wtf

It's 1:30 in the morning and my neighbors are moving furniture >:(

If you're bored, then you're boring

Life's pretty dull and stressful right now. I guess I'll appreciate taking such a heavy course load now by the time spring term rolls around and I can slack off instead of stress out. But for now, I'm not a happy camper.

Last weekend was really nice. I went home to Cow-town for the unit's birthday ball. Friday night got drunk and played Mario Kart until 3 in the morning. Saturday was the ball. Good times, good friends. My feet still hurt from bar hopping my high heels :S Sunday I helped Chris pack up the last little bit to be moved to the new house.

Hopefully I'll be going home this weekend too to help Chris get everything unpacked. We need to pick up a few things for the new house. Mostly some new lamps but we've been needing to do that forever. We've been using the same ol' stumpy lamp since 2002. Now we'll finally get a floor lamp for the living room and some paper lanterns for the bedroom. (Right now there's this fugly round white lamp hanging from the ceiling on a black chain circa 1985. So that's coming down.)

Not much to report for training. I've been so busy with school work and life that there hasn't been much going on.

Not much going on with TTC either. I was really disappointed about not being pregnant last cycle. I think I got my hopes way up with the Clearblue Easy monitor. But it just wasn't meant to be.

I'll try to post some pics soon, but for now, back to the grind. I have one last paragraph to hammer out, then a final proof read and I'm calling this essay done. Then I get to start on another that's due on Thursday - joy!

Why?

Why do I do this to myself? Whoever invented the butterfly stroke, I want to punch their grandma in the face. Swimming in general can go to hell and die.

I swear next term I'm taking redonkulous easy classes like Fitness Walking and Mediation 101. (Yes, those are real classes. Seriously.) WTF with this Japanese 414 and History 352 bull crap. I should just sit in my room all day and bang my head against the wall.

When I get done with yomikaki this afternoon, I'm going to read lolcats until my face melts off with cuteness and there's no braincells left to be grumpy.

Gotta go wash the chlorine and tears out of my swimsuit...

Sick Sunday

I'm really sick of trying to memorize kanji and looking up all the kanji I don't know in my reading. Why can't we just write everything in kana and call it good?

I'm sick of reading about welfare rights in the 60's. I was raised on WIC and Foodstamps, I got free lunch in school. I can't count the number of times we either had the power or the water turned off when I was growing up. I get that bad things happen to good people sometimes and you have to do the best you can. I completely understand that dealing with the government is a confusing, time consuming abortion of a system. There's just a limit to my empathy. I used to think of the 60's as a bunch of rebels and hard-liners, no matter what you believed in you stood up for that and didn't back down. Now I'm starting to think they were just a bunch of whiners that had life too good in the 50's and never learned that life isn't fair.

I'm sick of waiting to know if I'm pregnant. I want to know right now what's going on. I'm trying be patient and wait until Thursday or Friday to test. I feel like one of those sappy chicks from the commercials.

I'm sick of trying to figure out swimming. I learned there's such a thing as over rotation. What the crap?! Everyone says rotate rotate rotate - but don't rotate too much now. How much is too much? How in the hell do you know these things? I need to stop being such a punk and just go to the UO tri club for some coaching.

I'm sick of kids who think they're too cool for school by "properly" pronouncing names from Akira. When I speak English, I use English pronunciation of things; when I speak Japanese, I use Japanese pronunciation. "My name is Rebecca" is pronounced differently than the Japanse "rebekka desu" (with the R sounding more like an L or a D than a back of the throat growl, ruh-BECK-kah verses leh-behk-kah). "I watched aKIra" is going to sound different than "akira mida". I don't go around calling myself "leh-behk-ka" just so everyone call tell I'm special because I took a Japanese class. And I almost made the mistake of calling the character Roy instead of Ryu - the horrors! Only losers watch the dub :P I've been watching this movie almost as long as some of you have been alive, get off my junk. And stay off my lawn you damn whippersnappers!

I'm actually sick. Yesterday I started out planning on doing half of my favorite loop, but by the time I made it Autzen I felt like poopy. My other runs after the Portland Marathon felt good. Slow and sore but really good. By the time I made it home yesterday, I could tell that cold I felt coming on has arrived. I was standing in line for my post-run breakfast burrito and my nose dripped onto my tray. Ewwwwww. If I was still out running, I could have dealt with the situation and moved on, but non-runners lack a true appreciation for the snot rocket. Now I'm a fully functioning mucus factory and just walking up to my room makes me want to take a nap. I'll get out and try for at least a mile in a little bit. Maybe.

Weekend ~ whew!!

So glad it's Friday!

Thursdays are my long day - 10am to 10pm, 8 hours of class. Fridays are only 2 hours of classes, one at noon and one at 4pm. Besides less time in class, we also only had one assignment due and one quiz. Whew! I didn't study for the quiz (I decided to take a shower and clean my room instead last night), but I think I did pretty well on it and I think we get the lowest score dropped for the term. The assignment for writing was just a journal. So I just blabbered in Japanese for a few pages and called it good.

Now it's on to week 3! Going to use my weekend to get completely caught up and hopefully get a little ahead.

It's also time to get back into the running groove. I took a few days off to recover after the marathon, but I'm looking forward to getting out on my favorite paths around Eugene.

The Portland Marathon was awesome! I went into the race treating it like a training run. I didn't have a goal time in mind and I wasn't nervous at all. Just out there to enjoy a run.

I love the start of the race - one of my favorite moments of all the races I've done. Right after the start, in the middle of downtown is a drum corps. The power and rhythym of the drums echoing off the buildings. Simply amazing.

The first half the race just flew by. In sections I swear they measured the course short lol I even forgot I was on mile 11, I thought I was still on mile 10 and I was shocked to see the mile 12 marker. Then somewhere around 14 or 15, I had a little runner's high. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world! :)

At Checkpoint Charlie (mile 16.5-ish) before the St John's Bridge, my legs started getting a little cranky. Walking all the way up and over the bridge was a killer, but I knew Chris was waiting for me on the other side of the bridge (with a Coke and chips!) that really cheered me up. I love this part of the Portland Marathon because you know that every step after the St John's Bridge is a step closer to home. There was a lot of fog race morning and I couldn't see the bridge until we were about a mile from it. Watching the bridge slowly emerge from the fog was another amazing memory from this race.

Besides some fog, there was a bit of rain during the marathon too. I still had my long sleeve warm-up top and the rain was nothing more than a sprinkle, so I was toasty and dry - except for my feet. My socks got soaked early on, luckily no blisters but my feet felt pretty raw almost the whole way through. I was hoping Chris would be close enough to the car to grab another pair of socks, but no luck.

Mentally things got a little rough about mile 19. No surprises there. I told the whiny voice in my head to shut up; I wasn't going to listen to that "this sucks, why am I doing this, I want to go home" crappola today. I told myself there's only two things you can think about: eating my mini-bag of Fritos at mile 20 and making a honey bucket stop near the U of Portland campus. By mile 21, I felt back in the groove.

Right before mile 24 and the Steel Bridge, the rain started coming down again. Great, just great. I'm this close the finish and now I'm going to get soaked. Grrrr. This time the little voice said, "I wouldn't want to be in the rain anywhere else in the world right now." Damn skippy! I'm in my home, I've got a healthy body and I am so fortunate to have this day. You don't have a web-footed mascot for nothing. A little liquid sunshine? Ha! Let's do the damn thing!! Feeling great, I ran up the on-ramp and across the bridge. Down the other side (ahhhhh ~ I love down hills!) then bam! A volunteer was yelling that we had to stop, there's a train >:( We had to wait for the guards to go back up but it was only a minute or two and stretching out my legs did feel pretty good. Then I got right back into running and on to Front Street.

Usually right before mile 26, I walk. It's an annoying habit. I know I'm close enough to finish but by that point I just don't give a fuck anymore (ie me at this very spot in 2006, and earlier this year at the Eugene Marathon.) Well not this time. When things started getting a little rough, Jobber got me going with "A Little Less Conversation". (The marathon's big selling point was being MP3 player friendly this year, so I couldn't leave Jobber at home all alone.) With a few blocks to go, the Chili Pepper's "Can't Stop" ~ gawd, I luv you Jobber! You're like a miniature buddha covered in plastic! I crossed the finish line with a big goofy grin on my face and without stopping for the last 2.2 miles :) Fan-freakin-tastic!

Now here's where I hate the Portland Marathon - the chaos that is the finish line. We had some new disposable chip system this year, so no waiting in line to get your chip cut off. I also had a space blanket wrapped around me and the volunteer even offered to tie it around my neck for me. Cool beans. But trying to get a medal from one of the clueless middle school chicks was frustrating. There was like 6 of them standing around with armfuls of medals but they were all spacing off. I actually had to stop and ask one of them for my medal. Not cool. Then trying to find food is like playing where's waldo. There's tables set up along both sides of the street with people milling around and a mess of random boxes everywhere. Some people were drinking chocolate milk and eating ice cream, but I couldn't figure out where those were coming from. I found a big table of yogurt (urp!) and some chocolate candies thrown down in piles on another table. I prefer Disney's food area that's just a couple of small, well stocked tables that you have to walk past. No hunting around for some grub. The Eugene Marathon had people handing out chips and water bottles. Arg Portland. Not the worst finish area I've ever been in, but you can do better.

I got my rose from a nice Girl Scout and the guy at the finisher's shirt table was really helpful. He suggested an XS and it fits wonderfully :) I've never worn my shirt from 2006, which was way too big, the sleeves just flop around and the mock turtle neck reminds me a dickey. I skipped the finisher's pictures (there were only two stations set up and a line of people waiting, no thank you). I saw some booths with kiddie pools filled with ice and one with massage tables set up (I think they were free but I'm just not a fan of strangers touching me).

I made it to the reunion area around the block from the finish line. I didn't see him at all coming into the finish line, so I was hoping Hubby was waiting for me there. No Hubby :( I wrapped my blanket around my backside, sat down on the curb and rested against a garbage can. I took my shoes off to discover my feet were completely white and covered in the pruney-est skin I've ever seen. I threw my wet socks away and wished that I had brought some flip flops. After about 10 minutes and still no Hubby, I decided I should be walking around anyways and got up to go look for him.

I walked nearly down to Salmon Street Springs. Still no Hubby :_( I knew he had Hank-dogs with him, so I was looking at people's feet because spotting a dog is easier than spotting my medium built, average height, brown haired white guy of a husband in a crowd. But no Hanker-stanks either. At this point, I'm starting to get very emotional. Where could he be? Why isn't he here? I have no cell phone to call him with. And the thought of asking a stranger to use their phone is too terrifying. I just want to go home! I put my hands on my knees and bent over ready to start bawling. I realized that I must have looked pretty pathetic when some guy crossed the street to ask me if I was okay. So I sucked my crocodile tears up and started walking back to the reunion area. Finally at the last turn of the race, I see him! I must have somehow walked right past him when I first left the reunion area :)

I changed in the car on the way to Jack in the Box. Curly fries -mmmmmmmmmmmm. I napped in the car on the way down to Corvallis. I showered then slept some more at home before heading back down to Eugene.

Another great marathon (no wonder these things are addicting!) and a great weekend at home :)

Rainbow

Another beautiful rainbow over Eugene....

Beginning of the end

This morning I moved back to UO for my final year. I'm so excited - and today has gone so much better than I could have hoped for :)

My work schedule is perfect. I have great shifts doing my two favorite things - barista and dining room. I work the opening barista shifts on Mon and Wed (my class schedule is all day Tue and Thu, and Fri afternoons). Everyone has to work one weekend shift and mine is Sunday nights, which means that I get to spend Friday night, all day Saturday and most of Sunday with Chris when I'm home. The dining room shift is mainly keeping the dining room clean and stocking shelves. Sounds kinda crappy but I love it because I don't have any mutha uckers messing with my shi :) No customers, no bosses, no coworkers. As long as I keep myself busy and stay out of trouble, no one bugs me for 3 whole hours. Hells ya.

My new room is absolutely amazing! Last school year, I shared one of the smallest double rooms on campus (about 140 sqft). This is a picture of my old room (and for the record my side is the left lol):

This year, I have a single room with a sink. There's so much space I have no idea what to do with myself! lol I'm still unpacking and getting settled, but here's a quick shot of my new room:

There's also two big wall lockers which can't be seen in the picture. Along with a dresser and vanity sink/medicine cabinet, the storage space is practically tripled what I had before. All the furniture and fixtures are brand new. I can still see the contractor's markings on the wall and smell the new laminate smell in the drawers. This may not sound like much, but the UO housing has been compaired to dungeons by the Princeton Review. My building was featured in the opening scene of Animal House; the dorm room they lived in before joining the frat was how my room once looked. The new updates are greatly appreciated!

Not to mention there's an elevator in this building so we didn't have to lug all my stuff up 5 flights of stairs. The laundry room is on the same floor so no hauling my clothes down to the basement. There's a tub in the shower room (although I haven't actually tested it out yet, it's nice to know the option is there lol). I can drink the water that comes out of my tap too, unlike the gross shared water fountain in my old hall.

And omg - the view! I can actually see Autzen Stadium, which is about a mile away.

In about a month when the trees lose their leaves, the view of the stadium will get even better. I wonder if I'll be able to see the big yellow O?

My old room didn't have a horrible view. Being able to look down on Hayward Field was great:

But for the most part all you could see was the roof of the covered walk ways below and the brick wall of the other building. (Sorta unrelated, but there's talk the Eugene Marathon will actually start and finish on Hayward Field. Kick ass! Although I'll probably only be walking the half this year depending on when I get knocked up, should still be a lot of fun.)

So far, there's a couple downsides to my new room. One, just two outlets for the entire room and none by the sink. Two, I now live right above the chow hall. Nice because it's much much quieter than my old room (no people standing below my window fighting at 2am or annoying people singing over the loud speakers at Hayward Field), but not so nice because I can smell everything that's cooking. Today was chicken strips, cheese sandwich and french fry day - drool! Tomorrow night is bbq chicken.

After I got moved in, Chris stayed with me for most of the afternoon. He made sure my computer was up and running, got everything arranged just right for me and helped me put up some strings of purple lights around the room. We went out to lunch then bought my books and some supplies, then sat in my room and talked for a while. He wanted to spend the night with me, but we couldn't leave Hank outside alone all night (it's been cold and I'd worry, plus Hank gets really anxious if he misses a meal). But now there's enough space in my room that both Hubby and Hank-dogs can come stay :)

Obviously, I'd live in a cardboard box if that what I needed to do for my degree. I no joke lived in a tent in my parent's backyard two summers ago*. To just have this opportunity to be at UO is an immense blessing. To have this space to live in on top of everything else is so much more than I ever could have asked for.

* In order to graduate at the same time as Chris, I needed to take second-year Japanese over the summer. Unfortunately, Oregon State does not offer second-year Japanese summer term; I'd have to attend either University of Oregon or Portland State. That same summer, Chris was in OCS at Quantico, Virginia and I was responsible for the pets. Our families live in Portland and my parents agreed to have me and Hank stay the summer with them, so back to Portland State I went. Unfortunately, my brother was also living with my parents after returning from Japan and my sister has my old bedroom. My options were to sleep on my parent's couch, sleep on my sister's floor, or pitch a tent in the backyard. I opted for the backyard.