Busy Getting Busy... You Know... Or Not.

So it's been a hot minute. Not quite a hot minute, but a little over a month since I've shared any adventures of my time in California. 

There are a few reasons why it's been so long:

1. I was busy doing things so that I'd have interesting things to write about. 
2. I was busy working out. All the time. Six days a week. 
3. My job started expecting more of me, and I became busier than originally anticipated. 

Whatever my terrible excuse, and it truly was nothing short of an excuse, I have a little bit of time to cover in order to update this silly sham of a blog on what I've been up to. 

April ended, I turned a year older, and some family came to visit. 

It was nice.

Shortly afterwards, my friend Sandie and I decided to appear as zombies in Run for Your Lives, the zombie-themed 5k that I originally participated in the previous summer in Pittsburgh. 

We looked awesome. 

We spent a delightful evening in rural Sacramento followed by an even more delightful morning and afternoon chasing runners, being zombie-like, and sweating. It was 98 degrees out. It was totally worth it, we had a good time. And on the way back, we discovered the best sushi in the bay area. I dream about that place. It's nearly an hour away, but I want to go back pretty much every night. 

I crashed my first party! It was a lamb roast. The only weird thing was the tree growing in the shower. But once again, another great time. 

At the tail end of May, I had the busiest Memorial Day weekend ever. Highlights included a trip to beautiful Sonoma...

...which featured one of the most fantastic meals I've had in awhile at a small restaurant called 'Girl and the Fig'...

And a Memorial day spent going to way too many barbecues. More recent adventures included a 1920's-themed party...

And a really lovely trip to explore Chinatown and the annual North Beach Festival...

I've gotten to know a little more about the area, a little more about the city, and I actually like the people that I spend my time with, instead of spending time with them because I don't know anyone else in the area. It's not a large group, but I'm truly appreciative of the people that put up with me here. 

Although some of them are leaving. 

Rachel and Dave, my fantastic first friends here are making their way to Pittsburgh as we speak in order  to make a life in a city with a reasonably-priced housing market (that and the whole exciting new job thing... but... whatever). Those are some folks that I'll definitely miss. Because they understand the Midwestern-y Cleveland-ness that flows through my veins. They understand why grilling is an important fixture of summer, they understand that the best bars are unpretentious, and they both understand and utilize sarcasm. Some of these things are in scarce supply in the area that I'm living now, and I'm worried that this California sunshine and positivity will slowly replace the murky Cuyahoga waters that run through my soul. Losing them to the east sucks, but I think that in Pittsburgh they'll find the happiness that wasn't quite connecting out here. 

Additionally, the previous-entry mentioned friend whose couch I've crashed on, whose fridge I've raided, and whose drunken company I've adored is going to be traveling abroad for several months... but not before asking me to move in (it's not going to happen, but it was sweet of him to ask). 

I'm bummed. I'm just bummed. I know he'll be back soon but I'm stuck here thinking, "There's a person in this state that I'm not related to that loves me enough to want to live me with me... but they're not going to be around until there's snow on the ground back East". He's here until the end of the month... but I guess I'll have to find someone else in the area that considers Drunk Adrienne to be entertaining in the meantime. 

But it's rough. Some of the major people here that ask, "Are you okay?" and mean it are going off to different places. Keeping my spirits up has been hard work, but staying busy helps, and my re-dedication to keep running has done a fantastic job at eating up my free time. This past weekend included my first 9 miler in quite awhile, and shockingly, I didn't feel like complete crap afterwards. 

I know that this writing has been disconnected, sloppy and lacking in style. I promise some better writing on my upcoming vacation. 

Going to go pop a blood blister... running all the time has some interesting side effects. 

Shit That I Did at 23, and a Year In Photos

Dearest Readers, a warning: don't drink and blog. 

As many of you know, today I turned 24 years of age. 24 isn't really a good birthday. I mean, you can already drink. That isn't a new thing. I can't rent a car at a non-wallet-raping rate. I can't sign up for AARP. I can't run for president yet. Nothing new or cool comes with 24 years of age. Mostly, you get stuck between still having acne, making bad choices, and being forced to act like a grown up and take care of yourself because YOU'RE GODDAMN 24 YEARS OLD, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE YOU SHOULD KNOW HOW TO DO YOUR OWN FUCKING LAUNDRY (...the last statement is a bit of passive-aggression towards an ex-boyfriend. I don't care how many Master's degree you have, there is no reason why you should constantly buy new socks instead of washing old ones). 

So yeah! I'll write more on my weekend, our adventures, and how myself and my family celebrated this (not) momentous occasion later, but for now, I present to you a list. 

THE INCOMPLETE LIST OF SHIT THAT I DID WHILE I WAS 23

1. I learned how to make bruschetta without an overly-aggressive garlicky flavor. 

2. I ran 3 5k races. 

3. I ran the Cleveland Half Marathon. 

4. I ran a zombie-themed obstacle race.

5. I painted my friend Ben's fingernails while he wasn't paying attention. 

6. I probably ate my weight in spinach. 

7. I presented original research about a relatively obscure topic at a national conference. 

8. I bought a suit. 

9. I dressed up as a zombie and went bowling. 

10. 4 punk bands crashed at my house. 

11. I taught a Master's-level course at Kent State university without actually possessing a master's degree. And they paid me to do it.

12. I made some pretty awesome friends. 

13. I kept some pretty awesome friends. Props here to the jerks I bugged in NYC for a weekend.

14. I learned the basics of several computering languages (Unix, Python, Javascript, assorted SQL-based query language, Regex...)

15. I paid off some $12000 in student loans. 

16. I won a wheelbarrow filled with alcohol in a raffle. 

17. I took a 3000 mile road trip. I peed in like, 10 states.

18. I got really drunk and told nearly everyone I know that I decided to become a giraffe.

19. 3 out of 4 of the guys I dated had jobs. 

20. I got a job at Google.

21. I watched a guy get so drunk that he tried to light up his house keys, thinking they were a cigarette. (*No, Really)

22. I paid my taxes on time. 

23. I felt really lucky about having the opportunity to do all those things. 

I didn't want this list to sound like braggy. To be perfectly honest, very few of these things would have happened without some really cool folks cheering me on, pouring the shots, or helping me up. Thanks for helping me live up until now. You guys did as much of the above list as I did. 

Except for the giraffe thing. That was just me being drunk. 

I'm off to drink a bunch of water, in hopes that tomorrow morning won't be hangover city. I leave you now with, "23, A Year in Photos"

 The PIB Horse Mask

 Roadfest '12 and Bad Photography

 The White Party, A.K.A. That Time Fish and I Wore The Same Pants

 Rob Zombie

 

Photogenic Goat At County Fair

The Arcade Before the DannyKara Wedding

 (*Proof)

Stephanie Falling in Love with A Kitten During the Wheelbarrow Party

THE MYSTERY CONTINUES!

Baby We Were Born to Run

I haven't written in a few weeks, but I have an excuse: all of that adult-type crap that absolutely no one likes doing that I've put off for months and finally figured I should get done. You know what I'm talking about. The things that drive us to drink, which is the only really awesome thing you can do as an adult. That and hookers. Those are fun things. The things I've been doing? Not fun things. 

Here's the short list:

1. Bills

They keep coming. Every month. Bills are worse than periods. Chocolate cures one. HANDING OVER ALL OF YOUR MONEY cures the other. 

2. Federal Taxes

Apparently the 4 months I spent contract-teaching for KSU counted as a second job, so being a productive young person RAPED MY WALLET. 

3. State Taxes

No, I didn't film a motion picture in the state of Ohio. But there is a YouTube video of me dancing on a table at a bar. Can I have a deduction anyway?

4. Local Taxes

Which I totally didn't completely forget about and do in a 20 minute frenzy on the bus on the way to work...

5. DMV - Driver's License

Is it legal to smoke in a car with a child in it if the windows are down?  Because obviously, knowing the answer to this question will prevent someone from splattering my brains all over the freeway. 

6. DMV - Registration

Part #2. Because the first time I went, I assumed that me being me and having my passport was enough. But apparently I need to have my own signature notarized. Right...

7. DMV - SMOG Testing

CA equivalent of E-check. Inexplicably, the shop I went to raised turtles in a plastic tub in the hallway. 

8. Auto Insurance

"Can you send us your college transcript so we can verify a minimum 3.0 GPA while you were in school?"

9. Picking a Doctor

And yes, I think I found the only practitioner in the state of California that did residency at the Cleveland Clinic.

10. Stock

I got in contact with my brokerage firm and asked a couple questions about my plan, vesting, etc. I was, in turn sent a 60 page book about my stock. I don't understand any of this crap. 

11. 401K

Apparently, it's unheard of for a young person to be interested in designing their own investment strategy and I should just click a little box and let that box click manage my money. After the hours of this, I drank wine. I guess I should save my money now for when I'm too old to have any cool interests (I tease, I know there are plenty of interesting seniors). 



And essentially, throughout that mix, things stayed the same. I worked 5 days a week, I worked out a lot. I had two visits: one briefly from a family friend (it felt strangely comforting to have a dad around, even if it wasn't my own dad), and one weekend visit from a friend that was spending the week in LA. 

I did have a few adventures. I went olive oil tasting up near Sonoma...

And checking out some of the local shops...

Visiting a really great local bar with weird fresh sausages for a friend's birthday...

And taking a pretty delightful self-portrait with his dog...

Followed by a visit to the local whacky donut shop...

And I tried all kinds of fresh lychee, which is the closest thing possible to eating an eyeball...

And my most recent adventure was a trip to Half Moon Bay...

 

Where we stumbled upon a shipwreck...

And looted pure irony from the wreckage...

But in general, things are falling into patterns. I don't need to use a GPS to get to my office, my favorite bar, or Rachel/Dave's apartment anymore. And I have a small handful of people that want to do things with me on weekend that (and here's the shocker) I think are good humans!

Here's a picture of two of my girl-pals from our bike ride this evening. We're a Jew, a black chick, and an Asian girl, so when we hang out it looks like a Benetton ad. 

Well, that's all for now. Sunsets here are beautiful, I caught this one from the bus ride home.