And so it begins...

Oh jeez. I’m a total klutz! I found this awesome job listing for a position that would be pretty doggone close to perfect for me, and I started getting together everything I would need to apply for it. I polished up my résumé and wrote a cover letter explaining why I’m well qualified for the job, then I filled out the company’s application. I even started to draft the email I was going to send them. The thing is, I wasn’t going to apply just yet because I was going to wait for my mom to proof-read my résumé and cover letter. So I got the email all ready to go, with everything attached, and I went to press “Save Now,” and accidentally pressed “Send.” OF COURSE. I almost started hyper-ventilating. I immediately pressed “Cancel” and “Discard” and everything I could think of, but it was already flying through the system of tubes that apparently make up the Internet.

There’s not really any reason to panic, yet. I think it should all be fine, but I wanted to make sure my résumé was perfect before sending it. Oh well. I need to chill and trust the Big Guy that they will love me and my résumé and beg me to come work for them.

*sigh* Now I just have to wait four to six weeks, which I find completely unnerving. Their website said that I would only hear from them if they were interested in interviewing me, and that would be between four and six weeks from now. If they don’t want to interview me, I won’t ever hear anything from them. So I’ll have to wait TWO MONTHS to know if I got through the first trial, or if my résumé was indeed less than perfect. ARGH. Furthermore, they don’t list a phone number on the website to call them and check on application status. Come on, people! Throw me a freakin’ bone, here!

Anyway, this makes my first job application this summer! Yippee! It is kind of a relief to have that behind me, despite the stress of not having meant to do it yet. Now I can say that I am actively searching for a job. I will celebrate this productive day by visiting blogs (I know it's been a while). Later!

Oh, hey, what's up?

I feel like I no longer have anything to blog about. I have nothing to say now that I’m home. Were I to blog of my daily goings-on, I’m not sure it would be all that interesting. My blog is no longer French-flavored. I don’t know if you all find it boring, now, but I certainly do. Haha!

Honestly, though, I have been busy lately. So busy that I haven’t even started looking for a job. Bad, Kusems, bad! There’s so much I need and want to do, but I’ve been spending every day with my sisters. Alright, I need to be more fair to myself. Let’s see, how did my week go?

Monday, I went to the mall with all my sisters and John, and I bought gifts for my French host family, so that’s good. Tuesday, I spent the day in the U-district. I stopped by my old lab and said “hi” to all my old coworkers (yay!), I ate lunch downtown with my Pops (yay!), and I did some library research for HIV research labs in Seattle. In the evening, I hung out with my sisters and John again, mostly just sitting and talking with Amy. Her young ‘un boyfriend (not yet 17!!) broke up with her on Monday night, and she was a teensy bit sad. Wednesday, I hung out again with Amy, Becky, and John, and their friend. We went walking in Discovery Park, through the woods. I don’t know why, but woods always make me think of fairy tales. Anyhoo, we had dinner at an Indian restaurant in Ballard (yum yum), then went to Marymoor Park to watch “Office Space” in the open air. I totally pigged out on kettle corn, which brings me to Thursday, when the apparently lethal combination of Indian food and way too much kettle corn gave me indigestion and, um, let's just say "discomfort" that lasted the whole day. I tried to look for jobs online, but was too sick to concentrate, so I watched TV instead. In the evening, I hung out with my wonderful, adorable, awesome friend, Jacque. We saw “The Devil Wears Prada” at the Lincoln Square cinemas in Bellevue. I found the movie a bit disappointing. I haven’t read the book, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but for some reason, I was expecting a kind of original story. It wasn’t original at all. That story has been done to death. Every pre-teen television show that has ever existed has used this plot line at least once. I mean, if you’re gonna use it, at least spice it up a bit, so as to make a distinction between your movie/show and every other movie/show that has already run this plot line into the ground. That said, I did mostly enjoy the movie. And I definitely enjoyed seeing Jacque again.

Friday, I hung out with another friend, then hung out with Becky. Today, I was supposed to go bike-riding with my mother, who has not touched a bike in…over 15 years, I think. It was her suggestion, and while I was shocked that she would voluntarily wear a bike helmet, I was excited to get a little “wheel time,” as my slightly nerdy dad calls it. Well, this morning I kind of rushed my mom and got all snotty when she wanted me to set all the bikes up for her, so she decided she didn’t want to do it after all. Personally, I suspect that the lack of sunshine had something to do with her giving up on the bike-riding plan. She said she wasn’t upset, but she must be at least slightly pissed at me because she took my car who knows where and didn’t invite me along, so I’m stuck at the house. Alone. With nothing to do, which explains why I’m finally blogging.

Tonight should be better, though. Becky and I and my friend, Sara, are going to go see Michael Showalter of “Stella” fame. Swoon! I’m really excited. He’s so adorable! I have a sort of crush on him, but I think he’s at least a decade older than me. Not that that’s a bad thing, Jacque!

I guess I should look for jobs. *whine*

Les Animaux

I live in a small suburb on the eastside of Seattle named Redmond. Despite being a center of technology as home to Microsoft and Nintendo of America, Redmond is a small city and still has a small town feel to it. Our house is a couple miles out of town, out in farmland, so we sometimes see wildlife around us. This morning, as I was walking down our long driveway to the mailbox, I frightened two male deer that were hanging out on our lot. And that is why, despite the rain and the gray, this is such an awesome place to live. I love it and I hate it at the same time. Darn it, why can’t I make up my mind?!?

While I was in France, Jody decided she wanted a dog. We already have one dog, an old shih tzu named Charlie Brown with eye, ear, and skin problems. He’s getting really old these days. Apparently, the oven/stove frightens him. Anyway, Jody decided she wanted a new dog, so she and my mom adopted a Rhodesian Ridgeback (sounds like a dragon from Harry Potter). Since I got home, I’ve been trying to get used to this dog. It feels odd to me that the dog has been adopted into the home, and has routines and habits, and its stuff is all over the house, without me. I realize that sentence is really poorly worded, but can you understand what I’m trying to say? It would be like if you went off to college, and during the school year, your parents adopted an eleven-year-old girl from China, you know? And the girl’s stuff was in your bathroom, her shampoo where your shampoo used to be. It would be weird. Trust me.

We went to a dog park today, and this guy was asking about our dog’s breed, because she’s a ridgeback, but she’s actually a mix. And I guess he could tell. But anyway, Jody was all, “Yeah, she has Norwegian Ridgeback in her.” Hahaha! Norwegian Ridgeback! Haha! (I’m not the only one laughing, am I?)

So I know I should write about my trip, but I find the task daunting. I don’t really know what to say about it. I have about a million photos that I’m trying to sort through. The trip was really cool, but a bit of a whirlwind. The first week or so was fine because we stayed a few days in the same places, but the middle bit was insane because we were spending each night in a different town. Since we were traveling by train, this didn’t leave us much time for sightseeing. If you’re ever planning to travel around France, and you want to see smaller towns, don’t go by train! Rent a car!

Anyhoo, lessons learned and all that. We had fun. And it was nice to spend quality time with my sis, even though there were a couple times where I felt like strangling her. I hope this trip has taught me patience. At any rate, it’s really good to be home.

So, I’ll write more about the trip when it’s a little less daunting. I mean, how do you summarize three weeks of travel? It ain’t easy. I’ll work on it, though. Meanwhile, I also have tons of catching up to do on my favorite blogs. I think I’ll work on that now. Laters!

My First Ever Blog on American Soil

Yes, that's right, folks. I'm home. In America, in Seattle, in the rain (it really is raining!), in the gray and the green, in Redmond, in my cute little house, with my wonderful family (or at least within 15 miles of all of them), in my big, huge, giant room, on my bed with the pillow-top mattress that is, quite frankly, to die for. Not that I mind sleeping on flat-as-a-board Ikea mattresses, cuz I really don't. I could sleep on anything, at any time, under any conditions. But the pillow-top mattress is like icing on the cake that is sleep, wonderful, beautiful sleep.

Okay, I might be a little jet-lagged and tired. I might be really tired. I might have wanted to go to bed two hours ago, but forced myself to wait until at least 8 o'clock at night to give in to the waves of fatigue. Jody asked me if I wanted to watch a movie (Donnie Darko, in case you were wondering) and I really didn't think I could make it out awake. But the computer, that's another story. It doesn't matter how tired I am, the computer makes me forget all my fatigue. I could stay on for hours...but I shouldn't. I really do need sleep.

Anyway, um, I guess I'll write a bit about my travels later. If I feel like it. Eh. Can't be arsed to care at the moment. I'm sure good manners will kick in after a nice long slumber.

But before I go off to bed (still six minutes to go), I thought I'd talk a little bit about my future husband. His name is Sean Biggerstaff (heehee!) and he played Oliver Wood (heehee!) in the first two Harry Potter movies. Jody downloaded a short film that he did called "Cashback," and she showed it to me earlier, and now I am all the more in love with him. He's so adorable! The movie's good, too. The only thing I didn't like about it was the fact that he speaks with a British accent, and not his totally hot Scottish accent. Le sigh.

Okay, enough. I'm not the boy-crazy type, really, but I felt like gushing just a wee bit.