Changes, and Changes

     Even though it has been a long time since I last posted, I do not think I will go too much into updates about my life. I will cover some big things, but mostly, I am just here to write.

   In the past few months, I have switched jobs, acquired some new pets, had a birthday and barely have had any time to rest. Life has been a little chaotic and very stressful but thankfully, that stress has been leading to some improvments
   Three weeks ago, I worked my last day as an in-home paraeducator with little Christopher. I have worked with this deaf/autistic boy for two years, so it was hard to say goodbye. His mother then asked me if I could still work the occasional weekend, which made the goodbyes easier. No matter the circumstances though, I knew it was time for a change. There is a point when working with children, that you know you have done about all you can do. It is a fine line between "teacher" and "caretaker" and over time, the lessons morph into something more emotional and somehow, lose their potency. I knew that I have crossed that line with Christopher not too long ago. He saw me as family, and as such, I wasn't as "respected" in a way. My lessons fell on deaf ears (pun intended). Christopher's advances slowed down because I was no longer the right person to teach him. Even though this fact can be hard to greet, it made leaving, actually easier. So what am I doing now?
   Well, now I am working at the Travis Unified school district as an instructional assistant to a special needs- middle school class.I am enjoying the change quite a bit, actually, mainly because every word I say is understood. Christopher need sign language and constant repetition to understand your message (under no fault of his own of course) and it was exhausting at times. These older children, if I need to repeat myself, then that means that they just were not listening and then there are consequences-- which I have all the ability to dole out when I see fit. Needless to say, I am the "mean, strict" one a lot of the time, but some students are coming around and seeing that I am nice when they are nice and respectful towards me. It is a welcome change in scene-- and the pay raise is pretty cool too.

  That is basically it for the jobs, now onto the pets. As many of you know, I recently (well, not recently anymore-- 3 months ago!) found a pit bull who had been abandoned on our street. She was most likely used for breeding puppies and then dumped. She is such a sweet and amazing dog. The only downside is, we just can't keep her, but finding a home for her has been pretty impossible. There have been a few people who actually met with me to see the dog but most of the replies I have received ended with me describing the dog and then never hearing back from the interested party. I do not understand why people just stop responding, especially when they were the ones who reached out in the first place. Anyway, if you know of anyone who would want a sweet, loving pit bull, let me know. She deserves a wonderful home.

  The other, new pet that we have is a one-eyed rat named Lola. Kris is in a Physiology class and they were conducting observations on rats (seeing how much air they took in, nothing harmful), and when the observation was done, the instructor said that the rats could be taken if any one wanted them, or else they would be sent off to a lab where real- dangerous experiements would be performed. Well, Kris is a big-ol' softy like me and he called me up and asked if I wanted to save a rat. Of course I said yes and that is how we came upon this, adorable little girl:

   I am 26 years old now, which is really weird to see in writing. I don't recall 25 feeling old, but 26 sure does. When I give advice to someone, or when I am working with the kids in class, I feel so-- old! All the older people I know will probably laugh at that, but think back to when you officially left your "early 20's", your kid days were over . . . it's a trippy experience to say the least. I don't really mind it though-- I have always felt older than I am and now I am feeling like the rest of me is catching up with my brain. My actual birthday was a bit uneventful, but I that didn't bother me. I know everyone around me is busy so I do not expect them to drop everything for my sake. I did eventually have parties and get togethers, but they were all a week or two later.  I just think I am at the point where birthdays aren't that exciting anymore. Oh well, what'cha gonna do?


Well, that is basically it. My brain hurts and I am tired. I may just take another nap, considering this is my first, real day off in a month. I am tired and gosh darn, I deserve it! 


Okay, well, stay happy safe and healthy all!

Life at the Moment

     Hey people. 
   
    So life has been pretty crazy recently. I know I used to be so much better about blog posts but I haven't been motivated lately to write any. Now that I have graduated and things are somewhat settling down, I feel the need to write.
   So what's new? Well, I did graduate! I finished my B.A. in English with a focus on creative writing back on the 15th of June. It was a lot of fun having my family around and I got to introduce Kris' family to my own for the first time after 51/2 years!! They all got along very well which was nice. I must admit though, the entire thing was so, freaking stressful for me. I am just glad its all done and I don't have to concern myself with tiny details anymore!

The day after my graduation, Kris' sister Rachael threw me a party which was a lot of fun and very sweet of her to do. Quite a few people didn't show up which stunk but the people who did show made up for it by being amazing, true friends. 

So once graduation, the party and all the craziness was done, I worked for a few days and then got a week and a half off. It has been really nice to just chill, relax, get things done and ignore other things for a while. Not that there hasn't been stressful situations but at least work wasn't added onto it.

  This past Sunday was a local radio station's free concert in Golden Gate Park. I won VIP tickets that allowed me and a guest to sit in a special area to watch the show. We would get free lunch, drinks and a private bathroom (which was very nice). I wanted to win the tickets originally for Kris' mom: Karen. Karen's birthday is in July and I know she loves live music and I thought this would be really fun for her. Well, it was fun to an extent but San Francisco weather is always unpredictable, so it rained throughout the whole concert. Then, due to the rain, the final act: Ed Sheeran, was 2 hours late! We ended up leaving before he even showed because Karen had to work in the morning. It was fun in spite of all the hiccups though.

                                                      We Met Ginny Blackmore!

                                                     Alice 97.3's Morning Show Cast

                                                         Our VIP area

                                                              Our View.


   One of the most exciting happenings this week is my new internship! I applied for a writing internship two days ago and now I am going to be writing for a internet company! Most writing internships are really just you, watching someone else write while you get their coffee but at this one, I will have articles with my name on it! I am so excited. The site is focused on Sustainability and healthy choices for your home, self and baby. I will be focused on the home and baby side of things because all my experience falls into those categories. I can't wait to have you all reading my work on a site other than a blog! Its a great place to learn new things too and they are always looking for new topics so if you have questions about how to live a more sustainable, healthy life. . . Let me know! The site is called Greenopedia, Greenopedia.com. Go check it out!

Well  I think that is is for now. Hope you all are doing good! Love ya!

Rambling

       So it has been forever and a day since I have written a blog post. I am sorry that I am such a freaking slacker! Honestly, I wouldn't even be writing this if I wasn't so mentally blocked for my academic/creative writing. I am hoping that just by rambling about something-- anything, I will find my narrative voice again. We shall see. . .

    Well, what shall I write about? Well, as many of you know, I will be graduating next month. I am very excited to be done with school (at least for now) but on the other hand, I feel like I am leaving with absolutely no skills in my pocket. I began looking for job a few weeks ago and everything either requires a degree in a field that I never studied in, a focus in the field I did study in but not my particular focus and/or two+ years experience in the field. Well, crap! I had one fall back option but thanks to budget cuts and schedule changes, my future in ASL translation is still far, far away. I honestly do  not know what I am going to do; therefore, leaving school is only bittersweet at best.

  On the upside however, I may not be able to get a job in writing but all my childcare and special needs experience will still allow me to find some employment. I just hope that through internships or possible future connections, I may actually be able to write for a living. Also on the upside, the little boy I watch is in speech therapy and his therapist has said numerous times she would hire me as an assistant. I have no idea how much she would be willing to pay and her office is over an hour away so there are downsides; but if she pays enough, I would make the drive. I can also stay working with the family I am currently with until I find a better job. Honestly, they wish I would never leave but I just can't do child care forever-- it's just not where my heart is.

   So, other news, information, current events in my life? Well, there really hasn't been much going on since the last time I wrote on here. Yeah, Kris and I have went to various places: friend's weddings, Tahoe, various hiking and camping trips. I started volunteering at the California School for the Deaf, but I am still floundering as far as comprehension of the language. Mostly, I have just been doing school work and work-work with very little time for sleep in between. I am mentally drained and I think that is perhaps why I haven't written in so long. All my mental energy is being put towards these final weeks.

  Ultimately, as I come to the end of this chapter in my life, I just hope that certain things will get easier for me. I really just want to not struggle as much with my finances. I know everyone wants extra cash but I really just don't want to have to borrow from people anymore or panic that some bill is getting neglected. I have always been frugal so extra money for things I want doesn't concern me. I would just like to keep more than ten dollars in my savings account for a decent period of time. I would like the idea of moving out (again) to be an actual and near possibility. I would like to go to sleep knowing that everything is paid off for once. I suppose I just want peace of mind and I hate that money is the only way I will get it. That is the world we live in though. Even those of us who hate money are still controlled by it. Its not fair, but that's just how it is.

The Good Instead of the Bad . . .

These past few months have been pretty stressful for me as many of you know; yet, I haven't spent enough time talking about the good things that have happened during them-- and there have been many good aspects. I just hate when all the negative, stressful and jolting events overshadow all the moments that made me smile. So for a little change of pace, I will go over those moments now and hopefully be smiling with every word I write.

In no particular order:

The first thing that comes to mind is my wonderful five year anniversary with my wonderful boyfriend. I couldn't afford to do much for him so I made him some Chex Mix muddy buddies (which he loved) and then I made him a coupon book with little things like "40 minute long massages after a long day" and "A homemade dessert of your choice." He liked these coupons a lot but I still wish I could so much more for him. Of course, he out did my gift a lot by taking me out to a lovely sushi dinner in Napa and then surprising me with tickets to see the Lion King musical in January. I have heard so many amazing things about that performance but I have never been able to go see it-- until now! I love Kristopher so much, he is truly happy when he is making me happy and I am so grateful to have such a considerate person in my life.

The next moments of happiness (or at least the next that comes to mind) were the people I met in some of my classes-- don't get me wrong, they weren't all nice or interesting but some were great! First off, there is Sarah. She was in one of my summer classes but we didn't talk much then. This quarter, we had a literary drama class together and we started to become really close. She is a big nerd and just as crazy and as stubborn as I am. We both have kind of twisted ideas of what is funny and we both can get pretty intense when something pisses us off. She was really sweet to me when all my financial aid crap fell through. I hope that we have more classes together and we are actually able to hang out beyond the confines of school. In my fiction class, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a bunch of weirdos who were all extremely nice to me. On the last day of class, a few of them were really insistent that I join them in the intermediate fiction class because they enjoyed having me in this one. Every workshop/discussion class that I have had before, I am usually deemed the "annoying one" because I talk so much and have very strong opinions-- I am never disrespectful but some people see any disagreement with their opinion as disrespectful. Anyway, in this class I had one guy named Patrick say I was one of his favorite people in the class. Another guy named Nate said he liked how I always had insightful and relevant things to say about everyone's work-- I also kept Patrick in check haha. A couple of girls named Joy and Anna were always very sweet to me, saying I wrote well or just enjoyed acting goofy with me. Another guy named Chris always had nice things to say to me and also offered respectable refutes to my opinions. It was overall, a class experience I was not used to but enjoyed immensely. I wish I could be guaranteed that same group of people for every workshop class I have from here on out-- then I know I would have something to look forward to each quarter.

So the another "good" that came from the past few months that piggybacks on the last one is my fiction writing in general. To everyone that knows me, knows me as a poetry writer. I was comfortable as a poetry writer, I won awards, had some things published and generally got a lot of compliments on my poetry; but this quarter however, that sort of changed. I was taking a poetry workshop class alongside my fiction class and the two couldn't be more opposite. The poetry class (most of them anyway) seemed to be thoroughly annoyed my me and my work. Everything I wrote was torn down, everything I said got some sort of negative remark and overall it made me not even bother trying towards the end. Why am I going to pour my heart and soul into poems for this class when they will get mutilated? Well, I won't. So here is the good end of all this-- I was expecting this sort of reaction to my fiction writing, not my poetry. My fiction writing before this quarter was awful-- just bad as bad can be. Yet, this teacher or this group or me in general or a combination of all of it changed my writing and I got a bunch of positive feed back. Better yet, I even liked my fiction, which has never happened before! I wrote some things that surprised me and made me think that someday, I may actually be able to write a decent book. Will I ever be a bestseller-- probably not but I may actually be able to get some small time publisher to print something of mine someday and just feeling like that is possible is amazing to me. I still love poetry but it has always been something I did for myself. I never wanted to share it, but fiction is something I have always wanted to do and always wanted to be able to share. I am just so happy that I can see that happening now. Maybe in the future, I will post some of my fiction writing on here-- that is if anyone would care to read it. 

The last thing I will talk about, even though I know there is a bunch more but this is getting kinda long-- is just all the help I have received. I would have never made it through all these stressful times if it weren't for some amazing people. First, I want to thank my Aunt Eileen-- she helped me so, so, so much with everything lately. She took 20 tons of stress off my back just by being the amazing person she always is. Thank you Eileen! I love you! The rest of my family deserves a thanks too-- they all at one point or another, saved my butt with either a favor or a kind word. I am so lucky to have their love and support. I also want to thank my teachers this quarter, even though they will never read this and I have already thanked them in person numerous times; they deserve it. My sign language teacher has been and still is bending over backwards for me just so I can be graded for her class and possibly take future classes with her. She genuinely wants me to succeed and it is amazing to have someone like that in your corner. My fiction/drama teacher was always so forgiving when I told him I needed extra time for this or that. He gave me such good feedback and actually took a few of my papers to put in his "Hall of Fame" so that he could share them with future classes! I felt like I really have grown as a writer because of him. My poetry teacher deserves a thanks too-- not for her poetry class though but because she listened to all my financial aid woes and gave me some good advice on how to fix it and who to talk to. My wonderful boyfriend-- he is who I will mention last. He was there at the end of every stressful day, acting silly just to make me laugh. He would put money in my account so I could afford gas and food for my family. He would give me little gifts that would brighten my gloomiest days. He has just been so, so very perfect lately. Its times like these when all I want to do is scream and cry and he instead makes me laugh and smile-- that I think he and I could really make this last forever. There is no better way to tell in my opinion then to see how your significant other handles your tough problems. I love him so much and I am so happy to call him mine.

Well, there it all is. I know there is a lot more I could mention but I am happy that I wrote a happy blog for once. I love all of you who have helped me and I appreciate all of those who were kind to me this quarter. Have a happy holidays and I hope to see you all in the new year!

So This will be a Long One

   Like the title suggests, this will be a long post so if you don't have a good set of time to read it (and actually want to) then I would suggest placing your focus somewhere else. So let my just say what I will be talking about, mainly so I can keep it straight in my head: First, my Disneyland trip and the disaster it ended in. Second, Halloween with family. Third, financial aid and all the crap it means for me now. Fourth and finally, future stuff that I dread and look forward to. I will try to shorten each story as much as possible, but there is just sooo much crap to tell! Okay, here we go!


    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!

                                                    Haha he looks terrified.

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!

Well, its been a while...

       I apologize for the long break between posts here. A lot has happened between then and now -- so much that I haven't even had a spare moment to write really; or if I did, I felt too exhausted to do so. I feel exhausted right now but I am avoiding homework to do this so there is motive. 

Lets see, where do I start? Well, I will start out of order I guess. I began a new quarter at school and I can tell, this one is going to kick my butt. This term is comprised mostly of writing courses, which is great for me-- but they are serious writing courses which also intimidates me. All the classes I have taken before have been introductory and beginner classes where I was the big fish in a small pond so to speak. I was the one who has been writing for years, who has had stuff published, who has done this before. Now, I am one of the people who suck. My stuff is amateur when compared to others and I know, I shouldn't compare myself, I should write for me; but it is hard to think that way in a class where you discuss your work with your peers. The professors intimidate you more too because they will speak of those who were once at your level that are now best selling authors-- inspiring right? Not really because the professors also spoke of how they could see that promise in their early work. So, will they see any promise in mine? Will these professors be speaking of me in 15 years saying "I could tell she had it way back then. . ." who knows! It is just a lot of pressure to feel with every exercise, wanting it to be great but feeling like you are turning in crappy prose and immature fiction.

Okay, well that was my "waahh, poor me" moment; now for something a little less pathetic. My cousin just started going to the same school as me. This is the first time since elementary school that I had a family member in the same learning environment as me. It is nice to see a familiar face in the halls every now and then. The only problem I can foresee with all this is the competitive aspect. We are both English majors and we haven't had any classes together yet but I can see that we both take it pretty seriously. I don't know that we wouldn't get a little cut throat when it came to comparing our work. I realize it will be hard to compare-- we are completely different writers with vastly different backgrounds and influences; still, the potential strain is there. I realize I am worrying too much about stuff that isn't even worth a concern but that is how I am.

So, what else? Oh well, my oldest brother Travis graduated with a bachelors of science in communication systems degree (or something to that effect), from the University of Phoenix. I am super proud of him-- that boy was a machine when it came to his school work and his job on top of always being there for his family. For those of you who may not know, he was extremely sick when his was little-- in and out of comas, pronounced clinically dead several times. When he finally started to improve in health, the doctors said he would be a vegetable the rest of his life.Well, when he walked across that stage and accepted his degree, I wish those doctors who said that could see. It was pretty amazing and I am so proud of him!

T

The other cool thing about his graduation was how my family came together. My parents are divorced and haven't seen each other in nearly seven years; so this event was the first time in a long while where they would be in the same room and have to talk to each other. I admit, I was nervous about it. My parents ARE NOT two people who ever belonged together so the tension between them can get pretty darn thick. On top of that, my mom's sisters and brother were going to be commingling with my Dad's parents (my grandparents) and oldest sister so that was just a lot of new, strange experiences to be mixed into the whole thing. Also, Kris was coming along so I had my boyfriend situation, my separated parents situation, two very different families chatting it up situation and just trying to get everyone on the same page with the whole graduation thing. Like I said before, I was concerned about it but I am really glad to say that looking back now, I didn't need to me concerned (well, it still could have got. . .tense but thankfully it didn't); everyone was happy and chatty and had a great time. Overall, it was a great day and we all had a lot of fun celebrating Travis' amazing accomplishment!

Okay, so what else? Hmm, well the only other thing I can think of is not very happy or uplifting but it is something that has been weighing on my mind a lot. I recently got advised by an RN to get checked out for Polysystic Ovarian Syndrome (POS). Pretty much, if you have this, you will have irregular menstrual cycles, be broken out 24/7, have unexplained weight gain, lose head hair-- gain other unpleasant body hair, experience random abdominal pains and a bunch of other unpleasant stuff. Now, all this I have been experiencing for some time but I always wrote it off as stress and aging and various other things-- which it could still be. My biggest concern with it however is that if you do have POS than your likelihood of contracting diabetes goes up quite a bit, other various uterine and ovarian issues can occur and ultimately it can lead to cancers and infertility (not that I am looking to get pregnant any time soon but if I ever did, I would like to know I could). So I went to the doctors and they are currently running a myriad of expensive tests to see if POS is the cause-- the doctor said it most likely is based on all my symptoms. Anyway, that sucks and its just another health thing I get to tack onto my extensive record. At least if I do have POS, I am finding out about it early which means that I can treat some of the symptoms and take care of myself in new ways to hopefully lessen the chances of the bigger, badder stuff. 

       Okay, well I think that's about all the big stuff for now. I am sure I am forgetting things and I am sure I have a million more pictures and videos I could put up here but I really need to get started on that homework I have been avoiding. Wish me luck on my writing and on my possibly, gross ovaries (haha, you are welcome for making you think 'ewww'). Have a good one y'all. Hope you are well and happy!

Here it is Eileen!

Finally! I am posting about the Jackie Greene concert that my aunt Eileen gave me tickets for!! It only happened like a month ago (maybe a little less than that but close enough!) Anyway, Eileen loves an artist named Jackie Green, he is sort of rock-blues-jazz-folk all mixed in to one; and she bought tickets for his concert but found she wasn't able to go. So in order to not waste tickets, she asked me if I wanted to go and bring some people. I said of course! I did not really know the artists but hey-- free tickets to a concert and making my aunt Eileen happy? I will DEFINITELY do that! So Kris, Travis and I all went up to Sacramento to a park called Fairytale Town to watch the show. The concert was a benefit to raise money for the park in order to keep it open and running for kids. 

So we got there an hour early, thinking we should be able to get a decent spot-- it was all lawn space so first come, first serve. We completely misjudged it however, and were waaaayyy in the back. We set up our chairs and got some drinks and relaxed anyway. It may have been good that we were all a little oblivious to who Jackie Greene was because if we weren't then the far away seats may have been a let down; this way we would all just chill and enjoy the music. So pretty much after that, the concert started and we had a good time listening and watching a bunch of old, drunk people attempt to dance. Good times! So here are some pictures and hopefully video (if I can get it to work) of our fun little trip to see Jacki Greene!

                  The stage...

          Some of the cute playhouses in the park

              Yeah we were kinda far...

     Passing the time with reading.

              Yay!

             Mhmmm

                 Better

               Travis melted....

         Birds

                  Lots of birds...

          Oh good, he regenerated

              Yay a quarter smile

           Sorry these pics of Jackie Green aren't great, my camera refused to focus on him

         This guy was adorable and danced the whole time!

       Teepee playhouse!

      Getting through the whirly gate with a bunch of chairs is kinda hard.

    Blocking me in...

So I just tried to upload the video and it said there were some errors so who knows. I will try again later or just put them on FB. I had a lot of fun so thank you Eileen for the tickets and next time, hopefully you will get to go! You will probably get better pictures anyway! Love you!

Okay, that is it. Have a nice day everyone!