Uninteresting?

Having an online journal I often wind up coming to the same point. Feeling like it is silly for me to be writing in here because my life isn't really all the interesting. And then I feel weird for thinking it is and having created a blog to tell people about my life.

That is what has happened this time. However, I am over it. Lets update this blog on my life:

1. We have decided to postpone our trip temporarily. One of the main reasons being that it hasn't made much sense to start training for a promotion with a two month trip planned in the middle of it. I have some reservations about this. If/when I get promoted, I will be working a salary job and will have a lot more responsibility. This is both great and nerve racking. I enjoy the aspect of being able to be flighty (take two months off for a trip and return to my job, for example). I am also worried that it will be even more difficult later to try and go on this trip. I know that the duration will not be able to be two months with the position I will be in. Will I be able to ever do something like that again?

2. I have started on a training schedule at Trader Joes. My goal is to have been promoted by the end of summer. That is also dependent on availability of positions (if they open new stores up here, people step down, etc.). It is kind of overhwelming to think about. Especially because there are three other people at my store training as well. Two started before me, one started at the same time. My competitive nature is a nuissance.

3. Since we postponed the trip, we decided that we really want to visit home(s). So on January 27, we arrive in Phoenix at 11:11 am. January 31, we arrive in Ontario at 11:42 am. February 3 we leave Ontario around 5:15 to come home. It will be nice.

4. We are looking at places to move (our entire house). And our most important criterion is that it is not a duplex or any sort of shared unit. Our max paid rent is to be no more than 450 each. We want to stay in the Central district/Madrona area. Well, I have been looking at Craigslist daily. And found a 4 bedroom/2 full bath at MLK and Denny (which is about 5 blocks from where we lived 3 years ago - in Madrona) where we would be paying 348.75 each, which is 26.25 less than we pay now. It is a single family home, has a place to garden, and accepts cats. It is also really close to Cafe Flora:) Anyhow, I met with the landlord yesterday and Katie Costello came with me. I was so glad to have her there. The woman really enjoyed talking to Katie, while I was anxiously filling out the application form. I wrote a holding check because 1. I am that confident that everyone will like it and 2. I am the pickiest out of everyone. So tomorrow at 9 am we are all going to see it. The holding check means that she will not process any applications before ours. Also, this person is really easy to communicate with (so opposite from our current landlord).

Isn't it funny how everything stressful seens to happen at once in our lives? Its silly:)

Seattle Rock Orchestra

The show on Tuesday was amazing. I will just post this review by the stranger (complete with youtube videos!!).


There is also a video of our one and only rehearsal.

Also, there is a video that a guest in attendance posted on youtube, that isn't very good, but here it is.

You can only see me a little bit in the rehearsal video, and not at all in the other ones (Mom). It isn't worth explaining where I am.


Anyways it was so much fun. I had ten friends show up! 2 were surprise friends:
Nolan, Daniel, Nathan, Annie, Lindsey, Tim, Ashley, Nik, Adam and Rachel (the surprise guests! - they were the ones whose wedding I went to this summer).

:)

Sugar Pie

Halloween was a good time. I went to Value Village (which is the equivalent of Goodwill) ON halloween for my costume (what was I thinking?). I had decided to be a pumpkin, and I was looking for orange pants to go with my orange shirt. Instead, I found an amazing orange dress for 4.99. We have a lot of scrap fabric in the house, so I stitched a carved face on it. I cut up an old tank top with green straps and wrapped them around my hair for vines.

We went to a friends house. John Schueller, one of the managers at the store, and his wife had an adorable party. She spent a lot of time and energy decorating and it looked great. The only down side is the fact that they just moved into their new house. Their house is in Greenwood, which is further North than Nolan's place of work. We didn't plan for the last bus home (which was stupid of us), so were calling cab companies that weren't answering. It was not only Halloween, but Halloween on a Saturday night. In Seatttle. Needless to say we waited a while to get home.

1. A punkin

2. Angela, Devin, Amber (Rambo, Sausagefest, Garden Gnome)

3. John as a Jockey!

4. Nolan (a non Halloween enthusiast) and Amber

Also, I just got an email from Scott (the guy organizing the Seattle Rock Orchestra) saying that the show on the 17th is already sold out! Ahhh!

A niche is the way in which an organism occupies space.

I am crazy! So busy! So tired! Mackenzie will be here tomorrow.

Sometimes my perfectionism drives me crazy. You know I wouldn't have it any other way, though.

Kathy, Mom, Papa, and Mrs. Rausch - I owe all of you phone calls.

Next week. Here is my schedule next week:
M 4pm - 12a
T 1pm - 9pm
W 6am - 2pm
Th 5am - 1pm
F X
Sa X
Su 4pm - 12am

Thursday night I have rehearsal 7.30pm - 10pm.

Friday I have a dentist appointment at 10 am.
A doctor appointment at 2 pm (with a naturopathic doctor covered by my insurance - I am so excited).
And my first Thalia Symphony concert at 7 or 8.

Saturday is Halloween and I have no idea what I am doing. Thats not completely true. Remember the blog that won that Jansport party? Those same people are throwing a Halloween block type party that I might go to. Its ten bucks. I dunno, we'll see.

I'm giving violin lessons.

I am also finally finding my niche here. It feels really good.

Afterall

I love when small world scenarios happen. You should probably know that about me in general. Coincidences and things that make you say "What a small world" are my favorite things ever.

So Seattle Rock Orchestra performance. The guy who is getting the musicians (who I played for) - Scott - sent out an email last night with more information in it and stuff. It also had a link to the facebook event for it (this is different from the other facebook link that I put up). And there are 50 confirmed guests for it and I was looking at the guest list. I assumed that a lot of these people, like me, are musicians. There are going to be 50 - 60 people in the performance.

Facebook has this really amazing feature that tells you how many friends you have in common with people. (Remember that customer friend that I made and we randomly have 2 friends in common?). Well most people I didn't have any in common with, but then I did with a several people. I assumed these in common friends to be 1. Scott or 2. Jackie (That is Nolan's old coworker that referred me to audition)

So I start clicking around to see in common friends with these random guests. And I have two mini "what a small world!" experiences and a third bigger one.

The first one, I click on this girl who is friends with our friend Chris. We met Chris through friends in Portland, but he is from Tempe, weird.

The second one I have three friends in common with: Scott, Jackie, and John Schueller. John is one of my managers at Trader Joes/the only manager that is my friend and who I hang out with outside of work.

The third one I only have one friend in common with. I click on it and it is Taeler Good. Nolan's cousin in Southern California. Man, I love that.

This isn't incredibly applicable to this, but I was talking about funny friend-in-common coincidences with someone before and they explained something really simple and neat to me, that I have adopted as a theory as well. If you are a good person that likes to have good people around you, you will find your way to others like you. This happens to mean having a lot of friend-in-common coincidences no matter how many people are in this world.

I am in the phase of being sick where there is rumbly mucous in my chest. This means that I am coughing a lot but nothing is really coming up. So I have to take a lot of melatonin if I expect to sleep at all. It's fine, only because when this is over, it will be over. I was coughing up blood a couple days ago, but that is over.

Buhlud!

Set.

So I am finally going to have a set ish schedule. This has been in effect for two weeks. However, my manager put in everything so that it is one day off from what it should be.

Starting Monday October 26 my hours will look like this:
Sunday 4pm - 12am
Monday 2pm - 10pm
Tuesday 12pm - 8pm
Wednesday 6am - 2pm
Thursday 4am - 12am
Friday X
Saturday X

This is the complete opposite of Nolan's schedule:
Sunday X
Monday X
Tuesday 2pm - 5pm (This shift is at the Bikery)
Wednesday 1pm - 10pm
Thursday 1pm - 10 pm
Friday 2pm - 10pm
Saturday 8am - 10pm

Nolan also has ENG101/M-F/9am - 10am.

I am excited to have a set schedule. I also am bummed at how different our schedules are. But I had to have Thursday night for orchestra and set something up so that I could start training. Well, I didn't have to, but they expect you to initiate everything, so I did. And this schedule shadows the full timer that I will be training with.

So that is that. Mackenzie is actually coming here. Like, she actually bought a ticket. She is coming for the weekend of October 23 - 25. I am super stoked. I just hope that I am completely over this sickness and that she doesn't get sick or anything.

In Black

Hello hello hello!

Ok So we had a hard rive failure (annoying) and had to get another one. 200 dollars later, we have a computer back (with no preexisting information). We now know that we should back our information up. Sigh. Oh well, nothing can be done about it now.

I have felt intimidated by the task of posting a blog because I haven't updated in so long, I don't know where to begin.

I'll just go with the current events.

So, yesterday I woke up feeling horrible. It was totally out of the blue, too. I didn't even feel any symptoms at all and then BAM, everything was there at once: fever, headache, disgusting cough, and an outrageous sore throat. Thursday/Friday is my weekend, so it kind of worked out being able to take it easy. I didn't go to orchestra last night because I felt so crappy.

I feel better today (the fever/headache combo is gone) but I still have my other symptoms. Blech, I hate this feeling. About a week ago I scheduled a secret audition that I didn't tell anyone about. Thats not completely true. I accidentally told Dana. But I didn't even tell Nolan. I just didn't want to deal with everyone asking me if I was nervous, wishing me luck (I know I'm ridiculous), and me just getting extra hyped up about it. Plus then everyone wants to know how it went blah blah. Anyhow, today I tried out for the Seattle Rock Orchestra (SRO). They are only a year old, but have done some pretty rad stuff already:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/seattlerockorchestra?ref=ts
http://www.myspace.com/seattlerockorchestra

And I made it.

So thats cool. They are going to do all of Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. This happens to be an album that I was obsessed with at one point in my life (maybe 2 years ago?). The audition was for a specific performace that they are giong to be doing in November. Its not a contiuous weekly rehearsal type of thing like Thalia is. So its not conflicting at all.

I currently have beet soup simmering on the stove. I can't WAIT to eat it, ugh.

That's all I have in me for now.