Californication
Four days until my birthday, w00t. Go me. >_>
Anyhoo, I am now living in San Jose with Mike. Despite April's fears, we did not end up killing each other on the road trip. Actually, we had a blast the whole way through, and we only managed to get lost once! :D We got turned around in Chicago and ended up about a half hour's drive north of where we were supposed to be, but the locals set us straight and merrily wished us on our way.
That's an interesting point to focus on, so I'll run with it. Despite the reputation our country seems to have about being rude/angry people, nearly everyone we met in our travels greeted us with utmost kindness and was as friendly as could be, the one exception to this being the entire state of New York. People in New York suck. We paid tolls going in, out, and through the state, and the clerk at the motel we stayed in lied to us about pricing and charged us double. >_< What I did find rather funny was one of he toll booth women. I couldn't quite reach her from inside the car, so she said (in a Rosario from Will & Grace-voice) "Lady, I can't reach you, you gonna hafta get outta da cah." Instead of being all miffed n' stuff, I found the experience to be pretty funny. Might've been because it was nearly three in the morning. :P We drove at night to get through the eastern side of the country in order to dodge traffic and heavy construction in congested cities, you see. Anyhoo, everyone else in the country was as sweet as pie, and left us in a generally warm n' fuzzy happy mood.
Ohio. Is. Weird.
Seriously. We ended up spending two days in Toledo, Ohio as I detoxed from my meds and recovered from a general feeling of "urgh". We went across the street at about two or three in the morning to a little waffle house that was crowded unlike anything I have ever seen. I had thrown on my Survivor bandana because I didn't feel like styling my hair or anything, and ended up getting scoped out by a local gang wearing blue bandanas two table away from us. It was kind of intimidating in a funny sort of way, seeing as they watched me nearly the entire time I was there. Kinda creepy too. >_>
Illinois drivers are horrible, Iowa has nothing but bugs that are attracted to windshields, and Nebraska is full of cows and corn. Seriously. We counted sixty-eight herds of cattle all throughout the state of Nebraska. Waaaaaay too many cows. XD
We crashed another night at a Motel 6 with about a hundred miles left of Nebraska to go. This was the day I did the most driving...somehow I got a major energy kick and made it within fifteen miles of the California border. It was pretty cold when we got up the next morning, and my New England brain automatically said "Snow! :D"...but I brushed it off, seeing as it was around the first of October. But my brain was right on; we got caught in a full-on, white out condition blizzard about halfway through Wyoming! I pulled over and shooed Mike out of the car...this was the first time he had ever seen snow in real life. He squeeked about it being all cold, but got over it pretty quick and then became giddy and proceeded to make his first snowball, which he threw at me...still sitting in the car. So I packed it better and whipped it back at him for a head shot. >:3
Once the blizzard cleared up, we drove through the rest of Wyoming in the rain. We got to see the sunset in Utah, and pulled over near Salt Lake City to stretch our legs and take a look at the skies. I have never seen a night sky more beautiful than I did there. There were more stars than I have ever seen in the sky, and it was so utterly clear that we could even see the whispy line across the whole sky that is the Milky Way. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and I hope we can take a trip out there again sometime. Utah also has beautiful mountains covered in forests. It was by far my favorite state we passed through. I'd definately love to go back at some point.
Still super-awake, we made it through Utah and made a pit-stop at the very last exit in-state. Right across the border into Nevada, what else would we see...not one, but two casinos, right across the street from one another! Talk about enforcing a stereotype, heh. Mike called his dad a little ways into the drive, so we ended up having a conversation with him for a while as we drove. A jackrabbit scared the unholy bejeez outta me by darting out into the road as I was doing about ninety, which prompted a shriek, slamming of the breaks and a mighty swerve! All were unharmed, but it took a bit of coaxing to get my heart out of my throat. -_-;
We drove all the way to Reno that night. RENOOOOO!!! I saw NO sheriffs or anything! SO depressed. XD
Anyhoo, Reno's about fifteen miles from the border of California, so we were in-state and home by dinnertime the following day, much to my great relief. I was dead-tired and sick of driving. :P I'm so glad Mike came along, I wouldn't have been able to do it on my own. I'm bad enough with directions on my own as is, but I would've hated to drive all that way alone. It was fun though. We bought snacks at Shaws before we left Nashua so we had plenty of munchies and drinks on the road, and I ended up burning most of my iPod music onto CDs for the ride, so it was good music and better company the whole way through. Much love to my navigator for making it such an enjoyable experience. ^_^
Being the crazy cat-lady that I am, of course I began hunting for adoptable felines within two weeks of being here. XD A pet store about ten minutes from our house hosted Town Cats' adoption fairs every Sunday for about half the day, and lucky for us, it was Sunday! That outing brought us two little twelve-week old lovables; a black female with silver undercoat we named Cait Sith, and an orange tiger we named Kyo. Extra points if you can tell where we got the names from. :3 Funnily enough, we ended up accidentally adopting another female. There's a bunch of strays that live in the area that Mike named after Red versus Blue: Church, Tex, Sheila, and a few others. Anyhoo, it was raining one night about a week ago or so, and Church and Tex were sitting in front of the glass door. Tex, the silver tabby, was cuddling the door right in front of Cait. Mike agreed that we could let the cats in if they got along okay with the kittens, because I really didn't want to leave them out in the rain. Church decided against coming in and didn't really like the kittens, but Tex checked them out and made her home on top of the washer in the laundry room. When we went in to let her out the next day, she wouldn't move past the threshold of the door. So Tex adopted us, to Mike's amusement. The outdoor cats always ran away from him before, but Tex is now a happy third kitty in our little home.
In other news, I just applied yesterday to a local community college about twenty minutes to a half-hour away from our house, and I applied at GameStop in Eastridge Mall, about ten to fifteen minutes away. I had my first interview which went fabulously, and am waiting for a callback sometime within the next five days or so that will signal my getting the job. Pray for me, peoples. I want/direly NEED this job!!! ^_____^;;;
Life is going quite well for me now, and I'm very happy living with Mike and our kittens. I miss all you guys though, and I'll be back for Christmas. My cell number's still the same, so gimme a call sometime! Lotsa lahb peoples! ^_^
Anyhoo, I am now living in San Jose with Mike. Despite April's fears, we did not end up killing each other on the road trip. Actually, we had a blast the whole way through, and we only managed to get lost once! :D We got turned around in Chicago and ended up about a half hour's drive north of where we were supposed to be, but the locals set us straight and merrily wished us on our way.
That's an interesting point to focus on, so I'll run with it. Despite the reputation our country seems to have about being rude/angry people, nearly everyone we met in our travels greeted us with utmost kindness and was as friendly as could be, the one exception to this being the entire state of New York. People in New York suck. We paid tolls going in, out, and through the state, and the clerk at the motel we stayed in lied to us about pricing and charged us double. >_< What I did find rather funny was one of he toll booth women. I couldn't quite reach her from inside the car, so she said (in a Rosario from Will & Grace-voice) "Lady, I can't reach you, you gonna hafta get outta da cah." Instead of being all miffed n' stuff, I found the experience to be pretty funny. Might've been because it was nearly three in the morning. :P We drove at night to get through the eastern side of the country in order to dodge traffic and heavy construction in congested cities, you see. Anyhoo, everyone else in the country was as sweet as pie, and left us in a generally warm n' fuzzy happy mood.
Ohio. Is. Weird.
Seriously. We ended up spending two days in Toledo, Ohio as I detoxed from my meds and recovered from a general feeling of "urgh". We went across the street at about two or three in the morning to a little waffle house that was crowded unlike anything I have ever seen. I had thrown on my Survivor bandana because I didn't feel like styling my hair or anything, and ended up getting scoped out by a local gang wearing blue bandanas two table away from us. It was kind of intimidating in a funny sort of way, seeing as they watched me nearly the entire time I was there. Kinda creepy too. >_>
Illinois drivers are horrible, Iowa has nothing but bugs that are attracted to windshields, and Nebraska is full of cows and corn. Seriously. We counted sixty-eight herds of cattle all throughout the state of Nebraska. Waaaaaay too many cows. XD
We crashed another night at a Motel 6 with about a hundred miles left of Nebraska to go. This was the day I did the most driving...somehow I got a major energy kick and made it within fifteen miles of the California border. It was pretty cold when we got up the next morning, and my New England brain automatically said "Snow! :D"...but I brushed it off, seeing as it was around the first of October. But my brain was right on; we got caught in a full-on, white out condition blizzard about halfway through Wyoming! I pulled over and shooed Mike out of the car...this was the first time he had ever seen snow in real life. He squeeked about it being all cold, but got over it pretty quick and then became giddy and proceeded to make his first snowball, which he threw at me...still sitting in the car. So I packed it better and whipped it back at him for a head shot. >:3
Once the blizzard cleared up, we drove through the rest of Wyoming in the rain. We got to see the sunset in Utah, and pulled over near Salt Lake City to stretch our legs and take a look at the skies. I have never seen a night sky more beautiful than I did there. There were more stars than I have ever seen in the sky, and it was so utterly clear that we could even see the whispy line across the whole sky that is the Milky Way. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and I hope we can take a trip out there again sometime. Utah also has beautiful mountains covered in forests. It was by far my favorite state we passed through. I'd definately love to go back at some point.
Still super-awake, we made it through Utah and made a pit-stop at the very last exit in-state. Right across the border into Nevada, what else would we see...not one, but two casinos, right across the street from one another! Talk about enforcing a stereotype, heh. Mike called his dad a little ways into the drive, so we ended up having a conversation with him for a while as we drove. A jackrabbit scared the unholy bejeez outta me by darting out into the road as I was doing about ninety, which prompted a shriek, slamming of the breaks and a mighty swerve! All were unharmed, but it took a bit of coaxing to get my heart out of my throat. -_-;
We drove all the way to Reno that night. RENOOOOO!!! I saw NO sheriffs or anything! SO depressed. XD
Anyhoo, Reno's about fifteen miles from the border of California, so we were in-state and home by dinnertime the following day, much to my great relief. I was dead-tired and sick of driving. :P I'm so glad Mike came along, I wouldn't have been able to do it on my own. I'm bad enough with directions on my own as is, but I would've hated to drive all that way alone. It was fun though. We bought snacks at Shaws before we left Nashua so we had plenty of munchies and drinks on the road, and I ended up burning most of my iPod music onto CDs for the ride, so it was good music and better company the whole way through. Much love to my navigator for making it such an enjoyable experience. ^_^
Being the crazy cat-lady that I am, of course I began hunting for adoptable felines within two weeks of being here. XD A pet store about ten minutes from our house hosted Town Cats' adoption fairs every Sunday for about half the day, and lucky for us, it was Sunday! That outing brought us two little twelve-week old lovables; a black female with silver undercoat we named Cait Sith, and an orange tiger we named Kyo. Extra points if you can tell where we got the names from. :3 Funnily enough, we ended up accidentally adopting another female. There's a bunch of strays that live in the area that Mike named after Red versus Blue: Church, Tex, Sheila, and a few others. Anyhoo, it was raining one night about a week ago or so, and Church and Tex were sitting in front of the glass door. Tex, the silver tabby, was cuddling the door right in front of Cait. Mike agreed that we could let the cats in if they got along okay with the kittens, because I really didn't want to leave them out in the rain. Church decided against coming in and didn't really like the kittens, but Tex checked them out and made her home on top of the washer in the laundry room. When we went in to let her out the next day, she wouldn't move past the threshold of the door. So Tex adopted us, to Mike's amusement. The outdoor cats always ran away from him before, but Tex is now a happy third kitty in our little home.
In other news, I just applied yesterday to a local community college about twenty minutes to a half-hour away from our house, and I applied at GameStop in Eastridge Mall, about ten to fifteen minutes away. I had my first interview which went fabulously, and am waiting for a callback sometime within the next five days or so that will signal my getting the job. Pray for me, peoples. I want/direly NEED this job!!! ^_____^;;;
Life is going quite well for me now, and I'm very happy living with Mike and our kittens. I miss all you guys though, and I'll be back for Christmas. My cell number's still the same, so gimme a call sometime! Lotsa lahb peoples! ^_^