Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Final Farewells

Sunday was a day of well wishes and goodbyes. The morning started very early with a 3 a.m. drive home from the ER. I was diagnosed with asthma, and given an inhaler. It's quite frightening having your first asthma attack. Felt like my entire chest was sinking in. I started getting very dizzy, and struggled to remember how to do simple things like stand up. They had me take two puffs from an inhaler and my throat opened up in about two minutes. They sent me home with the inhaler; I've had to use it twice since Sunday morning. They said it might have been anxiety and stress related due to my upcoming move but to follow up with my regular doctor to be sure. I thought that was weird because I haven't felt stressed, only excitement. It doesn't make sense to me that it was a stress related asthma attack, but I am really hoping that's all it is and it will go away once I am settled in Oklahoma.
Seven hours after we got home, we headed to church. The pastors called me up and announced to the congregation that I am leaving the church. They prayed for me and said good luck. It was a weird thought, that soon I will be calling somewhere else, "my church". I have found two churches in the area that I am excited to try out, after watching some of their sermons online.



Right after church we headed home and prepped for a "Going away party". My friend Paul beat us there. He drove from S.E. Portland to hang out, only to have to turn around and leave an hour later for work. I was touched that he came such a long way for such a short time. My aunt and cousin also came from about two hours away.














My favorite family, the Nutters, all made a joint effort to make sure I am good on coffee while at college. One got me an electric water kettle, another got me coffee beans and the other got me a french press. I sent my future roomate a message on facebook about it cause I was so happy.

About 60-70 people showed up to say so long. My uncle and I were chatting for a bit, and he bet me that I would be back in Oregon within 5 years. I told him I'll place that bet on the lint in my pocket.
I put a blank book on a table and asked every one to write some well wishes and their best piece of advice. I laughed when I saw what my uncle had wrote.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

!!Everything's about to change!!

It's been so hard to juggle sorting, packing, planning, and working all in my schedule. Reality is starting to sink in. I have 19 days left in Oregon. 19 DAYS!! This time next month I will have already been in school for a full week. This time next month orientations will be done, syllabus's will have been read, homework will have been assigned, my parents will have returned home from dropping me off. It's no longer "in a few months" it's in a few days!
I am hanging out with friends, walking my favorite walking trails, doing my least favorite chores, all with the knowledge that these are my final days for a long time, that I will be doing all of this. I am no longer talking about my going away party, I am actually planning. Requested the day off from work two days ago.
My tv shows will be different. My food, my friends, my bed, my schedule, my climate will all be different in just 19 days! I have the next two days off and want to do nothing but sit and relax. It's something I haven't done in a long time, spend the entire day doing....nothing!
I went to sit outside this afternoon for some fresh air, and had to bring a blanket with me. In 19 days I will be in 100 degree weather. The weather was in the late 70's for three days this past week, before that was cold, then yesterday was rain, and today is cold. I am so looking forward to getting into warmer weather, but still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I will be in that warmer weather in 19 days! In 10 days I have my farewell party, 17 days I quit my job, and in 19 days I am Oklahoma bound! It's so exciting! Oh! I am starting to get rained on(lousy rain! . I better end this and find shelter inside :)

Thursday, July 5, 2012

32 Days: Pranks Galore

Being only a month away from leaving this town, a new sense of bravery has welled up inside of me. I am willing to do things that I normally would be WAY to embarrassed to try in public. But at this time when I see the strangers of this town I know, "I won't be embarrassed of what you'll think of me, cause in a month, I'll most likely never see you again."
There are some jokes that are just really not funny when the people know you. They are hilarious on unsuspecting strangers though. Recently I have seen a few lists of pranks that I told myself I wanted to do some day. I picked the ones that I was actually brave enough to do, and made my own list and told myself I wanted to accomplish them sometime in my next 70 years of life. With only a month left until I move 2,000 miles away, I decided now was the perfect time!
1. Follow joggers around in a car blasting "Eye of the Tiger" for encouragement. This was my first joke, and got the most responses. I went to the street behind the high school track. This street is a popular starting point for people's jogging courses. Ten times I came down the road blaring the song from Rocky, and ten times every all the people on the street turned their heads to look at me, and laughed. I gotta say, even though it wasn't my favorite joke, it was so much fun making at least 20 strangers laugh.
2. Run into a store, ask what year it is. When someone answers, yell, "It worked!" and run out cheering.
One of the jokes, I had to go to the store to buy supplies for. While down the isle I needed, I accidentally bumped into a lady. We both giggled and I said, "Oops, sorry."
I paid for my supplies, then stuck them in my purse. Walking out of the store, I saw that lady, I had bumped into, and decided she was the perfect victim for this joke. The joke I wasn't totally confident I could pull off. But sure enough, I gave it a try!
I ruffled my hair a bit, and calmly walked up to her as she loaded her groceries into her car. I asked her with a concerned tone, "I'm sorry, ma'am, can you please tell me what year it is?" At first she just laughed. But then she got a little uneasy when I kept looking at her waiting for an answer. Then she scrunched her face with confusion and answered, "2012" I hooted as I waved my hands in the air, "It worked! I'm back!" Then I ran away hysterically laughing.
3. Walk up to complete strangers and say, “Hi! I haven’t seen you in so long!” etc. See if they play along to avoid embarrassment.
I did this one twice inside of Walmart, before it got boring. But! Both times the people id play along. Ha! Ha! The second person went so far as to say "Awe, give me a hug!"
As she gave me a hug, I have to wonder if she'd heard of that joke before and was turning it around on me, because right in the middle of the hug I was sent into panic mode thinking, "Oh crap, have I really met this person before?!"
4. Make vanilla pudding. Put it in a mayo jar. Eat in public.
This is the one I was most excited to do. 4th of July parade, I knew was the perfect setting to try it out, when there were copious amounts of people present. I was really hoping for a reaction like I got with the joggers, but people were mostly silently gawking. As we walked back to our car, I passed one man who gawked, shortly laughed out loud, then turned around to watch me as we kept walking opposite directions.
On our way home my parents and brother stopped and went into the store. I decided to sit in the parking lot trying for more reactions. There I got my favorite reaction. A man in his late 60's to early 70's was dressed with cowboy boots and hat, got out of his car and said to me with a cute southern drawl, "May-yo-naay-zzz?!"
I smiled and answered with one word, "Pudding."
He grabbed his belly with one hand and bent over laughing. He swatted the air in front of him, and then slapped his knee, cackling the whole time. It was so fun hearing him walking away filling the air, "Hee, hee, hoo, hoo!"

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

July 4, 33 days

Today was the 4th of July parade, celebrating Independence Day.




I was trying out my hand at taking pictures with my wonderful camera. I was trying to get a picture of a cute yellow house out in the distance. But right as I did, my camera focused in on something else instead. I was squealing with excitement when I got on my computer, and discovered instead of a yellow house, my camera captured this:
During the parade, the group of kids were sitting in front of us, were about evenly numbered boys vs. girls. The girls were getting frustrated that the boys were getting so much more candy. One piece of candy fell at my foot. I laughed as I told my mom that I bet it wasn't because the boys were more aggressive, that they got the candy, it was because they are natural hunters and noticed the candy sooner.
We both laughed hard as I proved my point by throwing the candy right in front of the girls side. 4 boys rushed in front of the girls and raced to grab the lone piece of caramel. One arose as victor and picked himself up off the street, before the girls even bothered to look down at what was happening right in front of them. I had a lot of fun taking pictures. Here are some of my favorite from the parade
After the parade ended at 11, we went home for a bit. We had a party to go to at 2. Mom, my brother, and I all got ready, while my step dad decided it was a good time to work in his garden. 1:45 rolled around and my mom called out and told my step dad it was almost time to be there. Then we all sat around waiting for him until 2:30. Made me laugh!
On the drive to the party, my brother and I got to talking about the song we used to love, "The Devil Is Bad" by The W's Nick then got the cd on his phone, and blared it through his sound system. We both giggled with our memories of dancing around to it, thinking it was so cool. Then the next song came on that we had never heard, and was so bizarre, that we were both laughing out tears. Frank
When we pulled into the driveway, Nick blared The Devil Is Bad, again, as we hoped other would hear it and remember it. Sadly no one seemed to react.
At the party, I got some nice pictures, and a nice red hot SUNBURN! I know, isn't it terrible that I am so happy it's sunny enough to burn?!
Here are some of my favorite pictures from the party:
Finally....I finished the last of my planned jokes in and throughout our little town. Will have the full blog tomorrow!

Monday, July 2, 2012

35 Days

These days have just been flying by, and it's hard to remember to journal them all, but important to. I know I am going to love reading this blog down the road. Financial Aid was totally finished this past week with me sending in $142 that I currently owed. I've known for many months that I am for sure going, but the financial aid being complete this week makes it 100% certain.
It's a weird feeling, knowing that next month I will be living in another state. It keeps coming to mind and making me stop to say, "Woah."
Knowing that time is going fast, I am trying extra hard to make every day memorable. On Wednesday and Friday I went around town doing some practical jokes on the good people of Molalla. Thanks to my big brother, Nick, wanting to copy cat my greatest one, he left my supplies at his work. There fore I am waiting to blog about those hilarious days, for after I am able to pull off the best one.
On Thursday I called up two of my dearest friends, and we planned to get all fancy looking, and go around taking pictures. My friend's sister in-law gave two of us eyebrow jobs, and did our make up all amazing, making us look like true models. We had so much fun and so many laughs.

Sunday I was able to go to church for the first time in a long time. It's always such a nice feeling, being around other Christians(of course I'll get a lot of that with where I'm going in a month), hearing a good word, an seeing old friends. I think I have a new appreciation for church, since going 3 years working at a job where boss kept telling me I had to work every Sunday. I guess you don't realize how good something is, until it's unavailable.
I went to work at 2:30 and they sent me grocery shopping. I thought it was hard getting everything into one shopping cart, but then it cracked me up seeing my car packed with $200 worth of groceries.
One of the guys who lives where I work, I have mentioned in the past has violent tendencies. Sunday night he got aggravated because his allergies. One point during my shift he went into his restroom, ripped off the zip ties that were very tightly fastened, and a hard plastic toilet lid was sent flying in my direction, but thankfully missed me. Again I was left thinking, "That's something I never would have imagined happening in my life. Getting a toilet thrown at me." On Sunday at church, my buddy Clayton talked to me about this blog, which reminded me that I need to keep it updated. In the past I have tried my hand at blogging to gather a crowd of followers like my cousin's wife Jod a la mode but was unsuccessful. However, this time around, my goal is to write things down for myself to read in the future. So... Dear Older Anna, today is July 2, and you are shivering in a sweater!! You made the right choice in moving to a warmer climate!