The Way They Drive Up North

The adventure continues up north, and now we are hanging out right outside of Seattle.
The driving habits of other states are strange indeed. In Oregon, it's easy to get pulled over by the cops. Speeding? Don't even think about it. Today, we ended up having a situation none of us ever thought would happen. My mom, first of all likes to speed. She was only going five miles over when she saw a cop. Sure that she was about to be pulled over, she immediately went to the speed limit and moved to the far left lane so the cop could move over. The cop moved into the left lane and said through his speaker:
"Please move over to the next lane unless you are going to pass."
The main point is my mom pretty much got sassed by a cop for going too slow. That's ridiculous for my mother.
It's crazy how many people we saw going ten, twenty miles over the speed limit... and not being pulled over. What is this? Maybe that's just how Washington rolls.
The plans for tomorrow? Not quite sure. The idea is that we're going to explore Seattle, which I am excited for.

What's something that you've found strange while in a different state?

Driving: The Good and The Bad

Let's talk about driving. Okay? Okay.

I know that I'm not a fantastic driver. I also know that I'm not a terrible driver either. If I were to grade myself on my driving, I'd say I'm a B- or a C+. Alright, but not amazing. My turns are way too wide, and I can drift to certain sides. Definitely not perfect.
That doesn't mean I don't have my golden moments though. Which brings me to last night.

After the concert, it was an hour and a half drive back to my cousin's house. We were both exhausted, so we stocked up on the caffeine and headed out into the night.
We finally got to the point where were about 15 minutes from her home. It was out in the country, and the speed was 55. It was dark, and hard to see anything. The road was empty except for our car...

...And suddenly two deer.


Source

This could have ended up me telling you guys a terrible story about how my car was totaled. Or maybe not even being able to tell you, but no. I have skills, and was able to stop the car with plenty of space to spare. Perhaps this isn't a true feat, but I certainly felt proud of myself. After we had let the deer cross and returned home, my cousin replied,
"If that we me, we would have totally hit those."

A bit of an ego boost? You bet. It just helps to reassure me that I might just be an okay driver. Despite what my sister feels whenever we're in the car together.

Before we go, I have a final note on my driving. I have an odd quirk when I'm driving, and that's I blink for basically everything. Everyone I know makes fun of me for it.
Oh, that includes parking spaces. I blink into parking spaces. I swear, my driver's ed teacher told me you should. So I do.

Are you a good driver? What's a weird driving habit you have?

Memories in Every Mile

So I drive my family's minivan, right?
Well, this van has become a special part of me, I suppose. I like driving it, and I don't seem to mind that it's not a cool car. I smile at the sadly duct taped mirror. I revel in the fact that the front seats are heated. I do not question the bizarre burn mark on the back seat, that no one has a clue how it got there. I simply like my ride. I'm not very good at driving little cars because I'm so used to the van. It even has a name, which it received during school this year from one of my friends.

So Penelope, I have only this to say.



What is this thing you call safety while driving?



Nicely done on going 200,000 miles. May we drive 200,000 more. Or at least for awhile longer.

Other than that, today consisted of going to school, running, and working. Yep. And that's pretty much the idea behind tomorrow, except no running and less work. Dang, I need to make lunch and study up... bah.

What makes your car/bike/mode of transportation special?

The Search For Housing and Possibly Finding Transportation

How can someone come out of the shower smelling worse? Because that's a weird smell coming from my room mate, and she just got out of the shower. Maybe she uncovered something, and that's causing the smell?

How's that for an introduction? Anywho, today was quite a busy day! I looked around at places to live, all that jazz. Truthfully, I only met with two of the people whose ads I messaged. Still need the other person to get back to me.

The first one ended up being a no go just because it was so far away, and they wanted someone now. The people living there were kind of odd too.

We looked around at other buildings as well, just to see what prices I could get if I planned on living by myself.

The other place I looked at was pretty good. It was right on campus, and the other tenant was really nice. She's from China, and so is the other guy who lives there. The biggest downside is that it's an old apartment building, so it's not very pretty. I suppose I could spruce it up though.
I've looked around at other options, and I'll still keep looking.
Still, I think I might have found my place to live. We'll see.

What's in other news? Well, for awhile now, my parents have been talking about getting me a car of some kind. It all has to do with my mom needing the car that I'm driving currently, and all that jazz. I tell them I don't need one but honestly, I don't know if I would be able to do things without a car. I don't like asking for things like that still. Anyway! Today we passed by a used car on the way back home. Possibility for a car? Perhaps! It has a decent amount of mileage, but I think it would be good. A car is one of the last things on my mind though.

Paper that's due tomorrow? I do not want to write you. Bah. But I must.

What's your strangest housing search experience been?

Car Troubles, Contradictions and Summer Classes

Well, today certainly had an interesting start to it!

I woke up at 7:25 AM, went to the bathroom, and when I returned to my room I saw that I had missed a call on my phone from my mother. Before I could even look at the text message that was also sent, the phone rang again. It turns out that my mom's car broke down in C-town and she needed me to drive down to pick her up so she could use the van. I was able to get it to her, but what a crazy way to start out the morning.

It stinks because she just got the car checked up, and the van was just fixed. "I guess we'll have to get a car sooner than later... even thought we don't have the money," she muttered. See? It's phrases like this that make me freak out about money. She'll try to comfort me in other situations when I start saying I should be concerned about money, and she tells me not to worry. Then she goes and says something like this. My mother is the queen of contradictions.

As for the rest of the day, I signed up for Financial Aid for summer classes. Yes, I'm taking Spanish to get it over with. This will clear up a huge chunk of time needed for the rest of my school years, because I'll need all of the room I can get the next few years.

15 hours of Spanish every week? Oh joy. The biggest downside to this is that it'll be hard figuring out a work situation, but I'm lucky enough to be able to work for my mom if needed. Which seems to be the case.

Welp, time for me to head off to bed. Night!

Have you ever taken summer classes? What were the classes?

Busy Days, Wicked, Car Troubles Return, and Letting My Cake Boss Show

I can't believe that it's already so late in the day. What can I say? It's been a pretty busy day.
Actually, I feel like I haven't gotten a chance to look at my usual blogs! I don't know why it's been so go go go, but it has.
For instance, as soon as I was done with all of my classes yesterday, I drove back on home and got ready for the evening ahead. Last night, as I said before I went with my family to the show Wicked. The whole reason we got to go had to do with my mom being an alumn, and there was a whole night with dinner.

The show was very fun! After seeing it, it felt like I was in on some big inside joke. Things flew around, there was some wonderful singing... It was just a fun production!

After the show, a not so fun thing happened to occur. Remember how I was talking about the putt-putting of the good old van? Well, I hadn't taken it in because every time I mentioned it, my mother would say, "Wait to get it done! Your dad can fix it!" Um... After the show, it decided to break down. Currently, it be in the shop, but it thankfully will be back in full swing by Tuesday.

Today was a day full of cooking and getting ready for tomorrow. Usually Easter doesn't become a very big thing at my house, just the simply Easter baskets and dinner. Tomorrow however we're doing brunch with some friends in the morning, and having a bunch of our family members coming over for dinner. The candy has become like rabbits (ha) and multiplied. The food in the house has grown. Fridges that were once empty are now filled with goodies to be cooked up tomorrow. Madness.
One of the last minute things that was made? This little beauty:

Yes, I'm letting my Cake Boss show. Aw yeah.

Hopefully after this weekend, there shall be more time to talk about all of the stuff happening in life like interesting and exciting things!

Have you ever let your Cake Boss show? (As in, what's the most interesting looking treat you've ever made?)

Driving Around and The Vehicle Invovled

Oof. What just happened to today? Well, a lot of driving I suppose.

Yeah, stuff really hasn't slowed down much for me as of late. How long until the weekend again?

Speaking of driving around, I'd like to talk about my mode of transportation. I don't think I've ever mentioned it before here, but I have a car here on campus. The car I happen to have is a blue minivan.

Yup, it kind of looks like that.

When you first get into the minivan, it may seem in pretty bad shape. The right rearview window holds on with the help of deteriotating duct tape. The inside smells a tad musty from spilled water. On one of the back seats, there is an unknown rip, with many different reasons explaining how it came to be. We still don't know why. When the van has finally been started, the sound of something working too hard begins. It stops from time to time, but you never know when. If you happen to turn on some tunes, you'll hear the blown out speaker create booming bass.

Still, I'm glad to have a vehicle avaliable. Plus, it has heated seats.

Alas, when driving back to campus tonight, a minuature battery started glowing on the dashboard. The letters ABS started glowing as well. I'm thinking that it's going to need to go in. Yeah, not looking forward to that.

What was the first car that you got to drive around? Technically, the van isn't my car but I get to drive it. Woo!