Snow

My Snowy House

Sunflowers

Ravenna Park

It has snowed twice in the last week. And its sticking. Maybe I will have have a white Christmas!



My roommate likes the same kind of cheetos as me. In my world that means alot because I dont like people who like the poofy ones, only the regular style crunchy ones. Just another reason I know I meant to be here.

Today was officially my second day as a bagel slave. Its not too bad of a job because every person who works there is really nice. I have learned to make espresso and sandwiches on bagels (no brainer). Also, I have done something I never ever thought I would really do which is dishwashing. I stick my hand down in warm cream cheese water and scrape plates, squirting them down with hot high powered water and then I reach my hand all the way to the bottom through pieces of onion and who knows what to pull out the drain stopper wrapped in a medical rubber glove. Quite gross if you ask me, and I catch myself making faces I just hope no one see them.

Now that I have a job its for sure that I wont be able to come home for Christmas. But since Kate is coming then I am going to have Christmas dinner at her moms house.



I just looked out the window and its snowing!!! My first snow of winter. My first Northwest snow. It is truly a magical moment, I am going to enjoy it!

Listening to Neil Young

Internet at the house!! Woo hoo. This makes my life so much easier. I dont have to spend $3 a coffee everytime I need to jump online anymore.

I have also gotten a much better job, closer to the house, good hours, alright pay, and a free shift meal.

Tomorrow I am going downtown to get my license to become and official citizen of Washington. I also have an interview for a cocktail position at a very upscale billiards bar. Which would be a nice source of income if I am planning on saving anything extra for college.


But here comes a fun picture post. These are of the arboretum, when I went a couple weeks ago.

Eating my words

Well Thank God, and Buddha, and Krishna and Allah, and Jesus and Muhammad, and Jupiter and Zeus and whoever else is up there I GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!!

It is an on call catering staffing service. Basically I tell them when Im available for the week and they contact me to do work parties and events.

There are many downfalls including:
Its pretty much only on weekends (so not many opportunities for $)
My first paycheck doesn't arrive until Jan. 1.
They dont take out taxes so I have to file as self employed and contracting through this company meaning I end up owing come tax time
I have to invest $50 into alcohol and food permits
About $100 in uniform (gotta spend money to make money)

But it seems really flexible and easy to work around, so I will continue looking for a primary job. But atleast there is some source of money that will be flowing my way soon.

Having a job creates a better attitude for looking for jobs so hopefully this can kick start some good job finds.

I guess my little break down yesterday was because I felt it was the end. I just didnt know it was the beginning of being employed!
Back on my feet! And it feels good.

How low can you go?

There must be some kind of curse on me right now. Life is making it so hard for me to succeed. Not having internet at the house makes things hard enough but this computer which works sometimes, not others, shuts off randomly, the screen goes black, makes it even harder. And lately the problem has been when it is working it wont let me attach documents to emails. So there goes sending resumes to job postings. Because even if I wanted to just copy and paste it at the end of the cover letter, the format of the resumes goes bananas and each time I would have to spend atleast 20 minutes correcting the alignment. If its not one thing its another. I can succeed and I will, its just beating me down right now. Down down down into the ground, grinding me down with the big heel of a gigantic world. I am the dead horse, stop beating.


Its not suppose to be hard. This was suppose to be a breeze. I dont get it. I thought I had finally gotten my way, things were going my way. Life would be perfect and easy because thats the attitude I had put into the universe. And instead I get struggle and worry. No matter how many times everyone says "life isnt easy, its not fair, you dont always get your way" I will never learn. I surrender to these lessons because I cant get them through my head. And until I can (which I cant) I am doomed to a life of disappointment. Please dont get me wrong, I am in no way disappointed that I am out here, trying to make something better of myself. I know that there are low points in life, and its not always a smooth ride. This is a low point, a dip off the graph of my life. Im riding it out. I must express some bit of misery to fully appreciate when it finally picks up.

There is a mold of the adult I am becoming, it already exists and deep down, subconsciously I know what it is. My circumstances and situations are breaking me and making me into that person. I cant see the big picture but I can follow my gut and understand the things that happen are the things that make me, as uncomfortable as they may be.

This land is my land

Yesterday I went to the Arboretum, which I cant help but call the Arborarium (if there is such a word, I dont know ). It was a huge park right on the water that went under a few highway roads. Some were not in use anymore so you can walk on these ramps of highway out over the water. The park is huge and the walking path takes you through alittle forest, under the main road to this marshy wetland area where there are old docks that extend out onto the water, with small lookout towers and trails that go onto small islands. I sat and watched a few sailboats go by, a kayaker, and a big sweet dog pull every stick out of the water that he could find. The water is so clear you can see right to the bottom, which is probably only 3ft. but its blocked by high stacked rocks all the way around this grassy area, kind of St. Simons Island style. The moutains were standing in the background to the east and to the west and the sun was setting just as I sat on the park bench. It was really a perfect picturesque moment. Luckily I did have my camera, however the computer is the problem. It worked 2 days ago, but not yesterday. Its a tricky battle. I had a weird moment as I was approaching this particular area that looked across the water to the university stadium and a draw bridge. It reminded me of myself in photograph when I was really little. I dont remember anything about this day except for the seeing the photo, but I have on a plaid black and white matching outfit and mom and I are feeding ducks by a pond I think. The arboretum reminded me of the place in the photo.

I learned to play 3 chords on guitar. I am decently good at switching between them. Nick has this idea that everyone in the house needs to play music together. And call it the "house band" when we have house shows. I figure, why not, I can pick things up pretty easily, and I have taken some music lessons before. So he gave me my first lesson and I promised him when he got home from work I would have written a little song for him. And I did! Just a little jingle, no words, nothing fancy, just me and my 3 chords. Playing music is the only thing they do when friends come over so I need to get with the program, the music program. I have also been playing the ukulele, which is easier on my small hands. Nick promised to learn Georgia On My Mind for me, and then teach me.

The weather has still been beautiful. I have yet to experience real Seattle rain. When I walk down the street from my house on a clear day I have noticed you can see the moutains in the distance. Visibility is clear enough to see the marbled snow capped peaks. The past 2 days that I have walked down the street, I have been in awe of the fact that I am here. I can see the mountains from my street, I can take a 15 minute bus to the water and watch the sunset. I can go to a white sand beach, or a volcano in under and hour. I can go to the rainforest or Canada in 3 hours. I am dealing with this extreme feeling of openness and vastness, like my heart and mind instantly expanded with one full breath of fresh northwest air. The only thing that would make life more perfect would be if everyone I love would fall in love with this land that I have and move close to me. Better get on it peoples!

Uh Oh

Despite being told a few times that the economic crisis the country is falling into is slow to move to the Northwest, as I went around yesterday and tried to pass out some applications more than half the places I went said 'No way Jose, we can not hire anyone else'. I am beginning to get alittle panicked, not that money is running low, but its only going to get worse. Everyone questioned if this was the right time for a big move and I sort of just brushed it off, because in my head that didnt matter at all. Well now its starting to matter alittle bit. I am having to put so much more effort into getting life together out here than I was anticipating. Its not impossibly hard and I am definitely not complaining or rethinking my decision. Just getting that little voice in the back of my head saying 'you really better step it up if your going to make out here'. And I know that I am going to make it so I know that I am going to step it up now.

I called an admissions advisor from Evergreen and got all the stats on timing and the process and the unique way they create their classes. I am about to have to have so much academic freedom by being able to completely create certain classes that I will take. I get to create the curriculum and then a way to prove to the professor I learned something, and they will provide some supervision but the rest is up to me! How cool is that. I knew there had to exist a place where I can get a degree but study exactly what I wanted. Im wondering how any one could go to a formal college when this type of schooling is an option.
He did tell me that I can apply for January 2010 quarter as early as April. And I can start filling out my financial aid forms as soon as this coming January. Also I can get by with filling out FAFSA by myself, which will hopefully allow me to get grant money. So sometime soon I am going to make an appointment with a financial aid advisor and get that ball rolling.

But tonight I have been given the opportunity to go to Olympia for the first time. Not to the school, just to the town. My roommate and his friend are playing a jam show so I am going to catch a ride with them and go visit my future city. I am excited to see it and get a feeling for it. Hopefully its a good feeling.

I met a girl last night, who works in the neighborhood who is from Chicago, been here 6 months, doing the exact thing as I am. Its so nice to meet someone in the same boat. Seattle seems so clickish that those might be the only real friends I make, those who are wanderers like myself. Birds of a feather flock together, and wandering birds are generally good people.

I love and miss you all!!!

Alittle more growing up

I am ready to get this life on the road. Job Job JOB is on the brain. Unfortunately and ironically my personal computer decided it just couldn't hold on any longer. It has gone to its final resting place. Which leaves me without all my music, all the photos that I havent uploaded (luckily that last picture post was pretty extensive), my resume, and various writings that I had started. So job hunting gets one step harder at this point. Of course, just yesterday I had called and made a request to get internet service at the house, all roommates agree that its necessary, but now I have no computer to surf on. I still am going to get it, because I can always use their computers, also it will allow me to have a bill in my name so I can get a drivers license so I can officially be a resident. And I can cancel service at any time with no fees. Also, as soon as I have a stable job with some income coming in, I plan to use some of my savings to get a new laptop. At this day in age its extremely hard to be without a computer and the internet. In a lot of ways it has made people even more lazy than we were already getting, but it is an enormous convenience that I personally do not want to live without. I am proudly part of the spoiled internet generation and I wont go without it.

Thankfully the coffee shop down the street is only $1 for 30 minutes of computer time, and then theres always the 20 minute walk to the library. So for now, I will make due, and keep pushing strongly forward. No one said this would be easy. Well, except for my brain saying "oh yeah, this will be a piece of cake." But I guess I had to be thinking that way in order to actually get out here. As I saw with finding a house, it took much longer than I had anticipated, but the wait was so much more than worth it. Maybe a job will be the same. Maybe all this waiting and procrastinating will pay off. Not procrastinating, because I have sent out resumes. I just think I am looking to hard. I am being too rigid about picking the perfect job. I am trying to control too much, and I need to just relax and loosen up and the job will find me.

I just saw my roommate Nick here at the coffee shop, he gave me a little pep talk concerning the whole job search. Confidence, he said. Employers are lucky to have you inquire about a job. Thats all it takes. Being fearless and confident on the outside, even if your shaking in your boots.
I dont have to be anything but what I want to be here. And I am fearless and confident!

The Moment You Have All Been Waiting For

Here it is. This is the detailed Tour De Chateau Me!

The front yard

My warmth for the winter (or atleast a week)

Standing on the corner of my street, there is the bookstore

My Ave.

Welcome inside, here is the front room in which the pool table is only used to hold sheet music

The TV room which has no cable and only VHS

More living room

Into the 'Record Room' as I call it

Alphabetical Rock, Jazz, Blues, Oldies, Western, Island, Anything

Da Kitchen

This is where we recycle

Sprouting avocado seeds

Lets go downstairs, the basement and my room

The Recording Area

Duh, washer/dryer plus piles of clothes

Here we are in my doorway

Im going to fill that map up with dots of everywhere I have been

My "Closet"

Winter Reading

Rock Fountain

My Bed

Pear, the prettiest angel in the house

Back outside, more recyling

The "garden"

Big boy tree in the backyard

Back of the house, end of house tour.

Ok lets take a walk down the street

My sign, my sun, my healthy eating

I was fortunate enough to have blue skies the day I got my camera

Overlooking the park from the street above

We will eventually go into the park, be patient.

Left goes ?? and right goes to the Ave.

There goes the bus, good thing we are walking.

And here we are at the Ave, where good shopping and restaurants are

So many vintage stores

My bus stop!

Ok headed back towards the park

Under the bridge

Can you believe this secret beauty is just about 5 blocks from my house.

The whole length of the park is about a mile and a half long.

But there are 2 road bridges at 15th and 20th so thats the area of park I am taking pictures of

Sitting rock

Took some time to sit and enjoy the beauty.

Out of the park into the field

Goodbye park

Lets walk home

Graffiti Tree

Hairy Trees

There are alot of the trees around, they usually have bright red leaves but they have all fallen

So many people have the most beautiful flowers on the sidewalk

My street

Back on the corner of my house

And there you have it. From the house, down the Ave, through the park and back, that covers the good square of my surroundings.

Now everyone can have peace of mind that everything is perfect for me.
With my camera in hand, the more I see, the more you see.

Quick News: Found my favorite coffee shop on the ave. There are lots of plugs, good mochas, good music and small, tall tables right infront of the big window facing the street. Perfect for people watching!

And I sent out 3 resumes today. Hopefully the right job is one of them. Im ready to make some money honey.