jen

So I never update this, partially because my blogs take up time and I usually just talk about whatever there. Sometime I just need to write things out so I don't keep thinking about them. I really enjoy the big bang theory and watch it every week. Last weeks episode made me really sad...Wollowitz came back from space and his wife was sick which is fine, so he went to see his mom and she was busy with someone , so he went to see Raj and he was going to go out with Stewart so Wollowitz was getting sadder so he went to visit everyone else and they were in the middle of a game and were just like not now when he came in :( It just reminded me of when we got back from hiking the pct and how most of our friends were...and it made me sad. Like I remember having a girls night when I got back and just...it was like I wasn't even there. I don't know. Maybe it is just if my friend just came back from a 6 minth trip (or really any trip) I want stories and info on how it was and to hang out with them....I don't know. It does make me think that if we go back to Seattle for a visit will it be the same? Then I think about how we have a lot of new friends since then who would be super excited to see us and not just make it like why did we bother? I know it would be better and yeah.

From Rapture Party

So the rapture only comes once every few years so we just had to celebrate! and really we went all out - it was soooo amazing! The photos are not as good as it was to be in out place for reals, but oh well. We spent most of the day yesterday decorating and getting ready for the party and we finished just in time. We invited people over at 5 for a potluck barbecue (if it was sunny we were going to grill outside, but it was raining - boo!) since the rapture would happen at six we wanted to eat together one last time. I was really excited to see people fly through the air, but I was pretty sure non of my friends would be those ones, but I wasn't 100% on that so I could have been surprised. ( Anyways on to the photos!Collapse )

From Snow

I woke up to snow today! Waited for the bus for 40 min while it was snowing tons! I loved it!

From Snow

My back yard when I got home

From Snow

And out the front of the house

From Snow

And the walkway earlier this evening - now it is completely covered with a couple more inches of snow. I hope this means that they are right and we will get a TON of snow this year! Yey winter!

So I bought a car tonight! Crazy! I haven't had a car in forever. I have been contemplating getting one for a while now as I want to get out camping/hiking in the summer and go cross country skiing in the winter which is hard to do without a car. There are no cheap ways to get out to the mountains besides trying to get your friends to take you (which didn't work so well last year). So I looked for a while and the issue was I wasn't willing to spend very much, but wanted a car that ran fine. That was next to impossible - all the cars in my price range were super beat up and had something wrong with them that needed fixed to drive them. Then last week I was waiting for the bus and I see this cute little Honda that had a for sale sign in it across the street. I thought man, that looks to be in good condition...I bet it is way out of my price range. I am usually running late for the bus so I never had enough time to go look at the tag in the window. Then on Sat Raymond and I walked by it on the way to the market and saw hey - it is in my price range. SO I hemmed and hawed and thought do I really want this....until today when I called the guy and checked it out. Everything was good, I liked it, the price was right - it was like it was just waiting for me since I had given up the hope that I would find something. It was perfect! I am excited. I am still going to walk everywhere or ride my bike except for the places that I cannot (like weekend trips) so it should be good. Super exciting!

Man it is way too late here. Not sure why I am not asleep yet! I am soooo tired, and haven't been sleeping much and riding my bike to work and so I am even more exhausted....so why am I not sleeping? I am having a Bastille day party tomorrow which should be fun so I was hoping I would get some good sleep tonight so I wouldn't be so tired. Oh well....we shall see what happens.

Hmm....anything else new and exciting? We went camping 4th of July weekend with our friend Branden and that was a lot of fun. We went up to the North Cascades and there was like no one out there! It was crazy. i think because it was kind of cool and overcast people stayed away....but it was perfect for hiking. We apparently did the hardest hike in the park on Sat (said the ranger we talked to after wards when we were getting suggestions for what to hike Sun). Though we couldn't go the whole way to the end of the trail because of snow, so we are going to go back in Aug and finish it. Should be some amazing views from the top! I cannot wait! On the way back we stopped in this tiny tiny top to try and get some hot food. Well there were 2 options - 1 a diner that just had all these signs about how great and how much variety of meat they had....and one called Buffalo Run that had "Bike food" with a picture of a bicycle. So we tried that one and they had a vegan "cream" of broccoli soup!!! Crazy! No one ever has vegan soup unless it is a veggie place, and here in the middle of no where they do. The waitress was all I don't know how they make it without milk if it is supposed to be a cream soup, but somehow they do. It was alright, not the best, but perfect as I was kind of cold and the hot soup was nice.

I think that is about all the excitement here. I am getting really really excited for Europe - it should be amazing! I cannot wait! 2 more months and we will be there!! Alright now off to try and get some sleep again....

It is almost midnight - WAY past my bedtime, especially on a work night. Not sure why I am still awake....usually when I cannot sleep there is something on my mind keeping me up, but no not tonight. I hope my sleeplessness is not coming back again....there was about 2 month there where I wasn't really sleeping and it was not the most fun. I am cranky when I am tired. And I have too much to do to be sleepy all the time.

So let's see what is new with me....well I am completely unmotivated to actually work at work. It is bad. Very bad. I think if I did not get along with the new girl Alison so well it would be a lot worse. We talk all day over im - not very good for the productivity, but good for wasting time. It is not like I do not have things to do, I do, I just don't feel like doing them. I think everyone else on my team are getting really fed up with my boss as....since they fired the invoicing lady invoices have been going out wrong, clients have been getting very angry and well - they haven't had time to collect on their accounts. It is going to start showing up in our numbers and Tony (the president of the company) is not going to be happy. I am luck my clients I don't really have to collect on and the invoices don't go to them. Yey me! I think I need a vacation, but I don't get one until Sept.....I need to find a way to get into my job again. It is not hard, they are paying me very well for what I am doing, I like the people I work with and can do pretty much whatever I want....I don't know. Ineed a change. Alison is out this week also so I don't really have anyone to talk to. Rusty doesn't talk to me as much anymore, probably because I keep telling him to talk to my boss or hr about my boss - do something about it! I tried, I talked to her, but it didn't do any good. The problem is I don't really have a problem with her as I don't work with her in the same capacity as they do. My job....well she pretty much leaves me alone so I don't have a problem. I understand why they do as I see how she is, but there is only so much I can do on their behalf. I want them to start standing up for themselves, or it is time for them to find another job (even though I do not want them to leave). Rusty keeps telling me it is pointless to say anything because nothing will happen and I keep trying to get him to see if he does nothing than 100% for sure nothing will happen. If he does, nothing still might happen, but something might. He doesn't get it though.

I am taking an accounting class now that the company is paying for in full. It is interesting. I have never taken an accounting class before even though I do accounting stuff for my job. So it has been kind of fun to learn why and what exactly everything is (I question things when I don't understand them, but my boss is not the best at explaining things). I am going to keep taking classes till we hopefully leave in years, and if need be I can continue my courses overseas :)

That is assuming we find some place we would like to live. I really need a change. I think the move to a new apartment in 2 weeks will help, but.....I am just restless is the problem. I have been in Seattle for 5 years now! WAY too long. The pct hike helped, but now I am just as restless as I was before we left for that. I need to get out. I need a change. I need something different. I do hope the move helps as we are planning on 2 more years. If we don't find someplace in Europe then that leaves Australia, maybe someplace in Canada like on the eastern side (Montreal of something) or......somewhere else in the US but I have no idea where. I do love Seattle - I think it is great, but I love to explore and find new places and....there could be somewhere even better than here. I think it goes back to hating where I grew up so much. After a certain point, once I realized how much I hated where I lived, I wished we would have been one of those families that moved around all over the place. And once I really started hating it there....I couldn't wait to leave. And I have always wanted to live in other countries - see how other people live. My ideal life - travel all over the place, live someplace for 6 month - 2 years and then go somewhere else and live. Another country, another adventure. If I had all the money I needed that is what I would do. Not have a permanent home, just move all over the place. I would have a small backpack and walk all over the place, taking other transportation when needed. I don't really think Raymond has this bug, seeing as how he has lived in WA his whole life, growing up in Seattle, going to Bellingham for 4 years, then moving back to Seattle. At least so far he is going along with me so we shall see. I do worry sometimes that at some point in the future he won't want to move yet again and I will be restless and.....it will not be good. But hopefully that does not happen :)

Oh the other day we were out at breakfast or something and Raymond was talking about what gear we would need when we hike the pct again and we really wouldn't swap out anything except maybe our tent. I think I might try and make a better tarp and see how that works as we really like the versatility of it, but the bug netting was not long enough to get it set up properly once the air got damp in N OR. Then Raymond said something like Man I wish we were hiking this year - here I thought I was the only one longing to get back on the trail! He is won over as well! So that is good. I don't think he ever would have hiked it if he hadn't met me and gone along with me, but he is glad he did which is good. It definitely was the most amazing thing I have done thus far in my life for sure - I would recommend it to anyone who even has an a tiny thought of wanting to do it. Absolutely amazing, more amazing than I can convey in words.

Alright time to go try and get some sleep again. This was way more than I expected to write, so maybe it helped. We shall see.

So lots of exciting things going on. First we are moving the end of May and I am sooooo excited! The kitchen is huge compared to the one I have now! More than 2 people can fit in it! More than one person can cook at the same time! It is going to be amazing! And it is in the back of the apartment so I can cook while Raymond teaches piano :) It is going to be soo nice! We are surrounded by parks (a few blocks away from 3 different huge parks), in a super quiet neighborhood, everything is really nice, and we are in the bottom of a house with a retired lady upstairs. I have some space in the backyard for a table and chairs, and a little garden! My friend is starting some zucchini and green beans for me, and I might try some peppers and sprouts and herbs in my windows :) I am super excited about having a little yard and being able to grow vegetables! And we can eat outside everyday which I love!

So we had looked at the place, I really liked it, it is a little more expensive than our current place but WAY nicer and we don't have any other bills other than our cell phone. So we looked at the place and came back to where we are living now to discuss it (we look every once and a while, but we have never found any place we both have liked). Then i realized wait - we like to have couchsurfers - will this lady be okay with that? I mean it is her house - you can just go up the stairs to her part. I called her up and said hey I have a quick question - we like to travel and when we do we like to couchsurf. And she said Oh I know what that is! I just hosted a brunch for a bunch of couchsurfers. So you want to know if you can have random people stay with you? Of course! Then we knew - this was meant to be :) I cannot wait to move! We are going through all of our things to get rid of most of it. We don't use/need most of it so it will be good.

In other news - last weekend we went to roller derby and we got there early so we could get a good seat (ad earlier than usually so we didn't have to wait in the rain). We have season tickets, and last time they had a special season ticket line - all 3 of us who were there already. I started talking to the other lady there and turns out she is from PA as well! She hates it as much as I do! We bonded over that :) We talked about what it was like there and here and all over the place. It was a lot of fun. Maybe a new roller derby friend :)


Also, we were having a potluck for opening day of baseball the beginning of the month. I don't really care about baseball, but I do like having fun at work. I signed up to make a dessert, homemade peanut butter cups as I had just tried a recipe for them (though not my mom's secret recipe - I think mine are better....and so does Raymond - tastes more like peanut butter instead of just sugary). So I brought in one for my co-worker to try who claims to love chocolate and peanut better. I gave it to him (the first person besides Raymond to try them) and he said eh it was alright, but "it tasted like vegan peanut butter." Oh so it tastes like peanut butter? Like it is supposed to? He hemmed and hawed and whatever. Then I was a little nervous, but I had all of them made so I brought them in and just put them in the room and no one knew who made them. Everyone LOVED them! They just raved about how good they were. The controller said "Did you make these? Really? So they are vegan? Man these are sooooo good! You eat a lot better than I thought you would! I thought you would just eat blah food, but man everything you have brought in is amazing!" Win! And she convinced everyone to take some, even the lady who doesn't eat desserts had 3!! That is always a win. Slowly but surely I am changing what my coworkers think of vegan food, and getting them to be more open to it. On Friday my team went out to lunch at my favorite vegetarian restaurant! It was amazing. Everyone ate a vegetarian meal and they all loved it!

I started a book club at work and we went to the one ladies house after work for the meeting. She made dinner, but tried to come up with something for me, but didn't know about this or that and I said don't worry about it I will bring something for me. But she did have tons I could eat and it was really good. Next time I pick the book, I am going to have everyone over to my place and cook a vegan meal for them :) Everyone was excited (and when I told them I was moving to a place with a bigger kitchen they all said "Maybe you can bring in more treats for us then" Win for me!!). Now to figure out what to make for book club....

So we had movie club on Saturday - we started this after we got back from hiking as Brandon wanted to and we all thought it was a good idea (I do enjoy it). Me Jacalen, Brandon, Patricia and Raymond are the members. So we were over at Jacalen's on Saturday and watched It Happened One Night which was amazing! Clark Gable which I have never actually seen anything with him in before, and I really liked him. Makes me want to go look for more of his movies and see how they are. Maybe even Gone With the Wind. Maybe. But that is not really what I have been thinking about.

So ever since we got back from hiking (maybe before, but I don't really remember...) I've just felt kind of like an outside when I hang out with Jacalen and Patricia. Not really sure why. Like I don't belong. With Jacalen more so than with Patricia. Which is just odd. I thought it was me when I got back as I know I can be awkward sometimes (maybe why I LOVE awkward), but.....I don't get that with my other friends. Like when we first got back I called them both like hey we need to get together since I haven't seen you guys in 5 months! And Jacalen was away for work, so we went out to dinner with Patricia and it was a lot of fun. I would say I never really was the best friend of Patricia, but we are better friends now than we were. So it was good. And we made plans to get together with Jacalen and Kathy and Patricia that Friday for a girls night and to watch a movie. So I went down to Patricia's. And it was like I wasn't even there. No hey welcome back, we missed you, nothing. It was just odd. And that is when I first noticed it. And I thought it was just me. I mean go hiking in the woods for 5 months.....coming back to 'normal' society can be interesting, and a lot of people have problems re-adjusting. I thought I was fine though, but figured that must be why I felt like an outsider. Like I didn't belong there. And I know Jacalen and Patricia are better friends, and they hang out all the time, but part of me always thought that was because I didn't have a car and couldn't get to places as easily (Jacalen's house is like a 2 hour bus ride in the evening....not really doable to hang out). And then they went shopping....downtown....where I live and shop...and as an afterthought were like oh hey we are going to be downtown we should get together for lunch! Maybe it is just me. When I am up north I call Justin to see if he is around since I am where he lives and don't see him often. Maybe it is just that I thought we were better friends. I guess it is just a whole bunch of little things added together and I think I don't fit in here! But I do with my other friends....

We do go to trivia ever week with Jacalen and Brandon and I have a lot of fun. But if I really think about it I really like Brandon a lot (as a friend like). At movie club we watch the movie then we talk about it for like 2 seconds and then Jacalen (though this month it was Patricia) is like okay let's rate it! Done. It really annoys me. I like discussing things. That is why I thought it was a good idea. Let's watch something and discuss it. That is why I made a book club at work as well. To read books and then discuss. And that is why I think I like Brandon more than the girls - he discusses things and really can dig into them. I don't really know if Jacalen even wants to do the movie club - probably just does it because Brandon wants to. Maybe I am just in a cranky mood.

And then after our discussion....Patricia is telling this story about how her sisters kid, who is like 8, is almost vegetarian (yey her!). But her mom is all freaking out cause she doesn't want her to be all vegetarian as she is 8 and need nutrients (what? someone is not informed about nutrition....) and how the kid kept bugging Patricia about how she can eat animals and such. Like how can she eat that pig? It was alive and all. And apparently Patricia got annoyed and then told the girl about how someone her dad knew (in her family maybe? They are from Argentina and this happened there) was in a pig pen and slipped and the pig had just had babies and was all protective of them and ate the guy or something. But she is telling this 8 year old kid - next time you think about not eating a pig think about how they will eat you!!! I was just so....I couldn't even say anything to that. I was at a loss for words. Like really? You are my friend and you are trying to traumatize this kid into eating animals when obviously she doesn't want to and has compassion for them? Really? And even if they eat you, that doesn't mean that we should treat them as horribly as we do, then kill them incredibly painfully and violently and then eat them. We don't eat lions, but lions would eat me. I just don't get it.

And I just finished reading this book - Why we love dogs, eat pigs and wear cows. It was really interesting. All about how our violent ideology of eating animals is inconsistent, and how make up these rules that really make no sense in order to continue eating animals. And how the whole system reinforces that it is okay. Like why do we think it is disturbing to eat dogs, but not pigs. And why we care about animals, and yet eat them. They are kind of at odds with each other, and the systems in place and what we have to do to keep them in place so we can continue to eat animals. Very interesting and I would recommend the book, though I wish it was in more detail or talked about the ideas more.

So we were at lunch today with Laura and Brandon Stanley and Laura said on the radio as she was driving in there was a traffic report that there were chickens on the road ahead so look out. She thought they were just making it up, but no when she got there there were chickens. Apparently a truck transporting them opened and they were falling out. And cars were running them over. And Laura said it was a good thing she wasn't one of the first car as that would have ruined her day - traumatized her if she would have hit and killed a chicken (this as she is eating chicken). So I asked why? I mean you are eating the same thing? And it probably died a much more horrible death, and their living conditions were probably awful as well. Well as long as she doesn't think about it it is okay. And we had this huge discussion about it. She was freaked out by the thought of eating dogs, cause they are cute. But other animals....well that is just the way it is. They were put here for us to eat. And then at one point Brandon Stanley tried to tell me that it was hard to be vegetarian. I called bs. Especially now, and especially in Seattle. You can literally eat anywhere, except maybe McDonald's or something. Vegan is harder, especially breakfast, but not hard at all. Even in middle of nowhere Pennsylvania I can eat out vegan. Not a big deal. He wasn't buying it. I said I could eat anywhere - Laura said no, I challenged with a where couldn't I eat? And they had nothing. The hard thing is complete bs. And just a reason to keep complacent about your choices. And then Laura started on the but it is legal and everyone does it. That doesn't make it right. Just because it is legal and every does it....there have been plenty of things throughout history that were legal and everyone did that now we think are awful. And I truly believe eventually (if we do not destroy the earth first) we will look back at this time and think how could we have killed so many animals? In such horrible ways? I really do believe it.

When I first started with the vegan again....it was just like I didn't want to for myself. But lately....I am finding myself more and more appalled by the slaughterhouse conditions and such. And not just for the animals...the poor people who work there (mostly illegal immigrants). I watched food Inc the other day and it was interesting (and I highly recommend it. It is not all shoving veganism in your face or anything, it is just a here is what you are eating and how it gets to you). Apparently working at a slaughterhouse was a very good job. Good pay, good benefits, safe. Not anymore. It is just crazy....how they are able to do whatever they want. boggles my mind. And boggles my mind how sooo many people want to remain willfully ignorant. And there are so many reasons that things are going to have to change, one being the environment. All in all it is just a bad bad system. Sorry for the tirade....I just had to get all that out. Hopefully now I will sleep better since I am not thinking of these things...

So Suzi sent me a box of fabrics a little while ago! I was super excited. Probably way more excited than I should have been about a box of fabrics....what is happening to me? Last weekend we went out and got a table for me to use for my crafty things - Raymond had one, but he started complaining because I kind of took it over....so now we have everything set up in the other room all perfect! Plenty of room to work on my things without Raymond's stupid things getting in my way! :) ( 2 things I have madeCollapse )

So I got this sewing calendar and man...I am starting to get all crafty and want to make super cute things! I am totally becoming Suzi Eller ;) Tonight I made owl:

Pretty cute! And pretty good for my first attempt I think. A few things I would change next time, but then again owl was not supposed to be stuffed (was supposed to go over an egg or something, but I am not sure why you need to put a cozy on an egg......) I think the outer eye piece needs to be a little smaller to make up for the stuffing. He is still cute and I like him (though Raymond maintains it is a boy and thinks I am silly for wanting lots of cute things to make!)

So we just got back from PA from a fun filled roller derby weekend! Roller derby nationals were in Philly so it was nice to see my family and go to derby. We got in really early on Thursday morning and had all day Thursday to visit with my mom. We went to dinner with my grandfather and aunt and uncle which was really nice (I usually don't get to see my aunt and uncle when I am in town as our schedules usually don't coincide so it was nice). Then on Friday I worked some in the morning and then headed down to Philly for the roller derby! We stopped and got some vegan cheese steak sandwiches which were super yummy - not sure they actually tasted like cheese steak, or not what I remember it tasting like, but super duper yummy! So we get to the convention center and get good seats (it was odd you walk in on one end of the track - and on the opposite end there were like no people! It was like everyone walked in and stopped - so all weekend we got awesome seats on the far side! All day Sat we sat track side and Raymond even got a roller girl that fell into him! Win!). There were 4 bouts on Fri and they actually did pretty well on time, though they started a half hour late. First up was Madison vs Boston - I think we've seen Boston before, but not really sure. Neither team was amazing, but they were very evenly matched so it was fun to watch. Then we had Rocky Mountain vs Houston which was good - I think Houston did well against them (Rocky Mountain was pretty good!). Kansas City vs Denver was next and man Denver has a completely different strategy from any of the other teams and it messed a lot of the teams up all weekend. They skate really slow and control the pack that way and most of the teams couldn't figure out how to deal with it. They would just end up skating far out in front trying to stop the jammer and having to let the jammer go because of the split pack. It was interesting, though no one really liked Denver and they way they played. There was a lot of boo-ing because they would literally stop on the track! Which I agree should be a rule - no intentionally stopping while in play. They also would skate backwards which wasn't cool - there is a rule that if someone knocks yu out of bounds you have to come back in behind that person - so they would knock someone out and then skate backwards so they had to come in farther back - that got a lot of boo's and Raymond and I agree that should not be aloud either. The last bout of the day was Gotham vs Detroit - I had never seen Detroit before, but knew Gotham was really good (they won last year). Even though Detroit didn't win (and I believe lost by a good amount) they played really well against Gotham - they just weren't able to score points. I really think next year Detroit could come together and be a top team!

Then we drove back home and got home super late. After sleeping we got up, ate breakfast and headed back down for a full day of roller derby! We missed the first bout (Texas vs Boston) which was fine by me because I didn't think it would be a very even match, and I needed the sleep :) After that was Philly vs Rocky Mountain - I expected Philly to win as they ere really good last year. They were still good, but Rocky Mountain was amazing! After the first half Raymond said "I think you picked the wrong team" and I concurred - but Philly pulled out all the stops and the bout ended in a tie! Amazing! So they had to do overtime which is just 2 minutes and whoever scores the most points wins - and Rocky Mountain ended up winning it. It was a really good bout!

Next up was Denver vs Chicago and Denver did their slow pack thing again and messed up Chicago - I was surprised because last year Chicago played very well - hopefully they get back up to one of the top teams next year.

Then the last bout before dinner was Olympia vs Gotham - now I have never seen Olympia skate, but they have only been skating as a team since January. So I wasn't sure that they could beat New York as New York is so good. And yes, there are some really good transplants to the Olympia team from Seattle, but they still need to work together as a team well in order to win. The 3 sisters from Seattle were on the team and we knew they were amazing (one is an awesome blocker, the others good blockers and jammers). So the bout starts....and Olympia was AMAZING! They worked so well together as a team it was amazing. I don't think anyone else we have ever seen has worked so well as a team. They were incredible at keeping the other teams jammers from getting through the pack. And they hardly used the sisters as jammers! There were like 2 other girls that jammed most of the time! They were amazing!! And they killed New York! So I was pretty excited, but kind of like I don't know if they will win the next one as they are up against Denver who has tripped up a lot of people.

So we went t dinner at Mi Lah which was amazing! So so so so good! At way too much food, but it was worth it! We got back a little late and only saw the second half of the Texas vs Rocky Mountain bout - Texas won. Then the last bout of the night was Oly vs Denver - and Oly killed them! They made Denver skate fast, and knew how to deal with the slow skating. They were really good at not letting the jammer through again, and getting their jammer through. Their jammers were amazing. People would try and knock them out and they would just skate right inside the line and skate faster and get by them. It was incredible to watch. So that meant Olympia was in the finals!

So we went home, got home late again, and got up early to visit with my grandfather and mom since we were staying in Philly Sun night since our flight back left really early. So we had a nice visit, and went to the last day of derby. The first bout was the runner up bout between Rocky Mountain and Denver - Denver won, and the Denver fans were getting angry that no one liked their teams tactics. Oh well. The night before everyone was rooting for Olympia who was not from Denver because no one liked them! But they came in 3rd so oh well.

Then the last bout - the championship bout Texas vs Olympia! And Olympia did not fail - they kept up with their incredible team work, not letting the other jammer through, and not getting knocked out of bounds. It really was incredible to watch. The best derby I think I have ever seen (and I thought last year was amazing!). I am so excited! We are definitely going to be road tripping it down to Olympia for their bouts next season! Absolutely amazing - and they only have 14 players on their all star team - most other teams have 20. So everyone is skating way more than the other teams, and they do not seem to get tired at all. The jammer would skate 2 jams in a row and skate super fast the entire time! A lot of times by the end of the hour you can tell the players are getting tired - not Olympia. Really I was blown away (if you couldn't tell :) On the plane home was one girl from Olympia and I was telling her how awesome they did! I cannot wait for next years national tournament! Hopefully it is someplace fun :) The derby just keeps getting better and better!

While we were there the last day we were sitting next to some Texas fans - they were new roller girls for Texas. The one girl was super nice - and we got to talking. She was asking if I played and I said no. Really I just don't want to play - I LOVE to watch, but I just don't want to play. I don't think that I would have actually stuck with it even if the practices were not all the time. But it sure is fun to watch!!

So I was going to start playing roller derby here - there is a bank track team starting up and most of the people who have joined have never played before/not skated in forever (if they have) and they were totally willing to teach you to skate and play derby. So I thought yey! Roller derby for Jen....until I got the practice calendar. They just added Sat evening and Sunday morning as well as a few other days....but that is like my weekend! I am so not willing to give up my Saturday nights, so no go on the derby. WAY too much time for me right now. And I want a break from having things I have to do. For like the past 3 years it has been something. First planning the pct, then hiking the pct, then as soon as we got back it was find a job and plan the wedding, then got married, honeymoon in New Zealand (which still required a lot of planning while we were there to make sure we got in everything we wanted to) and then back and I got super sick for like 10 days. And so I decided I wanted a break - no more I have to do this so I can do whatever in a few months - it would be nice to relax some. And I can still go to the bouts :)

In other derby news - We are going back to PA for roller derby nationals in Philly Nov 12-16 (nationals are the 13-15). I am excited!! I get to see my family for a little bit, and see a TON of amazing derby action! Last year we went to nationals as it was in Portland, OR and it pretty much ruined the Seattle team for me. Nationals showed me how amazing it can be, and how not so good the Seattle team is now. So I am pretty excited. If anyone is in the area you should totally check it out! It is like 2-10 Friday, 10-10 Sat, and like 2-5 Sun. So if you can go you should! It is seriously the best sport ever!!! I've been looking forward to this all year! Oh how I love roller derby....and I am looking forward to exploring the vegan foods Philly has to offer! When I lived in PA I wasn't vegan, so I am pretty excited. I have already started compiling the list of places we will eat.....


Today at work my supervisor told us she put in her notice. Honestly, I understand why - she and my boss do not get a long AT ALL. But at the same time, I really liked her and now we get someone new (once they find them). Hopefully the new person is just as good...we shall see. I seem to not like a lot of people - I didn't like her when she first started, but then she mellowed out and became cool. And we have a new girl on our team who I cannot really stand. She is 20-something - okay I just looked it up (she tried friending me on Facebook and I haven't responded) and she is a year older than me!?! She acts like she is 12 and I was sure she had to be like 22, 23 something like that. I....I don't know how this is possible! Seriously she acts sooooo young.....weird. Anyways she is super lame and doesn't really do that good of a job, but everyone keeps saying how awesome she is doing. My accounts (I'm in A/R really the cash apps person, but also had collections for our San Francisco office) were always really good and I loved the manager in San Francisco - but now they are becoming a mess! Things are aging out really far on accounts that in the almost year that I had them have never had a problem with! It makes me sad as they were my accounts...I cannot help but be a little attached. And she whines all the time. And seems like she is 12 - I really cannot stand that. Man I cannot believe she is older than me.....

Alright off to dinner!

If anyone wants to watch our Batman wedding here you go! It was amazing!!




And our first dance:

Woah like 2 posts within a month! Craziness! So things are going pretty good. I got approval at work to go back to PA in the beginning of Nov for roller derby nationals! I am sooooo excited! I was a little worried as I am taking basically all of Sept to go to New Zealand for my honeymoon, so I thought it might be too close to that, but they said okay! They are in Philadelphia which should be fun. I hear they have a ton of awesome vegan restaurants we can try out. And we shall see a ton of amazing roller derby! You should all come if you are in the area - I promise it will be the best roller derby ever! (seriously it is hard to watch the local team now as they really aren't that good and we saw last year at nationals how amazing it can be - I really don't think we will even make it to nationals this year). And the added bonus of being able to see my family. My grandfather is not going to be able to make it out for the wedding, so it will be nice to be able to see him soon afterwards :) Though we won't have that much time in Lancaster.

The wedding invitations went out last week and everyone loves them! So thanks Suzi! You are the best and did an amazing job! They are awesome! And we got our first reply card back which I was super excited about! It is coming up quick and I cannot wait!!

Let's see....what else....the one lady quit at work (to go to law school) and so we have had to pick up her things. She didn't keep her accounts in very good order....but I will fix that :) So it is actually pretty busy so far.

I guess that is all for now.

SO I realized today that I like never update this. The last time I posted was like 3 months ago....so I thought maybe an update was in order.

I have been crazy busy planning the wedding and it is going really well - besides Raymond's mom being lame a few month ago, and a little hiccup with the caterers - I was trying to make the menu completely vegan and so I was talking to them about if this would be possible and options. The lady we originally worked with was no longer at the company and I got some assistant person helping me. Our menu was completely vegetarian and it was not going to be a huge change. So this lady sent some recommendations, one being to change the bread and butter to bread and meats (like salami). I replied how why would I want to make the menu less vegetarian while trying to make it more vegan? That does not make sense to me at all. And I want absolutely no meat there, but like the butter is fine I just won't eat it - I mean Raymond is not vegan so I can deal....and she replied how I should really consider having some meat for those people who are not vegan. I was livid. I get enough ridiculous comments on how you NEED meat as it is, I would thank you for not being all you have to do it! for MY wedding. I will do what I want! But then we went down and met with the actually lady handling out wedding and she was soooooo much better. So accommodating and gave us lots of options and is great. Just okay you want all vegan let's do it! So it is good now. And my mom was freaking out about making it all vegan as then no one would eat the food...but once she saw the small changes she was actually okay with it! Win!

I met with the lady who is making my costume yesterday and I am very excited! It is going to be good!! She had a mask for me to try on, and some sample ears to see what shape I liked, and a few belt buckles to choose from. It will be awesome!

And I found a band to play! I didn't think I was going to be able to, as they are all very expensive, or not very good, but I found one in my price range! And they are really good, and play a lot of the big lindy events in Seattle so I am psyked. And I have the dance instructor all lined up and she is very nice (and probably going to dress in costume as well!), so hopefully people will actually dance (or at least enjoy the music).

And Suzi Eller sent/is sending me all of my invites this week which I am super excited about. They look great and it is going to be awesome. She is the bestest for making them for me!

So now it is just to find/put together the centerpieces (my mom is driving me slightly insane about this. I want these tall vases to put branches in as that is what is going to decorate the inside of the barn - the people there have tons of these curly willow branches I think they are that they would just get rid of so we are free to use them - and then decorate the vases with a different batman villain and have small votive candles around the base. And it will look nice. Well my mom is on the hunt for vases now! She keeps sending me pictures of different ones...when really I was just going to go to the thrift store and get cheap ones that might be similar, but different for a kind of mish mash that hopefully works :) Then we still need to get Raymond's costume, find someone to play the Joker in our fight during the ceremony, and finalize the wording for the ceremony itself. And I think that is it! It is definitely coming together so that is good!!

Let's see...what else. In April we went down to CA for the pct kick-off which was awesome. We saw a lot of people we hiked with last year, and met some southbounders. We talked and played cards with them a lot and they were super nice. And I think they are going to be in Seattle here in a week or two so hopefully they call us up and we can hang out! And we decided that we are going to Southbound the PCT in 2012. It will be amazing! And then maybe move somewhere after that (because why not? We won't have jobs and can get rid of our apartment and will be all ready to go!)

Oh and I am super excited because the roller derby season in New Zealand is August-November so we will hopefully be able to catch a bout while we are there!!! I am soooooo excited about that! I am excited to see how good the New Zealand girls are! And we are hoping to couchsurf the whole time we are not camping so I am also excited about that. I love the idea of staying with the local people and then they can show us around/let us know where we should actually go and not all the touristy awfulness. And speaking of couchsurfing we are going to be having 3 people stay with us this weekend! I am excited! We had stayed with them in Portland when we went down for a weekend, so I am happy to be able to return the favor! It should be good times.

I think that is about all the excitement for now. Time to go get ready for dancing!!

This week has been kind of weird. First I had this interview on Mon and the guy asked me like 2 questions, one of which was had I ever taken an accounting class. I said no and his reply made it seem like well then there is no way I was going to get the job. So then on Tues they call me up and want me to come in for a second interview. Okay. Odd. So I do and they do not really ask me any questions then either. Okay. So they said they would make a decision by tomorrow. I get a call from them today. A message as I didn't answer as I was busy. Just a message to call them back. Odd. I think they might offer me the job......Okay. But I already accepted a different one which I am more excited about (though if they would offer me a ton of money I would be willing to re-consider ;) So I have to call the first place back tomorrow and see.

Then I told my mom about the batman wedding. And she was totally cool with it...it kind of freaked me out. I mean....everyone who knows my mom was expecting more of an ordeal. I sure was. I was expecting at least a little resistance. None what so ever. Which is good.....but odd and freakin me out. And she knows exactly what she wants to wear to it. Awesome. And apparently she was talking to my grandfather about it and he wants to come as the joker. what?!? My grandfather I didn't know that he would like it as he is kind of more serious then the rest of my family. Still awesome but i don't know. So the whole thing is freakin me out. I expected some resistance.....

Then today who do I talk to on im? Erin freakin Farrell! What?!?! It has been at least 5 years since I last talked to her. At her wedding. And she has 1 kid, soon to be having another. What? She wants to try and keep in touch now. What?!? It freaked me out. I immediately called Suzi Eller afterwards as it freaked me out a little. Odd. An odd odd week thus far. I wonder what tomorrow shall hold in store....

So we made it back from the trail alive and well (though we only made it 2400 miles to Seattle...we shall do the rest next year hopefully). It was absolutely amazing! But there is more of that on the blog. And the pictures will be up soon. It really was gorgeous. So now that I am back in town I am looking for a job (and have hopefully found one...I am waiting to find out). Nothing too exciting.

We did come back in town just in time for....Urban Golf!!! (oh and Thor did you know they have urban golf in Chicago? The one girl on our team this time just moved from there and she was a coordinator. You should totally check it out as it is amazing!!). So this one was a lot of fun as the past one have been, though I think we played way less holes and made it to way less places than we have in the past. But that is okay. we actually had a really good team and we stuck together till we were forced to separate. Which is actually cool since sometimes you just kind of split up and that is fine as well. So we were the first team to tee off. We had a team of 4 hacker guys, Tim, Johny (with an h), George, Dave, and 2 people who just moved here to go to the UW, Justin and Jen. Rachel also came along and so it was a pretty good team. Very friendly and talkative. And we kind of hung out at the first bar for a bit and continued on. Well it quickly got to the point of drunkenness and it was a lot of fun. I was talking with Johny and he is living in VA right now (kinda near you I think Suzi...or at least somewhere in Fairfax County) and we were talking about how he is thinking of moving out here in Jan when his gov contract is up (which would be awesome). But we were at the one hole and I was telling him how we are urban golf friends with this hacker guy who is awesome, Dan, but I was sad that he wasn't there this time. Well I turn around and who is there? Dan. It was awesome! Dan had just flown in from NYC for Urban Golf!! So we were all hanging out and such and we left this one bar and go to the next hole and these cops had just shown up. They were being lame and took my id (I gave it to them, but I do not remember why). Well Raymond didn't give him his, and the organizer asked that anyone who still had their id to go around the corner or something so there weren't as many people to make things confusing. So Raymond went on to the next bar with Justin and I hung out with the hacker guys and just was chillin there as I didn't really care. I mean what were they going to do? I did not have a club or anything, though I was dressed in plaid and such. But whatever. So Rachel called me like where are you? i told her with the cops, but I would call her when I got my id back (I didn't talk to the cops at all).

Well I finally got my id and me and Johny went to find Raymond and Justin and I was trying to call Rachel....and she never answered her phone. I was pissed (and still kind of am). I mean she is supposed to be my friend. I do not expect her to sit there with me (as Johny said someone would need to stay out of it to bail you out if need be), but at least answer your f'in phone when I try and call you after that. Really if I were more sober I may have worried a bit more about the cops, and probably would have been more freaked out by the whole thing. If I was I expect my f'in 'friend' to answer her phone when I call in case I needed help. I mean if it were reversed I would have my phone on my and answer it (or call if it was taking a long long time to make sure everything was okay) as I would be worried. Apparently Rachel doesn't care.....so I am kind of not happy with her. And she was hinting when we went out with Laura and her on Friday about being in the wedding party. We haven't actually figured out who was going to be in the wedding party yet, but there is no f'in way my 'friend' who would leave me to fend for myself is going to be in it.....and apparently not even care about it. Have I heard from her since? Nope. I did leave her a drunk where the fuck are you?!?! message though...Oh well.

So after that we tried to go in the last bar and well....there was a $7 cover. I do not pay covers as I refuse to pay to pay for drinks. Now if there was a band or something okay.....but not to just drink. So then there was this whole Johny wanted Rachels hat cause he gave me his cause he said it looked better on me (and I do actually like it and should start wearing it as I kind of accidentally stole it-I wasn't wearing it when we parted ways and now he is in VA) so we went to try and call Brandon Stanley (whom Rachel lives with) to try and get up to their place. Well he wasn't answering either. So we were walking home and ran into some more of our team and then they were gone and everyone was leaving. So Raymond and I walked home, and then Johny writes me. Apparently he got dragged down to a pho place, but all of his friends were going home and it was only 10. So he came over this aways and we went down to the Quarterlounge and had drinks and talked and hung out till after closing at 2am. I think that is the first time we have been out drinking till close here in Seattle. Most of our friends go home really early.

So it was actually a lot of fun. Johny seems pretty cool so that would be awesome if he moved out here with his wife and then we could have some more friends. And he is vegetarian. That would be our first friend who lives here who is veggie like us! Not that my other friends are not veggie friendly, they are very accommodating and cool with it (we wouldn't be friends if they weren't). So yeah hopefully new urban golf friend. Just like how we became friends with Matt after the second urban golf. And Matt is tied up with Ginger all the time and her friends so.....like we have seen him once for like 10 minutes since we have been home (besides the 2 minutes when we picked up our keys)......we were gone for 5 months...and have been home for 4 weeks...and we get 10 minutes of his time. Which is fine, he has Gingers friends to hang out with now. But it still kind of upsets me a little. We haven't seen him in 5 months, he comes over to drop off our extra boxes he had, and Ginger is calling every 2 seconds for him to come home for dinner. Thanks for hanging out with us.....it is good to see you too. I guess he is supposed to come to the Zombie walk this weekend (though I do kind of doubt how long he will be there for if Ginger doesn't come) Oh well.....hopefully we made a new urban golf friend!!! Who knows the hacker guys who like to party! And Zombie Walk is this weekend! And if I get this new job, Conor Oberst concert also!!! And in 3 weeks Roller Derby Nationals!!! I am quite excited about that. So yeah, we have been keeping busy and it is good.

I have the tv on in the background....and there is a holiday gift show this weekend!!!!! That is BEFORE Halloween!!!!! I DO NOT approve!!!! I wish there would be no Christmas/holiday talk till after Thanksgiving. Oh well. I still refuse to purchase anything for Christmas till after Thanksgiving. Alright I suppose that is all for now.....

SO in a few hours Phillip and Dana will be driving us down to the start of the trail! I am sooo excited! Hopefully we will not be back till September!!

So Raymond got me an xbox 360 for Christmas cause he loves me so much! With a pink controller! And Viva Pinata! So I of course purchased Rock Band and it came in the mail today!!! I soo love this game! I can play the drums! it is amazing. And me and Raymond made a band and now we are trying to make it big!!! It is amazing. And you can make your own rocker and then you get money and get new clothes and such. It is amazing. We played for like 3 hours tonight (till I got too tired to play anymore...I am exhausted). Seriously, if you are in the area you should come play with us and rock out!!

In other news....I told Laura today about the Pacific Crest. I was planning on waiting 2 weeks and then telling her and I was quite nervous. Today I got Rock Band at work and it is a big box and she said she would give me a ride home so I did not have to lug it up the hill. So we get in her car and she said we have to have a heart to heart. At what point do you want me to tell you if I am going to get another job? And I was just like you are leaving? And she said yeah she is looking for a new job as she is pretty miserable here, and so I said well then I should tell you that in April Raymond and I are hiking the Pacific Crest. I think next week I will put in my notice or something so they can start trying to find someone else. Laura was all why would you want to do that? You have an amazing job now...I was just like yeah, but this is something I have to do. She doesn't do physical actuvuty really, and doesn't go hiking and such and well....if someone doesn't understand why we want to do this I really cannot explain it to them. It will be amazing, even if we do not manage to finish it. Whatever time we are out there will be the best ever! I know it will be. And it will be hard, and there will be bad days, but man when I look back upon it I know I will be soo glad I did it. And Laura was all how old are you? 27? You have your whole life ahead of you! And really yes, hopefully I do, but there is a ton of stuff I want to try and cram into that. More around, live in other countries and places, and experience as much as I can. I am really not a stay in one place forever kind of person. Really I am not. I am about ready to move on from Seattle and try out something new. And also I am not liking my job anymore, which would mean tiem to move on. Honestly if I was not doing the pacific crest this year, I would probably be looking for another job right now. My thing with jobs is....as long as I do not hate it. And I got to bed all....ugh I have to go to work tomorrow. I do not like that. And I know every job will get like that sometimes, but everything that is going on at work....I really do not like it. Before Christmas I seriously almost walked out. When I get to my breaking point at least once every month it is time for something new. The only reason I am still there is because of Pacific Crest. I am so freakin excited about that!!!

So yeah, I was way stressed about telling Laura, but it worked out well. She will probably be there longer, but there is no way I want to be there if she leaves. Like she said, the shareholders would expect a lot of me and I would have to take on a lot, which I do not want. it would be all the a/r stuff which I do enough of now and dislike greatly.

In other news still....my friend Rachel is going to go to My Little Pony with me next Wed!!!! I am sooo excited!! It is going to be frekain amazing. To see what I am so excited about you should all go here: http://www.hasbro.com/mylittlepony/default.cfm?page=calendar and watch the preview movie. The ponies are sooo creepy looking!!! It is going to be amazing. And the night before my birthday, which is nice since it is a Wed and I am taking Thurs and Fri off!! Me and Raymond are going to go somewhere (I am thinking Bellingham as we can stay at the most amazing bed and breakfast and have fun times, but Raymond wants Victoria. The problem is i still haven't gotten my passport so...I thought wait till Feb for Victoria).

Oh and on the subject of pacific crest from earlier...here is my pct journal: http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?event_id=168 There is not much on it right now, but that is where I will be updating once we start in April. i write only once and a while now, though I do use it to keep track of my training miles. So if anyone wants to keep up with what we are doing to prepare, or once we are on the go, that would be the place. Alright I think now that I got everything out I may actually be able to sleep now....

SO I haven't talked to or had any contact with Wade since either the end of Jan or beginning of Feb this year (I remember it was prior to Valentine's Day as he was talking about what movie he was going to take Laura to for Valentine's). And really a few months ago I kind of realized that yeah we are not really friends anymore. And I got over it, but now that it is past Christmas...well it just makes me a little sad. I was listening to Raymond's Christmas song that he made last year with the lyrics Wade wrote and that we gave to Wade for Christmas...and I haven't heard anything from him in almost a year. We were such good friends....sometimes I think about all the good time we had, and cannot believe we are not friends anymore. Seriously if I would have said who would be my friend forever, it would have been Wade. And I figured when I got married Wade would be there by my side to support me and just be there for me. I suppose I got that one all wrong. Sometimes I just cannot believe that he suddenly stopped caring (or maybe he never really cared in the first place?). I don't really know what the point of this is, but since it is the holiday season I was thinking about it more than I normally do. Oh well...I have plenty of other friends who care about me.

So we got snow today!! Snow on Christmas!! I was super excited. And Raymond got me an x-box 360 with Viva Pinata and my own pink controller! So now I can get rock band! I am super excited! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!


Raymond wiping off the car windows before his dad drove us home. Yey snow!