CA Photo Shoot

Heyo!

Here is a link to a facebook album with some of the photos from the shoot.  I like these–and there are literally 100s more.  It’s not too exciting or artsy or sexy or anything, but it is still nice.

Enjoy!

EDIT/////

Here is also an album of the rest of the trip…just golfing and hiking in the desert and things.

Love,
Jen

Good News…

I got into University of Chicago.

(And Arizona State).

Step 1: Completed.

Chollas in the Sand

Ahhh. I’ve been in California for the last few days, soaking up every bit of summer weather and having some crazy/fun experiences. These include:

-Taking a private walking tour of Fox Studios and exploring the sets of Bones and Prison Break

- Exploring the natural desert beauty of Joshua Tree National Park

- Eating a picnic lunch under the shade of a giant boulder

- Having a makeover and four-hour photo shoot done by a severely professional photographer in a gorgeous studio

- Getting a free, spur of the moment haircut from an awesome stylist.

- Golfing on a beautiful course with ample flora and mountain views

- Re-discovering that I kind of like golf

- Hanging out by the pool with a beverage and some good people

- Visiting family

-In-n-Out

- BBQ-ing pool side and finishing off the vacation booze

Ah, vacation. This has truly been an awesome time. Sadly, it is coming to an end! Just a few more days of desert warm and then back to Michigan gloom and work.

But then again, I still have a few days left here–and I intend to enjoy them!

hello again from sunny grand rapids

Yo everyone!

I’m sitting in a white leather recliner with my white on an Italian cream-colored rug that’s made out of long-haired goats.  Welcome to our apartment!  Minus things like…trash cans, shower stoarge things, and cleaning supplies, this baby was furnished for FREE with the generous help of our friends and especially families.

It seems like everyone has stuff they don’t use or need sitting around–pretty nice stuff, too–and Nick and I just happened to roll in and take it off of their hands.   Both sides win.

We live in a well-loved, quirky little apartment in a adorable house in the hip area of Grand Rapids.  Down the block we have fancy and funky restaurant’s, a local pub or two, used book stores, etc.  Across from our apartment we have a little ice-cream shop.  Next door is an art gallery.    We’re stealing their internet.  Chumps.

Our neighbor’s name is Todd; he’s nice and pretty likable.  Ghost is here; Luna is coming later today.  That brings up something sad.

…we got Luna a shock collar.

We didn’t really want to, but she can’t be barking her head off at every little noise and every time someone opens the exterior door.  So…..we were going to go for the citronella one, but after talking to the guys at PetSmart, they persuaded us to go with the shock.  Both of them use it on their dogs and they were telling us what to expect.  We feel pretty bad about it because, well, Luna is a barker through and through.  She’s also very sensitive, so I’m afraid she will try so hard not to bark and she’ll start shaking with anxiety and nervous tension because she can’t let it out through a bark (this is what she does when she sees a squirrel).

So.  Now we see.  To make up for it, we also got her a little engraved, bone-shaped ID tag from the mall machine and a sweet new toy.  Poor puppy.

Ghost loves her new, temporarily dog-free home.  She is flying all over the place and being really outgoing and curious.  Hopefully Luna likes this place, too.  I think there are a lot of dogs in the area–the lady downstairs has some giant monster of a dog, too.

My job is going well.  I’m still in training for two more weeks.  Then it is one week of vacation in Palm Springs and then to work for an unknown amount of forever.  I’ll have to work Saturdays, which is kind of crap, but at least I’ll make some money.  And it will hopefully help me keep up with Chineeee.

Ok, I’m going to get ready for my jorb.

New Dream

In case you don’t have facebook, or we’re not friends yet, here is the message I left on his wall in three parts today.  It was my dream last night:

Hey–
I just woke up from a dream in which I was fighting a BATTLE. Like around this house, this industrial building, and this forest-y, vine-y indie market area outside of the industrial building. I think I was fighting Patrick Swayze or someone like that. Maybe Kurt Russel. Except KR also had a posse of scary gangsters with automatic weapons… and giant ogre/troll things.

But you were sleeping in a basement and I went to wake you up and you told me to handle it myself. Gee, thanks.

So I was in the tree-y market area and the bad guys were taking hostages and making human ladders out of them with clothespins so they could scale the building. I started climbing/swinging up around the vines releasing people from clothespins and attacking people aerially.

Then Kurt Russel chopped my vine and we had a one on one wrestle fight. In my dream, I was trying to remember Silat moves. At one point, I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out a quarter, that I jammed between his top lip and nose.

I kept fighting. Hard.

They kept abducting police officers when they came, so I decided to to set off the sprinklers and get the fire department to come with backup.

I held up a lighter to the sprinklers and then blacked out.

The next thing I saw was an aerial view of this fire truck coming across a bridge. The driver …  Read Morecould see two giant trolls out of the front windshield and was like, “Whaaa…?” Then the air shot showed a bunch of trolls on each side of the truck, rocking it, eventually pushing it into the frigid water hundreds of feet below.

The next thing I saw I was in this underwater sanctuary (under the bridge) about to give a speech to a combination of Disney characters, people I was fighting before, and people who looked like evil dictators and action figures. It turns out they are some kind of world organization who was trying to kill me in the name of world peace and they were actually the good guys. They were impressed with my fighting and wanted me to join.

But honestly?

I felt really, really gypped.

I was appalled and mad at my dream, so I woke up.

Psh. Whatever. World organizations suck anyway.

——————-

So there it is.  Also, the night before, part of my dream included a cluttered room that had an evil Mr. Potato Head in it that kept throwing random stuff at me.

?

Back to the Races

好久不見!
Long time no see.

So, I’ve been basically oscillating between IL and MI for the last few weeks; I am about 98% sure I’ve gotten a Chinese/English customer service job at Amway, which is both lame and exciting.  It will be good to work again, speak Chinese, and make money.

In the last few weeks I’ve:

- Purchased a very nice car!
- Gone skiing
- Watched “Rain”, the Beatles tribute musical thing
- Saw the play “Raisin in the Sun”
- Watched and actually got into the Super Bowl–exciting game!
- Ate wings. Twice.
- Signed my name 354 times
- Watched a video on proper lifting techniques
- Had a conversation in Chinese with a stranger, who is no longer a stranger

So this has been a pretty fun few weeks.

Silver Spoon and a Paper Plate

I’m back in Bloomington for the totally foreseeable future. If you’re in the area, I’d like to see you.

I have no phone. Or car. Or job. But I’m working on all three of these things this week. If you want to get a hold of me email me, facebook, or leave a message here.

Things I’ve done recently:
-Gone to a fondue restaurant
-Bruised my tail bone while sliding down a glacier at a frozen lake Michigan beach
-Shattered a wine glass while falling down the stairs and getting a full glass of champagne all over myself
-Ridden SO many hours in terrible winter weather in the car
-Eaten Tobin’s Pizza. Nice.
-Gone to a bellydance show
-undecorated a Christmas tree

Things like that. And so much more.

In IL

Yo.

I would say I haven’t been writing because nothing has happened, but that just isn’t the case.

Since I got back to IL/MI it has been a crazy, non-stop party-fest thing that has been both awesome and has totally blown–as most cool things go.

I got to SEE all kinds of friends and family that I haven’t seen for two years, so that was amazing and cool. I got to see my brother and his wonderful fiancée Angel (though really it seems that I didn’t get to spend any time with them :[ ).

Also my mom got engaged and then married, so there’s that. It was a bit of a sudden shock thing to me (to be selfish), but I am very happy for her and Dan, so that’s good.

Nick and I have been trying to balance the holidays with exercising and eating well. But mostly we’ve just eaten a ton and jogged with a giant Malamute named Fang.

Christmas was a blue, New Years is over, and I am going back to MI tomorrow to stay with Nick’s fam for another week. I am looking forward to cooking good food everyday, having a lot of reading/writing time, exercising, and napping with my dog. It should be a nice week.

I miss having the cool-ness of being in Taiwan. As I’ve already been here a few weeks, my weird street cred is wearing off and I am just a job/car/phone-less layabout. But I still have one more week of vacation in which to figure out my life.

I’ve applied to two schools so far and I have one more to go. The apps aren’t too hard–just a lot of bitchy work and a sad realization that you have to spend a bunch of money to just APPLY. Oh well, So it goes. C’est la vie. etc etc.

Nick is over at my sister’s right now and I am taking some alone time to write on my January project, which started today. Forcing yourself to write is just like forcing yourself to exercise; it is bitchy at first, but then you get used to it and remember how much you liked it in the first place.

Ok–that’s it for now. I’ll give you another update soon!

LOVE! xoxox

Back in MI

Hey!

I’m back in the U.S. and having a good time.  I haven’t really had the opportunity to be on my computer 12 hours a day, so I haven’t talked to anyone from very much–from Taiwan or from the U.S.

Michigan is fun.  I’m kind of on vacation, so I don’t mind the heavy, fluffy snow and the picturesque view from the living room.  It is very nice to sit by the fire with the dogs, look out onto the deck and the woods behind, while woodpeckers and cardinals chirp away at the  bird feeders.  There is also a Christmas tree.

We’ve been shopping and eating and hanging out–it’s been pretty fun.  I haven’t been toooo freaked out by reverse culture shock.  I was a little intimidated at the Minneapolis Airport.  I’m used to service people always speaking in quiet Chinese.  Here all of the customs people were screaming in perfect English and that was a little scary.

Also the fact that everyone around me could understand every word I was saying to Nick was a little bizarre.  So I had to remember to use my inside voice while saying random, pointless things to my boyfriend. Heh.

Today we’re having a super day–lunch at a vegetarian cafe, ice-skating, art museum-ing, etc.  So I am really looking forward to that.  I’m looking forward to going back to IL for Christmas, as well.

It does feel a little weird being away from Taiwan and not really talking to my friends–but that is what happens when you move away I suppose.

Ok apple cider time!

A Mighty Yalp!

I’ve had such a nice/lucky day, and I’ve barely left the house!

Ever feel like the universe is watching out for you, like a little mewling baby on her shoulder?

Today was that kind of day. A great stillness filled the air; the reflective pause of today. Nothing stirred, the air barely moved. It was a moment of peace that helped me realize how not frantic about this whole situation I am.

All the plans are going smoothly and today I sold my fridge, bike, AND scooter (finally!!). Well. Technically I don’t sell my scooter until Sunday, but it was one of those things that just kind of unfolded.

And for once I am letting things unfold instead of flipping out about it all.

I also applied to my #1 choice school today! Now it is just the waiting game.

I’m also working on apps for schools #2 and #3, respectively.

I’ve realized that I’m really lucky to have lived with Tatiana. She has been a really positive force on my life; she is really optimistic and a bit of a mystic, so she has helped me rediscover a spiritual side of myself I guess.

Plus she’s all about the herbs.
(to clarify: not THE herb…just all herbs in general)

I’ll really miss living with her! It is pretty fun to live with your girl friends in post-student life. It feels like we’re in one of those old Dorris Day movies where she lives with some wise-cracking, tough New York modern woman.

I would suggest having a girl roommate (if you’re a girl) when you both have “real jobs” etc. I would mostly suggest living with Tatiana though, because she’ll make you feel good about yourself and teach you how to be a subtlety (and accidentally!) condescending B.

Hah. Not that living with Nick isn’t fun. That’s really fun, too. I guess I just think living with my favorite people is fun.

I don’t think I could ever handle living alone. I would probably be pretty sad and a bit lonely/paranoid.

Only a few more days here in Taiwan. They are filling up pretty quickly! I’ve already started packing, but it feels pretty surreal still.

Soon, very soon my pretties, I will be there! Until then, I hope the universe is unfolding in the best possible ways for you, too!