11 posts tagged “pacificu”
So, I have been back for a whole week, and I still haven't updated what I did for all of break. I went home for the first couple weeks, which was fun. Travelling was not fun. I missed my flight home, then had to wait until the next morning to catch another one. I got back that day, then took a nap. Then when I woke up I ran to San Bruno to my old work to celebrate a tradition there of a Secret Santa exchange and a pot luck lunch. Yay! It was a lot of fun. :o) 2 of my old coworkers are pregnant. Congrats to them.
Then the next day I went to Jason's birthday celebration. We went to a pizza place, the name of which I'm completely blanking out on. It was good stuff tho. The place is a co-op and they make a specialty pizza every day. It's a different pizza each day, and only 1 pizza on the menu a day. Yum.
Christmas was fun, you saw some of the pics for that. Then I went to work for 3 days in a row. Vincent had a gathering and we played games and it was fun.
Uhm, I had google dinner once and stole a lot of random things from there. Like Naked juices. *drools*
Got soaked when it poured, nearly didn't make my flight back to Portland... uhm, got stuck in San Bruno when a tree fell on the tracks of BART and I couldn't get thru SF to Orinda... not in that order, but all those things occurred. When I got back to Portland, I had to pack for Costa Rica. Left at 2:45 to get to the campus parking lot where we all met by 3am. Then we drove to the airport and went to Costa Rica. Travelling was still a bummer. Costa Rica was absolutely amazing. Weird things happened every day we were there!
Sun: We leave campus at 3am, get our flight to Dallas where we have a 6hr layover, get to Costa Rica at 10pm... no ride is there to pick us up. We manage to get to a hotel where we regroup and get in contact with the pastor and his family.
Mon: We eat breakfast, wait for the pastor, talk with him, his son is a travel agent so he books us a coffee plantation tour for that afternoon. We rent a 15 person van and go see the pastor's house (which he built himself... including the furniture!!). Then we go check into a nicer hotel, then we go see the coffee plantation.
We hung out for a bit, then went back home. We relaxed for a bit by the pool (of course, it's not raining when we get back), and then go to the pastor's house for a homemade dinner. When we get back to our hotel, we go to our room and what do we find?? Someone else in our room?!!! Yeah... so apparently the hotel moved us and moved all our stuff to our new rooms for us. All without telling us. Uhm, yeah... weird! But it was okay... nothing bad happened except that. It's just that that would never happen in America. At least.. I don't think it would...
Friday: We drove out to the volcano and our resort like hotel. We check in, and things look beautiful. We then go out on our canopy tour, where we ride horses up to the bottom of the zip line area. Then we hike a short (but fairly steep) way to the first zip line. The zip lining was a lot of fun! We rode the lines thru the middle of the jungle. Amazing. The only catch is that we did have to wait in trees. Where all we stood on were mesh on some metal frame that was bolted into trees. We were at least a few miles above the ground when we stood on those... so when the trees started swaying... oy! Hehe. But it was fun. Unfortunately, it started raining as we made it back on the horses. We were stuck in the rain for about 30 minutes. Yeah. We were soaked when we got back. Kinda gross. But to make things worse, our shoes were soaked and we had no real way of drying them. Yeah... they reeked as we took them back to Portland... bleh.
Sat: We lounge around until we have to check out. We layed by the pool. It was nice. Haha. Then we drove back to San Jose. Most of us are sad that we have to leave. We did take a detour on the way home and drove to a lake/reservoir where some guy takes us out on a boat and shows us a pretty cool view of the volcano, and shows us some nice scenery for about an hour. We had lunch and then wandered a small town for a bit. When we get back to the hotel, we go to the downstairs bar and just hang out for awhile.
Sunday: Travelling home was exciting. We nearly didn't make it back. Haha, and 1/2 our checked items got lost. Luckily they were just bins of old leftover glasses. But yeah, how do airline companies email you confirmations then swear that that's not what flight you're on?? We got stuck in LAX for a number of hours as we argued/waited for anyone to let us on their flight. We finally get a flight and as we board, I hear my name being called. In fact all of us end up getting called back. Turns out as the person was putting us in the flight, they were taking stand bys as well, and they ended up putting 2 people in each of our seats! We had to deal with this too. We ended up holding the flight up, but we got on it in the end. Thank goodness! We get in about 4 hours later than we should have. But it's okay, at least we're in Portland!! Hehe.
And now we have started school again. I should really be studying right now... but I don't want to!! Oh well... guess I should do something. I made veggie chili last night. I have A LOT of leftovers. It was pretty easy tho. :o) I also made biscuits from scratch. I think I can find a better biscuit recipe. This one was really dense. I was hoping for a little lighter, maybe fluffier texture. Well, this recipe was simple, so that's why I wanted to try it. Now I know. Kay, for now, I'm outtie!
Finals are over! Thank goodness. It's kinda weird because after all that studying, all of a sudden there's nothing to do. I'm not sure what to do with myself. I know I'm leaving tomorrow and I should clean and all that... but I don't want to do that! I'll clean a little tomorrow before I leave. Enough so that I'm not like, what the heck? when I get back. I managed to finish another present! I actually have a backlog of pics to post... I've been lazy and hoping for a new camera that works well for Christmas. A camera that doesn't die after like 10 pictures would be nice. I get so frustrated with the battery dying on me that I just don't really take pictures. I still have a bajillion presents to finish... and no time to finish it. Oh well.
I miss having people around me that are just like me. With similar ideals and interests. Similar tastes and whatnot. I'll be at home soon enough, but still no Vandra. Oh well. At least at home there will be a cute little kitty!! Okay... cute FAT kitty! Haha. I want to do some major vegging when I'm at home. I'm also kinda hoping for a bit of work. It'll be nice to get back to the real world and out of school. Odd that I think that. Hehe. I kinda miss work in a way. I do enjoy all my new friends here, but school in and of itself can be pretty stressful.
I actually failed one of my finals. Even after the curve... yeah. Don't ask me to prescribe stuff to you, because I don't know any drugs. I still managed to get a B out of that class. How, I don't know... Haha. Oh well, guess that's what's important, eh?
Yay for Christmas coming soon and stuff. I get to see some friends, go out to eat at delicious ethnic places, and relax. Then out to Costa Rica!! Woohoo! OOH! The one thing that's really annoying is that I need to get malaria pills and stuff. And our clinic was closed. Which means I am going to have to go somewhere else and pay a lot of money for them. Boo. *sigh* that's frustrating. Oh, and I have to pay for my trip before I go. Wait, how do I do that?? Oh crap... uhm, that's bad. Sending out an email now...
Kay, that's all for now. Peace.
So, last week we had 2 midterms, our big proficiency (where we actually show that we can do the practical things we've learned), and a quiz (that I totally bombed!). And what do we get next week? Starting Monday we get 2 midterms and 2 quizes! Oh the joys...
It has left me pretty stressed out, and lacking knitting time. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't have some presents all ready! I think I still have 4 or 5 to go... depending on how much I can get accomplished in 6 weeks. Someone pointed out that's all we have until Christmas. And technically, if I want to get them to the recipient, then it actually has to be done ahead of time so I can mail it! Ah wells...
Here are a few pics from last night's excursion out:
The Halloween party was not bad. Unfortunately I wore heels and the party involved major dancing. My feet killed halfway in, and my knees failed me 2/3 the party thru. Still stayed out until they kicked us out. :o) While there was a costume contest, there was major chaos, and it died halfway thru. Whatevs. Here's some pics from it tho:
A ton of stuff has happened in the past couple of weeks. I went home from Oct 24-28. I got to eat at Chavez (SO GOOD! *drools*), go to Japanese food and then 80's night dancing, get my hair dyed pink, see my family (extended and all) for my birthday, spend some time with Thomas, see John, and see a good number of friends. That was a really great time, and I managed to not bring my camera at all. BAD Noriko! I spent a lot of money on yarn while there, too... I couldn't help it! I needed 2 balls of yarn for gifts, and when I got to my favorite LYS (Creative Hands)... there was a major sale going on! Everything in a large section was $1.99!! SO CHEAP!! I got a ball of yarn that was originally $33 for $1.99! (CRAZY!!) I ended up getting 28 balls of yarn. I was in heaven. 80's night was also awesome. Major fun to be had while goofing off to 80's music. :o) And since it was for my birthday, Stephanie made me dance in the cage. Yes, Noriko danced in a cage (with Steph, thanks Steph!).
And when I got back up to Oregon, who arrived the very next day?? VANDRA! I picked her up on Monday (the 29th) and we started off with a bang. We went to the mall and shopped not till we dropped, but until we realized we were getting out of control. Haha. Tuesday I took her to lab (we went dressed as twins), then we picked up some Papa Murphy's and baked it up. I went to an AMIGOs meeting and got chosen to go to Costa Rica over winter break! Woohoo!! That'll be awesome.
Wednesday (Halloween) we dressed up for class. I took her with me to class, we were super cute! We were also just about the only ones dressed up. Out of 90 people 3 people dressed up, plus Vandra makes 4. Here's a pic:
Today, I went back to work. Nothing major was said about the hair, so hopefully it'll be fine. :o) Later today is the Halloween party for the optometry school. I hope it's fun. It starts around 9:30, and there's a pre-halloween party I'm thinking about checking out. We'll see how it is soon. :o)
So, pharm quiz tomorrow, biochem midterm friday, and what does Noriko do? She totally goes and updates her blog!! That and knit a little. It's been so long since I've been able to knit. I almost feel like I'm going crazy not being able to. Also, my hands are cramping up a bit knitting for too long. My hands are losing the ability to knit for longer periods of time!! I'm going to have to retrain them!! Especially since we'll be getting a real break soon. In fact, it will be in a week exactly!! Woohoo!! Home and relaxation! Just 2 midterms and 3 quizes left! Heehee.
Oh yeah, here's a pic from last week when we went to free bowling on Thursday!
So, for the first time in like... probably 4 full weeks, I didn't have to seriously study today!! We took our last midterm for this round of midterms today. We have a 9 day break until the next round of midterms start up again... oh fun... Just 2 quizzes next week. Should be a good time. The only slight bummer is that we all have to get dressed up in suits (and don't get me wrong, I love getting dressed up... just suits... not so much) for this Saturday. The Great Western Council of Optometry is meeting in Portland on Saturday, and so we are going to have to be there from 8:30-5 wearing suits and mingling with strangers. Yeah... fun way to spend your weekend.
But nevertheless, I am super happy and ecstatic that for the first time in weeks I didn't have to come home and study. :o) Here are a couple pics from EyeBall (which had to be smack in the middle of our midterms, but still fun!):
Okay, bed time!
So, I'm in the middle of studying for a midterm and what do I do? I go and eat the house down! Hahaha. Mmmm... food. I decided that I'm totally going to go to bed by midnight, but you need a study break every once in awhile, eh? Anyways, stay tuned folks, I'm totally going to wear a blue wig to class tomorrow to shake some things up. :o) Let's see what the reaction is. Yay!
Today a bunch of optometry students headed out to the coast for a picnic hosted by SOA. It was a lot of fun, even if a little cloudy. Despite that, the sand was warm, and weather was pleasant. I carpooled with Michel, Mina and Nicole who will be named in the below pictures. Can you believe that I played volleyball?? Haha, it was fun, even if I am terrible!
Mina brought her cute dog, which I don't have a picture of... but trust me, he's really cute.
Yes, work... I'm doing work study, not much, just 8hrs/week. 1-5 M and Sa. And, yes, I'm working Saturdays again. If it really doesn't seem to be doing well, then I guess I'll just downsize my hours. They should be understanding since I'm working at school. I am working at the dispensary... where I have to wear clinic attire, ugh! Ah well... apparently I'm getting paid well for work study, but not that well in comparison to what I had been making in the past. I also don't know if I'm allowed to go over my allotted amount of work study money. Cause that won't get me thru the whole year on 8hrs/week. So, I'll have to ask about that. Anyways, it will keep me a little busier, which at this point in time seems nice, but probably in a few weeks will start driving me crazy. We'll see how this studying stuff goes when I really get into midterms and stuff. I have only really started studying for 2 classes, and better get to studying 5 more really soon!
My place is okay, I'll post pics soon, I swear! I'm still buggin' over the mosquitos, pun not intended, but hey! I can't do anything about it without severe measures, so I guess I'll just deal. I am severely worried about my yarn. My yarn is under my bed in drawers in plastic baggies (some ziplock, some just open bags) with one sachet of lavender to take care of the whole giant drawer... and we take large sized moths out almost daily. One morning I took 3 of them outside. Please please please say that none of them have found my yarn! I will either have to get cedar balls or more packs of lavender or something b/c losing my yarn is definitely not something I want. I'm also going to have to get something for my closet, just in case. I guess trip to "Fred Meyer" the local drug store around this neighborhood should take care of this.
And as for knitting, I'm surprisingly not knitting much. Not because I have less time (although I do have less time...) and not even because it's super hot here (98 I think for today...), but because I can't find a rythym. At home I would get home, eat dinner, then go sit with John and knit while he plays games. I haven't gotten into a set pattern where I can freely knit. I'm starting to get antsy, so I'd better figure something out stat! I think even tho I'm somewhat on a sock kick, I will start a scarf soon. Something easy that I don't have to think about much. I might as well start cranking out Christmas gifts. I should send out the forms again for this year so that people get what they want and not yet another scarf... although I like making scarves. WANT SCARVES PEOPLE!! I know, I don't wear them much myself either... so I understand. I just like making them... ah well. Kay, gotta go study now... peace.
