01/05/04

Okay I'm thinking that I don't update this as much as I should.  So hello there!  It's officially 2004!  Woohoo!  This year can't possibly be as BAD as last year. 

Anyway...the holidays are finally over.  Oh and I finally got my car back right before Christmas!   Ho ho ho to me, huh?  Christmas was the usual family event.  New Year's was kind of quite due to the threat of icy weather.  Navan was in town for that, but I ended up hanging out with the neighbors to avoid other drunken drivers driving in the ice.  

My birthday was fun.  (shay)2, Nita, Shiori, Navan, and I went to Todai and stuffed ourselves silly on sushi, japanese food, seafood, and various desserts.  I think we ended up staying there for like 3 hours or so.   Then we headed to The Garage...played some pool...and then bowled.  I had to work the next day so that part wasn't fun.

So this leads me to this 5th day of January of 2004.  I am making plans to move by the end of this month.  Thank GOD!  Halleluja!!!!!  26 days to go after tonight.  Can you tell I'm doing the final countdown to freedome? 

I honestly thought I was going to need to check myself into Fairfax Hospital and use up my Mental Health benefits if I stayed here much longer.  Either that...or start drinking heavily. 

So....all good things (and especially the bad in this case) must come to an end.  I can't say I'm sorry to no longer have Tina as a roommate because I would be lying.  I'm sure he'll move on and continue making other peoples' lives miserable.  Beware world! 

Anywho...enough of that....'til next time!

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11/30/03

Oh my God, you guys!  We are back in D.C. from New York!  Can I just tell you?  New York is sooooooooooooooooooooooooo awesome!  The city just has this energy about it.  The city is just so full of life and culture!

Okay at first I was a little skittish.  A little bit of culture shock on my part.  The subways kind of freaked me out the first day.  The second day when we got to go sightseeing and experience the city...le sigh!  It was so awesome.  Everything is so much larger than life.   Time Square....42nd Ave..Rockefellar Center...China Town...  I wish we had more time and the weather had been better for us.  I so want to go back someday!

Don't get me wrong.  You won't get a random phone call or email from me saying I'm packing up and moving to the BIG CITY or anything.  I don't think I'm cut out to move to a place like that.  I'm not a big, city girl by any accounts.  I'm the suburb girl I always was.  You can take the girl out of the suburbs...but you can never take the suburbs out of the girl.  I would love to visit NYC lots or live somewhere just outside the city and go there lots.

Oh...remember how I said there were certain differences between D.C. and Seattle.  Okay here are some I noticed about NYC.

1. Subways - These are so damn awesome!  They are so convenient and are pretty much can take you anywhere you need to go when you are visiting.  Not to mention the fun day passes.  For one price you can ride back and forth and see as many sights as you would like to.  We had some fun with this.

2. Friendliness - Okay this one was a shocker to me.  This town is pretty damn friendly!  Granted people aren't as blatantly friendly as they are back in Seattle, but whenever you do strike up a conversation with most New Yorkers...they were always so friendly and helpful.  If you can believe it...they were so much friendlier than the D.C. natives. 

3. Pedestrians - This was like a 180 from the way things are for Pedestrians in D.C.  Remember in D.C. that Pedestrians need to be aware of cars even if they have the right of way because cars don't care.  In NYC, Pedestrians don't seem to care if cars are coming.  The crowd moves in the crosswalks when it feels like it.  I learned to always put myself in the middle of the crowd so I'm sure nothing will happen to me.  It was amusing to see the difference between D.C. and NYC in this.

4. The Sights - Do I even need to say anything?  The Big Apple...The City that Never Sleeps...c'mon people.  It's awesome!  Time Square, China Town, Little Italy, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Empire States Building, Statue of Liberty, 42nd Street, Radio City Music Hall, 5th Avenue.... Okay I could go on and on. 

5. Honking - Okay I've decided it's just an East Coast thing.  I have never heard as much honking in my life as I have in D.C. and NYC.  I think that NYC soooooooooooooooooooooooooo has the excessive honking...hands down.  I think I'm a little too laid-back in that sense.  I'm like thinking....c'mon people chill already.

Anyway...I just wanted to jot a few of my thoughts on NYC down.  I fly home in a few days.  I am going to miss the East Coast and all the great things here...but to be honest....I'm getting a little homesick. 

So, TTFN! 

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11/23/03

Well hello there!  I've been a little busy and I'm well...across the country as we speak.  Washington D.C. is a very neat city....although I did suffer some culture shock first coming here.

1. Buses - Apparently in D.C. the buses don't believe in schedules.  It may say 8:13PM but you can wait until 9:15PM for a bus.  So there is basically no reason to go by the schedule.

2. Friendliness - Most often than not...people are not as open as friendly as the west coast.  As I have been a west coast gal most of my life, it was something that I needed to get used to.  You cannot get upset everytime people are rude because...you'd be upset all the time.  There were times when people looked at me like I was crazier than hell just for being friendly and polite.

3. Cabs - This is actually a nice thing.  Cabs will take you anywhere in the city for just . 

4. Monuments/Sights - NEVER believe anyone who tells you can do it all in a day and not be tired.  I hurt just now and we only hit: The Capital Building, The National Mall, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Museum of History & Science, and the White House.  There is still a lot more...but I just couldn't do it.

5. Pedestrians - BEWARE!  Just because the walk light is on and it is green, that does NOT mean you have the right of way.  Cars can and WILL run you over when you have the right of way and cuss at you for getting in the way.

6. Honking - East coasters go CRAZY about honking.  The honk at the drop of a pin.  I personally think it's something that is incorporated into their driver's ed programs.

Well that's it for now.  I'm exhausted...and plus..I'm on vacation.  So I'm outtie!!! Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee for now!