If I were to make a real post right now I'd probably go on for about 8 paragraphs, updating everything that's been going on, like I usually do... so I'm going to try to pick a few things..

My job is very much love/hate right now... there are of course things which are very frustrating about dealing with the general public, but I love my coworkers and I do get some really neat customers from time to time. It's also nice to be in a place where I have more than one person expressing appreciation for me.

I was excited about starting school but I registered way too late and I'm 5th in line on the Wait List so that's probably not happening... d'oh!

I'm still single and I still love it. I have a lot of great friends; most of them are "work friends" because they all live out in the Tron or something, but that's alright. I have a handful of boy friends who keep me entertained.

My web space is still a giant piece of nothing, but at least I'm happy with my gallery! (( http://www.state-of-kate.org/gallery ))

I got into a fight with my last ex roommate and ended up having to pay her for the mattress they gave me 9 months ago... It's completely not right, but I'd rather not have people out there sending me bad karma and it's easier than giving it back and having to buy or acquire a new one.

Other than that it's basically SSDD, and I'm a pretty happy camper. :)

this is an experiment.. just pulling out of the station in Seattle and when my cell service cut out I was able to connect to an open wireless network. not sure if it belongs to the train or some business in the area. will find out shortly! anyway I'm just on my way home from Seattle. it's been 5 weeks since I updated.. surprise surprise.. so I left out any and all details of my visit from mom & ed plus Kelly.. not for any particular reason outside of lack of inspiration to write. we had a lot of fun.. visited a few wineries, ate tons of great food.. and just generally enjoyed eachother's company. (people are already wandering the train though the club car has yet to open.. wireless signal still strong!)
[[edit: the wireless probably belonged to the stadium and not the train.. I used my cellular service for most of the trip afterwards and never connected to any other wireless network]]

I've been getting out a bit more.. sometimes 3 or 4 times a week, and it's been good. lots of movies, gardens, pubs (and amazing beers), and good times overall. I'm hoping to find a full-time job in town so I can get my own apartment when out lease is up in June. I need to get a bit more active in that endeavor and not rely on the job that I really want (Whole Foods) to fall in my lap. I'm registered for school, will be starting in June unless some circumstance prevents it.

I'm also learning more about myself and relationships, which is always a good thing.

I've never been on a train like this before. it's the double-decker type.. a lot more comfortable than what I'm used to, but doesn't seem to have any screens for showing movies. I'm afraid to go to the lounge car based on the number of people already heading there.. there's no way they can fit even 1/3 of the people from each car there! (stop being a wuss and go check it out)

so.. I came up to Seattle on Wednesday of last week because my boss seemed to want to work only on Monday and one more day that week- I figured getting out of town for a bit was worth missing that one more day, so I left. I spent a good part of Thursday at the salon with my sister waiting for her to have time to color my hair (so dark red it almost looks black).. Friday I spent wandering around town, I made a Google map of my path (will link later), hung out with a friend and watched him play GTA4, then watched The Beach.. went bowling last night with my sis and her crew.. a very successful vacation. :)

map - http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=117661247376928173071.00044c55d8c8ccf8de352&z=12

and photos at http://www.state-of-kate.org/gallery under 'found'

this is completely self indulgent.. but on the other hand what about this whole community isn't?

last week was very strange.. odd sleeping patterns and not enough sleep.. worked W-F instead of M-Th.. completely unexpected other things.. too much beer on Tuesday, but not before just enough sushi.. worked late on Thursday to make up for some of the hours missed on Monday.. too much caffeine..

and then there was Friday evening. dinner at Laughing Planet- a nice bowl of veggies and brown rice.. I have been eating nothing but sandwiches and bagels lately so I was feeling a little malnourished.. and a glass of fresh carrot-apple juice. a movie at the Avalon Theatre- The Bucket List.. it was a bit sentimental, a little cheesey, but overall a beautiful movie. afterwards, tea and snacks at The Tao of Tea.. I had a pot of "Tea Forest Green" which was tea from some "wild" tea trees in some old growth forest, if I remember correctly. It was quite possibly the best tasting unaltered tea I've ever had.. and green tea tofu.. savory tofu flavored with matcha powder and other seasonings, with shredded ginger and lime.. so good.. so relaxing.. I couldn't have imagined a more blissful evening. the perfect start to what I plan as a relaxing weekend.

Go to Wikipedia and look up your birthday (not the year). Then list five events, four births and one death, including the year:

February 28th

1935 - Nylon is invented by Wallace Carothers.
1940 - Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).
1953 - James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April Nature (pub. April 2).
1993 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.
2007 - Jupiter flyby of the New Horizons Pluto-observer spacecraft.

1409 - Elisabeth II of Bohemia
1704 - Louis Godin, French astronomer (d. 1760)
1940 - Mario Andretti, Italian-American race car driver and one-time F1 world champion
1970 - Daniel Handler, American writer, better known as Lemony Snicket

1936 - Charles Nicolle, French bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

yesterday was such a great day... had an anti-meetup with a few friends... sushi at Gaya Gaya in the Pearl followed by way too much beer at The Bitter End. I didn't get enough sleep and I felt pretty out of it all day, but it was such a great, great, GREAT day. today started out pretty nice, too. trying to work while I was a little out of my head sucked, but tomorrow will be better. sigh.

post!


yeah. it's been awhile. got a job, possibly starting school in April... getting settled still.. life without a car is sort of good and sort of bad. good because when I have to go out I have to walk. bad because when I don't have to go out I generally don't. definitely enjoying the (uphill, 1.5 mile) walk to work (when it's not raining). it's beautiful today. I got out just after the sun started coming up. there was a good bit of fog and frost and it just looked so pristine as I walked down the stairs through the cherry blossoms. I listened to the new Jack Johnson album for the first time and it is lovely, no surprise.

the feeling I had from this morning's walk made it not matter that it was all for naught.. the door was locked and (it turns out that) my boss was so far in the middle of nowhere (Southern Oregon) that her phone wasn't receiving, so I got to enjoy the walk back down the hill while the sun was still rising. it's a wonderful day!

Holy jeepers, I'm finally HOME! Longest.Move.Ever. So let's recap: I left Houston around November 27th, arrived in Portland on, I believe it was, December 4th? Spent 2 weeks in McMinnville (40 miles outside of Portland), 3 weeks in a room in a house in North East Portland, and 2 weeks on a couch in Vancouver! Everything, save a suitcase and my cats, was left in McMinnville for the past 5 weeks, and yesterday I finally was able to pick it all up and move into an apartment. I broke up with the McMinnville girl in sort of a fit of anxiety; I had to be out of my room in NE in like, 5 days, and we hadn't been able to find any apartments that were in our price range and an area we could both agree on... so I told her what I'd really been feeling all along, that I didn't think we were compatible and we weren't having any luck and I sort of took that as a sign. I thanked her for her hospitality when I first got here since I was supposed to be renting a room in another house but when I got there to check it out the guy had changed his mind about renting! She welcomed me and the kitties in even though they weren't expecting me, and I really appreciate that, I hope she knows it. But I digress! After breaking up with her I put my own ad on craigslist (I met the McMinnville girl by replying to HER ad) and after meeting a few not-so-attractive possibilities I exhaled and went to stay with friends in Vancouver to wait for the right opportunity. Finally it came! My current roomie found my ad and replied, she'd already picked out an apartment and secured it, but couldn't move in until she found someone to fill the second bedroom. It's a great apartment, in a GREAT location (15 minute bus ride from the PCC campus I will attend and probably 30 minutes to Marylhurst), decent price... and the roommates are great. It's a girl and her boyfriend and they're both pretty laid back, the sort of people I would have been friends with in high school if I wasn't so antisocial then. I'm *so* happy, and it's really nice to have all of my things/memories around me again. I was starting to feel pretty homesick, but having all of my little mementos and stuff makes it a lot easier.

I'd like to take a moment out and recount the experiences I had meeting the not-so-attractive prospective roommate situations. That's not to say that the people were unattractive, that has very little to do with it... the first woman I met was very nice, but the house was sort of cramped and she had a 6 or so year old daughter. I don't have a problem with living with kids, but no kids is better. The neighborhood she was in was great, but as I found out later, I need to go to the Sylvania campus which is down here in Lake Oswego, and it would've been a hell of a trek from there. I kinda waffled with her for awhile which I feel bad about, I was stressing the whole ordeal and I thought that she was going to be the best option so I didn't want to tell her no, but I didn't want to tell her yes because I didn't really feel comfortable about it. Next I met a chef who lived alone in a big house near the same area and was renting out the 3 rooms upstairs because he was never home and his kids no longer lived there yadda yadda.. we talked for a good 30 minutes or so before he told me that the current occupant wouldn't be moving out until the end of January. and it was going so well! Thanks, guy. I was very clear in my ad that I wanted to move ASAP, and at the time that meant that I felt that I needed to move the day before yesterday. The third was waaaaay the heck out in Beaverton. A nice lady who refers to herself as "we" and lives in a moderately small house with a huge yard, chickens, fruit trees (she never did say what kind of fruit) and a 7 year old girl. She is a massage therapist, among other things, and works from home most of the time. All of these things I could deal with, but now that I think about it, I definitely did the right thing trusting my gut. You don't want to have to deal with living with someone. Anyway I turned her down because of the 2 mile walk up and down unpaved hills that it would take to get to the bus/train station. Heh. On my way home from that I stopped by to meet a friend from IRC who needed to rent a room out. This was by far the best option! A beautiful little house in close-in NE Portland. So close to downtown, but so far from the school... while I was waiting for the friend to decide if they wanted me as a roommate I heard from my current roommate, the girl and the perfect apartment. I came down to meet her and see the complex/a model and agreed right away. I didn't have any of the weird vibe that I got from the other people (minus the friend from IRC) and the apartment just couldn't be beat. I really am *so* lucky.

Today I got up at a reasonable time. While staying in Vancouver I had taken to staying up until 4am only to be woken up at 6:30am as the kids got ready for school, then going back to sleep anywhere between 8am and 10am and sleeping until about 2pm. It wasn't horrible, but it's nice to get back to a normal sleep schedule. I went for a bit of a walk to scope out the area and found that there's an odd little bar & grill just down the street that has a HELP WANTED sign in the window. They are open Mon-Fri 8:30am - 5:30pm, I'm not sure if the hours are the same for Saturday, and closed Sunday. So I'm waking up bright and early tomorrow to go and ask them what kind of help they want, then I'll take the bus to "Downtown Lake Oswego" and see what that's all about. I anticipate some businesses being closed tomorrow, but probably not many. We shall see!

Anyway I just wanted to post because it's been awhile, I'm finally settled, and I'm oh so happy.

Oh and here are the lyrics to the song:

His after moan though cries oh no
He’s building up a shine but he take it slow
And he knows it time to make a change here and time to get away
And he knows it’s time for all the wrong reasons and time to end the pain
But he sleep all, sleep all day, sleep all, we sleep all day over again
Why don’t we?

She said what would your mother think and how would your father react oh lord
Would he take it all back, what they’ve done
No way he said take it, take it and don’t break it with your own two hands
That was my old man and he said
If all is grounded you should go make a mountain out of it

Oh what a lovely day to have a slice of humble pie
Recalling all the while we used to drive and drive here and there
Going nowhere but for us, nowhere but for the two of us
And we knew it was time to take a chance here
And time to compromise our lives for awhile
And it was time for all the wrong reasons
But time is often on my side and I give it to you tonight
And we sleep all, sleep all day, sleep all, we sleep all day over again

As time goes by we get a little bit tired waking and baked another Marlboro mile wide
It’s sending the boys on the run in the time in hot summer sun
To swim beneath or over outside as they’re reading between the lines
Then they remember the part in the hallmark card where they read about the dreams
And reaching for the stars to hold on a little bit closer to
And they knew it was time, time to take a chance here
Time to compromise our little lives for just a little while
And they knew it was time for all the wrong reasons
As time is often on my side and I give it to you, oh boy
And we sleep all, sleep all day, sleep all, we sleep all day over again

She said what would your mother think and how would your father react oh lord
Would he take it all back what they’ve done
No way he said take it, take it and don’t break it with your own two hands
That was my old man and he said
If all is grounded you should go make a mountain out of it

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/sha/526812736.html

plz thx

Finally, the holiday season is almost over. It's been a bit odd for me this year; Thanksgiving with my then-roommate Gabe's family, an early Christmas at the end of November with my family in Phoenix, and finally Christmas in Seattle with Kelly. All three events were at least as satisfying as expected, if not more so. I've been in Seattle since Sunday evening. I was counting on a ride up here from the guy I rented my room from; he's renting his room out because he had moved up to Seattle for work and ended up laid off, and he had spent the weekend in Portland showing his gf around. He told me on Sunday that they were not planning to go back to Seattle until Monday afternoon, but that I was still invited to ride with them. He then suggested that I might find a ride on craigslist under their rideshare section... I'd never even noticed that such a thing existed.. how cool is that?! So, I immediately went upstairs and checked and the FIRST ad on the page was someone offering a ride to Seattle at 2pm (it was 12:30pm at the time) for $10 and of course I felt it was destiny. The ride was pleasant despite the constant rain and we stopped in Olympia at a food co-op for refreshments. But I digress! For the last couple of weeks I have been spending too much time looking for entertainment when what I need to be doing is looking for an apartment. I had it in my head that I needed Carrera with me to find one and haven't made enough of an effort to get together with her when she gets off of work; on top of that her work/sleep schedule right now is such that she is really too tired after work to want to do anything...so it finally occurred to me (through the marijuana come-down guilt trip I experience after not having smoked for so long) that I should just go out and look at several places a day and at least narrow our search so that we can sooner find *the* place. Anyway I'm boring myself so I'll finish it here. Next stop... New Year's Eve!

what a fabulous weekend.. The Golden Compass was really good, at least it was to me... I'm sure if I'd read the book I would've been a little disappointed, but considering I had no idea what the story was about until the day I went to see it I had no expectations except that it would be a lovely fantasy story. Afterwards we met a couple in the downtown and headed to a place called Hobo's for dinner. It was fancier than expected and our first view was the long bar decorated with large drag queens. Good times were had by all. Afterwards, friend and I headed back to my side of town and then to meet some lovely folks at McMenamin's Kennedy School.. an oooold elementary school turned bars/hotel/theatre/brewery.. freakin awesome! We were going to see a movie but opted out at the last minute and instead had a lovely dinner in the Courtyard Restaurant and a drink in the Honors Bar.

The desire to divulge further has left me!

Finally... in the city.. so nice.. and yet all I want to do is hang out in my new bedroom (at least for now). I have a nice big room on the 3rd floor of this really cool old house on the NE side of Portland. My own queen size bed again, and even a *gasp* dresser to put my clothes in! Ye, I am truly blessed. I was able to bring the kitties with me and everything. I moved in last night, just kitties and the necessities; the rest of my belongings remain in McMinnville for the time being. I met my first Portland internet friend last night, he picked me up and we went to a little pub down the street that had wifi, an entirely entertaining internet jukebox, and late night food service. I had an extremely rare roast beef sandwich and some really good Portland brews... I love this town.. really, really, really love it. I'm going with the same friend later this afternoon to see The Golden Compass, and I went out this morning and opened a checking and savings account at WaMu, and now I just don't feel like doing anything. I don't have any plans for tomorrow so I may venture downtown and wander a bit. I suppose I ought to have my number changed to a Portland area code.. and that's really all I have to say, and probably more than you needed to know!

Just a quick little entry from my phone as I get ready for sleep.. this will be my last night sleeping on the air mattress in the livingroom of my future roommate *knock on wood*. I am super excited to finally be moving into the city and to be able to start looking for work. It's been nice having some quiet time to myself, hanging out with he girls, and trying to enjoy this little slice of the Oregon wine country, but I'm really never able to relax with so much up in the air.. I need to work on the whole control freak issue.. I may miss walking next to the hazelnut orchards in the fog, but it's good to know there is so much beauty so close by.

after trying to remember all that I forgot the reason for the title of that post... it snowed today!  that is all ^_^

Well.... the rest of the trip was a bit of a disaster.. we had fun hanging out together and spending time with mom and Ed and all the (scarily fat) kitties... saw some people that I hung out with in high school... that was.. interesting... attended my friend's wedding and reception... and Sunday morning started on our merry way. We took i-10 into California and hopped on some loop that took us around the outskirts of LA... hopped on i-5 and made it all the way through the mountains of Southern California and up to Los Banos, California before the truck gave up. It had been showing signs of overheating but I took it for granted and ended up blowing a head gasket. Right on the side of i-5 before the exit we were about to take to head up to go West and visit our friends. Luckily, I have AAA and we only waited next to the highway for an hour before the tow truck arrived, who then towed us to the nearest hotel, a Best Western Executive Suites that he promised was $40 or so a night (turned out to be $78 but I was so jittery and tired I didn't care). Luckily there was a Ford dealership about a block down and after trying to contact a shop (their webpage listed their fax number as their direct dial) I drove it over to the dealer. They delivered the verdict I was prepared for but hoping against, blown head gasket, and wanted at least $1000 to fix it. Considering that's only $800 less than I paid for it, and about what it was worth, I opted to sell it to the junk yard for a measly $125. My beloved mother rented me a car (07 Chevy Mailbu, YES it fit all of the things we were hauling PERFECTLY!) and we made straight up to the bay area to visit our friends as planned. Had a nice dinner and continued North. Stopped in Redding, CA - lovely little town, I definitely wouldn't mind visiting there again, and the drive from there was GORGEOUS.. the mountains, the sky, the trees, the MOUNTAINS! There will be pictures, I promise. Aaaannyway.. made it to Portland safe and sound despite the large amounts of flooding going on in Northern Oregon and Southern Washington... put Kelly on a plane back to Seattle... went down to meet a future possible (temporary) roommate only to find that he was having second thoughts about renting his room out at all... and so headed down to McMinnville, OR where my real future roommate lives. We plan to get our own place nearer to the city of Portland come January, but for now are living with her two roommates in a 3 bedroom manufactured home on the outskirts of McMinnville. Needless to say, I am without car, without job, and trying to relax and enjoy this unexpected vacation. I am trying to line up a temporary place in the city so that I can look for work and potentially start working before January. In the mean time I'm doing a lot of crocheting, reading, and eating my new roommate's pastries... oh, just so you get an idea of where we live, there is no internet provider that comes out to where we are, there just aren't any lines laid and they don't see any reason to do so. Satellite is available, but for a $300 installation fee. Meh. I'll do without for a few more days... or weeks... eep!

The first part of the journey went off without a hitch- picked up Kelly in Austin, had brunch with her and her friend Amanda, then hit the road.  Made it to El Paso in about 8 hours.  No trouble except for getting caught speeding (75 in 65), the trooper did not clock me, however, so I only got a warning... phew!  This happened about 20 miles from the hotel.. d'oh..  Next day, made it to Phoenix in 6 hours, no trouble.  Having fun spending time with my little sister and mom.. preparing for the next leg of the journey, the real tough part will be Phoenix to San Francisco, should be about 12 hours straight.  Fortunately I do enjoy energy drinks from time to time so this should be no problem.   Kelly is teaching me to crochet, I've made about 1/5 of a beanie for myself so far.  It's pretty fun.  I'm excited to start making different things and using different colors and textures of yarn and such.  Hopefully this hobby will take off more than the beading idea did... 

I'm tired.  Luckily I don't have too much packing left to do, just packing it all into the truck.  I think I've developed a cold.. hooray!  I had my bed picked up about an hour ago, took my fish back to the fish store, and am waiting for a guy to come and buy my fish tank from me.  I got a $30 store credit that he'll hopefully buy from me as well.  Right now I think I'm still a bit in disbelief.. or maybe I am really just over all of the excitement, fear and loneliness of it all.  I suspect it's a combination of that and my being too tired/sick to find these emotions right now.  Anyway.. the road ahead; tomorrow I pack up and leave for Austin.  My little sister Kelly is getting in to Austin in a few hours and I'll pick her up Monday morning.  Our first destination is El Paso where we have a hotel reservation.  Tuesday morning it will be on to Arizona, I'll drop her off in Tucson so she can see her friend and I'll continue on to Phoenix.  A friend from high school is getting married on December 1st, that was really the determining factor in the timing of this move.  Kelly and I will leave Phoenix on Sunday the 2nd, make a pit stop in San Diego to visit Dad, then up the coast to the San Francisco bay area.  We'll spend the night and all of the 3rd there, and finally arrive in Portland (hopefully by about mid-day) on the 4th. 

Am I excited?  Sort of.  It's going to be a lot of fun, but I'm still getting used to being unemployed and such.  I think I've got too much going on inside me right now to be any one thing.  Maybe that's it, maybe I'm all of it so I can't feel any of it... I don't know..