Why does Andy's little brother look like a cross between Andy and Koji? Maybe it's just the picture, but I swear he looks like Koji's little brother What's-his-name.

Anyway, now about ME!! The real reason you're here! Hahahaha. Okay I'll make my evil side quiet down now.

We took a family girl trip to Winthrop, a little tourist trap/town in northern central WA. It's just slightly on the east side of the mountains, still west enough to be really pretty. (A look how Bellingham is on the little map! Isn't that just wonderful!!) We stayed in a cabin by the river, but of course we only went to the river for about ten minutes and spent more time playing with the sprinkler than with the river, though two people did manage to fall in within that short period of time. They have a bunch of artsy shops with a lot of hand-made stuff so over priced only the rich and crazy can buy anything. I bought two things.

It's supposed to take four hours to get there. I think it took us eight both ways. There was so much construction we were about to murder people. On the way there, it wasn't so bad, the eight hours were from stopping and looking at the prettiness, but on the way back we were stopped by a flagger for almost an hour. AND most of us had to go to the bathroom at the time. Talk about torture. You could see everyone getting all fidgety in their cars. But the funny part is, some of our largest laughing attacks happened while waiting. At one, my aunt took the keys out of the ignition while we waited, and then when it was time to go, she couldn't find the keys. I thought we were going to be killed by the cars behind us, but she found them in time.

So the point of this rampage is really to relate that we found a campsite remarkable like the places we went in the Redwoods. It was really nice and treeful by a creek. The only difference was that the fallen trees in the Redwoods were slightly bigger and more ubiquitous, but...eh. So Washington really is the coolest state ever and no one can convince me otherwise. Oh yeah, at there's this cute little supposedly rabbit-like creature that lives in the mountains called a pika. So beat that!

I've spent the last handful of days house-, horse-, and dog-sitting, and I have decided a few things. Firstly, dogs are evil and the bane of my existence. I did not get one full-night of sleep the whole time because first the stupid fluffy dog wouldn't sleep upstairs without his owners and then he wanted to go out at 1 in the morning. Then he wouldn't come back in. I was worried because they specified that he sleeps inside and upstairs, and he's an old dog, so I would get up every once in a while and see if he wanted in again. Which he never did. Then he wanted breakfast at 6 in the morning, and so did the horses. Fortunately, I wasn't in charge of feeding the horses breakfast and could lay around in bed until *gasp* 6:30 before I went out and helped with the watering and cleaning.

Secondly, no matter that they wake up too early, I'm all for having horses as pets. It's the best of the dog and cat worlds. They're pretty friendly when they get to know you, but not overly annoying and clingy like the previously mentioned bane. And they're so cute!! I don't want to ride them, just keep them around. We were taking care of six horses and I got to know about four of them pretty well. There's this one old one who I was having a little friendly fight with. He gets special food that the others like, so we had to isolate him, and then he didn't want to go back. We didn't put any halter or bridle on them for breakfast, whatever those things are. So I'd push and push and push, and he'd just look and me and wander off like I wasn't putting my whole weight on him. And he let me pet his ears, which the other ones don't like at all. Once he got in a fight with one of the dogs because he wanted to eat her food, or at least knock it over.

Korina was telling me about their little hierarchy too. They all respect Danny, the old one, because he's old, and let him have the first pick of the food. And then next is a girl-horse named Bella. When the others try to mess with her, Korina says she grrrrs at them. I haven't heard the literal growling, but it's certainly apparent when someone's not pleased with someone else. The big ones are kept mostly separate from the rest, but even they respect the little old pony Danny.

Once I read a story with this old lady who had a pony who was like her dog and would come in the house and everything. Maybe that'd be a bit messy, but I wonder if I could train one. It's all about the cute horses now, who needs a dog or cat for a pet!

I hate it when I'm whiny, which is all the time, but here I go again.

I need to get a job, so I can get my own place, so I can get out of this crazy zoo!! But there are too many people and too little cars, especially that I can drive, so for the moment, I can't get a job and don't have anywhere to go, so I'm stuck in the zoo!! There is no way I'm ever going to become a housewife because I would kill everyone in sight. Half the time, I'm afraid I'll do it anyway, or at least scream at everyone whose annoying little habits are driving me insane.

My cousin from the UAE, Remzey, is in the country now and staying here. He's starting college in a couple weeks and still acts like a 10-year-old. Good thing he's got his own dorm room. Anyway, he won't keep his hands off Ben, the 11-year-old, and they yell and scream into the night. If I have two boy-children, one of them is going into the dumpster. Anyway, point. He's got one of those voices that doesn't know how to get lower than a bellow, and it's another one of those things that's driving me crazy. I really hope that's not how I sound, you know, when you tell me that I have a loud voice, 'cause I don't sound like that to me, but I imagine he doesn't sound like that to himself either.

I'm considering a career in hermitism. My favorite time is when I'm alone, there are no ambient noises, and I'm reading a book. Yesterday a friend came over unannounced and invited me to go swimming on the beautiful day. I said no. There were some other reasons, but mostly I was just happy with my book. I didn't even think about those other reasons until after I said no. I must be making some progress because, unlike at SUA, certain of my bodily functions have begun to regulate themselves, which is a positive for any future children that I could possible have.

Goodbye to the Japanese.

I hung out with a friend of mine from high school the other day. It was slightly depressing. We had a lot of fun together, but I hadn't seen her in a long time and we have nothing in common any more. Each of us spent the whole time trying to talk about ourselves because we had no other topic. The only thing we could find to talk about at any length was Japan. She's doing JET too, and I could give her a little advice from my time there. Overall I don't really see why we need to see each other. I care about what happens to her, but I think email can cover it if all we're going to do is talk about ourselves.

While we were together, I found myself hoping that the same kind of thing doesn't happen to my SUA friends. I'm not the best at keeping in touch anyway, but if we let things go too long, all we'll do is get together for lunch once in a while and try to talk over the other as we babble on about ourselves. That's one of the reasons I wanted to do the bookclub, so that we could have something in common at least. And if we keep up with the blogs, we can bypass the everyday-newsy part of any get together and go straight to some meat.

I worried that I'm becoming slightly passive.

Okay...interviewed on Wednesday, 45 minutes to get there, kinda far, but it's got a pretty view of the Sound and the cutest little coffee shop by it. I haven't heard back yet...I don't know what to think. It's a brand new place and I got interviewed by all three people who were there, not including the lady I interviewed with on the phone.

But now I hear there may be plans of me going to the U.A.E. in the spring, and my aunt says that maybe I could get a job at one of the hotels because there's crazy construction going on (they're building more than one artificial island) and it's going to be a new tourist hot spot. So I'm thinking if that is the case, maybe I should just do the temp agency thing that I conveniently forgot about during my last round of applications... None of the other peeps called or anything. I guess I'll figure it out when I find out about the Mukilteo job...

Speaking of the aunt. The U.A.E. one got here on Friday, and when she comes, she gives presents. So, among other things, I can now count myself among the MUMU-owning people! Crazy huh? She was going to give it to someone else, but it's all pretty and bright-colored!! So now I have to figure out how and when to where one...

So the lady from the phone interview called back to schedule an in-person interview. But she called at a quarter to 9, so my brother picked up my phone. I called her back and we set it up for tomorrow. If I get the job, I'll have to take some major backroad-age, so my aunt is coming with me and we're giving ourselves an hour and a half to get there. Hopefully it will only take 45 minutes to get there...I can always hope.

What kind of job? People have been asking, so I'll just write it here. The one I have an interview for is at a skin care place where I would be an underling to do a bunch of people's bidding. The other two were similar without quite as much on the job description. And I don't know what kind of companies those were. Anywho, I didn't want to get stuck in the assistant thing, 'cause who knows when I could get out of it, but it's the type of job I feel most comfortable applying for and carrying out.

So we'll see what happens. I'm going to look a little more, and maybe apply to a couple more, but if these people offer me the job and no one else has even contacted me, I'll take it, unless I can't stand the people or something.

The "Official Monday" started at 7:00 this morning, about 3 hours earlier than usual. I set the alarm for 7:30, but when I came downstairs after two snooze sessions and a shower and discovered that it was only 7:50, I did some investigating. Turns out, the alarm clock is 30 minutes fast. Must remember to rectify this, or else never set the alarm again.

So anyway, I got back from breakfast at noon...yeah yeah yeah, taking my grandparents to breakfast takes a long long time. Then I had to read outside for awhile because the maids were still cleaning. THEN, I got to Official Monday business...and people practically attacked me on MSN. Long story short, I sent my resume to three places today, and about an hour later I got a call from one of them! Isn't there some kind of grace period for that kind of thing. I had to close my computer and hope they wouldn't record my email when they looked at my resume and laughed at the thought that I might think I could get a job. Money is so...crude. Alli knows what I'm talking about. This is in the same category as asking for my money when they forgot to pay me in Japan. Asking for a job is only slightly less painful than asking for money, because it is asking for money, but in a more polite way. But of course, the first thing the lady asks me is what kind of salary I'm expecting. Yeah, that's how it works, but it seems so...uncouth to me. Maybe I should start my own thesaurus service.

Phone interview went okay except for the unpreparedness I suppose. Korina said it was funny to watch me as I looked for the right word. Sounds like there's a good chance I'll get an in-person interview. But now I'm panicking. What if I get that job? Do I want it? What if I don't accept it and then no one else calls. Sounds like an okay job, lots of stuff to do and all, but still. Oh panic panic.

And I'm not sure about the commute time between Mukilteo and Kirkland. I know Monroe to Mukilteo won't be fun.

Breath. It wouldn't be forever anyway. And I don't have to accept it even if by some miracle they decide they want to hire a 16-year-old look-alike.

Oh yeah, and Uyen, do you want to join our bookclub? I don't have your email.

I am in rapid prep for the coming of the Monday. Figured out a snappy organizational technique for the resume and everything. And I'm learning how to apply make-up, so I don't look like a 16-year-old, thus ruining any chance of a nice person hiring me at some future and hypothetical interview.

Today I figured out what city I'm moving to when I move out. Kirkland. Yes, that is the home of Ray from 06. Today we when to the Original Pancake House in Kirkland (one of only two in Washington) and it has the cutest little downtown that I never noticed before. We got totally turned around and had to ask for directions and everything, which I think is the mark of a good traditional and little downtown. It's funny because we drive through Kirkland sometimes to avoid traffic on 405, but I've never noticed its coolness before. The next little town over, Juanita, has the coolest apartments above a little grouping of shops. I've always wanted to live over a shop. So, if the Kirkland thing doesn't work out, I'll move there, though the town of Juanita is not nearly as interesting as Kirkland.

So now that that's settled, let's see about a carreer!!

Oh yeah, and Sammi, it would be AN official Monday. And you'll have to look in the archives for the post regarding the longest weekend ever.

Yesterday was my dad's 50th birthday. I suppose I should get him a present.

I think I will declare this coming Monday as my official Monday and everything that comes with it. Good luck to me.

Siobhan sent me a bunch of random pictures of me. This is by far the coolest one. I guess I should email her back to thank her. Oh the energy it takes!! And hurrah for the picture uploading. I hope it works better than than dumb Picasa did!

I bought $100 chair yesterday. Lime green sure is in lately.

I need a job.

I added 2500 miles to the rental in 4 days...and I barely drove for two of those days.

So we only made it 100 miles or so north of L.A. before we had to sleep, but I made us wake up way early and we rolled into Portland before 8:00pm! Just in time to be fed dinner by the Ellie's Mom Style Parental Unit. So I left and made it home by midnight. No accidents or nothing, just some quickly aborted attempts at rain.

Number of copper statues along the I-5 corridor: 3. Three spiky tower things in southern Washington, a dragon in northern CA, and a bull in slightly more southern CA.

States with evil drivers: Idaho, Illinois

State with considerate drivers: Nevada

Interesting sight: a Corvette pulling one of those tent trailer things. When you come up behind, it looks like it's driving itself. We passed in somewhere in NorCal, and then I passed it again in SoWash.

Random thought for you: wouldn't it be cool if I was really a new species of person! Maybe my innards are all different from normal humans and I am the beginning of the next generation of people. Oooo, maybe a balanced meal for the new people is a fast food meal!! Then I remembered that although I've never had a full body scan proving that I'm regular, I have had my appendix out, and I think they might have noticed something amiss at that point.

Tomorrow I will drive 1,000 miles. Goody. Renting a car costs lots of money!

School's over, and we can't get the good stuff back. But the evilness can follow us still. I went to a fiftieth birthday party yesterday. I was thinking, wow, all of her birthdays lined up in a row would be nigh on two months straight!

Oh motivation, where art thou (notice that I didn't write "wherefore art thou" because that would mean "why are you Romeo." I suppose then my question should really be "wherefore art thou not motivated." Hey, at least I remember something from Shakespeare class.

Sweet vindication!!!! The doctor guy on the tv told a pregnant woman that she had a parasite!! Take that you foul detractors!

This is the longest weekend of my life!!! And I don't mean the last two days. Every time I say that I'll do something, I mean that I'll do it on Monday, but there is no Monday. With no obligations, no job, there is nothing to anchor the week, so I feel like it's Groundhog's Day. Except it's a Saturday instead of a silly holiday, so I can't even kidnap a rodent and drive into a gravel pit in a crazy attempt to end the madness. (Morbid tidbit, my mom wanted to kill herself by driving into a gravel pit, but she couldn't find one. I think there was one right off the highway, but she wasn't in her right mind you know. Morbid question, how do I know this?)

Things I have accomplished...
Had a job interview today, decided I can't deal with a stupid nothing job, gonna keep looking.
Made an appointment to get a tattoo on Thursday, Squishy from Nemo.
My nails have been a different color every day this week.
My hair has washout highlights, first time I've colored it in any way, ever.
It's STRAWBERRY season in Washington!! (okay I didn't accomplish that, but it's still pretty cool)

I eat out at least once a day now, if not more. It's reeking havoc on my attempt to eat balancedly. Oh yeah, and I gotta find a car for California!!!!!!!! Evilness lurks.

Surprise surprise, nothing new to report. I have spent the last two day watching hours and hours of television programs on DVD. I have completed the first seasons of Charmed and Wonderfalls. If you're looking for a new show, I would say a big N-O to Charmed, but Wonderfalls is cute. Too bad I didn't discover it until after it was cancelled. It's about this funky girl who gets ordered around by inanimate animal heads. They get her into trouble and she often doesn't understand what their cryptic instructions mean, but it always turns out in the end.

Okay, I'm way scared that I just wrote a paragraph about a t.v. show...

To Ann: I'm ashamed of you for forgetting your nickname on my site. And I think 253-332-4961 is the number you're looking for. And you can't comment on my blog because I messed with the skin all those many moons ago. Mean to fix it, but I'm scared of losing my links and stuffs.