Kara-okay

Last Tuesday I crossed an item off my Oregon Bucket List while simultaneously crossing an item off my general life wants list. I went to The Peacock in Corvallis and sang karaoke for the first time. 

Throughout college I’d always heard of the infamous Peacock bar in the town south of mine. And yes, this bar was infamous--not famous--for its level of trashiness. While in college I never had the urge to venture into its dark territories, but now that I’m leaving the state I figured I should try it out for experience’s sake. Plus it’s right next to where my church meets, so curiosity was creeping under my skin as I walked by every Sunday. With the help of a few supportive friends, I finally satisfied my curiosity last week. Four of us went with the intent of grabbing a few $1 PBRs and joked about singing some karaoke. As the night carried on and the PBRs continued to only be $1 the joke became a reality, and before I knew it my friends and I were signed up to sing. My roommate Wendy and our friend Nick started things off with The Monkees theme song. It was short, sweet, and a hilarious start to the night. Then my friend Avery and I were up. We haphazardly chose “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” by The Darkness. Initially I thought it was a good choice because I knew the title and it has entertaining high parts. But then we got up there and I realized I only knew the title and I couldn’t hit the high parts. I managed to forget the part of the song where they shout “GUITAR!” and then have a 17 measure guitar solo. No worries though friends, Avery & I did not just stand there during the guitar solo. We danced like only awkward white girls know how then I rocked out on a Guitar Hero guitar handed to me by the karaoke dj man. It’s safe to say we all killed it on the karaoke stage that night.  

Surprisingly, it was not as horrifying of an experience as I thought it might be. Also, The Peacock was not as trashy as I thought it would be. Overall it was a successful night and I definitely plan on doing it again. I’m even in the midst of composing a karaoke list. I love making lists. 

Time to Change

It’s time to change, and not in the cheesy pre-pubescent Brady Bunch kind of way, but rather in the pre-quarter life crisis kind of way. The change I’m making to my life is my resignation to the state of Oregon. That’s right folks, the time has come for me to return to my roots in California. I put in my two-months notice at work and have officially decided to move back to San Ramon at the end of August. 

This was a decision I debated for quite some time, but when it came down to it I knew in my heart I wanted to be closer to family. And it helped a great deal that pretty much everything has lined up to send me in that direction in just the right timing. My roommates will be moving on to bigger and better things, the number of friends in this small town Inde-Mouth vicinity is dwindling rapidly, and the daycare I work at is taking on a new form that is conducive to functioning without me. Also, I had a realization: many of my peers are reaching a time in life where they feel the need to branch out and try something new, something in far off lands--but I’ve already gone to far off lands. I left home five years ago to embark upon a personally stretching journey in wonderful Oregon. And it’s been great, to say the least, but now I’m ready to go home. 

I can’t promise I’ll stay in California for very long, in fact I’m already dreaming up my next travel adventures, but I am planning on planting my home-base roots there. With this decision made, one thing is for sure: it’s time to get on that Oregon Bucket List! 

Time Flies in the "Real World"

This past Saturday I attended my roommate Wendy’s graduation from WOU. I remember looking her in the face a year ago in my red-robed body under a bobby-pinned cap and saying “I can’t wait for next year when our roles are reversed” as I stressed about my own graduation day. That reversal I had wished for so badly happened all too fast.

It was a mere year ago I had been crossing the stage with high hopes of the coming year, thinking I’d be living by myself in a Monmouth apartment for the first time ever and working either a 9-5 salary job or in a cute coffee shop somewhere. None of that happened. I ended up being desperately unemployed for what felt like an eternity but in reality was only three months, living in an Independence house with three other girls, and working 3/4 time at a daycare in Corvallis. Funny how things work out. It’s been a challenging year and a fantastic year all rolled into one. 

Also, props to my longtime roommate Wendy for graduating with a double major in Spanish & Social Science from the Honors program with Magna Cum Laude status. And she’s already temporarily employed for the moment before going off to Spain in September to teach English as a Fulbright scholar. No torturous months of unemployment for her, way to go WB. And an additional props to my old roommate Robin who also graduated on Saturday and is working with Wendy at the temporary job, doing a summer internship, and getting married in the Fall. Go graduates. You ladies rock. 

Birthday/More Oregon Bucket List

Last week I turned 23. Woot! Typically I’m not the biggest fan of birthdays because it’s a lot of hoopla focused on you and that makes me uncomfortable. But this year was great, mainly because I have great people in my life. 

It all started the night before my birthday. My roommates, Wendy & Alison, had me open my gift a day early. And I must say it was one of the coolest gifts I’ve ever received. They managed to reconstruct an awesome version of the Price is Right game Punch-A-Bunch. So crafty. There were nine holes of gifts I got to punch in, each filled with either toys or cards stating experiences to be had. After punching a bunch, the roomies explained that they would be taking me on a day of adventures in Portland. 

That day was Saturday. The day began with OMSI (The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry), which was yet another item on my Oregon Bucket List. I’d never been there before and had always heard of people with kids going there or friends of mine having gone on field trips as a child. I was apprehensive it’d be really awesome for kids and only slightly awesome for me, who is basically just an aged child. But good news-- it was awesome for everyone! There were all these hands on brain teasers in one section and then really interesting exhibits in another area. The most intriguing exhibit was one about the cycle of pregnancy. A scientist had collected actual fetuses (all of which had died of natural causes and been donated to the cause) from each stage of pregnancy and described what they had developed at each point, like organs, nails, hair, facial reactions to sounds, etc. It was ridiculously neat. After trekking around OMSI, we’d worked up an appetite and the roomies treated me to lunch at Lucky Lab (a brew pub dealio) and then scrumptious ice cream at the trendy Salt & Straw. Overall an excellent day and a spectacular birthday. 

Oh! And speaking of great friends, on my actual birthday my friends Avery, Robin, Wendy, Alison, and even Anna from Washington were kind enough to join me for happy hour at the delicious Block 15 after work. Seriously, great friends.