Notes

So, since so much has happened, but yet not much has happened, I figured I'd write a couple comments/notes on life and life occurrences.

Work

Well, I'm "officially" at the grill and have fulfilled a few orders, though I am still not confident in what I'm doing, nor am I sure of how many fries go in a basket/large order of fries, or exactly how to make 'this' or 'such and the like.' But, it's a learning experience. I'm also learning, slowly, how to make sandwiches...those scare me the most, especially when there is a HUGE line of people. : / Not quite sure what to think. But.....I did learn - through another experience - that we use RICE oil to fry our food. I thought that was interesting.

Oh! And, this last Monday, with all the craziness, the person who hired me, she was there, and she and I were moving like mad to try and get all orders filled. I was SUPER nervous, as I wasn't sure what she would think of me and my "ability" to work and the like. But, that was a new experience...to say the least.

Volunteering

So, I find myself volunteering here and there for v

arious things. It's nice, but at the same time, it's one more thing. I wouldn't trade my experience thus far for anything. Recently, this last Wednesday, I helped out at the "Out of Sight" dinner for Disability Awareness Month, and though many attendees had bad attitudes at first, I

think MANY were changed, and many left with a different perspective. I was in charge of the vision imparment - no irony there - 'cause I was the only one who knows how to use a cane properly and effectively, AND can teach how to use it with students. The dinner, I felt, didn't go as well as last year, but it could have gone worse.

Alternative Break

So, speaking of volunteering, I was accepted into the Alternative Break program. Alternative Break (AB for short,) is an opportunity for students to spend a week of their holiday break doing a service project(s) with a designated organization - picked by the trip leaders. So, I applied again this year, and I was accepted for one of the spring trips; I am going to Montana to (I think this is what it is) work both with a homeless shelter-place and at a animal care place....something like that. All I know is that it is kind of like a "dual" service trip in that we aren't JUST going to work at a food bank, or JUST work at an after school program...

8 Surface Rule

So, a shout out to my aunt Carrie for teachingme the 8 surface rule when it comes to cleaning/dusting/etc. I have found that EXTREMELY helpful as I work....especially when I am (usually) the one stuck cleaning tables at the end of the day/shift. If ALL are dirty, and quite frequently it happens - since the deli people aren't really that responsible and hardly do it, except when Gary asks them - and there are [roughly] 48 tables to wash. To wash/clean: spray with degreaser and rub that on. THEN, get a different towel wet with bleach/sanitizer water and wipe down the table. Lots of work to do. Not complaining, just don't like being the "only" one to "always" have to do it. Oh well; such is life, I suppose.

Human Clue

Most recent "attraction." So, our house just recently did a live, HUMAN clue. It was fun, and we used several rooms in the house as the rooms in the actual game. We had ten suspects. There was a poster board with everyone's picture and info on it, and then the clues around gave a hint as to WHO done it, WHERE they done it, and HOW it was done. It was fun and there was food ranging form sushi (tasted good,) artichoke dip on...bread (of some kind,) candy corn, pistchio cookies (made by yours truly) and other hourdeurvs. We had a handful of trick or treat-ers and just had a relaxing evening overall hanging out, taking pics, etc. Some gals ended up playing the board game "Clue" and at 8pm (I think was the time) we all gathered to sit down and watch the Extreme Makeover Home edition, which was the airing of the OSD (Oregon School for the Deaf.) It was cool to see that actually come live after reading an article in the Statesman Journal and hearing stories and seeing pictures of those who could go.....It was a VERY relaxing and enjoyable evening. I am glad I had the opportunity to spend time with my gals! = )

Too much more is happening to go into too much detail and list everything - like I haven't even touched on the "Out of Sight Dinner," but know that I am SUPER busy and staying out of trouble. I am struggling with many things, as do many college students, but I am getting through them day by day and trying not to stress too much. Until I find some time, or enough short bits of time to accumulate enough of a message to post, take care and God bless!

50¢ Burgers

Yikes!

Yesterday at work, there was a special deal in which the first 300 people could purchase a burger, small fry, and a drink (12 oz.) for 50¢. Yikes! The line at times just seemed ENDLESS. What was worse was that the little ticket/stubs/etc. that the people had were supposed to be stapled to a copy of the receipt. Well.....the way that the machine works is that it prints the order, then one is supposed to print the receipt. When that is done, I can't just print another, but I have to manually go in and say "Re-print Receipt," then enter the order number, THEN press "clear" which then reprints another copy of the receipt. Ug. So...I had to do that for around 2o0+ orders. - We didn't actually serve the full 300 people, which was kind of nice. - But boy were we busy! The people at the grill were amazing! In fact, they were "faster" than us, i.e. they ended up making several "birthday specials" at once. Oh: sorry. "Birthday specials" was the 50¢ deal. The university center is covering the rest of the normal cost of what it would be; but since this week is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the building, it is a special they are doing. Back in the 1960s that combo of food cost 50¢. I personally don't know this 'cause I wasn't alive back then. How then do I know? Well, I wrote the article in the paper the previous week about the 50th Anniversary/Birthday celebration and all the festivities.

Needless to say, work was crazy busy. This last Saturday was like a full day of work for me as I finished my two articles and then tried to send them in with pictures to my editor. Grrrrr. Internet is STILL not working. : ( My house mum knows, and she keeps encouraging me to keep telling her every once in a while, but the guy/technician KNOWS things are wrong and he is working on it, but I guess as of late, he doesn't know WHAT is wrong, per se. Rather, he just knows something is wrong. For whatever reason, the newer part of the house is having trouble receiving the signal or something. I don't know. But now my computer can't pick up the signal and keep it. It used to not be an issue; I was always able to pick up some network, but now: (just about) nothing! : /

So.....fighting with the sparatic internet was interesting to try and send in my articles that were due Fri. night/Sat. afternoon-ish. Goodness. That took ALL day. Plus, I still had to get one more interview in from one of my girls, since one of the articles was based on the pumpkin patch experience we had last week Wed. But....I got it done.

Sadly, Sat. took up so much time, that I didn't get the chance to really work on my linguistics homework. So, I did most of it Sunday. Sadly, I got stuck, so I asked a roommie who took it last year and she was able to help on one or two pretty easily, but the last "task" was HARD. Anyone who might be reading this good at linguistics? Phones, phonemes, allophones, allomorphs, morphemes, morphs, complimentary distribution, free variation......any of that ring a bell? I knew linguistics would be hard, but I didn't realize how hard. I thought it might be a bit easier since I've already taken a class in linguistics (back when I was taking Spanish and....yeah, had that "interesting" experience) and the first two weeks were good. I felt confident and things felt fine, as if it wasn't so bad. Then it took a turn for the worse and became super challenging. Hmmmm....anywho. Will review more a little later this morning and hopefully something will click; if not, I'm just going to have to give it the "ol' college try." - Quite literally.

This week will prove to be oober busy as it not only is midterms - which I'm scared for my linguistics midterm Thur. morning - but I also have something going on every night. Tonight I work and then might possibly call someone in regards to a possible article topic, Wed. is the "Out of Sight" dinner as part of the Disability Awareness Month activities, Thurs. I have a "party" I'll hang out at for a bit and then go to ASL Club - I missed it last week due to a commitment I had made about two weeks ago, but forgot at the time that I had ASL Club, but what I did - which I can't really say directly [I'm sworn to secrecy...unwritten] - I don't regret and I enjoyed myself. But, it'll be nice to get back into the swing of things and get back to signing again. In any case, then Fri. (I think it is,) there is a Clue party/Halloween celebration at my house, Sat. brings the cider press activity with the youth and college aged groups through my church, and then Sun. night yields the harvest party in which the youth of the church can enjoy games, activities, etc. which includes the cider we press the night before! It'll be a crazy-insane week, but it is filled with so many fun activities and really cool things, I just don't want to miss them all, especially with all of the fellowship and support.....I'm starting to kind of see why I am here in Monmouth. As much as I may not like how I am limited, everyone seems to be behind me 100% and supportive. Everyone listens to me, believes me, sympathize/empathizes with me, and it is a TON more supportive than I think I could find elsewhere right now. Everything seems to be "right" - as much of a struggle life may seem - and I am so much happier here around the people that care most about me, and being around the positive environment that will best help me get where I need to go. Where that is? I dunno. But I'll try my best to enjoy my journey there. In the meantime, I'll do what I can and enjoy what opportunities come my way.

Well, off to another day. Class, break, work, girl's night "Bible study"/girl's night of support/encouragement/break from life/etc. Can't wait for tonight. Hopefully in class today I'll be able to ask questions and get things cleared up to where I feel comfortable enough and ready for the test.

Time Slips On By Sometimes Leaving Me Behind

So, I need to make this quick so I can get some sleep before volunteering tomorrow.

Wow! What a time I've had recently. Already the end of week four; midterms are next week and I don't feel ready for my linguistics class, but I'll study and do my best. My ASL class I'm not too worried about; I've already done all of the VLOGS (Video Blogs) for class so far. And, our teacher hasn't said anything really about a "midterm" (i.e. hasn't made a big deal about it. We namely do discussions and take weekly quizzes to make sure we are attending and understanding.) I feel more comfortable with signing now, but know that I'm still not that skilled.

Yesterday, six of us girls made a trip on down to the pumpkin patch...which one? We didn't know. We all crammed into one car - which we didn't know there was only one car - and started driving to....nowhere really, since we didn't have a plan, I guess. But we found one and spent about an hour there...or so. We all got pumpkins and plan to carve them as a group. Those who couldn't make it this week are planning on going next week; I'll probably go again. I have kind of become the photographer for house events like this. : S Well, if everyone enjoys it, might as well, right? (At the end, I've attached some pictures.)

Work this week was HORRIBLE. Monday I was batting a thousand, doing everything wrong. Not to mention that they put me AT/on the grill, and I had NO idea how to make it, and they were trying to teach me (verbally) how to do things, and I wasn't that successful. : (

THEN....Tuesday, when I went to go close, NOBODY was there. So, I tried my best to do the compost, recycling, wiping the counters, doing as many of the dishes as I could and so on and so forth. I hadn't been shown how to do the salad bar, so I couldn't have done that - not to mention I found out the next morning that the produce hadn't come in. Speaking of the next morning, I got chewed out by a supervisor-personnel. She said that she wasn't chewing me out, but everything she was saying, how she said it, and so on and so forth was telling me opposite. She was accusing me of things I had no idea happened/didn't happen, was saying I didn't do anything (in less direct words,) and was just negative, negative, negative. : ( I almost cried, but I was able to hold it in. I felt AWFUL and it was so HARD to shake it off and do work for the next hour or so. But, yeah, I knew she was upset with me and blaming me. But there are people who come in after me and are supposed to clean up and "truly" close the kitchen. I just help. And, as I'm being chewed out, praise God there was another gal there who was trying to defend me - I tried, but this supervisor wasn't listening nor believing me - and was so supportive of me and my cause. Then, after I am blamed and condemned (I'm sure she wanted to fire me then and there,) THEN I'm told these little "secrets"/"helpful hints" about how they want me to run/do things when I close. Oh! AAAAAAANNNNNDDD I was condemned for being "slow." - I was hardly ever still for the whole time I was there; granted, I wasn't running around, but I was always moving, looking for something to do and clean, etc. So my batting average sank lower. I just hope tomorrow isn't bad. I've had a bad week already, I don't want to end it poorly.

But......though I can't say what exactly it was I did, I have had two positive nighttime experiences (last night and tonight) that have lifted my spirit and have encouraged me. Tomorrow will be the third and final night for some time, but that's okay. It'll help me get through this week. All I can say is that this week is homecoming here at WOU, and I've helped out some with that.

Oh! I am also back on with the Western Journal, the school paper, and am writing (on average) two articles a week! Whooo! I'm excited about this next week's articles. Both are based on personal experience and one is purely...opinon/my choice topic based. The other is specific, but because of the topic, I can write it based off of what I have experienced, although I need to interview some of my girls here before the weekend. Eeeek! I forgot about that. : S So, I'll try to do that after work. I'll need to do a bit of research - if I can find the info I'm looking for - and then just sit down and write both articles. I've started one and have an idea of how I wish to start the other. But we'll see. The most o

opinionated one I'm struggling with to find the words I want to say/express myself. I'm hoping it will turn out right. Every time I want to say it - like when I'm showering and thinking out loud - the BEST ideas come to me, but I never remember them long enough to write them down or I can't remember everything; thus, each consecutive try thereafter is worse. : ( *sigh* Oh well.

I think that is it for now. I think that is enough to catch up on me - more or less. Hope I didn't bore you too much. ; ) Hope all is well with whomever is reading this. May life bring you many blessings and good health. Take care & God bless!