Massage Chair Revolution

     For the first time in my employment history (I think), I had the 4th of July off!  I was so excited!  I think I freaked my boss out a little when I shrieked "WE GET THE 4TH OFF?!?!?!!?!?"

    After sleeping on a variety of futons and couches at the VS house, I headed back home on Wednesday evening.  BART still wasn't running, which made the trip about 3x longer than it should have been.  After I left the VS house with my big duffel bag, I took a bus downtown, then walked to the Transbay Terminal.  The next Transbay bus wasn't leaving for another 40 minutes (of course), so I decided to try my luck with the casual carpool section of the terminal.  People just stand by the road and wait for some strange person to pull up in their car and offer them a ride across the bay.  It's a win-win - the drivers can use the faster commute lane and the riders get a free ride over the bridge.  It sounds super sketchy, but doesn't seem to be dangerous.  I didn't see any white unmarked vans driven by creepy men with rat-tails, anyway... So I stood there for about 10 minutes and a lady pulled up and offered to take me across the bay.  People have been super nice about the whole "Oh, yeah, I see that you have no car and the unions are on strike and you need to get across the bay but BART isn't running because unions, so just hop in my car and I'll drive out of my way to get you where you need to go!"  So after taking 40 minutes to drive from the casual carpool to the on-ramp of the bay bridge (approximately 6 blocks, no kidding), and 20 minutes to drive across the bridge to a BART station (approximately 8 miles), Ben picked me up at the station and drove me home.  Total elapsed time - 2.5 hours.  It was kind of terrible.  

      Like I said before, I had off for the 4th, so Ben and I went into town at noon to go to the VSers potluck barbecue.  I was going to buy sweet corn at Safeway, but all they had were a few gap-toothed ears.  Disappointment.  There was a lot of food though, so it was ok.  And a lot of sun.  And the Madison VS unit!!!  The boy, Ted, knows Jonathan, and the girl, Taylor, went to Bethel and lived with Alyssa.  It was good to see another Bethel face.  We just sort of sat around and talked and got super sunburned (or maybe that was just me).  There were hamburgers and hot dogs and plenty of cider and plenty of no-bakes that slowly melted in the sun.  It was a great barbecue.  

Alyssa, Nora, Ted, Jonathan, Taylor

Alyssa, Ted, Jonathan, Taylor

No bakes!

Lemons don't grow in Madison backyards

   We left around 6 because we wanted to be across the bridge before all the festivities started in the city.  Festivities + no BART = traffic congestion like you wouldn't believe.  Around 9, we tried to go to the Berkeley Marina to watch the fireworks, but that was a no-go, so we headed up to a high place in Berkeley to watch instead.  It was thickly crusted with a solid layer of humanity, so it was less than ideal.  And the fireworks were 7 miles away in the city, so my pictures are terrible and I didn't keep any of them.  Disappointment.  That night, I got like zero hours of sleep because my neighbors were lighting firecrackers and I was freaking out about having to take the casual carpool on Friday to get to work because BART STILL wasn't running.  I woke up at 5:15 and gave myself 2 hours to get to work.  Guess what.  I didn't need it.  So I sat in the hospital cafeteria and read Harry Potter for an hour before work.  

    Work was crazy - all of my dispatchers were on vacation except for my director, so he and I ran the office.  And then two of our four Spanish interpreters called in sick, and somehow a really long Russian assignment was missed, and there wasn't enough coverage for any of the languages that we offer and all of the departments were frustrated with us because of it and it was just hectic all day.  After work, my director gave me a ride home, we talked about Mennonites and Guatemala on the way, and then I took myself out to eat because Ben wanted to go to a house party in the city but I thought I'd be pretty pooped if I tried to do that after getting zero hours of sleep.  So now I'm doing laundry and planning to go to bed early.  Cuz that's what the cool kids do in Berkeley on a Friday night. 

    I'm not sure what we're doing on Saturday - Ben emailed me and told me to pack a swimsuit and plan for 60 degree weather.  I don't think those two things go together.  Guess we'll find out.

Pride has the best signs

In the wake of the recent SCOTUS-overturning-DOMA party in San Francisco, the annual Pride parade also happened. Evidently it was the biggest parade in the history of the event, probably because DOMA was overturned three days before, and people were lined up outside of the courthouse to get married. There were SO MANY people with “just married” signs and stuff. It was the best. My favorite part was the opener, led by the Dykes on Bikes – a bunch of lesbian women with some seriously noisy Harleys. 

 Also Safety Kurt – the safety supervisor for the parade. He was a very enthusiastic dancer. 

 AND THEN NANCY PELOSI SHOWED UP AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! Evidently Michele Bachman said some sort of ridiculous thing about gay marriage, and when asked about it in front of the press, Pelosi was like “Eh, who cares?” which is pretty much the best response anyone could ever give to Michele Bachman.

 

In other news, BART workers are on strike. So I'm trespassing on the VSer's hospitality so that I can save a 2-hour one-way bus commute across the Bay to get to work. Hopefully both sides get things figured out soon, because it's really inconvenient.  

A Visit from the Histands

      Ben's parents, Gary and Carla, stopped by the Bay Area on their way to China for the summer. They're helping to lead an English-teaching program that's somewhere north of the Korean border. Gary tried to show me where, using an elaborate hand-model of China, but my Chinese geography is limited enough that trying to use one's thumb to illustrate the Korean peninsula was not going to be of much help. They spent most of their time with Ben, but on Saturday, we all piled into Ben's little Festiva and headed into Marin county to see the redwoods.

      We hit Muir Woods at 4 minutes to 9am, which was AWESOME, because the second parking lot was only partially full AND we didn't have to pay admission! A little tip for you Bay Area folk – get there early, the place fills up like you wouldn't believe! It was a little “chilly,” so we got some hot beverages to warm us up, and then headed into the forest. It was very beautiful. Here are a bunch of photos.

       After Muir Woods, we drove up Hwy 1 a little ways to the town/beach of Stinson Beach. It was getting hot by then, and the beach was crowded enough that we had to park the Festiva in this weedy overflow lot. It was like parking at the State Fair! The sand was super hot. We had to run really fast over it or else our feet would burn! We walked down the beach maybe a mile or so, then came back.

We drove back down Hwy 1 and stopped at a few scenic places to hike around a bit.  

        Once we were away from the ocean, I realized that I was totally pooped, so I slept on the ride home. And then I took a nap while Ben's parents packed up their stuff. We drove them to the airport and then stopped by at our friend Katie's house. It was her 1-year SF-versary party, so we met some of her work friends, and chatted with the SF VSers and the Fresno VSers who were unexpectedly along. It was a good night. 

MCAT

      Well, I got my results back from the MCAT.  They were less than satisfactory but I still have a fighting chance at getting into medical school.  So that’s the plan for the next year or so.  Ben also wants to go to business school for a Ph.D, and being the smarty-pants that he is, has the pick of pretty much any school in the entire world.  So now we’re on the lookout for doctor schools for me and smarty-pants business schools for him that are located in the same city, or at least within a few hours of each other.  Complicating this whole deal somewhat are my scores, which as previously mentioned, are somewhere between “abysmal” and “mediocre,” which shuts me out of smarty-pants medical schools.  It’s probably for the best, though.  I think that if I graduated from a place like Harvard Med or Yale Med or Johns Hopkins Med, I’d have my nose in the air to such a height that I’d drown if it rained.  Ben is more modest than I, so graduating from a smarty-pants business school would probably have no effect on the vertical tilt of his nose. 

       Nasal position aside, the plan for the moment is to apply to an osteopathy school, which is something that I’ve been looking into for quite awhile now.  A doctor of osteopathy (D.O.) has the exact same abilities as a medical doctor (M.D.) to write prescriptions, see patients, prescribe treatment, etc.  Additionally, and this is the part that I like a lot, osteopathic physicians receive extra training in holistic patient care, meaning that they are more inclined to check out underlying causes for, say, back pain, rather than just blindly tossing muscle relaxants at it.  They are also trained to do some musculoskeletal adjustment which can also be used in lieu of medication in some cases. 

      I’m looking at a D.O. school in Des Moines pretty hard, as well as others in Philadelphia, Indiana and Chicago to appease Ben in his search for a smarty-pants business school.  I’ll probably also apply to KU Med, since it’s in Kansas, and as a Kansas resident, I should have somewhat of a leg up on the competition.  At least that’s what I’ve heard.

      So that’s the story for now.  I am cautiously optimistic. Guess our summer will be spent on applications and other boring things like that.  We’ll see what happens.  

BILLIONS OF CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          Ok, not billions. Fewer than ten. Between 6 and 9. It's hard to count them when they're all running around like adorable little juggernauts. The San Francisco Mennonite church is experiencing exactly the opposite of pretty much every other Mennonite church I've ever been to. Rather than being full to the brim of adorable old people with big glasses and quavery voices, our church is full to the brim with young people, particularly young adults between 20 and 30 and small children. It's really the best thing ever.

          As I've mentioned before, the FMCSF people living in the East Bay (Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda, etc) have a long-standing tradition (maybe not, I've been here for less than a year, it could have started 12 months ago and I wouldn't know any different) of getting together at one or the other of their houses for supper. Just supper, just an hour and a half or so of eating together and letting their children run around and scream and play with each other's toys. They also play fun-sounding made-up games, like “Super Sneaky Spies” that I'm really jealous of. All my sister and I ever played when we were that age was “Meet,” a game in which we ran in circles around the house and screamed loudly whenever we crashed into each other. It was super fun back then.

         This week's supper club was in Oakland, at a park overlooking Lake Merritt. Grillmaster Dave and his wife Heidi were hosting a BBQ. We had cheeseburgers, watermelon, chips, beer, and croquet. Also grilled strips of red bell pepper, which at first glance looked enticingly like bacon, to which Dave replied “.... Yeah... this is the Bay... not Kansas...” I'm just going to fill up the rest of this post with pictures of everyone's kids, because they are seriously the most adorable kids I've ever met.

Grillmaster Dave

The Gray's son Gabe; Jake and Leila

Leah, demonstrating her thoroughly Cheeto'd fingers

Nora.  Probably the most adorable child I've ever met. 

Gabe.  A.k.a. "Calvin."  All he's missing is a stuffed tiger. 

Supper club in the park!

Karin and Leila

Grillmaster Dave and Nora

Kevin got in on the fun children's games

Karin, Jake, Leila

Friesen/Gonazalez Wedding, Denver

       Last weekend, I flew to Denver to do the photography for Elizabeth Friesen's wedding. And may I just say, it was a great wedding, and wonderful to see my friends again. But first, the story of the WORST DAY OF TRAVEL EVER.

        My flight was supposed to leave at 10:35, so I made sure to give myself an hour to take BART to the airport, and an hour to be sure that I have enough wiggle room. I left the house at about 8:00, just to be safe, and walked to the BART station. The announcements were saying something about a delay in the Transbay Tube, under the Bay, but I figured “eh, they're city people, a delay is probably like 20 minutes or something.” So I squeezed onto the train and went to the next stop.

         We were held at that stop for 20 minutes, waiting for congestion on the track ahead to clear up. One of the 2 tracks under the bay had malfunctioned, leaving just one track for to-and-fro traffic under the bay. At rush hour. I freaked and called Ben, who said he could come pick me up and get me across the Bay in about 15 minutes. Five minutes after that, the train left the station, so I told him not to worry about it and to just go to work. At the last stop before the Tube, our train was held for FORTY-FIVE MINUTES. It was awful and I was positive I would miss my plane. Finally, we were allowed to go through. Then we were held at the first stop across the Bay. I deboarded, determined to find another, more reliable transportation to the airport (I'm not sure what I would have chosen, had it come down to it). As soon as I made it up the escalator, the train left. Fortunately, there was another train to the same destination just behind it, so I hopped on and rode all the way to the airport.

          Once I got to the airport, I SPRINTED through it, trying to find the correct security screening point. By the time I reached it, I was sweaty and nervous and shaky because I was sure I was going to miss my plane. I was also positive that I would be pulled aside by the TSA for acting suspicious! Luckily, I wasn't, and I made it to the gate on time, and got on the plane, where I proceeded to pass out for almost the entire flight.

          One of Elizabeth's aunts picked me up at the airport and drove me to the wedding site, near Grand Lake, CO. We got spectacularly lost, but saw some beautiful scenery. Like I said, I was doing the photography for the wedding, so I threw down a quick supper of buffalo chili and fudge, chatted with the 9C girls and Brian, and then took a quick walkabout with the director of the place to see the available scenery.

The next day, I got up INCREDIBLY EARLY to check out the lighting and to go see a location that the director had recommended for some post-wedding couples' shots. It was a very beautiful spot, and on the way back, we saw a giant moose! I took some pictures, naturally. After that, it was time for a nap before the pre-wedding photography and then the wedding itself.  

The wedding went very well, and the photography, though pretty stressful, was a good challenge for me. I had borrowed Alyssa's hot-shoe flash for some of the indoor shots, and I'm really glad I did, because there's no way I could have done it with just my pop-up (not to mention, I'd look like some sort of amateur!) After the wedding was the reception and a dance. Brian and I did some swing dancing, which was awesome, and then all the Bethel folk gathered into a circle and belted “Wagon Wheel” for the last song. That was really a nice end to the evening.

But the evening wasn't over yet! There was an afterparty in one of the lodges, and we all stayed up til past 2, playing games and catching up.

The next morning, we headed out again for some couple's shots. For some reason, I had assumed that 8am would be early enough to catch the magical morning light. It wasn't. So that was another challenge to deal with – direct, strong mountain sunlight. But I think I got some good shots. I've included a few here, a preview of sorts.

      After the photography, I hitched a ride to Denver to hang out with Martin Olson until my flight left the following day. We had delicious falafel with his family, and then walked down the Denver Mall, an outdoor shopping center that is actually way cooler than I thought it would be. We even ran into a chalk art festival!

       

        The next day, we walked Lady the Airdale terrier, visited a park that was once a cemetery, saw the new Star Trek, and then, unexpectedly, Nicky Smith was in town! So we met her, walked more dogs, had tacos, and then we both had to leave.

 It was good to see them again, even if I had just seen them two weeks ago at Bethel. Whatever. At this point in my life, I'm not going to complain at the frequency with which I see my Bethel friends.

I'm not dead!!!

I know, it's been like a month since I posted.  I could have dropped off the face of the earth and no one would know, except for the absence of my incredibly witty Facebook status updates.
A quick recap:
1. Ben and I went to a SF Giants game.  They're the baseball team in town, and they won the World Series last year.  They played the Phillies, who are from Philadelphia, where Ben is kind of from.  The Giants lost pretty hard to the Phillies, but it was interesting.  I've never been to a professional game before, so it was kind of cool.

2. We went to the Berkeley Rose Garden, which is stuffed full of roses.  Hence the name.  Some of them were as big as my face!

3.  A few of the church people are in musical groups, and they gave a benefit concert for HIV research.  Bluegrass and rock, unplugged.  It was really fun!

Addie and the Subtrax.  Addie is Naomi's cousin!

The Stone Foxes, aka "The Brothers Plaid"

4.  Then my grandpa Unruh died a few days before I was going to head back to Kansas for Bethel's graduation, so I rearranged my work schedule and did that.  Here is a picture of my friend Helen Schmidt.  She is THE BEST OLD LADY EVER and I love her.

5.  Bethel's graduation was great.  I saw the college again, which I love;  I saw most of the girls in my mod; and I got to see my friend Brian graduate.  He and I have been friends for more years than we haven't, and it was good to see him again.  We did all sorts of things together when I was back home, most notably going to Newell's for midnight cheese fries with friends.

Love this building.

Whoo, 6B!!!  Obviously I didn't get the clothing-coordination memo. 

Here's to 13 years. 

Cheese fries.  Evan's face says it all - the "Oh god yes" and simultaneous "Please, no, you'll regret it"

Ok, do you all feel like you're up-to-date on my life?  I know, it was brief, but seriously, I'm still really busy. I'm making a skirt and it's a lot harder than I thought it would be, so I'm saving my creative energy for that, rather than writing incredibly hilarious posts.