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- do i know anyone famous?
- first update in months... since Oct. maybe? and it'll be a short one at that.
visited my cousin in NYC this weekend, which i loved as always. at one point we're talking about new artists we've discovered, and i mentioned that i'd been enjoying Josh Radin. it turns out, her friend's fiance (boyfriend?) went to high school in jersey with him, and regularly hangs out with 'his boys' on the weekend, including their other friend zach. who turns out to be zach braff. and, to top this all off, this friend, prior to dating her boy, had met zach braff at a party, and gone home with him.
seriously, people live lives like that.
(my cousin's other friends know the guy who started/owns Cosi, where i get my breakfast 4 days a week.)
is it because they live in new york, or they've got 7 years on me, or will i just never know anyone that famous/well known/etc?
- Georgian Volunteers
- Hey all,
Just wanted you to draw your attention to the situation in Georgia, but even more specifically to the Peace Corps Volunteers who have all been evacuated from Georgia to Armenia overnight Monday night. They, like the PCV's in Kenya were, are all hoping to return to Georgia soon, but don't have high hopes. So, please, keep them in your thoughts along with all the Georgian people who are enduring these horrific tials.
- Is it bad that the only 'unique' things i've done involve travel?
- 1. Post 3 things you've done in your lifetime that you don't think anybody else on your friends list has done.
2. See if anybody else responds with "I've done that."
3. Have your friends cut & paste this into their journal to see what unique things they've done in their life.
- Biked 500 miles through Denmark at the age of 15
- Lived in Australia for 6 months at the age of 18.
- Road-Tripped to Alaska and back with my whole family (11,000+ miles in a Subaru outback)
- wow, real world jobs. crazy.
- me, excited.
submitted a resume last week for a job at a consulting group in boston, a firm where a friend of mine works.
36 hours later i received a phone call from the guy who looked at my resume, asking to have a "phone conversation" with him and the supervisor of the other position i applied for.
today i had that phone call. the other supervisor was out sick, but i spoke to the guy who saw my resume, and he wants me to come down to boston for an official interview to talk to him, the other supervisor, and the HR recruiter too. so i should know more about that by the end of this week. and, looking at a trip to boston sometime this month!
so, be happy for me, and keep your fingers crossed.
- was dozing. am now awake...
- so crazy last few days. 8 days ago landed from tanzania. spent the first few days hiding, totally hididng from people, not going out, or talking when i did. bearly driving. a few days ago finally left the house with my mother and ran into a few folks, who were offering me infant-baby-sitting jobs, which are my favorite way to earn "pocket-money." then my father's receptionist (my father's a doctor with a small private office) had to call in from family issues for the week, so i'm filling in for her for two days as well. and then i'm also spending every spare moment tailoring my resume and writing covor letters for some jobs with a consulting firm in boston, which would totally help me to get back on my feet for a while. and, some of my closest friends live in boston. and, one of my friends works for the same firm. so, i have to get that tailored and done by tuesday. so i'm going, in one week, from hiding, to advertising myself. quite surreal, adding to the long list of bizzaar surreal experiences of this past month and a half.
wow. seriously overwhelmed, but in a good way.
-d.
- coming home
- some of you may know this, some of you may not. but, as a result of the post-election turmoil in Kenya, peace corps is terminating the sites of the volunteers in the most volatile areas, and sending us back to the usa. so, i'll be back in Keene by monday, back to having no job, no money, and no life. if you want to meet up for lunch, let me know!
i've got mixed emotions about returning... glad to be back in the usa, and back with my friends and family and american food and conveniences, but sad to be leaving my kenyan family, and my peace corps volunteer friends. so, dont expect me to be tooo excited about being back. it's not you, it's just the sucky situation where the decision wasnt mine to make.
but, at least i'll get to catch up with you all sooner than i thought (by about 18months!)
- timetravel @ 2007-05-20T00:42:00
- leaving. 29 hours. eeeeeep. i'm SURE i forgot something. positive. also had horrendous teary goodbye with liz, and almost w. morgan and hilary. i'm a WRECK.
shit. 29 hours.
if you dontknow already, join my listserv for more tales, as i wont be updating here for like... ages.
to SUBSCRIBE:
send an email to kenya_ditte-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
(blank email is fine, and signing up for the mailing list is the easiest way to go.)
or
go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kenya_ditte/
and sign up and join, etc.
see you all in 2.25 years!
- timetravel @ 2007-05-10T18:28:00
- i have a new baby cousin!
my cousin Nate and his wife Kelly (well, mostly the wife) gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl, Claire Ruth Hickey, today, in Coronado, California.
(Ruth was my grandmother's name, Claire's Great-Grandmother, and I believe Claire was also her Great-Grandmother's name on her mother's side).
now i want my friends Nick and Tammy to have their baby today too, so i can remember just one birthday for both babies! (also, tammy is 6 days overdue, and therefore, ready to have baby any second... so it's not improbable.)
happy baby day!
- today, an atheist was at a church presenting a 'mission moment'
- today i went to church. my mother's assistant teacher asked me to come to present a 'mission moment' about being a peace corps volunteer. i had to stay through the whole service, and stay after to talk during 'coffee hour'... answering questions for 85 yr old ladies and their husbands... all trying to bring me into teh folds of the church, telling me how 'lovely and friendly' the community of the church is, and how casual and friendly and relaxed and accepting they are... as though that would make me no longer an atheist. it's a great concept... trust me, if i COULD suddenly decide that i believe in a higher power, then i would, no questions asked, 'cause i think that concept would be incredibly amazing, powerful, shocking... i just dont believe it's possible. at all. so, the concept of going to church, wanting to believe... it's just exhausting...
so. yes. it was mighty strange. that is all.
- timetravel @ 2007-04-18T22:55:00
- i have re-entered the digital camera world. and i'm super happy.
for my birthday, i received an 'IOU' for a $200-ish camera from my daddy... so after much deliberation on buying my favorite camera style (olympus) which dosnt run on a battery that i could re-charge via my solar charger... but after said deliberation, and learning that i can get a voltage adaptor to adapt some other electronic devices, i decided that therefore i can get a few batteries, and charge occasionally, and then buy my favorite style camera that i love love love ( to replace my camera that was stolen in june when i got drunk and was forgetful with it.)
so, today, my brand new (and bright blue!) Olympus Stylus 740 arrived in the mail. and it's pretty, and does all the magical things that my old camera did, except this one is bright blue... which tops the list of electronics that i'm allowing myself to bring to africa to 3... iPod, Camera, and Solar Charger... when in africa, i will buy a cell phone... though i dont know how that will work, or really, anything about cellular phones in the africa... advice would be appreciated!
in relation to cameras, i'm also bringing my Canon AE1, an ancient (ie, 1980ish) and fantastically functional SLR with which i'd love to shoot with black and white while i'm overseas... i have to order a bushel-full of film from my parents friends who own a kodak shop in binghampton.
and also, i'm freaking out about packing... brad and whitney have made an incredibly detailed list of those things they're bringing with them (including the number of AA and AAA batteries they're bringing)... which is intimidating, but at the same time, totally not my style... since i never prepare anything, and am one of the worlds greatest procrastinators. i think i know SOME of the things i'm brining, but certainly not all, or even close. but i'm mostly ok with that. it'll all work out in the end.
apologies for the ramblings, my brain's kinda detached right now. but let us be excited about the camera, super pretty, and super fantastic. i'm psyched. ive decided that i'll name her tinkerbell... even though she's green, she's tink-like in character. :)
and now it's bedtime.
cheers!
- random ramblings. *(is there any other kind?)
- so, the governemnt? sucks.
fileing taxes? sucks.
ny state govt? sucks most.
it took me OVER an HOUR to download the NYS 'tax form instructions'.
it has now taken me an HOUR to print the damn thing. seriously. cause my computer dosnt like the huge 78 page instruction manual that is requred to fill out a form worth... for me... MAYBE $100 dollars to the government. MAYBE!
in other news... i filed my Fed. taxes, and having paid in $740, i'm getting back $377. i keep reminding myself that this is MY money the government is giving BACK, and not THEIR money they're giving to me. important distinction.
(oooh, the tax paper finally finished printing. woooh!)
tomorrow, we're having a party at work, my little cafe. a new artist's work is going on display, landscape pottery (whatever that means!) so we're having a reception with yummy appetizers and selling wine and beer. i'm excited about the wine. and i should also bring something nice to wear for that, once my lunch shift is over.
(for some reason, it seems really really strange to talk about work on here... like, super abnormal and out of place. which makes me think that i never talk about work here... which is strange, 'cause i spend like 30 hours a week in the place.)
thats it, brain totally fried. headed to bed to read for a while, and then, SLEEEEEEEP. excellent.
- funniest thing ever. or almost. guarenteed.
- ok guys, funniest thing ever. you'll love it. i promise.
go to "www.google.com"
click on "maps"
click on "get directions"
type in 'new york' to 'london'
scroll down and read step #23.
laugh hysterically.
share with everyone you've ever met.
EDIT: so i tried to get the same results (not sharing what they are for those who havnt seen what it is yet) and discovered that the results are impossible to any other continent except europe, and only within europe, but not between europe and any other continent (africa, for example...)
keep laughing. its seriously too funny.
- timetravel @ 2007-04-10T22:58:00
- so i realized that all my recent entries have been peace corps related. and since that's not alll i have going on in my life i thought i'd catch you up on the rest of what's been going on.
work continues to go well, though for teh past two weeks the dishwasher was completly broken, so we had to wash every single dish by hand. which is fine when it's slow, but when it gets busy, and you do 45 lunches in 2 hours... that's 45 people's plates, cups, silverware, and cooking pots, pans, etc, you have to wash... while you're also serving meals, cooking, clearing, and rining up every person who walks through the door and wants to take food to go and/or just buy coffee without wanting to take the time to sit down. it was infuriating, exhausting, and my hands... so gross and dry and bleachy. but, my hero the dishwasher repair man came and made it all better yesterday, so finally i have my magic dishwasher back again.
the best part of this past week is taht my parents were in england. my great aunt was really sick, hospitalized with pneumonia, so my parents skipped their vacation to south carolina and went to england to see her instead. which meant that from wednesday to sunday it was just my sister and i here, and then sunday she left to go on her senior class trip... a cruise to mexico... so i got the house ALL TO MYSELF for three whole days. it's been great. whatever food i want, music as loud as i like, as late as i like, etc.
the only problem is that though supposibly it's spring, it's been snowing nonstop for a week, and so the house has been FREEZING cold... and i've been trying to keep a fire burning to keep it warmer... but most of the wood we have left is still pretty green (ie, not dry and burn-happy, but much like trying to burn a live tree with the wet sap still running through it).... so the fires are burning much slower, and therefore produce less heat per hour than i'd like, and therefore, ITS BEEN COLD, and i dont like it.
in other news, headed up to montreal in two weeks (well, just over two weeks) to go to OAP lite, (drinking fiesta) and see the mcgillies before i leave to africa. seriously excited about it. been missing people like crazy, and its weird to think this'lll be the last time i see them for over two years. its... intense.
peace corps news includes the fact taht i started a yahoo-group for mass-emailing while i'm gone, since this site will be changed to friend-only for the duration of my trip, and possibly once i get back too. its peace corps rules, mostly, and the fact that i really dont want people to be able to find me (like, physically locate me) while i'm in kenya, unless i actually know who they are... and this journal could make that a little too easy if i'm the only while girl for 100 miles, right?
so that's my story and i'm stickng too it.
btw, if you're looking for good (amazing/sad/scary) movies, watch 'jesus camp', 'chasing freedom', and 'the constant gardner'
- bad to worse.
- WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!?!?
um. sallie mae (evil student loan company) says that i am INELIGIBLE for "Peace Corps Deferment"... which means, HOW THE FUCK am i supposed to pay off my loans while i'm gone????
FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK.
[edit: apparently, though i don't qualify for "Peace Corps Deferment", i DO qualify for "Economic Hardship Deferment" because i am a Peace Corps Volunteer. any idea what this means, or WHY the us government is sooooo strange?]
- freaking out.
- so apparently, the ONE document i was supposed to send the peace corps WAAAAY back in november, RIGHT when i first found out where i was placed... i never did it. thought i did, recall sending it... but now, looking at the form asking for my 'aspirations' and a special 'peace-corps-oriented resume'..... i definetally havnt done this before.
so, shit. 'cause i was supposed to have it in 4 MONTHS ago, and now, i'm trying to cram it all into the next 3 days and i'm freaking out and finding myself totally unqualified (not just under-qualified, but UNqualified) and cannot imagine what the peace corps thought they were getting into when they signed me up. did someone have a lobotomy that day? i havnt done ANY HIV/AIDS education or volunteer work, and have essentially no training in the field as well. nor does my degree relate in the LEAST to HIV/AIDS, and languages? i dont know kiswahili at all. even the tiniest bit. so, this is bad, and i've spent the evening desparetly trying to re-discover the things about myself i found worth telling the peace corps about in the first place, and crying over mugs of tea. (did i mention i'm also PMSing?)
- timetravel @ 2007-03-30T10:45:00
- so yesterday. sucked.
i guess someone backed into my car without telling me... all scratched up on the rear drivers side door, paint gone, very sad.
secondly, i had a customer ask me when my baby was due. seriously. ok, guys, i get it, not the skinniest girl ever. even, heavier than average... but STILL... MY BABY???so, totally broke my heart for the day. feeling pretty crappy about it. therefore, eating fresh veggies and fruit in larger quantities than usual.
:( :(
bummer.
- PC Contemplations, and feeling sick. :(
- so... blah. i've caught my sister's and mom's colds, resulting in exhaustion, sore throat, sinus headache, and soon (but luckily not yet) bad asthmatic coughs and dry lungs. fantastic.
in other news, i've discovered peace-corps websites with journals by PCVs (current volunteers) and PCTs, (trainees, who are in country and will be sworn in and head to their site sometime in the next few months) as well as RPCV's (returned volunteers who're back in the states) and soon-to-be-trainees like myself. so this's resulted in my locating three people who'll be in my trainee group in kenya, a husband and wife who are coming over together (not sure of their age, they could be 20 or 70 for all i know... though, since they have a livejournal, i'm going to assume they're about 25-30), as well as a girl who seems to be close to my age (post-college/grad school age, apx). this is terrifying to me, that there are other people who are going... because this makes MY departure all the more imminent.
this joins my list of terrifying things about africa, along with nightmares about (1) only packing green paisley sweater vests, (2)only packing beverage packets, (3) having everyone i meet want to take everything i own (because they feel they have a greater need for it than i do) and my not beng able to say no because i KNOW they do need it more than i do). also terrifying... i'm strangly nervous about traveling alone in-country between training and my site. my friend who's a volunteer in Burkina Faso was actually driven to her site by a PC van/truck/something by a host country national PC employee... but i have no idea if this is common, or even standard... my other thing is that i'm actually leaving in less than two months. LESS THAN TWO MONTHS. and i'm getting annoyed at my departure date... it's 3 days before my family's 33rd annual memorial dayparty (where we had 220 guests last year!) and 4 days before one of my closest family friend's wedding, who i've known since the day i was born, quite literally. i know the PC says they can change the date up/back up to 7 days... and i really really REALLY want them to move the date back by 5-6 days, but i know they wont. and this bugs me.
changing the subject... today was day 6 of my 11 day work-week. i only worked a short shift today, so my boss could take the morning off and not be worried about arriving at 5.30am with the worlds worst hangover. but i'm not looking forward to the next few days at work (because they're going to be busier. and that's not fun when feeling sick.)
ok, i think it's bedtime now. icky sick feeling. :(
- weekend road trip all on my lonesome.
- this weekend was my road trip to visit liz in boston, plan on st. patty's day in the city of irish love (or something) and then head home monday. being that liz needed to get to work sun evening, plans were re-routed to include a sunday evening visit to my friend ryan in concord NH, and a monday lunch with my moms two sisters, also in concord NH.
Friday: with reports of a blizzard on the way, your dear friend ditte ignores them all and goes home after work at noon to START her packing and then take an hour long nap, BEFORE she gets in her car to drive to boston. c'mon, it wasnt snowing yet in keene, it was sunny and 25 degrees! so, hit the road around 2 (an hour after i'd planned) and made it two hours down the road in albany before traffic hits a dead standstill, and i'm literally crawling along at 2mph (well, my spedometer wasnt registering any higher than zero, but i know i was moving, hence the 2 mph). 45min later i've traveled like 6 miles, and the snow's barely started to fall. the mass pike, however... 30-40mph the entire 160miles, with at least a foot of snow on the ground, and zero visibility for about 35 miles, 'cause my windsheild wipers were frozen chunks of ice smudging more ice accross it. suffice it to say... 7pm arrival in boston? not so much. landed at liz's at 8.45pm, just in time for her mothers amazing meal (feast anyone? if you're going to liz's house, go when it's someone's birthday. totally rocks.)
Saturday: rather than heading down the cape (cod, which other cape could it be?) friday night, we left saturday mid day, and spent saturday in providence with Brenden, went to the brown university bookstore, and wandered around RISD. dessert up on independence hill, where i wrestled the check away from brenden and managed to actually PAY for something. that was the last time on my trip. we followed dessert up with a trip to hooters, where we watched the bruins get slaughtered by the NY rangers, and then got in the car and drove out to cape cod, where we settled into liz's condo by watching shallow hall (also known as the worlds most dealthy slow movie with an unfortunaltly addicting premise, hence not being able to turn it off) and went to bed. except, liz mostly just passed out (stupid cold, and brenden and i were wide awake, so ended up staying up late reading.
Sunday: lazy morning on the cape, out to breakfast at the cup of the bay, (small town, cute. much like home.) and then a visit to the christmas tree shop, before heading brenden back to providence and driving back up to boston. stopped for fantastic thai food for dinner, where liz and i stuffed ourselves silly, and then couldnt finish our main courses (stupid appetizers). at this point, 7pm, i got in my car and headed up to concord to see ryan. arrived around 9.pm, and we headed back south to manchester (manch-vegas, anyone?) for copious amounts of margaritas at the quite appropriatly named 'Margaritas!'. who wouldda thunk? back to ryans, where we seemd to think it would be a good idea to drink two more bottles of wine (oh, my poor poor liver) and then ryan introduced me into the wonderful world of heavy metal music.
Monday: bearly drag mysef out of bed by 11.30am, in order to get to meet my aunt at her office for her one hour lunch break. quickly drive back to her house, (which she and my uncle JUST finsihed building... wowzer!) and had a quick lunch (which, due to the lovely state of my stomach, didnt stay down very long) then back to my OTHER aunt's office, where we had 'dessert' in the cafe at her business, which consisted of a muffin and very plain juice. after a quick stop at granite state candy, for my easter delights (sweeeeeet, cant wait!) i hit the road.... problem number, my stomach still not in a state that it wants to meet mr. coffee, and yet i was UTTERLY exhausted. so, i stopped and slept in a rest-area for an hour, and hit the road abot 50% brand-new, and therefore able to drink coffee about 45 min. later. landed home in keene at around 8pm, and settled in with a bath, long phone conversations, and an early to bed.
Tuesday: i'm running late to work. SHIT, this took longer to type than i thought it would!
- new york ramblings (of the physical and the mental varieties)
- tis my birthday. (ok, so that was supposed to say 'its', but i was too lazy to go back and correct it)
i'm in nyc... the big apple (uh, where the hell did that expression come from?) and loving it, although becoming more and more broke as the days pass. stupid expenditures! but it's great.
friday night arrival = much alcoholism with my cousin here at her place at 88th and Broadway (i LOVE the upper west side!) saturday was wandering/walkabout/central park/west village day, including cocktails at Otto's, a great pseudo-swanky bar/cocktail hour place. i loved it, but it broke the bank. then dinner at fantabulous cafe around the corner from cousin em's with real italian owner speaking to us in Italian, though hopefully not expecting us to understand.
today, much more relaxed, brunch this AM, fantastic, then bed bath and beyond, followed by chillaxing afternoon of west wing (addiction. need counseling, i know). tonight got to dine w. julia k, fantastic mcgilligan (ooh. bad nickname. mcgillite is better) in the east village, just north of soho. did some minor gifty-shopping for the 'rents and the sibs, for un-birthday goodness, since they'd better all be getting me birthday goodness (23 tomorrow, woohoo!)and then metro-ed my way home. (alone. wooh. i can totally tackle the NYC MTA alone! i rock.)
tomorrow, cousin is working, but im headed down to ellis island museum i think for the day (maybe statue of liberty too?) and then back here when she gets off work around 5 for cocktails at 'her' bar, and then train home from penn station at 8.20, back into albany by 11pm, driving back to home to work bright and somewhat early tuesday.
this will immegietly be followed by being reamed out by my fantastically moody boss who's somehow decided that i can do nothing right, but this only in the past month, when i've been working there since september and havn't changed anything (except for the whole getting BETTER at my job thing) and yet, suddenly, i'm a terrible,horrible no-good, very bad employee. woooo hoo. ie, totally not looking forward to going home. well, not the going home, just the going back to work. ewww.
ok, for now, i believe it's bedtime. book, then bed. you should all call me in the middle of the night to wish me a happy birthday. 'cause, no fooling, i love love love being woken up by people who love me. it's sad, but so true. i'm gonna pretend that it's cause sleep dosnt matter, but we both know it's cause i'm so insecure that i'm desperate for all the love i can get regardless of the time of day. twisted sister am i? totally.
- timetravel @ 2007-01-27T03:00:00
- best McPubCrawl Ever... began poorly, lots of wandering... followed by hours at McKibbinns w. the Secretariat and alcoholism and horrid white-people drinking.
sleeping in tomorrow, showing up late at the hotel:) psyched.
- timetravel @ 2007-01-25T23:53:00
- in montreal./ drunk. must be awake at 7.15am. ouch.
:(
McMUN controls my life. even after only 8 hours.
- curiouser and curiouser...
- so....why is my iPod not functioning? it's frozen... on the opening screen (music, photos, settings, etc) and it's not on hold... and the buttons and circular drag-thingy aren't working. any ideas?
d.
- McMUN shopping goodness!
- went shopping yesterday, got goodness for McMUN... hot 3-piece suit from Nine West, for $30!! and gorgeous Jones of New York tweed jacket, black and white, for $40, as well as a really hot skirt, and some blouses to wear w. the suit to change things up so i dont wear the same outfit each day. :) also got hot new shoes, and some new shoes last week as well, so i'm all set. i'm going up on thursday, to help out at the conference. hope i'll get to see Hilary while i'm up there, if she's not coming down this weekend.
super excited about my hot suit/skirt. cant wait til next weekend. :)
- impending double.
- gah. i'm working my first double EVER tomorrow... 12.5 hours. as a waitress. these are the types of shifts i work hard to AVOID by not owning resteraunts or working 3 jobs... but since the other waitress is very ill (read: vomiting) then i'll be filling in. which would be fine if i wasnt going to be working the WHOLE day w. the owner, cause she's kinda bitchy, but the other chef is out for the day, so it'll just be me and her (the owner) the whole day. eep. will need coffee, and plenty of jobs to keep me occupied.
friday: morning only (5 hour shift), followed by shopping in plattsburgh for McMUN worthy western-business-attire clothes. i'm actually excited about that.
-bye bye for now.
- north country wanderings
- off to plattsburght to see Lucid again tonight. fantabulous band, cannot wait. also, dinner w. the Mountaineer Crowd, and fun times with Lance and Phil. starting to feel like i can survive the north country (maybe).
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