Wednesday, August 26, 2009

A Slight Addiction...


So I got a very exciting package in the mail today. I ordered the 8th (and final) season of Scrubs and it arrived today!

I celebrated by watching a three and half hour marathon. Ugh. And the best/worst part? I hadn't even gotten to the end of the first CD! Lots more Scrubs where that came from I suppose!

I love the relationships that are portrayed in Scrubs. The characters have all developed deep and personal relationships with people that are seemingly very different on the surface. Elliott and Carla, par exemple. They say this all the time in the show, a skinny white girl from Connecticut and a "other side of the tracks" Latina from Chicago. I love it when people realize how similar despite how different they are. Some of the closest people I've come to know are people I quite literally have nothing in common with. True story.

People need to get back to that mindset we had as children before all the nonsense about "differences" got in the way. We've lost our innocence.

Where has it gone?

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Very Quick Vacation

So my schedule was kind of weird at work this week, but it actually turned out to be pretty awesome.

I was off work Friday and Saturday last week, worked Sunday, and then had Monday and Tuesday off. Weird, right?

It actually worked out great though! I got to help my friend, Cay-Cay, move into DC on Friday which was great. Saturday I got to spend see my family at a mini "reunion" they were having. Sunday was a very slow day. And these past two days I got the opportunity to go up to Lancaster County to see a few friends one last time before I go abroad. I have a lot of friends up in Lancaster. Two of my closest friends live there, Shannon and Brandon. Shannon just got a job teaching math in her old middle school, and Brandon is leaving today to go to England for a year to teach Chemistry to a high school out there. So it was good to see him again right before he left. I also had my friend Rachel from Vermont who was passing through Lancaster who I hadn't seen since graduation! It was great to see everyone. I always love going to Lancaster. I feel like Bilbo Baggins returning to the Shire. After having spent a lot of time in the grizzly industrial world, it's nice to go to farmland and a slower pace of life. It's a place where everyone knows everyone and there is usually a slight whiff of horse (or horse manure) in the air.

Pequea Valley

Picturesque Landscape

Gap Town Clock

And the famous Amish

But now Brandon is in the air going to England, Shannon is working at her job, and I'm back at home counting down the hours until I have to get up at 5 am to get to work on time (10h 50min). It was a quick trip, but great to see everyone. Shannon's coming down on Labor Day to see some people (mostly me) before I go to France. But she may come and visit me and Brandon over in le vieux contient. We'll see, lol.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

So I guess it's starting.

So I've begun packing. The only things I can really pack are winter jackets and other things I won't need or use before I leave. I've also started making a list of things I think I'm going to need over there, trying to limit myself to the essential things.

Among the things I've decided I need are my seasons of Frasier (my all-time favorite show), Scrubs and Arrested Development (which I don't have yet, but am going to buy as soon as I have the bank). Sometimes you just need some good old fashioned American television. And it's not like they're very heavy, so it'll be worth it.

I have to work tomorrow, then I'm off the next two days. Weird I know. But that's how it goes.

We had a very brief "family reunion" today with some of my dad's side. It was actually pretty fun! Usually things go a little like this: It starts out a little awkward, eventually you find something to talk about for about two hours while you work around the various groups of people until finally, almost with a sigh of relief, it's time to go. (Is it just my family that's like this?)

My dad had 8 brothers and 2 sisters (his parents were Catholic). The oldest five (my dad included) grew up in a very different environment than the other six children did (my dad's mom died not long after his last sibling was born so the so-called "little kids" were raised by the older kids, so to speak). It's funny to see how this impacted the two groups. All of the kids from my dad's grouping have had very interesting (and bizarre) lives. Including (but not limited to):
  • creating and living in a commune in the Canadian wilderness for several years
  • trying to marry an already married woman because one of them believed he was already married to her in a past life
  • renouncing your American citizenship only to re-emigrate and be sponsored by your father
  • join the Moonies, be matched with a Korean bride, refuse her, get re-matched, get married, leave the Moonies, and then move to Denver and travel around the local Nursing Home "circuit" as a weekly musician on visitation day to play their favorite classic hits
Only the first one applies to my dad (thank God). The younger kids' lives are very very tame in comparison. It's funny how things like that change. So anyway, that's my family. They're crazy, but you always love them.



Photo Courtesy of awkwardfamilyphotos.com


Friday, August 21, 2009

Decision Day.

So I'm trying to decide if I should create a blog about my time in France.



You see, I'm moving to Paris for 7 months (hopefully longer...) in exactly 4 weeks and I wanted
to give my friends and family a way to keep up to date with my doings and happenings. I'm also feeling very inspired by my friends who are keeping blogs about the new and exciting moves and changes they're doing with their lives. And even though I know that I relish the opportunity to keep myself up to date on their lives, is my blog going to be interesting enough to keep them checking back for more?

I had a blog in the past, a while ago, but it fizzled out during college because I was just too busy living my life instead of writing about it. Not too bad of a situation to find oneself in, I suppose.

Anyway, it's dinner time. And things always look different on the other side of a meal, so that's all she wrote for now!

Peace