Week Ten Observations

5/24: I am packed for Lake Quinault with all the essentials--clothes for warm weather, clothes for cold weather, plenty of reading material, a 6-pack of Rainier and a NERF gun with extra bullets. If only tomorrow would come sooner. 5/25: I thought there was nothing worse than Bellevue traffic. That is, until I encountered the regular traffic mixed with Memorial Day traffic. To top it all off, my air conditioning barely worked and the weather was scorching. I hate 405. 5/26: Today, I jumped in the lake, hiked up the creek, relaxed and read a book, ate delicious food, and sat by a campfire. I barely gave a thought to school for a change. 5/27: I embraced my inner child and played several games of tag and ultimate frisbee with my cousins. I'll certainly be sore in the morning, but it was totally worth it. 5/28: Yep, I am beyond sore and stiff. I'm spending the day walking like a constipated robot. 5/29: On May 9th, I made a goal to write 100 tickets by June 9th. Last week, I had to up that goal to 120. After today, I need to up that goal to 150 tickets. That's why they call me The Enforcer. 5/30: I didn't stop for bathroom breaks. I didn't stop to eat. I power-walked all the lots. My dedication paid off because I reached my goal of writing 32 tickets, which is the most I have ever written during any shift my entire time working for Parking Services.

Week Nine Observations

5/17: It was my last outdoor movie on the Comm Lawn. My roommates and I were sitting on a blanket and three-fourths of the way through Sherlock Holmes, I felt a vibration to my right. When I moved the blanket off, a sprinkler shot water straight for my roommate. In a second, a movie volunteer ran to cover the sprinkler while my roommates and I gathered our belongings and ran for safety, laughing the entire time. It was the perfect end to our last outdoor movie as college students. 5/18: Our neighbors were having a party and my roommates and I were hearing the usual laughing and loud music. But we were perplexed when our neighbors started scream-laughing intermittently. Further proof that our neighbors are really strange. 5/19: Three-fourths of the way through my massive laundry work, I ran out of quarters, so rushed to the convenience store down the street and frantically looked for something extremely cheap to buy. I found some small Kleenex packs for 99 cents each ($1.07 with tax). I got to the counter and explained that I needed to make two transactions and I needed my change in as many quarters as possible. Later that day, after I had folded and put away twelve dollars and fifty cents worth of laundry, I daydreamed about owning my own washer and dryer so I would no longer have to hoard quarters. 5./20: I jinxed myself. Yesterday, I told my roommate that I thought we were finally getting into a warm weather stretch. Today, I woke up and it was cloudy, cold, and raining. Yes, I totally jinxed myself. 5/21: Because of an editing and publishing assignment, I was forced to type up a summary of a book idea, research the market, and identify the audience and competition. I haven't even glanced at my book in progress in about nine and a half months. Now that I know there's a market for my story, I feel more hopeful about the book I have been working on for about seven years. 5/22: Today, I got paid to eat Pringles, read a book, and listen to the radio. Working events at the WWU President's house aren't half bad. 5/23: It's amazing how many people think they can get out of a ticket by saying they were only parked without a permit for a couple of minutes. It's too bad I ticketed them twenty minutes before the owner of the car told me this. And you shouldn't park without a permit for even a second.

Week Eight Observations

5/10: I didn't particularly want to go to the lecture on atheism. It wasn't because of the subject matter (I'm agnostic myself), but I knew it was going to be a dry lecture and I was already tired. But I met my boyfriend there and settled in to listen. After awhile, I actually started enjoying myself. I'm in four English classes surrounded by writing, reading, revising, critiquing, grammar, dialogue, and plot lines, so a lecture that had to do entirely with philosophy and nothing to do with English was extremely refreshing. 5/11: My family was already ahead of me and I couldn't figure out why I had fallen behind. I rushed around fence but an robotic old woman told me I had to complete my tasks or the entire building would blow up. Frantically, I raced to push an explosion disengage button and gather all the necessary quarters. I packed my backpack with water and supplies, then climbed a rope ladder and crawled over the top of the fence. I climbed down another ladder and found myself in a large garage. For some reason, when I left the garage, I walked into Disneyland. I have absolutely no idea what prompted this odd dream. 5/12: Hunting for reasonably priced apartments I know I won't be able to afford for quite some time is depressing, but something to work towards. I don't know where I want to live, but I know one thing: I want a double sink. That is top priority. 5/13: I took my first grass nap of the season today. It was immensely relaxing. All naps should be taken this way. 5/14: When I checked in for my doctor's appointment, the receptionist told me I had a smile like sunshine. It totally made my early appointment worth it. 5/15: There is nothing better than a 4-8 shift in the spring. The weather is still warm, but in the evening, it's not stifling and I get to ride around and joke with my coworker. Of course, the best part is, the entire campus is teeming with parking violators and it's warm enough that I want to walk all the lots to catch everyone. What's more satisfying then great weather and writing plenty of tickets? 5/16: It was a dull day, a very dull day. I went to work, wrote four tickets, worked an event, ate some chili, watched some ER, edited a short story, and went to bed. In a way, sometimes boring days are absolutely necessary.

Week Seven Observations

5/3: On the car drive home after seeing The Avengers, I pretended I was a badass superhero being chased by a devious villain. Even though I was only going 60 mph in my beat up Saturn, in my mind, in my mind I going 90 mph in a sleek, fancy car and shooting at the villain's car behind me, then pulling some fancy 180 move to get back to headquarters. Then, of course, I found myself pulling into my apartment parking lot in my jerky, 19 year old car as a regular twenty-two year old English major. It still doesn't change the fact that as I a walked to my apartment, I pretended my pepper spray was some sort of high tech super gun. 5/4: I had to drop my roommate off at the Lynden border which was a drive I had never done. After getting through Meridian and getting on the Guide, the traffic started to thin out and I saw farmland I didn't know existed. "Oh boy, it's starting to smell like the cow barn at the Puyallup Fair!" I said, while pinching my nose. And just like that, the smell of cow manure made me miss home. 5/5: Not only is it Cinco de Mayo, but my roommate and I saw several limos, so we think it's prom night as well. Bellingham is going to be full of drunks tonight for sure. 5/6: I rediscovered that the Nalley chili that already has Walla Wall onions in it is pretty disgusting. My stomach agrees. 5/7: As it turns out, when a signs says "20 Minute Load Zone" it means only twenty minutes, not half an hour, not forty minutes. But I am grateful for the opportunity to write the tickets. 5/8: After eleven tickets and lots of walking, the four hour shift goes by fast. My job giving people stress gives me the most stress free feeling. I can be an absolute grouch unless I give out parking tickets. 5/9: Best work shift ever: One jump-start and 12 tickets including: Multiple overtimes at 20 minute load zones, one no parking zone, one fire lane violation (plus a mini-lecture given to the girl who apparently couldn't see the empty load zone parking five feet in front of her), and one boot-tow warning. It's all thanks to my coworker who can sniff out tickets like a pro.

Week Six Observations

4/26: As I went to leave his car, he burst out that four letter word I've waited months to hear. It was so out of the blue, I could barely chock out a reply and I'm not quite sure he heard me. Who knew a parking lot could be so romantic. 4/27: We were in bed together, Ben was still a little drunk and I was sober, but far past exhaustion. He slowly started a story about a former neighbor "Old Tom" and I added my words of "creepy" and "that's scary" when appropriate. It was the slowest, non-scary ghost story telling I had ever been a part of but it was the most interesting to say the least. 4/28: This morning I realized my boyfriend actually had toilet paper in the bathroom I use when I stay over. Not only did he have a full roll, but he had two extra rolls on the shelf. I was relieved to not have to resort to the emergency toilet paper rolls I have in the trunk of my car. 4/29: Even with my layers of foundation and concealer, my parents still noticed the marks on my neck when we were on Skype. Through their laughter, my mom asked me if my boyfriend was a vampire. 4/30: My mom was on facebook and saw pictures of my boyfriend and his best friend planking at the Peace Arch. Of course, she didn't know what they were doing, so it was interesting trying to explain what planking is. I'm sure she still doesn't get it. 5/1: Ben asked me how my day was going. I texted him that my work shift was going fantastic and I was having a lot of fun. Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the garage and scraped the truck against a pillar and now the front door won't shut. I guess I spoke too soon. 5/2: We're a driving team. Ben handles the actual driving and I handle the swearing and sarcastic comments directed towards the ridiculous drivers. It's the perfect combination.

Week Five Observations

4/19: My roommate put too much oil in the pan so when she went to stir the chicken, the oil popped, scaring her and causing her to drop some cream of broccoli into one of the burners and onto the stove. I love cooking dinner at my apartment. It’s never dull. 4/20: “Midnight McDonald’s run?” Stef suggests. It’s only 10pm, but I agree. It’s a short trip and even though I’m hungry, it’s not the food that appealing. It’s driving fast with the windows down and the music blasting. In four months, I will undoubtedly revisit this fun memory. Now, I make the minutes count. 4/21: It’s odd what people find pleasurable in life. I like being surrounded by a large pile of warm laundry and then folding and organizing it all. Of course, my roommates think I’m nuts. I think they’re right. 4/22: We had a long phone conversation about Harry Potter. He doesn’t know much about the series and he is full of questions. As his nerdy girlfriend, I am more than happy to answer them. It’s the first step in the process to getting him to read the series. Later, after getting off the phone, I was still smiling. 4/23: Tonight, Betsy made her delicious spaghetti. Then both my roommates and I dressed in weird, funny clothes and watched “Lilo and Stitch” while enjoying delicious spaghetti. My roommates didn’t even know I was in a bad mood, but they had cheered me up anyway just by being themselves. 4/24: My roommate was drunk texting me while I was a work. I kept having to pull over the truck to laugh. I knew she had been through a tough day and didn’t intend to get drunk but it doesn’t change the fact that her telling me she likes “rolling around on the couch” is absolutely hilarious. 4/25: Stef and I kept bumping our legs into one another and making a “boop” sound. It sent us into hysterics for some unknown reason. Betsy stood above us, looking very confused at the whole situation. It’s just your typical Wednesday night.

Week Four Observations

4/12: When I’m in a time crunch, it would make sense that something would go wrong. I should expect that after encountering two separate areas of road work and flipping off an impatient woman who was tail-gating me and fighting typical Meridian traffic that something bad would happen. I pulled into the Best Buy parking lot and realized I forgot my wallet. Of course, it’s impossible for me to buy an external hard drive without my debit card. I was so frustrated I cried and then, of course, I was pissed that I cried.

4/13: That extra shot of espresso in my frappachino was extremely delicious and so worth it.

4/14: I spent most of today surrounding myself with the Titanic. I listened to the movie soundtrack, I watched a miniseries on TV and I stayed up until 2:20 AM, the moment of the sinking. I am utterly fascinated by this historical event.

4/15: Two hours in isolation, ten to midnight, to blaze through my to-do list. Later, I left my room, slightly breathless and more than exhausted, as if I had just ran a race. But now I am excited because I finally clean my room without feeling like I am procrastinating.

4/16: The view by the President’s house is gorgeous. It should be no surprise that in a neighborhood as nice as this, there would be a beautiful view of the water. It’s nice to stare at this when I’m bored out of my mind directing cars where to park. There are only two options, the driveway or the street. I’d think the decision would be easy, but apparently not.

4/17: I thought I’d left my light on in my room, but it turned out to be only sunshine. That made my day.