These are my thoughts; though they may be public domain, please have enough respect and understand that they are mine and are not for the use of your own deviant agenda.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
*Pictures will be posted tomorrow sometime*
**Did I say tomorrow? ;) I meant whenever I get around to it!! haha Sorry it's been crazy busy and I actually tried to upload pictures the next day but blogger was having issues uploading. And well I have a moment since our phone systems at work just blew up. hehe And since you've been patiently waiting I think I'll post WAY more pictures then I should to make up for the delay! Enjoy!**
Life is good isn’t it?! Right now I’m at work and I don’t expect that I’ll have a lot of time to write up this post. But I have a moment to spare so I’m going to at least start it. We’re understaffed today. One girl is on vacation and another had to leave early because of some flight issues. And later today I have a training class. Once all that is done, I honestly hope things will mellow out some.
Birthday - So my friends must love me! Rachel called me this morning to see if I was free September 8th. I told her yes and then asked what for. Apparently she and Andie have planned a surprise day out for my 30th birthday! I’m excited! And I feel special! So all I know is that I need to be ready by 8am and expect to be out till midnight. I’m looking forward to it! You guys rock!
Well like I said I didn't think I'd have enough time to finish a post at work. I’m now at home. Man today started out so dismally and now things are so different! Lots of great things are in the works!
Fiji - The main thing is the possibility of my entire family going to Fiji! Can you imagine!? Well my brother Shawn who lives in North Carolina is moving to Texas but has a lot of work to do in Fiji over the summer and he's decided to pack up his family and let them hang out in Fiji with him over their summer break before making the move to Texas. So it was mentioned that it would be great if we could all go out there! I thought for sure it was just one of those passing thoughts that never come to fruition but apparently today I was asked to put some serious thought into going. Financially it would be a burden. The tickets are pricey. My brother has connections so he’s going to see what he can do about getting cheaper tickets. But if it came down to my family going out there whether or not I could afford it, well I couldn't afford to miss the opportunity really. This is FIJI we're talking about here! One of my first thoughts was being in 7th heaven taking pictures. I have seen some of the shots my brother has taken and I know what I could get! haha Cool huh? I may have another place to mark on my map of visited places.
Passions - Lately God has been showing me a lot about myself, especially my passions. You’d be surprised as much as I love photography I’m realizing my passion is not completely in that, which may change. But right now my passion is people! I *love* people! I enjoy meeting new people, learning more about them, laughing and interacting with them. I’ve been putting some thought into how I can use these passions in a career. I know my current job is not the career choice I had in mind. But I genuinely LOVE working with the customers. I find myself laughing more and more with the customers. I’m not sure what type of career to get involved with that allows a lot of interaction with people. I don’t think there is a lot of money in customer service/support. At least not that I’ve seen. I know there is joy and pride in the work I do with my customers. I just honestly can’t afford to keep working for what I get paid and I’m just not sure what to do about that. I would really enjoy being able to interact and take pictures of people but I find that I’m not a good portrait photographer. At least not that I’ve seen in my current collection of pictures. So, I’ve come to the conclusion that though I may realize that I have a passion for people, at this point I have no idea where God is going to take me in that.
Luau Aftermath - So I survived the luau! If you have myspace you’ve seen my pictures. If not then sorry it’s taken me so long to post any! It was an amazing night! Non-stop craziness but oh so much fun! I can’t wait till we do a whole church one! It was a great time with all my friends. I was snapping pictures all night. I ended up staying over at my parents till about 12:30 in the morning talking to my friend Andie. We haven’t hung out in a while and its funny cause we always seem to be experiencing similar things at the same time. But really it’s hard to explain the whole evening so I’ll just let you see the pictures (which will be coming soon).
Vegas Aftermath - I stayed up later then I would have liked for the luau but I still got up early for my drive to Vegas Saturday morning. I was on the road by 8:15 but had to stop by my parents to pick up stuff I forgot over there the night before and then had to fill up with gas and was actually on my way by 8:45am. I was shocked how easy of a drive it was! I remembered it being so long the last time I went. But honestly that was before I had gotten accustomed to a 45 min commute to and from work daily and 1 ½ hour commute on Friday nights because of “Vegas Traffic”! I’m just glad I didn’t go Friday night! It was smooth sailing when I went Saturday morning. I got up to the Jeska’s place at about 11:15. So it only took 2 ½ hours!
It was so nice to hang out with the Jeska’s. They have a nice place and I found myself easily relaxed there. The weather was gorgeous! Debbie and I went and ran a few errands and decided to go to a mall out there. It’s kind of crazy because we haven’t really hung out since we were kids! But we seemed to click and we had no issues keeping the conversation going. Hehe Later we ended up hanging out with her parents discussing all sorts of things! We didn’t end up getting ready to go to the strip till after 10pm! But I didn’t really have any desire to go gambling or anything. I just wanted to see the fountains… We stayed in front of the Bellagio for about an hour or so and then went back.
I got up the next morning and slowly made my way out the door. It was a bit more crowded on the roads so it took a little longer then 2 ½ hours but not too much and I even stopped to help someone on the side of the road!
Father’s Day – I made back in town Sunday at 2pm and looked over my pictures. I went over to my parent’s house to spend some time with my dad for Father’s Day. I ended up going out to Best Buy to get him the 5th season of Seinfeld. I started to get them for him but stopped at season 4 so I now have a good idea of what to get him for the next few gift events, his birthday, Christmas, etc. hehe I was happy to see he’s still really into the Microsoft Flight Sim X game I got him a while ago!
Well it’s actually later then I’d like it to be. I have to get up early for work. I’m supposed to be at work between 7 & 7:30 because we’re understaffed and need the phone coverage so I was asked if I’d be willing to come in. And well I am… It’s Friday. It shouldn’t be too bad. Just means I should be in bed right now! So goodnight and I’ll post pictures tomorrow.
First of all Johnny Depp is freakin adorable! Second this clip is just hilarious! Jason sent me this, he tends to send me odd Japanese clips, but this, by far, is my favorite! Thanks for sharing Jason!
Meet Kyle and Michael... Two men that made all the troubles of my day melt away!
Ok so today's been a bit draining. I had to take care of some personal matters so I called into work to let them know I wasn't coming in. I was running all day till about 3pm and then only had a couple hours before I had to drive down to Irvine for my laser appointment. I drove down and noticed my cell was already low on battery because I'd been on it more then usual.
Let me start a little further back. I was talking to my friend Jerry about the stresses of my day and he knew I was on my way to Irvine and he said I should stop by the beach to reward myself. At least I'm pretty sure that’s what he said. If he didn't, it didn't matter because that's what I heard and the idea stuck with me. I knew I'd be done with my appointment at 7pm, sunset was around 8pm and I knew Irvine was close to the beach so I made the decision to stop by the beach before heading home. As I made this decision I realized I would be needing help to get there as I had no clue what freeways to take (I'm horrible with stuff like that), but since my cell battery was dying and well I was going to be making the trip up to Vegas I thought a car charger would be a wise investment.
Once I got to my laser appointment I asked if they knew where the nearest Best Buy was. The girl was cool enough to do a search and print up directions on how to get there. I was getting my laser treatment done when I asked the girl how far the beach was from where we were and she recommended that I take the 133 all the way because it dumps me right at Laguna Beach. I was familiar with the 133 because this is how I get down to Irvine to begin with. And this makes the return trip all that much easier to find. Anyways, as I suspected I was out of my appointment at 7 and made my way to Best Buy and got myself a car charger. That put me behind schedule a little but the sun was still up but not for long.
On the way I kept thinking to myself oh please make it before the sun sets, oh please. But then it hit me, the adventure was me even making the drive. I chose to then enjoy the trip itself because it was the experience of it all that makes it special!
I made it to the beach and was glad to find out that this is the same location we went for my birthday last year and I was fairly comfortable with where I was at. Everything went great! I parked and found that the parking meters stopped metering at 7pm. So no extra expenses to make this trip. I found a great spot and got out of my car quite honestly surprised at how easy of a trip this had been and how I couldn't believe I haven't been making this extra side trip EVERY time I've come down to Irvine, which happens to be every 4-6 weeks!
And when I got there I was blown away by the beauty of it. The rocks, the view, it was breathtaking! And there are so many great photo opportunities! And yes, I could have slapped myself for not bringing my camera. I was stuck taking a couple snapshots with my cell.
Here they are…
Then I met Kyle and Michael. Both were just jammin’ with their guitars and welcomed me to join them. They played a few songs, but Kyle sang and played “No Woman, No Cry”, and Michael picked a song he said was just for me “Am I Dreaming”. It was such a cute little song and he really did sing it *to* me… I was smiling ear-to-ear being serenaded to for the first time! I stayed as long as I could but it was only about 20 minutes with my new friends. I climbed back up to my car and as I put on my sandals I looked back to see Michael looking up at me and I waved goodbye thinking to myself, stuff like that doesn’t happen every day!
It wasn’t till I got in my car and I started thinking about the whole day and how this moment, this special 30 minute window, felt like it was God’s way of saying “I love you Charity”! I was overwhelmed with gratefulness. I started getting choked up because today really had been a difficult day for some reason and it was an awesome way to end it! First with me doing something completely spontaneous and independent, then meeting those guys and enjoying my short time at the beach! It was awesome! I do plan on going back to the beach every time I make that trip to Irvine but this visit was special.
Happy Birthday to me... (and my brother Brian hehe) - So I bought tickets to go see Bright Eyes in the end of September at the Hollywood Bowl! I got them for me and my brother Brian since 1) he was the one to introduce me to them 2) we both are into their music and 3) his birthday is a month before mine and I never know what to get him and I knew this would work. hehe I'm really excited! I haven't ever made an effort to see live bands other then Depeche Mode, even though I've wanted to. But I've been talking to my friend Jimi and well his interest in live performances made me realize it's something I've always wanted to do but never made the effort. I did as he suggested, signed up for some of my favorite bands mailing lists and as I did that (yesterday) I happened to notice that Bright Eyes presale tickets were going on sale this morning at 10am. So at 10am I went to ticketmaster and at 10 they still didn't have tickets available. So I called them up and bought the tickets over the phone! If you want to see where I'll be sitting click on the image and I'm in the first section over to the right (I marked the estimated location with a red check mark). Not too shabby huh!? hehe
Luau 6/15/07 - So I helped my mom plan a luau for the ladies of the church. I had so much fun shopping online for decorations! There are a ton of great things to buy for a luau! I'm really excited. It should be really cute and it'll be fun to get all the ladies together. I'm even setting up a little photo op display and am making cute little frames for the pictures I'll be taking. People can put them on their fridge or something. Not sure why I've gotten into it as much as I have. It's not like I'm planning on wearing a grass skirt and a pair of coconuts or anything! :'-D Anyways, it's gonna be fun.
Vegas 6/16/07 - I'm making an overnight trip to Vegas Father's Day Weekend. So I haven't decided if I'm going to drive up after the luau friday night (doubtful), or just wait till Saturday morning to drive up (more probable). I was originally making the trip out there to go see Roger Waters Saturday night but my friend flaked on me. His mom, whom he hasn't seen in 5 years, is coming into town or some lame excuse like that. ;) haha Honestly, I thought it would have been a cool experience but I'm not too disappointed. I had already set it up with my friend Debbie that I'd stay with her and her parents who live in Vegas (obviously). She lives in Utah and is going to drive out for the weekend. Total girls night out! I'm not a huge partier but if I know Deb this is gonna be a blast! We'll be having a grand ol' time! I will have to drive home Sunday morning though as it's Father's Day. This will be my first big road trip with my new car. I'm gonna have to make sure to get all my music picked out and ready to go. :D
Alliance - So I've gotten pretty comfortable with the concept of conducting the webinars for our new customers. At first it was such a foreign concept that it scared me to death. I know there are things I need to work on but I know in time that will all work itself out. I don't feel I'm leaving the customer with less information, it's just how I present it. At first I sounded too much like I'm reading a script or I run through the live demo's too quickly. They've just set up surveys (this is new so I'm not even sure if it was set up for my last class) for the customers to give feedback on how they thought I did. So hopefully those come back as positive as the merchant support feedback has been.
The CEO is taking my department out to dinner tomorrow night. We had a large project handed to us and we had to complete it along with our daily tasks. I was actually in the middle of training to become a webinar trainer so I don't feel I had a big role in helping other then taking on a lot more calls while the others worked on the project. But hey, I'm not complaining... Free dinner at a nice restaurant. I can handle that! :D
Well I think that's all I have time to update for now. There's more of course. Till next time...
