I'm here! For a change! Work is going well. I had a terrible day on monday. We've had a communications problem with the waitresses. They seem to think that if they sprint to our tables ahead of us, and take all of the cocktail orders, and then hand it to us to go run to the bar, they're entitled to our entire tip. So the manager talked to them. So then they set out to prove the we cocktail waitresses are superfluous. Let me put it this way. It was so horrible I cried. How many of you have ever seen me cry? So right now we're treading a very narrow ledge as the management tries to sort us all out. The waitress in question has been talked to, not that it really changed anything. At least tonight it the Barbeque. I can have the wine all to myself tonight -- sell as much as I want with no interference. We'll see how it goes!

Drea and I are working on a quilt. It's been very exciting so far. Good bonding time and all that. Last night, we discovered that we'd put three of the strips on backwards and had to undo nearly half of our work. Suddenly quilting isn't QUITE as much fun anymore!

Here I am. I can assume that everyone has now stopped reading this, since I haven't been able to update it more than once every fortnight or so (yes, I'm reading Jane Austin again....) Work has evolved into a schedule. I only work evenings, so I spend my days finding stuff to do. I've been working on a quilt, jogging or biking almost every day, playing with my kitty (her name is Chloe - she's the sweetest cat ever!), cleaning my sister and my very diminuative room, or going to the library. I'll soon be volunteering there a few hours a week. No dating yet. I hope that will change soon...

Does anyone know someone in Waco who needs an apartment starting June first? I'm going to have to pay two months rent for breaking my lease unless I can find someone to take mine over....blech....

I went to the Alisal bar last night to catch up with Bill, the pianist on tuesday (and wednesday?) nights. He's playing for me on my two gigs this weekend, one for the republican Women's fund raiser thingy, and one for the PCPA. I'm really really really excited about singing for people. Maybe they'll decide to help further my career along as a tax write off -- whatever. Rich people are the cheapest people alive. Anyway, I started rehearsing, and some people came in. I remembered them from last year. They found out I sing and requested that I thrill their daughter with 10 bars from Oklahoma! I did. This year I sang for them. They're so nice. They actually tipped me. Isn't that a change for the better? now if only the rest of the people I sang for would do the same....wouldn't that be great? Nah, they consider me an oddity -- amply paid for my singing by my wages as a cocktail waitress....go figure....

Since I haven't begun working, and don't want to pay the 5 bucks a meal to eat in the dining room, I've been having peasant fare. Large hunks of bread, a slice of cheese, an apple, and a bottle of water. It feels so wholesome, so back to my germanic working class roots. That and all the physical activity I've been doing -- oh its so wonderful to get out in the sunshine surrounded by nature that's actually pretty, and not just struggling not to be desert, I wake up every morning with sore muscles and skin one shade of brown darker (brown is pushing it -- one shade of almond darker would be mush closer). And tearing off hunks of bread is so satisfying! No slices for me -- just grab the loaf and rip. Ok -- enough on that subject. i'm going to go read Jane Eyre again and get myself back into a Victorian frame of mind...

I've been here for a week. I'm so impressed with all the excersizing I'm doing. I've been walking for an hour in the mornings, and then biking the 2 miles into Solvang to check my phone messages once a day. How very exciting! I'm getting very brown. The freckles I hadn't seen in about 6 years are all making a point to say hi. I'm going to get a cat. Is that great or what? I'd like a kitten, but i live in the wild, and I don't want a poor defenseless kitten out roaming around and getting eaten by a snake or a wild dog. So, in that light, I think I'll get a grown cat. I have two favorites at the animal shelter. I'm going to go play with them again today to see if I can make up my mind.

I just changed my address forms. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing. Now if I could just turn of my electricity from the computer. Add that to my list of things to do for tomorrow....

I'm in California. I've moved half of my stuff into my new place. Now if Andrea will only find places for hers I could move the rest in. It's a lovely room. I think I'm going to get a cat. We walked here and there all day running errands, and i'm tired and sunburned. All in all not a bad day. The weather is beautiful! Tomorrow I intend to do........nothing! After I talk to my boss and the housing people....

I'm leaving tomorrow. I am. I'm going to get all packed up and out of here. If it kills me. I will do it. I want to start working, and make my place pretty, and stuff. I'm leaving. Tomorrow.