Escapades on Public Transit

I mentioned in my post about my internship that I'm taking quite a bit of public transit this semester for my internship. As such, I have begun collecting a number of interesting stories and experiences. I thought I'd share them here.

The first morning of my internship went smoothly. I had no trouble finding the right buses or bus stops, but I encountered some interesting people. My first surprise was when I got to the bus stop outside of my condo and discovered a homeless person sleeping on the bench. They were there the second morning as well, but I have not seen them since. I was also delightedly amused when, on the second bus, a high school kid boarded with the hugest afro I have ever seen in my life. He is a regular rider, and I get a little joy every time I see him, lol

A more frustrating day came the first Thursday of the semester. Thursday is the day I have both my internship *and* class. Thanks to the slowness of public transportation I have to leave my internship 45 minutes early to make it to class on time. I take the bus back to Fashion Valley and then catch the trolley from there. There are two bus lines that stop outside of Sharp, both of them go to Fashion Valley. One is a regular city bus, the other is a shorter bus/van thing. The 25 happened to come first, so I got on, and was greeted by another black lab. The other dog's handler was a lady in a wheelchair. Unfortunately for my schedule, she got off before fashion valley. It took quite a bit of extra time to get her AND her dog off the bus.

Even more time was lost when at the next stop a lady got on, who spoke basically no English, and refused to get off or pay, though her 3 bus passes were expired. 5 minutes of arguing later, she pulled out a current bus pass and we were on our way. I had definitely missed my trolley at that point, but did still manage to make it to class just in time.

Somewhat frustrating, and somewhat amusing to me, have been my attempts at meeting Tad at work. To do this, requires 3 bus routes. The first week I tried, I thought I could only take the 25 to transfer to the 41, and the 25 never came. After an hour and a half of waiting, Tad picked me up. I later discovered I could take either th 25 or the 120. So last week I tried again. I caught the 120, and told the driver I wanted to transfer to the 41. He told me which stop and said I needed to cross the street, which I had suspected. I got off, crossed the street, and caught the 41...in the wrong direction. Boo, so I stayed on the bus back to Fashion Valley, and looped around, but by that time Tad was off work. Thus for a second week in a row, I didn't mak it and he picked me up from UTC. However, next week I WILL make it!!! lol

Something fun about taking the same routes a the same times is I've met other people on their way to work. They're friendly now, and know Valencia by name :)

Spiritual Growth

I have been aware for some time that the past year has held very few posts on spiritual or emotional growth. Though I created this blog to be my everything blog (thoughts, rants, funny stories, life events, etc) the emotional processing has decreased immensely. This postbreaks that streak, which I hope is a good sign of things to come.

Over the summer I have felt myself beginning to re-stablizie emotionally and spiritually. My prayer life has regained some of it's energy and I find myself in scripture more than I usually have over the last year. But things still aren't the same as they were during my Biola life, and I still miss Biola terribly. I decided that something that might help would be to watch the Biola chapels as they are posted on youtube. This will both help my Biola-sickness, and help feed me spiritually.

The two parts thus far on John 1 have been incredible. I particularly found things sticking with me during Dr. Klink's message, and after Fred Sander's chapel began a read through of the Gospel of John. But I don't have any profound thoughts on truth to share yet, which reminds me of the beginning of my Biola career. I couldn't blog at all for several months being so completely overwhelmed with everything. Perhaps my overwhelmedness (overwhelmment? *shrug*) is a sign of new start for me. The beginnings of new growth that I've longed for for months.

Please pray for me in this time. I am still in a sometimes precarious living situation, intermittent states of fear of being torn down emotionally, and in a secular environment almost everywhere. I know God can grow me anywhere, I just happen to find it more difficult to allow myself to grow here than in the safety bubble of Biola.

Sharp Community Re-entry

I have just completed my first week at my first off campus placement. Never again will I have to do clinic in a university clinic. I have made my first steps into the real world of speech language pathology, and it is very exciting!

The CRP (Community Re-entry Program) works on functional goals for clients with brain injuries with the intent of returning them to school/work/driving/regular life. It is a team of speech pathology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and social work. As an intern, I am currently mostly observing and helping out with scattered therapy activities. By the end of the semester I will be doing full time therapy for the clients.

My schedule fits the perfect balance of busy, but not too crazy. I am in Mon Wed Thurs from 8:00-4:30. Of course, to manage this with public transportation, I catch my first of two buses at 7:00 am, and don't count on getting home until about 5:30 pm. I really like that my placement is actually at a hospital. It feels very professional, but since we are completely outpatient, I don't have to worry about the blood and guts stuff.

I'm really loving getting to know the clients. Each has their own amazing personality and sense of humor. There are currently about 10 in the program, and most of them will be discharged by the end of this month, but I look forward to getting to know the new ones who will be coming in as well.

The funny thing about being an intern, is your supervisor has the liberty to ask you to do little things that don't exactly relate to what you're studying to do. Though I imagine in some cases this could become aggravating, I kind of enjoy being asked to file things or run little errands. I guess it really makes me feel like I'm in the real world instead of the fish tank that university clinics tend to be.

In any case, I have immensely enjoyed my first week and can't wait to get more client contact hours in the weeks to come.

Moonstone Beach

Our family vacation week continued Monday bright and early. We left the house around 9:30 to head to a formerly favorite vacation spot: Cambria, CA. About 12 years ago, we went for 4 years in a row and stayed at Captain's Cove Inn on Moonstone Beach. We enjoyed tidepooling, exploring the little shops, visitng nearby farms, and touring Hearst Castle. When thinking of a family vacation destination for this year, we decided it was high time to go back.

The ride was long, but fairly tolerable with very little heavy raffic. We got lunch from McDonald's in LA and had hoped to stop at a family favorite restaurant called Hobee's in San Louis Obispo. Sadly, Hobee's was no longer there. Instead we got cookies from the Madonna Inn. The most amusing part of the drive was Tilly growling at a hobo on the side of the road. We arrived on Moonstone Beach just before dinnertime. My mom had wanted to bring Tilly with us, so instead of Captain's Cove we stayed at the Cambria Shores Inn. I think everyone staying there had at least one dog with them.

The owners were great. They gave us a goody basket for the dogs which included some treats, towels for them to sleep on, and an issue of "Fido" magazine. Each eveningthere were appetizers set out in the lobby (next to the bowl of dog treats), every afternoon there were fresh baked cookies, and every morning there was a breakfast basket with muffins, croissants, and fresh fruit.

We settled into our room, freshened up, and then went straight into town for dinner. Night #1 we decided on our favorite place in town, Linn's. Linn's is a family owned restaurant, but not just that. They have a farm just outside of town with a large shop of fresh made jams, syrups, etc. They also have several boutiques in town and a small cafe. For dinner I had the berry stuffed chicken which was incredible. For dessert we took home one of their famous Olallieberry pie. Olallieberry is a cross between loganberry and youngberry which are crosses of blackberries and raspberries. The pie is absolutely wonderful!

Tuesday morning we drove to Linn's farm to do a bit of shopping and watch the peacocks that roam around the farm. My mom and I had fun taking numerous different farm themed pictures, many including Valencia. Lunch was in town at "Easy as Pie", the cafe associated with Linn's. Mom and I shared an amazing chicken and berry salad.

We all crashed for naps back in our room and then set out for our first try at tidepooling of the trip. We found a number of hermit crabs and one starfish clung onto a dry rock. For dinner we decided on the Mexican place in town called Las Cambritas. It was very festive, and the food was pretty good. Back in our room we had another slice of Olallieberry pie and watched "The Bucket List".

Wednesday morning was our tour of Hearst Castle. Back when we were coming every year, we had done all of the main tours, leaving only the gardens and special night tours. None of the evening tours were available during this trip, so we did the first tour again. It was just as incredible the second time to see everything. That man did not think in small scale on ANYTHING! lol

My parents had leftovers from Las Cambritas for lunch, but Steve and I did not. While my mom purused the shops, Steve and I got lunch from Round Up Pizza and Grub. The food was good, and I love hanging with my brother, but I felt like the staff assumed we were on a date, which was quite awkward. Once we'd eaten, we joined my parents for shopping, and got icecream before heading back to the room. My dad and I took another stab at tidepooling and found more hermit crabs, anemones, and a submerged starfish.

Everybody was still rather full from eating a late lunch, so we ate a light dinner back at Easy as Pie. We took another olallieberry pie back with us and watched "The Blindside". What a great movie that is. I love things that are true stories and don't overdramaticize conflict.

Thursday morning we enjoyed our last breakfast basket and headed for home. We stopped for lunch in Santa Barbara and stopped again at a Wendy's not too far from Biola.

It definitely wasn't a high action trip or an exotic one, but it sure did the trick of relaxation!

Hollywood!

My family didn't make any particularly big plans for summer, partially because we had our cruise in January, and partially because of other expenses that came up, but my dad took the last week of August off from work. Thus Friday kicked off our family vacation time. The Biola Alumni Association planned an event to go to one of the Hollywood Bowl concerts, and since the Griffith Observatory is only a short distance from the Bowl, we planned a day trip out of it.

We ended up with a little extra excitement before our trip when my dad came home Thursday night to find water trickling out of the water softener in the garage. It became worse, to the point where we had to shut off the water to the house. This meant that we had to brush our teeth out of water bottles, and I didn't get my shower for the day. I greatly disliked the idea of doing a whole car trip, without having had a shower. Fortunately, the LA Fitness that my dad and Dave are members at agreed to let me shower there.

The Culligan man was able to fix the problem, and we left only about an hour later than originally planned. Our drive went pretty well until about 10 miles past Biola when we hit tons of traffic, and continued to hit traffic until we reached our destination, 2 hours later. We got lunch from a little golf course cafe and then drove up the hill to the observatory. The Griffith Observatory has beautiful views of the LA area. You can even see the Hollywood sign off in the distance. We browsed the exhibits for a couple hours, and then made the short drive over to the Bowl.

The Alumni Association provided a picnic dinner prior to the concert. We enjoyed chatting with alumni from different eras of Biola. Steve won a "I went to Biola" tshirt for answering that the eagle is our mascot. After dinner we looked through some of the Bowl shops, and then took our seats. The concert was incredible. It was an all Tchaikovsky performance, a coronation march for the czar, a violin concerto, Capriccio Italiano, the waltz from Swan Lake, and the 1812 Overture. The USC band joined in at the end of 1812 during the most amazing fireworks display I've ever seen.

The conductor for the evening was a guest conductor, but I liked him very much. He was British and had a wonderful sense of humor. Some favorite quotes from the evening:

"The trombones have exited. They don't play in this piece (referring to the violin concerto)...this is a piece of beauty and enchantment."

"You can't ignore trombones, though it's well worth the effort."

"The percussionist would follow the music, allegedly,..."

During intermission we were given the delightful treat of chocolate chip cookies from the Biola cafeteria. While eating these cookies, I discovered that the people sitting directly behind me were Beardo and Ali Rader. It was nice to get to see some people I knew, and who were close-ish to my age.

Following the concert was an adventure I didn't expect. The Bowl parking is done in ferry ashion, cars are just all packed in. This is great for saving space...but it means that the people who get to their cars first, can't necessarily leave first. My mom and I ended up walking back to our car in what felt like a stopped freeway. There were break lights everywhere and people trying to figure out how to get out as soon as possible. We made it safely to our car, and in turn safely home.

It was a great way to start our week of vacation, and a wonderful first Hollywood Bowl experience.

Tribute to a Childhood Friend

It's not easy being a kid. There's so much to learn, and i don't jus tmean book learning at school. You have to learn how to deal with your needs, your emotions, other people. In short, you need to learn how to live. Most kids manage to find ways to make the learning easier, one of which is through the support of friends.

Friends come in all shapes and sizes: neighbor kids, cousins, school classmates, imaginary, stuffed animals, canine, and feline. The particular friend in question falls under the last category.

My family's cat Simpkin (named for the cat in Beatrix Potter's Taylor of Gloucester) was a part of the highlight of the summer I turned 7. We had had various pets--fish, frogs, a parakeet, even a puppy for a week--but nothing furry due to my parents allergies. Circumstances changed this when a black,female cat started hanging around our cul de sac. Mom, having grown up with cats, felt sorry for her and began offering her pie tins of milk. It was while I was away at camp that my mom noticed the cat was pregnant.

Shortly after I returned home from camp, my mom announced that we were taking her in, and naming her Maggie. We had Maggie another 2 or 3 weeks before she delivered 7 healthy kittens. Simpkin was the first of the 7.

He was a spunky, mischievous kitten who lived up to his namesake. That was an incredible summer. I have many memories of cuddling with little kittens, playing string with them, and watching my 3 and 1/2 year old brother give them rides in his toy dump truck. As the kittens grew big, it came to time to let some of them go. Much as we loved all of them (tabbies Simpkin, Samuel, & Rocks, tuxedo cat Beau Mittens, black-like-his-mother Blacky, half tabby half calico Hannah, and calico Patches), there was no way we could keep 8 cats at our house. 5 of them went to pet shops, my grandparents kept Beau Mittens, and we kept Simpkin.

At least twice in elementary school, I got to bring Simpkin in for show and tell. In second grade,my mom happened to mention to the class that he liked to catch mice, and one of the girls in my class was so traumatized that my mom called her house to apologize and bought her a stuffed mouse.

Simpkin certainly was a talented hunter. At different times, he brought mice, lizards, birds and rabbits into our house, most of which were still alive. We knew from the beginning that he was a smart cat; he understood many words, and even learned to say "no" "mom" and "ouf" (for out). He found his way into much of Stephen's and my schoolwork. Stephen wrote a story about cats being the best pet "even though some kitties are naughty and pluck the rug" and I wrote a poem for an arts contest that got selected to be displayed at a district wide fair.

My family jokes that by the time Simpkin was 4, he had used half of his cat lives. At 1 1/2, he went missing for a few nights. My mom feared the worst, that he had been eaten by a coyote, but on the second morning we found him in his usual plac ein the garage with a broken leg. He must've been hit by a car and dragged himself home. Several years later we nearly lost him when he had urinary tract blockages. Since then he has fortunately been healthy.

It scared me when he got sick, I couldn't lose my friend. Any time I felt sad or lonely, I could find Simpkin and just sit and be. He didn't ask questions or judge, just loved me back. I know most people think of dogs as doing this. They do. I find the same comfort with Valencia. But not many people realize that the same companionship can be felt with a cat.

Simpkin turned 16 several weeks ago. According to the chart at our vet's office, that is about 90 and is labeled "geriatric". He certainly has aged greatly over the last year. Even more of his day is taken up with sleeping, and though when he's awake you can still see the same spunky cat inside, he moves much slower. At his last teeth cleaning, our vet told us that Simpkin's jaw is now too thin for him to be eating dry food, and since being put on the wet food, Simpkin has dropped from 21 lbs to 14.

This saddens me, but not as much as I would expect. I wondered about it for some time and then it came to me. As I've seen the spark and youth drain from him, I've slowly been saying goodbye. He barely resembles the cat he was 10 years ago, and as I've watched him grow more tired, more thin, more senile, I've said goodbye. I know it will still hurt when he finally passes, but it would hurt even more if I hadn't already started my goodbyes.

My mom reckons he's got enough spunk in him to last him a few more years. I don't know if he will, a part of me hopes he does, while another hopes he doesn't. All I know for sure is that all I can do now, is continue to love on him like I have for the last 3/4 of my life.

Buffy (top) and Simpkin (bottom) napping together

Free At Last

I finished up everything clinc-y on Monday, officially ending year 1 of grad school. WOOHOO!!!

Anja and I did some heavy cleaning of our share of the apartment, I packed up my stuff, and Tuesday morning I headed for home. First stop on summer vacation was pedicures for me and Mom. We were both adventurous and went for purple shades on our toes. I selected a blue-ish purple from the OPI Shrek collection called "Funky Dunky" while my mom went for a lighter purple...slightly crazy for both of us, lol.

Wednesday and Thursday were cousin-tastic. My second cousin Jennifer and her little boy Jason came over Wednesday for lunch and swimming. Then my cousin Kim and her girls Jordan and Madison met us at church for the VBS carnival. We watched the program, and then hit the carnival fun: pizza dinner, cotton candy, and carmel apples, oha nd some games and crafts for the kids. I really wish I had been able to do VBS at PLC this year, dumb clinic schedle. Oh well, hopefully next year.

We did jacuzzi when we got home, and the 3 of them spent the night. Kim had a convention in LA on Thurs, so mom and I watched the kids. We played, had lunch, watched Cats and Dogs with Tad when he came over, and then went swimming. The girls are adorable, but full of energy, so we were happy to relinquish them to their mom when she returned.

Yesterday I ran some errands with mom, which included our favorite sandwich at the Nordstrom's cafe. In the evening, my dad, Tad, and I went to the SD Biola send off event at College Ave Baptist. Ironically, we ran into a family from Mission there.

Throughout the week I've been working on finishing up my high school trips scrapbook and reading. I'm about half way through The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I'm really enjoying it, as I do most historical fiction set in the South. On the scrapbooking front, the highschool book is almost done, and I hope to get working on the cruises book, and eventually Biola.

All the while, I am NOT thinking about anything school related! =D