9 Days to my Birthday!!!

The countdown is officially on! I'm so excited! One of my roommates asked me today, "Are you one of those people who gets really excited about their birthday?" Yes, yes I am. Since going to college, I have made a point of celebrating my birthday in whichever way I see fit, whether that's hanging out downtown on St. Patrick's Day, searching for lake glass at Chicago's only sand dune beach, or going out for ribs and singing and dancing with choir friends over a delicious chocolate cake. This year, I intend to have more semi-spontaneous fun.

Sadly, I work on my birthday. But the last two days of my work week that week I'll be working at Tuzigoot, which means I'll already be in Cottonwood-area to do cool things over there. One of my coworkers suggested Jerome and, since they have the same days off as me, I suggested they show me around! Hopefully it's going to work out, but they've got to check their schedule. I was going to invite Sara, but it sounds like she's going to be with her Phoenix friend (the other Sara) that weekend. Perhaps I'll give a call to the other SCA - he lives in Cottonwood and might be able to hang out with us that side too. We'll see!

Other than that, I have very little planned, I'm just going to let the days take me where they will! I love the fresh joy of the Birthday Weekend: always something new, always something fun, always makes me feel awesome and totally in love with the vibrancy of life.

I can hardly wait...

Birthday idea...

If anyone wants to be super-awesome, they should send me a box of those Jell-O Pudding single serving snack mixes (chocolate or vanilla) for my upcoming birthday (March 16th!!) because I just ate my last one and those have become the best quick, sweet snack ever for me out here. You know, the ones where you add 1/2 cup of milk to the packet, stir it up, put it in the fridge, and wait five minutes? Yeah, those tasty treats.

Hint. Hint.

;)

Employed?

Great news: I've been in contact with folks at Bodie, and I'm about 95% sure that they offered me a job! I was a bit unsure if I wanted to go back there again, which is why I was so late in sending out my application, but when I got the message from them that they were real interested in hiring me... my heart started pounding and I started telling all my coworkers here all about Bodie, the stories, the locale, the people, the job. I (and my audience) realized how much I'm still in love with the place.

Granted, it's not the National Park Service. But it's a job, which is not an easy thing to come by in this economy. Plus, it's rather secure, so my chances of getting the job again next year would be pretty high because I'd be "on the books" and I would just have to reapply. I've gotten a half dozen referrals for the NPS, but I haven't actually heard back on any of them (even the ones I've called on). If there actually was an offer there, then I would have to do some serious thinking and weighing of things, but as it is, I don't have anything to keep me from saying 'yes' and losing myself in the heart of the Eastern Sierras once again. Maybe this time around, if they're still doing three-day weekends, I could drive out to Bodega Bay and visit my aunt and uncle, or my cousin halfway there. Perhaps on the drive out to Bodie I could stop and see some friends in the LA area.

Frankly, I've got a lot of unfinished business in the area as far as things to see, places to go, and hikes to hike... I wouldn't mind being back there again. :)