lisa ann stone: News

I don't know why, but this trip seemed like it really wore me out. It was hot and humid on the way back and I was glad to get back safe.

I spent the day shopping and chatting with Connie, which was really nice. Jerome is always so nice.

On the drive to Sedona, it was really overcast, so we tried to shush the clouds away. But when we got to Cathedral Rock it was still raining. We went down the road for ten minutes or so, and came back to find it had stopped raining and that the clouds were clearing.. Yah!

We packed up and made the hike up there, but there was not a soul to be found. But it was dry, so drummed a little and Connie played her flutes and we celebrated making it there.

After a little while we were still the only souls up there, so we made our way back down the trail.

Under the light of the full moon.

What a long day today was! I got up at 3:00 am to leave at 5:00 am for a 8:00 am job interview up in Simi Valley. I got there at 7:00, so I had an hour to look around. It is really nice up there! There were vineyards and mountains and, yes, even a valley...

The interview took a while, but I got back home around 1:00 pm. Just enough time to pack and get on the road to Sedona!

I know my car was down a quart of oil, so I stopped and had it changed. They noticed that my rear tires were worn out. Why was it just the rear? Anyways, I then went to get new tires.

I finally got to leave at 5:00 pm, and had to endure the rush hour traffic jam.

I did make it to Sedona a little about 1:00 am. I was really tired, but I took a few minutes to stop at the scenic area that overlooks Sedona. I still love this place!

First I have a interview this afternoon here in Orange county. It is the second interview, so this might be a good thing.
Then I am off to San Diego. I'll stay overnight and have an interview in the morning. This place looks really nice. I have been looking forward to this interview for a few weeks now.
As soon as I get out of that one, I'll zip over to another place that looks really promising that is only just five minutes away from the previous place.
If I have time, I am hoping to looky see around the area and try to find some apartment possibilities.
I want to try and get back Wednesday evening for school, but that might not happen. My final exam is on Thursday, so it might be nice to get to class on the day before.
It is starting to sound like a familiar pattern. When I lived in Arizona, I was doing the final interviews for a job and found an apartment here in California, and had to drive back to Arizona, just in time for final exams. I think I see a trend here.
Who knows? Maybe I will have everything all planned out in San Diego by Thursday. It would cast a cloud of closure on that final exam!

I didn't get much sleep last night. Someone was doing laundry late last night, so I didn't get to sleep til 1:00 am (another reason to move, why is it that single guys, you know, like my neighbors, can be so inconsiderate! Inconsiderado's! and NO that is not a typo! maybe it might make a good subject for a song.... but I digress) and then I got up at 4:00 am to make it an interview that was 110 miles away. I should have looked at the mileage on the mapquest printout before I committed. And don't even let me get started about driving right through the middle of downtown LA!
But I did get to have lunch at Andria's Seafood! It is a cute little cheap seafood place in Ventura Harbor off of Spinnaker. If you are ever in the area, you have to try it.
I just got back home, and I am exhausted. The class started an hour ago, so I really don't think I will make it. I feel like such a bad girl, skipping school. Maybe I can forge a note for the next class....
I got an email from the recruiter saying that it looks like the HR lady and the Manager liked me. We'll see what happens. Maybe I might be able to move to Ventura Beach?
I will have to wait and see what happens next week. I have a 2nd interview for a place here in Orange County on Tuesday. I also have an interview down in San Diego on Wednesday at a place that sounds dreamy!
So it will be fun to see where I'll end up. Either stay here, go north to Ventura, or go south to San Diego.
I think it is too easy for me to move. It must have something to do with spending my childhood years (you know, the formative years, isn't that a tagline from a Wonder Bread commercial?) as an Air Force Brat and moving every three years.
But I am tired! I need to write some thank you notes and then maybe I can sleep tonight.

I was on the computer today looking for a job and I heard a rumble... It was just a little before noon that I heard it start. It was kind of faint, but quickly grew. At first I thought a truck had ran into the building. I stopped what I was doing and noticed the pots and pans on the pot rack were swinging from side to side. Cautiously, I started making my way to the front porch. One of my neighbors came out at the same time and he seemed like he was in a hurry.
We both waited for a few minutes, but nothing really happened after that.
Wow! This was my first earthquake!
It made me wonder if they have earthquakes in San Diego. Maybe this is a sign for me.
After a few minutes of waiting and watching for another tremble, or even a rogue wave (can you say tsunami?) we both went back to our business. Back to my normal life...
You'll probably hear about the tremble if you watch the news. If you hear anything bad, let me know. In case you didn't know, I don't have a tv or radio or even a newspaper. Actually, I haven't followed the media for five years, so I might be a little out of the loop...

I did try to leave early. Honest, I did. Well actually I did. I left Connie's place around 2:30 in the afternoon. It is always so hard for me to go. I miss it back there in Arizona. so much!

I took a different way home this time. I went through Prescott and took the back roads. At least until I was 30 miles or so from the California state line. It was a nice treat to get some real solitude. Some of those roads were pretty deserted.

But I did make it back home. It feels nice to be back in my own bed.

I did try to leave early. Honest, I did. Well actually I did. I left Connie's place around 2:30 in the afternoon. It is always so hard for me to go. I miss it back there in Arizona. so much!

I took a different way home this time. I went through Prescott and took the back roads. At least until I was 30 miles or so from the California state line. It was a nice treat to get some real solitude. Some of those roads were pretty deserted.

But I did make it back home. It feels nice to be back in my own bed.

It was nice to just hang out with Connie all day and catch up on things. Then we took a ride up to Flagstaff, and drove up to Snow Bowl. We went to the end of the road, which is about 11,000 ft in elevation. We hiked out to the middle of a meadow and watched a spectacular sunset! You could see all the surrounding peaks and the patterns of colors in all the clouds. Wow!

We then drove down to downtown Flagstaff and had dinner in this cut little Thai restaurant and split an order of chicken korman. That was very nice and just enough. Ut was getting dark and started to rain so we started the drive back to Sedona, but not before we stopped at the Himalayan restaurant for a chai to go for Connie and another stop for a coffee for me. We nibbled on dark chocolate and made our way back to Sedona. Wes topped by Cathedral Rock but it was kind of late and kind of wet and kind of no one there so we went back to Connie's place and laughed and joked for a while. But I wanted to leave early so we put a lid on it around 2 or 3, I think.....

I've got some last minute news....

I am heading out the door right now.
I will be in Sedona this weekend.
It is a full moon tonight and I will be at Cathedral Rock.
Gotta go....
My coach awaits...

Update.....

I got to Connie's place around eight-ish and I tried to get freshened up quickly. We stopped at the Thai Palace for a quick dinner and then off to the drum circle. I know it was a little late, but it IS better late than never, isn't it?

It was a little crowded and there were a lot of new faces, but then again I did move away almost two years ago... It still was a nice night and I got to meet some nice people.

You might think I'm crazy to drive seven hours out of LA, out to the desert, just to meet people. But it's the rhythm of the drums, the glow of the full moon on the rocks, and the open sky that bring me so much peace. And some peace of mind.

I am glad I got some rest and relaxation this past weekend. I think I needed it.

This is Tuesday and I've already sent out fourteen resumes. Wow!
I have been seeing a few possibilities in the San Diego area. I got two calls today from down that way. One sounds very nice, so far. We'll see how it works out. The second one looks good also, and we planned a preliminary interview for Thursday. I'll keep you posted.

It's funny, but have been thinking about San Diego for a while. Maybe this is really a good thing. I mean the looking for a job thing. And the moving thing. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Today was a nice day. Kind of an extra bonus day.
I had a chance to organize some of my musings. I think I might be ready to start working on another collection.
I put some work into some of the rough songs I have had laying around. I really surprised myself today. I can actually still play the guitar!

I will have to try that a little more often.

That sounds kind of neat. Like, if I could go into a liquor store... Yes, I'd like a half gallon of grapefruit juice and a fifth of July...

Oh, now I am starting to remember yesterday. It figures it would take a booze reference to jog my memory.
But the fourth was a great day! I got some (more) sunburn and I had a few beers and maybe some wine. Oh, did I mention the tequila?
Later we all went up to the deck at Jen''s place and watched the fireworks. I had a really nice time.

I hope your Fourth was nice, too!

What a crazy day!
All those drunken idiots out in the sun. Of course, I wasn't one of them... Or maybe I was, I don't remember...

I put another twelve resumes out this week. It is kind of a coincidence that it was twelve last week, too. Oh, nut this was a short week. So I guess I am accelerating.... Maybe at some point I might reach critical velocity. Or find a job....

This is a holiday weekend coming, and I am so ready for it!

I think I had a productive week as far as the job search goes. I applied for twelve jobs that look interesting. I guess it's a waiting game to see what happens with those.
And somehow, my last paycheck got lost, but the old job said they will overnight it to me on Monday. Just another disappointment.
It's a good thing I have tried not to spend any money this week. I'll try to see if I can do use some creative accounting skills to pay my rent.

I've got the blues...

I was in shock over that news on Friday, and am starting to wake up to the reality of it. I guess I'll be starting over, again.
I started the job search and putting out resumes online. We'll see what happens.

And this has nothing to do with bears.
Fifteen minutes before quiting time at work they called me in the office. I went to the conference room and what a surprise. My supervisor, the union steward and some lady from HR were there waiting for me. I starting thinking, this can't be good...
They were letting me go.
My six month term was over and they were not going to extend it into a permanent position.
That was a surprise to me, but what can I do. It was also a surprise to everyone else, but it happened, so I have to move on.

I got the word today at work that my days off were canceled. That was a bummer. They said that we had some overtime work this weekend that had to get done. Oh well, maybe I can put in some overtime and make a little extra money....

I've been getting serious about going back to school lately. I've checked into Cal State Long Beach and UC Irvine looking into their Mechanical Engineering programs. UC Irvine is closer to my apartment, so they will likely be my first choice. It looks like a nice program, but they give preference to students in the California Community Colleges. I would be considered a transfer student, seeing as I have 78 credits so far. Long story short, I am now registered for Golden West Community College for the summer session. I registered for a 4 credit course in AutoCad that starts on Monday. It will be four days a week, from Monday thru Thursday, 5:30 til 9:30 pm for eight weeks. My job is from 7:00 til 3:30, so I will have a little time before class to myself. But I will definitely be keeping busy.

I also got invited to a Summer Solstice party at Eden next weekend. I didn't think I would be able to make it, but plans for that are starting to fall into place. It looks like I could this Friday and the following Monday off, sp it could be a four day weekend for me. That would be enouugh time for me to go to Eden!

This stay at Eden will be a basic camping trip, but unlike the raw food events, I will have to make my own eating arrangements. I am trying to put together a list of dishes that might be doable. This trip could be a lot of fun!