drip....drip....drip....

I have finally finished unpacking. YAY! Marilee and I have decided that there's no way we can ever move because we have way too much stuff. The maintenance man who was supposed to come on Sunday has still yet to grace us with his presence. Thus, we still have an oven that doesn't work, a heater that makes scary clicking sounds, a leaking shower, a leaking roof, only one mailbox key, and lights that flicker every few minutes. But other than that, it's home sweet home! The other day we ventured on to campus to check the bookstore for any of our books, adn $200+ later, we own 5 of the 13 books we need for Monday. We've started reading one of the books for our Seminar class that's about a doctor who spent the majority of his career in a leper colony. The first chapter alone almost made me lose my dinner, and the book is 321 pages. Man I miss Harry Potter! We're also quizzing each other on anatomy, and I'm frightened by how much I've forgotten over three years. Hopefully I can trigger some memory cells before our first anatomy class on Tuesday. Anywho, that about sums up everything here. It has finally stopped raining, although I just saw that it's supposed to rain again this weekend. Here's a picture of the snow on the mountains. It's amazing 1. because I can actually SEE the mountains, and 2. that's a TON of snow!

And here is a picture from the second Garth Brooks concert when I was sitting on the floor. He put on some amazing shows (5 concerts in 2 nights!), and helped raise over $10 million for the victims of the recent wildfires and the future of CA firefighters. What an amazing man!

I made it, rain and all...

Well, I'm here! I moved down in the pouring rain on Wednesday, which I would not recommend doing. By the time I had finished getting everything visible from my car into my apartment, my pants were literally dripping wet and I was exhausted. I made a quick trip to Target and Bed Bath and Beyond to get some stuff I needed to put my bed together, and then collapsed. One might think that a full night of sleep was in order, but no. Our roof is leaking somewhere, but there is only audible proof, nothing visual. So of course, the intelligent landlord that we have thinks we are crazy. Also, my window is loose in its frame so it rattles at the slightest breeze. After night two of nonstop rattling, I'm shoving cardboard in there. Anyway, Marilee came down yesterday in more pouring rain from Pleasanton, and since the Grapevine was closed due to all the snow, she came down the coast in a lovely 9 hours! All day today we were in orientation, hearing how we were going to spend even MORE money as they handed us an entire sheet of items we need in a week. There were also a few Q & A sessions with current 2nd and 3rd year students, and basically a whole bunch of information overload that I'll have to sort through when my brain has recovered. Tonight, Marilee, her mom and I are going to the Garth Brooks concert, which hopefully we can stay awake through since it doesn't start until 10. My mom is coming down tomorrow and then I'll go to Garth again tomorrow night with her, when I scored a 3rd row floor seat ticket. The best advice all day was that we needed to come into the program as well rested and unstressed as possible, so this next week is going to be a time to unpack my things slowly and get some air before the whirlwind begins. Everybody breathe in...and breathe out...

the big move

So I'm pretty much officially moved in to my apartment now. Yesterday my parents, Jeff and I took the majority of my belongings to West Covina, or "West Co" as I'm told it's called. All that's left are my clothes, pillows, and some bathroom items. Jeff's parents also were kind enough to drive up and deliver the couch they gave me. Our parents finally got to meet after 2 1/2 years! We all had lunch together and then we went back and emptied out a few boxes. The apartment is starting to look more homey and I can almost picture myself living there, crooked toilet and all! I'll post a few pictures once we decorate a little and the boxes are all thrown out. The only unfortunate event of the day was when we went to leave in Jeff's truck, I noticed that there was a crack in Jeff's windshield, and as I followed the crack up, realized it had been shattered right behind the rear view mirror. Turns out that there were some kids up the hill behind my apartment complex that were throwing rocks at the cars and shattered Jeff's windshield and the windshield on the car parked next to him. We learned all this from another tenant who was working on his car and heard the kids talking on the hill. Anyway, long story short, we called the cops, but because no one saw which kids were throwing the rocks (there were a whole slew of kids at a birthday party), all they could do was write up a report for Jeff to give to his insurance. Talk about a lousy way to end a long, tiring day! Needless to say, I'm going to attempt to get a parking spot under the basketball courts where no punk, trouble-maker children can throw rocks at my car. That just about sums up the weekend, except the tragedy of the Chargers losing to New England. *sigh* Oh well. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, especially those of you lucky enough to have Monday off as well!

weekend update

This past weekend/few days I went up to SLO to visit Jeff and to run away one last time before classes start. We didn't do anything too exciting...we washed both our cars, played board games with his roommates and some friends, watched the football games (GO CHARGERS!), celebrated the big Chargers win by making caramel corn and eating it all, played Guitar Hero, and pretty much were just bums together. Well, I didn't really watch all the games...I napped through a fair portion of them, but I stayed awake and even got into the Chargers game. Oh, and we also went bowling in Pismo (see picture below), but our lane was broken and kept having issues so we ended up playing a game for free.I also managed to go to my old work and visit them. The therapists I used to work for gave me survival tips and told me to call with any questions. I also stopped by my old place and visited two of my old roommates and caught up with them. I never made it downtown or on campus, but that's ok. It was still a good trip, and as always, was very hard to leave.


So now I'm back in T.O., attempting to review anatomy before classes start, and pretending to pack. Jeff will come down this weekend and help me move stuff in his truck, and by mid next week I'll probably move down to my apartment for good. Scary. Hope all is well with everyone and that no one is getting blown away in this crazy wind we're having!

This really is happening!

Yesterday my mom and I went down to Azusa to talk to the fine people at financial aide and got all our questions answered (for now). I turned in the paperwork for the first, of many, loans...yikes! I didn't think I was going to be so nervous, but when it came time to sign the papers, I started realizing just how much this is going to cost me. Before it was just a large number, but now it's a real number with real value, and 6.8% interest, and suddenly it has much greater meaning. Jeff reminded me that so long as I'll make $5000 a year more than a P.E. teacher, this is worth it. ...but it's still a LOT of money!

After signing paper after paper, we headed down to my apartment in West Covina, to sign more papers! I now have keys to my apartment and the gates, and a clicker to get into the parking areas. Then, realizing what time it was and that we'd soon be sentencing ourselves to rush hour traffic, we unloaded an entire 4-Runner full of stuff, up the stairs to my second-floor apartment, all in about 20 minutes! We were quite impressed with ourselves! Just the first of a few more loads of stuff, but at least we made a dent! I also learned that our next door neighbor plays the violin, but at least you can't hear it once you're inside....this could get old!

Anyway, I guess yesterday really served as a wake-up call that yes, this really is happening, and before I know it, I really am going to be in class all day every day for the next 3 years. Yes, I really am moving out of my parent's house, this time possibly for forever. Yes, I am signing my life away in student loans, but that's ok because this is what I've wanted to do for so long and everything is finally happening, and for once, everything in my life just seems to fit. Yes, I am excited, scared, nervous, and happy all at once, but isn't that the beauty of life? That you can feel so many emotions simultaneously, yet at the same time, feel at peace with yourself. These next years are going to be truly amazing, and I can't wait!

P.S. I was a substitute player in my mom's bunco group last night and ended up winning for the most bunco's and came home with $25! Now I can eat for a few days! :)

Viva Las Vegas!

I just got back yesterday from a trip to Vegas with Jeff and his family. It was my first trip to Vegas, so that meant there was a LOT of walking around and going through almost every casino. Thanks for bearing with me guys! We stayed at Excalibur, which is conveniently connected to several other casinos, such as MGM, New York New York, Luxor, The Tropicana, and Mandalay Bay. We had dinner at Morton's Steakhouse, where I had, what I think, will be the best mashed potatoes I'll have in my entire life! We also went to the Tournament of Kings, where we represented and cheered for the Czar of Russia, who was sadly disqualified from the tournament due to unfair and excessive hitting. (We cheered even more!) We also were fortunate enough to go see Spamalot which is playing at the Wynn. I can't remember the last time I've laughed so hard. Yes, I did gamble, but being the poor student that I am, I limited the amount I was willing to lose. I think my winnings came to a whopping $5.50! All in all, it was a very fun trip and I really had no idea just how HUGE these buildings really were. I'd love to go back and hit the other casinos that we didn't make it to. Besides, I am still skeptical that there really is a fountain show at The Bellagio, that the volcano at the Mirage really does go off, or that there are any lions at the MGM, since none of those things seemed to be functioning correctly while we were there!

Thanks again Mike, Becky, Jeff, and Melissa for a wonderful trip and for giving me the full Vegas experience!

Here goes nothing...

Hey y'all! I've set up this blog in a feeble attempt to keep my friends and family updated with what's going on in my life as I attempt to survive my DPT program. No, I won't have any pictures of cute children...unless I happen to visit some! In fact, I can't guarantee that I'll even have anything of much interest to write about. But I know the next three years of my life are going to be consumed by my education and I want to be able to say that at least I tried to keep in touch. So, here goes nothing...hope the new year is treating everyone well, and I will write more soon!