Where am I?

Hi. I think I forgot to mention that I would be out of town/offline for about a week in my last post. Didn’t mean to worry anyone or let y’all down. Sorry. Oh god. And just now I was on the ichats with my friend Steve, and I realized that I missed the Event of the Summer due to my internet absence. Apparantly the Bro Zone record release party/Steve’s birthday party was last night. He posted reminders all over the world wide web, but cave lady over here missed them all. It sounds like it was so super fun. Ugh. I want to throw up! Dear Internet! I will never leave you again!!
Since my last post, some exciting stuff has happened:
Catch That Beat,
A rad music event took place in Astoria Oregon last weekend. I had an amazing time. Here’s a link to Shayla’s photos of the event. There is a Willow Wonder Action Shot in there that is pretty sweet. Basically there were like, 1 million bands, and lots of really nice dudes, and we danced and ate yummy food, and I got high on a pier with Jah (remember him?) We slept on the beach, and there were these organisms called “biolumnescents” (I think) that lived in the water and the sand. In the middle of the night we went down to the sea, and as we got closer a million stars exploded under our feet. That’s right. These tiny glowy guys lit up each time we took a step. If I squinted my eyes the sand looked like the sky, and galaxies were growing from my feet. It’s possible that this was the most magical experience of my adult life. Possibly.
Too bad that the next morning the cops came and busted everyone for sleeping on the beach. 22 dudes got $100 tickets in the early (really early) morning drizzle. I was lucky enough to have nature call just as the cops (okay, it was only one cop) arrived. I peeked my head out of the tent, assessed the scene, and uh, ran away. No ticket for me! I woke and warned as many folks as I could, but was sadly unable to rouse my friend Rebecca who got nabbed. We think the tickets will be reduced. People generally had a good attitude about it. Still sucks though.
Anyhow, many thanks and praises go out to executive/creative director Jona and managing director Steve for putting together an amazing event. Totally rivalled What the Heck Fest. (Wow. I can’t believe I just made that statement. I’ll stand by it though.)
Fancy Private School Retreat
So I returned from CTB on Sunday, then hit the coast again 16 hours later with the fancy private school that I am interning with this year. They rented three gorgeous houses in Arch Cape, and the stuffed us full of food and wine, and made us play embarassing games. It was great. I tried to sleep outside the first night, but this big ol’ raccoon started advancing on me as soon as I snuggled into my sleeping bag, and multiple screams didn’t deter him so I slept inside after all. The second night I shared a tiny tent with the second grade teacher. It was great. Some other wildlife I spotted:
*big crab
*pod of whales (well, their spouts anyway, off toward the horizon. They were migrating.)
*many bunny rabbits
*some dogs
We got back on Wednesday night, and on Thursday I won a gift certificate to Applebee’s restaurant in a raffle at the Health & Safety Party Gras the school sponsored. Oh Yeah! I plan on taking Steve to this fine establishment to make up for missing his Most Important Week. Free Pepsi refills, here I come!
So life is good. On Tuesday my students will arrive (!!!) and I will officially be a 1st Grade teaching lady (sorta). I cannot wait. Oh, and I moved in with Will, Lisa and the twins, and it has been great so far. I still have a lot of unpacking to do, but the vibe is familial and awesome. We just have dial-up right now though, which needs to be addressed ASAP. I’m hoping to have (cheap?) wireless jams pumping really soon. If anyone has advice on good servers, let me know.
And finally, on a personal note, thanks so much for those who posted their emo calling cards. So brave and nice. I like you guys.