September/October

So, my computer has totally crapped out. All I have now is my phone and today I was realizing how many pictures I have on my phone that I have never saved anywhere. So here is my photo purge, including my birthday, my random outings and a mini trip home!

For my after-birthday weekend, we went to Tulalip and kicked it at this club.

 

Here's this dude. He is way better at dancing in heals than I am!

My favorite sister visits for my birthday!

 

Birthday breakfast! 

A selection of random pictures from Kate's trip out:

 

Woodland Park Zoo!

 

Pioneer Square

 Indoor waterfall in downtown Seattle

 

And where I decided to meet my uncle for brunch

Apple Picking In New Hampshire!

 

And back to Seattle....

 Great cinema!

And Leela finally sits still for more than 2 seconds for a picture.

So that's it for the photo dump. Hopefully I will have the means to update more successfully in the next month or so and no more just photos!

Stay tuned....

Emerald Isle Days 1&2

I'm in Ireland. That is a real thing. It is 523 AM here and my body clock has declared war on my sleepiness. That's to be expected, I suppose since I have slept about 13 hours since arriving at my hotel yesterday around 11 AM. To be fair, I have travelled through 8 time zones in considerably short time on relatively limited sleep and significantly heightened emotions. That sentence is adverb heaven.

So now I lay awake waiting for the sun to rise or the fog to lift or for whatever has to happen in the sky to make it lighter out so I can act on my current focus: soaking up the awesome. We are in a town called Drogheda (that's a silent "g" and accententuate on the "da") which is medieval and adorable with narrow cobblestone streets, Gothic cathedrals, ruins of abbeys and structures that look like a movie set from Braveheart (yes I know that's Scotland) a barbican from the 13th century that used to be the only way in or out of this walled city. Oh, my bad, did I forget to mention there is a small beautiful river that runs through, traversed by a pedestrian bridge and a 154 year-old viaduct? Wat.

Yesterday Mom and I were exhausted, so the focus was on getting rather acquainted with a right -sided driver's seat and going through round abouts clockwise on the left side of the road. It went something like this:

Me "Hullo, opposite land! Please let me not vehicular manslaughter us today!"

Irish roadways: "Good luck." (Insert Nelson's point and "Ha ha" here)

Mom: "You are doing just fi- (insert scaredy gasp here) Watch out!"

Me: "I got this. I totally have this."

In conclusion, no car accidents or vehicular manslaughter yesterday! Huzzah! Then we napped. Then we had our first Irish meal, which for me was a stuffed baked "podaydo" with a salad and for mom was some sort of grilled sammich and tea and a scone. Then I watched Gaelic TV for an hour and went to bed. Now it is 623 and the plan today is to walk about Drogheda before breakkie, take some photos and then be off to a Neolothic (read: 5000 YEAR OLD aka older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids) monument called Newgrange which promises to be epic and fill me with a sense of wonder, connectedness and personal insignificance all at once, like thinking about outer space. Then on to Northern Ireland and to spend the night in Belfast.

I wish I had a way of uploading photos but alas it is not to be. Hopefully my description will do for now. Or you can google it. Time for the three S's: Shower, shave and slan ((that means goodbye). Oh? That phrase usually means something else? I am a lady, you know. Also, I am sure you will all be happy to know that my Irish lilt is coming along quite nicely. Stay tuned for more!

A Remarkable 6 Weeks of Mishaps

I wish that word was pronounce "Miss-shaps". Saying that aloud would potentially make any unfortunate happening a bit easier to take and maybe even slightly laughable. Or how about "mih-shaps", like I imagine Sean Connery says it? Yeahh, way better.
Since arriving in the beautiful Pacific Ring of Fire hotspot known as Western Washington, it has been a nearly continuous sequence of mihshaps.

At first, I was just tired. The drive, though an incredibly scenic, somewhat life altering journey, was totally exhausting. When I arrived, all I wanted was a comfortable, consistent bed to sleep in and to get used my new job. That didn't really happen, and hasn't really happened yet. Ok, so it sort of has, with the super help of my mother, brother and Coremed, I've had a bed to sleep in every night, but my first 2 weeks here I moved every 2 nights or so. Me and my poor cats barely had enough time to sleep between moving and juggling money and working 12 hours shifts and trying to find the next place to stay. The list of moves is ridiculous, due to bed bugs and places not allowing cats, other places having no where to cook, store or eat any food. 4 nights I payed double for hotel rooms. What a waste! Finally, after two weeks, I found myself a closet apartment to live in after acquiring over a grand in debt to my company and my family members.

Since living in my new apartment, to be known from here on out as the closet, or HPBC, minus the adorable sleeping man boy, and finally getting used to a job that I don't much care for, I have been living on about 50 dollars a week due to the debt I've accumulated and the need to save money to pay rent and for my trip to Ireland in October. Mr. Beeblebrox got mega ill, and it cost a pretty $600 to save his life. This was the $600 I was supposed to spend on coming home for my mom's 60th, which I ended up missing because I wouldn't let my cat die. I am overdue by double for an oil change, my stereo in my car has stopped working, I have broken and damaged my $400 worth of my security deposit already, I have to file for a passport and a new license, I have a torn ligament in my left foot, and it takes an hour to drive 14 miles to work everyday.

To summarize this whiny bitch-fest of first world problems;  I am 3100 miles from everyone and everything I know, I live in a closet and I am broke, having just enough money to get to/from work and to buy food for myself and my cats. The time difference has made for extra lonely time due to not being able to get in touch with my most usual chat artists on the regular, though luckily this is straightening out. Daily, something ridiculous happens that either puts me out of time, money or energy. Needless to say, my usual optimistic, perky and go-with-the-flow snark-filled attitude has been stifled into a mostly tired, pity-partying self centered existence.

What I really need is a swift kick in the ugly ugly sad pants I've been wearing, because I feel like I have been totally lost in this manure cesspool of negativity. I've been focusing on my feelings of defeat and disappointment that things weren't just magical and totally perfect the day I arrived and that I don't have a ton of spending money to sight see or be leisurely with. So, in the event that I wake up tomorrow, or the next day or the next, feeling less than impressed with my life or where I am at right now, I have decided to write a letter to myself to remind me that life is pretty fucking awesome and I need to just deal with it.

Dear Lora,
If today you are feeling especially down, slightly depressed or even remotely melancholy, please refer to the itemized list below.

1. There are worse closets to be trapped in. Just ask R. Kelly

2. There are worse things in life than disappointment, and you have lived through several of them already. Also remember what Martin Freeman said, "Disappointment is an endless wellspring of comedy inspiration." Effin A right, Arthur Dent. You can improve today by not wallowing in what should have or could have, but what you can make of today, tomorrow and the next. Today could be started with you making this face in the mirror and picturing a miniature, disappointed Keanu Reeves on your left shoulder. See? Disappointment comedy is a no lose situation.

3. Money is tough. Someday's you have some, some days you don't, but you're saving for your next big adventure. Remember your priorities and you'll figure it out. Plus, there is free shit to do around every corner. Go read a book in the park. You love that crunchy shit.

4. This is not your bed. Gandhi lived here, and didn't eat for 116 days to fight for what he believed in. Everything I could write after that seems nearly insignificant. Remember, just because you are not Gandhi does not mean you are this grumpy lump of a human, either. So stop being a wanker, get yourself in the shower, and don't be late for work. Gandhi was never late for his hunger strike. Also, I'm pretty sure that Boca Burger would have been just fine for Gandhi's dinner and would have lasted him one entire week. It probably would have been a fucking vegetarian feast. And you have ketchup? You spoiled hen. Gandhi would have given that shit to the poor and eaten just the crumbs to survive. Gandhi probably made his bed every day, too. Just sayin'.

5. You live here. In a land of water, fresh and salt, of hills and ancient green forests and of epic volcanoes, where the temperature rarely reaches and doesn't get much hotter than 90. Seriously, has there ever been a more perfect climate and geology in your imagination ever? No? Oh, except for Rivendell of course, but lets be honest, the whole being stuck with a never aging Cate Blanchett is kind of like your worst nightmare, eh? Plus, the time for Elves is over. Now is the time of Lora the Seattleite.

6. I am sick of thinking of reasons. Take a deep breath and try and enjoy your life. Nothing is bad enough right now to warrant weeks upon weeks of this terrible slump. Stop wasting your life being miserable about all the things that could possibly make you miserable and start spending it being stoked on all of the things that could possibly make you happy. Ready. Set. Go.

Thanks for bearing with me through this, all. It is so therapeutic to see it written out. Much love goes out to all my East Coasters for dealing with the series of unfortunate event phone calls, apathetic voicemails and the occasional sniffly-crying bits. I love you all so so much, and never would have made it these 6 weeks without your continuous support answering all of my plees, contributing monetary donations and providing much needed commiseration. Mom, Kate, Matt, Erin, Justin, Bonnie, Lori, and facebook friends who have commented on status updates, all of you have made this manageable. Thank you, thank you, thank you.


I promise my next blog will have more snark, more pictures and probably more inappropriate links. <3

Day Three, Part Badlands

Miles Driven on Day 3: 420

Total Miles so far: 1240

States Passed Through: SD

Currently In: Kadoka, SD

After my little rainbowfest yesterday, I still had plenty of daylight hours. I wanted to go to Badlands National Park. So, I did.

I passed through the Buffalo Gap Grasslands, but alas, no buffalo in sight. That's ok, because...

I had arrived at Mars on Earth! From a distance you can see the looming cliffs, reddish sand and you may experience a slight wetness in your pants because you have urinated out of excitement. That is totally normal, so don't worry.

You may ask me, Lora, what do rainbows, sand dunes and rattlesnake warnings have in common?

Well, my dear friend, see the above photo. It isn't long after you enter the park gates that you get up close and personal with some dunes. This was the first pull over stop available, with sweeping views of canyons, rainbows, and the first of many "Beware *insert hilarious cartoon snake graphic that makes rattlesnakes look rather harmless* Rattlesnakes!" signs.

Another picture from the first stop. I do have the color pop filter on for the camera here, but this one is so much more close to the IRL colors that I had to keep it.

 This kind of looks like some sort of ancient ruins in the Sinai Peninsula. You know the one. Anyway, I pulled over and hiked around awhile.

Holy bones, look at the color gradient. This is ombre, mother effers.

I cast a less than formidable shadow amongst the labyrinth of rock formations

I was looking for rattle snakes. Sadly, all I found was this Hipster inspired, Instagram-worthy camera shot. Brought to you by Canon Toy Camera Setting. And dirty, dusty clothing.

 I really like this one. I pulled over on the side of the road (apparently, 5 PM in the middle of summer is oddly enough NOT a busy time for this place) and was able to snap the picture right at the dip in the pavement, which makes it look like the world is bending to my whim. Or that I've photoshopped it.

In the middle of the road.

Some cool striations in between layers of sandstone

Random plateau.

The sun was starting to set, giving the entire sky a nice pastel glow

Uhhhm, what the hell is that? 

Jesus! There are more. They look like aliens came and abducted some cute deer and then forced their face skulls into a triangle shaped cake pan and then set them back down on the grassy plains to disturb unsuspecting tourists just looking for some regular old fucking deer! Well, it turns out, the are Pronghorns, totally legitimate Earthly species, frequently found in these parts.

603 in the... parking lot!

It's getting hazy

Like those magic sand art things we used to make in the 90's, no?

With the sun almost set, I decided it would be a good idea to go to my last next tourist destination, Wall Drug. For those who don't know what this masterpiece of cheesy, road side oddity attraction is, well, basically, it is like a mini town, with different stores that sell everything from outdoors equipment to jewelry. On one side there are a bunch of individual stores, on the other, the large, Wall Drug Mall, which houses all sorts of random stores, including a pharmacy, a wall of mounted jackalopes, and a back yard with free water and, well, you'll see.

The Ice Water Store, where you can get free ice water.

Wall of bizarre paintings, including this oil painting, "Brokeback Pasture".

By feed, the mean this: 

Awkward looking tail there, bud.

Mechanical piano playing gorilla serenades you as you sit upon the majestic giant jackalope.

Here is the free ice water station! Clean and cold!

So, that ended my first full day in South Dakota. I really loved my time here and I hope someday to travel baxk this way. Now, on to a national monument!