Tomorrow my life changes.

Hello everyone. Please ignore the part in my last post where I said what I was going to write about next, because that is a lie. I thought I was going to write about that next, but then stuff came up and I didn't have a lot of time to finish it. I might finish it though...one day. Also, what I'm going to talk about in this post is very important in terms of events in my life, and I really want to share it with you.

Tomorrow, I am moving to Los Angeles. Yes, moving.

Can you believe it? Yeah, neither can I just yet, which is funny because I have literally spent the entire day packing, with the help of two of my best friends in the afternoon. Right now, I have three suitcases as well as countless totes and little storage thingies packed and sitting in the car, ready to leave bright and early in the morning. Wow! I mean seriously, it is so crazy to think that I am actually sitting here telling you that I am moving to LA tomorrow, when it seems like only yesterday it was January and I was telling you how I needed a change in my life, and that California was only a pipe dream.

WELL TAKE THAT PIPE DREAMS.

I am going. I am going to find the change that I need in my life; I want to find adventure, fun, [more] friends [because I already have amazing ones], sunshine, and maybe even do some homework along the way. I am ready, and I can feel it with every fiber of my being. I know that many people fear change, and I admit 99% of the time I am one of those people. But I think my issue with change has mostly been about the fact that throughout my entire life, I have never really had any control over the changes that came my way. Sometimes I may have thought that I did, but in retrospect...not really. It's always been forced upon me, laughing in my face and basically mocking how little control I had over my life. Well not this time, bitches. I took control of this one, and I am going to make it work. I am going to go after the things that I want, and just relax and enjoy the ride.

But you know what another funny thing about this move is? You know that feeling you get when you're just like...in the right place at the right time, and everything around you just feels...great? I'm certain this feeling doesn't just apply to me. Right now, I just feel overwhelmed by how strong that feeling is taking over my mind and soul. I just feel like where I am going is right, Occidental is right. I have great friends, from Eugene, Seattle, and all over the world; I never ever want to forget or lose touch with any of them, and I have no regrets with how I've spent the past two years. But my going south down I-5 rather than north up just feels right. I'm sorry I am using the word right entirely too much in this post but I really can't think of a better word to use.

Oh, but you should know, I don't start my Occidental orientation until this coming Saturday, soooo...Mom and I are spending Thursday at this place:

Disneyland ftw.

Tomorrow we will probably leave Eugene...well super early, I don't know the exact time. I just know I won't be driving because I will most likely be falling asleep in the front seat. Woot. It's just going to be Mom and me going down, in my car. Oh yes, my car. Well, not entirely my car; it's still in my mom's name but yes, I get to keep the car down in LA with me this school year. Praise Occidental and the holy gods above for free student parking. Don't worry, I won't be doing any serious adventuring with it, for one because LA traffic SUCKS, and for two because I will probably have a lot more homework than I'd like to believe just yet (I'm still in denial about that part...). But it will be nice to have when I need to you know go to the store, or get up early on a Saturday morning and go over to the park and hike.

Realistically, I should probably be getting to bed soon because of again, the fact that I need to leave super early (I'm going to guess around 6am). I just wanted to take some time and inform you of what is going on in my life tomorrow, and for...well the rest of this year. I will try to get on and post again in the next couple of days to tell you about my orientation agenda, and I'll be posting pictures and stuff, but I think now I'm just going to leave you with what I've said above. 

Goodnight jolly people!

~Erin

P.S. Please don't hate me when I tell you that one of the factors behind my writing less on here was because I have started writing Fanfiction. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I started a Grey's Anatomy fic last week centered around like the end of season 1 to the beginning of season 3, and I'm super addicted to it.

Rated T/M

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8428965/1/Finding_Our_Way

Yay!

Oh yeah, and I finished work on Friday, August 10. Needless to say I don't think my jeans will ever recover.

Playing catch up.

First of all, I am soooo so sorry I am failing miserably at keeping up my blog this summer. Major fail sauce. In my defense however, I have had many ideas of things to write about within the past few weeks, and I have one in the works, but with my job and my lack of sleep and *insert 47 other excuses here,* I just haven't had the energy to do anything. So right now I'm going to write a quick post just to catch you up on what I've been up to over the past month-ish. And instead of making this all listy, I'm going to try to be fancy and...I don't know, never mind.

________________________________________________________________________

The job

Yep I am still working, driving Greta the combine. Long story short, she has been great, but I have a pretty love/hate relationship with my job. Now before you get your panties in a bunch, I think that's pretty normal for anyone with a job...right? It's pretty safe to say that since the last time I wrote on here, I have gotten a lot more experience with work, meaning I have experienced almost every kind of break down possible that a combine can accomplish, I have learned how to fix my own plug-ups (meaning I can fix when my header takes in too much seed and clogs itself), I have learned various and assorted farm lingo and/or how to keep my overly liberal mouth shut (go Obama I mean what), I have learned how to drive a combine on the road (and by road I mean I-5), and most importantly, I have learned how to entertain myself when dealing with 10+ hour shifts. As of right now, the job is also 6 days per week, which as you can imagine gets really tiring. We are currently working on a bunch of fields down in Creswell (30 mins south of Eugene), which should take a few more days to complete. Okay, let me cut to the love/hate part. There are things I love about this job, and there are things that I hate. Let me make a list for you: (...so much for no listy things...)

I hate:

1. Servicing the combine. Okay that's not completely true...I hate blowing them off with a leaf blower every morning. You sweat, and then to top that off dirt flies everywhere so that mixes in with the sweat and then you pretty much never feel completely clean again. Oh and then just add a little bit of grease to all of this.

2. Driving the combine past 9pm. We normally end a little bit after 9, but I find that once it gets later than that I start to get a little crazy, you know like screaming, singing obscenely, doing stuff like that in my combine.

3. Getting up in the morning to drive 30 mins in order to be at work by 8am.

4. When the combine breaks down or has a heart attack and people get all stressed out and take it out on me.

5. Crying over the aforementioned point.

I love:

1. That feeling you get at the end of a really good day where nothing went wrong with your combine in the fields.

2. That feeling of accomplishment you get after achieving something on your own for the first time. For example today I was for the first time able to drive up to one of our semi-trucks and dump seed into it without spilling anything (normally we have someone drive a truck alongside us that we can dump into and he aligns himself with us), meaning I aimed correctly. Also, the other day I drove my combine down I-5 to get from Coburg to Creswell, so that was exciting.

3. When we get off earlier than 9pm.

4. The really good friends I have made on the job.

5. The fact that some of my coworkers have incredible senses of humor. I love listening to people's crazy conversations over the radio.

6. The higher appreciation I have for playlists and audiobooks.

7. All of the pretty sunsets I get to witness almost every night. Like this one:

________________________________________________________________________

Crater Lake

I also went to Crater Lake with my mom and best friend Bre! Here is picture proof:

Crater Lake Lodge.

Obscenely large fireplace inside the Lodge.

Pinnacles.

________________________________________________________________________

The Olympics

Yeah I've been watching them, when my job will let me. Needless to say I'm kind of in love with these people:

Okay now I seriously need to go to bed. My eyelids are shutting as I am typing this. Oh! But before I do, let me just give you a heads up on what my next post is going to be about (the one that I'm currently working on). It's entitled Extended family; make of that what you will. Goodnight!

~Erin