Luck o the Irish

Happy St. Patty's Day to all! I can't believe that it has already been four years to the day since I was in Ireland for St. Patty's Day. While I was abroad, Ireland was one of my favorite countries to visit. Filled with extremely friendly people, an accent, love for beer, and green everywhere, who wouldn't love the country?

I met up with my friend in Dublin for one crazy weekend. We quickly made friends with locals and tourists and hit up the town. Turns out that at the time, Ireland had just started celebrating the holiday with a huge parade, day off, etc. Apparently the holiday was built up to be more of an American holiday...

Here are two pics from the crazy day of drinking Guinness all day and sporting Leprechaun hats. As they say in Ireland, Slainte!

Oooooh Lola

Quick study break with a little light humor.

Lola has been spending all week with her cousin and her family since I'm pretty tied up with all of this crazy studying. On Monday, when I was getting her ready to go out the door and onto her cousin's house, I grabbed her hat and gloves off the chair to put on. When I picked up her gloves, I felt something hard hidden inside. I looked at Lola and asked what was there. She grabbed the gloves out of my hand and angrily said, "Give me those!" I chuckled, apologized, and asked again if she could put on her gloves since it was cold outside. While I was trying to explain to her how cold it was outside, Lola stormed off as fast as she could with her walker towards the front door. Her response to my request was, "Go back to studying! Leave me alone. I'm leaving for a week so that you can study. Mind your own business and go back to studying." Another interesting fact about Lola is that she never likes to be put on the spot and gets frustrated when she doesn't know something or when you try to call her out on something.

Welp, it turns out that she was hoarding a knife in her gloves! She took the knife from the dining room table and was going to bring the knife with her "just in case." Also to "protect herself from evil." Interesting. Oh Lola...

UPDATE 031209 at 8:39 p.m.: Went to dinner with my mom tonight who revealed that Lola DID NOT hide a knife in her gloves. My mom spoke to Lola's cousin about whether or not she found the knife, but it turns out the hard object ended up being a plastic spatula so that she could scratch her back! Lola decided to "lie for her life" and agreed that she took a knife so that she would not get in trouble for scratching her back and leaving scratch marks. What gets me is the elaborate excuse she gave my mom about protecting herself and not wanting to see the demons late at night. Stop while you're ahead, Lola.

Caffeine is NOT my friend

I spent six hours today studying at Starbucks and ended up seeing what I drank come back up again. I know, pretty disgusting and most likely TMI (Too Much Information). Since I'm allergic to caffeine, I should've known better and only ordered one cup of coffee. Buzz, negativo.

In my defense, I woke up in such a daze this morning and was still exhausted this afternoon that I convinced myself I needed the extra dosage and cup. Well everyone, I am now laying on my couch at home feeling like I am going to vomit (again), with every strand of my hair smelling like Starbucks making me relive the horrible afternoon.

Guaranteed I will be getting coffee or tea again tomorrow. It's cutting down to the final two days before this H-E-double hockey sticks is over.

Back to studying and reteaching myself life science, earth science and history. BLAH.

Nerd

This week has been a long and what seems to be a never-ending study session. I'm not planning on posting this week with all of the cramming and chaos I have to do within the last 72 hours.

I have a group interview on Friday in Spanish for a teaching credential program I applied to with six months in Guadalajara. I also have the CSET to take on Saturday which is making my brain turn to mush. The CSET is basically a test that every teacher must take and covers almost everything you could have possibly learned from K-12th grade. The test is comprehensive covering subjects such as History, Life Science, Geometry and Visual and Performing Arts. While studying I discovered that I am a true self-proclaimed nerd and enjoy the math section the most! The subject I used to hate I now find fun and am happy when I figure out little problems.

In a nutshell, I've only had two weeks to prep and am on overload. I can't wait for Saturday at 1 p.m. when all of this is over.

Hasta luego!

Amtrak - Crapshoot

This past weekend I took Amtrak round trip from Sac to SF. While waiting to board the train in Sac, a twenty-something y/o girl asked if the train in front of us was for SF. After telling her it was, I assumed our conversation would be over. Boy, oh boy was I wrong. She proceeded to ask me little questions such as, "Where are you getting off?" and "Do you have a taxi phone number for when I get to Emeryville?" The shocker was when she asserted, "I am going to sit next to you."

This caught me by surprise because there were maybe five people waiting to get on the train. Being sick, I was not exactly in the mood to chit chat or sit next to somebody on a train only carrying five people. I told her that my plan was to sleep the entire trip and that I would not be the best company. She said she understood, but her personality was to sit next to me. Hmm...

So I got onto the train, picked two seats and put my luggage in one of the seats to make it clear she would not be sitting next to me. She chuckled and took the seat across the aisle from me. After about five minutes I fell asleep, but every time I woke up or glanced over she was staring right at me! A little creepy.

I generally enjoy taking Amtrak for the quick hour and forty minute ride from Sac to SF. Sometimes I'm lucky and get a seat to myself, or sometimes I get stuck sitting next to a chill person. This time I was not so lucky. Seems like Amtrak is a crapshoot. You could be lucky or you could be miserable.

Rumor...?

Rumor has it that someone will be at Club MIX tonight in Sacramento. I'm trying to figure out all the details, but I will most likely be posting it at the bar hoping to "randomly" run into the guy.

I'm thinking that it could be true since all of the rumors were true about the Bachelor. However, this rumor is from word spreading on FB. I'll take my chances. After all, a few weeks ago the Governator was there on a random Wednesday night.

Wish me luck!

UPDATE 5:27 p.m.: N'Sync's Bye, Bye, Bye just played randomly on my iTunes as soon as I published this post. I definitely believe in signs...

UPDATE 03.05.09: My brother and I ended up staying at club MiX for about three hours. About an hour into our glass of wine, the club started playing JT's DVD of one of his tours. My brother and I were thinking no way is this a coincidence. I then ran into my friend Autumn's sister, Jessica, who said when she first walked in around 8 p.m., they played two of JT's songs back to back. Coincidence? I still was not convinced.

We finally met a couple who validated the rumor because they knew the club owner and head of security. They also said that JT's people called MiX's people and asked to reserve a section because he would be making an appearance. The head of security motioned to us the VIP section they saved for JT, but he ended up being a no show. According to the head of security, when they receive head's up notices like this, it's usually a 50-50 chance the celebrity will actually show up.

Until next time...

The Bachelor - Final Rose Ceremony and ATFR

Last night's episode consisted of the final rose and after the final rose ceremony. It was pretty dramatic and annoying so I'm going to throw a few Lola-isms in to lighten the mood.

Recap
Two girls left, Molly (the career-oriented one who sparkles) and Melissa (family-oriented individual). So the main part of the episode is the same as always. The two remaining women meet Jason’s family where they drill each girl. After being introduced the girls also have individual romantic dates with Jason in New Zealand. The two main parts about the individual dates were that Melissa let Jason know that her parents have agreed to talk to him and get to know him. And Molly’s date consisted of giving each other massages back at her suite. To this scene, Lola looked at me and said, “I bet they are doing sex already.” OK, yes it was also cute when Molly created a scrapbook for Jason of her time on the Bachelor…

After the dates and while Jason is deliberating who he will finally choose, DeAnna (the bachelorette who broke Jason's heart) makes an appearance. She lets him know that she made a mistake choosing the wild card (Jesse) and steered away from what she wanted (Jason). Her advice to Jason is that he needs to make that he looks further and not the fun, wild side. She also suggests, don’t follow your heart, but lead it.

Rose Ceremony
Molly’s the first girl up and is very excited because she thinks she is going to be engaged after the rose ceremony. She walks down to Jason who says something along the lines of, “Every time you look at me with those eyes, you have me… you are amazing person in every way possible. Absolutely stunning and amazing. And I don’t know how I could ever let you go… but I have to. I never wanted to say goodbye to you. I wish I had good reasons, but I’m in love with somebody else. I’m so sorry.”

Molly responds with, “I guess that I just don’t understand. I think that you’ve made a mistake… a big one.” He rebuttals and tries putting her at ease by admitting, “Everything was real. I started falling in love with you very early on. Always know that.”

After he escorts Molly out, Jason breaks down and can’t stop crying. He finally pulls himself together and explains to the camera, “Her and I have this amazing chemistry and I was falling for her from very early on and she will end up with someone who loves her just as much as she loves him. Right now, I do not have any doubts about putting that ring on Melissa.”

Lola’s reaction: “Geez. I thought she was the one. She has such a beautiful dress and she’s been kissing him so many times. I bet they sleep together too. She’s easy… When I was in high school I had so many admirers. I never went with a man if I was not interested.”

And then Melissa makes her descent. Jason smiles and tells her, “You make me happier than I’ve been in my whole life… I’m completely in love with you.” She gets teary, jumps up and down hugging him. “So there’s one more thing Melissa, I love you. Will you make me the happiest man?” In shock she turns her back to Jason and asks, “Can you give me one second? AHHHHHH! You want to marry me?” She then turns back around and admits, “I would love to marry you.” He spins her around and says, “I love you, I love you, I love you. With all my heart.”

Happy ending, right? Well not so fast…

After the final rose episode
Unlike the normal after the final rose episode which consists of a live audience, this episode only consisted of the two last women, Jason and Chris. Jason tells Chris that since the show ended, things have been different between him and Melissa and he does not think they are right for each other. He reveals that, “As soon as she [Molly] left, I felt like a huge piece of me was gone. That made me a better person that made me alive.” He then proceeds to tell Chris that he mistake and wants to break up with Melissa to ask Molly if she’ll give him a second chance.

Then walks out Melissa. Jason turns to her and says, “We’ve been talking a lot lately and we’ve been talking about how things are different… we spent the holidays together and to me it seemed like the chemistry started changing… we’re not right for each other.” In shock, Melissa says, “I don’t know what you want me to say… I thought things were perfect. I do not see how you can sit there and do what you said to me…and the second you start having doubts, not talking to me about it.”

Feeling sorry for Melissa, Lola rationalizes the situation by saying, “It’s too bad. If you sleep with him, you are the loser.” Then at the shot of Jason’s face she claims, “You are crazy.”

Under her breath, Melissa quietly says, “You’re such a bastard.” She continues with, “Why did you put a ring on my finger?” He explains, “Because in that day, in that experience I wanted to give you everything.” Broken-hearted Melissa argues, “To me, getting a ring and finding that person was a once in a lifetime thing for me. And you took it from me. You took it. I wish more than anything on that day you would’ve let me go. I’m so mad at you. Don’t call me. Don’t talk to me anymore. Leave me alone, please. Thank you.” And with that, she storms off stage.

Next up, Molly. After watching a recap of her on the Bachelor, Molly explains to Chris that, “I still get weak in the knees when I watch and see him.” She reveals that she has dreamed about him showing up on her doorstep telling her he made a mistake. But that if that did happen, there would be a lot of questions before she would take him back.

After the commercial break, Jason comes on stage and tells Molly, “I was hoping that we could have a shot. Go for coffee or drinks and see where things…” Molly looks back and forth between Jason and Chris seeming like she’s in utter shock. Lola yells at the TV, “Say no and have him end up with nothing!”

She kisses Jason and says, “I think we can see where things go. This is something I dreamt of, but never expected to hear.”

With that, Jason and Molly walk off stage hand in hand. Lola is sitting next to me upset not quite sure of what she’s seeing and yells, “SAY NO! KICK HIM OUT!”

Synopsis

Well, it looks like all of the rumors in the blogosphere were correct. Jason did propose to Melissa, but dumped her to ask for Molly back. Now the question is whether or not this was plotted by the producers from the beginning and if Jason was really in on it the whole time. Either way, Jason has some issues. I can't believe that he would hurt Melissa like he did. Even if he was being truthful and just "finally realized" he made a mistake, he cannot go back and forth. I give Jason and Molly six months max after all of the publicity and media events die down.

They also hinted during the women tell all episode that Jillian would be the next bachelorette. I understand that this is because Melissa is back with her ex-boyfriend, but I do not think that I will be able to sit through hours of annoying Jillian on dates. Will you be boycotting or watching?