Monday, April 28, 2008

well.


As I was waking up on Monday, and eating my toast, Erik Ainge was becoming a multi-millionaire.

I find this horrifically unfair. In the grand scheme of things, I don't find it justifiable to get a seven figure salary for throwing a ball. Personally, I think one's salary should reflect the impact it has on our world.

football player = amusement = $500 dollars. Right?

teacher = educating future leaders, broadening minds, expanding horizons, etc. = 1,000,000

And I'm not being biased because I: a) have teacher parents or b) am dating an education major.

I just think that makes more sense.

Anyway, I digress. Instead of getting all bitter, I'm going to take joy in my simple pleasures. Here are some things that have recently made me very content:
I bought some crocs. I gave into the ultimate uber Oregon trend, and I couldn't be happier.
This isn't sheep poop. I am done with that. These, are chocolate covered peanuts and they are my new favorite sin. I would pick a handful of these over Erik Ainge any day.

Speaking of sheep poop, I finally got my paycheck today, and am now 178 dollars richer. That also makes me happy. No matter that Erik is making that while taking a wee; I refuse to let that get me down.

Ah, music. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of new stuff, and my two favorites are:

Mushaboom - Fiest. Just try having a bad day after listening to this. Seriously.
Love Song - Sara Bareilles. Quite possibly the most realistic love song I've heard in a while, which is ironic, because it's about how if this dude loves her enough, he doesn't need a freakin' love song to begin with.

Along with music, comes YouTube. I have decided to not completely kill my computer by cramming it with music, and the loss of my own music library has been assuaged greatly by this little video website.
And last, but certainly not least, there's Evan. No one has better withstood my terrible bouts of stress and insanity (and repeated playings of Mushaboom).Erik may have a lot of money now, but he will probably spend it on super sweat-proof socks and jockstraps, while I get to spend my days walking in amazing shoes, eating chocolate covered peanuts while listening to music, and getting truly fantastic hugs from a boy named Evan. So take that, Mr. Ainge.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

cinco!

5 images that I love that aren't from family photo albums and such:

I love this because there is such feeling behind it. It was such a monumental time in history, and this guy was really celebrating. The fun part is that no one knows who these two people are. After this awesome moment, they both went on their separate ways and the photographer never got a chance to ask.

This captured me the first time I saw it and still am captivated by this photo every time I see it. It's a simple portrait, but it just says so much.
I love Diego Rivera paintings, because they bring out the beauty of Latin American culture. The vibrant colors, the people, the themes in his paintings are all very true and presented beautifully.
Any images from Santorini, Greece absolutely make me get over my fear of flying and make me wish I could hop on a plane and go live there forever.

Okay, so this isn't the exact image, but I do really admire wildlife photographers. They wait for hours to catch a single moment in order to remind us that there are other amazing creatures sharing this planet with us. If I had the money and could go back in time four years, I'd major in Photography and do this. Yep.

5 years ago I was: A junior in high school? My senior friends were all graduating and I was so horribly jealous of them. It also was probably my best high school year, minus the car accident, but that taught me a lot too.

5 months ago: I was in California celebrating Christmas Eve with various family members. Of course, this was the first year that it EVER snowed on Christmas Day, and I was wearing a t-shirt. Pffft.

5 minutes ago: I was picking out music from YouTube, because it was my turn. I couldn't choose between Shakira, Bach, or the TeddyBears. It's a tough choice.

5 things on my "to-do" list:

1. pick up my paycheck, because I sure as heck did not freeze my a$ off for nothing.
2. turn in my resume and cover letter to a possible job
3. cross my fingers until I hear back about the job
4. vacuum. We have dust cougars, that have devoured the dust bunnies.
5. look up events for Mom's Weekend.

5 recent pieces of mail:

1. Women's Health
2. Smithsonian Magazine
3. National Geographic...we subscribe to a lot of things, don't we?
4. Bed,Bath, and Beyond catalog, which tempted me to buy things I don't need
5. Corvallis Newsletter

5 things I would do if I became a billionaire:

1. pay off school
2. buy my parents a house
3. buy us a house
4. get a puppy...shoot, puppies!
5. invest

5 of my bad habits:

1. biting my nails
2. not biting my tongue when I should
3. addiction to refined starches
4. being disorganized
5. I don't often call people back

5 good memories:

1. any summer day in my old house
2. Ev and I's first kiss
3. First time we said, "I love you."
4. The moment I knew my dad would pull through
5. going on junk food binges with my mom

5 places I've lived:

1. Mexicali, Mexico
2. Lake Oswego, Oregon
3. Aloha, Oregon
4. Hillsboro, Oregon
5. North Plains, Oregon

5 songs I love:

1. Over the Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
2. Yesterday - The Beatles
3. These are the Days - Van Morrison
4. The Seasons - Tchaikovsky
5. Lullaby - Josh Groban

5 jobs I've had:

1. Conservation Intern at the Oregon Zoo
2. General floor drone at Old Navy
3. Sheep wrangler
4. college food maker/milkshake extraordinaire
5. camp counseler for Camp Adams/raging hormone child wrangler

5 books I love:

1. The Time Traveler's Wife
2. The Namesake
3. The Giver
4. Life of Pi
5. Marley and Me

5 things that are out of place around my house:

really? just five?

1. the shoes that should be lined up inside my closet but are actually...well, they're everywhere
2. my backpack that is next to my bed
3. my spanish notes that currently reside in the kitchen
4. my socks that, like my shoes, are everywhere. I personally think they are trying to escape.
5. The 5 tons of newspaper that are in our "mystery corner" or our apartment. We really have nothing to do with this space, so naturally, we fill it with recyclables.

5 things I love to eat:

1. tortilla chips
2. french bread
3. really cold baby carrots
4. almonds
5. chocolate. duh.

5 people (non-blood related) who have had a positive impact in my life:

1. Evan - he is my hero.
2. Mr. Beals - amazing teacher that I want to clone so that my kids can learn from him
3. Lani Roberts - OSU professor who helped make me proud to say I'm me.
4. David Shepherdson - Oregon Zoo mentor. I want his job.
5. Loren Chavarria - OSU professor who is the embodiment of a strong, successful hispanic woman

I tag: Carl, Evan, Asia, and anyone else that feels like it. :)









Friday, April 11, 2008

ding dong, the hair is gone!

So, I was sick of having long hair. It was time for a haircut. I had been growing it since probably Christmas break and basically, it was working really well to blend me right in with the sheep I was working with.

Now that that is over, and I will be around human beings more, I decided to check out a new hairdresser. She had been recommended by a friend that has curly hair as well, which is so incredibly important. 99% of the time, I'll walk into a haircut appointment, and the moment I take my hair out of the ponytail, the hairdresser will gasp audibly, then say something along the lines of, "Oh. You have a lot of hair..." the she'll dare to reach and touch it, as if maybe I am playing a big joke and glued on extra curly, coarse hair to the curly, coarse hair I already have. When she realizes that it's not a joke, they usually repeat, "well...you have a lot of hair."

As if I didn't know that. As if I don't own a mirror and see that my hair has the consistency to that of a Shetland pony mated with a lion.

So I was ecstatic to hear this hairdresser exclaim, "you have a ton of hair...but I can't wait to play with it!!"

Sweet! She took the time to ask me what I wanted, and she gave me her opinion, which I took as valid, because she has curly hair as well. And, for the first time, I didn't have to ask her to thin it, as she thought of it all on her own! She gets curly hair!! I was amazed.

So, after about an hour and a half, and what she called, "close to heart surgery" difficulty, I ended up with:She even took the time to straighten it, which I would liken to building the pyramids or climbing Mt. Everest with one hand, blindfolded.

This is what it looks like now, in it's natural, curly state:



The smile says it all. I have finally found an awesome hairdresser, and I vow right now that I'll follow her wherever she may go. Even the Arctic.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

a farmer's life for me?

I remember stumbling home after my last day of work at the sheep center on Saturday afternoon, utterly exhausted, soaked with mud, slush, and an assortment of sheep bodily fluids. I had herded, chased, wrestled, fed, and been abused by at least 400 ewes and their lambs for the last 23 hours. When I wasn't at the barn, I was sleeping. I got a minor case of frostbite on at least 6 fingers from sorting sheep for 2 hours straight in a hailstorm.

I walked in my front door, and kicked off my very caked with who knows what boots. Then, as I walked toward the shower, I literally peeled off my jeans, long johns, fleece, sweatshirt, and two shirts, finishing off with the three pairs of socks that had barely kept my toes from freezing off.

As I stood in the almost unbearably hot water, trying to convince the blood in my body that yes, my fingers were worth saving, I realized something:

I would miss being out there.

And, I do. As far as grueling jobs go, this is the most demanding one I've ever had. But there was something about being surrounded by such a beautiful landscape that seemed to put my whole self at ease. I remember one morning especially well: I had been sent out to fetch about 240 sheep from a steep, one-acre long hill. I trudged up there, my boots rapidly getting bogged down by the thick mud, and as I rounded around the flock, I paused to look around. It was absolutely beautiful. I was surrounded by soft rolling hills, dotted with these ancient looking trees, and farther, were purplish mountains that were capped with pines and snow. As I started to move the sheep down the hill, it started snowing lightly, and even though I ended up soaked from the tip of my nose down, I don't think I will ever forget how positively silent it was, save for my breaths, and the light footfall of the sheep. I felt so at peace out there. I felt at peace even in the barn, which was drafty and 37 degrees on a good day. After feeding all the sheep, I would sit back and just take it all in. The sweet smell of alfafa, the sounds of lambs playing, the birds that nested in the rafters. It was a very satisfying feeling and I couldn't help thinking that if I could, I'd do this for the rest of my life.

Maybe, a while from now, I'll get tired of the rushed, structured urban life that we're all expected to live, and go find that peace again.