lots o work

The title pretty much says it all. Yesterday I was at work from 8AM to 9 PM cause the project I've been working on goes out today. Which means that all of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing drawings had to be completely done and ready to go to the architect. It was a really long day. On the bus ride home, I realized that I was feeling and thinking absolutely nothing. Not even tired or anxious. Just like a blank slate. It freaked me out but even that wasn't a very strong feeling. I don't think I'll have too many days like that though. And today I got paid. Yay! Just in time too. Rent is due soon. When I first opened it up, the first number I saw was $26. I was like, holy shit I am not getting $26 for three weeks of work. Luckily that was only one of my tax deduction things.

good day

It's been a good day today and I'm not sure why. Maybe because work wasn't as stressful today as it was yesterday and I actually felt like I was doing things right. Maybe because I found out that I get monday and tuesday of next week off and paid! Or maybe because I got to talk to a bunch of my friends today. Or because I had a good run. Or because it is so nice out. Or because the chicken coop is finished and the chicks are so cute. They run all over the place and they totally have their own personalities.

This weekend was also pretty awesome. I went down to a tournament called LogJam in portland. Actually that's a lie, it was south of the city. But anyway it was so fun. It was my first camping tournament ever. I bought a cheap tent at target on thursday cause I didn't want to have to rely on my charm and stunning beauty to get me shelter for the night. =) It was a hundred degrees during the day but it really cooled off at night so sleeping in the open was not at all an option. In reality it was way too hot to play, 94 Saturday and 99 on Sunday but i'm glad I did. I liked the team I ended up with and after we all got used to each other (it was mostly pick ups) we played pretty well. Well enough to win the B pool which is good enough for me. The really good teams there were really impressively good.

The party was cool too cause they had hurricaines out of a barrel instead of just beer and it was right at the camp site and people were really friendly and actually dancing. Like they had a DJ out in the middle of a state park. And I stole a disc. Cause people were playing this game where you have to knock cups off a stick (I got pretty good at it), and I was watching when a disc came flying from way across and hit my drink. It only hit my drink because I put my arm up just in time; it was coming at my nose really fast. Anyway no one came over the claim it and when I turned it over, it said "nicko" on the back. That means its mine. I met a lot of cool people too which is good cause my team for next weekend is older so I won't be able to party with them so much.

So now my biggest excitement is trying to figure out what to do with my two days off. I really want to take a kayaking whale watch tour. They go from the San Juan islands and its like 70 bucks for 5 hours and I think it would be so fun paddling around the ocean looking for whales. I have to figure out how I would get there, how much it would cost, and whether anyone would want to go with me (anyone = roomates, rachel, or ben, the other intern at work. though I guess I could ask dan, the guy on my team i was chilling with all weekend). I'm also ok with going by myself. Or maybe I should save that for when o malley's here. Ben also invited me to hang out with him and some of his friends for the 4th so i might be going to his girlfriend's brother's friend's cousin's something something something's lakehouse. Which could be cool. Or awkward. Or both. So i might not have time for that and potlatch and kayaking.

I really don't have any money right now. And not like when I usually say that. Ususally I leave myself a nice cushion of money i just don't want to spend. Now, with work being so slow at paying me and having put out for rent and plane tickets and work clothes, I really have very very little. But when I was in italy I didn't go certain places or do certain things because it would have cost me a little extra and now i regret it. I don't want to leave seattle feeling like that.

Anyway, I've already had my high days and my low days here and today is a high day. Hope it lasts. =)

chicken

... as Dori would say. My roomates are building a chicken coop in our backyard. I had heard them talking about it during the BBQ saturday after a couple of beers but they actually went and bought posts and boards and poured cement. They're planning on buying 3 chicks and raising them in a kiddie pool until they get too big. And then eating eggs. I think its hysterical.

Weekend was pretty laid back over all. Went running with one of my roomates, Kylan (you can probably tell by the name that he's more than half a hippie, but he's also an engineer which I think is a cool combination), went to a fair in Fremont which was not that exciting but I found really good coffee, Caffe Largo. Played more pick up. Did a little more exploring. Hung out at the BBQ but I was kind of in and out cause there were never more than 10 or 12 people at a time and I only knew my roomates. The girl from Barnard comes tommorrow which should be cool.

Working really fills up your day. And makes you twitchy. At least it makes me twitchy staring at a computer screen for more than 8 hours a day. When I get home I don't even want to get close to mine.

Basically that's all I've been doing, working and playing frisbee. I've played three times this week (tuesday, wednesday, thursday). Wednesday was cool. I went to play pick up with Rachel Clement who I haven't seen for years and then we had a beer afterwards. It was cool hanging out with someone but the pick up game turned out to be "goaltimate" which I don't know how to spell. It's like half court basketball but with frisbees. So weird. Rachel's cool though.

So finally its Friday and its raining which is hasn't been doing much so I'm stuck in the office all day instead of just most of it. This weekend one of my roomates is having a BBQ in honor of having his braces off so I'm going to buy him lots of gummies. Sunday I was kind of thinking about checking out the boeing museum but we'll see what comes up. Hopefully something.

moving

moving into a new place is such a rush for me. It's like the beginning of a relationship when everything is new and clean. New possibilities, new people to meet, new places to see. I've just been going around with a big smile on my face. Its an addicting feeling. I've done it before and I know in a few weeks it will settle into routeine with occassional loneliness. And right before I start to leave I'll start to get into the comfortable stage that I am in new york where i know my way around and have some people to hang with. But nothing beats the rush of the first couple weeks. It's intense.

I played some pretty shitty pick up this morning. No stall count, no out of bounds. Honestly I was the only one on the field with a flick. So of course I'm cutting for the flick cause obviously that's the open side and no one can make that throw. Losers. Ha. But on the upside I've played pick up twice and both times I've been invited to join teams and play tournaments. So far I'm going to potlatch, logjam (in portlant) and something in chico, CA. I love being a girl.

you really gotta buy into the whole office working corperate schtick or it really kind of looks ridiculous. All of these grown ups running around talking about "deadlines," mumbling into their excel sheets, and going to training sessions on printer use. Its so childish. And I'm working in an office that does real work, work like keeping buildings up and making sure that they have electricity, heating and plumbing. The end product is useful. But the process just ends up looking silly. Honestly. After a week, I've decided that I don't ever want to be like that unless I get to manage my own products and be my own boss and the projects are something that when I think about, actually sounds worthwhile. Building buildings comes close but its borderline.

On the plus side, the office went kayaking this afternoon and then we had margeritas. That was a lot of fun. And tommorrow I don't have to get up at 6! I think I'm going to do some serious exploring. Tonight I really want to go see a movie but I'm not sure how motivated I am. Moderatly motivated. But all is still going well and ultimate starts next week.

seattle

hehe I'm all the way accross the country. I love travelling. It was such a long trip but everything went pretty much exactly as planned.

Monday I flew in, found the house no problem, and spent the afternoon getting lost on busses and trying to find my office. good thing I decided to take a test run cause I ended up miles from where I was supposed to and that wouldn't have been good at 7 in the morning, late on my first day. The people I'm living with seem really normal and chill. We watched law and order and simpsons. They're all young and students and I'm glad I decided to live with people. Its three guys and a girl but one of the guys is moving out. The other two created a car bomb involving steak and beef broth and played jenga with me. I videotaped. Not the jenga, the car bomb. It was funny.

Tuesday I went to work and on my way home I saw an ultimate game down the street from me from the window of the bus. So I ran home and got changed and they let me play with them in this scrimmage which was so fun. They invited me to play at Potlatch and Chico with them which I'm totally going to even though I found a different team for summer league itself. I can't wait for it to start. Its light here until wicked late, like 9 30 or 10 so after scrimmaging I had time to go grocery shopping, run into my roommates, go get ice cream with them, and have them help me carry my groceries up the hill. It was a really good day.

Work is a little frustrating because the guy I'm working with wants me to finish a project by friday. But the project involves autocad, a program I've never learned, complicated floor plans which I can't read, and knowledge of building componants (ducts, diffusers, chill beams) that I don't have. I don't know what they were expecting from me, but I never claimed to know any of that stuff. He's being cool about teaching me, but you can tell that he wanted me to be able to jump in and help immeadiately and instead he has to teach me everything. But its not like I had a chance to learn this stuff and passed. Mech Es don't learn autocad and we don't look at floor plans at least not as juniors. That shit is for civils. So I spent the last two days feeling dumb. But the office seems cool. Lots of young people and a kayaking trip this friday.

I like Seattle people. They're friendly, laid back and they say "right on" where I would say cool, like a million times a day. The downtown isn't much to speak of and the city is really suberban feeling. Well that's not quite true. But it feels like Newton, if you know Boston, or Forest Hills, if you know Queens. Lots of greeness and highways cutting through and little houses. Not like Manhattan, even a little bit. The buses go everywhere but they run one the half hours or so (depending on the bus). So its extensive but you have to kind of plan.

Anyway, all goes well so far.

Counting down

So after an extended road trip, I'm back in Medfield. Well, the road trip wasn't that extended. Not like the one I passed up or like the one O Malley's planning. I'm so jealous of him right now. He and his girlfriend are road tripping for a month and then biking through Germany for a couple weeks. So jealous. Cause I want to travel but I've done the travel alone thing and next time I go some where I want to go with someone. Preferably a significant other but friends work too.

Anyway, the point of that paragraph is that I spent a really long weekend (Sat - Wed), first in Philly with Karen and then up in our cabin in the Berkshires with Leora. That cabin looks really good. My parents have put a lot of work on it. It was a good trip and totally worth doing. Cause I won't get to see either of them for a really long time unless I fly back for Karen's graduation which doesn't look like its going to happen right now. She and Jake seems so settled and their friends are so settled. A bunch married and some of them with houses. I'm glad my friends are all over the map and not settling down so there's no pressure on me yet. But its always nice to spend time with her.

Me and Leora are expert relaxers so we had a nice couple days lounging. We even managed to start the boat and take it out and anchor it and lounge there. I'm especially proud of the fact that once we got the boat to go, we also got it to stop. All of these are major accomplishments since we really had no idea how to work this machine. Turned out it worked a lot like a lawn mower. My dad was very impressed with our ability though most of the credit goes to leora.

I now have tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday to finish cleaning my room, buy the work clothes I need, pack for an entire summer, go to a graduation party, watch my brother graduate, hang out with my family, and say so long to my medfield friends. And right now I don't have a car cause two of ours failed inspection. Grrr...