Update!

So I went to vote today! I was worried about having enough energy to stand in line for up to an hour, but to my surprise there was only one person in line in front of me.

A few hours later I walked on over to the hospital to get my 3rd blood test of the week. The lab that I had become so familiar with from previous visits was a sight to see. Only one other person was in the waiting area and he had already been helped. Instead of waiting in a crowd of 20 like my earlier visits.

Since it has been a while since updating the blog, here are a few photos of what I've been up to this summer!

Here are some of my friends in SF celebrating Bronwyn's (pink dress) Birthday

At a wedding with old friends from high school

Playing with M-Bear at Jackson Plaza in Portland

Rogue River

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time.... Things have been busy, but fun! Since I don't have time to post about my rafting trip right now, I'll at least send you to my photo album link. Sorry, there are a lot of random pictures (of course, non of me). I realized that rowing your own boat takes a lot of work- packing gear, loading the boat, rowing, scouting rapids, unloading.... doesn't leave much time for picture taking.

Here are my Rogue Photos

Where am I?

Sprint distance____________ Where am I now?

Swim= .75k/33 lengths/.46 miles________ 1/2 length without lifting my head or stopping

Bike= 6.2k /12.4 miles________________ I can actually do this, Must work on time.

Run= 5k/ 3 miles ____________________ 2 minutes- tomorrow I aim for 3.5 min!

Tri Training: Swimming Part 1- What did I get myself into?

I'm planning on doing a Sprint Triathlon in San Diego with my cousin Erica and sister Jess. I don't know how they convinced me to do it. Actually, I love these ladies so much, they could convince to do almost anything! I wish you could all hear my inner voice during all of my attempts to be athletic... I really find me quite humorous, but since you can't, I figure I'll give you the jest of it in this blog.

Swimming, Part I:

I have a very real, but very irrational fear of jumping into water. Recently I have realized (within this last week, and confirmed tonight) that I associate the pain of water up my nose to putting my head underwater. Similarly, I do not swim with my head in the water, that was, until today.

My friend Amy (a swimmer) took me to the pool at her condo complex tonight to give me pointers, general breathing advise, etc.

Within the first 5 minutes in the pool-
-Oh look, I can put my head underwater and not drown or feel like my nose, lungs, and throat are burning!
-I made it across the pool!!! It only took me 2 minutes and 3 breaks!
-Now I just have to do this 40 more times, in open water, in a big crowd, in the ocean

Yeah, it was pretty bad for the first 30 minutes. I'd make it halfway across and would take in some water, freak out and stop. It definitely had one of those, 'What the Crap was I thinking' moments. After a while I moved to a different part of the pool where it was shallower and half a pool length. I figured it gave me an easier goal. Get to the other side without stopping using 2-3 breaths. Soon I moved onto taking a breath every other stroke, getting used to where my head should be and making fishy lips to avoid getting water in my mouth.

I finally took it as a success when I could go a half length of the pool without stopping. Not much, but I figure its the most I've every done considering I've really never been swimming with my head under. Learning breathing I guess is like riding a bike. If I can keep building on it, I might have a chance.

Other successes- swimming down along the bottom of the pool for extended amounts of time.

Swimming is quite a workout- different than biking or hiking... I was getting tired by the time I was done!

Well, I've rambled way more than I wanted. A few quick things though- If I can keep building on this start, I think it might be possible to be ready in Oct. Amy said I had good form, just need to work on the breathing. Next issue to tackle... running??? AHHH, that's worth it's own blog. I'll let you know how that goes... still building up from a 2 minute jog.

If you didn't notice, this is pretty much my brain spewing out random thoughts. Feel no obligation to read all of this Tri stuff. I figure it is a good way of seeing my progress, keeping my thoughts in one spot, and working to verbalize any challenges I might come across.

Booyah!

Hot, Passion and Motivation <---catchy title

It's hot. Plain and simple. Not the just the "nice weather, got to go run around outside" kinda hot, but the "blah, I don't want to do anything" kind of hot. In about 4 hours it will be perfect for a walk by the water or in the city, but til then I'm hunkering down inside. This will not protect me from the heat (this old wooden house seems to retain heat like no one's business), but at least it will shade me from the burning rays of the sun.

Anyway, my point of this entry was to avoid any real work that I had hoped to accomplish. This 'real work' is actually applying for jobs and internships that I am interested in. It is so easy for me to float along, working part time for my friend, lazying away the mornings or taking a few days off to go to theme parks, play tourist in SF, or go rafting. While there is nothing wrong with having fun, I have noticed that a limited income sometimes makes it tricky to have all of this fun.

That got me thinking on two things today. Passion and Motivation. I'm the kind of person who wants to be doing something worthwhile. I want to be passionate about my work, and therefore I want to work in an area I am passionate about. For the past few months I've noticed I've lost that passion, and it is about time to get it back. Strange as it may be, I am passionate about Geography and learning about the earth. That leads me to motivation.

I have realized that if I want to work in geography, I need to start somewhere. Having spent the last 3 years working in an unrelated field, I sort of feel like I am starting from scratch as far as experience. The interesting thing though, is that the thought of an unpaid internship working with geography sounds great to me (of course, paid would be nice).

My second burst of motivation came in a surprising way today. I had to run into the City for work this morning and later found myself on craigslist looking at apartment prices for SF. Now don't get me wrong, I love where I live, but the temptation of moving to the big city is out there. My rent in Oakland is a bargain, and yet I am barely making ends meet. What if I had a real income, though? Think of what I could save... or what I could splurge on? I'm not a person driven by money (as seen by my frugal budget on a 20 hr/week job), but it is motivating to think of what I could do if I wasn't "just scraping by".

Here is my list:
-get a personal trainer
-sponsor a child in India
-fly to Oregon to visit Chris, Jess, and the girls; Fly to Arizona to visit my close friend Suzie who just moved away.
-new bike (I'm a dreamer)
-Grad school (this will probably happen anyway, but saving sounds better than student loans)

Well, not much of a list... I guess it's my realistic list- my dreamer list would include: going back to Ukraine, travel, explore, travel, etc.

Anyway, it's still hot. I still haven't gotten those job apps. out. One of these days ; )

Miss Fit Beauty Pagaent and Scholarship Program

Warning! The Content Below Contains People Being Silly!

Yes, I am Miss Fit 2008. I'd like to say that it was worth the countless hours of preparation and intense training, but I actually was pretty close to dropping out of the event day of since I had no talent or outfit planned. Some of you may be wondering what Miss Fit is, and is it something I should actually be proud of. Indeed, it is a great honor that has been bestowed upon me.

Miss Fit- The beginning

Almost two years ago, my friend Katie came up with a great costume/character idea for Halloween. Why not be a beauty pageant contestant like Miss North Carolina, Miss America, etc. but make it a play-on-words and dress up as "Miss ...." (Misunderstood, Misplace). Of course, taking any opportunity to dress up in costume and throw a party, we decided we couldn't wait 5 months until Halloween and that is how The Miss Fit Beauty Pageant and Scholarship Program came about.

Miss Fit - The Details

Our friend Stephen graciously allowed us to use his house (the entryway makes a perfect stage) and he has also done a smash-up job as MC both years! While contestants get ready, guests mingle, munch, and write down questions for the interview portion of the competition. These people are the most important part since they also do the judging!

Miss Fit- The Competition

Evening Wear and Introductions
The judges finally meet the contestants and get to know some interesting facts!

From Left to Right (2008): Singing our opening song Amanda- Miss Fit 2007, Katie- Miss Guided, Suzy- Miss Understand, Erica -Miss Conduct, me - Miss Ing, Liz - Miss Information, Leah- Miss Creant.









This was my introduction as Miss Demeanor last year.


Bathrobe and Slipper
In place of the normal bathing suit competition, we decided that everyone might have a better time with a good old bathrobe portion.

From 2007 unless noted: Left- Erica is Miss Behave.... hmm.. let me reiterate that we really like to exaggerate our characters. Right-Katie is Miss Laid.




















Talent
A lot of people have real talents.... but most of us just fake it!


Miss Issippi breaking a board, Miss Laid making balloon animals out of condoms, and Miss Diagnosis sings a song.

Miss Demeanor (ack!! that's me!) tying a cherry stem in a knot, Miss Creant (2008) blowing smoke rings, and Miss Pronounced multi-tasking. What a talented crew!

Interview
Perhaps one of the most challenging parts of the competition. The audience makes up the questions and they have varied from 'Prove that you have a solid understanding of math' to 'Create a Poem (Haiku or limerick) about your mother'. Actually neither of those were real questions.... hmm...

Results
The judges vote, tallies are counted and the contestants return to the stage.

Before the winner is announced, the contestants vote on for one of them to win the honor of 'Miss Bitch'. Suzy (Miss Diagnosis) won last year!


The winner is then announced. Miss Issippi (Amanda) won last year. Nothing like Southern Charm and Tai Kwon Do!


Thanks to Brett for all of these awesome photos. He always sets up his fancy lights and gives us great shots!

I realize I didn't really have much of this year's event. Well, now you know the format, so when I get the pictures from this year you'll know what's going on!

Hot Weather

For the majority of my life I have despised hot weather. Who knew that this intense heatwave would bring on a new found joy for me. I was never good in the heat... I would shut down, flock to the shade and often breakout in hives. Why I am I now loving this weather? I love how the heat rises up off the sidewalk, lifting scents off of gardens and flowers.

Yesterday, while running around town getting ready for my friends fancy graduation party (I think event planning and catering has become my full-time volunteer job) I would think to myself every now and then, "this is perfect rafting weather". A hot gusty wind would blow down the street and I would be taken back to a river's edge where the afternoon heat would be picked up off of the baking rocks and turn into an upriver sauna breeze. This of course was usually quite hellish, especially when you had 6 miles of flat water to row in a head wind and not a shade tree in sight.

Why does this weather bring me so much joy? It must be all of the "fond" river memories associated with it. Somehow all of the fun times spent rafting has beat out all of those not so fun heat moments (112 degree heat on the Salmon a few years back might top them all).

On a side note, I'm feeling very.... well... Berkeley.. right now. See, I've been cooking dessert for 60 people this week and the house and my room are somewhat in disarray. Sadly, my deodorant has gotten lost in my room. I'm known for my love of long showers, but in an effort to conserve water, I've been waiting to take my shower this afternoon so I'll be all nice for the party. Needless to say, my pits are a bit sticky... Luckily, 2 spritz of perfume later, I must say it's not half bad. I'm sure you all were dying to know that!