The Boots were a Bad Idea...

BUT, not because they were boots, because they were brand new.

I really probably should have stayed home today and done some school work, but in reality, that wasn't going to happen anyway.  It's been a busy weekend, but a fun one, even with spending a lot on my car.

I still wanted to go far away, but knew I shouldn't since I am going to San Diego next weekend.  I texted Flako and asked him if he knew of a park that was in the city but didn't seem like the city.  He so very helpfully responded "yeah" so at least I knew it existed.  I ended up doing the little bit of work that I had to get done, and then went to go get Flako.  I got out of the car to let him drive and apparently what I was wearing was not "park appropriate" in his mind.  I was wearing a dress and boots.  It was perfectly park appropriate.  I do not regret wearing the dress.  It was hot out.  The boots....maybe not, but I won't admit that to him.  The boots' problem was the fact that they are brand new and I hadn't ever worn them before.  I have some pretty giant blisters, but the boots were cute, so I think it's all ok.  We went to Angels Point in Elysian Park.  It was beautiful!  From the top, you could see downtown, Dodgers Stadium, and the Hollywood sign, all from different sides of this sculpture.  There was actually a Dodgers game going on, so we didn't stay for very long so we could beat traffic.  The park was nice, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for in the "getting out of the city" feel.

I don't think either of us were ready to go home, so we went to Pasadena and walked down Colorado for a little bit.  Pasadena's really nice, but I realized today that I'm glad I don't live there.  I'm not sure why but it doesn't feel right.  I think it feels too nice almost.  Is that a thing?  I really like where I live.  It's nice that Pasadena is close.  I don't really know how to describe the feeling.  Too busy, too expensive maybe?  Also probably because it's farther from friends.

After Pasadena, we drove downtown to drive by the LA Opera and then ended up going through Boyle Heights.  He showed me where he grew up and told me some vague stories about his life back then.  They were vague, but it was more than I had heard before.  This is not the place to tell his stories, but I will say that we grew up VERY differently.

It was a really good day.  It's going to be a busy week at work.  I have to take the California Basic Skills Test tomorrow after work.  Staff Development day is on Tuesday.  I'm sure there's something else but I can't think of it right now.  I'm really looking forward to going to San Diego on Saturday to see Ride with Larry.  I'm sad I'm missing D-days, so hopefully the movie will help.

The Days I Hate Being a Grownup

My car has been making a weird noise for awhile.  I know it has, but I haven't done anything about it.  I knew I should.  Flako has mentioned it several times, but said it again yesterday when we were going to Santa Monica.  It made me have dreams last night about my car breaking down and I woke up knowing that I needed to take care of it.  I was disappointed because I was really looking forward to getting out of town.  I am going to La Jolla next weekend so that's something.  It's just not now.  :-)

Flako had told me about a place that his ex-girlfriend took her Honda and was always impressed with their service.  Because he's a nice guy, he went with me, which I was thankful for.  He did nothing except sit there but I was glad he was there.  My car needed a lot of work.  I figured it did.  New spark plugs, new every kind of fluid, and something with my brakes.  It took about four hours to finish, so really not so bad.

The guy that owns the place apparently also works at a law firm and offered me a job there...after talking to me for about two minutes...weird.  Actually, I would consider it if it was at night during the week, but it's for Saturday hours and I don't want to give up my Saturdays right now.

By the time they ran the diagnostic test and figured out how long it would take, it was 11:30.  We obviously weren't going to sit around the waiting room until 3:30, so we went across the street to a little shopping place.  It's a very Asian community so there were some Japanese shops around that we walked around.  One was like a dollar store, but everything was $1.50.  We went to Johnny Rockets for lunch because everything else was Asian and we had that last night.  I love Johnny Rockets.  50s music, shakes, and ketchup happy faces.  Of course, the ketchup happy face is no where NEAR enough ketchup for anything except for one fry, but there's bottles on the table (first world problems).

After lunch, we realized that we walked around the little mall twice already and still had two hours to go without a car.  There was a movie theatre there so we spent what seemed like forever trying to pick a movie.  He has no interest in the one movie I'm dying to see (Rush) and we hadn't heard of most of them.  We finally narrowed it down by time and picked Insiduous: Chapter 2.  I knew nothing about it, but it's a scary movie.  I did go in knowing this.  I love watching scary movies, I really do, I just hate watching them alone.  I was expecting to hate this movie though and think it was terrible.  I thought it was awesome.  It's not one I'm going to watch again and again, but I really enjoyed it.  Of course, now that I'm home alone, I'm rethinking that just a little bit...

I obviously didn't get away today and probably won't tomorrow.  My car sounds so much better.  I still heard the noise once or twice but it's not consistent like it was before.  I still put a lot of money into the car, which it needed, but still a lot of money. I'm leaving the city next Saturday (to go to another city...) but I still just have to get through another week.  It was actually a really good day, but I'm still sad I had to be responsible instead of doing whatever I wanted.

The Santa Monica Pier

Tonight, Flako and I got Thai food and then went to Santa Monica.  He took me there when I was here last November, but it was Thanksgiving weekend and it was packed!  We basically did the same thing tonight as we did then, but it was much easier to get around and a lot more pleasant actually.  We walked up and down the Pier and I made him ride the Ferris Wheel.  The Ferris Wheel is apparently solar powered and is the only solar powered Ferris Wheel in the world (so says the Fun Fact written on the seats).  It also has 160,000 LED lights on it.  The view is gorgeous and we were there at night.  I can only imagine the ocean view during the day.  The cheesy picture we took beforehand was actually really good, but I wasn't about to pay $16 for it.  The lady behind the counter was staring at us, so I didn't take a picture of the picture like I wanted to.  Just so you know, the Ferris Wheel did not roll into the ocean.  Someone was concerned.  I was not.

After that, we went to the 3rd Street Promenade.  It has some great stores.  I have yet to go into most of these stores.  The only ones we went into tonight were Brookstone and Barnes and Noble.  There were others that I wanted to go into but I didn't want to tempt myself into spending money.  The biggest differences were that it wasn't all Christmasy tonight, there weren't 8 million people, and there weren't as many performers out.  It was really nice, but I wish there had been a few more performers around.

Tomorrow, my plan is to go up by Malibu.  We'll see if that actually happens.  I want to and I know I need to get out of the city, but I'm also lazy and it seems like a lot of work to plan.  Maybe I'll be more motivated in the morning.

Time to get out of town

I think part of the reason I've been down lately is that I've been in the city constantly.  It doesn't feel like a city, but it obviously is.  In London, I would go to the middle of Hyde Park, which didn't feel like a city.  I haven't found that place here yet.  I don't know where I'm going to go this weekend, but I'm going to get out of town, just for the day.  I need a break.  I need to be refreshed.  I need to get away.

The Griffith Observatory

I had plans to go to the beach this weekend.  As in I told myself, "hey, you should go to the beach this weekend."  I didn't go.  I did school stuff and cleaned on Saturday before going to game night and I laid on my couch for most of Sunday, being sad and slightly sick.  I had told Flako that I was going to go to the beach, so when he texted on Sunday and asked if I went, I felt guilty that I didn't do anything LA this weekend, especially after not going to Arizona.  I decided I would go to the Observatory and he said he would go with me.

I've wanted to go to the Observatory since the first time I visited here.  I'm not sure why.  It's really not that exciting, but it does have fantastic views of the city.  I like it when Flako goes with me because he always drives.  I'm sure if I drove, I would learn how to get around the city better, but this way, I don't have to drive and, really, that's better.  We took the long way to the Observatory, which I'm sure could have been longer, but I was hungry and he wasn't, so we settled on my getting a smoothie.  That would have been great if either of us had known where a smoothie place was.  We eventually found one, some chain--not Jamba Juice, which is what I really wanted--and got smoothies.

I think it might have taken us longer to park and walk to and from the Observatory than we actually spent there.  The parking was crazy, so we had a long walk, but it was nice outside.  There were a lot of people, but it didn't seem overcrowded.  We walked around, took pictures of the views, and then went inside.  I'm sure everything written was very interesting, but I wasn't in the mood to read.  I just looked at pictures.  I did see that the sun is four million degrees or something like that.  Maybe someday I'll go back to look at the pictures.

The sun set while we were there, but we were inside.  It was still setting when we left, which was beautiful.  Next time, I think I want to go when it's dark so I can see the few stars.  It's not someplace I need to go a lot, but it was definitely good to go, if only for the view.

The DMV: Part 4: Officially a California Resident

I went BACK to the DMV today.  This time was my final time (as far as I know), at least for this trip.  I was crazy lucky again and found a parking spot right away.  My appointment wasn't until 4 but I got there about 3:30.  I figured the worst thing they could do was make me wait until 4.  I got in line and everything happened quite quickly.  I waited in line for about five minutes (ALWAYS MAKE AN APPOINTMENT!!!!!), then waited for about five minutes to go to a window.  Even the window went quickly.  I turned in one of my South Dakota plates and got my California plates.  It's weird.  It definitely makes the move a little more final.  Most days, I still can't believe I live here.  Every day actually.  Now I'm registered to vote, have my California driver's license and license plates.  Unless anyone can tell me something I've forgotten to do, I'm officially a California resident.

The Running

In Minnesota, I started going to a gym regularly.  I was trying to lose some weight and it worked (along with actually watching what I eat, crazy).  In Nebraska, I started to yoga and even did cardio fairly regularly at the gym.  In California, I haven't done anything yet.  I keep thinking I should go to a gym.  A woman at work told me about her gym and it sounds awesome.  I've just been lazy and don't want to spend the money.  I've done a little bit of yoga on my own, but I don't make it near as intense as a class would.  Cardio is not my favorite, but I know I need to do it.  I ran outside twice in Minneapolis, but would walk around Lake Calhoun quite often.  I never ran outside in Nebraska, but I would run on the treadmill, which sucks.  I ran outside a few times at the BHP this summer, but schedule and some other stuff ended up taking priority over running.

This week, I think it's finally fall.  Fall here seems to be upper 70s and lower 80s.  I love this.  I love this so much.  I've spent the last week telling myself that I need to go run outside here.  My block is very long compared to what I'm used to.  It's like .4 miles long.  I figured if I ran around the block, that would be a good start.  The one day I was going to do it last week, it was 100* outside, so I decided against it.  I finally did it this morning.  I am not a runner in that I can run a mile straight without wanting to die.  In fact, I hope to make it up to running a mile straight even with wanting to die.  I ran probably .4 miles total, with some walking in the middle.  I haven't run or done any organized exercise really since the end of June probably, so I'm pretty impressed.  Now I just need to keep my motivation up and keep doing it!  With the weather here, there is really no excuse not to.

The Burger

We went to this place called Grill-Em-All last night for dinner.  I had seen the place on Yelp (where I find all my restaurants now) and really wanted to try it.  The kinds of burgers they have reminded me of Stella's in Bellevue, but crazier.  I got the Dee Snider, which is a 1/2 pound burger, peanut butter, strawberry jelly, bacon, and Sriracha.  It was Humongous.  I forget how big 1/2 pound burgers really are.  I don't think I even ate half of mine.  It was pretty good, better when eaten upside down--don'task me why.  I didn't want to believe it either, but it's true.  If I ever get it again, I would get it more well done instead of medium rare.  Flako got fries, which weren't spectacular, but came with a mayo something sauce.  I couldn't quite figure out what the flavors in it were.  It definitely added to the ridiculously unhealthiness of the meal.

The atmosphere was entertaining.  It had old KISS videos playing on a tv screen and heavy metal music playing (loudly).  The people working there all had tattoos and all had "I possibly worship Satan" look about them.  I'm sure they are nice people in reality.

Will I go back?  Maybe.  If I don't eat for a week beforehand, sure. They have some crazy combinations that sound disgusting, but so does peanut butter on a hamburger and that's delicious!

grillemallburgs.com if you want to check them out.

The Sadness

I'm pretty sure I jinxed myself by saying I wasn't homesick.  I'm not really homesick, just sad.  It's that moving to a new place, new people, new everything sadness I think.  I was doing ok until I asked Flako for a definite answer about Arizona.  I knew the answer was going to be no, but still when I realized that I really couldn't go by myself--seven hours is too far--I burst into tears.  I think I have cried twice since I've been here.  I don't cry easily, but between missing something I love and this being an overwhelming week at work, being far away and not having many friends here has hit hard.  I know it will pass, and honestly it will probably pass pretty quickly because I do like it here, but it sucks right now.

What Gets Me the Most Homesick

I really haven't been that homesick yet except for that one day (I probably just jinxed myself), but I know it's coming.  I think the worst (so far) might be this coming weekend.  It's a crazy week at work (two IEP meetings, a new kid, and back to school night...it doesn't sound like a lot but it is) and the Yotes are playing in Arizona this weekend.  It's the closest they're playing to me this year.  I've seen them play at least one game every year since I started watching them in 1996.  Even when I went to London, I got to see the very first game.  I want to go to Flagstaff so much, but I just don't think I can afford it.  :-(  I know it's a long way for just a football game--one they'll probably lose (although I said that for Minnesota as well!)--but it's my Yotes.  It's the only opportunity I'll have, but all the hotels I've seen are just out of my price range for it.  I know living so far away, I'll miss a lot, but that doesn't make it suck any less.

The Car Show

Let me start off by saying that no car show compares to the Parkersburg Car Show, but I may be partial since my aunt and uncle run it.

I went to get a pedicure yesterday and saw a sign for the South Pasadena Car Show.  That's not the actual name, but I don't remember the actual name.  Something about Tournament of Roses I think since it's to raise money to build the city's float for the parade.  It was a nice enough car show, I guess.  I like going to car shows but know nothing about cars.  I like to see how shiny they are and to see if there are any I recognize.  The highlight of this show was the display cars from TV.  They had a Jurassic Park truck, Magnum PI's car, Kit, James Bond's car, and a Delorean.

Before we went to the car show (we is Flako and me, and no we're not dating.  We are just friends), we tried a restaurant right around there.  I haven't tried many restaurants that aren't chains here, although many of the chains are new to me.  I'm pretty sure that this was a chain, but I don't even remember the name.  It reminded me a lot of Perkins.  The pictures made all the food look delicious.  I really wanted breakfast food and the line at iHop had been out the door.  I went back and forth between the bacon/avocado/jack omelette and the eggs benedict.  Maybe the eggs benedict would have had flavor because the omelette did not and Flako said his breakfast enchiladas didn't either.  It was quite disappointing.  It's really sad when Jack-in-the-Box breakfast sounds better than a sit-down restaurant.

I wanted to do something else after the car show, but didn't know what, didn't want to spend money, and was hot.  I'm ready for fall weather, which I'm hoping means only 80s here instead of 90s.

The Ingredients

I spent wayyy too long yesterday eating and looking for places to eat.  I was starving when I came home so I snacked and then ended up making plans to go out to eat with a friend after a conversation about this grilled cheese restaurant in Pasadena I want to try at some point.  From the time we made the plans to the time he got here was over an hour and I spent the entire time trying to find a place that sounded good to eat.  I told him I wanted either burgers or Mexican.  I finally found a burger place that sounded good (Grill Em All-- grillemallburgs.com if you're curious).  I looked up the menu and it reminded me a bit of Stella's in Bellevue, mostly because they have burgers with peanut butter (don't knock it until you try it.  So tasty!  Even better with peanut butter and a fried egg).  Grill Em All has a burger with peanut butter, strawberry jam, bacon, and sriracha.  Oh my God do I want to try it.  We didn't end up going there because someone failed to tell me that he didn't want burgers, so he found a Mexican place instead.  That was acceptable.  It's the first real Mexican I've had since I've been here.  It was good and the place wasn't too far.  I just had a quesadilla, so I want to go back and try more.

I am way too excited to cook tomorrow.  I finally went to the store and bought ingredients to cook.  I love to eat out but I can't spend more money, especially when I spend so much as it is on other things, like food for home.  If I have food here, it's a lot harder to find an excuse to go out to eat.  I still find them--I always do--but it's harder.  Tonight's project is to make a cookbook.  I printed out all the recipes I've found so far on pinterest.  I'm putting them in sheet protectors and then in a binder.  I"m going to separate them into the categories of vegetables, main dishes, crock pot dishes, drinks, and desserts.  I bought a new crock pot today as well as a George Foreman grill to motivate myself to cook.  My goal for tomorrow is to make either the stuffing chicken that I've made before or try making salsa chicken.  I love crock pot recipes.  They are so hard to mess up.  I can still do it, but it's harder.

The DMV, Part 2 and 3

Yes, I have been back twice.  Ugh.  On Tuesday, I went to the DMV after work to take the written test and finish everything.  It really didn't take me that long.  I had to stand in a short line to check in for the test.  When I got to the test part, I met the first unpleasant DMV worker in my experience so far.  She was CRABBY.  I took the test, made a couple stupid mistakes--reading the questions all the way usually helps--but still passed.  I went back to the window and they gave me my permit and info about the driving test.  Yup.  Didn't process that information until I got all the way home when I read on the permit that I needed to have a licensed California driver with me whenever I drove.  Yeah right.  I did a little research to make sure I didn't actually need to take the driving test and decided to go back again to fix it.

Today, I went back.  To start with, there were parking spots in the parking lot.  What??  When I got my car verified, I circled for 10 minutes trying to find another space.  Today, there were like 5 completely open right away.  Awesome!  I went in, a little nervous that I was wrong and I would have to take the test.  There was one person in line.  When I got up to the window, I told her that I already had my license and just wanted to clarify that I could get my license and not my permit.  I must have missed the place where it said to put previous license or whatever on the application, but I showed her my license and a few minutes later, walked out with my paper California license.  My actual one comes in the mail.  My South Dakota license was invalidated, but I do get to keep it.  Yay!  It was so easy.

When I was done, I realized that it took me a much shorter amount of time than I was planning so I should probably go do something more productive today.  I went to get my smog test.  South Dakota and Nebraska, the other places I've registered cars before, do not require a smog test so I had no clue what to do.  I had asked someone where I could do it.  The answer was not extremely helpful (smog test only centers), but it wasn't expected to be helpful.  It gave me enough information to research it.

I love Yelp.  I looked up smog test centers, found one really close to my apartment that had good reviews.  I found it easily, parked my car, and went "um, now what?"  I went into what I assumed was the smog test center and told the guy I had no idea what I was doing.  He was super nice, went and got my car and did the test.  I knew how much it was going to cost going into it, so I wasn't worried about them trying to charge me more.  He did whatever the test does and my car passed.  It wasn't too scary.  :-)  Now, I have to go back to the DMV for a FOURTH time.  I made another appointment for just over a week from now (the earliest they had for 4pm) so I can turn in my South Dakota plates and get California ones.  Until then, I have a temporary registration to go along with my temporary license.  It will be nice (but a little weird) for it to be permanent when that actually happens.

The Threats

When I was in high school, we had at least one bomb threat a year.  I'm guessing it was for people to get out of school but it was so stupid.  By the 4th one in one year, they didn't dismiss us off campus while the police did the search.  They made us go to the back field of the school.  Everything about it was ridiculously annoying.  They caught everyone that did it.  I'm pretty sure that it was always a student from our own school, often calling from the payphone from inside the school.  I graduated in 2001, so it was before the days of cell phones everywhere and many of the massive school shootings.

Yesterday, I noticed that there were a lot more sirens than normal and there was even a helicopter circling overhead, not far from school.  I really didn't think much of it other than "oh, that's different."  I put my preschoolers on the bus and the bus driver asked if I knew what was going on at one of the middle schools.  She said that traffic was crazy over there but had no idea what was happening.  As I was getting off the bus, a parent from another class told us that there was a shooting at the middle school.  There wasn't but there had been a threat.  There had been a phone call saying someone was on the campus with an AK-47.  The school went into lockdown right before the bell was supposed to ring.  The police emptied classrooms one at a time, with all students finally gone around 7pm I think.  Our school released about 10 minutes early for parents that were already there.  I'm not totally sure the reasoning behind it because I never asked anyone.

Apparently, the same sort of phone call happened in another district on Friday, two hospitals yesterday, and another district's high school and middle school today.  I don't understand these people and their want to cause fear in people.  It makes my brain hurt when I try to put feelings into words about it.  I just don't understand.

The First Month

I have been in California for a month today.  This month has been so long but fast at the same time.  It feels right here so far.  It never felt right in Nebraska.

Five Things I Have Learned so far:

1.  I can think I know where I'm going so I don't use my GPS.  That's a bad idea.  (and makes me late for work.)

2.  Hands-free devices for phones are amazing (especially so I don't get pulled over...again).

3.  Yes, I love the weather here but would like it to cool down just a little.  98* is still hot no matter what (and California people think 30% humidity is humid. Ha.)

4.  Keeping in touch with people back home is hard but totally worth it (I've been better at it here than I was in Nebraska for sure).

5.  The more I go do here, the more I want to do (too bad working (and traffic) gets in the way).

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Oh. My. God.

Minnie texted me on Friday and asked if I wanted to come with her and her co-workers to the midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.  I was supposed to go one time my freshman year of college, but didn't end up going.  I was really interested when Minnie texted, but the fact that it started at midnight definitely deterred me a bit.  I gave in and decided to drink a bunch of coffee to stay awake.

Saturday, I stayed inside all day.  Partly because it was hot.  No, mostly because it was hot.  I tried napping because I knew staying up that late could get difficult.  Napping didn't work so more coffee it was.  Flako ended up coming too at the last minute so I went to Starbucks, picked up Flako, and then we headed to Bob and Minnie's.  Lesson learned. When driving someone who has been tailgating all day, don't trust him for directions.  We made it eventually and Minnie was still getting ready.  She was dressed as Frank-N-Futer in his lab coat and looked great!  (I dressed up with short black shorts, black long sleeved shirt, and my silver boots, but not as an actual character)  Bob wasn't going to go with us so spent 10 minutes trying to tell Flako what he was getting himself into while I kept saying "Don't talk him out of it!"  I told him that he was welcome to stay at Bob's and I'd maybe come get him when Minnie came home.  He came with us anyway.  I couldn't quite believe it.

We drove Santa Monica Blvd to the theatre.  I love it when other people drive on the streets instead of the freeway so then I can look around more.  We got to the theatre (the Nuart?) and found parking.  Minnie's coworkers weren't there yet and the line was already long.  We got our tickets ($11) and got in line.  We were around the corner in the alley.  While we were waiting in line for about a half hour, we heard the rules at least 5 times.  Stand flat against the wall so when cars come through, they won't hit you.  They screamed this every time that a car looked like it might turn down the alley.  One did.  I wasn't flat against the wall and I didn't get run over.  They made sure to shout at us to be quiet, even though we weren't being loud, but were next to a hotel.  The only people being loud ewere them.

We started going inside a little after midnight.  The beginning was exactly as I expected it.  They went over the rules, did some embarrassing contests, stuff like that.  It was pretty funny and I was still excited.  The movie itself started at about 1.  I've seen the movie before and like it a lot.  This expereince was supposed to be really fun.  It was audience participation.  From what I understood, people chanted along with the movie, had certain responses for certain lines, had prop bags for things to throw at specific times of the movie.  Minnie described this one as "chaos" and that fit perfectly.  Flako said that they ruined two of his favorite things at the same time: cinema and live theater.  The live entertainers weren't bad.  I sometimes forgot they were there.  The other workers were TERRIBLE.  They had so much to say, loudly, over every single line that you couldn't hear the movie.  I never heard any of the cue lines (I didn't buy a prop bag, but that's not the point).  They were all saying such different stuff that I couldn't understand what any person was saying.  It was ridiculous.  I don't know if every showing was like that or if it was just this one, but wow.  It was terrible.  An hour and a half movie that seemed like forever.

The drive back was us complaining how terrible it was.  Flako did not hide how much he hated it, but I don't know Minnie well and wasn't sure how she was going to react to it.  She hated it just as much as us.  Neither of us girls really regret going because at least now we know that we don't ever have to go back!

(Disclaimer:  If this seems choppy or doesn't make sense, it's because I slept about 3 hours last night and stopped in the middle of the post to take a nap.)

Picture when I got home.  Exhausted and unimpressed.

The Bucket List

I decided I'm going to start a Los Angeles Bucket List.  Then when I'm bored, I can look at the list instead of randomly searching the internet and not actually doing anything.  If anyone has ideas of cool things I should add to the list, let me know.

The DMV

I've been dreading going to the DMV for many reasons.  I've heard the horror stories.  I can't leave work until after 3 and the DMV closes at 5, so that's not a lot of time.  I don't really want to give up my South Dakota license and registration yet.  It's a lot of work.  Car stuff confuses me.  The list goes on.  I finally gave in and made an appointment.  Mostly because I knew that I would have to sooner or later and I was on the edge of getting late fees.

Today at 4pm.  I left right after work and got there at 3:30.  Since I had an appointment, I basically got to go to the front of any lines, but I still didn't finish everything I needed to.  I need to get a smog test within the next month and turn in my South Dakota plates (I don't want to!!!).  I also need to take the written test.  I can go in and get the written test done on Monday I think.  The smog check will take more time and of course more money.  I haven't had to take a written test in 15 years so I should probably study just a bit.  :-)

The MTA

I went to an MTA meeting last week and then was asked to be a representative for the school since the other one left this past year.  There are two for every school.  My first instinct was to say no, but why.  I didn't have a reason.  Yeah, more meetings, more work.  But is it really that much more?  I've learned that I don't want to be in the classroom, but what do I want to do?  Do I want to do something political?  Our system is not perfect.  Everyone complains about it, but who does anything about it?  I really don't think I'll be able to do much, but it's better than nothing.  This district needs change, but how?  Can I complain about it and just sit back and do nothing?  No.  I can go to meetings.  I can figure how to change.  It may be a small change, but there's no where else to start.

The Party and The Fair

It's been a busy weekend!  Flako and I hung out for awhile on Friday.  I really don't even remember what we did.  Dinner maybe?  Saturday, I went down to Mission Viejo to see Peggy.  Peggy and I worked at the USD daycare together.  She's lived in California for about four years now I think.  She works for the FDIC and travels a bunch but was having a pool party on Saturday.  I drove down (about an hour) on Saturday afternoon and stayed until about 9.  I don't like being around a bunch of people I don't know and stay fairly quiet.  I met some of her friends and stayed longer than I expected I would.  It was fun.  It's been so hot that it was nice to be in a pool!

Yesterday was the LA County Fair.  They had a promotion going on that it was $1 entry from 10-1.  I was supposed to meet Bob and Minnie there.  Bob and I both spent a week trying to convince Flako to come too but everytime it was brought up, he responded with 20 minutes of why he didn't want to go.  So yesterday at like 10:30, I got a message from him that I completely expected to be "have fun standing in hot lines!" but through a few messages turned out to be that he wanted to come too.  I went to pick him up and we went to the fair!  We actually barely saw Bob and Minnie.  If I had gone by myself, of course I would have found them, but it was fun hanging out with Flako.  We walked around, did some shopping, ate tons of food.  It was sooooo hot!  I was sweating like crazy.  My reason was that I'm Norwegian, not made for sun!  I bought some chocolate covered bacon, which would have been better if the bacon was crispier, and some fried oreos.  I felt so gross afterwards but don't regret all the fried food!  It's fair food after all.  We didn't go on any rides, but that's ok because we also didn't stand in any lines.

We made a deal that if he bought something ridiculous, I would buy something ridiculous.  He bought a light-up shirt.  We spent probably an hour and a half to two hours looking for this place again.  He was convinced it was outside and I (correctly) thought it was inside.  Winner!  I bought a lamp after we finally found the light-up shirt place.  It was ridiculous in that I don't need it but I'm glad I have something that I can say I bought at the LA County Fair.  Now I just need find a place for it.

The fair was fun.  I'm glad I only spent $18 dollars to get in ($1 admission and $17 for parking).  We spent enough time there that I got my money's worth.  I don't think the regular $19 admission would have been worth it.  I'm not entirely sure I ever need to go back but glad I went this year.

I went to Target today and bought even more stuff.  I think my entire apartment is going to be furnished by Target.  Today's to-do list is to unpack!  I'm tired of living in piles.  I'm hoping to get a lot done this afternoon, but that means I actually need to do something instead of just sitting here.