This is my first attempt at doing a video update. I actually think I recorded it before my last actual post. But i wanted to see if this could be a viable option for me to add things.

This is me.. winging it

In my most recent of a series of questionably good decisions - I have moved down to Orem, Utah. To those that know me the best, I hope you can control your laughing. To make this illogical move even better, I moved down here with no where to live and no where to work. I came down to live near a couple friends that will be plunging into the black abyss that most people call marriage.

Some side benefits appear to be that my siblings who live in this state are suddenly very social. Coming from a family in which we all love each other, support each other, and are loyal to each other, we are not particularly social when not in direct proximity to each other. I have one brother who has told me some of the biggest events in his life over text message. Which, for me, was fine; we really had nothing to talk about. He texts me "I'm getting married", I text him "congratulations". He texts me "We're having a baby", I text him "congratulations". Done and done my friends. Now though, I am in on birthdays, and holidays, and Sunday dinners. Something to get used to, but not something bad.

Now all I have to do is find a job. Finding a place to live turned out to be really very simple. After one day of my friend and I looking for places we decided that the apartments we had looked at in the middle of the day with the pools and hut tubs, and weight rooms, and no deposit and two months of free rent was the way to go. So, after two hours of unloading my car, by myself, up two flights of stairs, I had an empty car, and a messy apartment. But, no job.

I admit that I can to this town with a somewhat romanticized view of what would happen. I figured that coming down here like I did, I would find an apartment (which I did) and then maybe a few days later a job. Chalk it up to a few days of rest and relaxation. Well.. now having a week of rest and relaxation I am ready and willing to be right back out in that work force... 9 to 5 or otherwise.

But like I always say... it's always better when you wing it.

Cabin Fever

The seasonal job. In and of itself it is a singular experience and job situation. I was super smart and chose for this summer to get a seasonal job in a situation that is rare in this already rare arrangement. Well, in all honesty it's not that rare, but it feels exceptional to me.

I work in Olympic National Park for a company called Aramark. If you ever get the chance to work for them run the opposite direction.

You see, I work at Sol Duc Hot Spring resort. I have to drive and hour either way to get to the nearest town. When I say town, I mean town. These are small by any measure. Incidentally, my choices of towns are Port Angeles, WA and Forks, WA. Sound familiar? I'm not surprised if they do. Twilight central is where I live. I liked the books a loot better before I moved out here.

None of those are the reason that I am not a huge fan of my working enviroment though. I just wanted to highlight the all too real seclusion I have here.

But let me tell you about the rest... I live in a room with six otehr girls, a room that was not made for seven girls. Most of my roommates have put up some sort of sheet or barrier around thier bed to make themselves a small measure of privacy. I sometimes feel like I am living in a wierd version of a homeless camp, or in a village of kid's forts. I eat food that is so filled with fat and greese and cheese and fake flavoring that I have given up eating most days unless I feel like driving to town. I live above the restraunt that I work in. The only real getaway for us near property is a beach down the river a little bit that was just revealed that we could kick the crap out of each other (as in literally kicking someone in the head, not a pretty sight) and no disiplinary action is taken. I live with some violent guys too. I am never alone, I can't smell sulfer anymore, I hate people that on a regular basis I would actually really like.

To sum up my unhappiness let me relate this to you: a guest once asked me what I thought about this job and living upstairs. First I gave him the BS answer that I loved it and this was such a good opportunity. Then he looked me in the eye and asked me what I really thought. I asked him if he had ever seen the movie "Cabin Fever". with a grin on his face he said that yes he had seen it. With a grin on my face I told him Aramark was teh crooked law enforcement and the managers were the rabid dogs.

The First Rule of Ninja Club is that we don't talk about Ninja Club

So, this job has proved to be a melding of many a different personalities. One of the results of that is that some of the guys here have decided to form a sort of unofficial club.. the Ninja Club if you will... they are all going to self teach themselves to be ninjas. Now when I say ninja I want to make sure that you all realize that that includes throwing knives, ninja stars, bow staffs, and num-chucks. The bow staffs and num-chucks are all self made with PVC pipe. They are also investing in glow in the dark tape and paint. When I informed them that the point was not to glow and stand out but to blend into the dark they told me not to worry about it. NO GIRLS ALLOWED apparently, but I got one of the weaker ones to spill. You may have guessed it, but they are using the tape and paint to start to teach themselves how to throw in the dark. NOTE TO SELF: NO MORE NIGHT HIKES.

First Impressions

Well I finally got to my new home. It is interesting though. i have been out of this life style for a while now and it is almost strange to be back in it.. but good too. Contradictory I know, but it is hard to pin everything down here. I share a room with four other women from age 23 to 54.. so the dynamic is interesting. No one has started actual work yet so it feels a bit more like being at summer camp... or high school. The girl who is 23 like me, and only three days younger than me, is really nice. I like her alot. her name is Julia and she is from minnasota.

She also tottally has the accent that comes with that. She is not really into the drinking scence either so we get along pretty good. The woman who is 54 takes some getting used to. she can talk your ear off though if you don't stop her. I can see her having a little bit of trouble fitting in here. Hopefully she won't but it isn't just her age that sets her apart. Her general personality is just a little bit strange. But she is also a very good woman who truly wants to help everyone so I hope that she does well.
we had a bunch of trainings today, and then tommarrow we have one more, and then we start setting things up. I am going to be a hostess and can't really wait to get to work. hopefully they will also let me ne a barista in the morning because right now all I have is night work. It will be more interesting as the season moves forward because we are very secluded in ourselves out here so we live, work , play, eat all together in semi-close quarters and not many other options but bears. I would like to post some pics but this internet connection is so bad and slow it isnt really worth it now. hopefullly I will be able to add them later though. (Added now, That is the view out of my window)
We shall see how this most recent expidition starts to pan out....

TWO DAYS TO FREEDOM

It accures to me that even though I hate my current (soon to be former) job, this is still the job that I have stayed at the longest. I have been here seven, going on eight, months. That means that I have let this job suck the soul right out of my body for almost an entire pregnancy. I just find it funny and maybe a little ironic that this has happened. But now I am going thru my computer... erasing everything that shows just how much I slacked off on the internet and I find a little bit of a trail of things I was really into in the pictures I downloaded.... some of them have even ended up here.

Most of my wanderings in this vertual world have mostly been very random. Kind of like the picture of the Ninja cats.... but some has not been

Sometimes I am just so focused on not being able to go outside or even look outside when ever I want to that being outside is all that I can even think of.

I was definitily home sick to go back to Jackson for a long time and just generally checked up on things there way too often to probably be healthy. Since then I have decided that when you leave somewhere, you need to leave. Plus I was really just not getting enough work done.

I got onto a health kick that I suppose I am still on a little. Feeling good about myself and all.. Its been good. Lots of inspirational articles have been read at this here desk.

Eventually, I got interested in the world outuside, and the city that I live in... this is a picture I got from a global warming article. Apparently Seattle will be getting more intense weather as time moves forward.



Oh the stories one can gain just from going through a computer... I can almost smell the freedom.. ofcourse now I just have to email all of these pictures to myself before I delete them.

A Foggy Morning

I am not really a good morning person. But sometimes, when I get up just a little bit earlier than usual, and all is still quiet around me, I love the morning. This morning was one of those mornings. I don't think I even talked before I was in the car and having to deal with traffic or commenting back to the radio. They can't hear me, but I definitaly think that I'm funny.
Before all of that though, it was a wonderful morning. My house was quiet. My street was quiet. There was also this heavy fog that had settled over everything. It just dubbed everything. This is my street -->

I moved back to the Northwest this last September after being gone for almost four years. It could just be from not being here for so long, but it seems like it is so much more northwesty than I ever rememeber it being. There is fog all the time. I am still getting used to how green it is. i love it actually. I always did back then, but now I think I love it even more because I am back into my writing. My imagination is going wild, and the atmosphere just helps it all along.

I think that fog brings things to life that usuallu would not. It subdues the obvious, and you can almost swear that you really did see that wood fairy hiding in that little patch of woods, but it was only out of the corner of your eye and it was gone by the time you could fully turn. For those darker sides of everyones imagination you see the shadows of vampires and witches from the books you read as a child. So many possibilities when the usual are taken away.

Butterflies and My Parents

My parenta are interesting people. They are in many ways packrats. But I think that there is a point at which it is just time to let something go. For example, this butterfly. It fell and died in thier foyer two days ago. It is still there. They won't put it outside to rot and go back to the nature it was intended for, an they won't let me do it either. I will probably still find it there in a week.