Best wishes for a Happy _____!

So, I felt it best to keep things very general this year. I don't want to offend anyone by making assumptions on religious beliefs or non-beliefs. Fill it in as you feel appropriate. That, and hours of sitting at my desk with nothing to do have sucked all creativity from my soul...

Ohhh...the year-end overview...yippee!

January - Thinking back to my new year's resolutions, I am sad to report that few if any of them came to fruition...but, alas do they ever? What is the point of making resolutions? Perhaps we like to cling to the hope that this year will be better than the last. I digress...

In January I got a new roomate (Jen 2) and a BC driver's license.

February - Not much happened in February. I studied, wrote some papers, had some job interviews, took some driving lessons, lost a contact lens...

March - I turned cubic (27)! Celebrated with a potluck party and a piercing.

April - I passed my comprensive exams with flying colours thanks to a colour-coded filing system that took forever to organize but was well worth the effort. Visited Uncle Wayne and Aesook in Los Angeles.

May - Started working full-time on the Workplace Noise Control study for UBC. Went to Chicago for AIHce and was reminded of how unfashionable hygienists can be. Chicago was lovely though!

June - I graduated from UBC and my dad came out to watch me cross the stage, and to eat the bounties of the West Coast (crab)! Joined an ultimate frisbee team with Jesse and ran my ass off. Made some new friends whose given names I prefixed with "Frisbee" to distinguish them from friends by the same first name (e.g. Frisbee Jen, Frisbee Jon).

July - Realized that there was a bonus to working at UBC, and started going to the beach after work. It's a shame there are so many ugly naked people at Wreck Beach.

August - Went to the Okanagan on a business and pleasure trip. Bought some beautiful peaches on the way home. Job interviews and moving out of my apartment and into Jesse's/storage. Thus begins my life as a wanderer.

September-October - Went to Thailand and Laos! Saw and experienced some amazing things. Met fantastic people...too many to list, but you know who you are.

End of October - Moved to Seattle to start a new job. Rain, mountains, coffee drinkers...it's a lot like Vancouver, but with more Americans.

November - Moved out of the hotel, and into my own room in a house with 9 new housemates (too many to list and I'm not sure I know all their names), thus ending my time as a wanderer. No furniture for another 3 weeks though, so couldn't unpack yet...It's still looking a bit bare bones, but maybe I can bring back some art work from home.

December - Finally got a social security number, a bank account, a credit card and a phone (sort of). I partially exist now in the United States...Survived the worst wind storm to hit Seattle since 1962. There are still people without power and it's been a week! Flying home tomorrow night for Christmas and New Years!

Once again, I hope you and yours have a Happy ____!!

Stormy weather

Seattle got hit this week with some pretty nasty weather. Mainly wind and heavy rain that caused them to close the 520 bridge which connects Seattle with the Eastside suburbs (where I work) on Thursday night and knocked out the power throughout the city. The power went off at my house at around 12:30-1 am. I woke up at 6 am Friday morning, noticed that the power was out, figured the bridge was probably also close. There was nothing to do but go back to sleep. When I woke up again at 7:30, the power was still out but at least there was daylight. I called a co-worker to find out what was happening (she had power!) and found out that the power was out in Redmond...no point going into work. By 8:15 the power was restored at our house...yippee! We were lucky, some people in outlying areas may not have power for Christmas...

Anywho, just letting you all know that I am safe and that I was not crushed by a fallen tree.

Skimmy dipping...

This morning I asked for skim milk in my chai latte at Whole Foods. (I am on a quest to find the best chai latte in town.) I was so distracted with amounting the correct change in order to maximize my quarter return (coin-operated laundry at the house) that I didn't notice the puzzled look that the barista gave me. Apparently, as my co-worker later explained to me, they do not have "homo" or "skim" milk here. They call it "whole" or "non-fat". So, what is 2% or 1%? Something to chew (well, sip) on...

Christmas Countdown

In the past two weeks I have lost the mittens and scarf that I made last Christmas, and I'm only left with the hat from the matching set. So, I need to make replacements. The last set I knitted, but this one I will crochet. The primary reason for this is that I don't have the right size of knitting needles. I gave my pair to Leah when I taught her how to knit. But I have many, many crochet needles, despite the fact that I'm not very good at crochet. Anywho, I think I have picked patterns that are easy enough for me to handle...

I looked at my calendar today and realized that I'm flying home for Christmas in two weeks! I haven't been home since last Christmas, so I'm definitely looking forward to it. I hope there is snow.

We got a little bit of snow in Seattle last week, that melted almost immediately. It virtually paralyzed the already spastic Seattle drivers. The schools were closed for 3 days and there were chains on my bus!

Funny west coasters...