The last couple months in a nutshell

I transferred to the Natomas World Market about a month or so ago, and immediately following that, I moved up here. I found a roommate on craigslist. I live with a guy and a girl, and they are both pretty cool, if not the cleanest of the bunch, but hey, neither am I all the time. Things as far as work and the roommates have been pretty good.

I started school on Sept. 27th, and so far it's AMAZING. I can't even put into words what it feels like to FINALLY be here. I've met some very cool people so far. Lauren matches my wit and sarcasm to a tee. She's my sarcastic soul mate. Tosha is totally sweet. Jimmy is my boy! He went through some hard stuff today. It was the first time I've ever seen him without a smile on his face, and a hug for anyone who wanted it. We got our knife kits on Monday and have spent the week learning to use them. We had our first test the day before yesterday, and I missed only one question. When Chef passed out the progress reports yesterday, she announced that I had the highest grade in the class, and if it wasn't for that one point I missed, I would have a 100% in the class. She didn't figure the extra credit Bio we did, so really, it IS over 100%. Semantics, I know. Another girl, Jen, had to retake the test - luckily Chef let her, I guess she accidentally skipped a question so that her answers were off - when she got her test results back today she found out that she only missed one as well, giving her the same grade as mine. I'm SO happy for her. Chef didn't announce her achievement the way she did mine, though. I wish she had. It would have been nice for Jen to receive that same feeling. I hope she's proud of her self at any rate.

We have our second test tomorrow; Weights and Measurements and Conversions. I've got this one in the bag! I've been going over the Weights and Measurements for the last two days, and feel very comfortable with them. The conversions are REALLY simple once you get the hang of them.

This whole last month has been very bittersweet. I'm LOVING my new life, and am genuinely happy for the first time in a while. Things have been amazing. However, I really miss my dad and Makenna. My dad has been having a hard time with the fact that I'm gone, and I don't blame him. It was a horrible situation that brought us to this point. I understand that I'm far too old to live with my father, but we get along so well, and he's the best guy in my life. I loved being able to spend more time with him in the past year than I have in the last 10 combined. Makenna is doing great, but I know she had a hard time with the change as well. I just hope she keeps her head down, nose clean, and is able to get out on her own soon, too.

I miss my mother like crazy, too. I hate that I'm even farther from her, my sister, and Santa Cruz as a whole now. When I moved back to Santa Cruz, from Chico, I was SO happy to be home. My beach was RIGHT THERE. Then, when I moved to my dad's, it got a little farther, but not unmanageably so. Now, however, I'm almost as far away as when I was in Chico. It's really hard to be this far from my mom when our relationship is the strongest it's been in about 10 years. I value what her and I have been able to develop in the last year, and hate to see that we wont be able to spend as much time together now. George is coming home on Dec 1st, and I'm so excited that my mom will finally have him home. It will be so great for the both of them. They both deserve it.

My niece, Angela, turned 1 on Sept 20th. My sister sent out an email about a week and half prior to then to announce that she would be having a birthday party for her daughter. I fought with myself over and over about whether I would attend, or not. I wanted to, but wasn't sure if I'd be able to afford the gas, plus it's three hours each way. My mother and I were texting one night when she told me that Brenda - my sister - was very upset and cried to her on the phone the night before. I guess that my mother was the only one from our side of the family that had said she would be attending. My grandparents had a previous engagement. My aunt and uncle weren't able to attend either. When my sister called my dad a few days before the party, my dad said that he couldn't be notified only a couple days before. This is understandable because he gets weird shifts at work. He can go from 10am - 10pm for a few weeks, then be switched to 12pm to 2:30am. It's very hard for him to plan things when he's testing. When my sister told him about the email she had sent, he said that he hadn't been to his account in a while. Again, understandable since when he's not working, or driving the hour and a half each way, he's sleeping. I wasn't sure how I felt until Brenda told me that when she had called, my step mom answered the phone. Brenda asked if they got the email, and my step mom said YES, but that my dad had to work and wouldn't be able to attend. This really upset me because I wondered when exactly she received the email. If it was when Brenda sent it, she would have had plenty of time to inform my dad so he could make a decision about attending. This isn't the first time things like this have happened, and though I would like to say more, proper decorum prevents me. I will, instead, gracefully end this tale with the fact that after hearing that my sister's heart was broken, I went to the party. She was surprised and delighted. I got to see my niece turn one. Happy ending for all.

I'm still working on losing weight. I bought a cruiser bike to ride around to work and school. Hopefully the rain doesn't prevent me from doing so, otherwise I'll have to wait a couple of months. We'll see what happens.

Now, time to clean up my book bag, take a shower, and get to bed.

School bright and early!