The Last 9 Months Can't Be Contained In One Post...

Look at me! I'm on a roll! Two posts in two days!! I guess I must be bored. Abby and Trent left to go back to Texas, and I have yet another day off. Well, actually it's more like half a day off since I'll be working at 6pm. It was really sad for me to see them go. They've been keeping me company for the last month and it's a hard adjustment. It was fun to have them around. We got to do all sorts of fun things. We actually went shopping a lot, mostly because of Christmas. I almost dread the holiday season here in Fairfax. The traffic is TERRIBLE. After living in Alaska with barely any traffic and Skagway not even having stop lights, it's a huge change. It takes forever to get anywhere around here! One day, Abby, Trent and I went to Tyson's Corner Mall which is about a 20 minute drive under normal circumstances. Driving there wasn't bad, a little traffic but not much delay. Well on our return trip home, it was 'rush hour' and a 20 minute drive took 3 hours!! I had to break out my GPS to find a back road way to get home in order to avoid taking the highway. As a general rule though, here in Fairfax, traffic is generally just bad. Some days are better than other days, but it usually just takes longer to get places. A lot of times it's just because the traffic lights take forever. You can wait at some of them for as long as 5 minutes! Not to mention the crazy drivers too! Some people just shouldn't be allowed to drive. I'm a firm believer that when someone renews their license they should have to retake the written exam too. It would force people to refresh their memories on how to drive properly. For example, just yesterday I almost had an accident with another car as I was turning out of a shopping center. I was at a red light and looking to turn right. It was a double-lane road and my turning lane was clear, so I began to make my turn. Out of the blue, a car in the left lane, decided to change lanes in the intersection and almost side-swiped me. The driver then proceeded to honk at me! Now I will admit, that if the result had been an accident, it probably would've been my fault. BUT people are always in such a hurry, trying to weave in and out of traffic that it poses unnecessary danger to others. Had the other driver waited until he'd gotten out of the intersection BEFORE changing lanes, a possible accident could've been averted. One other thing I've noticed about the drivers here in VA that I haven't noticed anywhere else is their turning methods. So say you're turning left onto a road with two lanes going in each direction. Are you not supposed to turn into the innermost (i.e. left) lane? Then if you need to, you may merge into the outer (right) lane? Well apparently, people here in VA do it backwards. It's nothing horribly dangerous I suppose, but it's a little thing that irks me. I'm a professional driver, so I guess driving flaws are more noticeable to me than to other people. Moving on...

As an early Christmas present, Trent gifted me WoW and bought my first months subscription. He had tried getting Abby into it, but she didn't really like it. I was his next recruit. So I started playing, and I must admit, I still don't really see the point of it BUT it is a pretty fun game. I haven't decided whether or not I will pay the $15/month to keep playing, but I'm tempted. I guess it depends on how much time I'll have to play. Once both jobs kick in, I'll potentially be working 7 days a week. I won't be able to play in Alaska at all since the game runs on Internet and Skagway Internet would not be able to run the game fast enough. I guess we'll see, but I suggest everyone should at least try it.

After Christmas was over, came the New Year! I can't believe it's 2010! I remember when 2000 rolled around! All the silly hype about Y2K! How people thought all the computers would crash with the Y2K virus. Or that they wouldn't be able to calculate the year 2000. I remember my Dad had to stay at work that night to monitor the computer systems and so me, my sister and my Mom all went to his office. We brought our traditional New Years party snacks and celebrated 2000 in the conference room. How things have changed! I was 12 years old then, barely even knew how to navigate the internet and now here I am about to turn 23!! Gosh I'm getting old! I wonder if I would have admired myself back then, if I knew how I would turn out in 10 years? I wonder how my life will be when the year turns 2020? As for my projects these next few months, I need to get back on my diet. I've kept off the 20 pounds I lost last winter, but I think I need to drop another 20 pounds or so. I also need to start saving money in order to buy a car to take to Alaska. In the Fall, I plan on returning to school somewhere. I'm considering Western Washington University if I can get in. If not then I'll either try a community college or do Independent Study through BYU. I doubt I'll be returning to Virginia or the East Coast for awhile. I love the East, but I need a change of scenery to decide where I really want to be. I'd obviously like to graduate college, but I really want to move up with REI and eventually become a store manager. We'll see where the wind takes me!