Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009!

Hi friends! I know I'm very overdue for a post, so here goes. I finished out the semester and got by with 3 A's, 2 B's, a C, and an E from a very ridiculous teacher. Not bad. I worked the first week of the break, then flew home with Tiffany on Christmas Eve. Shelby came and picked us up from the airport and we made it into Bakersfield about 9:30-ish. I stayed up and helped prepare for the Christmas festivities, then finally went to bed at 1:45-ish. I was awakened at a ridiculously early hour by the sound of the nephews anticipating their Christmas gifts. There's a funny story to insert here about Monica's secret plot to fool Jacob and Ezra into thinking the Wii Rock Band was for Tiffany and me. I'm too tired to write it all out, so feel free to read about it on Monica's Blog.

I got to hang out with some great friends, and it was sad that the vacation was so short-lived, but it was a good time all the same. We all piled into the Suburban and drove to Utah on Monday. It was a bit stressful, so I came home on Wednesday and had various people over at different times throughout the evening. I rang in the new year, had a glass of sparkling grape juice, and went to bed! I don't recall doing anything very substantative on New Year's Day, I think I just kinda chilled.

On Friday my loans finally came to me, so I went up to Salt Lake to buy my new car! Here are some pics!




























It's a 2001 Chevrolet Blazer, complete with 4x4, awesome upholstery, a 12-disc changer, and, the best part... a working engine! The dealer was great, he ran a CarFax for me, and apparently it used to be owned by Enterprise rentals. So that explains the immaculate condition. On the other hand, all of the speakers are blown. So I fixed that today. Anyways...

I ended up getting another new toy the same day. I had T-Mobile for years, and they were always great to me, until recently. They've screwed up my bill one too many times! So, when my contract ended in December, I vowed it was time to change it up a bit. I was planning on holding off until January or February, but the heavens aligned and my SIM card died. T-Mobile wanted me to extend to another 2-year contract and buy a new phone to give me a new SIM card. Wasn't gonna happen. So... long story short: I have AT&T now. And an iPhone. I used to think they were overrated, ridiculous, and for nerds. In fact, I still feel that way about most of Apple's products. Anyways, several friends have been trying to persuade me for months to make the switch. And it has been great. I now have a phone and an iPod all in one. And the App Store is amazing. I won't go on rambling about how great my new phone is. You'll just have to join the rest of the world and get a sweet phone/iPod/camera/GPS/slicer-dicer. Check it out here:


School. It's always stressful during the start of a new semester. It's hard to adjust to a new schedule, new classes, new teachers. Plus, I work at the Records/Registration (Recorstration) Office, so I get to deal with the influx of students adding classes or wanting transcripts, or blaming me for them dropping their own classes. Good times. But, the first week of this semester has been surprisingly bearable. Granted, work is never as bad as I make it out to be because I work with some of the best people ever and they make it awesome. Classes are going well. I'm taking an easy semester this time around a) because I need to get my GPA up with some easy classes, and b) because I'm kind of in a rut with the whole music program thing. So this semester, I am taking Spanish 321, ASL 101, Symphonic Band (of which I am 5th chair. I'm so proud!), Clarinet Lessons, Intermediate Latin Dance, Intermediate Standard Dance (ballroom), and D&C 325 (the second half). It's been so long since I've enjoyed going to classes every day, so this semester should do me some good.

Well, as Bret would say, "I think I might go to bed, I've got work in the morning." However, it is NOT Business Time, it's really sleep time.