I've moved

Nissan Versa - My Rental Car

I've moved to a small town in Northern California where I can't find a job and sitting at home filling out applications is just becoming tiresome. You have to keep in mind that I do NOT posses a vehicle of any sort, so it has to be walking distance to where I live. To be more exact I've moved to Marysville, California and let me tell you how I got here.

Well I completed all of my required coursework for my undergraduate degree, which is a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing and a minor in Psychology. I have to say that I am pretty impressed with myself and this achievement. Will be getting my diploma in about 6 weeks time via snail mail. Then I finished working at the bookstore, trained a lot of new people for rush right before I left, so hopefully they all do a lovely job during rush. Then I packed up my things, shipped 9 boxes, rented a car, and fit the rest into the rental.

Packed Trunk

Packed Backseat - Don't worry I could see out of the back window just fine!

Second view of the packed backseat of the Versa

I started my drive out to California at 6 in the morning, my mom making sure that I took everything that I need and a few sad farewells.My plan was to make this trip in two days, Thursday, August 9th and Friday, August 10th. My overnight stop was in Salt Lake City, and I didn't like it there one bit. I made six mandatory stops along the way, to pump gas, eat and stretch my legs for a bit. By the end of my drive to Salt Lake City, I didn't know where I was and I was just following the highway, and it still puzzles me how I found my way to the hotel that I was staying at. 

Before checking into the hotel I went to my forever craving, all time favorite burger place, In N Out Burger. They make the best burger in the world, and you have to keep in mind that I eat them without the bun and wrapped in lettuce, so I can really taste how the meat. It was one of the best parts of my trip, enjoying a mouthwatering burger after a long drive....

The hotel I stayed at sucked, the parking was weird and it seemed as if there weren't enough spaces, the carpet was filthy and and the tub just looked disgusting. It looked like it was built in the 90s and hadn't been updated since then.  So much for booking ahead of time and expecting something better, but the bed was just fine, especially since all I really wanted was sleep. Thankfully I bought earplugs and had some pretty good sleep, waking up at 4 am and checking out at 4:30 to start the second part of my drive. 

Driving on the second day was much better, sleeping really does help from the night before. I was surprised that it was cloudy most of my drive through Nevada and that it even rained a bit. When I finally entered California. The scenery is just gorgeous and lush. I drove down Highway 20 to get to Marysville, and yes the road is a bit curvy but it was amazing to drive down. 

I finally got to Marysville and decided to fill up the tank before driving to the apartment and then to drop it off at the rental place. Well I already drove 1,150 miles or so without hitting anything or anyone, and for that matter not getting into a car accident. Well as I was pulling up to the gas pump, I heard a crunching sound and next thing I know the front right part of the bumper got smashed in by one of those concrete barriers that prevents the car from driving into the gas pump. I obviously didn't see it at all and thought I had some room before hitting it, boy was I wrong and less than a quarter of a mile from the apartment, too. Well I called Hertz roadside assistance and reported it and luckily since I purchased all the insurance that Hertz offers for a rental, I didn't have to pay for the replacement of the bumper, luckily.  

Overall I had an excellent trip driving to my new place of living, and if you are ever looking to rent a car, rent from Hertz, this is the second time I've rented from them and they are great! Now all I have to do is find things to do until I find a job, I think I'll start volunteering at the local library. 

A little update on everything

Hi everyone!!! So I haven't been that great for the past year with making regular posts and it's because life got in the way, and in a very good way. Let me explain:

I'm currently finishing up this degree and I am currently taking my last course for it this summer, expected graduation date is August. So school work has been swamping my life. However, if you've been reading on and off or know me personally, you know that I'm with a lovely man named Austin.The last time I filled everyone in on him was back when I wrote the post about all those letters that he received while he was in basic training (here).

Well a lot has happened with us in the past year. Back in January we got engaged, exactly after a year we started to talk with each other as well as seeing each other exclusively. Then in March we went ahead and tied the knot (yes! we got married!!!) before he went to his first duty station. As I might have mentioned before, or neglected to mention more like, he is currently in the Air Force. Sure we've only been together for about a year and a half, but we've been through a lot and in the past year our relationship has been a long distance one. While at basic training he could only communicate with friends and family via snail mail, and then once he got to technical school we got to talk on the phone every evening and did FaceTime "dates" (if you could call them that) every Friday and Saturday. Sure I did get to see him when he visited during the holidays and whatnot, but those were visits, overall it's been long-distance.

It surprises me that are now married and everything is working out just fine. People say long distance relationships are hard, and they are, but I've learned that it depends on the couple and the situation, since every relationship starts out differently and are all unique to their situations throughout the relationship. One thing that I've learned that is very important in every relationship is communication between each other, and I mean civilized conversations, no yelling or what not, but a conversation(s) were both are listening to what your significant other has to say without interrupting them or blowing them off in what they've decided to tell you. You should feel special that they are taking the time to tell you. Well enough of me babbling about relationship stuff (People (well, friends) sometimes say I give great advice, ummm .... thank you!).

Besides that when it comes to my schooling, I am currently in my final semester this summer. Yep! Taking my last class that I need for this degree. Very excited after exactly 4 fall, 4 spring and 4 summer semesters. I still currently work at campus bookstore as a book floor lead, I have to admit that I really like working there, the people are great.

Well thats my little update on what has been going on with me, I hope everyone has been well too.

Keane Continued (and in more detail)

So as I mentioned in the previous post, I went to see my favorite band, Keane, last Monday, June 25th 2012. Now I'm going to talk about the evening in great detail.

Since this was my third time seeing Keane Live, as usual I took the entire day off. Around 4 to 5 pm after running around doing errands all day I finally got home and started to get ready to go. I kept it simple: jeans, tank top, purse, camera, phone as well as what I should have the band sign (and this time I had them sign their Book/CD/DVD). I waited for my mom to get home, since we were going together. At around 6:30pm we left the house and headed downtown to the Paramount Theatre to see my lovely Keane. After parking and getting to the theatre, I had to pick up the ticket at the will call window.

The merch that was available for purchase

After getting our tickets and getting in, we found our seats and since we had a good 45 minutes until Kiev (the supporting band) play we got into the merch line and ended up spending 100$ on two shirts (I got the yellow/white/blue one with the guys on it and my mom got the grey sun one) and two high quality Strangeland tote bags (design pictured below).

Detailed of the design on the tote.

Then we went back to our seats to settle in and prepare for the live music to begin. Kiev was great to listen to the only downside was that the quality of the sound wasn't good, it was as if all the microphones were on one level making the vocals and the instruments mesh together into a cluster of loud noise. When I got home later that evening I went and actually found their music, and it was pretty decent.

Kiev

After Kiev played there was a 20 minute break to set up the stage for Keane. This is when the theatre really started to fill with people, the seats in front of us got their occupants (mind you we where in Row G, Seats 7 & 8 as well as Orchestra Center, thats only 7 rows from the stage!!!) and pretty soon all you could hear is people talking about Keane, it was great! Then the lights got dimmed and we all stood in an uproar as Tom, Tim, Richard and Jesse ran on stage to start the show.

This is the setlist that they played for us:

1. You Are Young
2. Day Will Come
3. Nothing In My Way
4. A Snippet of Strangeland
5. On the Road
6. A Bad Dream
7. Perfect Symmetry
8. Everybody's Changing
9. My Shadow
10. Bend and Break
11. Leaving So Soon?
12. The Starting Line
13. Disconnected
14. This Is The Last Time
15. Somewhere Only We Know
16. Is It Any Winder?
17. Bedshaped
18. Sovereign Light Café
ENCORE:
19. Sea Fog
20. Silenced By The Night
21. Crystal Ball

Throughout the show I took some picture and a few videos, especially some of my favorite songs such as Disconnected, however I mainly focused on listening to them, to Tom's angelic voice, Tim's mad keyboarding/piano skill, Richard's beats and Jesse playing the bass lines as well as assisting in producing other sounds. I was surprised to hear Bedshaped not being the last song, since Keane almost always plays it last before the encore, but what was even better was the fac that they ended with one of my favorite sing from Under The Iron Sea, and it was Crystal Ball!!! Their live performance are always great and in the end was a magical experience.

The taking down of the stage begins

Me after the show in front of the Paramount

Keane - 6/25 @ The Paramount

After the show had ended, we left the theatre and started to wonder where the band would be exiting. Since every time I've seen Keane perform live I've always gotten to the chance to meet them in person and they are a band known for meeting with fans to sign and take photos after a live performance. I told my mom where I saw their buses and their equipment truck, so we made our way to the other side of the theatre by going through an ally. As we entered the ally you could see people started to gather at the backstage door and the crew was already loading the equipment truck so they could get to Salt Lake City for the next gig. We made our way over and began to wait.

We had a good hour and a half before the garage we parked in closed the gate. After about 45 minutes of waiting Tom and Tim exited and everyone was so excited, limelight was hitting them. They made their rounds in taking pictures and sign items. Then Richard came out and last but not least a tired looking Jesse followed. My mom and I got photos with all of them, except my mom didn't get a photo with Jesse. I had them sign their photos in the Strangeland Book/CD/DVD, which I bookmarked.

It was a great evening seeing my favorite band. My mom enjoyed herself as well. It's definitely a night that we won't be forgetting soon. Now all I have to do is wait for their next album so I can see them live again.

Keane at the Paramount here in Denver

So yesterday I went to see my all time favorite band - Keane. I've seen them before and every single time I've seen them live, I've gotten to meet the band members. Anyways it was amazing. So here are some pictures.

260 or so pages in some lovely letters

Today one of my tasks was to organize all the letters that my husband received when he was still doing basic training for the Air Force and in technical training from his family and from one or so friends. As I organized them by date, skimming what I wrote to him reminded me of how much I miss him, and skimming through all of the others just shows how many people are proud of him for deciding for joining the armed forces. As I skimmed, all of the letters had a few things in common, besides of them being proud of him for joining and serving for his country, but missing him, how much we support him and how much we all love him.

After organizing them, a count of how many pages he received for the past 9 or so months totaled about 260 PAGES, not counting the backsides of most of the letters. This includes letters, stories, puzzles, postcards, some pictures and hand drawings, too.

This just made me think of how important it is to support the people you love and care for, especially the ones defending our freedom and deciding to serve in the Armed Forces. Thank you Austin! We are so proud of you! I'm so proud of you!

- Vera

P.S.

Support our troops!

STFU ABOUT "I MISS YOU"

To all those people who say they miss their significant other, and you haven’t seen them for a few hours or maybe a day or two, and are going to see them later either when getting home from work or school or meeting up with them later in the  evening or the week. Please stop telling me how much you miss them.

I know people who aren’t able to see the ones they love for long periods of time, because of their job or something similar. I’m one of these people, the one person I love quite a bit is far away, a 14 hour drive, and I won’t be able to see them until thanksgiving and only then for a few days before I have to return. Sure I get to speak with my lovely Austin every evening but I miss him so much. It is one thing talking with them and it’s another being able to be around them. The last time I saw my love was back in August, and I do know when I get to see him next.

Sure it is hard being in a long distance relationship, especially if before it was a long distance relationship you spent every available moment with them, after work and on weekends before they left. Not having them close is so hard, no one to go to when you are sad, no one to give you hugs or ask how was your day after a long day. No one to cuddle up to when it’s cold and to watch a movie or just to sit and say nothing, just enjoying each others company in silence.

So stop, just stop and think about what you are saying. Sure you do miss them, but I don’t want to think about it because every single day I miss Austin more than you will know unless you experience something similar to it. Others, well mostly me, don’t want to hear it or see it posted, because I can be doing the same thing every single day that goes by when I haven’t seen him. I know if I did that every single day people would get annoyed with it, and most of the time simply not even care.

So keep your “I miss you” posts and whatnot to yourself. The entire world doesn’t care and it’s not like they can make you feel better either, that being said only a few close friends might sincerely care about it. Better yet just let the one you love know how much you miss them, and I bet they probably miss you just as much. Letting them know just shows how much you really care about them, how important they are to you and how much it sucks that they aren’t around.

And always tell them how much you love them, they love hearing that too.   

Austin ...

Love of my life... the end.