Erincita

Wednesday, May 14, 2003

I apologize for not writing for so long! Work keeps me pretty busy and I don't have internet access unless I'm at work or at my mom and dad's house. We are on orange (one level below red) alert again, which means that, at a minimum, we have to check 75% of trunks that come through the border. We also have to send anyone with beef, cooked or raw, inside because mad cow disease has been reported in Canada. Crazy...
I'm still enjoying work. Great co-workers, interesting cases and learning new things. I think I'm well-suited for this profession! I've always been assertive (some would say aggressive), and it's a good quality to have in this type of job. You've got to be direct with questions and not willing to take attitude from anyone. It's like customer service without the obligation of being nice (though we're still professional). In fact, I'm very thankful to have work to occupy me, because with everything else going on in my life, I'd go insane worrying if I had the days to myself. I'm still trying to work out my insurance claim and several other money matters involving my living situation and my car. Last night I finally sat down and made a list of things I need to do.
I have confirmed tickets to Michigan this weekend. I'm going to visit MCI and meet his friends and family. My feelings regarding this waver between negative nervousness and positive excitement. I'm really looking forward to seeing him because being apart for so long has made me question everything about our relationship. I pray about it all the time but from past experience I can't trust anything my heart tells me when it comes to love and the like. Logic is even worse because I end up subtracting all emotions invloved and analyze practicality until I feel like this is some kind of business transaction. It's agonizing and I'm hoping that seeing him will answer some of my questions. He's been great about it, really patient , reassuring and supportive of even my craziest assumptions.
Yesterday was my day off and I spent it in Seattle with Dad and Dana (Mom's in California visiting the Petty clan). I LOVE MY FAMILY!!! I'm just continually blessed to have them in my life and I appreciate them more every time I visit. Dad took us to Spud's on Alki for fabulous fish and chips and Dana and I don't even need an excuse to laugh. She's got some cool new CDs--Postal Service is a collaboration with the lead singer of death cab for cutie and she's got a CD of string quartet covers of radiohead songs. Too cool.

1:34 PM |

Saturday, May 03, 2003

Where do I start? I'll make a list: First day at work, my apartment, "my girls", the car accident. That ought to cover it, but before I get started let me assure all of you that the car accident wasn't in any way my fault, I'm not hurt, and the car is still running. The damage was under $700 and the state patrol officer said that it doesn't even count as a collision that way. Here's what happened: I got off work at 4pm and was heading home on I-5 going 70mph (and that is the speed limit on that particular stretch of highway). Somewhere in between Blaine and Bellingham is the Grandview on-ramp. Along comes this woman driving a black convertible VW cabriolet, totally oblivious of me as she carelessly crosses three lanes of traffic without her blinker. I noticed that she wasn't planning to stay in the middle lane about 2 seconds before she entered mine and I hit the horn. Still, I had to swerve to the left in order not to hit her, so my left wheels were a steep incline of grass for a few moments. When she finally wised up and moved back into her lane, I did my best to turn back onto the road, and for reasons I can't explain, the car skidded 360 degrees across all three lanes and ended up in a ditch on the other side of the highway. The thoughts running through my head were memories of skid control at FLETC, seeing my girls the next day, and whether or not I would need a tow truck. Then my mind kind of went blank as I was absorbing the reality of what happened. In hindsight I have to be thankful to God that the accident was so minor. Had the traffic been any heavier I most certainly would have been hit by another car heading south. I was extremely grateful for my brand new cell phone and called 911 as soon as I came to my senses. A few people besides the lady who pushed me off the road stopped and offered they're help, but I thanked them and told them I was okay and just needed to call the police. The back driver's side panel window (between the backseat window and the back windshield) was shattered by one of the road markers but that was it. I didn't care to speak to the driver after she tried to dismiss the accident, as though it was MY fault that the window was broken and that I spinned off the road. The state patrol arrived soon, and by that time she was in a panic because she realized that I was also a law enforcement officer (I hadn't changed out of uniform). Her concern over my proffession was the only cool thing about the whole ordeal. Anyway, after the officer helped us exchange all of our pertinent information, I was able to get my car out of the ditch by putting it into drive and headed on home. I've decided to wait until Monday to call the insurance company about compensation. If it's at all possible, I'd like to get cash compensation and put it towards a new car as soon as possible. The small break in the window won't affect me much as long as the weather's reasonably warm.
Anyhow, I didn't let the incident ruin my day. Work was great and I had too much to look forward to the next day. May 1st was mostly admin stuff and post-academy tests. I had the sacred admission stamp issued to me, a gun locker and a password into TECS, a computer system which I'm still learning to use. Before I go on, here are the songs I'm considering adding to the CD I'm making for MCI.

I Love You Always Forever ~ Donna Lewis (because of the line "you've got the most unbelievable blue eyes I've ever seen")
In Your Eyes (acoustic) ~ Peter Gabriel
Endless Summer Nights ~ or maybe a different song by Richard Marx
Summer of '69 (acoustic) ~ Bryan Adams
Something by Coldplay (MCI is welcome to make any suggestions or preferences)
Love Me Tomorrow ~ Chicago
Pour Some Sugar on Me ~ Def Lepard
Watermark ~ Enya
Dave Matthews Band ~ Say Goodbye
Cake ~ Short Skirt, Long Jacket

May 2nd was an awesome day. It was the first day I worked solo--though I had to ask for alot of assistence (this is normal). I feel good about things. My supervisor
thanked me for asking certain questions and I picked up on things from the other inspectors rather quickly. I still like secondary better because the long line of cars (anyone thinking of a song by Cake at this moment--Dana?) on primary is kind of intimidating. And another song by Cake goes quite nicely with this line: "Breathing in the fumes from so many idling cars..." Yet another element that makes this profession unhealthy. Perhaps I should add a song by Cake to the CD. I'm thinking of "Short Skirt Long Jacket". That's a good one. Hmm, I'm being kind of haphazard with the songs I'm choosing tonight, and I want this CD to be really good. I'm only CONSIDERING these songs. MCI needs to know that some of these songs have absolutely nothing to do with him and me, I just adore a few of them and hope that he shares my taste.
....okay, I'm back in Blaine writing from work. It's the night shift and I'm out on primary in about 25 minutes. The job was so much fun on Friday and not so much fun today. It's just humbling that I know so little and have to ask for alot of help. All in all, I love my job (especially today--Sunday--because I get double-time pay). I can't believe I've been here almost eight hours already!! The time really flies by when it's a half-hour on primary and then half on secondary all night. I really enjoy some of the people--and for anyone who knows who he is, Adam Halverson was one of the people I ushered through. It was very wierd and I wouldn't have known who he was if I hadn't seen his name on the passport.
What I really loved was handing out with my girls on Saturday. They're like sisters to me. We had quiche lorraine, strawberries with whipped cream, devil's food cake and ice cream--all home-made from scratch except for the ice cream, which I brought. I'm going to use letters instead of names for privacy's sake. D brought her baby A and surprised us with the news that she's already pregnant again. K's pregnant too (17 weeks), which is VERY good news after having a miscarriage and not know if she could have children. The rest of us are still very single--though I consider myself "taken". I am unavailable and committed to someone but to the girls that means nothing until the engagement. There's alot that has to happen before (if) we get to that point. I still love my church and want to participate in the pre-marital class and be married by my pastor. It's a dream of mine and I don't know if I can give it up. I can't describe how happy I was yesterday with the girls. It was like Christmas. We just talked about everything--husbands, cookbooks, Jesus Christ, babies, weather....everything. It was lovely. I also saw a few of them at church this morning. The new building is awesome and I was grinning from ear to ear because it's so beautiful to hear the whole body singing together. I was worried that I'd miss the "small church" feel of the old building, but I can't help being thankful for how much we've grown!!

shares my taste.

9:47 PM |