The best days of my life

As I sit here and feel guilty I haven't posted in an embarrassingly long while, I find myself compelled to write about my family. I'm pretty sure there is nothing else in the world I love more. Not even sleeping in or going on vacation. And that's saying something, because those are both awesome.

What other weekend would it be more appropriate to muse on this topic? Thanksgiving for me this year has been a trifecta of family loving goodness that I wish I was never away from. Thursday we spent the holiday with our "chosen family," the Hermanson's. Rod and Bobbie graciously invited us into their homes to celebrate with them along with their two sons, Matt and Jake, and Rod's parents. It was an all day affair filled with deep fried turkey, jello shots and many games of Canadian Rummy. Perhaps it wasn't the most traditional Thanksgiving, but it has been by far my favorite of the 20 years I've been around.

Today, I carried on the tradition of baking Finn bread, a family recipe, passed down through the lineage of the Bidon family. First and foremost, I am extremely thankful for being a part of my step-mom's family. I have known them practically my whole life and am finally to the point where I feel like I'm one of them. My sister Jackie and I were taught how to bake this amazing bread (and also how to eat it). All the while, playing cards with the rest of the clan. Jeff and Kelly traveled all the way over from Wenachee for Thanksgiving along with their kids, Ian and Michael. Matt and Holly were there with their kids Enzo and Lilly (my FAVORITES, but don't tell). And of course Papa and Bamma were there. I set a personal record by playing 3 strait card games. Usually, I can hardly stand on game before my ADD mind screams at me to do something else.

Now, I'm at home. Getting ready for tomorrow, the Apple Cup, where I'll get to spend the day with my roommates cheering on our team to victory.

Albeit, practically none of the people listed above are actually related to me, but funny thing is, they might as well be because I love each of them more than I have the capacity to explain in any combination of words. When I'm with these people, my family, nothing else matters. I'm happy and that's all I'll ever need.

Baby Shower, Lumpia, and Football

Today marks the first day in nine months I have visited the fare town of Yelm, WA. It's not like I travel to Yelm to see... well, Yelm. The truth is my best friend, brother separated at birth, and soul mate happens to live here. Over years of travel to Yelm, I've noticed this place seems like a second home, or third, whatever. Yeah, it's Yelm, defenition of the boonies. But I can't help but feel nostalgic everytime I see Stewart's Meats, the big fish sign, or Lake Lawrence. And when I turn the corner onto Jade Street, I know my best friend Nick is only yards away.

Natasha, a friend I met through Nick, had her baby shower today. First of all, WHAT? BABY SHOWER? Okay, I have to admit, I was totally freaked out when she broke the news. Frankly, I didn't even know she had gotten married, and next thing ya know, boom, baby's on the way. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait and I couldn't me more happy. But, it's sort of a shock when the people around you, the people you've grown up with start getting married and having babies. Makes me feel old, but I'm not. Well, not really.

Natasha comes from a Phillipino family so the snacks of choice were a scrumptious spread of traditional and some non-traditional foods. My favorite, Lumpia. These spring-roll like fried tubes of goodness are filled with either beef, chicken or pork (these with beef), cabbage and carrots. And OH EM GEE. They are heavenly. I have never had lumpia before, everytime they were served to me, they contained pork. And being the Jew I am, I didn't indulge. It was a happy day when I found out these had beef! It was also my honor and pleasure to get to fry up the last of the lumpia for the other shower guests to enjoy. I think I have found a new love in Phillipino food.

Okay, now football. Seahawks finish a perfect pre-season. This is good news, but it is only the pre-season. The team looks solid on the field and I have high expectations through January. Let's pray for a playoff birth my fellow fans! I just finished watching the Cougars get their asses handed to them on a silver platter by Stanford. Although, it was nothing like last year's 58-0 blowout. I guess I have to give them props for that. Now, having just ragged on the Cougs, I may have spoken too soon because the Huskies are set to battle (or run away?) from the LSU Tigers. Great, so we've got the only winless team in NCAA history going against one of the all time best? This could be embarassing. I have high hopes, but my expectation is low. I could live with a loss, but a win would be so sweet (and completely unexpected). So here's to hoping.

Easy like Sunday morning

Know what I love? I love it when you wake up and the sun is already shining bright through the window. I love it when the window is cracked open and you can feel the breeze dance across the top of your head. I love it when you sit up for the first time after waking up and you feel kinda dizzy. I love it when your warm feet touch the cold floor. I love it when you stumble to the coffee pot in the morning and all you smell is fresh brewed coffee. I love it when you sit on the couch and coffee first touches your lips and it's a little too hot. I love it when the dog jumps up on the couch next to you and says good morning in her friendly way. I love it when you reach up to scratch your head and you realize your hair is a mess. I love it when you sit on the couch with your feet on the coffee table and watch tv all morning. I love it when you realize it's Sunday and you have not a thing in the world to worry about.

I love it.

You Talk. I Laugh.

I have started another blog in addition to this one because I am a quote whore. I felt it absolutely nessa to have a special place for my favorite quotes that I hear from day to day.

So, at my other blog, "You Talk. I Laugh." you can keep up to date on the most happenin' sayings of the times. And you might even get a good laugh out of it.

So basically what I'm saying is, follow my other blog because it makes me feel better to know at least someone reads this stuff.

Click here to go to my blog.

Grazie.

For a Roomie

I sometimes think we are the same person. You talk about your dad, that's my dad. You talk about your mom, that's my mom! Our views, morals, beliefs, so similar.

You're so open. Free. I can tell you anything. And I know you will never hurt me intentionally. I look up to you.

You're never afraid to laugh at yourself, cry when you're sad, or speak up when you are incomplete. You're the kind of person I just want to follow around, because I know wherever you go and do, it's going to be amazing.

You taught me how to be okay with who I am. You gave me the gift of empty and meaningless.

No matter how far away you are from me, it's like you never left when we reunite.

Thank you for who you are, you have profoundly made a difference for me and my life.

Love, Cruth

Here in my car

There's just something about driving that just gets to me. I mean, every time I sit behind the wheel of a car and start the engine, I get a rush of adrenaline. It's like I know I get go fast. Move so fast. I like to pretend I'm racing the guy next to me. Beat him at his own game. Get to where he's going before him. Play follow the leader between the lanes. I like when the white dashed lines turn into a blurry solid one. I like it when the Seattle skyline gets bigger and bigger until you are at the foot of it. I like accelerating out of a stop like my foot's made of lead. What is it about driving? It's just so good. So exhilarating.

Zen of Jazz

I've been listening to a lot of jazz lately. Bebop mostly. I had forgotten how much I loved that stuff. I was listening to "Bye Bye Birdie" by Miles Davis and this blazing sax started to solo. As the music was playing, I found myself totally enchanted, my head solely focused on those sounds. I could so vividly picture his fingers moving like flashes of lightning, striking with such precision it would make the head of a nail look like a pin head to any hammer blow. It's like total zen for me. My thoughts are nowhere except inside the sound. The noise of the world is silent and all I hear is the sound of now.

Exoticizing the Familiar

Imagine experiencing some daily event. This event is completely ordinary and “normal”. Now imagine this daily event transformed in the way you understand it. By speculation that this event is not so normal, but instead a practice comprised of odd sets of rules and rituals, the ordinary now occurs as being extraordinary by virtue of said speculation. Such a change in thinking, simply put, is “exoticizing the familiar”. The continuous cycle of speculation causing social action, causing speculation, causing social action and so on, is the very definition of sociological practice. In Peter Berger’s essay “Invitation to Sociology”, this concept of exoticizing the familiar is the topic of exploration. “Things are not what they seem,” writes Berger, “Social reality turns out to have many layers of meaning. The discovery of each new layer changes the perception of the whole.” Here, the “many layers of meaning” are these ordinary events that occur every day. When a discovery is made about such event, it “changes the perception of the whole,” that is, the ordinary event has become extraordinary through speculation that this event is not longer what it seemed to be. It is like becoming a tourist at home, taking what is familiar and making it foreign and amazing.

While explaining in generalities is useful to relate a sociological concept to a wider spectrum of experiences and events, it is difficult to relate to “real life” without some sort of evidence seen in society. One such example of Berger’s topic, exoticizing the familiar, is portrayed with how our society views money. America is built on the foundation of capitalism, a system that values a monetary system that allows for trade externally with the rest of the world, as well as internally to her citizens. Naturally, money has a certain value depending on what denomination that bill or coin is. With money, I can buy a new pair of shoes, breakfast, or a haircut. This seems perfectly ordinary, buying things we want or need on a daily basis. However, when viewed from the outside in, like a Martian who has no concept of money, this practice of buying and selling seems downright odd. Think about what is actually going on in these transactions. A customer gives a small piece of paper with some writing and some pictures on it to a cashier, and in turn the cashier gives the customer a new car, for example. This small piece of paper, the dollar so to speak, is nothing but a small piece of paper! It does not represent an amount of a precious metal or a number of personal assets, but is merely a piece of paper. The fact that I can exchange my small piece of paper for a bagel is plain old bizarre. This is exactly what Berger explains in his essay; now that such a suggestion has been made, a small change has occurred in the way you understand the concept of money. Just by pointing out the quirks and oddities of such a practice, one becomes more aware of the practice itself; that is, what one lacked to notice prior. This chain of speculation to social action is precisely Berger’s argument, “things are not what they seem.”

"Is that like, looking for rocks?"

"Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS unit can then try to locate the geocache." - courtesy of www.geocaching.com

It's not looking for rocks, cough... Shelly.... but rather a quite fun game of hide and seek. It brings out that pirate side in you, seeking treasure hidden in plain sight! I tried this game for the first time on Saturday with my dear friend Madeline. Not only am I hooked from a mere 3 hrs. at it, but I find myself thinking, "Ooh, that would be an excellent spot for a geocache!". But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here is the story of two college girls setting out to find treasure hidden in their own back yard.

Approximately 9:30 Saturday evening, Madeline and I set out to find our first geocache. Of course it was raining, because there's no way the weather would ever cooperate regardless of what we were doing. But that didn't get us down, we just grinned and bore? beared? which is it? Whatever, you know what I'm saying. We make a quick pit stop at the QFC to buy an umbrella to shield my TomTom from the rain. By this point we're both pretty much giddy, we are real life pirates! How exciting!

Side note: neither of us have ever done this before. I have only heard of the fantastic fun this hobby is from a close friend, Gwen, who has geocached all over the place with her family.

Okay, so yeah, it's dark and rainy, but we went ahead and typed in those coordinates into my GPS. We set off down the Burke-Gilman trail towards the stadium. We were eventually lead somewhere behind Hec-Ed in a marsh. Not the ideal place to be in running shoes and without a rain jacket, but we were determined. We had the smallest little LED flashlight our roommate Brooke lent us (THANK YOU BROOKE!) but it just wasn't getting the job done. We struggled to even get to the actual point these coordinates were leading us. Our shoes were getting sucked off by the deep mud and our hands, arms, and legs stuck with thorns. After a wild goose chase around the marsh, we heard an enormous sploosh! in the adjacent lake. Madeline freaked, in turn, causing me to panic. We both hopped the guard rail and high tailed outta there!

So yes, sadly, we gave up on our first geocache. However, I am determined to find it someday. Perhaps the water levels were higher than normal and it was underwater? I figured that was why I was having so much trouble finding the exact spot TomTom was trying to lead us. Regardless, we saw some cool evidence of beaver activity!

Since this geochache was proving a harder find that anticipated, we moved on to another, near by. But of course we went the EXTREMELY LONG WAY around the entire stadium to get there. By this point the excitement was beginning to wear off, as our feet were soaked to the bone and we had our share of tree debris in our hair. But we trucked on. We found ourselves out behind the softball fields at the UW, by yet another source of water. Oh joy. I began digging around the trees near the creek with no luck except for the occasional thorn scratch and a near slip into the cold water below. We did find a weird NCAA ball in the trees. It's probably nothing special, but I wasn't about to go home completely empty handed! So that was our trophy for the night.

We headed on back to our dorm, which seemed impossibly far to travel. By this point, we're soaked to the bone, muddy, and tired. We just want to make it back in time for SNL. We start to make the hike all the way back to McMahon. For those uninformed, the walk from the softball fields to North Campus is ALL UPHILL. It was very tiring. We thought we could catch a break by taking those well hidden, but amazingly convenient escalators located under Padelford. JK! Those turn off at like six! Great, now we just had to walk up the escalator like a regular set of stairs. A lot of steep, narrow, regular stairs. Both of us were panting as we reached the top and I couldn't help but celebrate with a Rocky pose!

We didn't find our geocaches. Sad day. But we haven't given up! We are planning on embarking again this weekend in search of these elusive treasures hidden in our own backyard. I'll be sure to update with info on our travels, our successes and epic failures.

There's gold, and it's haunting and haunting;
It's luring me on as of old;
Yet it isn't the gold that I'm wanting
So much as just finding the gold.

Robert Service from "The Spell of the Yukon."