Positives
Family all moving to the bay
Moving to San Francisco
New Laptop
Giving the field of Architecture a chance
Drive up to Oregon with Michael
Negatives
Yet another failed relationship
The late-winter move-out scare
Job ending at the high school
Meenee dying
Not being able to do my usual Oregon trip in the Summer
The frantic apartment/job search and college application process all at once
The accident with the truck
Having to give up my awesome apartment and locale
Living off savings and luck for 7 months
Bush getting re-elected
Having to give up the truck
In conclusion, I have to say without a shred of doubt that this has been the most difficult year of my life thus far. Let's hope '05 will be weighted a bit more on the positive side of things, eh?
German word of the day: Amputieren - To amputate
The 26th/27th
Left San Francisco at 10:30 am, got stuck in traffic on 580, picked up Michael, hit the big storm and discovered the driver's-side wiper was broken near Redding, couldn't get it fixed because of lazy mechanics, got stuck in line for a chain checkpoint on I-5 for almost 4 hours, were turned back because the road was closed (contrary to the Caltrans radio report), searched in vain for a hotel with a vacancy, had the sampler and some hot drinks at Denny's, heard rumors the road was open and breezed through the now-open checkpoint, chained up in unbelievably intense slush and ice water flows on a hillside, were almost carried away by a foot-deep flood of ice water while chaining up, gassed up in Weed, took chains off at Weed Airport, put chains on going up to Hilt, took chains off going down to Ashland, picked up breakfast at a truck stop Subway, pulled over for a 20-minute nap north of Grants Pass, arrived in Eugene around 10:30 am. Took a 2-hour nap and slept through my alarm, woke up at 4 pm to my family ringing the doorbell, scattered my dog's ashes, bought dress clothes, went to my grandmother's birthday party, came back and passed out for 15 hours.
The 28th
Woke up around noon, exchanged my coat at REI, went shopping for food, had fried rice, packed up and headed to the cabin, made the hike in the dark, arrived around 9. Hung out, made the usual noodles and meat sauce, had some rum, chatted into the wee hours of the morning.
The 29th
Woke up around 10, made a good fire, packed and left by 3, nabbed burgers at A&W, socialized, played netgames until 4 am.
The 30th
Woke up around 1; went to Borders, Mucho Gusto, and Fred Meyer; heard that Jerry Orbach died; played netgames until 5 am.
German word of the day: Epos (n) - Epic
German word of the day: Masse (f) - Crowd
A fan of classic and semi-obscure 80's cartoons? I found at least a dozen in the list that I'd completely forgotten about... apparently I'd forgotten that vast swathes of my middle youth were painted with early Nickelodeon programming.
What in the hell?
German word of the day: Dunkel - Obscure
Care to view the phase of the moon at any date and time?
German word of the day: Schreibschrift - Longhand (writing)
Wow... this really sucks. We'll miss you, Dimebag.
German word of the day: Streit (m) - Strife
At lunchtime today I headed over to Spring Lake for what turned out to be the best bike ride I've had in a long time. I guess I haven't gone too far out of shape since the rains and cold weather in the city began preventing me from riding my bike to class, as the 45-degree slopes around spring lake that I remember being treacherous were bearly something to bat an eye at. The temperature and sunlight were just right, and the formerly muddy and bumpy trails at the west waterline had recently benefitted from a new gravel spread. On the way back, I stopped by my old apartment to see how things were. There's someone living there now, but they didn't even have a welcome mat outside.
I'm slowly getting used to the Blazer, though it can never beat the Ranger. I've found the cruise control comes in handy, and the power windows are nice. The power locks are a bit annoying, however, as the direction you turn the key is the opposite of what it was on the truck. I also discovered that my CD pack won't fit on the sun visor because the visors in the Blazer are smaller than the ones in the truck, and the larger rear end makes it slightly more difficult to parallel park. The color is also a bit of an annoyance, as I feel any vehicle painted apple red just screams, "steal me," or at the very least, "key me." Looking on the bright side, however, I guess no one can use the excuse that they didn't see me on the road during a rainstorm at night.
German word of the day: Vorhersehbar - Predictable
German word of the day: Möhre (f) - Carrot