(no subject)
Gosh dang Frank the Goat, for a cartoon goat you sure are one of the lamest mascots that ever existed. "Baa, I'm a goat! Which is kind of an obscure animal that makes funny noises! Aren't you charmed?" Lame.
Uh, anyway. It has been all kinds of forever since I posted last, and plenty of stuff has happened since then, so you may be in for a good sit. So no hard feelings if you make with the skimmage.
As most of you know, a couple weeks ago I moved from Iowa City to Santa Barbara, CA to live for a few months. Right now I'm living with my aunt Jan and my brother Banks and some friends of Jan's who own the property we all live on. Their names are Jan and Matt and they have a seven-year-old named Micah who is in love with Banks. They sort of remind me of my parents, only happier. They live in the house, which they built, and Banks sleeps on the back porch and takes care of Micah in exchange for living here without paying rent. My aunt lives in a yurt in the backyard, as does her husband occasionally, and I usually end up sleeping in her stepdaughter Iris's yurt while she's at her mom's, although pretty soon I'll be setting up camp down in the jungle area behind the house so I can sleep there when Iris is here. What I do in exchange for living here without paying rent is not entirely clear, but I pitch in as much as I can and generally just praise the gods for making people as nice and generous as Matt and Jan. (Did I mention they also give me free food, and Jan is a fantastic cook? Who makes pancakes every Sunday??)
Anyway, since I'm not really paying rent I don't really have to be working, but I figure any opportunity to save up some money is one I should probably be grabbin' up. So I've been working for this honey company bottling honey in their shop and selling it at the farmer's market. The bottling part is sort of monotonous, but in a good way, and the people are really nice and sometimes not even there at all, and I can listen to music and talk on the phone while I do it. The farmer's market part is awesome. Everyone is friendly and happy and nobody gives me shit about prices or where some coworker's attitude or where are the housewares located, oh wait I see them they're right in front of me under the sign that says housewares. So that's pretty good. I don't have many hours though, so I'm thinking about getting another job. There's a nifty vintage shop on State Street that's hiring and I also might be able to get a job at this yoga store in town, so we'll see.
Also, for the past week I've been volunteering with this program called Arts Alive that basically just all sorts of art and theater classes to all ages of people. They have these week-long camps in the summer and I just volunteered to be sort of a teacher's assistant for one of them. So that was pretty much awesome. The kids were amazing- most of them were about five or six, and about as much trouble as you'd expect five and six year olds to be, but they were all really good kids, to say nothing of friggin' adorable. And the best part was, the teachers all really liked me and said I was the best helper they'd had all summer, and it sounds like they might be interested in finding me some sort of paying job with Arts Alive, which would be thoroughly nifty. I can't imagine getting paid to work with little kids and art. And the best part is, if I worked there (or probably even if I volunteered there) I could use all their resources and materials all the time, like the potter's wheel or the sewing machines or the watercolors or what have you. So, score.
All that said, though, I really really miss Iowa people, and I am sort of lonely out here. Since all I've really been doing is honey and Arts Alive and hanging out with everyone at the house, I haven't really met anyone my age yet. I have been hanging out with Banks though, which has been cool. We totally went to see Balls of Fury last night. It totally was awesome. You totally should see it right now.
Avril Lavigne singing Imagine, what the hey?
Uh, I mean. Anyway.
So yeah. It was so hard to leave Iowa, and I know it's going to be really hard to leave here, especially after I've been here for three more months, but I love it anyway. I love being somewhere new. I love knowing I'm not going to be here forever. I love knowing I'm going to have a great time here and do amazing things and then I'm going to leave and do amazing things somewhere else. I think this is the life I'm made for.
In other news, I'm thinking about getting a digital camera. A really nice one. So one of these days maybe I can show you the bright beautiful world of Sunny B. Hint: there will be lots of beach shots.
Anyhoo. Time's gettin' on and I want to straighten up the house a bit while Jan and Matt are out so I can feel like a good little refugee. Mm...and maybe make some more coffee. Yars, yars.
Alright then. Signing off.
Uh, anyway. It has been all kinds of forever since I posted last, and plenty of stuff has happened since then, so you may be in for a good sit. So no hard feelings if you make with the skimmage.
As most of you know, a couple weeks ago I moved from Iowa City to Santa Barbara, CA to live for a few months. Right now I'm living with my aunt Jan and my brother Banks and some friends of Jan's who own the property we all live on. Their names are Jan and Matt and they have a seven-year-old named Micah who is in love with Banks. They sort of remind me of my parents, only happier. They live in the house, which they built, and Banks sleeps on the back porch and takes care of Micah in exchange for living here without paying rent. My aunt lives in a yurt in the backyard, as does her husband occasionally, and I usually end up sleeping in her stepdaughter Iris's yurt while she's at her mom's, although pretty soon I'll be setting up camp down in the jungle area behind the house so I can sleep there when Iris is here. What I do in exchange for living here without paying rent is not entirely clear, but I pitch in as much as I can and generally just praise the gods for making people as nice and generous as Matt and Jan. (Did I mention they also give me free food, and Jan is a fantastic cook? Who makes pancakes every Sunday??)
Anyway, since I'm not really paying rent I don't really have to be working, but I figure any opportunity to save up some money is one I should probably be grabbin' up. So I've been working for this honey company bottling honey in their shop and selling it at the farmer's market. The bottling part is sort of monotonous, but in a good way, and the people are really nice and sometimes not even there at all, and I can listen to music and talk on the phone while I do it. The farmer's market part is awesome. Everyone is friendly and happy and nobody gives me shit about prices or where some coworker's attitude or where are the housewares located, oh wait I see them they're right in front of me under the sign that says housewares. So that's pretty good. I don't have many hours though, so I'm thinking about getting another job. There's a nifty vintage shop on State Street that's hiring and I also might be able to get a job at this yoga store in town, so we'll see.
Also, for the past week I've been volunteering with this program called Arts Alive that basically just all sorts of art and theater classes to all ages of people. They have these week-long camps in the summer and I just volunteered to be sort of a teacher's assistant for one of them. So that was pretty much awesome. The kids were amazing- most of them were about five or six, and about as much trouble as you'd expect five and six year olds to be, but they were all really good kids, to say nothing of friggin' adorable. And the best part was, the teachers all really liked me and said I was the best helper they'd had all summer, and it sounds like they might be interested in finding me some sort of paying job with Arts Alive, which would be thoroughly nifty. I can't imagine getting paid to work with little kids and art. And the best part is, if I worked there (or probably even if I volunteered there) I could use all their resources and materials all the time, like the potter's wheel or the sewing machines or the watercolors or what have you. So, score.
All that said, though, I really really miss Iowa people, and I am sort of lonely out here. Since all I've really been doing is honey and Arts Alive and hanging out with everyone at the house, I haven't really met anyone my age yet. I have been hanging out with Banks though, which has been cool. We totally went to see Balls of Fury last night. It totally was awesome. You totally should see it right now.
Avril Lavigne singing Imagine, what the hey?
Uh, I mean. Anyway.
So yeah. It was so hard to leave Iowa, and I know it's going to be really hard to leave here, especially after I've been here for three more months, but I love it anyway. I love being somewhere new. I love knowing I'm not going to be here forever. I love knowing I'm going to have a great time here and do amazing things and then I'm going to leave and do amazing things somewhere else. I think this is the life I'm made for.
In other news, I'm thinking about getting a digital camera. A really nice one. So one of these days maybe I can show you the bright beautiful world of Sunny B. Hint: there will be lots of beach shots.
Anyhoo. Time's gettin' on and I want to straighten up the house a bit while Jan and Matt are out so I can feel like a good little refugee. Mm...and maybe make some more coffee. Yars, yars.
Alright then. Signing off.