Off-Campus, y'all!

How to set up house incl. a few useful tips:
1. collect all the things in your parents' house that look a little bit like it kinda might be yours.
2. force parents and siblings to carry said stuff out to the driveway, and pack it into your car for you, so that they feel useful.
3. drive to new place, dump stuff into it.
4. disperse the stuff around your new place, realize that you really only own odds and ends of anything useful, though you have more office supplies than you will EVER NEED.
5. realize you forgot some of the actually useful things that you own at the parents' house, 'cause hey, it didn't look like it ought to belong to you- it was useful. Call parents and beg for them to bring you said items.
6. Go shopping for the rest of the things one actually needs in a household - just the bare minimum to keep it clean. Example: TP, paper towels, comet, 409, broom, trash can, trash bags - THEN realize that your pocketbook will be severely hurt by acquiring these small, generally unnoticed items. Cringe.
7. (simultaneously w/6) CLEAN EVERYTHING. Seriously. If you don't you will regret this later, especially if you have dust allergies and inherited a sofa with the place.
8. Realize that you forgot a few steps in there somewhere- OH YEAH, SHEETS. Frantically run around looking for sheets that actually fit your bed*.
9. Exultantly use your new:
a) dishwasher
b) washing machine/dryer (in a closet no less! so efficient!)
c) stove/oven
d) GARGANTUAN bed. Seriously. You could fit three people in that thing, nevermind two. You could put up walls and call it a bouncy castle.
10. Don't even worry about decoration. That comes later, when you can breathe again.

And the crazy thing is, the whole ordeal is actually a lot of fun. Yes, it's hectic. Yes, you have to be extremely practical, and can't daydream around. But. Having your own place is just cool. Making it look like a real people house instead of a dorm-room-pretending-to-be-the-room-you-had-at-home = awesome.

This is the last post I will make in this style... I promise to return to ideas and such next time around. =)

*Note: no, "full" is not the same as "queen". Do not buy "full" sheets if your bed is queen sized. You will regret this.

SFO

It's beautiful here. It really is. I LOVE the scenery and geography and botany.
But mostly I just miss my niche back 'home'.
Tomorrow I go adventuring into the actual city, instead of helping
move furniture,
scrub the kitchen,
buy groceries,
go computer shopping,
trying to keep sluggish conversations going.
Oh, and generally messing around on the computer. So hopefully tomorrow will be much better. There will be sights, sounds, smells, and probably some confused wanderings and getting-lost moments.
Stars, kiss my friends and family back at my two-year home goodnight.
over 'n out.
E.O.

Confessions of a (no-longer) Teenage Drama Queen

Things I Have Done so Far to Avoid Packing:
1. Put clothes in the wash
2. Go to a work-day at my church in the city
3. Go for a long, long walk
4. Watch Pirates of the Caribbean 1 and 2
5. Watch sundry TV shows including, but not limited to: iCarly, Sky high, and the Nanny
6. Cooke rice & lentils
7. Bake chocolate chip cookies and made pancakes.
8. Write this blog post.

I must therefore conclude and admit that Something is Going On. I do not avoid packing. I like packing. I like traveling (as has been well-established in previous posts)- I even did a little happy dance on the way to my car last week because I was thinking "I get to pack for a trip!!".
The only possible conclusion is that the very idea of this trip is making me nervous. I have also avoided checking in for my flight online, and deciding whether or not I want to check a bag. Let's not beat around the bush here. I'm scared spitless. I'm going to see the person I've been calling one of my best friends, the friend I've known the longest out of all my current friends. And I'm not sure I can follow through with it without breaking something (not literal THINGS, you know, friendshippy things) because I'm not sure how far apart we've grown in the past year or more. I'm also going to see my fCA- THAT's driving me to distraction too.
Now, time has come to the point where if I avoid preparing for this trip any longer, there will be consequences... but all I can think is "I don't wanna pack, I don't wanna!" - and try to come up with other, unrelated things I have to do that might help me avoid this big scary week.
That said, I can't imagine not going. I have to go, and I will. It's just... YIKES!
Okay. Watch me, internet-reader. I am going to go pack now- promise.
over 'n out.
E.O.

Dinner tonight:

Salmon burgers & edamame.
Wtf?? Who are these people, and what happened to my family?

Helden

Leanne & Paul
Delice & Jonas
Ann-Phyllis
Regina Spektor
Emily P.
Amber

Some people just elicit admiration.

E-babies

I don't like medicine. Concretely, I don't like drugs. Anything that I feel like will alter my mental state from what it is on a normal, regular basis when I've had food and adequate amounts of sleep, I shy away from.
This means that, on a day-to-day basis, there are certain things that I just avoid, and which may cause awkward situations. Coffee, for example, or alcohol. I have actually managed, somehow, to hang with people with whom alcohol has not been too much of an issue (aka, w/ppl who don't drink).
Friday night, however, two of my dear friends decided they were going to get well and truly drunk. I thought I might take the opportunity (since they wouldn't notice anyway) to have a drink... just one.... They offered me a wine cooler, but, in the end, my nerve failed me, and I got caught up in watching their shenannigans. So, no go.
However, I'm thinking this has got to happen SOMEtime soon. Because I just can't be that much of a wuss.

We shall see what the year brings.
Oh, and my two friends? They danced the night away and had a blast... until their bodies told them they'd had ENOUGH, and made them give some back to the universe at large. In return, they've decided that being that drunk once is plenty. And they don't think any worse of me for not joining them in their revelries. =) I couldn't ask for better friends.
over 'n out.
E.O.