|
December 5th, 2009
08:17 pm
Kelvin is graduated! Woo! As a gift to him, I got to drink a concoction with craploads of garlic, "house sause," chili oil, crab juice, jello, champagne, and Sweet & Low. Don't ask. My friends are awesome.
So a wrench has been thrown into baby plans. Although Christina can use sick leave for when Mira is born, I can only use annual leave (ie vacation time) since I'm not sick or taking care of a sick child or "spouse." All of a sudden, I have 2 months worth of sick leave that is useless. My annual leave was originally going to be donated to Christina because she has crappy amount of leave left (I cannot donate sick time because the government is comprised of assholes. And because I can only use annual leave, my time with Mira is cut in half because I have way less annual leave than I do sick. In a nutshell, I can't use 2 months of saved up sick time, which means I can't donate a month's worth of leave to Christina, which means we're basically out $3000 AND I lose a month off with Mira. Fuck.
I have a $300 speeding ticket to pay to Truckee. And a $65 administrative fee to pay to be eligible for $9.95 traffic school. Fuck.
I applied to be an "Executive Assistant" (read "Chief Office Bitch for our head person") the other day. It's a solid $4500 raise. We'll see how it goes. I absolutely suck at interviews though.
|
October 28th, 2009
01:14 pm
I should probably mention here that we settled on a name. Assuming she pops out as a girl, as intended, our baby's name will be Mirella Anne Mathvorn. Mira for short. Ella for the asian family. Anne because Christina's mom, great-grandmother, and every other woman up 7 generations have had that as a middle name. Mathavorn so long as Christina is happy with me. Mira means ocean in Hindi/Sankrit, peace in most Slavic languages, and some variation of "to admire" or "Look!" in a ton of Latin-based languages.
3 days to finish applying to grad school! I have my letters of recommendation lined up - I just need to e-mail all my professors, get an official transcript from TMCC, rewrite my Statement of Purpose, hope that my GRE scores are still at UNR, and cross my fingers. Unlike the past 5 semesters around this time, this actually seems doable. Grad school, here I come. Hopefully.
Other than that, things have been pretty okay. Christina's mom and grandmother were in town yesterday. My mom came over and we all got to meet - it turned out strangely well. Other than that, things have been pretty mundane and decent. We are planning on doing all sorts of crazy things with Mira, from teaching her Baby Signs to Elimination Communication(warning: involves peeing children) to using gDiapers on her.
Next week, Dad's going on a cruise through the Mediterranean. Simultaneously, I'm driving my mom and uncle to San Francisco so they can fly to Thailand. Christina and I are going to spend a day or so in San Francisco too and chill.
I still need a Halloween costume.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/niaha/kitty/ankittenr.gif) okay
Current Music: Paul Oakenfold - Southern Sun (Original Mix)
|
October 14th, 2009
05:59 pm
It's going to be a girl!
|
October 7th, 2009
01:54 pm
I squander time when I have it and never have enough when I need it the most.
Exhibit A: I have less than 2 months to close on a house in order to get $8000 from the government. Almost everything worth buying has been bought already.
Exhibit B: With until the end of the month to apply to UNR (I've already written DC off, at least for a while), I still haven't asked my boss (or another suitable third person) for a letter of recommendation. She may be gone for the next 6 weeks getting surgery done.
Exhibit C: The baby is just about halfway cooked up. Next week we find out the gender.
Ideally, I'd have gotten a house and spent the $8000 towards grad school/baby expenses. I guess it is not such a terrible deal to delay grad school till next fall (ie after the first few months with a newborn) and to not have a mortgage to have to pay off. But it maybe would have felt like I was being proactive with my life, instead of just counting the days till baby is born.
Also, I am getting sick as hell and cannot breathe through my nose for the life of me.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/niaha/kitty/anksadr.gif) stuffy
|
July 3rd, 2009
07:09 pm
Assuming you have Myspace or Facebook, I finally got around to uploading Europe pictures. As kickass as the trip was altogether, Europe does not feel foreign in the least anymore. I blame Europe's amazing education system (ie everyone speaks wonderful English) and a culture which isn't TOO far off from ours. Still, I did 3 things on my "101 Resolutions in 1,001 Days" list:
#20: Eat goulash in Hungary.
#21: Ponder life in a Viennese coffehouse.
#46: Take a train somewhere.
And I made good progress on #93: Try 30 new beers. (I tried 10 new ones.)
Coming home resulted in hearing life-changing news. I haven't quite figured out how to approach said news yet. Suffice it to say though that at some point in the near future, I absolutely have to suck it up and do all the shit that I've been planning to do to get my life going strong.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/niaha/kitty/ankthinkr.gif) overly contemplative
Current Music: The Lawrence Arms - 100 Resolutions
|
June 25th, 2009
09:24 am
Today is day 3 in Budapest. So far it's been freaking amazing. Yesterday consisted of climbing up to the top of St. Istvan's Church (and I mean, up secret stairs 4 stories above the observatory floor through a secret porthole to a metal ceiling with no guardrails), having goulash for the first time, checking out prison cells at the House of Terror museum, and being in the center of the second row to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream at the State Opera House.
The other day, we went to one of the hugest, most impressive graveyards in Vienna to find Mozart's grave. In the process, we walked hours through epic rainstorms, found a secret church in the center of the graveyard, and found Beethoven's grave by accident. Also, I broke my umbrella in all the wind. It was good times.
I am still too lazy to post pictures. Sorry.
|
June 21st, 2009
11:09 pm
So! It's my second day in Vienna. This after travelling through 4 countries yesterday (bussing from Luxembourg to Germany, flying to Slovakia, and taking a train to Austria). My first impression? Wien (Vienna) is like any other big German city but with maybe a bit more white in the color scheme than gray. Jonathan, Brandt's Austrian friend, has been showing us around the past few days and it's been pretty cool barhopping and all. I hear that Wien has one of the highest bar to cobblestone ratios in the world. Being with Andrew and Brandt has made me less ashamed to use English in public (something I should have learned in Luxembourg); being with Jonathan and Oskar (this cool Finn that we shared a hostel room with and hung out with for the better part of 2 days) has made me wish that our education system would force feed us 3 or 4 more languages before graduating. Still, unlike the other places I've been to, the culture shock I'm experiencing is suspiciously low.
Luxembourg was pretty okay. The city itself was pretty dramatic - it was built on both sides and on the bottom of a huge canyon. If this computer had a USB connection, I'd consider uploading a picture or 3. It's a solid day trip destination. Actually - so was Cologne.
I think we've had enough of Vienna. It's not a bad town, but if anything, it's a big place to party and maybe watch an overpriced concert or 2. In the morning I think we're going to try and figure out a day trip destination. It's actually a pretty hard proposition if we don't want to hike.
It's Father's Day, right? My sense of time and space is slowly fading from me. I should call Dad.
|
June 18th, 2009
08:50 pm
So I'm in Köln (Cologne). And it's pretty okay. The Dom, which is the largest church in Germany, is solidly alright (the tower was not worth climbing 500 steps for. Maybe 200 for the view.). The sights are okay. The museums are okay. The people are okay. Meh. It all feels pretty familiar but at the same time, I'm having the hardest time talking to people. At a museum, I asked for a student ticket and got a stool instead.
So my plane yesterday (2 days ago?) was delayed for 3 hours so I missed my train to Köln and had to pay a ridiculous €60 for a new ticket (I paid €19 before and it's only an hour and a half). I guess the train was nice, at least.
Then I couldn't quite find my hostel and ended up walking in circles for more than an hour. My feet hate me at the moment.
Tomorrow I go to Luxembourg at 8 in the morning. I don't speak more than 5 words of French, let alone Letzebuergisch, the regional language. We'll see how that goes.
|
June 11th, 2009
07:23 pm
Today I watched shit get blown up in the middle of the desert and got paid for it.
(Non-trivial) Things to do in the next 5 days (in order of expected time of completion):
-Finish applying for the Supervisor spot. 6.5 of 11 essays completed. Yes, the government has me write essays to even be considered for an interview. Yes, 5.5 of the 6.5 essays were copy/pasted from previous applications. No, I do not want to write 4 more essays on my experience "interpreting information and making informed decisions" and "analyzing security-related systems for discrepancies in work output."
-Consider blasting through final two classes needed for "Professional Certificate in Disaster Management" from FEMA.
-Find people to see Ming and Ping with me tomorrow night (I get Saturday off thanks to swapping shifts with someone at work).
-Get a replacement UNR student ID so I can get crazy discounts in Europe.
-Get a haircut.
-Pack for Europe.
-Go to Dana and Kevin's wedding.
-Visit Mom and Dad.
-Get the hell out of America.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/niaha/kitty/anktiredr.gif) groggy
Current Music: Ming & Ping - Beautiful Things
|
June 2nd, 2009
04:57 pm
2 weeks exactly till Europe! Small practicalities are seeping in as the trip looms closer. That is, how in the hell am I getting from Prague to Frankfurt to fly back home? Long story short, Andrew, Brandt, and I are parting ways in Prague on the 29th and I have to be in Frankfurt at 9:55 AM on the 30th to come home. And Andrew and Brandt certainly need to be in Munich the night of the 29th - they have hostel reservations already and they fly out of there in the morning. There are a few ideas I've been considering:
1) Leave Prague early by train, spend the night checking out Frankfurt. Probably the easiest logistically, but Frankfurt doesn't really seem to have much going for it. €49 for the train ride, another €18 for the hostel = €67.
2) Leave Prague late by train, possibly spend the night in said train, and arrive in Frankfurt bright and early. Makes for another half/full day in Prague and potentially avoids needing a hostel for the night. €59 for the train ride, slight possibility of €18 for hostel.
3) Leave Prague crazily late by plane via RyanAir, bus it to the actual Frankfurt airport, sleep in airport until departure. Full day in Prague, cheap as fuck - and a logistical headache. $7 for the flight (and $15-ish in fees) = €15.
4) Train it to Dresden, spend 5-6 hours there, train it to Frankfurt. Daytrip + the possibility that Andrew and Brandt will be willing to come along (though it is mildly out of their way). €19 from Prague to Dresden, €39 from Dresden to Frankfurt, €18 for hostel = €76.
Anyway, it is off to Great Basin Brewery.
|
May 19th, 2009
09:37 pm
So I booked my flight to Europe this morning. I'll fly to San Francisco, have a 7 hour layover (ie a built in day trip to San Fran), and then fly straight to Frankfurt. Why Frankfurt? Because the ticket only cost me $800.
Long story short, Andrew and Brandt will be leaving almost 3 days after me and we're all eventually meeting in Vienna. Which means I'll have 3-ish days to spend on my own. I'm planning on taking Ryanair to get from Frankfurt to Vienna - it's the same price as a train and takes about half the time. Actually, Ryanair flies to weird airports so I'll be flying from Frankfurt Hahn airport (about 75 miles from Frankfurt) to Bratislava, Slovenia (30 miles from Vienna).
Thus, there are several options I've got:
1) Spend a day in Frankfurt, spend a day or two in Bratislava. If nothing else, I can say I've been to Slovakia before. Anybody ever watch Hostel before?
2) Spend a day or two in a small German town, spend a day in Bratislava. Some candidates close to Frankfurt include Mainz, Bacharach (ie "Altar of Bacchus" - tons of wine cellars and they converted a castle on a hill overlooking the town into a hostel), gorgeous-ass Koblenz, and ancient-as-dirt Trier.
3) Spend 2-3 days in Cologne, then head straight to Vienna. Cologne is probably actually worth staying in for a few days and it has the Koelner Dom, which is basially the largest, best cathedral in Germany. Cost-wise, it's not so bad, but it's sort of out of the way - about 2 hours to get there from Frankfurt and another 2 hours from the airport (or 4 more hours if I take a train straight to Vienna).
4) 2-3 days in Heidelberg. Crazily gorgeous, crazily touristed.
I'm leaning towards Cologne, but really, it's basically a big toss up.
Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Akon (featuring Eminem) - Smack That
|
May 7th, 2009
11:41 pm
There are so many ways that my life could be sucking right now. I'm grateful that anything I could possibly call a "problem" right now is trifling and petty compared to what some others are going through.
I went camping over my weekend right off the Yuba River. I have been describing the trip as a series of car problems interspersed with amazing scenery, mild illegality (ie squatting), and good times. More accurate that "car problems" would be "car puzzles" - we got a Ford Taurus stuck in a snow bank and spent 3 hours digging and trying to figure out how to get it out. We found a "campground" on what was most definately public land, where Joe subsequently got his truck stuck in mud. But we had a tent to set up and no light left. The next day, we spent a solid half hour working out how to get the car out. After our second victory of the trip, we found a trail to hike maintained by an electric company and, as we were about to start hiking, Joe realized that he had locked his keys in the car. And then it started raining. Christina saved the day with a metal marshmallow stick wedged into the door.
The forest distinctly did not seem to want us there.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/niaha/kitty/ankawaker.gif) worried
Current Music: Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Shake The Sheets
|
May 1st, 2009
03:35 am
What was the last thing I wrote in here...?
Europe is getting finalized - Frankfurt, Prague, Budapest, Sighisoara (ie Dracula's birthplace), Vienna, "some Scandinavian country," and Berlin. I am so stoked.
I went to the Yuba river for the first time the other day. Between watching a dog nearly fall to its death, flagrantly trespassing through gorgeously grandiose canyons, scaling cliff walls, nearly falling to my death myself, and having my breath literally taken away by a 6 story waterfall, I'd say it was a pretty good adventure. We're apparently going back next week to camp.
|
April 22nd, 2009
03:37 am
Andrew and Brandt are planning to go to Europe at the end of June - starting from Moscow and working west through Finland, Sweden, and Germany. I absolutely want to go with them (though I would want to go to at least Budapest and Vienna or Prague).
But this will take valuable money from buying a house this year - and, between the crappy housing market, the low interest rates, and the $8000 that Obama will give me to buy a house before December, a house seems like a mighty good idea.
On the other hand, I'll need money saved up in case I decide to move to DC after all. Or go with Mom to Thailand again.
Maybe I can swing two of the above choices. But I apparently need to decide wether to go to Europe pretty soon, which means that I have to decide whether or not to do all the other shit I want to do with my life soon. Huh.
|
April 12th, 2009
02:01 pm
Happy Easter! I celebrated by making myself a delectable pork tenderloin.
I'm back to working mornings. Specifically, 4:30 to 1. Woo. Judging by today though, I'll enjoy myself - there is an entire day of perfect weather ahead of me to enjoy.
Anybody want to go to see The Hold Steady with me on Tuesday? Alternatively, there is a foreclosed home auction that will be happening then too.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/niaha/kitty/ankhappyr.gif) full
Current Music: Journey - Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
|
April 2nd, 2009
11:34 am - "I didn't expect this to happen at all!"
This must have been said at least a dozen times this morning. I'll leave it at that.
In other vaguely worded news, I got a new toy in the mail yesterday! I'll explain more as soon as I play around with it a bit.
Current Mood: happily vague and slightly delirious
|
April 1st, 2009
12:33 am
I'm torn between saving up for a place of my own and travelling the world.
Andrew wants to backpack Europe this summer - and I want to see Vienna, Prague, and Budapest. Mom needs to go back to Thailand at the end of the year and wants me to go too - Brandt said he'd want to go too. Also, I've been teaching myself Spanish for a couple weeks now in the hopes that I can go to Argentina and tango the night away after dining on huge steaks and litres of wine.
Then again, my lease ends in August. And a bombing house market plus $8000 in tax rebates if I buy a house this year (thank you, Obama) means a condo is well within reach. And the $8000 could go towards more travelling...
Being a grown-up is hard.
Current Mood: sore
Current Music: Planes Mistaken For Stars - The Part You Left Out
|
March 24th, 2009
12:30 am
So I just sent out some e-mails to professors asking if I could "arrange a meeting with them to discuss grad school." This is probably the most harrowing thing I've done all year. I'm pretty sure my whole thesis fiasco a couple years ago (ie having 4 different professors tell me they weren't interested in my research) is the culprit behind my incredible lack of confidence with professors. That, plus the fact that if I want to get into school this Fall, I have to get my references to turn in something in one week (3+ weeks is the polite amount of time to give). The fact that I didn't start this process, bare minimum, when I got back from Thailand, is really starting to kick my ass.
One distinct thought process forced me to overcome my anxiety: worst case scenario, my references would refuse to write a half-assed letter of recommendation in 5 days. But I still have until November to apply for grad school for Spring 2010 here or maybe in DC. And, while that's like 8 months away, having a set date to start taking classes again is way the fuck better than this stupid ritual I go through twice a year of declaring that I want to go to grad school, worrying myself into procrastination, realizing that I have no idea what to write in my Statement of Goals, missing the deadline, and declaring that I will apply for next semester while simultaneously undergoing another roundd of self-loathing. In short, I'll have to ask anyway - I might as well do it now. And, (near-)worst case scenario, I get an application in half a year early.
The best case scenario was something gleaned from Andrew - he's also graduating from UNR and staying for grad school. His professors told him that they didn't need to write letters of recommendation. Andrew need only write their names onto his application and then the professor in charge of admitting new grad students would just talk to the referrers. It actually seems pretty reasonable that the same could apply to me - I just need a supervisor from work to type something hideously quick for me - and they've got shit saved from writing my quarterly reviews anyway. Fall classes may be a possibility yet.
During this whole process, I was reminded of my New Year's Resolution for this year which I stumbled across last night. I resolved to "do shit that would clearly terrify me the fuck out." It's a step in the right direction, anyway.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/niaha/kitty/ankscaredr.gif) Terrified the fuck out.
Current Music: Sonic Youth - Unmade Bed
|
March 18th, 2009
01:08 am
Shit finally went right today. More or less. This is after having to cancel a trip to Yosemite at the last minute, not doing dim sum yesterday, not being able to buy the netbook I was looking at yesterday (they were out), and despite a few too many last minute flakes. Andrew and I went to get dim sum and assorted Swedish goods this afternoon - Jim and Kelvin bailing on us made us want dim sum more. Tonight consisted of club/barhopping with assorted work people. All in all, good times.
Other than that - I really want to travel more and I am running out of time to apply for grad school. These are apparently constants in my life.
I have been learning Spanish strenuously in the hopes that I can tango and dine the nights away in Argentina. Or Spain. Or Colombia. Or Chile.
And thus sums up my life. Woo being 23.
|
March 4th, 2009
11:58 pm
Woo! It's my birthday! Technically, it's not for another 8 hours and 47 minutes, but whatever. Unfortunately, it will be squandered working, as will the upcoming weekend.
Anybody up for some Monday night partying?
(god, I hate my days off now...)
Current Music: Cursive - Let Me Up
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
brownie_charles's journal