My Last Week in Santa Barbara, CA

Yesterday, I left off on New Year's... I just wanted to comment that half of that 8 hour trip to and from Mexico was with my little brother. I always worry for him and display a ridiculous amount of tough love but I just hope he knows that I really do love him. And I tell him that I do. When we get along, it actually goes well... Unfortunately we have different ideas about morality and assholeness so sometimes, it can be rough, us. Anyway, I took over most of the driving on the way back and therefore had full radio control so ipod time it was! At one point Josue turns to me and says, "Your music selection is a gay wonderland. And why is everything so high pitched at the end!?!". I tried arguing but I realized that most of what I have on said ipod is Glee and Beyonce...hmmm, I thought, maybe it would be fun to work on expanding my musical erudition which leads to my New Year's Resolutions for 2012:

Expand my musical knowledge/library
Research one country every month (history, politics, authors, music, etc.)
Go jogging at least 3x a week
Volunteer at a location that helps the community
Write to my friends and parents
Start studying for the GRE's

Ok, so back to January, it was time to say goodbye... Let me try to remember what I did before I skidattled. On the 2nd I got to see My Thanh (Mtm <3) on my way up from Mexico. I cannot even begin to capture what this friendship has meant to me over the years. I actually met her my first year in college after the guy I was dating dragged me to a UniCamp meeting. UniCamp! I was hooked. Anyway, over the years we have seen each other through so much... and she has always been there for me. Luckily, I was able to have breakfast with her before I came to The Burg. We had pho!!!!

My work buddies aka new friends Claudia and Michael also took me out to "The Intermezzo" and my Dinglehopper met us there, as well as a new bud, Sam whom woo'd us with her NY stories...

The wonderful Claudia, on the left and Dinglehopper on the right.

Sam and Michael and great food and superb drinks!

On Friday 6th, my final day at work, Janely (other receptionist/friend/roommate) paged everyone in the office and they all came up and said goodbye to me. They gave me a card, there were a lot of hugs going around, and they assured me that I would have a place to return to if I came back. I HATE crying in front of people, but I was so touched that I may have shed a tear or two. (Haha, I miss stalking people in the office, c-walking for the accounting dept, playing pranks on random people, making funny gangsta calls to Glen, and shooting the shit with Janely! I do.)

My parents, Ma and Earl, came down from Hanford on Saturday to give me one big hug before I left. Guy Ky and I met them in Ventura, we ate at Chipotle, then walked on the beach. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel room and hung out a bit before leaving. I am really happy I got to have that hug.

My Ma and I

Earl, Guy Ky, and Ma hang out at Ventura beach

I also went out to my last Sunday at Wildcat. Chris came up from Los Angeles to join in on the fun, although he did assure me that it was mostly due to the fundraising event that took place at Wildcat. Angelica, Lou, and Lisa came up from Ventura. We started the night out at Kyle's condo (where Rachel and Rachel joined in on some fun) and then tore the dance floor up. Wildcat, I basically paid rent there the whole time I lived in SB. And at midnight when I turned another year older, it was in great company.

On the left we find my bombastic crew:Lisa, Angelica and Lou. On the right: Rachel dazzling us with her smile!

Rachel attacking the cupcakes!

Yay, my homie G  Claudia!


Adrianne and Claudia! (I was giving the bird to the Dinglehopper)

        

             

My SB former hot roomies: Chris on the left and Dinglehopper on the right

Then met up with Guy Ky later that evening and hung out with the Tripod. Guy Ky and I got back home and I finished packing at around 3AM. The following morning, my Dinglehopper drove me to the airport and I arrived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania around 10PM.

My Dinglehopper and the sunrise. I miss them something awful.

My boys pose. I wish I had gotten my brother in this picture because he drove up to say g'bye. Meant a whole lot to me...

And so I got on the escalator, turned to wave one final time at my brother and Dinglehopper (who was happily sending birds my way), and the journey began...

In Harrisburg...Hmmm...But Lets Catch Up!

Ok new rule: I will check into my blog at least twice a week now...to write and report (and honestly to unload). Wow. A lot has happened since December 1st.

In short December was pretty great. Spent time with my friends and my family. And that ex-boyfriend and I? We got back together. In fact, I spent Christmas with him and his wonderful family. (And just recently, we broke up...again, ahhhhh).

I am currently in Harrisburg, PA living with Athena, Angel (6 yrs. old), Jeffrey (Athena's hubby), and The Marla (cutest 9 month tyrant baby in the world). A lot has occurred in the two months since I arrived. A lot has also not occurred but I will get into that tomorrow.... For now I want to share some pictures from December because for the most part, it was a pretty awesome month:

Kyle's (stud on the right/my partner) shebang and we wore our best! The night started out with a gathering of well dressed people at his condo and lucky for us, our old roomie Chris made an appearance (!).

A week later, Angelica had her soiree (a combination of the best foods, beer pong, a dj and a garage to do it in) and our tripod (Angelica calls us "The Tripod") was happy to be together.

I love this picture of Lou (Angelica's husband) and Kyle

(we traded shoes because they were owning me and he OWNED them).

 Christmas was spent at Yucca Valley, California (which is really close to Joshua Tree) at Guy Ky's beautiful family home.

This is the best picture I have of Guy Ky and I on this trip...yep, being goofballs.

Well since I already mentioned it and this former relationship of mine has been consuming my thoughts, I want to get into it a tad. Even though we decided to get back together...I decided that I still wanted to come and try to make it in New York City.

It was hard because when we initially met (in 2010) I had planned to come directly to NYC for only 6 months (there was even talk of him moving over to the East Coast after my 6 months in NYC). Then I changed my plans to try living and working in Yellowstone with him. I thought maybe this could take away my urge to travel to the East Coast (I know, two completely DIFFERENT places) and I would be able to still be with him (didn't want to put 6 months of time between us). And yada yada... I went to Gardiner, Montana by myself, came back after just a month, we moved in together, broke up, and when the East Coast came up again there was something in me that said "DO IT!", then we got back together. Differences this time: I was moving to Harrisburg first, STAYING in Harrisburg to save money, AND THEN moving to NYC. So my 6 month time limit was/is gone. I wasn't staying in SB and he wasn't leaving SB. So these last two months, we tried making this relationship work over a huge distance. It did not. This wasn't, for me, the sole reason, not even the main reason for this breakup but it was definitely affected by this distance.

I know I am describing this particular situation a whollleee lot but it's because we recently broke up...and I am very sad about it. And I am going through the whole relationship in my head over and over again. At the end of the day, this is for the best and I know it. I'll be fine and so will he. And the best is wished to him because he is a good guy.

Love is beautiful and great and delightful and wondrous and it is too grand to be confined to an epoch in one's life...but damn. Just damn.

(I Mope)

Back to December! I love my dad and I have a hard time communicating with him but he is one of the most important people in my life. My brother, Josue, and I decided to spend New Year's with him in Mexico.

Josue and I rented a convertible (I am a fan for life now). On my drive to pick him up, I had the top down on the 101 South and saw the sun rise:

I must say, sunsets have always had me, but up until December 31st I wasn't that big on sunrises. 

Now I am.

The mens in the fam on New Year's Day. Hardcore. 

So that was December in a nutshell and tomorrow I will explain how things have been going since then...