life, liberty, and love

So yeah, I got straight As. I do not mean A-, but yet I mean A and I got three of them.

Sorry to brag, but I'm proud of myself. Also, I worked my ass off in order to achieve what I did and I think I deserve to be happy!

It has been a while since I've posted, but between being hella busy with 3 finals (2 of them being take home) and then being busy with recovering from the hours of time I spent busting my tail, this should be a descent description on what has taken my time in the last 2 weeks.

Some interesting stuff:

• Shawn and I are staying in Olympia for the summer and then moving to Seattle (most likely West Seattle) at the end of summer. I am taking 2 online courses and 1 regular class. The regular class is Philosophy- Ethics (DICKERSON!!!!!), and the two online courses are Cultural Anthropology and History of the Pacific NW. Shawn will be catching up on some leftover school work from this past school year while working downtown at the Bike Stand (at 4th and Adams), so if you need a bike sizing (which I HIGHLY recommend), he's your man.

• Shawn and I are working on his Russian that he needs to know for his masters exam. Considering the fact that I know a little bit of Spanish as well as Czech and Polish (just enough to order some sort of greasy sausage and beer, pretty much), it's interesting. (somewhat OTS- as I have stated previously, I am taking Italian in the fall

• The Street Dogs and the Tossers (CHICAGO!!!) are coming to El Corazon in early August. I definitely recommend attending!

• I have found out that I have gotten solid A's in my math class (math for the liberal arts) and in my philosophy class (thinkers of the ancient world). In philosophy I received a 4.0 and in math I earned 17 out of 18 units. I am still waiting to hear from my Anthropology/Sociology class, but I do know that before the final I was getting a 98% in that class.

Yes, oh yes, it is the end of the quarter, which is my excuse for not posting recently. Soon, I will have a different excuse, but for now, this one is valid.

As you may know, we are hopefully moving soon, and we're concentrating on West Seattle. We want to rent a house, and also are looking to expand our family... if possible. We might be adopting Shawn's friends cat named Lillian and we both are interested in getting a dog. I've been looking on-line at the Seattle Animal Shelter, as well as other places, but this is only a passing thought right now. Yes folks, I said ADOPTION. This is different than buying a dog because one buys a dog from a breeder and many times (but not always), there are those that run what are known as "puppy mills". These puppy mills pump out dogs to sell, and various circumstances within this type of operation are quite cruel. Look it up in on Wikipedia for more info. Adopting, on the other hand, is taking a pet into your home that has been found by the shelter or have been given to the shelter by their former owners.

I also would like to say that I have received the Percival Review book and it's fucking AWESOME!!! My name is listed in it three times, one time for a story that I wrote, one time for a photo that I took, and one time for helping to sort through the entries.

That's it for now. Time for bed, and then work, work, work, in the morning. It'll be a beautiful new day, but yet it'll also be the same shit on the reservation.... (Sherman Alexie ripoff)

As the quarter winds down (which is what has kept me from posting here), many "lasts" have taken place. What I mean is that with our impending move, there are a few things that Shawn and I have done for the last time. It's not sad or anything. In fact, I'm quite happy. These "lasts" include the last time Shawn will have to drive up to Seattle on Fridays in order to TA as well as my last bus trip to school.

Change is taking place and it's also starting to escalate. Thoughts that I've had in my head for 9 months are finally taking shape. Moving the fuck out of Olympia has been a dream in my head ever since I moved here, and now that progress is really happening, it's a great thing for sure. Still, it is quite bizarre to look into things that you've looked into for the last nine months or so, but this time being totally serious about the venture. An example includes looking at houses/condos/duplexes/houses on Craig's list and dreaming about the one that you feel is "right" for you, but then having to seriously look at these dreams to see if they can become reality or not. In truth, it's quite poetic and quite beautiful, but yet dysfunctional at the same time.

I think there's about 3 weeks until the move. The move itself will suck (I hate the actual process of movie, but I love the result), but that change that Shawn and I are making in our personal and professional lives is for the better, by far. As there have been many positives with moving down to Olympia, there have been other "side effects" as well.

I look forward to having the opportunity to living the life I love that has been on the rocks since sometime between June 2000 and Sept. 11, 2001 and being able to share the joy and happiness that will follow with the one I love.

At Albertson's (West Coast) and Jewel's (Chicago), there is this extremely cool thing that I noticed a couple of weeks ago. Now, you can rent movie for only a buck through Redbox. All you do is slide your credit card, put in your zip (and your pin if it's a debit card), and select your movie. You can even go online and reserve a movie online and then go to the Redbox and pick it up.

Everyone should check it out! The URL is http://redbox.com.

(Okay, so it IS partially owned by McDonalds but when you're a student like my boyfriend and I and it is the end of the quarter, saving every little bit helps)

Here's a new photo I took on Saturday. Also, let me mention that I have not been posting as much lately because my wrist is in a splint, thus making it harder to type with the exception of when I take it off, which I do not want to do unless I have to.

Pike Place

After working on my schedule for fall over and over and over again, I am pretty sure I have figured things out. If things stay like this, I will be taking:

• Music 130- Group Piano Instruction I
• Italian 101
• Meteorology 101

I must say I am extremely happy to get back down to 12 credits. At SPSCC, this is barely possible, at best. After three 15-credit quarters, I need a fucking break! The 3 credit difference makes a bit of a difference, or at least that is what my experience at College of DuPage  guides me to.

This is when size is important. Both COD and BCC are HUGE community college. Rumor has it that their population is as big as 20,000-30,000. They are not just two of the biggest community colleges in the nation, but they are also two of the best.

Because of this major size difference (SPSCC only has 10,000, or at least that's what I heard), the variety and quantity of classes is much better. In addition, coming up with a schedule of 12 or 13 hours is not as much as a challenge.

The move is about a month, and things feel weird, quite hard to explain as well. Things should hopefully go well in general.

At Fort Lewis (between Olympia & Tacoma, Washington) today, a memorial service was held for 6 soldiers killed in Iraq. Their names were:

• Staff Sgt. Vincenzo Romeo, 23, Lodi, N.J.
• Cpl. Matthew Alexander, 21, of Gretna, Neb.
• Cpl. Michael Pursel, 19, Clinton, Utah
• Cpl. Anthony Bradshaw, 21, of San Antonio, Texas
• Sgt. Joel W. Lewis, 28, Sandia Park, N.M.
• Sgt. Jason R. Harkins, 25, of Clarkesville, Ga.

All of these men were under the age of 30. One of them didn't get to live to see his 20th birthday. It's quite sad, and quite unnecessary. This bloodshed and death that is an everyday occurrence in Iraq, with both Iraqis and Americans dying, but yet it does not have to happen

I am filled with remorse, and I wish their families well. NO MORE WAR!!!!

Family Members of the Fallen Soldiers

Thanks to the Seattle Times for the picture.