One Week Down...

...15 to go.

So school has started, and overall I am pretty happy with my classes. They are finally what I have been looking to take since I began grad school. What are they, one might ask? Intelligence in Foreign Policy, and Homeland Security. Related but not at the same time. Fascinating, I think. I have already done a bunch of reading, and so far I am loving it. One of my professors has already assigned 3 articles that he wrote, and while he may be a fabulous historian, he is not the best writer in the world. Still, the topic is interesting and I am enjoying my reading, showing what a nerd I am. I do not have any exams this semester, which is nice. I do have papers though. A lot of papers. As in, 9 of them. For two classes. And I am still unclear as to what I have to do for my internship in order to get credit. I'm not going to worry about that for now though.

My internship is supposed to be starting next week (fingers crossed), so that is also exciting. I am hoping everything falls into place easily. Murphy's law, it wont happen, but hey, I can dream.

I decided not to do a blog post on my time home mainly bc it is/was super boring. In sum, it was doctors appointments, hanging out with family, barely seeing friends, and a whole lot of nothing. Not to say that that wasn't welcome or needed. It just wasn't anything exciting.

While home, I did get to play wii, as Dano's mom got one for her birthday. I finally understand the draw, and when I have money and my own place, I am totally getting one. We played golf, tennis, baseball, and bowling. Such fun. My arm was way sore after though, haha. I think wii fit could be fun, but I never got to play that.

The best bonus of being home was that I got to see Dano a bunch of times. So yay for wii, and yay for seeing Dano. We have reached our ten year friendversary, and I can't wait for another 10 years of friendship. Though I also can't believe we have known each other that long. Thinking about how we met is such fun. First day of freshman year of high school. Thank you Weili, Trisha, and Jackie for being placed at our table, because without you, we never would have turned to each other for normalcy and friendship, haha.

The 7-11 on the corner is officially gone, and my heart is a bit broken. My body is saying thank you though, because really, who needs as many slurpees as I manage to drink, haha.

Im trying to plan a get together for some Villa people next week. It was supposed to be this week, but I am a sucker and agreed to work in the evening on Wednesday, so that won't work. Hopefully we can do it though. I miss enough of the people that I am willing to suffer through being with others, haha. I also have to give out the rest of our shirts. They say "I <3 Balze" in the "I <3 NY" style on the front. The Villa was Villa le Balze, pronounced the Italian way, not like "balls." We know it looks like "balls" though, which is why we made that our shirt. It is absolutely worth the money, though I doubt I will ever be caught dead out of the house in the shirt, haha.

Since I turned 24 this past month, I have decided I need to make a list of short term goals of things i want to accomplish before I turn 25. Then I want to put it away somewhere and look back in a year and see if I have accomplished any of them. I think it will be a god exercise and we shall see how it goes. Some of my goals include keeping in touch better with friends, and going after all opportunities I can. I'm not writing those opportunities here as I don't want to jinx them, but I am going to go for things I never thought I would. Even if I don't get into these jobs/programs, at least I will have the experience of trying.

In any case, this is a long and rambling entry catching myself up on life in the past couple of weeks. And I suppose that is all there really is to say.

Another Visit Ends

Once again, no luck on the plane. In addition to not sitting next to a hot/cute/interesting guy, my plane was full of screaming children. Sigh. It is just so not fair. After all of these boring and/or obnoxious flights, one might think I'm due for some kind of happiness as I cross the country. Alas, it is apparently not to be. Sad to me.

More on the visit home when I feel like it...maybe.

No Such Luck

I forgot to mention...no such luck sitting next to a cute guy or entertaining passenger on the flight home. Instead I was stuck next to a petulant German boy who was maybe 8? He got up with the seat belt sign still on, was obnoxious, wanted my snack that I paid for after he finished his own, and was an all around rude little brat. The best was when he decided to go to sleep, though it meant that I was boxed in as he was all spread out, and that he was taking up some of the meager space I had available in my seat. Sigh. I will be keeping my fingers crossed for my flight back to DC for something a bit better, lol.

A Birthday Stop On The Journey

So as birthday's go, this was a fairly good one. I spent most of the day on the train, going from Dad's house to Oceanside, then back up to Anaheim for the baseball game, and then back to Oceanside post game. It was all worth it though. I got to spend a good amount of time with Dad, I got to hang out with Amanda, and I got to go to a baseball game, where we kicked ass (6-0 final score, with my guy driving in 3). So a fun evening all around.

I also enjoyed reading the facebook shout outs. Once again, some conspicuous absences, but I have decided that it doesn't matter, and that those who did wish me a happy day or talked to me are the important people anyway. I guess when technology makes it so much easier for people to connect you expect more. But if you lower your expectations, then you can only be happily surprised, which is what I experienced this year, so yay.

All in all, a good day, though now I am only one year away from being a quarter of a century old...how did that happen? And what have I really done with my life? Anyway, another year down, and another one in progress. Such is life.

On The Road Again

So off I go again, this time to home sweet home. I have mixed emotions, which is no surprise, as I tend to always have mixed emotions about going home. I feel bad because my mom is so excited, as I haven't seen her since December, and while I am excited as well, I could cheerfully go longer without being home. As the title of my other blog states, I have restless feet. I like to travel and I am pretty much always happy wherever I end up. This could be due to tremendous good luck in always landing in pretty awesome places, but I tend to believe I just adapt well. Sadly for mom, this means less Michelle. In any case, I am happy she is happy, though in this weird secret part of me, I hope she isn't disappointed in my visit home, whether it be with me or what we end up doing. It sounds stupid, but there it is.

In getting ready for my time home, I have been making an effort to hang out with people. I saw Erin on Sunday night, Kim on Monday night, and Andrew on Tuesday night. I was supposed to see Charlotte, but that fell through, mostly through my own fault, and Pat was unable to join us last night. Still, I am proud of my efforts. Mom was laughing at me saying I wasn't going to be gone forever, but that isn't the point. These people are my friends and I wanted to see them before I was gone for almost 3 weeks. On top of that, school starts right after I get back, so I know I won't have a ton of time then to hang out with people. Plus, I am just making an effort now, whereas before I didn't bother. All in all, I am quite proud of myself, lol.

I am all packed up at this point, minus the purse and computer, as I am going to lunch with a friend before heading to the airport. It is a bit silly, as I will be going downtown, coming back home, then lugging my suitcase back to the metro to Virginia for the bus to Dulles, but its worth it. Or so I tell myself, haha. Be social Michelle! Be social!

My plane lands at 730 Pacific time, and as I am landing in San Diego, I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be clear and I will be able to see the sunset, or at least the tail end of it, over the Pacific Ocean. To be perfectly honest, the things I miss most about California are the ocean and my dog. I can call my family and friends, check up on them through the internet, and just stay in touch. Its difficult to do that with an ocean and a dog. The beach just gives me such peace. It isn't even about going into the water or laying out. Its this vase expanse of water that seems to go on forever. There is a sense of continuity, knowing that thousands have shared this same view, but not necessarily seen the same thing. And knowing that somewhere, on the other side of this huge body of water, someone could be staring out as well, is just comforting. It brings us all a little closer. On top of that, all problems seem small when compared to the ocean. It is so big, and while it has its moods, it generally has a calming effect. On me at least. And now I am done waxing poetically about the ocean, lol.

I guess now it is time to say bon voyage, and see you on the other side (of the country). And keep your fingers crossed I will not have to sit next to an annoying, talkative person. Instead, lets hope for a hot boy, haha. Hope floats eternal :-)