in search of boxes

It's been a while. The craziness of moving has, unfortunately, not allowed much time for blogging. But, yes, I'm moving! Moving into my first apartment. Moving in with my first roommate. Moving away from the family (it's really only five minutes away, though, so it's not THAT far away.) I'm excited. It seems like we've been building up to this for months!

Marce is the new roommate. We've been talking about moving in together for what seems like years now, and we're finally going for it! We spent the last several weeks apartment hunting. Now, we just need to move in and decorate!

But first, I gotta' run. Got to get more moving boxes.

Oh, the fun.

according to the picture on the box, it's a tiger

This has got to be the best joke I've ever heard.

A blonde calls her boyfriend and says, "Please come over here and help me. I have a killer jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to get it started."

Her boyfriend asks, "What is it supposed to be when it's finished?"

The blonde says, "According to the picture on the box, it's a tiger."

Her boyfriend decides to go over and help with the puzzle. She lets him in and
shows him the puzzle spread over the table.

He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her and
says, "First of all, no matter what we do, we're not going to be able to
assemble these pieces into anything resembling a tiger."

He takes her hand and says, "Second, I want you to relax. Let's have a nice
cup of tea, and then....." he sighed, "let's put all these Frosted
Flakes back in the box."

On a side note, it snowed the other day. It was beautiful! I don't usually like the snow all that much, but this time..it was a good thing.

all that jazz

Thanksgiving was a beautiful event. Hung out with the family and all that good stuff. We watched White Christmas..which, if you haven't seen it, is the BEST Christmas movie EVER! And it's a musical, for all of you freaks like me who just can't get enough of them.

Then we decorated the Christmas tree and made the turkey and all that jazz.

great scots!

I watched the whole Back to the Future trilogy this weekend. I love these movies..they are definitely in my top 5 movies ever made list. They are just so classic, you know? And to feature a Delorean in a film; how can you not love it. Christopher Lloyd is in town this weekend too, at some arts conference, but the tickets are $99 and I can't afford it. Too bad..maybe someday. Some guy my friend is friends with got him on camera saying "Great Scots!"

ace of bass

Wow, it's crazy how hard it is to keep up with this thing. I always have so much to say and yet I don't know how to say it. And, really, who has the time, anyway?

It's been a really rough week..but tonite was jazz night, and you guys (well most of you) know how much I look forward to that every Thursday..There is just something about jazz. It never really finishes. There's no real pattern in real jazz. It just moves how it feels like moving, and you might think you know what it's going to do next, but it may do something completely different. Kind of like God in a way. Jazz is the God-music, and for some reason, even though we go to jazz night, which is in a bar, it's my devotion time every Thursday. It's relaxing and helps me to refocus.

Plus, the band is amazing. We have nicknames for each of them (I tend to give people nicknames once I get to see/know them frequently.)

Ian and I went tonite as in every single other week, so I think I'll "introduce you to the guys" who play..they are known as..The Collective.

This is Ace, the ultimate 80's Ladies Man..he looks like Bill Nye but with bigger hair. He's our heeeero. He plays bass..so naturally, we call him Ace of Bass. (His real name is Hans, by the way) One time I swear he was playing so fast that there was literally smoke flying up around his fingers. Occasionally, when he "bows" it, he'll spin the bow around and stick it back in its case like a swordsman would put his sword in his sheath. It's amazing, really.

There's also "Trumpet Man." He tends to drink a lot each week. It's amusing, because we can usually tell how many beers he has had based on how he plays. When he hasn't had any, he is very cautious with his trumpet playing. He plays a moderate tempo and rarely solos. When he's had between 3-6, he loosens up a bit. His tempo speeds up quite a bit and he lets out some daring sounds. (Usually in a good way.) Once he's topped the 6+ mark, however, he goes back downhill. He plays a bit too quickly for the rest of the band to keep up, and he wobbles on the stage. We are always afraid he's going to get too close to the edge and fall off. This is why we never sit at the tables right up next to the stage. I can't afford to be paralyzed by a drunk man with a trumpet.

The drummer is affectionately referred to as "The Animal." He is comparable to the character "Animal" from the muppets. He's craaaazy on the drums, but in a fun way. He sets the tone for the rest of the band, and he does it well. He can get away with doing percussive things no other jazz drummer would think of. A few weeks back, he actually ended one of his songs with a power drill ballad...Yes. A power drill. Apparently he found it backstage and though it'd be fun to "play" it. We had a lot of fun. We originally called him "The Animal," but the name has now evolved a bit. The night of the drill incident, Ian and I had watched The Animal, with Rob Schneider. (They both have the "animal" nickname.) We noticed a resemblence between the two once he got that drill out, and so, ever since then, he's been "Rob the Schneid Schneider."

Last, but certainly not least, is the piano player. David Ake. We don't have a nickname for him, because he doesn't need one. He's just "David Ake" and he's amazing. The amazing David Ake. Unfortunately, his amazingness wouldn't show up on film. Like a vampire. An amazing, piano-playing vampire.

next on COPS...

Well, I got some..interesting news today. My other best friend seems to be moving..so this is both of them now. I'm really going to miss him a lot..

It doesn't help that the church situation is not going well. I don't want to badmouth the church, so I'm not going to post the specifics, but please keep them in prayer. Satan is attacking and the church isn't ready to fight back. Other than that, I'm not really sure what to do about it.

On a good note, though, we won the football game against SMU so we are 3-0 so far..which is the best our team has done in probably nearly 50 years. It was one of those end-of-a-football movie games, where you knew the "good guys" were going to win, but it came down to the last play during the last minute. It was amazing, though I'm sure I'll need several painkillers to make the college-kids-screaming headache go away. (Just kidding.)

We, unfortunately, got our pictures taken (by someone with no camera skills) with the big Ronald. He was completely hitting on us and wouldn't leave us alone until we got our pictures taken with him. I'm going home and watching COPS; I'm sure he'll be the next guy they nab. I can just see it now: "Drunk Ronald McDonald sentenced to five years in prison with 2 counts of kidnapping, 1 count of DUI, and 3 counts of fashion crime." Geez.

On a lighter note, we found a random couch on the grass by the parking lot. It looked quite comfy. I was extremely tempted to take a nap on it, since nobody was claiming it at the time, but Amanda didn't want us to get caught. Alas, the couch was gone when we left the game. I may never know that kindred spirit who thought to bring a couch to the football game.

the downward spiral

It seems that just as you think things might finally be turning out for the good..it all starts to go downhill again.

If you pray, please pray for guidance and patience..because I really need them right now.

everybody cut foot loose

This has been a long week..I had the unfortunate circumstance of being sick while having a sprained ankle. Everyone's out of town this weekend, and I couldn't get upstairs on my own. The doctor said not to even try to walk on it for a few more days. So yes, I actually tried out ordering a pizza online. I was able to order it, pay for it, and give the delivery guy specific instructions to come around through the back yard and knock on the sliding door (thus allowing me to NOT have to venture upstairs for another day). He even brought me a paper plate, napkins, and a bottle o' Dr. Pepper. How amazing is that internet, anyway.

On Monday night, upon the reappearance of all my friends, a bunch of us went over to David's house and watched Breakin2: Electric Boogaloo..which is the mother of all 80's break dancing movies. There is really no plot, but the level of dancing in this film surpasses any other 80's dancing movie, especially Footloose.

you spin me right round, baby

I sprained my ankle today. It kinda' hurts..a lot. And then I got home and I saw this music video and it scared the crap out of me. It's the video for Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)." Now, most of you know how much I (sadly enough) love 80's music..but watching the video and seeing the lead singer dressed like a cross between Boy George and a pirate..I just don't know that I can justify it anymore...plus that dude on the right seems to be sporting a mullet.

I apologize, but if I had to endure it, so do you.

man-made picture of beauty

Today we got up at 4:30 am and drove to Rancho to watch the annual balloon races..people come from all over the world to see it. The best part is Dawn Patrol..before the sun rises (it's pitch black) five or six balloons rise above the park and it's awesome to see them glowing in the dark..so worth getting up early to see. This picture can't even begin to justify the real thing. It's one of the most breathtaking man-made creations in existence. (Well, at least in MY existence.)

burning things

I started school Monday. I must admit that I'm already ready for this semester to be over..but I actually have some classes I'm interested in so it shouldn't be too bad. Enough on that, though, I'm trying to keep a good attitude, and if I keep talking about it...well, you know.

We have a tradition during the semester. Every Monday night (since Mondays seem to be so horrific to everyone) we meet at a park in town and we have a bonfire. We don't drink or do anything illegal; we just sit and chat. Sometimes one of us will be extremely ticked off about something that happened in class, so we'll occasionally burn papers, notes, syllabi (syllaby?). Thus, we call our Monday night get-togethers "burning things." It's amusing, because when we let it be known that we're going to "burn things," we get strange looks from other friends and/or more mature "adults" who happen to be in ear range.

Tonight we're actually bar-b-que'ing, so I'm hoping that no burning occurs.

it's that time again...

It's that time again: Hot August Nights. Throughout the month of August, people come from all over and it's like the city goes back in time to the 50's and 60's. All the classic cars are on display, there are races the likes of which were filmed in American Graffiti ..tons of events, and free concerts of bands that were big back then.

This is my baby - the '57 T-Bird I am SO in love with. Swoon.

Most of my friends have never heard of any of these bands. I drag them along anyway, because, really, who likes to go to concerts alone? Each of them has found their own favorite classic rock/oldies band, now. This year, we went to as many as we could. Who can beat free concerts?!

Tonight we saw BJ Thomas, who sang "Hooked On a Feeling" and "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head" at Harrah's downtown. It was a bit ironic, since Ian and I had gone to Carmel last week and had heard the dang song 40 times during the trip.

I saw Fleetwood Mac on Friday (it wasn't a free concert, but I did happen to win a free ticket to it). 14th Row, baby! This was really a once in a lifetime event for me; they're one of my absolute favorite bands. The concert was amazing.

Tuesday, we will be seeing the Rascals and Three Dog Night. Thursday is the Lovin' Spoonful and/or Grass Roots. Friday will be Herman's Hermits, which I'm always excited about. This is the concert we make sure to go to every year. A few of us will go early in the day and set up our lawn chairs. People will show up throughout the day to save our seats while we walk around looking at the classic cars (hopefully my coveted '57 T-Bird will return for me this year...the one in the picture above was a different one) But really, I think Peter Noone has got to be one of the only guys over the age of 50 who can pull off wearing leather pants. Lord knows Keith Richards can't.

as embarassed as i am to say it...

Earlier this year, my best friend, May, and I finally got some time to hang out. I went down to Santa Barbara to visit, and we spent the weekend in LA. We went to Disneyland, Manhattan Beach, and Hollywood. While we were there, we wanted to do something really "touristy."

SO

As embarassing as it is to say, anyone who watches the Christopher Lowell show (or anyone who can bear it for an hour..) make sure to tune into it on Wednesday, the 18th, at 2pm central time..we're in the 4th row. good times..

getting old

21

my birthday was good

went to see the 'rents

my dad had fun at the indy 500

i didnt get to drive the corvette afterall

(he took it with him)

i feel so old now..

life and death

My friend Jeff died in a car wreck this morning. He was in his early 20's..and his wife is 8 months pregnant. i can't imagine how she must feel right now..

Well, I've learned something during this really long and hard 2 weeks. What with Jeff and..a lot of friendship problems and my constant migraine..I've realized that I've been focusing a lot on myself lately and I need to put that focus back on God where it should be. This is a song that we sang at Living Stones tonite and it's such a beautiful song and it really struck me tonite. It's hard to read the words without the music to it, because the music is really beautiful..but here it is.

Only You

Oh my God, You’ve turned your eyes

Now my heart..has come alive (X4)

Only You have come to find me.

Only You have come to pull me out.

Only You have come to save me.

Only You have come to wrap your arms around me.

And no one

Could ever love me..

Like the way you love me, wrap your arms around me.

And no one

Could ever love me..

Like the way you love me, wrap your arms around me

(Girls echo) wrap your arms around me

Wrap your arms around me

(Girls echo) wrap your arms around me

Oh my God, You’ve turned your eyes

Now my heart..has come alive (X2)

Only You have come to find me.

Only You have come to pull me out.

Only You have come to save me.

Only You have come to wrap your arms around me.

And no one

Could ever love me

Like the way you love me, wrap your arms around me

And no one

Could ever love me

Like the way you love me, wrap your arms around me

(Girls echo) wrap your arms around me

Wrap your arms around me

(Girls echo) wrap your arms around me

(repeat 2 times)

Oh my God, You’ve turned your eyes

Now my heart..has come alive (X4)

now that's comedy

Saturday, I got to see Bill Cosby..he has got to be one of the funniest people alive. It seems amazing that, these days, most comedians can't get people to laugh unless they make their act completely vulgar (or get their audience very very drunk.) Cosby, though, talks about real life. He makes you see the humor of everyday events and everyday people. That is what humor in comedy clubs should always be.

Today, I got a job offer to be the new assistant director of children's ministries at my church. I'm not sure if I'm going to take it; there are some...things going on at the church right now and I'm not sure that I want to be on staff. I'm definitely going to have to think on this one for a while. If you have thoughts or opinions, let me know.

Peace out.

ps I did end up getting my hair cut. It's very short, which is very strange for me, but I think I like it. It's seriously amazing how life-changing a haircut can be.

america is on high alert

Santa Barbara has to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

Tuesday, we drove down to Hollywood and spent the whole day just kinda' hanging around being tourists. Thankfully, I'm really good with a map or we would have gotten very lost quite a few times. LA is definitely an adventure in itself to us small town Reno-ites. We stayed the night at a friend's house in Santa Clarita (half hour north or so) and then yesterday, we drove back down to Anaheim and went to Disneyland all day. It was a blast..I haven't been there in ages. It's amazing how different it is to visit the place once you're no longer an awe-struck child. So many things I remember about the place no longer seem so amazing. At the same time, I had a great time, and quite possibly enjoyed the trip even more than I did when I was 6. To make matters even better, the lines half the size because the park is on "high alert" with all the war chaos..but there were no problems and it was great we didn't have to stand in hour long lines for each ride. Yay for high alert! Ok, maybe not.

Today we're going down to Ventura to check out the outlet malls and everything..and I'm hoping to get my hair cut..and then heading home sometime tomorrow. Road trip music is the best, don't you think?

the face of the planet

Hi..this is pretty much to let you (you, as in all 3 of you who read my blog) know that I haven't fallen off the face of the planet..though that would definitely be an interesting site to see. I've been housesitting and the woman must be the only person in the world who doesn't have a computer..but I'm home for about 5 more minutes so I thought I'd update. I'm going down to Santa Barbara for a week on Sunday.. We are planning to stop by Disneyland on Wednesday, so if any of you want to meet us down there, let me know!

PS My aunt in California is really good friends with Shirley Jones (from Oklahoma, Music Man, etc) and apparently Shirley is staying with my aunt this week, so I might get to meet her when I see my aunt on Sunday! Good times

spam-a-licious

Hi. It's snowing outside. That's about it for this week.

I found some spam haikus to share. Gross.

My friend pork shoulder
I return to you. this time
I've brought mayonnaise

And who dares mock Spam?
you? you? you are not worthy
of one rich pink fleck

Oh! Mighty is spam.

Bringing surprise to each bite

Rejoice all taste buds

kari on ice

This week was busy..my poor car ended up having to be taken to three different shops to take care of all these problems. Other than that, this week's been pretty darned good!

The store is being renovated so it's crazy. It's amazing how impatient people can be! I read a statistic that the average person will refuse to wait for more than one minute in line to check out at a store. If it goes further than that, they are extremely annoyed and usually take it out on the cashier. Make them wait two minutes, and they will usually walk out without making their purchase. Our society is so impatient! I think that every person should be forced to work a retail job at some point in their lives, just so they understand what it's like. Maybe people would be nicer to that lady who rings up their food at the supermarket or the person who can't find the shirt in their size even though a computer says it's in stock.

I went ice skating on friday night..it's been about five years since I've been out on the ice, so it was quite the site to see. I worried myself for about the first 20 minutes or so but once I actually started trying to get it right, I improved immensely. For most of the evening, we had the rink to ourselves so we could do whatever we wanted. We were able to try out professional moves...ok, maybe not, but at least there was nobody else to laugh at us. After that, we went to the Hilton to go to tcby. (Yeah, we went to get ice cream on the coldest night of the year. Go figure.) We saw these kids hanging around, quite suspiciously I might add, and one of them was holding a huge wad of $20 bills in his hand. Apparently, they had found $8000 on the floor of the casino, or so they said. Hope that's true, because casino security is *usually* quite on the ball with these things, and these kids didn't look like they'd hold up well in prison.

ps i got new socks today..good times..shopko had a sale and they had all these festive socks for 99 cents a pair. I got 10. Sock fetish? I think so.

just great

This night was a complete and total disaster. Which was unfortunate, because the day started out very nicely. So my friend Marcie and I went to this Bible study thing all the way in the far end of Sparks. For those of you not quite familiar with the Reno area, this is about a half hour from my house. Since it's fairly far away, we decided to take my car, rather than both driving separately. We left around 10-ish and decided to go to Jeannine's house. She's one of the youth workers in our church and has been kind of a surrogate "mom" for Marcie lately. She lives about 5 minutes from the church we had gone to earlier, so it wasn't really out of the way to stop by again. While we were there, we went out for a while (in Jeannine's car). While we were gone, her kids (they're in jr. high and high school) decided it'd be funny to toilet paper my car. Now under normal circumstances, I would have found this amusing. The circumstances under which this happened, though, were not very amusing at all. They decided that toilet paper was not quite enough, so they poured water on it to make it stick. Again, if this were it, the whole thing would have been funny. But, it was below freezing outside so the paper froze to the car. It took about an hour to strip the car of enough toilet paper to drive home. To make matters worse, the car wouldn't start. Now, I know people whose cars sometimes decide not to start when it gets extremely cold outside, and mine has never been one of them, but we decided to jump it just in case. Of course, nothing happened. So we are sure that all the freezing water probably did something to it and it just wouldn't start because of that. I tried calling home to let my parents know..since I told them I'd be home by midnight. (My parents tend to freak out when I'm not home at the time I arranged to be home. Yes, I'm 20. Oh well.) They were already asleep. So Jeannine had the lovely task of taking us home at 1 in the morning, and I'm positive I'm going to be under scrutiny tomorrow for getting home late..and for the car being messed up. I'm still hoping that the car will start in the morning, because work calls whether it starts or not.

lack of anything interesting

Wellllll, I'm still sick, which kind of stinks because, of course, it means I can't really go and do anything. There is a major lack of anything to do around here (which always seems to happen when one gets sick, doesn't it?)

I was planning for jazz night tonite, which would have been great since we haven't frequented the place in quite a while..but after working all day, I was wiped so I just came home instead. Now I think I'll go watch a movie or something and go to sleep (hopefully).

Hope your day was better than mine.

**Random thought of the day: why they call it a "looksee" (like, you're going to take a little looksee)? It seems overly redundant, don't you think? Really, it's like saying you're going to take a "looklook" or a "seesee"..why don't they just say they're going to take a look at it rather than repeating themselves...

Ok, I am officially done rambling aimlessly now.

cruel intentions

I'm sick, and it's not my fault. I wash my hands. I use hand sanitizer. I cover my mouth when I cough. It's really all Rosemary's fault. She's a fine woman I work with (note the sarcasm).A few days ago, I showed up to work early. She didn't feel good, so I told her just to go home early, since I was there. So, in her excitement, she comes up and gives me a huge hug and thanks me for coming in early. Now at first I'm thinking, "oh that's nice..she gave me a hug"..and then I realized that she must really hate me or something because she contaminated me with whatever she had. And now I'm sick. And I'm stuck home all day. Needless to say, I'm not too happy with her right now.

But, on the plus side, I watched Remember the Titans today. Great movie.

say anything

Last night I watched Say Anything. Now this is a great movie. It's an 80's movie of course..it's the one that has hims standing outside her window holding the boom box. I'm actually kind of jealous. Yes, jealous of a movie. But he is like, the perfect guy. I mean, how many guys really put themselves out there these days? He stands out there, not knowing if she will ever come to the window.

happy new year

My life is now complete. Last night I went to a friend's apartment with some of the girls and we all watched Footloose and Pretty In Pink, both of which I'd never seen before. Footloose had a fairly good plot, but the dancing was barely worth watching. Breakin' was definitely a better movie in terms of dancing, but it lacks the plot that Footloose has. Footloose also has some classic quotables as well. One of the "old guys" tells Kevin Bacon's character, "you know there's no dancing in this town right?" and Kevin's friend yells "JUMP BACK!" That seemed to be the quote of the night. Anytime someone asked to pause the movie to get water or use the restroom, everyone yelled, "Jump back!" So sad, so sad.

Happy New Year.

lessons learned

WARNING: this will be long. Have fun reading if you actually want to read it all. I'm officially jumping on the "2002 recap" bandwagon...remember kids, don't follow trends...

Now that its basically all said and done, 2002 has been one of the best years of my life...it wasn't because only great things happened to me (because, really, who has a perfect life?)...but because of the things I have learned from everything that has happened...

January was an interesting month..I went down to see my best friend and that was the realization that we were growing somewhat apart since she moved...lesson learned: change is inevitable and it seems that the things you dont want to change the most are always the first to change, so you need to accept that and make the best of it.

February marked another Valentine's Day alone...but I realized that I didnt need a "significant other" to make it a good time because I was starting to make some great friends from the college group that I started going to. I'm reaffirming my commitment not to date until I know "he's the one." lesson learned: being without a significant other is not being alone...good friends are even more important.

March was an interesting month..I transferred jobs, which, looking back, may not have been the best decision. Also in march, I met a lot of new people, two of whom I talk to every day and consider two of my closest friends. I also met justin, which was a big mistake. lesson learned: meeting new people is so important because they often become your best friends..but moving too quickly into a relationship often leads to disaster.

April, I went on the mission trip as a leader and found that I could be a role model to the high schoolers. lesson learned: that any one person can make a huge difference in someone's life, even by doing some thing considered small and insignificant. God is above all that crap we pull every day..

May was a good month..school finally ended and..that's about all that happened. Other than that it was pretty boring...lessons learned:boring can be good. We all get bored and often complain about it, but sometimes we need to just slow down, stop rushing and stressing, and just..be bored.

June/July were good.. the parents went on vacation for the whole month so I was able to just spend time alone at the house. It was a nice change. I love my family, but it's always crazy in our house. It made me realize how much I love my family but how much more I'd like them if I moved out. I also got closer with some of the before mentioned friends..and I got to go to a music festival with some friends from the collge group! lessons learned: family and friends are important, and regardless of whether you get along all the time, you need them just as much as they need you.

August/September were nothing special other than having to say goodbye again to all my friends leaving for college..and one friend who got married...and yes, then I started school again...all that jazz...lesson learned: life is basically a cycle, like it or not..

October was..school oriented..this semester was really difficult and my procrastination didn't make it too much better. Yes, everyone procrastinates but this semester was worse than usual. Other than that small drawback, the month was pretty good. I housesat for a week and had some friends come see me there. It made me realize that even though sometimes I feel like I don't have any good close friends, I am surrounded by people who care about me..and I love them so much. And, then we almost died in a car accident on the way home from Santa Clara..lessons learned: do the best you can at whatever you are doing, and you'll gain more satisfaction from it. Do not take anything for granted because it could all be gone within seconds. Just because you seem to be very close in personality to someone doesn't mean that you are meant to be with that person..and you are often MUCH more different than them than you thought you were..

November was an...interesting...month...some hard times with some friends...questioning lots of things...becoming really unoriented in so many parts of my life...some relationships will never be the same...some things that used to come so naturally are now so foreign...but I had great people sticking by me who I cant thank enough...lessons learned: once again with the change issues...it's a part of life...usually unexpected. When you're 100% convinced you're alone, you're not.

December was a pretty hectic month with getting ready for all the holidays and stuff...I wasnt really in the "Christmas spirit" as they say, until the 24th. Once it hit me, things got much better. Prior to that I had a lot of issues concerning three different really good friends of mine..but resolution comes with time and it's happening as we speak....lessons learned: family and friends really are the most important things..and that we're never done growing...and its never too late...for anything....

..and that brings me to here...standing on the verge of a new year...and I guess its all up to me what I make of it...so...I guess I'll see you all in 2003...