Deja vu and a cruise

Today I woke up with deja vu. Something about the way the air smelled and the sound of birds chirping outside makes me feel like I've lived this day before. Weird. 

So last Saturday my roommate and I went on a cruise through Seattle. The weather was great, and it was just a fun day out on the water learning things about the city and experiencing it from a different point of view. For instance, I learned that Seattle was named after the native american chief of the Duwamish tribe (who apparently lived in the area way back when). Here are some pictures with more fun facts:

The roomie and I enjoying the sunshine.

Tour guide Zack who has an impressive collection of facts, and the ability to speak for a couple of hours without stopping, in spite of random tourists who clearly weren't paying much attention to what he was saying.

The blue building on the pier is the aquarium, which I've heard good things about but never actually visited. It's on my list.

This is one of the bluffs in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle. Apparently there are landslides every so often, but people continue to build very expensive homes here anyway. 

This is the Ballard Drawbridge that I drive over everyday on my way to work. I've only gotten stuck in bridge-being-up traffic twice so far, and it is not fun. Our cruise boat was small enough to fit under.

View of the city from Lake Union. These yachts reminded Kara and I to keep working on our goal of meeting someone with a boat who wants to be friends.

Gasworks Park...another Seattle spot on our list of places to go. Apparently it's the place to be on occasions with fireworks (i.e. 4th of July, New Year's Eve, Obama winning the election, etc), due to the reflective property of water :)

 

This is the 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom houseboat featured in the movie Sleepless in Seattle. It's currently for sale with an asking price of $1.2 million.

My first week of work went really well. There were certainly moments that were VERY stressful, but I feel like I've learned as much in one week as I did in the previous 6 months. I've been reading this book called The Survivors Club (which is fascinating, but probably not a book for people who tend towards paranoia), and found a quote that both inspired me and granted some perspective:

"What we really need to survive--breathing, sleeping, eating, eliminating--is very different from what we think we need... People think they need approval. They think they need to be right. They think they need to be perfect. But none of that is essential to survival."

It brings to mind the time that I spent in Benin, and helps me to remember that I am capable of more than I think I am...and reminds me to believe what is true, which is not necessarily what my brain/the world around me is saying.

Changes and crazy thoughts

I can't believe that in one week it will be my six-month moving to Seattle anniversary. It still sort of feels like I just got here.

In one week I will officially be finished with orientation at my job, and "on my own." This is both scary and exciting. It will be nice not to have a preceptor by my side, micromanaging my every move. It will be terrifying not to have a preceptor by my side when I don't know what to do. I'm sure that I will make mistakes, and feel awkward, and have impatient doctors be frustrated with me. My roommate and I were talking the other day about how being a nurse, you sort of feel like you have 50 bosses. Not that the doctors can fire you or have any real control over you...but you have to keep them happy. And that can be really hard to do sometimes, especially with surgeons, and especially as a new person. So I would really appreciate prayer over the next few weeks...for wisdom and boldness at work, but also that I would remember that mistakes are okay (in the sense that they don't detract from my value, not that I shouldn't try not to make them), and that it doesn't matter what other people think or say about me.

My roommate and I went to the symphony last night. It was fun to get all dressed up and go somewhere, even if pretty much everyone else was a couple on a Valentine's Day date. Our seats were up in a box on the side, with freaky low railings (I guess so you could see over them once you sat down). Pretty much any time I am in quiet, reverent situations such as the symphony or a play or weddings and funerals, I am overcome with wildly inappropriate thoughts. For instance, during the first twenty minutes of the performance, (while enjoying the music), all I could think about was what would happen if I stood up, yelled "BOOGERS" as loudly as possible, and tore my program into pieces and threw them onto the people below. It's so bizarre. I would never actually do something like that, but I always think about it. I think it's rooted in a desire to see how a large group of people would respond to sudden and unexpected craziness in their midst. Maybe I should have gotten a degree in social anthropology or something.

Forks or Bust

Because pronunciation doesn't translate to the written word, I'm giving my roommate Kara and my friend Kara special blog nicknames. The roommate will hereafter be referred to as Nurse Kara, and the friend will be K-Dub (her last name begins with a W, and she said people frequently call her this).

So this Thursday K-Dub, Amy, and I took a little road trip to the Olympic peninsula. Our destination was Forks, Washington, the setting for the Twilight series (and the rainiest town in the U.S.). For those who don't know what Twilight is, I'm referring to Stephanie Meyer's quartet of books describing the angst-filled romance between a teenage human and a vampire...of which K-Dub and I are fans. We planned to visit all the places mentioned in the books, including the beach at La Push, where the Quileute tribe lives. We were on the road by 6:30 am, anticipating a total drive time of 8 hours. Things were pretty foggy for the first few hours, but the sky was blue and we could tell it was going to be a clear day. 

The drive there included the usual road trip shenanigans...the highlight being K-Dub's and my incredibly thorough verbal recounting of the plots of all four books in the Twilight series for Amy (who hasn't read them and now says she never needs to). Also a magical gas station/market where we stopped for a potty break and provisions, which I now want to move into. There was a flat screen tv in the bathroom! It was the nicest gas station I have ever chanced upon while road tripping. A clean and well-lit Shell station will never satisfy me again. 

There was some truly beautiful scenery on our drive that we didn't get to spend much time enjoying, so we decided we are going back to visit the Hoh Rainforest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoh_rainforest) in the future. 

Our excitement mounted as we neared Forks. What we found when we arrived...was a bit anticlimactic. A typical small town in a lot of ways, but with signs on almost all the local businesses that said things like "Twilighters welcome here", "Try Bella's berry smoothie", "Team Edward", "Stay in the Edward and Bella Suite." We stopped at the high school to take some pictures, then decided we really didn't feel the need to try and find other landmarks from the books. 

We found a store called Dazzled By Twilight on the main strip and decided to check it out. Inside was a Twilight fan's dream. Tons and tons of merchandise devoted solely to Twilight. We picked up a few souvenirs and talked to the people who run the store and who were thrilled to have us there. We found out later that one of the women who works there actually moved herself and her family to Forks after reading the books. And that the citizens of Forks love their newfound fame, and are trying to get some of the stars of the movie to come out. Amy, K-Dub, and I concurred that this is not likely to happen.

Having significantly boosted the local economy, and all becoming slightly depressed by the small town desperation in the air (and total lack of vampires)...we decided to head to our next destination. First Beach at La Push, where the Quileute tribe resides. The beach itself was seriously beautiful (although it would have been nicer if it was 20 degrees warmer and sunny), but the poverty was sobering. We decided that the Quileutes should open a Twilight-themed casino. If they built it, people would come. 

We ate our overpriced bag lunches from Forks, then spent some time playing on the beach and taking pictures. There was one island about 200 feet from the shore that had a giant cave entrance in it's side, and I decided that if I ever go back to La Push when it's warm, I'm exploring it. We met a youth pastor from Colorado who is bringing a bunch of students for a mission trip in June. He was very nice and took our picture for us, but we found it difficult not to laugh at his extreme use of Christian phrases. 

The trip home seemed kind of never-ending, but it was a good day overall. Fun was had, and I can now say that I've been to Forks. And I can also say with confidence to any Twilight fans out there that can't make this trip in one day...save your vacation days for something else. If I mysteriously disappear in the next few days, it's probably because the Forks Chamber of Commerce sent a team of assassins after me.

The lovely Lake Crescent. Kind of made me wish I had a canoe, and could spend the day paddling around it. Also made me think of my brother Jon, as the surface of the lake is probably ideal for wake-boarding.

Note the excitement level of our faces.

See how the excitement has waned. We were kind of glad all the blinds were closed, so the students of Forks High couldn't see us being geeky.

Me and Amy and a giant tree. Hopefully after our trip to the Hoh rainforest we will have pictures of ourselves and giant living trees. Although it was cool to see signs telling us when the last harvest was (1984), when the current trees were planted (1994), and when they would be harvested (2036).
Practicing my cool vampire face. We got free teeth in Forks that provided lots of entertainment. But we all agreed that sucking the spit out of them afterwards is gross. Funny how I didn't seem to mind when I was a kid.

I told Amy that this picture makes her look like a homeless person who's about to lead a revolution. 
My mom would not have liked this beach, but it was fun to climb on the piles of driftwood. That island in the background is the one with the cave. In addition to exploring the cave, I think it would be fun to climb to the top of the island.

Me being King of the stump. K-Dub's expression in this picture is awesome. I zoomed in and showed it to her, and her exact words were "I look like Smeagol!"

This picture sort of makes me wish that I had brown eyes, too.

If I mysteriously disappear in the next few days, it's probably because the Forks Chamber of Commerce sent a team of assassins after me