Great News!

You'll never guess who called me during my Phonological Assessment class? The Seattle Police Dept!

MY CAR WAS RECOVERED!!!!!

I don't have a lot of time to write, because I have a mountain of homework to get to, but I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to let y'all know. So let me just try to answer any questions pre-emptively.

1. The car was in fine shape, I have no clue how they got in, but the locks weren't damaged.
2. The ignition is a little jacked, the key slides right in now with no trouble. You could probably stick a flathead screwdriver in it, start the car, and drive just fine.
3. Nothing was taken. Everything was still in its exact spot, including the garage door opener.
4. Only about a 1/4 tank of gas was used.
5. The car was ditched in the U-District, really close to where I had looked, actually.
6. The person who stole my car must have been very short, because the seat was scooted all the way to the wheel (the 93 Sentra is pretty small to begin with).
7. There is an amazing amount of fur all over the back seat, which I guess means that a cat/dog were in on the heist as well ;)
8. I bought The Club, so now my car is about as protected as it can be without installing an alarm.
9. The car is back in my possession, and once again parked in the parking garage...waiting to get stolen again ;)
10. I'm thinking of seeing how much a simple GPS device would be to throw in the car under the seat or something like that. If it's cheap, I might get one just for the hell of it.
11. I'm very happy,extremely grateful and very much relieved...as well as very impressed that it was found in a week--pretty much to the HOUR! (I realized my car was missing around 3:30 last week, and that's when I got the message). It was found by parking enforcement, because it was parked a little skiwampus on the street.

YAY FOR RECOVERED VEHICLES!!!!

I would like to go and celebrate, but instead I just get to read more exciting single case studies for Methods and work on treatment/behavioral objectives! I know, the life of an Speech-Language Pathologist in training is just THAT exciting!

A lot to be thankful for!

You know, the timing of this stolen car of mine is really pretty awful. I mean, how am I supposed to feel bad about myself when our nation is focusing on what we're thankful for? ;)

Actually, it couldn't have happened at a better time. Last night, after classes were out and for the first time didn't have anything urgent that I absolutely HAD to do to meet a deadline, I sat in my apartment and started to get all down and gloomy (helped of course by the current weather we've been having). I was starting to get filled with rage, and since I didn't have anyone to take it out on, I started to hate Seattle again (like when I first moved here) except this time my thoughts about the city and its people were getting vicious and hateful. I knew it needed to stop and that I was just letting my mind wander because I felt hopeless. So, I decided to get off my tush and go out and look for my car on foot. Now, I had no real expectation of finding it (which I didn't) but I thought that at least I was TRYING to do SOMETHING about the state I was in. So, I dressed warmly and went out and combed the streets of the University District. Some of the statistics I've read have said that stolen cars are sometimes abandoned in the same neighborhood from where they were stolen. I thought I would go and and give that theory a try.

Although my search came up empty handed, the walking felt great. I realized that I could look for my car and talk at the same time (multi-tasking at its finest), and then also took a lot of time to process some emotional build-up I had put to the side and not dealt with yet. In the previous 48 hours I had gone through the gamut of emotions: trying to let it roll off my back, laughing about it with my classmates, crying about it alone, feeling violated and vulnerable to pissed off and wanting to scream, the typical emotional responses that you go through when you experience a great change in your life. I just wanted all of that to be better and resolved. I took three hours, selected a neighborhood north of campus, and basically didn't leave a single street unchecked. I didn't find my car, but I did find quite a few Nissan Sentras, and one that I imagine had also been stolen and abandoned. It was red, had been bashed in the side, and was parked on a little side street with 2 tickets on the windshield. It made me feel bad for my little car...wherever it is. As I walked, I just told myself that each minute I was out there was another minute closer to being more at peace with this situation, whatever it may be. I'm not the type of person to say that everything is fine now, I know stuff like this doesn't heal overnight. But, taking that time helped me feel good last night, which I really needed.

One thing that really helped was thinking about my family. One year ago, today, my Uncle Grayson passed away at the age of 69 from a mixture of cancers. His son, Jared, more my brother than my cousin, and I talked for quite a while on the phone. He listened to me as I bitched and moaned about my car, and then we spoke about this past year and how it has affected his life. It made me remember that although losing a car this way really sucks, it's not a death, and nobody in my life has been taken away from me or hurt. I still have a father, a mother, all of my siblings, and I haven't lost anyone near or dear to me (except for Uncle Grayson, and some great aunts and uncles who lived long and full lives into their 90s) in the past while. I ended up spending the rest of the night thinking about the people I love, the things I am grateful for, and what I look forward to in my life. None of those things included my car. So, although I was out actively searching for it, my mind eventually wandered off into a much more peaceful state.

And today, Thanksgiving Day, was really lovely...I was invited to the Grittners for Thanksgiving Dinner, and actually just got home. The green bean casserole was a hit (thanks for the recipe, Steph)! We started around 3 and just kept going with intermittent games, drinks and dessert, and then back for many more rounds of dinner. It was easy to let go of my car, being surrouned with friends, the luxury of having a day off, great food and feeling safe.

Times like these help put things into perspective. I really have so much to be thankful for.

I am truly blessed, with or without my car.

Oh where, oh where has my little car gone
Oh where, oh where can he be?
With his cramped back seats and leaking oil gasket
Oh where, oh where can he be?

P.S. If you know the answer, then please leave an anonymous comment here...no hard feelings!

40th Anniversary

I wanted to take a break from my complaining about my stolen car and just let y'all know that today my parent's celebrated their 40th Anniversary. Amazing, huh? I'm grateful to have such a wonderful example of marriage in my life, and to have such wonderful and loving parents who love me, but more importantly, really love each other. I only hope I can be as happy with someone one day.

So, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Mom and Dad! Here's to many more years to come!

A few pics...

(I shot this a few years ago when they came and visited me in Thailand. Aren't they cute?)


(yet another pic from Thailand, those are really the only ones I have on my computer!)

A turn of events...

As you may have noticed, I have been somewhat quiet with my blogging lately, mainly due to a trend observed in my professors of assigning lots of long and tedious assignments right before the Thanksgiving Break. I was actually thinking about a new blog topic on Saturday as I was baking my first ever green-bean casserole. I volunteered to make it for Thanksgiving dinner at the Grittners (school friends) and decided that I needed to give the dish a try before I have other people ingest comfort food which could potentially turn out to be anything by "comfortable". My thoughts started wandering towards the realization that pretty much everything I eat at home is served in a bowl. I am constantly washing and re-washing my four bowls that I brought to Seattle, and rarely use my plates. I figured that I could have a lot of fun with this idea and elaborate it into a long and creative blog that would make people grin over the holiday weekend. But alas, my plans were thwarted today as I walked out of my elevator into the parking garage only to find that...

MY CAR WAS STOLEN!!!

&%$#!)&#%@!^*%@$! (insert favored explitive here)

Seriously.
Stolen.
As in not there....gone!
Poof.
Disappeared.
Adios!
Sayonara! (which is somewhat appropriate because I drive drove a Nissan)

Yep, I am now one of the 10,000 annual car thefts which occur annually in Seattle. Apparently being locked and parked behind an electric gate is not a big enough deterrent against property theft these days. This city requires more of their fair drivers. In fact as it turns out, Seattle, as I have just recently come to find, is also the land of The Club, of which I had none for my car. Damn.

I find the whole situation a bit funny, to be quite honest. First of all....HAVE YOU SEEN MY CAR? I mean, have you taken a really good look at my car? It's a 1993 Nissan Sentra (yes, I realize that there could be people reading this blog at this very moment who have no recollection of that year, either because they were too young or weren't even born yet) still in all of its 90s glory including:

1. Automatic seatlbelts and lap-belts that have actually been shown to be quite undependable when the going gets rough.
2. A TAPE deck that enjoys chewing up cassette tapes to oblivion. Yes you did just indeed read the words "tape deck" and "cassette tape"
3. Manual windows
4. Manual locks (on all four doors)
5. Manual transmission
6. Manual radio tuner and temperature controls
6. Car manuals (I was kind of on a roll there for a sec)

Luckily nothing in my car was of great value to me, although I am somewhat embarrassed to think of the state that I left my car in. Those of you who know me well, know that I pay the absolute minimum amount of attention to my car as I possibly can. That's why on the backseat floor of the car you'll find:

Lots and lots of loose papers including American Red Cross Brochures, Laminated CPR and Rescue Breathing technique easy references, flip flops, water bottles, old bottles of tanning oil, and lots of other junk, empty Orbit Gum containers, paper cups, receipts galore, a host of programs from Ballet West, Utah Sypmhony and Utah Opera, and basically anything that I was too lazy to take out of my car and put in the recycling bin (which is a lot...kind of scary to think about).

Anyway...now I'm without a car, which doesn't put a huge cramp in my style, since I usually take the car to the grocery store or to Belltown when driving to Jackie's house on Thursday night to watch Grey's Anatomy. I really don't use my car too much, but even so, it really sucks to know that it's been stolen, and right from underneath me.

:(

So, if you see me on the street with six bags of groceries in hand and I look like a drowned rat because I've managed to let a gigantic semi splash me with the dirty water of the ONLY puddle within 100 yards of sight (true story), could you take a little pity on me and offer me a ride (after you've laughed you a** off, of course)?

Oh, and yes, be expecting this blog to follow this sort of theme for the next little while. As sad and inconvenient as this may be on my life, it's providing me with TONS of stuff to write and complain about. And fortunately...YOU get to read about it!

Way to go South Africa!

South Africa:
1948-1994, racial segregation made legal with Apartheid.
2006, gay marriage made legal by South Africa Parliament.

My goes off it you! Now that's what I call progress. To quote my sister Leslie, "if only we could evolve so quickly!"

To read about gay marriage in South Africa, click HERE.

The Nation has spoken

I just wanted to wish you all a very blue Wednesday...that's right BLUE! You'd think that growing up going to East High and then the University of Utah I would all about Red (& White), but today I'm very very pleased for what Blue stands for! Now I just hope Virginia will come through for the Senate...fingers crossed.

The best part about last night was watching Rick Santorum concede on live television knowing that Bob Casey clearly was unstoppable in the voting booths. One down (of imbeciles, that is) a lot more to go!

I hate how much I love it

So I'm undergoing some inner turmoil right now, over something very very serious. I was debating on whether or not I should share this with my readers, since it's a bit more of a personal issue, but I decided that it wouldn't be fair to you or myself to keep on lying and withholding such important information about who I am and what I do.

It's just that what I'm about to tell you pretty goes against my very nature--it has the potential to disrupt my whole identity as I know it. I've tried to supress it, ignore it, dismiss it from my life (get thee hence!), and chase it back to the place from whence it came. I've tried surrounding myself with things that won't remind me of it so much, but I'm having a hard time though. The internet makes it so available, it's just so easy to access. It's really disturbing how much it's changed my life. But I can't seem to get away from it--there's something just so addicting, exciting, alluring, mezmerizing, euphoric, and gratifying that I've given up on trying to pretend any longer. Some of you might cry at the news. All I can say, "I'm still who I am...this doesn't change anything". Please love me for me, and not for what I'm about to tell you. It pains me to write this even now, but it's the right thing to do.

Josh Turner...

Country Singer...(cringe)

Twangy Country Singer...

I mean SUUUUPER twangy...

NASHVILLE twangy (shudder)

With deep bass voice...

Hit Single...

"Would You Go With Me?"...(deep breath)

Love it. (gasp)

Seriously...L-O-V-E

Sing it all the time.

Shower.

Class.

Computer Lab.

Bus.

Grocery Store.

Know all the lyrics.

And even the twang.

Love the twang.

Find bass voice sexy.

A little obsessed.

Heart it.

Can't get enough.

We're talking 8 times a day for the last month.

(that's a lot of twang)

I'm hopeless.

Ugh.

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

I don't mean to brag, it's just that in 8th grade I had a really hard time with math and it was the only time in my life I got a C. I'm sure I wasn't the greatest of students, and I don't think I had the greatest of teachers, so I didn't necessarily SHINE in the subject. It pretty much devastated me that entire year. It wasn't until I started geometry in 9th grade and that I was able to prove to myself that I could once again be good at this. I guess I've never really gotten over my eighth grade year...because here I am 14 years later blogging about it. Funny how we just don't let go of some things, eh?

Temple Grandin

Tonight I went up to Edmonds, a town north of Seattle, to listen to Temple Grandin who was speaking at Edmonds Community College. Dr. Grandin is a professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, and is most popularly known for two things: her design of livestock handling facilities used in meat plants around the world to help reduce anxiety of livestock, and the fact that she has autism.
I was interested in listening to her speak this evening on her book Thinking in Pictures, especially because I have my nose in the world of verbal language development so much of the time, it's wonderful for me to listen to someone else describe a phenomenon that I'm concerned about (language development) but in a completely different way than we study in grad school for Speech-Language Pathology.

The lecture hall was packed, in fact they had to turn a lot of people away, and she took us on a great journey into the mind of individuals with autism who think in one or three ways: visual (photorealistic), numbers/patterns/math, and verbal. Dr. Grandin is a visual learner and literally must have a visual representation of EVERYTHING in order to understand it. She goes into great detail about this in her book (shown above).

Anyway, the real reason I wanted to share this was because not only was she an incredible speaker, but she said some of the funniest things. One specifically I don't want to forget. Now, she is high functioning, but even in her lecture it could be observed that some of the stereotypical traits of autism are very much a part of her life, like social interaction skills. She was answering a question during the Q&A about medication and she was talking about how at times she takes a tylenol at night if she is feeling overly stimulated (itching, nervous, etc--physical conditions of discomfort that characterize her autism) more for the placebo effect instead of taking an actual sleep inducing drug. Then she said, "I just really don't want to get addicted to any sort of sleep medicine. In fact, I see that Lunesta moth on television, and all I want to do is go over and stomp on it till it's dead". The lecture hall burst into laughter. I guess it was the way she said it, and in the context of the evening that made it such a hilarious moment. I totally hate that Lunesta "moth"[butterfly] too. In fact, my friend Emily and I used to joke about how damn annoying the female voiceover is for the commercials, let alone the absinthe colored/hallucinogenic butterfly that can put you to sleep no matter where you are (even the astronauts in outer space...watch the commercial to understand the reference). Leave it to Temple Grandin to put my thoughts into words. :)

65!

To my boogey boarding, water and alpine skiing, lap swimming, world traveling, weight lifting, church going, summer hiking, high diving dad who turned 65 today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!