Summer is really over...

Sunday night, CJ and I had dinner at his parent's house. I like to go because my family is now very far away, so I'll take whatever family time I can get. They really are wonderful people and I enjoy the big family vibe they give off. CJ managed to mention that we are pretty much furniture-less, so they opened their basement storage to us. Our apartment now has two chairs, as they had an extra computer chair. They also had an old drafting table/desk. It's probably a children's desk, and the surface is like soft sandpaper, but it's better than the floor.

I've been home all day while CJ has been at work. Most of that day has been spent in front of the computer, and my back started to complain eventually. So I turned the computer off and moved everything to the desk. My back is much happier now.

Today, I have been thinking about how weird it is to not be in school right now. Maybe if I had a real job and felt like I was getting somewhere in life, it would feel less odd....but working part time as a barista is something I would have done in college. And I am not in college. I actually graduated!

I think the other thing is that, since I was 5 years old, I have associated FALL with SCHOOL. Maybe it's only an SAT comparison to you, but for the last 19 years, I have gone to school every fall. Last year was slightly different, as all my classes were online, but still. I took classes. I read books and took tests. There were textbooks involved. There are no textbooks now, nor tests. And it just feels...strange. Like I'm missing something. It's disquieting.

It's also frustrating to realize that I have spent the last 19 years of my life doing very little other than school. I am not casting any doubt on the value of a good education, but does it really have to take that LONG? Seriously. Yes, learning is a life long endeavor, but we really don't live to be that old. If I am in school for a quarter (or more!) of my life, is it really worthwhile? I mean, as far as being a functioning member of society? Like, it takes 20 years of prep for me to get to the point where I can be a member of the working class, but then you only get another 40 years out of me. Is that enough of a payback?

I'm not saying I would have done it any differently. As you can tell by my nostalgia for tests, I LIKE school. I'm just saying, as far as efficiency goes, is it really worth it?



Anywho, I've just been a bit too bored lately. A lot of tv watching and not much else. I am just really bored right now. I spent several hours this morning looking for jobs online and ended up applying to a bunch of random stuff. Nothing really all that interesting. Some clinical research stuff at John Hopkins and Georgetown, a part time position at a Nature Center. I feel I have kind of exhausted the potential jobs that I am eligible for through usajobs.gov so I have had to move on to other search engines. It takes more time tracking down a job that I am qualified for, than anything else.

I just want to have a way to spend my time. That pretty much means a job, a real one. And a car for CJ. Neither of those things has come to fruition yet. Part time barista work is only going to go so far. It won't pay all the bills....and I'd like to actually be saving money since there is a wedding in my future. If I had a two-year plan, it'd be on it.

Cross Country Recap

So, I know I didn't really mention the cross country trip at all in my last post. That might be because it wasn't a super exciting trip. We mostly just drove. I stopped briefly in Reno the day we left Oregon, but found a lot of casinos had closed in the downtown area. After that disappointment, we hoped back in the car and continued to drive to Winnemucca, NV. The next night was spent in Laramie, WY which was actually a pretty cute town. After that it was a night in Nebraska, a night in Iowa and then two nights in Columbus and on to Maryland.

As you can see from the pictures, the most exciting thing we did was drive.
























Maybe driving wasn't the most exciting part...maybe it was the tire blowout in Nebraska. Or not.


That's our trip in a nutshell. I recommend driving !-80 to anyone in a hurry to get cross country. If you want to actually see exciting things, I recommend taking another route. Cornfields are not that exciting.

Finally!

So here it is. My first Maryland blog. Today was the day we finally got internet at our new apartment. We've actually been here for two weeks. I can't believe it's been four weeks since we left Oregon. A whole month has gone by.

What do I have to show for it?

Well... here are some pictures!


At a park we visited in Columbus, OH. I was really amused by the sign. It may just be that it's never really cold enough to warrant a sign like this back home....


My wonderful fiance in front of the pond that the sign was referring to.


The bedroom in the new place, before the bed was set up. It's a huge bedroom with lots of closet space. I love it!


We are on the first floor so we've got these great sliding glass doors that lead out to the back yard of the apartment complex.


A view of our living room under construction. It doesn't look all that different now...but that's mostly because we don't really have any furniture yet.



So, what exactly have I been doing with myself?? How about a few more pictures?


Me at the Maryland Renaissance Festival this past weekend. Ariana loaned me her 'garb' so I was properly dressed for the occasion.


Ariana astride a toy horse on a COSTCO adventure. I love this picture.


Aside from that, I've mostly been spending my time at home, watching the various tv shows I have downloaded on my computer. Getting the internet today was awesome because I got to catch up on all the shows I have been missing out on without internet or cable for the last four weeks!

I also just started a new job. It's nothing too fancy, but it gets me out of the house....I was so bored for awhile. I am working at the Border's cafe in the Annapolis Mall. This is mostly just a temporary, seasonal position. I figured it is going to take awhile to get a 'real' job, so I might as well do something in the meantime. Since I have mostly been looking at government jobs, it may take several months to find something. Frankly, I don't want to lack a paycheck for that long. So I have a temporary job, while I continue to look. The cafe isn't too bad. I've started the training process, which involved sampling every drink they make. I was all kinds of coffeed out yesterday after work. It was kind of awesome.

We also went to yet another wedding, here in Maryland. So many weddings! It's crazy, but I think of it as research. It's a great way to see first-hand what I like and what I don't like. CJ and I still don't have a date yet, but we are still waiting to find out his graduation date and we'll go from there.

Anywho, it's about time for bed. I have work tomorrow!!

Cupcake Cake!

This weekend, I took a few days off of work and headed over to Bend to visit Annie. Saturday was her engagement party, so I helped her do some cleaning in order to prepare for the party. I also spent most of Friday baking, as I was making her cake for the party. Well, actually, cupcake cake. I had made my design based on her color scheme and we came up with the idea for a series of cupcakes made to look like a bouquet of flowers.



As there were several people there who were a specific type of vegetarian who don't eat eggs, I also had to make separate began cupcakes. The cupcakes with leaves on them, were the vegan ones, while the rest were just regular cupcakes. They were all spice cake, with cream cheese frosting. The flowers were all molded (by hand, I might add!) white chocolate.



All in all, it was a lot of work, but a fun party. I definitely didn't work that hard for my graduation party, but that was a daytime BBQ. Night time events are traditionally more fancy...but still. CJ and I aren't even planning on having an engagement party, so...

Now that it's Monday, it's back to work. I have this week and next week and then I am done at PISCO. I am glad to be able to work through mid-September. This way I actually get almost a full paycheck at the end of September. My goal is to have a job by the beginning of October, but I am not sure that will happen.

I have been doing a lot of on-line applications for jobs, but I don't know how effective they will really be. As a recent graduate, I don't feel like I am very hire-able for most of the positions I am finding in scientific fields. Honestly, the point of not going to school for the next year or so is to gain real world experience IN MY FIELD. Getting a mall job is not the job experience I am looking for. I've pretty much given up on normal job search websites for my particular field, or any scientific field in general. I've been mostly focusing on looking at individual organization's websites, and the government job page, usajobs.gov.

It doesn't feel like things are coming to a close here in Corvallis, but they are. CJ and I are leaving Oregon in exactly two weeks. Ugh. That makes me feel like I should go get more things done, like packing and putting up furniture on Craigslist, and working and oh god....

Summer Pie

CJ had Tuesday off, so I managed to cut out of lab a bit early. We ran some errands and got some u-pick blueberries. I had been wanting to get some blackberries, as it is the season for them, but I am not sure where to pick them here in Corvallis. There's some down by the park we live near, but I have no idea if they spray them or not. Even if they don't, there's plenty of dogs and homeless people to make you wary of the healthiness of that fruit.

Even so, you can't help but walk into the clouds of fruity perfume those vines let off and not be tempted to eat a berry or two...



But I had to settle for frozen blackberries and fresh blueberries instead. Oh well.

Beth, my co-worker for the summer, had mentioned awhile back that she wanted to learn how to make pie. I offered to let her come watch when I made some, so I finally called her over and set to work. I ended up making a blackberry peach and a blueberry peach pie.



The blackberry pie, as you can see, is going quickly. I only made these Thursday night!



That's the blueberry pie, which has yet to be touched. It's only CJ and I right now though. Ben is coming home from Philly tonight, and his sister Liz will be here sometime before he gets back. I imagine we'll all be eating pie tonight.



I've been working on finishing up my last few art pieces for my independent study. I am working on beadwork projects, done onto a screen printed background.



The first one I finished is a daffodil. I'm mildly pleased with it.



This one is the original design, which is a camas flower. I'm not super happy with it, as the coloring seems more sporadic than I intended it to be. I actually like the photo of it better than I like the actual piece. Since I decided I didn't like the attempt at shading in this one, I've started another. I simply need to finish that one, finish the original sketches for the design work, write an artist statement and I'm done. I should have a degree or two shortly!

Hooray!

Zucchini!

On Friday, when we returned from the Coastal Transect, after 11 hours of work, someone had left some GINORMOUS squash on the conference table in the lab. I snagged the world's largest zucchini with thoughts of zucchini bread flitting through my head.

3 loaves later and I've still got more zucchini. It's turned out pretty fabulous too and there's only a little of the last loaf left.

With Ben off in Philly, Brian down in Southern Oregon for the weekend, and CJ at work for 8 hours Saturday, I headed over to Newport to visit Mandy and John. John is a friend from Erik's crew o' pals, and Mandy is a good friend of Will's. I spent a fair amount of time with them and Mandy had asked me to be a bridesmaid at their wedding, when they got engaged about 2 years ago. Well, the wedding is in September, so with a little over a month away, I went to go figure out the details of the wedding and my role in. Also, I got to pick up my dress for the affair. It'll be a beach wedding, so barefoot is a footwear option. The dress is "platinum", but it's more of a steel grey. I actually quite like it. Also, it's a two piece set, so it's a top and skirt, not really a dress.

I'm excited for the wedding because lots of the ol' crew will be there. Plus, CJ and I will be leaving shortly thereafter...as in like the next day possibly, for Maryland. I am not sure how far in to September my current job will go, so as soon as it's done, and as soon as the wedding is over, I'm ready to head out.

We've been working on our itinerary, which includes a day at Lake Tahoe, a possible stop in Columbus, OH to visit friends of CJ's, and then Maryland!

Anyway, I should probably be doing something productive...but it probably wont' happen.

Engaged!

Friday, CJ and I headed up to Crater Lake. I figured that we could take some time off from our respective jobs to go explore. Since, CJ is from Maryland he hasn't experienced the wonders of Oregon yet.

We took a hike, climbed a big ass hill, and at the top, CJ asked me to marry him.



The view.



CJ and I on the way to Crater Lake, at the Rogue River Gorge in Union Creek.



After Crater Lake Friday, we floated the Rogue River Saturday and then headed to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival that night to watch Equivocation. It was pretty fabulous, as all OSF productions are.

A fun-filled weekend was had by all, including the parentals and sismiester. Even the hot tub frogs had a good time! Yeah...my parents hottub has been out of use for awhile and it has apparently turned into froggie playland. The frogs were relocated to the creek and the villagers rejoiced.

Sunday was back to Corvallis and with work looming over all our heads, we made merry with the wine.

Work came and woke me out of my summer vacation dreams and wishes, and I have spent most of the last two days looking through a microscope at microscopic floatsam, with the eventual mussel thrown in for good measure. Ooo, check out those eyespots!

Tomorrow, I am up at 3:20am to make the 4:00am departure. Off to Boiler Bay I go, to check out the high zone and the mid zone. Oh goodie, more mussels! Thursday, we are heading out with a different lab group to help them out, as this minus tide is not so good for what I do. Friday, is our Coastal Transect, which means water samples! I will be heading down to 3 of the more Southern sites. This means a 3 hour drive, first thing in the morning. Hey, I get paid for all 6 hours of that drive time, plus the work we do in between, so I can't complain too much. That will be the day I drink 8 cups of coffee. Hooray for caffeine! I suppose I could just drink some mate, but it doesn't give the same kick that coffee does.

Anywho, enjoy the pics and I am off!