite made it to television, but was brought to my attention by my fabulous cousin, Chris. Prepare to wet yourself laughing.

Why am I in such a good mood? I had a fabulous day yesterday. Fall still is resisting here in Eugene, and it was beautiful and 70 yesterday with the perfect chill in the air. I went to early service at church, went on a spectacular bike ride, and then had a wonderful 4 hour meal with my second parents, John and Mariley. They were coming through Eugene on their way home to Seattle, and stopped to see me. It's strange how a simple gesture like that made my week, even my month. I love these people, and we talked forever about pretty much everything under the sun. Among the topics of discussion was our decision that the Super Bowl should be a best of 3 tournament....3 days in a row. Let's see what they're REALLY made of. In addition, all the first string would be exhausted and injured, so everyone would see some PT (playing time). A spectacular start to the week, and next weekend promises to be fun as well. Enjoy the links!