In which sappiness is unavoidable

I have a boyfriend. There, I said it. Okay, fine, I’ll elaborate. I met a man through work. He was actually one of two people who interviewed me for the position I have now. I was immediately smitten with him, and the first three months of my job were spent quietly pining for him. Not constantly, but whatever the normal amount of time and energy spent yearning for someone you have no business craving is these days. Yeah. I must’ve been dropping some signals, though, which he apparently picked up on. One day he suggested we see a movie together, which we did, and we’ve been together ever since. And that’s it.

No, it isn’t. I love this guy beyond all possible comprehension. He is everything I could ever want in a partner, and more. I’m not sure if I subscribe to the belief that we have just one soul mate in life, but if that is indeed the case, I’m pretty confident that I’ve found mine. Yes, it’s that bad. Trust me, I feel silly admitting this out loud. This isn’t the first time I’ve wanted to write about him, but I never wanted to come across as a starry-eyed, lovesick moron. That’s not my style.

He drove me home this past Sunday night, as he does every week. It was raining. Before I got out of his car, he assured me that he would send me a text message when he got home, to let me know he’d gotten there safely. It’s about a 20 minute drive from my place to his. After half an hour I hadn’t heard anything, so I sent a text asking if he was okay. I didn’t receive a response. After another 10 minutes I tried again. Nothing. It was 12:30 a.m. by then, still raining, and my guts started twisting into knots inside me. He is a man of his word, if he says he’s going to text me, he is going to do it no matter what. Another 10 minutes passed, and still nothing from him. I pictured his car flipped over, in the rain, with him dying inside, probably looking at his phone and unable to reach it. The thought of him in unimaginable pain and agony was traumatic enough, but what really made me lose my shit was the thought of him just not existing anymore. The void he would leave behind in this world and all the joy and light that would be sucked into it, pulled to wherever his energy and essence went. To say that I was a mess would be a ridiculous understatement. I finally tried calling him at 1:00, and he answered. He’d sent me a message as soon as he’d gotten home, as promised. I never got it, and he hadn’t gotten my frantic messages. I felt bad for waking him, he felt bad for freaking me out, even though it wasn’t his fault. Our messages finally came through at 1:52 that night. I would’ve shaken my fist at our wireless providers, but I was too overcome with relief that he was alive.

I told this story to a friend today, and when I finished she looked at me over the frames of her glasses and said, “Dramatic much?” Okay, maybe it was a bit much, but accidents can happen in the blink of an eye, with no rhyme or reason to them. It’s not like he doesn’t know how I feel about him. A huge portion of our conversations are spent telling each other how much we love each other and how wonderful we each think the other is. So… why should I feel embarrassed about that? I don’t. I’m super crazy about him and I want everyone to know it. Besides, we’re just so damn cute. :D

So... yeah. I'm in love! Yay. :)

The best 24 hours EVER!

Look, I know we need to catch up on a bunch of stuff, so let's get through it quickly. I had a job at Payless, loved my co-workers, not a fan of the company or the ridiculous commute I had every day. I was trying to muster up energy to apply at a bunch of other places where I didn't really want to work, when an opportunity to work at a place I really like came along. So I work at Sweetpea Baking Co. now and I absolutely love it there. So, yay!

Now, I'm pretty sure I mentioned it in November, but in case you forgot, Rammstein is touring North America and one of the shows was to be in Tacoma, WA on May 14th. I had my ticket, my hotel reservation, train tickets, and time off from work, so I set out Monday morning for what was to become the greatest 24 hours EVER.

This was my first time traveling by train, MAX doesn't count, and my mom wanted lots of pictures. She made a montage of the photos I sent her, so I'll share that with you. It's pics of my trip there, a shot or two of my hotel room, and pics of my trip back. Ta da!

Once I got to Tacoma, I walked from the station to the hotel, which was about 10 minutes, and it's literally across the parking lot from the Tacoma Dome. Check-in took forever and some people were getting cranky, but there was a collective sense of excitement since we were all there for the show. For some of us, this was our first R+ concert, for some this was number 19. No joke. Oddly enough, the guy in front of me in line was from Beaverton, so that was neat. I waited for half an hour, only to be told my room wasn't ready, then after another 45 minutes I was finally given my room key. The room was way nicer than I anticipated. I settled in and then agonized over what to do about dinner. The hotel restaurant had absolutely nothing that I could eat, so I wandered outside and ended up following some other people into this deli at the corner.

The place was called Leila's Deli and it was awesome. I went up to the counter and asked the very nice lady if I could get a sandwich "with, like, all the veggies you have" and then added hummus when I saw it on the list. It came with chips and I got a soda and it was perfect.

YUM!!!! I mean, I don't plan on spending a lot of time in Tacoma in the future, but if I go up there again for an event, I'm definitely stopping in here again. After that I walked to the dome and waited in line with everyone else. After a quick body search, we all made our way in and most of us stopped at the merch table. I bought 2 t-shirts, then stopped at another table and bought a poster. :D Got to my seat, then waited.

Festivities started at 8:30. DJ Joe Letz of Combichrist did Rammstein songs as an opener, which I really liked because it made the whole evening just about them. As he finished, the lights went down and the band came in. Through the audience. Through MY SECTION. Are you kidding me?!?!

*sigh* Oh, Till, I love you so. *ahem* So they made their way to the floor, onto a platform, then they walked across a bridge over the audience to the stage. It was amazing. The whole show was amazing. It's hard to pick a favorite moment, but I really enjoyed seeing them do "Mein Teil" live. Luckily, someone was nice enough to record the whole show, so you can see it, too.

At one point, they came back over the bridge and performed on a small platform in the crowd. Why didn't I spring for a floor ticket?!

Wow. The show ended promptly at 11. Till thanked the audience in both English and in German, and each band member took a knee in gratitude. Super classy guys. That really was the best concert I've ever seen. There are no words in any language to portray just how good it was. My pics were all crap, but there are some good ones out there.

I walked back to the hotel with everyone else, snacked on some junk food I'd brought with me, and climbed into bed to watch some Law & Order SVU and drift off to sleep in total bliss. I don't sleep well in unfamiliar surroundings, so I was awake by 6:30. Made coffee, took a shower, painted my toe nails. Packed up, checked out around 10:45, went to the train station. Came back to my regular old life. I really should get out more, I had so much fun with all this.

This is going to sound weird, but it was nice to go back to work. I really like everyone there and I may have missed them a bit. Obviously I'm off today. We're getting a new roof on our apartment building and it's really noisy. I need to go run some errands. Yeah, everything's back to normal now.

If Rammstein comes back to America again, though, I'll be all over that!

A short holiday excursion

We were all supposed to venture downtown to see the Christmas tree in Pioneer Square, but everyone bailed on me! At first I said I wasn't going either, but then I thought Eff this, it's almost Christmas and I may not get another chance to do this, so I slapped some makeup on my face, pulled on my coat and gloves, zipped up my boots, and headed out! Who cares if I go out alone? I'm a seasoned veteran patron of public transportation, damn it!

This was my second trip ever.

My bus came at 5:25 pm, and we arrived at 6th & Yamhill at 5:38 pm. The driver hauled ass! He didn't give any of us a chance to get to a seat, he just floored it as soon as the doors closed. One guy didn't even get a chance to pay his fare before the momentum of the bus threw him back into a seat. He had to drag himself back up to the farebox. I did my best not to laugh. So we got there, thanked the driver (we do that here) and I had my Starbucks coffee in my hand by 5:45 pm. Hells yeah! I sat on a bench and snapped a few photos, then got restless and started walking.

Eventually I found myself in Pioneer Place. It was so festive in there, I had to take some pics.






Can you see the snow in that last picture? There's a machine on the 3rd level that shoots out foam snow at 6:00 pm. I just happened to be there at the right moment.

Then I went back outside and wandered some more. I got a shot of Pioneer Courthouse from 5th Ave.


I made my way back to Pioneer Square, had a seat, and got a great shot of the tree. Behold!


So pretty! This is the first year they've used multi-colored LED lights, and it looks fantastic. Great atmosphere, too. People were just hanging out. It was nice.

Even the little fountain bears were dressed up.


When I'd had enough, I walked to the closest bus stop and waited with a group of people. When the bus came for us it was already packed, but we managed to squeeze in. I ended up sitting next to a really cute guy, but I didn't think it would be appropriate to take his picture. Oh well. This bus driver was really nice, and a believer in speed limits, so it was an enjoyable ride home.

It would've been nice if everyone else could've come along, but I'm glad I went anyway. Good times!

Burritos for days!

I love burritos. Who doesn't love burritos? No one, that's who. It slightly pains me, though, when I see/hear/read someone say something along the lines of I decided to make a burrito at home to save money, so I opened a can of beans, microwaved them, added some salsa, cheese, lettuce, and sour cream, and it was cheap, but it didn't taste like the ones I get from a restaurant. Of course it didn't, you didn't do anything to it. Seasonings, people, seasonings!

Last night, in the throes of starvation, I decided that I would make a big batch of burrito filling today. Once done, I just have to portion out the amount I want, heat it, then eat it!

First I soaked some pinto beans.

Then I cooked them. Tough stuff, I know.


Once they were done, I drained them, reserving a little of the cooking liquid. I smashed the beans with a large spoon, too. Heated some oil in the saucepan, added the beans back in, along with the bean water (yum, lol), cumin, and salsa. Simmer a bit, and ta da! Refried beans.

Then I chopped half of a green bell pepper and half of a white onion.

This went into the saucepan to cook with brown rice.

There really is rice in there, I swear to you. See?

Then I made a batch of "queso."

Mmmmmm. Then I boiled some lentils.

While those were cooking, I sauteed the other halves of the bell pepper and onion.

The lentils serve as the "meat" in all this. Soy crumbles would work, too, but lentils are cheap and healthy. I'd like to tell you I make my own taco seasoning mix, but I don't.

Casa Fiesta! When the lentils were done, I added them to the veggies, added the taco mix and water, and about a tablespoon of salsa.

I mixed everything together in a huge bowl, then stood back to admire the beautiful... err...

Well, it tastes good anyway. Finally, it was time to assemble a burrito.

After all the work I'd done I couldn't be bothered to shred some lettuce. A whole leaf worked just fine. And I topped it with some taco sauce. Vegan sour cream would've been a nice addition, but it's kind of expensive. Maybe next time.

I was so hungry, I decided to make two.

Yeah, my burrito rolling skills leave something to be desired. Whatever, I devoured those two in record time. Five minutes later, I realized that eating two burritos was a horrible idea. Delicious, but my god, I thought I was going to explode.

So with all that filling, I'll be making burritos (one at a time) and living off of them for days. Burritos for days!

Bliss.

And Worse goes back to work

Well, I guess you can disregard that last whiny, emo post I wrote. This morning I received a call from the place I'd interviewed for and was offered the job, which I quickly and gratefully accepted. It'll take a few days to get me in the system and get an employee number, so I'll probably start on Tuesday. That's good because I need to do laundry and get a book of all-zone Trimet passes. So... yay!

Now I can stop being depressed and wash my hair.

On a sad note, to cut costs we're dropping our home phone line (we never use it anyway) and our awesome cable package and DVR. No TCM, no Ovation, etc. I see a lot of PBS in my future. I made a point to get through all of the Charles Boyer movies I'd saved, but didn't get to Errol Flynn or Cary Grant. Sigh. Around 2:00 am I just couldn't stay up any longer, so I lovingly stroked the DVR, told it I loved it dearly, and dragged myself to bed. It's now a goal of mine to restore self-indulgent cable service, including getting HBO again. I'll have the means soon, since, ya know, I HAVE A JOB. Ha!

Not only is this good for me, it's good for you, too! Now I'll have actual things to write about. You won't be forced to suffer through what I had for dinner or a detailed account of something cute my dogs did. Okay, okay, I'll still post that stuff, but I very much look forward to griping about idiot customers and relaying my various adventures on my public transit commute. It's a win-win, really.


Woo!