Aaahhhhhhh! Relief. And Merry Christmas, Too.

In CLT (Charlotte) on my way to SEA(ttle).

Christmas break was wonderful!!!! It was a breath of fresh air to be with my husband and family again! This time, he got there before me by an evening, and left just after my flight. It was fun to have our roles reversed like that for once. As you can see, I had a great view out my window over the Cascades.

The first night, we had dinner at Chan's Place (this time with Dad, Meg/family along too), then Mom took Mike and I out to Benaroya Hall for a Seattle Symphony performance of Handel's Messiah. Although a little sleepy (I didn't make it all the way through the five-minute "Amen" at the end), we all thoroughly enjoyed it! KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, indeed!

Sunday morning (well, late morning), we had a quick breakfast and went to Church with my parents for my sister and niece's Christmas Concert in which they sang beautifully. The rest of the day was taken up relaxing at home, playing games and singing some more.

Monday was a relaxing morning, and was typical of the rest of the week: nice long breakfast, take the dog on a walk around the block (circling the park) and then start the day. That afternoon, we all went on a cruise on Lake Washington with Argosy, taking off from downtown Kirkland. This was to sail around during a simply gorgeous sunset and listen to the Dickens Carolers. We all went out to Pizza Bank afterwords for a wonderful dinner.

 

Even though I was terribly sick Monday night lasting all the way through Christmas Eve, I had a decent Christmas Eve. I just didn't eat anything except about four crackers. Didn't feel at all like going to Church, so we missed out on that fine tradition... but we did still have a family gathering and Christmas story reading, and massive carol sing-a-long. Meg gave me a copy of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe that she had found cheap (I have a collection of different editions of the book), and while still laying down on the couch, I read the excerpt with Father Christmas out loud to everyone, which was lots of fun. LONG LIVE THE TRUE KING.

By Christmas morning, I was completely recovered from my 24-hr flu, and took part in our traditional Christmas breakfast with a glad heart. The day was fabulous and fun, and I took a lot of pictures of my little niece, Jonna. As for presents, my Darling found a new book of Tintin art for me that arrived just on time, Christmas Eve, from Amazon. Meg gave me useful and fun things to take along on deployment and some beautiful ornaments, Andie knit Mike and I scarves in our school colors, Mom and Dad, besides Messiah and the boat cruise, gave us gift cards, and to me, a set of tiny little glass sea animals!

The day after Christmas was our last full day home. Mike and I picked up our friend Julie for a little ferry ride to Bremerton and back, then our traditional "new year's" dinner at Ivar's on the Seattle waterfront. Besides the uncanny calm of Puget Sound, that night when we pulled back in to Seattle, there was a massive fog bank looming over the entire waterfront, blocking out the bright lights of the city. As we drew in closer, the tall buildings disappeared into blackness, and soon we could see nothing at all. Gradually, lights from the other ferry boat came into view as we pulled in, but you couldn't tell you were in a city at all!

 Bremerton (above) and my Dungeness Crab salad at Ivar's (below)

 Way too soon we had to leave. We had a nice, relaxing morning on the 27th, but our hours were numbered. I think that's Venus in the center of the pic below on the first leg of my trip back.

So, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Happy New Year!

Jw

At the Opera

For the first time ever, I decided to go to the opera... the Virginia Opera, playing at the Harrison Opera House in downtown Norfolk, put on a production of The Magic Flute, by Mozart, and sung in English. I have never heard such wonderful voices in person before. The leading lady matched the quickness and highness of the sweetest violin you've ever heard. Goodness! It was wonderful. It wasn't until it was more than half over that I remembered it was symbolic of Freemasonry... but I tried to ignore most of that. It had important things to say about God and men that are true in general... but there are things in there about man perfecting himself, which is absolute bosh, of course. The message I came away with was that music is healing... and I agree with that. I really enjoyed the comedy of it, and especially the happy ending.

 

 

Jw

Two Very Fine Evenings

Yes, they were!

Only short evenings off this week... early on I managed to relax with watching a couple favorites... Ever After and Persuasion. In the car, I started listening to Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the US Navy. Right now I'm in the middle of Thomas Truxtun's first battle with the French in the Quasi-War. It's a very interesting read so far.

But Thursday and Friday were particularly nice...

Thursday the 25th, I went downtown to the Virginia Arts Festival's International Tattoo.

(That's His Majesty the King's Guard from Norway, and Pipes and Drums from the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards, UK, joined with pipe bands from Canada and Australia.) I loved the Norwegians, and all the Bagpipers, and the French Paratrooper Band. Also the fifes and drums from Colonial Williamsburg were fun to watch.

Friday, I joined a few of my fellow Sonar Techs at a Sonar Tech's house in Chesapeake for an evening of fun: snacks, chicken wings, grilled stuffed mushrooms, fresh baked crab dip, sweet tea, and I had two samplings of fruit flavored beer (peach, watermelon). We stayed until it got dark, chatted around a camp fire, and generally had a wonderful time hanging out and watching all the little kids play.

Jw

What to Do

These last couple days I've been feeling sort of at a loss, especially Monday and Tuesday. Sunday was grand, because after seeing Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and Requiem at the symphony in Virginia Beach, I met my friend Lauren at church, then took her out to Italian for dinner, and watched Follow the Fleet at home (because she knew the song, but not the film). It was a fun, full day. But after "work" on Monday, suddenly I was alone and had tons of time on my hands. I tried out the 1967 musical Camelot from the library... but didn't care much for it. So I watched The Sign of Zorro instead. It was great fun to watch, as always, but then I still had lots of time.

So I got in the car and went to B&N in Hampton to find another Bible (I was very glad to be able to give my new one to Lauren). And along with the very same edition, I found a small soft-leather edition with the imprint of birds sitting on wires and Matthew 6:26... "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" I thought, "This was made especially for me." And it was. I also stopped by Chipotle to bring home some guacamole, and Target (just to look around), and came home with some kitchen stuff I've been wanting and a thin and very comfortable set of plaid pajamas.

Tuesday I amused myself by watching The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, then by making some chicken fettuccine Alfredo, cutting the grass again (it's fun with the push-mower), taking a walk over to our private little beachfront, returning and watching The Major and the Minor. Big news soon from home too... can't wait to hear!

We'll see about today.
Jw

Sunday!

What a day! Church was very good; great to see everyone again. Since some family were in town, there wasn't any small group yet again... but someday we'll meet up, I'm sure. :)

Just before we were dismissed, Aku's mom announced she had a couple free tickets to the symphony! Aku (from small group) is a member of a youth symphony in the region, and they were joining with members of the symphony for a "Best and Brightest" concert that afternoon. So I was more than glad to take her up on the offer.

After a breakfast at Ricky's (Spanish omelet!) and a stop at home to change into something nice, I met them back at church at 1 to ride with them to the concert. It was an hour-and-a-half program, including Fanfare for the Common Man by Copland, two piano concertos (Mozart, Saint-Saens), the first performed by an eighth-grader and the second by a 16-year old, both winners of some sort of competition. Gosh, they were good! Playing along with the symphony from memory! Then a huge orchestra involving three local youth symphonies and the San Diego Symphony, performed Brahms's Symphony No. 1 in C minor, and then an encore piece (which was planned). What fun to listen to!

I got back home around 5ish, decided to clean up my room, doing the laundry and my sheets, and washing my dishes. A shower felt really good, since it was a warm day. Once I got everything into the dryer, I took off to have a special fun dinner at Red Lobster... and on the way I saw the solar eclipse shining between the banks of silvery clouds! Wow, was that cool! I had the image of a crescent-shaped sun in my eyes for a few moments, but it was worth it!

Jw

Tuesday!

This was much more exciting, and fun too! Got out of class really early since it was the last day. First I finished 1863 with the very moving Gettysburg episode of the Civil War, then watched more Foyle. The head librarian at the Point Loma branch library, Christine, had asked me to come in and work on the branches bookmark template to update it with the new hours for next month (they're going to be open on Mondays now too!). It only took me a couple minutes, since I could fix it in Microsoft Paint. Super simple. Also did a couple of carts of shelving to make it worthwhile coming in.

After that, I headed down Rosecrans to Georgia's Greek Cuisine and had a (late) lunch combo special of salad, kabobs and pita bread and a lasagna-type dish with a side of rice. Finished off with baklava, and didn't have to eat for the rest of the day. Called home for a half-hour (they were going to pick up Zac soon afterwords for some well-deserved leave) and then drove off to La Jolla, where the San Diego Symphony was holding a chamber music concert featuring Brahms's Horn Trio in E-Flat Major, Op. 40, which I simply adored. There was also an octet for clarinet, bassoon, horn & strings by Francaix (never heard of him) and the very lovely Piano Quintet in A Major, D. 667: Trout by Schubert. It was held at the Neurosciences Institute's auditorium. In their quarterly publication Brain Matters, they had articles about research on octopus behavior... which I found very interesting as I waited for the concert to begin.

What a day! Very glad my schedule now turns over to more normal hours. I can sleep an extra two hours in the morning!

Jw

Musical Nights

Since last we met, I've kept myself very busy.

Monday afternoon I wrote Meg a note (and got a reply back - they're doing well in Thailand), played minesweeper (becoming a bad habit?), ate snacks for lunch, posted about the day, watched the movie "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1985), read "The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes" (1911), then headed off early to the La Mesa suburb of SD. Had plenty of time to kill before the Beethoven concert at the local synagogue started. Shopped at RiteAid for some feminine necessities that I forgot to bring along... found a nice watch too. Had dinner at Wendy's... burger, salad, chili, iced tea. :) Then I looked in at the pet store. Parakeets, fishes, and the cutest little baby guinea pig you've ever seen; it was fun. Looked in at the grocery store too and picked up some cheese.








It was almost a quarter after seven when I got back in my car. I thought it was earlier, because my new watch stopped an hour after I bought it. Concert started at 7:30, so I was glad I was dawdling just down the street from where it was. Went right in (it was easy to find) and even got a front row seat on the left side of the orchestra. It looked rather casual at first, since my seat was but 15 feet from the first row of cellos, but the decorum and sound the 75 member volunteer community orchestra (based at the synagogue) was highly professional. Their guest artist, concert pianist Daniel Wnukowski, was fantastic! When he came in to perform Piano Concerto No. 4, he took the music rack off and walked it to the side. He proceeded to play the concerto from memory, and without the rack, I could see his face much better. Very expressive while playing... he got into it.

Not only did he know that by heart, but at tonight's concert (it was a two-night ticket for $20) he played Concertos No. 2 & No. 5... from memory and only with a 15-minute break between them! It made me very happy to be able to enjoy such music. Going to symphonies these days gives me some sort of release from the crude nastiness of my world. I remember I actually shed tears at my first since joining the Navy... 3 Tchaikovsky pieces at the Chicago Symphony on Dec 12, 2010.

Before this, today, I had Panera for lunch, got milk & groceries at Trader Joe's (dropped them at home and read another Beatrix Potter: "The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle" from 1905) then volunteered for another 2 hours (getting the holds ready for folks and then more audiobooks) at the library, and finally stopped by the NEX for a new set of NSUs, a toaster, and a fill-up, before heading off to get a bite to eat at Rubio's on my way to the freeway. (pictured at left: lilies from T. Joe's for something fresh in my room... using the "sweet nov. 12 vase")

Guess I forgot to mention on Monday I finished the Jeeves & Wooster audiobook, then between both days I finished Agatha Christie's "Dead Man's Mirror" read by Hugh Fraser. Started into "Sharpe's Triumph" by Cornwall. Gosh, I love the library.

Jw
P.S. it's my 777th post... :)

Waiting and Waiting

This week I spent most of my time at home watching movies to make the time go by faster. Finished watching the film "Whales" on Monday while I had some tuna helper.

Tuesday night I watched Garden State from what I picked up at the library on Sunday, instead of Jane Eyre, which I waited to watch until after we graduated and had our celebratory breakfast at Perry's on Wednesday morning. Good thing too! Because it was 3 hours and 48 minutes long! It was the Masterpiece Theatre version from 1996. I loved it! Went to the library again that night to return the movies and volunteer for a while. When I was leaving, I noticed there was to be a concert starting in a few minutes in the community room... the Peninsula Singers were putting on a Christmas show, complete with an audible version of Carol of the Bells and ranging from some Hanukkah songs to the famous passages from Handel's Messiah. I loved their medley with Home for the Holidays, Let it Snow, & I'll be Home for Christmas. But while I volunteered, I picked up three more movies that I really wanted to see... and I watched last year's Robin Hood with Russell Crowe between talking to Mike. Thursday afternoon it was 2009's Up in the Air, with George Clooney, and then that night I saw a live radio play of It's a Wonderful Life at the Cygnet Theater in Old Town. Boy, I loved that! The costumes, the actors, the set! I sat in the dead center a few rows back. And the guy who played Jimmy's role spoke with certain inflections at certain times just like Jimmy did in '46.

Friday was a wild one. Got home at 11am... all checked out from the Navy and good to go for the next seventeen days! I managed to eat lunch, finish all my laundry, clean my room, do my dishes, watch A Newsreel History of the Third Reich (from the 1941 eastern front), return all three movies to the library, send a package of presents home via the post office, and pack, all before my friend Hibbard came to take me to the airport around 5:45. Whew! And United was not busy at all, so I went right through. Free checked bag for being in the military, and there were only a couple people at security... so I had tons of time to talk to Meg on the phone, as well as my Darling before they boarded us. And they gave me priority that way too... there were about 40 military flying this first leg, from SD to SF. A non-eventful flight... it was so short, and then I talked to Mom while charging my phone waiting for the final flight. And I slept my way through all of that one. :)

Saturday, In & Out

Got up early enough to make & eat eggs, wash my dishes, and sweep the floor before going to the Presbyterian church, down Chatsworth, across from the library, to help sort Angel Tree presents for an hour. I thought we'd be wrapping them, but I guess not! There was another young lady there who had recently joined the church... a Naval officer from the air station, training to be a SH-60S pilot. She was a few years younger than I... that's amazing to me. We talked about our various situations a little. She's also newly married, but to a submarine man.

Since it didn't take long to finish, I crossed the street when we were done and volunteered at the library for a few hours. Checked in Hold items, and shelved them, then found a bunch more from the shelves and checked those in too. While in audiobooks, I found a misfiled copy of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", which I've had a hold on for months... 6th in a line of 16 for it... so I took that up to check if it was supposed to be on hold for somebody in front of me, but it said no! So I checked it out myself and cancelled my hold! :) Normally, I wouldn't read a self-help book like this, but it's on the Navy suggested reading list for E-4 and below. We'll see how it goes... it's only three discs. And I can listen to it in January, because they can be out that long!

Came home and ate my leftovers from last night: the little bit of orange chicken, and practically the whole egg flower soup. So good! Started my laundry, then decided to watch the rest of the Army/Navy game on channel 8... it worked when I put up the antenna, like my landlady said. And Navy won! It was a close game... I turned it on in the end of the 3rd quarter.

Then I headed over to the Naval Air Station on Coronado for a bit of the Holiday Navy Band Concert... with a wonderful carol sing-a-long medley at the end. Then I shopped at the commissary and got lots of good groceries for a pretty good price. Returned home, and folded the laundry, had some of my newly purchased Town House crackers with Tillamook cheese and summer sausage. And I watched the movie I got from the library a couple days ago... "A Patch of Blue" with Sidney Poitier from 1965. I loved it so much I cried a couple times. It was very good.

Fun little chat tonight! Practically everyone was on!

Jw

Switchfoot!

After getting done early for two days in a row, I feel as if I've had two Fridays!

I was free right after lunch on Thursday, because of "Sports Day". I went right to the library, like usual, but I felt so tired I didn't even want to shelve (for the first time ever!). I found they have a wall of nautical themed books in the back as I sat down to read a book about "The Adventures of Herge" my Michael Farr. So I also flipped through a couple US Navy history books.

At 5pm I came back to base, had dinner at the galley... noodles with gravy and wonderfully flavored salmon! And then I watched "Amazing Grace" (Ioan Gruffudd, 2006) in my room. I love that guy! Especially loved the Horatio Hornblower series that he starred in!

But this afternoon, I went back to the library after duty was done and put in a good, solid 2 hours of volunteering. As I left, I got in contact with Ferry, picked him up on base and headed north to Del Mar for the San Diego county fair. The traffic was horrible, as expected. We listened to an entire Switchfoot album over the 20 miles or so. At the fair itself, we didn't do much but walk around. I had a grilled beef kabob on pita bread, along with a grilled & buttered corn-on-the-cob! Wow! The only thing missing is Mom's strawberry shortcake!

We had free stand-up "seating" at the concert, right in front of the stage! With a wonderful view. There were quite a bit of young folks all around us, and very boisterous. But that makes it even more fun to see them bobbing around and waving their hands during the concert. SF played for an hour-and-a-half, opening with a number from their newest album, and playing through many of their hits. They also introduced 3 songs from their not-yet-released album. A very fun night! It took 8 tracks of another album to get back on the freeway afterwords though. :)

Jp

Blues & Music

Saturday morning, slept in quite a while. :) I think I ended up getting out of bed around 0830. Didn't have my plans finalized yet, but I did go to chow with my roommate and made it back around 1000. Brunches are odd on the weekends at the galley. You can get both breakfast items like made to order omelets and lunch items like hamburgers. Crazy.

I went to the Loft around 1100, and then left for Chicago around noon. I was with someone from my division at bootcamp who I hadn't seen in a long while and a group of her friends. When we got to the train station we had a bite to eat in the food court (grilled chicken sandwich and chicken noodle soup!) and then got a taxi to the Aquarium. It was raining cats and dogs (and blowing pretty hard) so we didn't want to bother with the buses, even if they were free. :)

I thought the Shedd Aquarium was neat, but it wasn't as incredible as I heard it was. They did have an indoor (Pacific white-sided) dolphin show (along the lines of sea world), but that was "holiday" themed, complete with a Santa Claus wishing everyone a "Happy Holidays! Ho, Ho, Ho!" I thought the aquarium in general (like many of the new/updated ones I've been to) are way to grand and too focused on being new and different than presenting the sea life. I guess I'm spoiled with the simple and wonderful Seattle Aquarium. I did enjoy it though. One of my favorite things was the ray tank downstairs that you walked on... And they did have two very cute otters. :) Hard to complain though! It was free for active duty military!

After the aquarium (my friends needed to go back to base), I made my way to the Chicago Symphony Center. Had to make my way through the rain in the picturesque, paved, lake-front park to the busy street for a free (with active military ID) bus ride several blocks north. Along the way I could see Navy pier (from my first weekend) in the distance, all lit up. Walked in the door of the Symphony Hall and I heard the chorus singing something beautiful... and then I purchased a student-priced ticket. The seat ended up being in the 7th row in the middle on the floor... probably a pricey one... but for me... $15. :)

Since I was there so early (5:30), I decided to explore the surrounding streets a little. I changed clothes from my jeans into my dress blues in a local Mc'yD's and then made my way back to the Symphony. They had their own little restaurant/bar, so I enjoyed a fancy cheeseburger up at the bar. The lady that sat down next to me struck up a conversation, and it turned out she was a regular symphony-goer, and showed me around a bit after we finished. What was neat was right when we got done it was time for the pre-concert lecture about one of the pieces we'd be hearing, and the speaker was very knowledgeable. He'd play examples from the concerto on the piano, or play a snippet on the radio. It was very fun!

But that was nothing, compared to the concert itself! My seat afforded a fabulous view of the soloist especially and most of the orchestra. The pianist had floppy hair and he moved with the music so suddenly that it would bounce all over the place. :) Hearing all three pieces was so refreshing. It was so, so beautiful.

I had to leave quickly once the final applause began though, because the last train left a half-hour after the show ended. I grabbed a taxi and made it to the Ogilvie Transit Center faster than you could say supercalifragilisticexpialadocious. Or however you spell that. :)

I sat with three other shipmates, going back for a late-night ride and spent most the journey on the phone while they slept, talking to Meg and Mike. I followed them back to base and I got in just after midnight. I think the day couldn't have turned out nicer.

Sunday, today, was my duty day. Right after getting up I had a watch to man in my dress blues for the first time. Pier Sentry... checking bags and pockets for illegal items, and making sure folks took their coats off when they came in. Wasn't bad at all! The Quarterdeck is the more interesting place to stand, with the most activity. And it was only for three hours because we had a scheduled "chow relief" for the last hour where we could go to the galley for brunch.

Upon returning from that, I went straight to my rack for three hours more sleep. :)

But at 1500, as I was waking up, they suddenly announced a surprise muster for my duty section. The Navy Band concert at the movie theater was short on patrons... so all the duty sections on base were mustered and sent over to fill in seats. LOL! I didn't mind too much... I had even thought about requesting the time to go. But then I fell asleep and forgot about it. So by the time I got there (again in my dress blues) it had already been going for 40 minutes... (about half over). But I did enjoy the Christmas music. They played as a wind ensemble and had a jazz band too. Felt just like a university performance, except this was the Navy.

They didn't make us sign out to go, so after it ended I went straight to chow in the 50mph wind. It was incredibly cold, but thank the Lord I had just bought a warm white scarf yesterday at the train station to replace my very thin bootcamp-issue scarf. It saved my face, for sure!

When I got back I was able to finish my laundry before duty muster at 2000. What a weekend!

Jp

Late Night Out

After work last evening, I rushed home for a quick baked potato dinner before running off to catch a bus to downtown Seattle. My friend and her three brothers and I were all going to see Switchfoot in concert for their new album's tour "Hello, Hurricane". I took a bus because I had to go alone and I didn't feel like parking downtown. So Mom dropped me at a Park & Ride just this side of Lake Washington and I got a bus that took me all the way downtown. We had to go through the tunnel under the convention center that I had never been through before... I've never had to take a bus there before.

I was the first of our group to arrive, but I was still quite a ways from the door in line, the line wrapping half-way around the block. I picked out Chaya's oldest brother as he was trying to find the end of the line. Hadn't seen him since, I don't know... when I was a teenager or before... yikes! After a moment, her youngest brother got dropped off, and after we made it inside (and suffered through the opening act) her other younger brother arrived. Chaya had to take care of a dog she was dog-sitting, and got there right when it started. Oh, my gosh! What a fun one.

The band started with the first song on their new album, and Jon, the lead singer was standing on a railing just behind us when it began - like ten feet away. Whoa. That surprised me! We were in sorta the back of the room on the floor away from the stage. There weren't any chairs... so gosh, I stood up quite a while. They played through their entire album, straight through for an hour! And it was outstanding! They sounded even better than they did at the last one I went to, a year or two ago. Jon played guitar, piano and harmonica and absolutely nailed the songs. Wow.

So right after going straight through the album, they played ten more songs... their best from five of their previous albums...

Awakening, from Oh, Gravity!
Gone, from The Beautiful Letdown
This is Your Life, from The Beautiful Letdown
Oh, Gravity!
Chem 6A, from their first
Only Hope, from New Way to be Human
Dare You to Move, from The Beautiful Letdown
Stars, from Nothing is Sound
The Shadow Proves the Sunshine, from Nothing is Sound
and Meant to Live, from The Beautiful Letdown

... which lasted for another 3/4 hour! But it felt like just a few minutes!
The place was sold out, and it was rather cozy in there... I was a little afraid at times that the big guy jumping up and down next to me might land on my foot... but he never did. :)

My friend drove me home afterwards, and I got in bed around midnight-thirty.
Ah, what a time! It was so beautiful.

As for today, it was busy at work, and I've been rather tired... lol.

I'm finishing this post at about 10PM, and we just finished watching South Pacific. Wow, how funny it is!

Jp

Catch Up

Haven't been on for a few days...

Work has been steady this week... all important events have been described, except for last night my friend took me to a Newsboys concert, and we found that the lead singer, Peter, is calling it quits after 22 years, and Michael Tait from DC Talk is taking over the role. It was very shocking, as we didn't know anything about it until they got on stage. It was hard to get used to, but by the end of the evening, and after that nice middle section of the concert where he talked about it, it was alright... still the Newsboys will never be quite the same. I had a good time though! It was great to hear some DC Talk in person! Very unexpected!

The weather here has been pretty mucky and rainy all week. I really didn't go anywhere today, except for a few errands... mailed letters to my brother (the lady at the post office asked about him - we've been frequenting the place lately), bought a bulb for my headlight and successfully installed it, and dropped by Fred Meyer for a couple things, including a new wireless mouse for my laptop (birthday money!). Otherwise, I've cleaned up my room, made sure my checkbook was in order and watched several episodes of MASH. :) It's nice to take the weekend nice and slow after last weekend! Holy cow! I was tired all week!

Jp

Playing Hookey!

TUESDAY, Feb. 3rd:

Long day at work! Since the line at Denny's was so long, Dad got me breakfast at work. Around 9 in the morning we had one of those ridiculous "All Hands" meetings, where the head cheese from Sacramento comes up and several people talk about money for two-plus hours. They always give me splitting headaches. I was fine until about 10:28, when my pen ran out of ink. Thankfully, medicine made me feel fine for the rest of the day. I'm so glad I can go home for lunch every day! The guy that ran the Document Control department left the company to go back to school early last month... and he left a heck of a mess of drawings and documents to file... so that's how I spent all afternoon: sorting them so they are ready to get put away.

Instead of going to class (I'm going to the section B class tonight to make up), after a quick snack of vegetable soup, fresh French bread and string cheese at home, my good friend came over and picked me up along with her brothers to go see Jon Foreman in his new indie band "Fiction Family". The concert was in a small little bar/club in East Seattle and it was very cozy... and absolutely amazing! While waiting for it to start, we went and had English style fish and chips at the place next door. Yuuummm! I had catfish with the creamiest tarter sauce I've ever had.

Now Jon Foreman is my most favorite singer/songwriter, as the lead singer in "Switchfoot", and I think I have a crush on him. Hey! He was awfully cute in his sweater and tie... and he's finally cut his hair to shoulder length! LOL! He sang like I've never heard him before and he sang two of my favorites from his EP's. There was lots of variety to the evening, with a good opening band, and the sister violinist of the other member of the band (who used to be in a band called Nickel Creek). Oh, my goodness gracious! I've never heard such good music live! Jon played his guitar, his harmonica, a banjo on one song, and the keyboard. LOVE LOVE LOVE! LOL!

Jp