Well, I'm here.

. . . I'm absolutely exhausted, mostly confused by the Netherlands train/tram/metro system, and somewhat dehydrated, but I'm here.

Yesterday, I got off work and changed clothes.  Then I went to the employee parking lot and got my luggage out of the Bug before going back to the terminal.  I was hoping to check in right away, but no one was at the IcelandAir ticket counter, so I watched an episode of Stargate: Atlantis on NetFlix before trying again.  Still no one.  By that time, it was about 2:30 or 3 p.m, and I was starving.

So, I got some "lunch" which was really dinner for me, and went back to the counter.  There were two girls there, but they were from Lufthansa (a German-based airline).  They told me that IcelandAir doesn't usually get to the ticket counters until about 5 p.m, so I was kind of bummed.

I went and changed my money over to Euros, and then just sat up in the lobby area for a while.  Around 20 minutes until 5, I went back, and there they were!  So I got my boarding pass, handed off my extremely heavy luggage (after all, I had packed food in it since I can't afford to eat out for eight days in a country where I don't know the fair prices for anything) and went to the Employee Checkpoint.

I was so concentrated on making sure my laptop got out of the bag that I forgot that I still had my cell phone and iPod in my pockets!  I should know better, since I'm constantly telling people that they should take those items out of their pockets myself.  Bit of a blonde moment there.  Of course, a couple of the p.m. guys laughed at me for it, and we had a good chuckle.

After going to my gate (A19) and changing from heels to socks and sneakers, I walked down to the opposite end of B gates and got a massage.  I soooo needed that!  After the massage, I took the train to the terminal, then the shuttle to D gates, where I got a manicure.  Never really got one of those before.  It was interesting.  Finally, I walked over to the C gates and took the train back to A.

The weather was bad.  They couldn't finish fuelling on time, because of lightning, and they couldn't board us until after the fuelling was complete.  We didn't start boarding until about 10 minutes before the plane was originally supposed to take off (8:40 p.m).  Then, some people decided they didn't want to go after all, and the baggage handlers had to take their luggage off, so we sat there even longer.

Finally, we took off--at 10 p.m!  I was extremely worried that I was going to miss my connection, since I technically only had about an hour and a half of lay-over in Rekyavik.  But we got there just in the nick of time, and took off for Schiphol on schedule.

I didn't think to take my camera out of my carry-on until after we took off, and the seat belt light was still on.  Also, a pregnant lady asked me to switch seats with her (so she could get up to pee whenever she needed--living with Anna, how could I refuse?), so I was at the window instead of the aisle and couldn't get out without asking two other people and their baby son (the husband used to teach Spanish and French at FCC--small world!) to move out of the way first.  Plus, my carry-on was stowed across the aisle anyway.  The same happened from Rekyavik to Amsterdam, only this time, it was a lady not wanting to be separated from her son by a row, and the bag was a couple of rows behind me as well as across the aisle this time.  I'll try to remember to take pictures on the way back instead, though the views last night and this morning were awesome!  Plus, the configurations of the two foreign airports are so interesting!

I think the food I'd bought at Dulles for my "second dinner" on the flight went bad or something because I didn't eat it right away, because about an hour before we landed at Rekyavik, I was feeling extremely oogy.  That, combined with my allergies attacking me with a vengeance and my inability to find a comfortable seated position after more than 5 hours in economy class made me extremely light-headed when I went to the bathroom before landing.  I got in there, and puked, yuck!  (Though you probably don't need to know that, but who cares?)

Anyway, got to Schiphol just fine, and found my way around.  I had to exchange Euro bills for Euro coins--the train ticket machines don't take bills--and then find which platform and which train to go to.  I can understand some Dutch, but not when there's not really a key for the different symbols on the train schedule and I have no idea how to read them (format and structure-wise, not the actual letters and words) in the first place.

A nice middle-aged lady helped me find the right train, and a girl sitting in the same car as I was helped me get off at the right stop.  Then came the chaos.

I desperately needed to pee, but I also had to find out how to get to the hostel I'm staying at (ROOM Rotterdam, Van Vollenhovenstraat 62).  I decided to at least get directions first, and found a machine which prints a map out for you if you type in the street name.  I had to get the information desk lady to help me interpret it--she was kind of curt about it, as though I should know what all those symbols are when it's my first day in the country.

Then, I went in search of the W.C.  It was upstairs, but thankfully, there was an escalator--though those are treacherous unless I get the luggage balanced just right.  It costs half-a-Euro to use the restroom at Rotterdam Central!  So, I had to use the vending machine and get a coke (which was 1.5 Euro) so that I could go to the bathroom, which I did.

Then I had to get more bills changed to coins, because I needed to purchase an OV-chipkaart for the tram to get near the street I wanted.  It took three or four tries, but I eventually got two chipkaarts, each with 10 Euro, and got on the tram which took me to Vasteland.

I got all turned around looking for Van Vollenhovenstraat, and asked a lady with a baby where it was.  She kindly pointed it out to me, and I walked along it a while, but ran out of street before I found the right number.  I asked an older gentleman where I could find the right building, and he pointed to the opposite side of the street from where I'd been walking!  *facepalm*

I almost walked past the hostel again, but then I saw the sign on the corner of the building.  Then I had to get my exhausted self--and my extremely heavy luggage--up the stairs and down the hall to the reception desk.  Got that taken care of, got my room key, another guy was kind enough to tote my luggage up to the third floor (which, in America, we'd probably call the fourth floor).  From there, I got organized, used the ladies again, and brought my computer downstairs so I could text Anna through Skype and get a glass of absolutely necessary water.

I think I'll at least wait until my computer's recharged (I used it without an outlet in the ticketing area yesterday because I couldn't find a working outlet) and get some more water before I go upstairs for a shower and a nice, long nap.  Then I'll think about toting all the food I brought down to the guest kitchen.

If anyone needs to contact me, get in touch with Anna (emergencies only, please).  The only people who should be doing this will know how to get a hold of her, so I'm not going to tell that here.  I'll be calling her via Skype either every evening or every other evening, and will be able to get back to you then.  I don't know where any other free wi-fi spots besides the hostel's lounge are, so I'll be keeping my computer here while I go sightseeing.

I do not have an international calling plan, so calling my cell phone will get you nowhere until I'm back in the States.

Tomorrow, I think I'll go see Amsterdam--gotta rent a bike first though, those trains and trams are expensive, so I'm going to keep them to minimum use.  I plan on seeing at least the Anne Frank house, the Dam and the Rembrandt Museum.  Maybe I'll take a canal tour too, but I'll have to see how much time the rest of it takes up.  I also have to find out when the peak times are, so I don't bring the bicycle on the trains then.

Maybe I'll just stay in Rotterdam tomorrow, and visit Amsterdam later.  After all, Grandma told me about this row of houses that were built on their corners, and that sounds interesting.  Then there's Futureland, and Arboretum Trompenburg.

I'm going to call Grandma's friend, Suzanne, in a couple of days and see if she'd mind me coming by to say "hi."  Maybe I'll go to church with them on Sunday, if I can figure out what public transportation will take me to her house before their ward meets.

Anyway, that's it for now.  Until tomorrow, tot ziens!

Whew!

Okay, now that all the non-fiction is posted, I get get down to explaining where I've been all this time.

Scratch that.  You can pretty much figure it out: school, work, Haven, etc.  How about I describe my plans for the summer and next school year instead?

Oh, I've pretty much given up on listing all the books I read for the 50-Book Challenge--keeping track of them as I go is extremely tedious, so when I get around to writing the list, I can never remember all of them.

Anyway, next week, we have a new shift bid at work.  Due to the nature of next Fall's school schedule (one class on Monday/Wednesday, plus two music lessons on either Monday or Tuesday, and two online courses), I'm hoping I finally have the seniority to get the shift with four ten-hour days and three days off--specifically Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday.  Failing that, I'll try either to get the overnight shift with any days off, since my classes are all after that shift ends, or the same shift I have now (0430-1300) with Tuesday/Wednesday or Monday/Tuesday off, which I will then ask to be split to Monday/Wednesday like last Fall, in order to accommodate my class schedule.

A week from this coming Tuesday, I will be accomplishing a goal I have had on my list for over two decades: I'm going to Holland!

I've wanted to go ever since I found out 1) What countries are, and 2) Grandma and Grandpa S. were born and raised there.  In fact, I decided years ago that the first time I was able to afford to take a vacation outside the country, I would go to the Netherlands.  Everywhere else could wait until after that.

I will be staying at a hostel in Rotterdam, and might go to at least say "Hi" to Grandma's friend in The Hague.  I will definitely be visiting The Hague, as well as Amsterdam, the Kinderdijk, and some other places around the country.  I plan to travel by train from city to city, and by bus or taxi within each city.  I might rent a bicycle for in-city transportation as well, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to afford it.

My plane leaves around 5 p.m. on the 29th, so I will be working that day before changing clothes and going to get my luggage from the car.  After that, I will check in and go back through the checkpoint.  I have a layover of about an hour and a half in Rekjavik going both directions, but I figure that will only be enough time to eat, if I need to.

The return flight lands back at Dulles around 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 7th, so if I still have the a.m. shift then, I will not be able to get home in time for a shower and enough recovery time from jet lag in order to function properly at work the next morning.  So, I am taking off Friday, June 8th as well, and returning to work on Saturday, June 9th, which is actually Mom's birthday.

No matter what schedule I have this bid, I should have July 4th off (or at least the day after, so I don't have to worry about going to bed on time), so I'll be able to be in the Haven's annual group picture this year.  That's good, because I had to miss last year's photo.

After my vacation, I'm going to be running an RPG at the Haven, probably on Tuesdays, based on Anne McCaffrey's Pern.  I'm currently tweaking the Cinematic Unisystem rules to accommodate that setting, and I hope the game goes well, because I'm extremely excited about it.  It's going to be set about 500 Turns after the events in The Skies of Pern (in other words, approximately 3,000 After Landing), and I'm not going to say anymore about it, because I don't want to give any spoilers to the people who may be interested in playing.

Next Fall, my classes are as follows:

EN203 with Ted Taft (the same instructor as for EN205 in Fall 2011 and EN204 in Spring 2012): American Literature from the beginning to the Civil War.  EN204 was from the Civil War to modern times.  Mondays/Wednesdays 1100-1215.

LF101 with an as-yet-unnamed instructor: Introductory French - I took French in Middle and High School, but when I signed up for it, the A.P. French class was cancelled, so I could not take it for college credit.  Therefore, I have to start back at the beginning for French at FCC.  Online Course.

MU103 with James Hontz: Fundamentals of Music - I've been trying to take this course for ages, since it's the prerequisite for the Music Theory and Music Composition courses, but never had the time to take it when it was offered before.  Online Course.

MU178A with John Pursell: First Year Brass (Trumpet) - I'm way out of practice with the trumpet, and I want to get my lip back, so I'll be taking weekly ½-hour-long lessons.  Schedule unknown until August, will either be Mondays or Tuesdays.

MU184 with James Hontz: First Year Guitar - Since I only know one real song on the guitar ("Merelan" from The Masterharper of Pern Soundtrack Songbook), and can't really play it at tempo, I figured I'd get actual lessons.  The class I had signed up for in senior year of high school started out with just theory, so I dropped that class in favor of Show Choir, and hadn't gotten around to getting personal lessons yet.  Now, I will have.  These lessons, unlike the trumpet lessons, will be hour-long sessions.  Tuesdays, 1430-1530.

After next semester, I will only need two more Literature courses before I can graduate and get my A.A. degree in English/Literature.  Those courses are the second half of British Literature, EN202, and the second half of World Literature, EN206.  If one or both of them is not offered in the Spring of 2013, my academic advisor, Dr. K, said that we could substitute any other 200-series Literature course, though I don't know what that could be, since I've already taken all of the other 200-series Literature courses I know of.

Anyway, after I get that degree, I plan to go back to FCC and change my major to Music.  I hope to later transfer to a four-year school and get my B.A, so that I can teach music.  That way, if I can't find a position teaching at a school, I'll at least be able to give lessons in my spare time.

I also started writing a story back in November. It's nowhere near finished yet, and it's already over 13,000 words (48 pages, Times New Roman, 12pt, typed and double-spaced or 14 pages, Times New Roman, 6pt, typed and double-spaced). There was no way I was going to do it for Na-No-Wri-Mo though, since I have trouble writing it in anything other than fits and spurts. It doesn't have a title yet, and I'm not going to write a description of it here. I want to finish it before I send it out to the world in general, though a couple people have already read earlier parts of the story.


My original plan was to finish it and send it to the Writers of the Future Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers Contest (which used to be judged by Anne McCaffrey, who as most of you should know was the author of the Pern series--among others--and my favorite author of all time), but they have a word limit of 17,000 words. Given that I'm maybe half-way through the story at more than 13,000 words, I'll probably be way over the limit by the time the story is finished. If that is the case, and I can do it well enough, I'll abridge the story so that it's under the limit and submit the abridged version to the contest. Then, I'll send the long version to a publisher after the contest is over, no matter whether the story gets a prize or not.


If I cannot abridge the story and still keep the major plot intact, I'll just send it to a publisher.


Lots of plans, lots of stuff to fill my time.  I'm also watching my way through all of the Stargate serieses and movies.  I'm currently nearing the end of Stargate: SG-1 season 9 and Stargate: Atlantis season 2.


No new knitting projects lately, but can you blame me, busy as I've been without them?

Updating While Snowed In

There's about two feet of snow on the ground outside, so I figured now would be a good time to update.

I've been working at my new job for exactly four weeks, and I find that I actually kind of like it better than any of the other jobs I've ever had. Over the years, I've figured out that I prefer jobs where I can be "behind the scenes," and don't have to deal with disgruntled customers.

At my new job, that's basically the idea. I'm in the stockroom, pulling parts for the various jobs everyone in the production area does, and management talks to any customers who actually come to the building.

The dress code is good too. I can wear jeans and sneakers, but I also have to wear a static jacket and heel straps to ground me so that electrostatic discharges don't damage the electronic components. So the clothes are comfortable, and the static jacket is actually warmer than it looks, so I can just wear a tee-shirt underneath it and be comfortable, temperature-wise.

My first paycheck was only half of what I'd usually be getting, since I came in at the middle of the pay period. I was really worried at the time, because that meant I'd still be about half-a-month behind on paying my bills. Luckily, around that time, all three of my W-2s from last year's jobs came in, and I was able to file my taxes in the last week of January. I got the state return back ($618) on Friday, January 30th, and my federal return ($655) came early this past week.

I got caught up on the bills that were overdue, and then held the rest for when I got my first full paycheck (plus 2½ hours of overtime, since they'd asked me to stay late last Friday to help finish a project) yesterday.

I wasn't able to completely pay off what's left of my car loan, but going off of the payoff amount posted online, I was able to get about half of what's left paid. I also helped with this month's rent (though I couldn't afford the whole rent, what with knowing I'd have to pay my whole portion in two weeks again), paid my portion of the utilities, and paid all the bills that are due before my next paycheck. I now have about $70 in the bank, and $15.16 in cash (for snacks while I'm at the Haven) until February 19th.

I'm only going to use what's in the bank to fill up my gas tank when I start to run out--I've got half-a-tank still--and then save the rest to go toward bills with my next paycheck. It'll also be used for emergencies, if there are any between now and then.

Tomorrow, Anna and Tim have been planning to have people over for a Superbowl party, but we're not sure if they're actually going to be able to get here, what with the snow and all. Whether they do come or not, it's all good to me. I'm not even going to watch the game (I don't like football), but the three of us are already starting to go a little stir crazy from being stuck inside, so it'll be nice to have some visitors.

I've joined another RPG at the Haven. It's a game called Nobilis. It's totally dice-less, and looks/sounds really interesting. I already created my character, who is completely different from any character I've ever played before.

I usually play characters who are a lot like me (female, relatively good, interested in a lot of the same things I am . . . makes it easier to stay in character that way), but since I know the GM-ing style of the person running the game (I'd been in his Vampire: The Masquerade game for a little while a couple years ago) I decided to try something different. For one thing, my Nobilis character is a guy. For another, he's not all goody-two-shoes at all, but rather devious. It'll be a challenge to play this character, and I'm looking forward to it.

The game itself will have about 30 or so players, but we're not all going to be playing at once. The way the GM is running it, there will be set gaming sessions, and there will also be random, "Okay, who's here from the Nobilis game? Anyone up for a one-off?" sessions. We players just have to participate in only one session every two months, at the least, to be allowed to stay in the game.

Not bad, considering that the weekly Serenity game is pretty much the most regular gaming I can handle. It cuts into my sleep time on Thursday nights, so Fridays are a bit rough, but it's worth it, since the game is so frickin' awesome.

I Got the Job!

I got a call a few minutes ago from the HR person at the company where I interviewed this past Monday--I got the job!

I start Monday at 8:30 to fill out paperwork and stuff, but my regular hours will be Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Only one thing though: in my excitement to write my new schedule on the white-board calendar we have in our kitchen (and to cancel the interview I had at another company this coming Monday) I forgot to ask the HR lady what the dress code was for my new job! Oops.

Laid Off

Yup, you read that right. Turns out, all the over-time-ness that was happening was because a few companies were new customers to the pharmaceutical company, so they were getting their stock up of certain products, which is why there were such huge orders.

Those orders were filled at the end of last week, so things slowed way down. Now those customers will only need to replenish their stock every once in a while, and the orders won't be nearly as huge. So, until they get new customers (around the end of January/beginning of February 2010), they won't need so many workers. I was one of three people laid off today. However, the boss guy did say that we'd be the first people he contacts when he needs more help again next year, if we're still available.

At least it won't be so bad now as last time. Tomorrow, I'm going to pick up my second (and last) check from the pharmaceutical company (Yay for apparently having 40-50 hours of over-time since the last paycheck!), deposit it at the bank, and look into a couple of places I heard about for possible job leads. After that, I'll have to go to Staples and buy some new ink for my printer, because I've got to be able to print out resumés and stuff. Then, I'll balance my checkbook and pay the last of the bills for this month, plus whatever I can pay in advance for next month. There will be no Christmas presents bought by Darcy this year--for anyone. :(

Finally, before I go to the Haven on Thursday, I'm going to go to the temp labor place and put my name on the call list for jobs that day. It may be minimum wage, but it'll help me stay at least mostly afloat until I can find another job--hopefully permanent this time.