So, Disneyland. A little while ago, I won more tickets to Disneyland. Kris and I really wanted to go during either Halloween or Christmas. Thanks to a little luck and good timing, my boss had to go to L.A for a week in mid October so that meant I had that time off. Kris got some last minute time off and away we went. Well, sorta-- first, the day that we were supposed to leave was actually Matt and Mikaela's wedding (some friends of Kris' family).
So we went to their wedding first and then we left the reception early to head to Anaheim. We borrowed my brother's car because the gas mileage is a lot better than mine. We get to L.A and do all the usual Disneyland stuff. Kris and I were a bit disappointed however at how similar it was to every other day of the year. With the exception of some orange lights and a bunch of pumpkins, the park wasn't any different. A couple of rides were altered a tiny bit but that was it. We mainly went however, to see the new Car's Land and that was pretty cute. It wasn't as big as I thought it would be but it was fun none the less. The second and final day we were there, Kris and I met up with his cousin Stefanie and her husband and Kris' best friend Bell for dinner. They had their adorable daughter Rowan with them-- it was her first trip to Disneyland. Kris got to hold her for a bit and you know him-- he loves holding kids!
So there are a lot more photos on Facebook but since I am trying to keep this short, I will let them tell the rest of the story so go look at them if you want. So now, about the drive home. Well first, let me say how I totally was asking for trouble. When we first got to L.A, we drove past a little side street called Ridgcrest, which for you who may not know, is a small town in the middle of the Mojave desert where most of my mom's side of the family lives. When we passed the street, I looked at Kris and said "Hey, you want to go to Ridgcrest?" -- jokingly of course. Why this is asking for trouble...you will find out later. Secondly, after our trip was ending and I was sitting in the hotel, I was thinking about this blog and how I really wouldn't have much to write about. I thought "man, I wish I had more exciting stuff to write about." Finally, the next morning, as Kris and I were packing to leave, he expressed his concerns about not making it home in time for his anatomy class that night. So I responded with "the only way we won't be home on time is if we break down, hahaha." Yeah, well, we weren't laughing in a few hours. Long story short-ish, we got to the top of the Grapevine when my brother's coolant light came on; so we refilled the coolant. A mile later, the light came on again-- the coolant tank was empty. We coasted down the grapevine in nuetral so the car wouldn't over heat and ended up in some no name shop 17 miles outside of Bakersfield. The guy who worked there said it might be the water pump. When I called my brother to tell him this, he flipped out. His car is his baby. So anyway, through many arguments and screaming matches over the phone, Kris and I brought the car to a VW dealership in Bakersfield. We then called my cousin Jennifer and asked her if she could come pick us up since the repairs would take a couple of days. Next thing you know, we are two hours away in Ridgcrest, staying at Jenn's house, chatting with my aunt Jan and overall, I am kinda excited I will be spending sometime with family. At least, I was until my brother calls me, saying that he wants to drive all the way down to Bakersfield to make sure he car is okay. I eventually talk him out of that by promising him that his car will be towed the 300 miles back up to our house, on a flat bed truck and no one will touch it before then. So the next morning, Kris and I are back in Bakersfield, loading the car onto a flatbed and then we are off on a 300 mile journey with a tow truck driver.... thankfully, he was nice. So overall, I asked for it. I said we would be in Ridgcrest, I wanted more to write about and I said we would break down. There are a lot more details to all that which made the whole thing super stressful, but I don't want to get mad all over again by recounting them. So yeah, that was our Disneyland trip!
What next? Oh yeah, Halloween. So I was looking forward to Halloween this year. Kris and I were going to dress up as a Cowboy and Cowgirl. Ana had an adorable Grecian Goddess costume and my cousins Briana and Leland were coming up to take Ana trick or treating. I also love decorating the house, carving pumpkins and of course, the candy. Well, even though most of that happened and overall it was a fun time, there were still some things that didn't go quite as planned. Ana was very excited about trick or treating this year. She never used to like it because other people's costumed would scare her-- but this year she was old enough that she more just cared about getting as much candy as possible. I am sure she would have if it didn't start raining like crazy right when we got out of the car! So pretty much all the houses closed up and Ana barely got anything. Thankfully my aunt Eileen bought ten tons of candy so she made up her losses. She was still disappointed though that she didn't "earn it". My cousins being there softened the blow though and it was fun carving pumpkins and just hanging out.
Ana looked far too grown up in her costume. She is getting too old and too big, it makes me so sad!! She is just as tall as me now and in a few months, she will be taller. Ugh! I am in for it then.
Okay, so now what to talk about? Oh yes, financial aid. So the only reason I have been able to work towards my degree is thanks to financial aid. I know many people are against government aid like that but hey-- so many people use it and need it, yet a few bad apples spoil the batch for the rest of us. So thanks to those bad apples, I found out this past week that ALL of my funding has been cut thanks to various little things that are stupid. To make that all the worse, I found out a couple weeks ago that I only have a couple quarters to go before I can graduate. I spent the first half of Tuesday at school, calling offices and trying to figure out what I can do just to have them all tell me to go screw myself. So then I spent the second half of Tuesday crying my eyes out because I felt so defeated. I could take out more student loans but I already don't know how I am going to pay back the ones I have; therefore, adding more to that total seemed like a death sentence. Thankfully, on Thursday, I went into the financial aid office for the millionth time and spoke with the same lady for the millionth time and she called upstairs for the millionth time and for the millionth time, she didn't get any clear answers. So maybe she was already having a bad day or maybe she just felt bad for me but this wonderful woman hangs up her phone and tells me she will be right back. She then marches up stairs and is gone for 15 minutes. When she returns, she says I am now going to receive the university grant that will cover the majority of my tuition until i graduate! I could have kissed her! I still owed a decent amount after that but it was better than nearly 3 grand! So I need to bring that woman a card and some cookies because she literally saved my butt. My problem now however, is that not all the classes I need are being offered and I can't even take as many as I want to because the university put a cap on the amount of units I can do.
The question is now, what can I finish? How long will it take me to finish? Can I finish the sign language program on top of my English degree? I suppose all that will have to be figured out as it comes. Anyway, I am done for now so thanks for reading if you actually read it all. Have a good day folks. Stay warm!
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