A Bit of "Yay!" and a lot of "Oh..."

   So after I got my new/old car I began thinking of all the things I wanted to do to it. I got new floor mats, I washed and waxed the car and I also got some cute little things for the inside: owl shaped air freshener, new pedal covers etc. One thing that I couldn't do right away however was de-fog the headlights. In my opinion, the headlights on the car are what make it look new, or super old and my headlights were all yellow and fogged over-- therefore looking old. A while back, Kristopher felt the same way about the headlights on his car so he found a way to clean them up! It takes a while but man is it worth it so being a wonderful boyfriend that he is, he cleaned mine for me! Here are the before and after photos:

Before:

After:

 My Raspberry looks like new!

So now all that the Raspberry needs is some paint touch ups here and then and then I will be happy. That will have to wait however because my school funding fears have come true. I will not be fully covered for school anymore but thankfully, the amount I will owe each quarter is not too bad. The worst part is, I won't be receiving a financial aid refund which usually helps me out quite a lot with bills and other expenses. So I have been looking into scholarships, second jobs and any other way to make up for my funding cut. I will figure it all out somehow, I always do.

  The other bad thing that happened recently (much worse than any problem I have right now) is the Russells- a family I know through Kris, his family have known the Russells forever-- well the Russells' house burned down last week. Everything they know and loved is completely gone. They all are okay thankfully, a neighbor came home from a late shift at her work to discover the house next door was a blaze, she pounded on the door and woke them up, they all got out just moments before the roof caved in. I am just so heartsick that this happened to them. They are some of the nicest people you could ever meet and they would give everything to help you out and now everything they have is burnt to ashes. Kris and I were just house sitting for them a few days before the house burned down, so it is so hard to believe that where we just were, and have been for years now is gone. I just hope that they are able to rebuild their lives quickly so this pain passes quickly. So if everyone can keep them in your thoughts and prayers, I would appreciate it and I know they would too.

  With all that happening I felt a little guilty going camping with Kris' family this weekend. I don't know, just know that close friends are struggling, I feel like I shouldn't be out having a good time, but I know that I am not doing them any good either way. So anyway, Kris and I got to have a short little camping trip in Stillwater cove with his family and his brother in law's family. It was fun and relaxing for such a quick trip. Kris and I rock climbed a bit and got to explore the tide pools. We all sat around the camp fire and laughed, and told stories. I wish we could have stayed longer and escaped the world but sadly, that wasn't a possibility since school was starting for me the next day,. Overall, it was great. There are pictures on my facebook if you want to see.

  So I wish there were more "yay"s' right now than "Oh"s and "Oh No!"s but what can you do.  I hope your days are filled with "yay"s and if they aren't, fill them up!

My Raspberry!

So, two days ago, after I wrote my last blog-- I was freaking out about life and car issues. I felt desperate to find something, anything to put these tensions at ease! So I began my search for a car yet again, pulling up every post that seemed even slightly legitimate. After about an hour, I was going to give up but for poops and giggles-- clicked on just one more post. At first I thought this post was a scam because the person posting it said the car was a 5 speed manual (what I wanted) but the picture looked like an automatic, so I almost dismissed it. I took a chance though and looked closer at the picture and found that it was in fact a 5 speed, just with an odd looking shifter handle. I read all the details of the post-- the guy had replaced all the necessary things: filters, brakes, belts etc. just to sell it. The year was a lot newer (2005) than I was originally looking at because my budget was too low. That leads me to the next plus was that the car was well within my budget. I decided I would text the guy first and see if I should take this post seriously. He texted me back with everything I wanted to hear basically, so I called him. Turns out the guy is a auto serviceman for a auto dealership so he had taken immaculate care of the car! He proved he was who he said he was by showing me the dealer's website and his name and photo under the "Our servicemen" section. I thought "Well, it seems worth a look!" so I asked if we could set up a test drive, but then I found that the guy lives 2 hours away! I was going to lose hope but then he offered to meet me half way-- another good sign because that means the car can drive at least that far! 

So yesterday, Kris and I drove out to Davis to meet the man; between us we had two detailed lists of things to check and a game plan of how this inspection would go down. We got to the place and met Leroy (the seller) and he was very nice and very passionate about his cars! He showed us everything, answered all our questions and was thrilled that we were as paranoid about the details as he was. We came to find out that he has done a lot more good things to the car than we even realized-- flushed all the fluids and replaced them recently, drove with seat covers 24/7 to maintain the look and quality of the interior. He threw in a extra clutch kit, a real spare tire and a roadside safety kit just in case I would ever need it-- all for free! This guy was just the base case scenario for any used car transaction. There were some paint things here and there-- a scratch, some worn spots on the bumper-- but barely noticeable. I care more about the way it runs than the outside anyway-- which brings me to the test drive, the thing is quick! I took it down a back road and gunned it, then smashed on the brakes and it stopped super quick. It shifts very smooth and even when we purposely stalled it, it stalled right away which means the clutch is clean. Everything about this car-- from its immaculate  care to all the extras and the way it drives was just as good as I could hope for. So Kris and I stepped away for a bit to discuss it. He is usually pretty skeptical of everything and everyone he doesn't know-- he kind of is a worse case scenario person but even he was saying the car seemed really good. I was trying so hard to find something wrong with it but I just really couldn't. So then Kris asked me "Is this something you are willing to buy?" and before I could even realize what I was saying I said "Yes!".  We were able to get the guy down another hundred dollars as well which was nice but after a few minutes, I was holding the keys to my brand new-older car!

So let me present to you, my 2005 Kia Spectra aka My Raspberry!

So obviously its not the fanciest car in the world-- its not the coolest and its not the newest  but its mine and therefore its perfect! Out of caution, I am still going to have it fully checked by an auto shop and if they find anything, Leroy (the seller) said I could call him and we could figure something out. I am just excited and so relieved, I feel like 800 tons have just been taken off my shoulders. I really hope that my gut (and Kris' gut) were right about this car because I already love my Raspberry! So, no more sad, stressed out car posts for this gal (hopefully)! Wish me luck with the rest of my stressed now! Thanks for reading!

And Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there and to my Dad! Love you!

Deaf People, Broken Cars and Grades...OH MY!!

I am excited, nervous, stressed, relieved and drained...all at once! The first two adjectives there are referring to my new involvement in some deaf events. For my sign language class, I had to attend a deaf event so that I could experience the culture first hand. I have done this sort of thing before but the environments have been a lot stricter so casual-- fun conversation wasn't as easy. This time around, I managed to get in contact with an ASL interpreter that lives near by and she invited me to attend a deaf coffee night that she established quite a while ago. I was excited that I could finally go meet a group of deaf people in a laid back setting. When I got there, I met Chris (in person for the first time) and she introduced me to some of her deaf/ hard of hearing friends. I got to know several people there : Alan, Juan, Andrew and Joey were a few of the people I spoke with the most. It was a wonderful, hilarious time because they were all just a big group of jokers-- teasing each other and acting like kids. I got there at 7pm and before I knew it, it was almost midnight and we were all still chatting away! When I finally did start to say my goodbyes, Alan invited me to another deaf coffee night for the following week! I was so excited that they not only enjoyed talking (or trying to talk) with me, but they wanted me to join them for another get together! So the next week, I went and met a whole slew of new people and this time around-- it was a far bigger group. I must admit, I was rather intimidated by how fast everyone was signing. I ended up forgetting words that I have known for years, signing things wrong or just sitting there "silent" with nothing to say. Even Alan said that I was a lot more chatty the last time, and I tried to explain how nervous I was and he said he understood. I was invited to a Pizza night tomorrow, but I don't think I can make that gathering. I am just nervous because I know that they are all so nice and patient with me but I don't want to bore them all with my weakly signed small talk-- yet I know that the only way I will get better is by trying. Ugh! I just want to be fluent already!

  Okay, so why am I relieved then? Well, I am done with the spring quarter! Yay! The classes this term weren't really hard, they were just time and energy consuming. I had a lot of reading, a lot of essays and a lot of running around I had to do for each class. Plus with all the car issues and trips that I had in the past few months, finding time and ways to do all the stuff necessary for my classes was very hard. Yet, here I am! I made it! I did have one class, 19th century literature that was actually a class intended for graduate students so it was a bit harder than I was expecting (I didn't know it was for grad when I signed up for it). For a while, I thought I was really failing in the class because so much of the material covered referenced other works that I haven't read yet since I am an undergrad. I couldn't follow the examples and I just thought "man, I am going to fail and English class! ENGLISH?!" Thankfully however, as time went on and after I saw that I didn't fail the midterm, I actually did very well on it-- I relaxed and calmed down. Even at the end of the class, one of the grad students turned around and was like "You are an undergrad?" and i said yes, then she said "You are doing amazingly well in this class!" I was a little shocked because she was one of the top grad students in the course so getting a compliment like that from her was very reassuring. I can't wait to see my grades in a few days! Hopefully I will get on the Honor's List again!

I skipped "stressed"-- I will keep this one short. I am stressed because the car I am driving now, my mom's / Patrick's car, is having yet MORE issues! I am spending all my savings fixing this stupid car and eventually I won't have enough money to buy anything better! I am hoping I can get through this issue under $150 and hopefully get something semi-decent by the end of June. I guess I will have to lower my car standards even further and see what I can manage.

So needless to say-- all that is why I am drained! Too much has been going on, so I can't keep up physically and mentally. I hope that the summer classes I signed up for (mostly online ones) won't be too stressful. In the mean time, I will enjoy my week off from school. I have this weekend off from work, I am house sitting for a family friend so hopefully that means some serious relaxation is in store! Hope you all are doing better than me haha!

My Audrey Trip!

  This last Thursday, I got to take a lone road trip for the first time in a long time. I used to go up and down the state by myself a lot when we still lived in T.O; so getting to drive for hours by myself again was kind of fun, even though it was exhausting. I took this trip to see my Audreys! One Audrey is my cousin Jennifer's daughter who is now 9 months old and I had yet to meet her. I wish I could have stayed longer but I was only there for a night and part of the following day-- it was still great to see Jenn and meet little, smiley Audrey for the first time! It was very funny too because lil' Audrey wasn't really sure of what to think of me since her mom and I look very similar. Eventually however, she warmed up to my presence and we had a great time getting to know each other!

I also got to see my aunt Jan, aunt Connie and cousin Briana. I wish it could have been longer but before I knew it, I was on the road again and headed to the airport to pick up the other Audrey-- my best friend and little sister!

I am so mad at myself for not getting any pictures of our reunion in front of the airport but it was wonderful and emotional and perfect. We haven't seen each other in about 6 years so finally getting to hug her again was amazing. In no time at all, it was like we never parted. We were cracking up in the car, laughing and telling each other stories about the craziness in our lives. I still can't believe that no matter how long we are apart, it is always so effortless being back together. We turn into little kids again and make fools out of ourselves but its amazing every time.

We got to her family's house all of whom I haven't seen in about 6 years as well. It was crazy to see how much her siblings have grown! Everyone was still just little kids the last time I saw them and now most of them looked like young adults. It made me a little sad admittedly because it has been so long that most of the younger kids did not remember who I was even though I was remember all of them in diapers. It didn't take too long though for them to warm up to me again. Little Miles and Simon especially (the youngest of them) were quickly chatting my ears off. They are all so cute but so darn big!

Over the course of my trip, we went to the beach (twice), back to T.O, on the hill where Audrey and I met, into their old houses, the infamous elevator and on many other mini adventures. It was great talking with Audrey about various things in our lives because this is the first time we have both been "adults" together. We were still stupid little kids most of the time of course, but we have never been able to truly be mature together either. I love her so much and I can't wait for the next time we see each other!