New Year — !

I bought a domain name ! And my blog will now be there, unless my commenting system is bad or something. (I guess we’ll see)
So, no more updates from here unless something happens.

This site will remain up, though! Can’t erase memories

New site:
http://www.twosidewayseight.com

NYE Eve

This is the day before the day when I think about everything that’s happened this year. I might as well get a head start. So, this year I …

-traveled to Vienna, Prague, and Berlin – and had an absolute blast.
-fell in love and had my heart broken within four months
-had an internship in southern California, which turned out to be the best summer of my whole life
-met a lot of now very close friends
-went surfing, body boarding, snorkeling, and rode in a helicopter
-bought a skateboard
-saw Wicked at Pantage’s in Hollywood
-saw a Tesla Roadster and a Delta II rocket up close
-saw a rocket launch (although it was 4 hours north of me)
-had In & Out Burger
-decided to run track for DePauw
-watched a lot of friends & acquaintances get engaged and/or married
-went to Canada on a road trip, saw Toronto and Niagara Falls, and went camping; also went to Cedar Point
-turned 21 and celebrated in style at some bars in Bloomington
-went to my first Colts game in years at the new stadium
-had my toughest semester so far, and somehow managed to pull out 3 A’s, one A-, and an as-of-yet unknown grade, in Russian, Discrete, Tae Kwon Do, Computer Science, and Environmental Ethics (philosophy), respectively
-had a song written about me
-ran 7.5 miles twice
-PR’ed a mile at 7.32
-went to the beach over 80 days in a row
-got a new MP3 player (Creative Zen 8mb)
-took care of a cat for 2 weeks
-read several books

As I think of more I’ll add.

sky at DePauw during finals week

Sometimes

Sometimes I think liking football should be a fulfilled criteria for dating me. It helps if you like sports in general, but you better like football. 2/3 of the guys I’ve dated, while I’ve dated them, have had no interest in football. What was I thinking? (One of them since has gotten more into it … but I wish he was that into it when we were together!)

So this has got me thinking about what qualities I want in a guy. I mean, I tend to think about it all the time anyway (that whole “being single” thing doesn’t help), but this time I’m going to get it out on paper … or Internets.

So stay tuned for about a million posts on what sorts of qualities my ideal guy would have. Of course no guy in the entire world exists like this, which is probably why I’m single, but hey, I can dream. Anyway, I think that if I can have these sorts of things all rolled into one somebody else can too, right? I guess we’ll see. No one’s perfect, but you can sure come close.

Unrelatedly, I went to the Colts/Titans game yesterday and that was a whole lot of fun. My dad’s friend had tickets and he invited us along. Lucas Oil Stadium is pretty freaking awesome, so if you can, check it out sometime. Here’s a picture I took at the game as the Colts players were coming out of the locker room:

It’s also beautiful here today, around 60 degrees. My run was fantastic but windy. I can’t believe it’s so warm for the end of December. I guess it’s supposed to get colder after New Year’s but who knows?

Just another Christmas update

Hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a good one
It’s funny, we celebrate Christmas but 3/4 of the people in my household are either Jewish, agnostic, or atheist. Then there’s the Catholic, so we get to celebrate still

As for me, I like the food I celebrate New Year’s…

It was absolutely gorgeous out. Today’s run was fantastic. Dad, brother, and I all went for a run. Raph hasn’t run in years, and we ended up going around 3mi, so props to him! He even sort-of-almost kept up with me at my sprint. New shoes are working out well. Can’t wait to go to the running store though. Got some xmas money that, if it’s not all used up in Ireland, will go to running gear. Exciting!! I haven’t tried a new sport for real in SUCH a long time, I guess since 5th grade. (Was that really 11 years ago?)

In the process of writing a couple songs. I am ridiculously good at writing choruses and sometimes first verses, but not much else. I’m going to try to record some things while I’m home, though, with easy access to our piano and drum set. I can’t decide if I should bring the acoustic guitar back as well as the electric. The acoustic is nice when I don’t feel like messing with the amp. (Man, I want to be in a band…)

Completely unrelated, I can’t help but notice this is the first year in 6 years that I haven’t had a sweetheart on xmas/new year’s Even after J and I split up, xmas was still pretty much the same. Still gave presents and all. This semester was just bad for that in general (yay rejection!). Next semester will be better though, I hope. All those cute runners But like I have to explain, it has to be mutual … (love is so complicated).

Side note – been finding quite a lot of music lately. NeverShoutNever!, The Bigger Lights, Owl City, A Day Away to say a few. Check them out on youtube or myspace or something. I lovelovelove that style of music. I’m an alternative/emo/punk girl at heart I’m sure, though I do love my rock. Actually, depending on what sort of mood you catch me in, I like pretty much everything. Found Fingerstyle Guitar exactly when I needed it.

All right, some day I will get back on a normal sleeping schedule. Here’s to trying.

Updating

Right, so — been a while.

This semester was not that great, but I guess I should remember to write about everything anyway. Will do that from now on.

I miss California like whoa.

Decided to run track, so this might turn into somewhat of a running blog as well. Yesterday was forced to run on the treadmill (since it was 15 degrees F outside with a windchill that made it feel like 0 or so…). Got new shoes as well so only went a couple miles in them to break them in gently. (Plus I hate running on the treadmill.) Hopefully won’t have to run inside today, but it looks cold outside again. The perils of living in the midwest: we have no idea what the weather’s going to do. But I like it that way.

School? What’s that?

I am back in Indiana and packing. I have been packing for several hours and I am tired and need a break. I forgot how intense packing can be (when you have to leave in less than 2 days anyway). I am trying very, very hard not to bring so much stuff with me this year but it’s very hard. There are loads of things I need and want to bring with me. I have cut down a little bit though! Be proud. The problem is that I like to be prepared for anything that could happen…
So far I’ve got a “bath” box, “desk” box, “kitchen” box (well, two very small boxes), and about to start on the “electronics”/”random” box. This is very good. Usually I have another box or two in there. Then I’ll probably have a couple of suitcases of clothes and bedding (bedding takes up SO much room…), and that will be about it besides the printer, skateboard, pillows, backpack, and guitar & equipment that I can’t really put in boxes. Yay!

Helicopter

If you ever get a chance to go on a helicopter, DO IT! We took a chopper from Catalina Island back to San Pedro on the mainland and it was in all likelihood the best experience of my life. SO cool, so much fun. Plus we saw a pod of whales over the ocean.

Early Night

Yesterday I did some laundry and went to the beach. I laid out for a while, talked to my mom, that sort of thing. Then I walked down to Manhattan Beach by way of beach/ocean and it was so nice…then we (JLo, B, A, me) laid out some more and played water frisbee…even though they didn’t bring their suits…haha! Well, today they better bring their bathing suits! I want to go swimming It’s been nice and warm and the water feels wonderful. We then went to eat at this place called Pancho’s (apparently it’s famous in South Bay) and it was pretty good but pricy. The atmosphere was nice though (lots of plants and light).

I got home before 9 last night, which is just way too early for a Friday night. I stayed up pretty late though; Jacob and I talked on the phone until after 1.30. Nice to catch up, very nice.

Today we’re beaching and partying. Should be a lot of fun, but I need to figure out some things.

How is it Friday already?!

This week has been a little crazy. You notice, I am not at work right now, as I am writing this post around noon even though it’s Friday. I also just got up about half an hour ago (sweet!).

We had a launch last night. This is my second and last launch this summer, because the next one doesn’t happen until late August, after I’m out of here. But last night’s launch was really a lot of fun. I went into work about 7.50am like normal for a Thursday, so I could get my Thursday 8 hrs in, because the launch tonight would take care of another 8hrs so I wouldn’t have to worry about Friday. About 5pm I went on a 7.5mi run down to the beach, then to home to pick up my super-awesome STARS shirt to wear, then to the grocery store to get milk, then back to work. As a note, I do not recommend running two miles with half a gallon of milk (tiring on the arms). The run was really nice, but it was very hot and there are SO MANY HILLS here. Like, think Pennsylvania, but worse. Apparently El Segundo is famous for their hills… haha. Anyway, I got back to work about 6.45 and did some job-related stuff (logged in computers for the analysts, worked a little bit on my project, that sort of thing). Oh, and ate, because I was starving. Then I found something online that already does almost exactly what my project is supposed to do. Oh well. The rest of the night was great. We had about 5 hours before the actual launch to be doing pretty much nothing. Josh started teaching me AutoCAD, so now I can draw some things. I may start having projects to do with this, though that would be scary, since I can’t really draw But it was fun
The actual launch was possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced. Since it was out of Vandenburg Air Force Base, it was only 4 hours north of us, so we would probably be able to see it from one of the courtyards outside. We stayed in the STARS room until the launch (so we could see all the fire and such from liftoff, which is soooooooo cool), and then ran outside to find the rocket. And there it was. Huge red and white bright thing moving crazy fast across the sky. Just looking at it, to me, was very powerful. I have only seen satellites in the sky before, never rockets… We got to see the flare when it releases its boosters as well. The whole experience was just so awesome. When we went back inside, we had live feed from on board the rocket, and we got to see the satellite it put into orbit fall away, open up, and go into orbit.
Stuff like this makes me love this job.

Wednesday we went down to Manhattan Beach again, just for a couple hours. We laid out, played some frisbee, and got Cold Stone (so good!). I even got to talk to Jacob for a couple of minutes, but then he went to play frisbee so it wasn’t too long…

Tuesday, we also went to Manhattan Beach, but I don’t know what we did there. Probably laid out and played frisbee, haha. Oh, we went to Mama D’s Italian Restaurant. It was supposed to be really good. It was okay, and expensive. And the atmosphere wasn’t the greatest (much too loud and tables super close together). But eh, it’s food, and it was all right.

Today with my day off (because of last night) I am going to the beach, laying out for several hours and working on my tan, probably playing in the ocean a little bit too. I think I might meet up with Josh and some of his friends at a beach down a mile from where I’ll be. And I will write postcards and get those sent off (sorry it’s taking me so long guys!). And do some laundry Hehe. So, I’m off! This looks like it’ll be a good weekend.

Weekend Craziness

So, I said I was going to walk to the bank, right? Yeah…my bank doesn’t exist here. Or anywhere in California for that matter. So I am breaking my own rule of not using the CC this summer until the direct depost kicks in, which sucks. So I will owe my parents even more money when I get home…fantastic! Sigh. Anyway, that was an adventure in itself, trying to find the bank and realizing the streets I was looking for didn’t exist and then being in a super shady part of town… Yeah. But then I went to Ralph’s and my friends picked me up there, after a super shady lady (?) sat down next to me missing all her front teeth and drinking a bottle of beer in the Ralph’s parking lot. Shadiest. Thing. Ever.
But then we went shopping, because I desperately need pants. (Note that that is still in the present tense.) We went to like one store. I hate shopping with other people. I do not shop like a girl at all, so shopping with girls is rather frustrating. But oh well. The camaraderie was fun. And the boys came along too.
Then we went to the beach (Manhattan) again. How I so adore the beach. We played some frisbee for a while, and I don’t remember what else.
We then went to a BBQ where Julie knew one of the guys, Ted, from home. He is interning at EA this summer (sooooooo jealous!) and he and his roommates had a house party/bbq thing. It was pretty fun. I met some cool people too. One of the guys is especially cute, but he is just paying attention to N and J. I do not think I am assertive enough or something. I am much too shy. I am trying to break out of it, and I feel like I’m just going backward. Anyway! The bbq was a lot of fun.

Sunday the girls and I went shopping again, but again I found no pants, as we only went into one store. We had lunch from a creperie which was fantastic (I love crepes…love crepes). And we sun tanned on Santa Monica Beach. Then Ted and the super cute EA guy and another girl, who is working at Boeing, joined us there and we walked along the pier. Bob randomly showed up as well (he biked! crazy!) and we had dinner at this Japanese place. Afterward there were tons of street performers and music and such on the Promenade and I finally convinced super cute EA guy to dance with me, but not until N and J had started dancing. You know, that is sort of annoying, because it was my idea to dance in the first place, but I blend too much in the shadows or something. Or people just don’t take me seriously at all. I am not sure what my problem is. But I feel that same thing happening again that happens at home where I just don’t get listened to, where my wants and needs get put aside, where I don’t really matter, and where all the cute guys flock to the other girls. That last one doesn’t fit in with the rest of the list but it still matters. So frustrating. Maybe I’m just not cut out for it.

I know I’m not cut out for this town. Too much traffic, too expensive, I don’t watch many movies; I feel like I’m on a completely different planet. But still, it’s LA and it’s fun for the summer. Especially this whole beach and ocean thing. Tonight Andy, Bob, and I had dinner and just plain relaxed on my beach… it was so nice. It got a little chilly but other than that it was so perfect.

I love the ocean. I want to go sailing.

Maybe that’s what I should be when I grow up.