Two Birth Days

Okay, I'm going to have to write about multiple days again. Sorry. I know I left off on part of my birthday. Well, the day continued on. I was checking jobs when I heard a knock on the back door. The landlady sent a guy to check on something or to work on something. I didn't know he was coming and the landlady wasn't with him, so I felt obligated to stay since I was alone in the house. He had all the keys to each of our doors, and I didn't feel comfortable knowing he could go in and out as he pleased. Although, I really didn't feel comfortable being alone in the house with him. Well, he left and then I went out myself. I wanted to go to the Botanical Gardens, but it was really overcast and drizzling.

I went to the library to print off CVs, but it started to rain so I headed back. Then a group of teenagers were walking in front of me and a huge cloud and smell of smoke followed them. I couldn't pass them, so I had to slow way down to avoid the smell (which actually makes me sick).

I got back and checked my email, and my friend Alicia skyped me. She told me she was engaged! Then while she was talking to me, she found out she got into UCLA for grad school. Way to go Alicia! She definitely was having an amazing weekend!


A little later, Alison came home and we thought about what to do. We wanted to go out to a nice place for dinner (called Valentino's), but it was raining. We waited a while and decided to brave the rain. It wasn't too bad, but when we got there, the inside was full. Outside had heaters and was somewhat protected by awnings. So we decided to sit there. We ordered our food (Carbonera! I'm not exactly sure how to spell that.) and had an amazing meal. We were too embarrassed to ask for a box (especially since some restaurants don't have them), so we ate every bit of it...plus dessert. We got Creme Brulee (amazing!) and the waitress actually brought out a candle for me to blow out. It was cute...and good! She asked if we had big plans for my birthday. There was an awkward silence until I told her this WAS our "big plans."

We were so full, we practically hunched over to walk home. My stomach hurt really bad that I couldn't even lie down straight to go to sleep. It was such a foreign feeling.

On Thursday, Feb 18th (Feb 17th and my true United States birthday) I was awakened by a phone call. It was a relief position for a school. The horrible thing was, there was no way I could have made it in time. I explained and told the principal, but I am afraid that is the last time I will hear from him. I was just so irritated at the luck. I can go on and on about the life of a sub and the disadvantages, but maybe that should be on a different blog. I have quite the number of stories there.

Anyway, we tried to sleep, but Alison then got a text on the phone about our plan. A minute later, I got a text. Then another minute I got another text saying the same thing. Alison got another text, but by that time we gave up and got up. We were obviously not going to get any more sleep. One of our flatmate was singing loudly and stamping his feet (as he does frequently...at 5:30 am). He even did it in the shower.

I looked online for jobs, and got a rejection letter from a bookstore telling me I was not going to get any further in the narrowing down of applicants. I did get an email from my mom, Alicia, Daisy...and Disneyland! saying happy birthday. It was so fun getting them. So then I decided to make pasta. As we were preparing lunch, a flatmate (with a car) tried to back up. He hit a couple things along the way (like the side of the house) and was struggling quite a bit to get out. It is a very narrow and long driveway. It was raining a lot, so we went into Starbucks and sat, played sudoku, read, wrote...After a while, I got antsy, so I went out to the Botanical Gardens. It was not raining at the moment. After a while, I went down the road to a place I had applied to. Best Western...as a cleaning lady. It is pretty close to our house, so it would be fine. Well, I figured out a way to get from there back to the house, but I miscalculated. It took me a while to figure out where I was and how to get back (trying to look through the bus routes). Basically it looked like streets went through, but they didn't, so I had to be creative. I did make my way back.

Then Alison and I decided to play card and invited our flatmates to play. Alison taught them to play Rummy. It was fun, but it was kind of...interesting...Anyway, we ended up staying up later than we meant to, but it was a good...bonding time?