The summer

I keep telling myself I'll blog more, but I never do. I recently wrote in a real journal for the first time in years and told myself I would start doing that more often. But I didn't. I've been missing writing lately and need to start trying to get in the habit again. It's hard when I have to be careful about political commentary and don't really like writing fiction.

The arrival of cool weather seems to be signaling that summer is over. I have slept with my windows closed for the last week and it doesn't seem like I'll need to open them again. We had some warm weather, but it certainly seems to have been a mild year. Summer was fun, though. After some of our mutual friends moved, "Kansas" became the default host of all parties, since he owns a house in the neighborhood most of our friends/coworkers live in. There were lots of barbecues (Meaning, I spent a lot of time eating nuked boca burgers while everyone else declared whatever meat our friend Terry had cooked to be "his best barbecue ever"), and lots of games of Apples to Apples. Kansas and I did some traveling together and are hoping to take another short trip the weekend of my birthday. I'm really happy with the way things are going with the relationship and while there's still new territory, I'm excited to see where it goes. It's been just about a year now and I'm so grateful to have someone so awesome.

The past few weeks have been tough -- I caught some type of bug and for two weeks had virtually no appetite, lots of trouble sleeping, and pretty bad nausea. After two trips to the doctor and two blood tests, one of which I have not heard back on, I still don't know what was wrong, except that I had a slightly elevated white blood cell count, but today I'm feeling really well. I started to feel a bit better Sunday but today was the first day I had some energy and ate three real meals. I'm knocking on wood hoping it continues, but I think whatever it was is out of my system now. I called in sick to work or left early several days and was tired of not working.

This weekend, a bunch of us are going to an area fair, which should be a lot of fun. After that, I have a week and a half of work before taking a few days off for my birthday trip and then another week of work before I get an entire week off. Kansas' parents are going to be in town the first few days of my vacation, and I'm getting nervous about meeting them. I've never met a boyfriend's parents before, so I'm trying to stay relaxed about it. Should be an interesting time.

Tofu's big adventure

So this weekend was interesting. Saturday was a day that started out very sad and ended very happy. In between, I discovered how awesome it is to have a boyfriend who will give up half of his weekend to do something nice for me/my family.

On Saturday morning, I was out running errands with Kansas and generally having a pretty good day when my mom called to tell me our dog (a 7-pound mini dachshund named Tofu Smart Dog) got out of the yard and was MIA. She'd driven around the neighborhood looking for him and a few people she saw out on the street had seen him, but no luck. The Humane Society had already closed for the weekend.

Kansas and I went home and walked around the neighborhood, which includes quite a few steep hills, for about an hour handing out our phone number to people who were outside and asked them to look for him. We didn't find him and came home. My mom was really devastated about losing the dog (the gate somehow was left open). Kansas and I went out again for a while before coming back to help hand out fliers. Mom and dad and two of their friends divied up the neighborhood with us and we walked around knocking on every door to hand out fliers. We put them up on posts and in paper boxes and on car windshields. A few people had seen him, but the reports of just where he had been seen were varied and indicated he'd run up on the mountain behind the neighborhood. He'd been gone for about 9 hours. At this point, it was dark and cold and we couldn't do anything. Dad bought us pizza and Kansas and I, both completely exhausted, promised to get up in the morning and hike up the mountain to look for Tofu. I was pretty confident he'd be all right and that if he wasn't in someone's house, he'd be able to find his way home and that he knew I feed the cat on the porch late at night (he likes to lick out the cans).

Kansas went home and my very sad parents went to bed. I was about to turn off my TV and go to sleep when I heard a far-off, quiet, familiar bark. I was watching a show with a dog in it at the time, so I wasn't sure if I'd really heard anything. I got up and went out into the main room, where the doggie door is, and called the dog's name. He didn't come, but I heard a bark again. I decided to look in the front yard, and as soon as I opened the door, a VERY tired, limping little dachshund ran into the house. His paw pads were scraped up and he was starving, but he was home. My parents were of course overjoyed. I sent Kansas a text message (that he didn't get until the next morning) and we stayed up for a bit with the doggie, who ate about half his body weight before passing out on my dad's lap.

Sunday, I drove around the neighborhood with my odometer set and if Tofu was really seen everywhere people told us he was, he covered about 3 miles on those teeny little legs. Even I wouldn't have wanted to make that walk up those hills.

What I wouldn't give to know what he really did that day.

Life is good

Winter in Klamath Falls is awful. Snowy mountain passes make leaving town a treacherous prospect and the sense of isolation can be stifling (I just want a decent place to shop. But it's not worth a 2 hour + drive through snow to get to Medford).

This year's not so bad. There's no snow yet, which makes it possible to leave town (although the lack of more than one consecutive day off puts a damper on things). But I remembered something. This town is ugly in the winter. It's brown and drab and while the sun is usually out — a nice change from the Willamette Valley — everything at eye level is just boring. A few feet of sparkly white snow helps things. So I'm missing the snow. And it's only a little bit because of the $400 snow tires I bought that won't be paid off until after the legal date to remove them.

The tediousness of winter aside, things are good here. I don't make much money, but I still love my job and am in the profession I want to be in. The job itself is stable. I'm lucky.

Things are going well with my new relationship with "Kansas," (the nickname a friend came up with for my boyfriend). Having technically been single my entire life, referring to someone as "my boyfriend" still feels foreign, but it's definitely a great thing. The relationship is at a place that's very comfortable for me now. Trying to work spending time together around our very different work schedudules is difficult, but I think sometimes that makes the time we do have better. Tonight is one of the nights when I wish we could be together. We won't have any time away from work until this weekend (fortunately, a long one for me), and I can't wait.

The other day, Kansas and I were in the store and somehow the topic of astrological signs came up. When I explained my very amateur analysis of the differences between Libras (me) and Virgos (him), he said, "How do we get along?" I can't think of any ways we don't. We still have much to learn about each other, but there's nothing yet that I'd describe as a negative. There are things we disagree on, and things each of us finds weird about the other, but it's all good for now. The things I'm still learning make me more interested. Lately, the little things are making me the happiest. It's a feeling I'm still not quite used to, but one that makes my day better. I'm in danger of becoming one of the happy people I used to hate, and I'm a little flummoxed by the fact that I'm this happy in Klamath Falls, the place I spent my life trying to escape.

Three months.

Three months since my last post and the high school reunion, which now seems so far off. Three months past the end of my first 90 days of work. And just a week or so until my six-month anniversary at said job. Maybe I'll update more often.

When I moved back to Klamath Falls, it was supposed to be a very temporary situation. I was going to find another job and crash rent free to save up my unemployment. I never expected the paper here to hire me, seeing as how they had JUST hired a reporter and copy editor and I knew the budget was tight. Then somehow, there was an opening. So I started work less than a week after learning about existence of the position. Thing 1 that wasn't supposed to happen here.

Around the time of the reunion and my last post on here, I started spending time outside of the group setting with a coworker I'll call Kansas (nickname courtesy of a Facebook friend who remembered nothing I told him about Kansas except his home state/alma mater). By my birthday in late September, we were dating. While we've never really had an official "what are we doing" conversation, it's definitely been a relationship for about two months now and a few days ago changed our Facebook statuses, which apparently makes it "official." It makes me feel about 13 years old to get all excited about Facebook, but I suppose changing your relationship status is the easy way to tell all your friends you're officially off the market. The LAST thing I would ever have expected was to move home and find a boyfriend. After so many years of being single in Eugene, I come back home and find a great guy. Weird how things work out.

Being in a relationship is a new thing for me, and while I'm happy and excited about it, it's a strange adjustment after so many years of being single. I'm quite comfortable and am interested and excited to see where things go from here.

Other than that, there's not much to report. Between work and time with Kansas, there's not much time for anything else. Living with my parents has a few stresses, but financially it's the best option as long as I can stand it. They're not at all controlling and my dad is a good enough cook to make up for about 99 percent of the things that irritate me.

10 years

On Friday night, I went to my 10-year high school reunion. I'd been debating since high school whether I'd really be willing to go but when I found out that it was this summer and I knew I'd be living back in my home town, I decided to go.

It really was a far better experience than I'd expected (I must say, I think I look far better than I ever did in high school and a few people commented, so I had a somewhat shallow boost of self-esteem). The turnout was small, but I liked (or at least got along with) all but two of the people who came. I enjoyed chatting with everyone and it was interesting to hear what people are up to. I am in contact with a few people from Facebook or MySpace, so I knew what some of them have been doing, but had a good time talking to those I hadn't been in contact with. Some of the guys in particular are doing things completely unexpected. One guy is a stay-at-home dad with a young daughter — the absolute last thing I'd have predicted for him 10 years ago. It's amazing how many people from my class now have multiple children, but it seems that parenthood changed people for the better. One guy's wife was going around apologizing to people for what a jerk her husband was in high school, (He really, really was. In fact, he was the one person who on the day of the reunion I thought about and hoped he wouldn't be there) and when I talked to his wife for a minute she mentioned how being a dad made him a much nicer person. And told me something about him that I won't repeat here but that made me smile more than just about any news I've heard all year.

One of the girls I was kind of friends with back then but haven't seen since gathered up some liquid courage and told the guy who'd tormented her in high school about how awful he was. He was rather inebriated and didn't seem to believe he'd been THAT big of a jerk, but he did apologize to her. The conversation was entertaining to watch and I was glad that she did it. It probably felt good to get that off her chest after so long.

Saturday, we had a family picnic and while only about 10 people showed up, all with their kids, I did enjoy seeing the people I talked to there. I'd been wondering about this reunion for years and of course wasn't as wealthy or skinny as I'd hoped to be, but the people I really wanted to stick it to weren't there anyway and I realized how little any of that really matters now. In a discussion with some other classmates about who we disliked, no one even remembered the person I'd had the most trouble with, which oddly made me feel better. The 10 years went by so quickly but the reunion was a reminder of how long it has been. Going to the reunion did bring a sense of closure and I'm happy that I went.

The routine

I'm settling into my routine, such as it is, at the new job. I have split days off and work strange hours, so it's hard to find time to fit in other activities. Fortunately, my coworkers are all great and we hang out together a lot, so my social life revolves around other people who understand the weird schedule.

A week ago, my best friend Kim and I went to Crater Lake. She'd never been there, so the original plan involved hiking down to the shore to take the boat tour. Because I didn't pay enough attention to know which side of the lake to go to to purchase tickets, we missed out on the tour, but thought we would hike down anyway. I'd never seen it from the shore. "The hike can't be THAT bad," I thought. "I'll take it easy on the way up and my legs will hurt tomorrow, but it'll be OK."

The downhill part of the hike went well. It's a gorgeous hike and the weather was cooperative. The lake definitely looks different from that perspective and it's interesting that the deep blue color is just as intense from the shore.

The hike back up did not go as well. I'm out of shape and knew I'd have to stop a lot walking back up the hill (a mile-long STEEP trail that is a 1,000-foot change in elevation, or, according to the sign at the top of the hill, the equivalent of 150 flights of stairs), but I had a strong reaction to the altitude. The shore is at 6,100 feet or so and the top of the trail is about 7,100. Almost immediately after starting the hike my pulse was far faster than it's ever been and I thought I was going to pass out. I even got a bloody nose, which has never happened at all. I found myself hoping that if I did collapse, the next person to walk by would be capable of running up or down to get me medical help. They aren't kidding when they say it's strenuous. Of course I realize this means that I need to do much more cardio work at the gym, but I was amazed at how difficult it was. It's really quite unfortunate because the view from the shore is amazing, but I don't know if I'd ever want to do it again without training specifically for that activity for a long time.

I did get some great photos.

New Job

I'll be in Klamath Falls for quite some time. About two weeks ago I started working as a copy editor at the newspaper here. The job came up very quickly — I heard about it very soon after they decided to hire someone and was offered the job a few days after applying — but I'm happy with it. It's good experience and I'll get a lot of great clips out of it. I wanted to stay in Oregon and spending a couple of years living low-rent still within a weekend trip of all my friends and family makes me happy.

The job is great so far. I've got a lot of training to do, but I think I'm doing well and my coworkers are great. Everyone is really nice and most of the reporters and other copy editors are close to my age.

Tonight I went downtown with my friend Jill, who is a reporter at the paper. It was "Third Thursday," when all the businesses stay open later and there are food booths and live music performances all over. It was fun to get out and walk around. The weather finally turned nice again after two or three weeks of nothing but rain and gray skies almost every day. It's very unusual for it to rain here, let alone that much.

For now, I'll be working split days off, but that's OK with me. I'm happy to have found a job in journalism and to be back in a newsroom with other people who want to talk about politics and grammar. It's fantastic.

If the clouds ever go away, I'll take a picture of the gorgeous view of Mount Shasta as seen from the newsroom window. The newsroom in Yakima was in a basement. Having any view at all is a vast improvement, but I'm particularly fond of this one.

Update

Things are going slowly since I moved back to Klamath Falls. I've realized that few newspaper jobs are in cities where I want to live, and having to choose between a job I'd love and a city in which I'd be happy is difficult right now. I don't have to pay rent for a while, which gives me the ability to be a little picky. I'm starting to think seriously about what my other options are.

This isn't the most exciting town and it's a hard period of adjustment being back here again, but it's kind of nice. I do actually like my parents and enjoy spending time with them even if the town is boring. Yesterday, my dad and I went to Crater Lake. It is nice to live so close (about 60 miles) to one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

No news

There's not much new to report here. Life is boring,and testing whether
I can update from my blackberry is the most interesting thing I have to Do. Real update soon. Today I went to crater lake.

Saying goodbye

This was my last day in Yakima. Tomorrow I make the big move down to Klamath Falls. Because I have no one to drive a U-Haul for me (I just don't feel safe driving one, particularly if it's towing my car, and there's no room in the front of one for my cat carriers), I had to do one trip down to Klamath a few weeks ago and had to condense down to what would fit in a car. My mom and I traded cars because hers has a lot more room than mine does, and it was still quite a feat.

I gave a lot of stuff to Goodwill and contributed several boxes of household items to a friend's garage sale and even then took more bags than I remembered to count to the dumpster. I had to throw away most of my food (a lot of it perfectly good, but that I couldn't donate because it had been opened), all my cleaning supplies and various things that I just realized as I packed up the car today would NOT fit. I also had a trip to the recycling center this week where I learned that a lot of types of plastic, as well as ALL glass items, are no longer recyclable here. I feel absolutely awful knowing that there's what felt like an entire dumpster full of stuff that will be in a landfill forever because I live in a place where I can't recycle everything or because I couldn't get the help I needed to move. I'm not a hoarder (although I am a bit of a pack rat), but I keep stuff around just because I try to be pretty "green" and hate the idea of something lying around a landfill if it might have use to someone or if I can find a place to recycle it. But I just reached a point in my packing process where I didn't give a shit anymore. The sad thing is, I didn't own an unusual amount of stuff. It all had a place and could be put away. I just owned what any adult who's been on her own for nearly a decade would own. And it turns out that's a LOT. A lot that will have to be replaced when I find a new job and move away from the parents. Again. I own far too many books for just one person, but I love books. There's not a place here I could really donate them and I will NOT throw books away. Maybe someday if I really have to pare things down I'll give them to the library, but I love books and will read (or re-read) every one of them.

Tonight I'm staying in a hotel, while my poor cats stay on their own back at the apartment, because a friend took all my furniture this morning and then I foolishly packed all my blankets and sheets away. I have a very long drive and thought I'd be better off if I got a comfortable, relaxed sleep than if I tried to sleep on the floor sans blankets. Went on Priceline and got an amazing deal on a room, so I'm quite proud of myself.

I'm quite cranky at the moment because I'm in pain from trying to lift very heavy trash bags/boxes and having to do everything myself (other than the furniture, which I had help with) made me feel rather alone and frustrated. I'm feeling much more sorry for myself than is really called for, but I think if this ever happens again, I'll definitely suck it up and learn to drive the damn U-Haul.


I'd be lying if I said I'd miss Yakima, but I'll definitely miss some of the people I met here and I'll miss my apartment, which I actually really loved. A friend from work had just started to invite me out with a group of her friends, who are really cool people, and I'm sad that I didn't get the chance to know them better. One of them, a man from Mexico City who works for Univision (I think...) helped the work friend and I move all my furniture to her apartment today. As we drove in the U-Haul, he kept saying goodbye to various things in Yakima. I won't miss the town itself, although there are interesting things about living here, but I'll miss the people I didn't get to know better. And I certainly still miss my job.

Now I'm off to find a vending machine, have a cup of tea and try to enjoy my last few hours before I have to get up and spend 8 hours in a car with two cranky cats.

Pictured at the top of this post: The wiener dog races in Ellensburg, Wash., about 40 minutes from here. One of the more entertaining things I did in my first month in Yakima last year.