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.

Thurs and Fri

Thursday was probably the worst day ever so far. My water bottle somehow opened in my awesome-new-intern bag and got over all my papers, purse, mp3 player, etc… So that was bad. Then I couldn’t log in for seriously 10 minutes before Andrew came to help me, and that just made things worse. Then I didn’t have a paycheck (which I really needed since we’re going shopping this weekend), and they messed up my status so I couldn’t go on alternate work schedule (where I get every other Friday off, but I have to work 9 hour days M-R with 8 hr on F). So it was just awful. I was so tired and out of it too, even though I had 8 hrs of sleep, because of the schedule with the launch. Gah!

Friday, however, was fantastic. I was in a freaking movie! About 9am a whole camera crew bursted into the computer lab where I work and started setting all this stuff up. So then we had to run around and make the room look like we were about to have a launch. I got to pretend I was an analyst complete with headset, so that was sweet. It was just for a promo for Aerospace orientation, but still! It was a real movie making company with real lighting and everything. Sooo cool.
Then! One of the new interns offered to give me a ride home since he apparently lives like a block from me. (He’s from El Segundo.) And very cute (his current name is CG:Cute Guy…haha!). And he was going to come to the beach with us but then decided to hang out with his best friend instead Boo.
Last night we all went to Manhattan Beach Pier again and played volleyball and frisbee and had sand thrown down my pants *cough*Jason*cough* albeit on accident. There was this super cute guy there and he and I kept making eye contact. And the boys kept trying to get me to go over and talk to him, but he was with like 10 other people and that really made me not able to. But it was funny watching their tactics to try to get me over there. Anyway, this guy (CG2) and I kept making eye contact, but then he and his group of friends left, and  then we left a little bit after that. We went up the Kettle again (we were going to have a BBQ but it was too late to start). And then after dinner guess who we saw! CG2! And so the chicas and I tried to go find him (we definitely ran up the Blvd) but no success. I feel really dumb because I just stood there as I watched him walk by me (why am I so shy?!). Then, and wow, you’ll think this is crazy, I posted a missed connections ad on craigslist for him. And I got a response, though not from him, but from somebody else whose situation was really similar. Except he’s looking for a different girl. But at least I got a response. We’ll see, haha!

Anyway now I’ve got to walk to the bank and then we’re all going shopping and beaching today! Woohoo!

The Week So Far

My apologies for not updating as frequently as I’d like. Also, as a warning, I may be a little out of it in this post, since I’ve been awake since 2.30am, and it is currently about 6pm. Heh.

So the launch today was pretty cool. I had to be there at 3.30 (see previous post) which was not so cool, but it worked out all right. It meant I got to leave early, right after lunch, plus I get to leave an hour early on Friday. (We can’t work more than 40 hrs a week, and we only get paid for 8 hours a day, and no overtime pay. This means we can sort of allocate our schedules a little…not too much, but it’s good enough for me.) The launch itself was sweet. After sitting around doing nothing for 5 hours (seriously), the rocket went up. In the room where I work (think huge computer lab with like 50 nice computers and crazy stuff and lots of screens) we had live feeds to Cape Canaveral (where the launch happened), NASA people, and Cape Canaveral people working the launch. It was so cool! And the launch itself was sweet too. I love fire and rockets and stuff like that.

Yesterday was fun. After work we all (minus Julie) went to Manhattan Beach again. It was cloudy and actually kind of chilly so we didn’t stay on the beach too long. We went out on the pier and went to the free aquarium, though. Then we walked around looking for a place to eat. Eventually we found this nice pretty cheap Italian place. But they weren’t serving any tomato-related things so I had to get lasagna instead of the bruschetta I wanted. But the lasagna was pretty good. Then Andy and Bob came over and we watched the end of the Lakers game, and then I promptly went to bed…haha.

Monday we again stopped by the beach, but for literally only 10 minutes because it was cold Then Jason tried to teach me some swing dancing, and I attempted at teaching him some salsa, and we both sort of failed, but that’s all right… We’re all going to go dancing and clubbing at some point. Maybe this weekend, we’ll see. (The only thing on the menu for this weekend is shopping! We get our first paychecks … tomorrow? hopefully.)

Sunday we went over to Andrew’s place in Redondo Beach to watch the Lakers game. He was having a party, so I partook in party-like activities (and continued my amazing B— P— statistic at 12-1 … only lost one game ever in my entire history!). We played Rock Band too while waiting for the game to start, and that was pretty fun. I sang a few songs, played guitar, and played drums. I was decent, but need some practice. After a couple hours and many refreshments, we decided it’d be awesome to go to the beach, so we did. It was fun, but chilly, since it was like 9pm, and we just sort of stood around. But it was still fun…

So, I think that’s it for the week so far. Tonight we’re going up to Playa Del Rey beach and hopefully getting pizza somehow. I made cookies for everyone (I hope they like chocolate chip). Actually this is pretty much the first unhealthy thing I’ve eaten while out here. My friends actually “yell” at me for being so healthy…it’s really funny and pretty awesome! One of my goals was to eat healthily and get into shape, so that’s what I’m doing. I eat loads of fruit and nuts every day, along with good sandwiches and other main meals, so I think I’m doing well

Early Morning

I woke up at 2.30am today to be at work by 3.30am. I get to feed engineers and clean up after them while there’s a launch happening.

I am tired. Haha. But hopefully it’ll be cool.

Weekend

So Friday night we had this awesome bonfire on the state beach (Dockweiler) where there are loads of fire pits right by the ocean. We roasted s’mores. It was really fun. Saturday (yesterday) we all spent the whole day together. We went up to this dumpling restaurant in Arcadia, Din Tai Fung, and it was SO GOOD. Totally recommend it. Then we drove around trying to locate Beverly Hills and we wound up going through the Beverly Hills mall (not that great, but pretty). Then we went to the beach for several hours playing frisbee, volleyball, swimming around in the ocean, and making a monstrous sand-thing. Finally we went to a little park and had a BBQ. It was fantastic! Such a fun day!

And then I got home and saw everyone’s FB statuses reading something about flooding all over Columbus. Apparently my hometown is a big lake now. So people are keeping me updated, because I can’t find the news relating to Indiana around here which is unfortunate. I guess the whole state is having problems due to 10 inches of rain in like a day or two. The creeks overflowed. I feel weird that I’m not at home helping out and seeing what’s going on. It’s crazy.

Last Night

Yesterday was a good day. At work I have almost gotten the program to work how it’s supposed to. I also got to escort some 2nd graders around the campus at this science fair. That was nice because I got to be outside for a while (there are no windows or anything in the room where I work). However it also reminds me just how not-good I am with little kids. They weren’t too bad though which was nice.

After work we all met again at the pier and played frisbee and ate dinner. This time we went to a Japanese place and had a ton of sushi. (See picture) I even ate fish! Which is remarkable since I don’t particularly like fish (though I love sushi…). I had some salmon, and it wasn’t too salty or anything. Sweet. Hanging out with these new friends is a lot of fun. Our group seems to be growing a lot too, so that’s good. We’re going to do some fun stuff this weekend we hope! I can’t wait!

I’m Actually Doing Something

It’s crazy. I am writing a program, and it’s almost even working, and it’s awesome. And I still don’t know what I’m doing but it’s great anyway. Work is quite stressful at times though, in those moments of panic where it’s like, Oh, God, I don’t have an effing clue as to what I’m supposed to do or how. So I have to do a lot of research. BUT the point is that I am coding something for real (and not homework) and it’s going to be used in lauches and that’s just so freaking awesome. Anyway.

I ate dinner again on the beach (it’s so lovely!) but it was chilly and I forgot my memory card (again) so I didn’t stay too long. The point is that I make it there every day. Lunch I had with Andy and Jason, and that was a lot of fun. I think lunch may be the best part of the work day, and what we do after work the best part of course. Tomorrow we’ll hopefully do something fun (probably go to the beach again) and Friday we may do some kind of fire and food on the beach. That would be sweet (I love fire so much…). I am lucky that I found a group of friends already. We all seem to get along really well too! And I feel like an engineer which is hilarious but great at the same time. This is what could have been… hmm.