SF is on a Giants high

Pretty much everyone should know that the San Francisco Giants won the World Series this year. Man oh man, was this city going nuts when it all went down! I think it was good that they ended up winning it while they were playing in Texas at the Rangers' home stadium. I think if they were here when they won the series, things might have gotten out of control. It was great the night they won. Everyone in the city was hooting and hollering and honking the horns on their cars for hours on end. I decided that I needed to take advantage of the opportunity and go for a walk downtown. This is what I saw:

While I was recording this video, a homeless man came up and started singing to me and the man standing next to me, trying to get us to give him some money. It was a pretty funny addition to all of the other sounds that night. I'll include a few pictures of the Victory Parade crowd that was a couple of days later (this Tuesday). I wasn't able to make it to my class that day because the buses weren't running. You'll see why! It was a ton of fun and luckily the weather here has been SO warm! Summer days for sure.

This was the crowd leaving as I headed toward the main building of my school

The crowd... No class for me!

Hobart Building "Giants #1" in the windows

This right here is why I couldn't get to class. Just hanging out in the streets

Confetti Everywhere!

Me in the massive crowd

 

Me & The roomie

So that was the fun the Giants stirred up in the city. I'm glad I was here for it.  :)

Update on me now: I have been chugging along with school. I didn't get very good news on my Photo History midterm. Turns out the teacher expects us to have ESP and be able to read his mind on what he was looking for. Apparently he was surprised that everyone did horribly on it and went in to detail (AFTER the midterm of course) on what he wanted in it. Luckily, he's letting us redo it. I hate teachers like that and normally I can figure out early on how a teacher works, but we only recently started having to turn any assignments in. We've only had lectures before. So now I am 9 weeks in, just barely seeing what it is I have to do to get a good grade. Asshole. Oh well, such is life.

My other classes are fine though. I've begun working on my final project for my Photoshop class. My English class consists of writing papers... easy enough. And I did really well on my History of Film midterm. Apparently at least one of my teachers thinks I'm smart enough. Ready for this semester to be over for sure.

Work has been good and has kept me busy enough that I can't believe we're 5 days into November already. It's crazy!

I don't think that I had mentioned anything about looking into a Study Abroad program the school had for this summer or not. They're going to Italy, but in looking into the pricing of it, there's no way in hell it's going to happen. The school wants us to pay for the trip (which was fine and reasonable) AND the cost of an entire class. Total cost: way over $7,000. NOT including food and no financial aid can be applied to the course cost. So I decided, I will save up and take a "Yay I graduated" trip to Italy, or wherever, on my own... If anyone wants to start saving to go with me too, you're more than welcome. You have 3.5 years to go! :) So that was disappointing, but it's alright and I have a better plan I think.

I think that's about all that is going on in my world. I am looking forward to my trip to Vegas to see my Aunt and Uncle for Thanksgiving. I'm ready for a break for sure! And so the countdowns begin...

2 days until Daylight Savings Time ends... Fall back people.
18 days until my Thanksgiving Trip
44 Days until I go home for a LONG visit :)

Have a wonderful day! Off to class and work for the day.

There's No Place Like Home...

I am having the "I want to come home" blues. I definitely am ready for a vacation. 2 weeks into work and 8 weeks into school are making me so tired and ready for a vacation. I need a motivation boost, otherwise I'm not sure how I'll make it! I just counted though, and I have just 7.5 weeks to go...

I have had some interesting entertainment though. Today I saw a lady wearing a orange, leopard-print outfit with a cat in a stroller wearing a lobster costume. The cat was incredibly calm and seemed to actually enjoy being paraded around in a stroller. The lady was absolutely crazy and apparently hangs around my part of town. I get a picture of her, but she started to walk the other direction, so you can't clearly see her face.You get the idea though, I hope.

My roommate dubbed her "The Lady Gaga of San Francisco"

Let's see... what else? Oh I finally got my mid-term finished with my Photo History class. I don't have a grade yet, but the whole class liked my window picture the best (I posted that pic on here quite a few weeks ago when my building was being painted). I have one last midterm to take for my online class and then it's back to the normal grind.

Work has been good, but my feet still aren't used to standing for so long. I pulled a muscle helping my friend Jen move last night too. So standing today was painful right above my right butt-cheek. It was wonderful lol. I need more yoga apparently. Well anyway, it's late here and I still have a paper to write. Gotta love college living. Good night!!

Drizzly dayzzzz

So it has finally started raining here! Actually, it has been for the past two days. I am happy to see it, but I'm told that there is plenty more of this to come in the winter months. I'll just be happy enjoying it while I can.

School is chugging right along. I got an A on my Photoshop mid-term, but have to try and step it up a notch to get an A overall in the class (what can I say, I can't break my straight-A records I held in high school). I had a printed photo mid-term in my History of Photo class, but we ended up getting through everyone's photo critique but mine. I had to wait a whole week to get to that point and now I have to wait another week to see if mine is ok. It's just a bit annoying. I also found out in my English class that the really loud, annoying man is definitely no longer in class. My teacher was calling role and he was off the list! I think I can make it the rest of the semester pretty painlessly now. I hope anyway.

Work is going well too. I am pretty good on the register already (to their surprise, but not mine lol). The other night we had an event in our store. I guess it was supposed to be our grand opening or something. There were a lot of corporate people there looking down their noses at all of us. Meals on Wheels was catering, so it was a pretty big thing going on. I had fun working and it seemed to kind of unite all of the employees there too. It was a good thing for us. I still am trying to get used to standing for hours and hours at a time. I haven't done that since May, and now it's making me come home exhausted. I feel more comfortable being incredibly busy again, though. It makes me feel less useless.

When I ring people up, I am supposed ask if they want to get a membership card for Harry & David. Well I asked one woman when she was paying and she got very excited because the picture that was used on the card was a photograph she actually took. She said she had heard they were going to use it, but hadn't seen it anywhere. I told her I am going to school at AAU for photography and she told me that she graduated form AAU. She ended up giving me her email address and told me to keep in touch with her because the company she works for in SF has a lot of internship opportunities. She was really cool and it would be really awesome if something like that worked out for me. Cross your fingers! Either way, she was a really nice woman and it would be cool to just have someone to talk to that knows how this school and city work.

Sorry, no photos today. Life has gotten a bit crazy. I'll have some next time! Now it's time to get some homework done and get a cup of tea :)

Busy bee

Midterms are under way. I completed one for my Photoshop class on Friday and am fairly sure I did well. I will find out for sure on Friday this week. I have a midterm tomorrow as well, but there isn't a test involved. I had to take 4 photos and print them and include a few written paragraphs explaining what I was tying to accomplish with them. They have to relate to an early photographer or photographic process. Last midterm I have is my online class which is basically 20 questions instead of the normal 10 per class. Easy stuff. My English class doesn't even have one at all. So this means I am officially halfway though the semester and October is FLYING by! I love it!

I started my new job today as well. I work at Harry & David. It's pretty easy so far with a lot of the products I'm used to selling from the Proper Pot in NC. It's funny though, even though I told the ladies that work there that I am familiar with the products, they keep talking to me like I have no idea what I'm doing. Some are all much older than me and I think they assume that because I'm young, I have no experience. It just bugs me that they don't believe me when I say I understand. This one lady asked me if I had any retail experience. When I told her that the last store I worked in had gourmet products and I worked there for 4.5 years, I don't think she believed me. It's pretty funny. These women aren't even my superior. They are sales people just like me :)

Anyway, I've just been working, doing school, and getting annoyed with my building. Either the elevator is broken, the internet is down, or my heater won't work. Always something. Ahh the life of living in a dorm... can't say I love it. My roommate and I did decorate our lovely skeleton man last night. He's going drag for Halloween.

He is beautiful, don't you think? :)

Mini catch up

Hello friends!

Hmmm what have I been doing? Class is good. I have my first MIDTERM (woot woot!) tomorrow. This means I am halfway through the semester and ready to take a trip home and see some lovely people! Don't forget NC people, I will be there Dec. 18th- Jan 27th. So you better make some time for me! :) I'm not too worried about the midterms. 2 classes have tests, one doesn't even have one, and the other I have to submit photos for my midterm. Easy peasy.

Fleet week was fun. Got quite a few pics. Click here to see them. I got a lot of walking in and there were TONS of people.

I start the job on Monday and have to go shopping for some clothes. Luckily, it's easy stuff. Other than that I haven't been doing too much. Just hanging out. But yesterday, I got THE BEST care package ever from my good friend Sarah. Take a look!

I love care packages :)

Well time for some intense study time and sushi later this evening with my friend, Jeremiah. Sounds like a nice reward ! :)

Jobs, Jets, and Jubilation!

Hi All! I keep apologizing for how seldom I do these posts, so I'm just going to accept it. It may be a few times a week, it might only be once. Either way, you will be updated on me whenever I feel like it :)

I had some good shopping time this last weekend, even though I was trying to not buy a single item. Usually I am very terrible at shopping and being fashionable, so it's easy to walk away and still have money left in my bank account. I found an awesome pea coat though. What can I say? I left all my winter clothes in NC. I HAD to buy it! I also bought a dress. It was cute... and that's all I need to justify that purchase.

GOOD NEWS! I got a job. Tuesday I had an interview standing outside on the sidewalk of Starbucks. The seats were all taken, so we stood outside and talked. I will be starting the 18th at Harry & David. She said I would have gotten a higher position than Sales, but I am leaving for the holidays. This store is a temporary store open for the holidays (90 days), which will be easier to just have the job end than me trying to convince a store that they should keep me after I have over a month vacation. I'm also ok with sales just because right now I don't really want very much responsibility when work is concerned right now. I sound lazy, but school is way more important.

School... it's good. Unfortunately, besides my Photoshop class, I am pretty bored. I'm ready to be done with the core classes and get to the good stuff! Oh well, gotta do what you gotta do. More good news: (well, good news for me) the crazy, used to braided, loud man in my English class apparently got kicked out of school because he flipped out on some girl a few days ago. Class this week was the most pleasant it has ever been. I think I can make it through the rest of the semester without having the urge to want to shove a pen in my eye. I think.

Today was great for a lot of reasons. I did some yoga and went to the gym. I have begun working out at the school gym and it is helping me feel better. Lately, I have been incredibly tired and just not into doing a whole lot. I think that will be a nice energy booster. Also, this weekend is "Fleet Week" in SF, and the Blue Angles were practicing. I LOVED the sound of the jets flying over all afternoon. I reminded me of living by Luke Airforce Base in Phoenix. We used to park at the end of the runway and watch the jets fly right over us. Can't do that anymore, of course, but it was amazing. I also remember going up on our roof and watching the jets fly in formation. A few times we were up there when the jets broke the sound barrier. Loudest sound and feeling ever. It was so cool. Needless to say, it made me very happy today. Such a cool sound.

The Fleet week will be going full force this weekend, so I think I will head down and try to get some pictures of it all. Take a look at the site for it: http://www.fleetweek.us/

Well, after working on my Photoshop homework for over 4 hours, I need to go to bed. Otherwise, I am pretty sure my head will explode. Seriously.

Nighty-night and sleep tight!

Worst. Blogger. Ever.

Hello long lost readers. I suck at this sometimes. Well anyway... where have I been?

First, I went to a free concert in Golden Gate Park with Jen. Note the word 'free' in that sentence. Funny thing, though: we had to break in under a fence to get to it. Seriously. They said it was full and someone just picked up the fence and people started diving in under, us included. Well we go there kind of late and ended up only hearing the last part of the Plain White T's play and all of Sarah Bareilles. Jen found some friends from work and we ended up crashing on their blanket and hanging out while we listened to the music and people-watched (my favorite thing to do). There was a really hilarious lady on the next blanket over that was pretty smashed, giggly one second and about to pass out the next. This is her on the 'about to pass out' part of her roller coaster ride.

Poor, poor lady...

Here are a few pics from the day:

There were actually girls in bathing suits sunning in the park. So weird.

Green :)

Concert people

more concert people

Jen & Elliot

Little Elliot Man

Pizza Orgasmica- Yes, really.

 On my way to the park, I got to go through Japan Town for the first time. Nothing too crazy, but here's a pic:

Part of Japan Town

So the other day, I decided to go for a walk and hit up Trader Joe's. I have no idea what was wrong with me, because it hit over 100 degrees here. I'm retarded. I mean, I know I'm from Phoenix and all, but throw an ocean AND a bay right around temps THAT high and anyone is likely to want to pass out. Then I decided, like the smart girl I am, to take Jones Street all the way home, for the first time, ever. Look at this beast:

F U hill. F. U.

Sidewalks turn to stairs here.

So I have basically been working and school. BUT I DID GET A VIDEO OF THE ANNOYING MAN IN MY ENGLISH CLASS!! (can you tell I'm excited?) I've been trying to get a picture of him for weeks. So I decided a video would be best/quietest. Sad, though, he took out the braids. I had to be covert, so it isn't the best. I will try harder next week ;)

Last but not least, and my personal favorite... tonight I went to drop off my netflix and the mailbox was the perfect example of San Fransisco living.

... but only if your "doctor" says you can.

Night all!