Just another evening of BS

"Oh, piffle," said Joe sadly when he learned Davy's heated gloves had mildewed.

Want a laugh? Look on Craig's List

So in a half-serious search for a new car with better gas mileage and doors that lock, I was bopping around on Craig's List. I came the following post. I almost died laughing.

2001 Green New VW Beetle Original Owner, under 85,300 miles I've driven this car since i was 16 and i just finished college and now i'm ready to buy a new car. I've never been in an accident, one time i backed into a lady carrying an ice cream cake in a parking lot, but no one was hurt, especially not my car. (That was closer to when i was 16)

and later...

Anything else you're wondering if it has, i'm sure it does, i'm not looking at the manual or anything. Concerning the engine, i don't know what cylinders are but they're probably there. (joking) It's all there and works great!

I almost want to buy it just because the post was so funny!

Percolate Your Mind: Fortune Telling

Last night (which was my last night!), I had Chinese food for dinner while at work. I thought the fortune in my fortune cookie was rather interesting:

"This is a prosperous time of life for you."

I hope so! Though being prosperous monetarily is nice-- especially when one has to pay for student loans, car insurance, some rent, car repairs, cell phone etc-- I hope that I will be even more prosperous in frienships and experiences. I signed up to do BFS, so I hope that this will be a spiritually prosperous time for me as well.

Don't worry, I do not stake my life on fortunes from fortune cookies, but this one got me thinking...

Percolate Your Mind: The Ultimate Story

So about a month ago, I was happily working when a nice lady came in and started chatting with another customer. I overheard her saying that she graduated with her BA in Psychology, so I chimed in and mentioned that I had as well.

She proceeded to ask me if I was going to get my Master's, which I want to do at some point. I also mentioned my internship at the foster family agency. She THEN asked if I enjoyed traveling. I said that I didn't mind...

"Well," she said, "my company is hiring right now. You should put in your resume and cover letter, and mention my name so it goes to the top of the stack."

Sweet.

So I did. And they called me two days later for an interview. What they didn't tell me was it was a panel interview which TOTALLy freaked me out. I thought I did a terrible job, but apparently it wasn't too bad because they called me in for a second interview about a week later. This was a more casual interview (thank goodness!).

And then they offered me a job. YAY! So I accepted, and now have a "big girl" job. Salary, benefits, everything. Woo! I start on Monday the 8th.

Percolate Your Mind: Early Mornings

This one isn't terribly insightful or funny, but I laughed for awhile.

You can tell it's early in the morning and the customer certainly hasn't had his morning coffee when he has his polo shirt on inside out. He was rather embarrassed when I gently pointed it out. I felt kinda bad, but hey-- I would want someone to tell me I had my shirt on wrong before I got to work.

Also, some guy practically offered me a job today. The people one meets at coffee shops...

Percolate Your Mind: Creepy Beepy

Sadly, the first story is a bit creepy. I guess one of the down sides of being a young, friendly, female barista is the comments/attitudes of the weird middle-aged men. Anyway.

This one guy, we'll call him "Joe," comes in every weekend for a sugar-free soy mocha, extra hot. He's writing a book, so he works on that for a few hours every Saturday and Sunday. A couple weeks ago, I was explaining to him that I was home alone because the rest of my family was gone to church camp; I had to stay home to work.

He said-- yes, he said this-- "You should do what I do when I am home alone. I take off all my clothes and walk around the house with no clothes on."

I was caught off guard a bit, and stammered something about not really wanting to do that, I'm not that "free" or something. Apparently disregarding my discomfort, he kept going on and on and on about this. AND in front of another regular customer. So awkward.

And then yesterday, after I had made him his second sugar-free soy mocha, extra hot, he took a sip and asked me if I could make it hotter-- it was already over 160 degrees. I explained that I had heated it as hot as I could without scalding the milk... if I steam it too much, the milk burns. He was bummed, though I told him I would do it anyway of he really wanted. He acquisted to my suggestion of not heating it more, but then he reached across into the little employee area, and tweaked my nose. What. the. heck. I quickly backed away and playfully laughed, "Hey, that's mine!" I hope he got the hint.

Life Lesson: Stay a bit over an arms length away from Joe.

----

Here's something dumb I did yesterday though. As every coffee shop probably has, we have a well with running water in which we keep our spoons and such while we're not using them. It has a little rubber spigot thing (doesn't the word "spigot" look strange?) which dumps in the water. I was attempting to adjust it yesterday because somehow it was leaking all over the counter, soaking a book my co-worker had set there. As I messed with this small hose, I accidently pointed it straight at my face, soaking myself with water. At least the customer who was waiting for his drink was entertained.

And this book that got soaked... my coworker Kayleigh really wanted to dry it off... by putting it in the toaster!! I firmly said, "No, I'm pretty sure it will catch on fire. If I can light bagels on fire, then the book will catch fire rather quickly. And it won't go out for a long time." She wasn't convinced, and kept contemplating putting the book through the toaster so it would dry out. I did talk her out of it in the end, but can you imagine if she had toasted it? Ridiculous!

An Idea

Perhaps, because nothing definite is happening in my life right now-- it's all a big mass of confusion-- I shall record a new (and only) series titled, "Percolate Your Mind: Tales From the Coffeeshop." At this moment I am too tired to recall many, but as I experience or remember them, I shall document!

Otherwise, I think I might delete this blog.

Some Quotes to Share

Here are some quotes I have enjoyed recently.

"Faith is obedience, not confidence."
--Malcolm, in George MacDonald's book The Marquis' Secret

"Tell God you are ready to be offered, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be."
"In our abandonment we give ourselves over to God just as God gave Himself for us, without any calculation. The consequences of abandonment never enter into our outlook because our life is taken up with Him."
"God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us; now He wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in Him."
--Oswald Chambers

"What am I to do? I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good work, therefore, any kindness, or any service I can render to any soul of man... let me do it now. Let me not neglect or defer it, for I shall not pass this way again."
--An Old Quaker Saying

"To hold fast to God with one hand, while you open wide the other to your neighbor-- that is true religion and undefiled, that is the law and the prophets, that is to live the life Jesus came to teach us about and to demonstrate to us."
--Curate Thomas Wingfold in George MacDonald's book The Lady's Confession

Summer

So as I think I mentioned previously, I have been working at It's A Grind, the lovely coffeeshop down the street. I enjoy it, as far as those types of jobs are concerned... certainly better than Juice It Up and Maui Wowi. One reason is because I'm working with college students rather than high school students.

However, I have been looking for other jobs. I'm getting bored making coffee. =) I think I will stay here for about a year to work at a "real" job, save money, start paying off large(ish) chunks of my loans, gain work experience, etc. Then I would like to move on to somewhere else. Who knows where, but somewhere.

Oh, but I am going to take a conversational Spanish class this September/October through the adult education program, and I am also going to supplement my learning with a program called Rosetta Stone to learn the grammer/spelling etc aspect of it as well as conversation. I am also thinking about joining BSF. Sadly, there are no young adult ones in our area, so I will go to the women's one. Which is fine, but I just hope that there are some younger women there too so I'm not the youngest by far.

Hmm, what else... oh yes, Shallowbrook. It was good, as was the water-ski weekend beforehand. Des Moines conference is blurry because I was so tired. =) But I enjoyed myself... had some good discussions with some friends; those moments tend to be my best memories.

I couldn't go to Lassen this year... first time in 10 years. Dumb work! So I spent the week by myself. I survived, however, and it was probably a learning experience. I now know that I would not be very good at living alone. Actually, I would probably lose a lot of weight since I was too lazy to cook things for myself, haha.

Otherwise... nothing new under the sun. For your entertainment, here is a picture. Attractive!

Wow, my life is EXCITING

Well, as previously mentioned, I graduated. Then I went home. And I have since been working at a coffeeshop down the street from my house. Now, I know it's not a "real" job, but hey, it's money. Which is what I need right now. Plus, I don't want to get a career type job here in Southern California because I don't really want to stay here. I would instead like to live somewhere in the northern regions of California, specifically Sacramento area or Redding.

Before that, though, I may live in Denver or Maryland. I applied for the AmeriCorps program NCCC, and so far so good. I have to have a phone interview in the next couple days, then I will be notified of my acceptance or lack thereof within 3 weeks of said interview.

I figured that it would be nice to do some stuff that I couldn't do if I was paying rent or working a "real job". So that's why I'm working at a coffeeshop and applying for the AmeriCorps. I would like to do something overseas at some point too. Hannah found a great site for au pairs, but I'm not too into nannying. I need to find one where I just need to keep their house clean and cook them dinner or something. Not that I cook well, but I could practice on them, haha.

I have read lots of books so far, one being Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (she also wrote Middlemarch). It was 710 pages. I am quite proud of myself. It was a good book, I highly recommend it. I might attempt to finish Les Miserables... it has taken me a few years to get 3/4 of the way through it. I'm going to have to catch myself up with the SparkNotes that I bought, and then figure out where I left off. Yuck. But that's a good book too, with the exception of the 100 pages going on and on and on about some French war. Skipped that part.

So yeah, that's my life. Oh yeah, I think I might start trying different churches on Sundays. I think I'll start with EVFree-- 'scuse me, NorthPoint-- then perhaps Calvary Chapel. We'll see where I go from there.

Ok, that's my life right now. Exciting, huh? Yeah right. =)

My coworker asked if I had been tanning because my arms looked dark. She's my favorite person in the whole wide world.

My Heart's Desire

I'm sure every girl wants, as I do, to be exclaimed over in this manner when she walks elegantly into a room:

"By George! who is that girl with the awfully well-set head and jolly figure?"

My life would be complete.

(From George Eliot's Daniel Deronda)

Reflections of a College Graduate

Sorry it's been so long since I have last blogged. In my defense, I have been rather busy (until last week, anyway).

I graduated college. Though I am glad to be done with group projects and quizzes and pointless busy work, I will miss learning with my peers and reading interesting things and most of all...

...my friends. I made some fantastic friends over these four years. Together we have experienced, learned, discussed, exercised, laughed, cried, traveled, gone on midnight WinCo chocolate runs, frozen at the bonfires on The Patio, drank more coffee than I'm sure is healthy, loved, and laughed some more. We have shared each other's burdens... rejoiced when they rejoiced, wept when they wept, supported when life was rough, encouraged when circumstances seemed overwhelming or confusing, shared in anticipation and enthusiasm when an exciting opportunity came along. We discussed our homework with each other (those darn dialogue papers!). We shared what we had discovered in our personal lives. We created memories.

And in one day, it concludes. A whirwind of preparation and activity. Statements of "I can't believe I'm graduating!"... "This is SO WEIRD!"... "I look like a fat cow in this gown."... "Can you believe it?!? We made it, friend! We're graduating!" float around room where we line up. Then we walk down that graduation aisle to sounds of Pomp and Circumstance (or whatever the heck that song is called), and the roar of applause, and the snapping of cameras. Each graduate takes the seemingly unending walk across the stage to receive his or her diploma. We turn our tassles, and walk back down the aisle to more applause and more camera flashes.

We are college graduates!

The whole day is a blur. Surreal. I try to comprehend where the past 4 years have gone, what has happened that day, entertain guests from out of town. I try to live in the moment, enjoy what's happening. But I'm not quite sure what's happening. I walk in a fog.

I go to Red Robin one last time with my fellow graduates. We go back to campus for a bonfire on The Patio, hanging out, being friends. We ask about future plans. We promise to keep in touch.

Together, we have conquered homework and projects and success and defeat. We have spent 4 years together, building friendships.

This day is joyful.... we have made it to another milestone! Life awaits us, options are unlimited, we are unfettered by anything (except student loans), the world is ours for the taking. What freedom! What joy! What opportunity!

And I hold back the tears.

Up Close and Personal

I'm pretty sure every teen's mother has told them this. Or maybe it was just mine. But whenever I wanted to do something that "everyone else" was doing, my mom would respond, "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump off too?" To which I eventually replied, "Yes. Because if I didn't I obviously wouldn't have any friends left." So there.

But now I can legitimately and truthfully answer a resounding, "YES. Yes, if all my friends jumped off a bridge, I would jump off that bridge too."

I jumped off a bridge yesterday. I honestly can't believe I did so because I'm scared of heights and don't really like jumping off things. Especially things that are 30-40 feet off the ground. Maybe my subconscious was dreading finals. Who knows. But I did it!

Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned. I really shouldn't try feats like this. Some of you may remember the time I "fell" off a skateboard while going down a large hill and landed on my knee, and was barely able to walk a few days later. In fact, some of my friends had to carry me up the stairs one time (thank you, I am forever indebted-- if it were not for you, I might still be in the cafeteria at HL).

This time, I leaped off the bridge (after only 1 false start) and began my rapid descent. I suddenly got freaked out and started waving my arms, which propelled me slightly backwards. Right before I hit the icy waters below, I remembered that I should point my toes. This is where the "unfortunately" kicks in. I landed in the water in a sitting position. I, of course, mentally panic as I realize I've hit the water the wrong way. I had visions of Joni Ericson Tada floating through my mind.

"Maybe I'm paralyzed!!" I frantically thought as I swam to the surface. I quickly realized the ridiculousness of this thought, and instantly calmed, though I continued swimming rapidly. Have I mentioned how cold it was? It was difficult to breathe, and my arms were numb as I swam quickly toward the rock on which everyone else was standing.

My friends were concerned, and asked if I was ok. I assured them I was, though I was thinking, in a very intellectual fashion, "OUCH and COLD." Though it stung, I didn't think my legs were going to be too bad. As we walked back to the car about 20-30 minutes later, however, I realized that this was not going to be a pretty sight. Every step hurt.

As the evening progressed, my legs turned more and more black and blue. The bruising still continues to spread down my leg. Honestly though, it's a pretty good battle wound, definitely the best I've ever had. I just hope it stays above my knees because I am wearing a pretty knee-length dress on Thurday for Sr. Banquet, and, vainly, I do not want black and blue blotches on my legs.

So that was my adventure. I finished my last classes of my undergraduate career, and then jumped off a bridge. Awesome.

This is my friend Karissa jumping off the bridge. She was uninjured. I am the one on the bridge; this was Karissa's second jump, and I was not about to go again. Though I actually did contemplate it... =)















Left leg. Right leg.

3 more reasons I do not want to move to Southern California

1. It took me 1 hour to go 30 miles.
2. The sky is not often visible through the layer of smog.
3. Movies cost $10.50.

Recent Update

Here is the most recent update I have on Kassie, the girl who was in a bad car accident the first week of school. I have paraphrased and summarized from a newpaper article from her hometown.

Last week, she spoke for the first time in six months. Her first word was "mom."

Right after the crash, Kassie was put into an induced coma since her brain was swelling so badly. She had 3 surgeries in November, at which point they eased her off the medications. Kassie became progressively more aware; she was able to watch people as they spoke. Kassie has been at a Kaiser in central/northern California at a full-time rehab center. She's re-learning how to move and speak, but she is making daily progress. She can now slide into a wheelchair by herself, identify pictures, and add some numbers. She can identify her friends in pictures, and remembers her pets.

However, she has to be cared for 24/7. And the hospital bills have been staggering. In one hospital alone (she has been in four), the charges are almost $1 million. Kaiser is only paying a quarter of this. Kassie's parents have been put into a tight spot because they are unable to give her the care she needs as they work to try to financially stay afloat.

So obviously much prayer is still needed for the family. Though they rejoice at Kassie's progress, many tough decisions and situations lay ahead. Thanks in advance for your prayers!

Oh, and if you want more specific info, comment me... I feel weird putting her personal information (hometown, last name, fund etc) down in my blog. =)

San Francisco!

So I have been gone every other weekend so far this semester. First, I went to Colorado for 5 days or so. Then Lee and I drove down to Fremont to go to a Sharks game and hang out with the peeps down there. Just this past weekend, Macy, Lee and I met Angie, Karly, Bethany and Abby in Fremont. It's been so good to do something other than stay on campus every weekend! But I need to cut down on the traveling a bit... I have totally messed myself up as far as homework is concerned, and I'm exhausted! But who cares, it's my last semester. I'm still going to pass everything-- just maybe not with more A's than B's. Ah, senioritis kicks in...

It's been kind of a weird semester; the atmosphere in our dorm hall certainly has changed. It's not bad, it's just different than last semester. I've also been doing a lot of thinking lately (as I believe I mentioned in my previous blog). Thinking about the present, about the future. Especially about the future. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with myself after I graduate. I'll figure it out as time goes on, I suppose. There are so many things I want to do. Which to pick is the question.

Anyway, here are some pictoral highlights from the semester so far.

First, I went to Colorado. Here I am with my beautiful friends outside the lodge.

Hooray for cousins!


One Saturday night here in the dorms, we went mattress surfing down our stairs. It's too bad they were short... I wanted to go faster!

San Francisco was absolutely gorgeous this past weekend!

We had fun wandering around the city...

...going to the beach in Santa Cruz...

... and attempting to throw marshmallows in each other's mouths. lovely.

Now... mountains of homework. Hooray! haha

A brief summary

Last semester of senior year: exciting, yet anxiety-producing. I am definitely looking forward to graduating... I feel like I will have accomplished something. But-- then what? Good question.

I just want to travel. All this job, responsibility thing... overrated. Though the whole steady income thing sounds nice. Right now, every time I get a paycheck, my bank account practically doubles, haha. How about someone support me? I could be a non-profit.

I should work for the Red Cross. Travel to various countries to help those who have been impacted by distasters or other external influences.

I'm totally sick of school, though. Senioritis has definitely kicked in. Every semester I say that I have a ton to read; without question, this semester is requiring the most reading. By the end the semester, I will have read 6 or 7 entire books. The shortest by far is 130 pages.

This semester has been nice, though, in that I have been able to go places on the weekends. I went to Colorado for a few days with my church group; though it was painful falling down the Rockies in an attempt to snowboard, I had a good time, and hope to snowboard again soon. I also went to the SF area to see some friends as well as my sister. Hopefully I can go again this coming weekend. It's really nice to get off campus, as well as get to know my Red Bluff friends during the car rides.

Because I'm in my last semester and realizing that opportunities for a lot of fun things might soon be coming to a hiatus (did I use that word correctly??), I am trying to take advantage of the times when I can go places, even at the expense of my homework. Which is fine. I'm graduating with honors, so who cares about this semester, as long as I don't fail anything this semester. Which I'm not.

So yeah. I've been learning a lot about myself, a lot I didn't really want to know. I'm realizing my brokeness as a human being. Painful. But necessary.

So that's my life! Cheerful. haha. OH! Accomplishment for Stephanie! I now know how to drive stick shift! Go me! I actually really enjoy it, and whenever I get a new car, I will probably get a manual. Unless I live in the big city and will be stuck in traffic. That's no fun anyway, and even less so with having to press the clutch in and out every 10 seconds. Anyway, I have further decided that I enjoy the Jeep/small SUV things over a car. I attribute this affinity to the fact that I learned to drive a van and consequently feel rather vulnerable and small in a car. Plus, getting a larger vehicle might help compensate for my small stature. Only downside: gas mileage. But I got gas here for less than $3.00 per gallon last week! I was pretty excited.

Well, speaking of doing things at the expense of homework...

The Sweet Life of Stephanie

My life is pretty cool. In one month, I go from this:


to this:

You should be jealous. Oh, and I'm graduating in 3 months from today. WOOT!

"I will sum up"

This semester has been my most difficult semester in many ways. My classes have been tougher (particularly Sr. Seminar-oy vey), and I have had much to think about and contemplate. The aforementioned class was about the integration of psychology and theology, so I have been forced to think about these issues and come to a quasi-conclusion about what I believe. The most stressful assignment this semester was the dialogue paper we had to do for Sr. Seminar. Basically, we had to make up a conversation between two people addressing the issues of psychology and theology, and the integration thereof. We had to include material that we have learned from our previous classes. Most of our information was not in the conversation, but rather in explanatory footnotes-- sometimes these footnotes took up half the page! I am not a very creative person. Ask my mother, I hated the sections in English about poetry and creative writing. The fact that this assignment was worth 50% of my grade caused me great anxiety. When I thought about it, my heart would start racing, and I would begin to hyperventilate. No joke. I'm not exaggerating. It was a common response for most of the people in that class. But, praise the Lord, it is over... we find out our grades on Tuesday. Oh, I just got nervous.

On the bright side, internship has been fabulous! I've learned so much, and all the people who work at the agency are just great. I love interning there! (I intern at a foster family agency, by the way.)

Finals start tomorrow. Honestly, I'm so sick of studying. I'm SO done. I have to write a 5-page paper tonight. I've been doing a whole lot of nothing today, which has been nice. But I have to finish that paper tonight because the rest of my week is pretty packed. I don't have time to do it tomorrow! If it's not 5 pages... oh well. I would skip it, but I have no idea where I stand in the class. Don't want to fail now!

I'm excited about break. I'm staying a night with Abby in Fresno, then we're driving home. I'm supposed to go to the Mission Inn with a couple friends from school who live nearby; then there's our church conference; resting; relaxation; reading for fun... ahhhh. I'm also planning on cleaning out my room in the event that I move after graduation (April 26th, 10AM-- but who's counting??)

One thing I have enjoyed this semester is seeing my "meeting" friends in R-B, even if they are on "the other side." =) They are super nice, and I've had a great time getting to know them. I hope I can see them more next semester. I just wish R-B was a tad closer.

I love my life here. It's been so great, and I'm really sad to leave it in a few months. It's going to be really hard. I've made so many good friends, and we've had such good times. I'll be sure to bring lots of Kleenex to graduation! It will be traumatic! I'm so glad I'm here. I was just talking to my friend, and we were mentioning how thankful we are to be here, we couldn't be more blessed.

I'm such a psych major

I had a dream last night and I psychoanalyzed it.