Much of the recent fun has involved them crazy internet people. Athena, Sasha and Isabelle were here. Wendy and Colleen are coming. La Wade's sister is floating around somewhere. And I know there's nothing more boring than a bunch of links and squee, unless you are the person who is being linked and squeed. Therefore, I will put the next paragraph in spoiler tags. Highlight at your own peril.

SQUEE: I finally got to meet Athena! I think of us as being very opposite, and I was expecting someone very sweet (because I know she is sweet and everyone always describes her as sweet) but perhaps a little reserved or uptight or something. Ha! Athena is sweet, but she's also fun. She's someone who I'd genuinely love to hang out with, and as much as I liked Athena before meeting her, I don't know that I would have expected that kind of personality click. And Ty is incredibly cute. Wait until you see Athena's pictures. Then there's Sasha, gorgeous and fun and Canadian as all getout. I loved her when I met her at Journalcon, and being able to hang out with her for a couple of days was awesome awesome. Move here, Sasha! Isabelle is a Suspect, but I didn't know her at all before she came to visit, and I really liked her. She bought me a drink in the solidarity of our fishnet-wearing, man-bashing sisterhood-- thank you, Isabelle! While I am in this safe haven of white text, I will also say how excited I am to see Wendy again and Colleen even more so, since I haven't seen her for three years! THIS CONCLUDES THE SQUEE.

I have a lot of projects piling up in my life in the meanwhile, and they are important projects which are determining my life direction! I think I may need to slow down for five minutes or so, because there is a lot I need to accomplish before my fourth of July vacation with Tim. (Not that we're going anywhere. Like everyone else, he's coming to San Francisco. This summer, I get to see a bunch of my friends with minimal effort.)

I am very excited about my new life projects and there is news! News! I have made some plans and decisions. In honor of my proactive approach to life, I will make a bulleted list. Nothing says "I am in control of my destiny" like a bulleted list.

I am leaning towards staying in the Bay Area, but moving out of the place where I currently live. I thought I wasn't going to be able to afford to stay here, but it looks like I can. I am financially afloat right now, and I like my various jobs. Plus the weather is perfect, the culture is unbeatable, and I have great friends here. In other words, I had this epiphany that I really like my life, and why on earth do I feel like I should abandon it? It's not time to go yet. Sometime, but not right now.

All that said, what really makes me unhappy is my current living situation. I need to live like a grownup, even if that means sharing an apartment with a roommate or something equally scary. I need a place with light and a kitchen. I need to escape my hobbit hole.

I am going to continue to look for full time work, and really go into high gear about the college teaching jobs. I'm going to start with local colleges, and take the door-to-door approach (recommended by one of my Starbucks customers who is a professor) and see if any of the schools need fill-in faculty for the fall. There are a zillion schools around here. I may as well shlepp my CV around and see if anything comes of it.

I tried Afghani food the other night for the first time. Yet another cuisine on the list of Food I Never Even Tried Before I Moved Here. The list also contains Ethiopian, Brazilian, and Nepalese food, as well as (embarrassingly enough) Indian food and sushi. This has absolutely no bearing on my life direction and doesn't really belong in this bulleted list, but I thought I'd mention it.

I am going to take two weeks at the end of August and go on a fabulous European vacation. One of the real advantages of my current situation is that I have the flexibility to do this. Plus, my parents are buying me a plane ticket for graduation! My cute little travel budget (thank you, Starbucks stock program) is going to go a long way. Right now I am thinking of five days in Holland, five days in England, and five days in Italy. ("But those countries are nowhere near each other!" "I don't care!")

I have to plan this trip quickly, because my sister and I need to be in Amsterdam for my grandmother's 90th birthday party on August 17. The whole fam is going to the party, and we are renting a canal boat and sailing through the city. I will be in Amsterdam again. I will see my older sister again! I cannot wait. And then there are the other two legs of the trip. I am hesitant to get too excited about them quite yet, but as plans solidify, I know I will have plenty to get excited about. I am already excited about one thing: poring over travel guides!

People have been encouraging my little Starbucks book idea. My poetry writing seems to be slightly languishing, so maybe this is a project I can put my hand to in the meanwhile. I feel the need for a good solid brainstorm on the subject, to see if it's viable. Behind the Green Curtain: Tales of a Barista. Hmm.

I think that might be the end of the bulleted list. And now, random pictures from my camera! I will try to avoid Randomly Artistic and go for Amusingly Captioned, but in the immortal words of David St. Hubbins, it's such a fine line between clever and stupid.