What a relief to not have to be staring at job boards for hours and hours on end everyday. So now I have about a week left to enjoy my freedom. But what to do? Now I feel pressure to do lots of fun things before I have to work 40 hours a week again. The trouble is, I'm not very good at thinking of things to do. I often get so overwhelmed trying to think of something fun to do that I don't wind up doing anything. It's pretty counterproductive.
So what else has Courtney been up to besides nailing interviews, you ask? Well, this week I've been mainly trying to not die of heat exhaustion. Yesterday it got up to 92 degrees with 46% humidity and no air conditioning anywhere. It was kind of a nightmare. I ventured out briefly to make a trip to Capital Hill to visit a friend at his work but the heat quickly got to me and I had to retreat back to my new best friend, the fan, back home. I'm actually quite proud of myself for getting to Capital Hill (which I'd never been to) without getting lost once. I may have conquered my navigation system--FINALLY. And get this, I BACKED into a parking space. I know, pretty big stuff. I think it might have been my third backing in park job ever. My mom said, "If you had a psychiatrist, they'd be astounded by the progress you made today!" Thanks, mom!
Another thing I've been doing lately is trying to do more things that I don't normally do. I could be described as being "stubborn" and "stuck in my ways" so I'm trying to break away from those descriptions of myself. After all, the purpose of moving to Seattle was to have a fresh start. Not to say, I'm going to start drinkin' and partyin' anytime soon, but I'm trying to go a little outside of my comfort zone. It's kind of like a self-anthropological experiment. So far it hasn't been so bad. I have a new friend who's really into the local music scene so he's been encouraging me to go to shows and meet new people. I haven't been too successful at the meeting people aspect but I'm at least getting out of the apartment. Going to these shows has made me feel a little regretful though that I never really tried to pursue music. Anyone who knows me well knows that I've always wanted to sing. To be honest, singing brings me more joy than anything else, even my art (which is saying a lot) but around 14 years old I developed an almost crippling fear of performing in public. And I feel bad to have this talent that I can't share with other people. I started singing at the age of six (after seeing "The Little Mermaid) and being young and pure had no inhibitions of singing for others. But then it turned into a bit of a problem. Kids started being total jerks about it like trying to force me to sing on the bus or in front of their friends like I was some kind of performing monkey. I didn't like that. In middle school I was in the choir and sang a solo once for my class. After that my teacher kept calling my house and tried to get my mom to convince me to sing a solo in every performance we did. Being 13 years old, I already was feeling awkward and self-conscious about myself, getting up and singing in front of an audience was too much for me. So to avoid this problem from resurfacing all of the time, I stopped telling people that I sang. It turned into a secret that only I knew about. I've sang for a handful of people since then and all of them have encouraged me to try singing in public again but...I don't know. I feel like it's kind of too late anyway. This phobia has been ingrained in me for so long that I don't think I could get over it at this point. But seeing other people perform...it just makes me feel a little sad that I never had the guts to do it.
Whoa, this post is really starting to bum me out. Let me get back to the positive stuff that's been going on. Last week I went with my roommate to Gas Works Park and it's probably my favorite place I've been to in Seattle so far. It was just lovely. We sat on this hill (Kite Hill) that overlooked the water and watched all the people on sail boats and in kayaks. We had come there with the intention of reading our books but neither of us got any reading done that day. I was just too enamored with the water. Being from the desert, water is kind of hypnotic to me. Gas Works has an awesome view of downtown too. Here's some pics!
That same day we went to Greenlake and walked around the lake. While we were walking we played this game a friend and I invented called "A or B". Whenever a pair of fellas walk past you, you HAVE to choose which one you'd go on a date with. I know...it's terrible but it's fun. A few days later we went to Ravenna Park (which I'm in love with) and played frisbee. I hadn't played frisbee in AGES and it was really fun. All of us were pretty bad at it but being bad at something shouldn't stop you from doing it.
Oh, another thing I did last week was visit the Washington Arboretum and the Japanese Gardens. They were both pretty cool. I'd like to visit again in fall (my favorite season) and in spring. Apparently, I had just missed all of the trees blossoming so that was a bit of a bummer. Everything was just varying shades of green but still lovely all the same. I joined a tour group of the gardens and learned an interesting factoid: gingko trees are the oldest species of trees and have been around since the days of the dinosaurs. FASCINATING!
I've been working on some more pet hoops as well. Here's my most recent work:
"Flapper Batman Hoop"
7 inches
felt and embroidery floss
"Eleanor Hoop"
7 inches
felt,buttons,embroidery floss
"Frederic the Dashing Dachshund"
7 inches
felt, buttons, embroidery floss
Okies, well, Mama is ready for lunch but I'll let you know what fun things I decide to do with my last free week of summer. Hope you all have a great week!
Laters!
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