Mega-Post!

So things are going. I haven't posted a whole lot since there hasn't been a whole lot to post. This summer has primarily been dedicated to finishing papers for incompletes, trying to clean and organize the house, looking for work, and researching grad schools/ credential programs. This will be a long post so please bear with me!

Disneyland with the family (few days after the last post) was a blast! We had a few mis-haps. Very first ride we went on (Indiana Jones), broke down not once, not twice, but THREE times while we were on it. They finally came to the rescue and let us walk the 2nd half the ride out and gave us fast passes for later. Also both of the boys managed to get a little too much sun exposure and I got a bloody nose. So it was an interesting (and memorable) day :)

Here's the 4 of us doing super hero poses.

Of course we got the tourist-y shot!

We were technically there for Matthew and Nichelle celebrating both of their birthdays, graduations, and their anniversary and I was celebrating an early birthday. They found these awesome Disney graduation caps!

My husband being VERY silly!

About 2 weeks later, we were BACK in Bakersfield. This time it was for one of my friend's wedding receptions. Brandon Fontes was actually the one who performed my baptism so I definitely had to be there! 

Mr. & Mrs. Brandon Fontes- June 5th, 2010!

Me and Brandon :)

After all this traveling, Chris finally buckled down and took the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) for grad school and did VERY well. He scored a 690 Verbal, 650 Math, and 4.5/6 on writing sample for a combined 1340! Anything over 1200 is considered above average :) He has since been e-mailing some of the professors he is most interested in working with. The two most interested are at Stanford and Oregon State University. At this point, he is getting some volunteer experience through a local Public Anthropology non-profit by doing some transcription work for their projects and we are both volunteering with Arte Americas which does a lot of Hispanic culture in downtown Fresno and has a art gallery. 

While Chris was busily de-stressing from having just taken the GRE, I had 2 rehearsals and a concert where I got to perform with Star Wars in Concert :D The concert was on June 17th and it was an AMAZING experience. I was part of the choir which comprised of 60 members from past and current members of the Fresno State Concert Choir. We sang in Duel of the Fates and Battle of Heroes in the first half and then sat in the audience and got to watch the 2nd half. Before the show started, Anthony Daniels (voice of C-3P0) came backstage and gave us a pep talk. Very personable guy! The way he did the show was they went in order of story explaining as they went with having parts of the movie on the huge display while the orchestra played. Between each of the songs Anthony Daniels would say a tid-bit about what had happened and what was going on at that point. Here's some photos and a video from the event. I have another video that was the finale with a medley of the music, but it keeps popping up an error message (I'm assuming because it's over 6 minutes long!).

Choir backstage pass

Me with the Darth Vader

Entire choir with Anthony Daniels

These are members of my sorority and the linked fraternity that sang in Star Wars!

The AMAZING orchestra director!

Leia

Encore Performance- Imperial March

For one of our outings at the end of June, we went to a friend's BBQ at Woodward Park. Since it's one of those places you have to pay for parking, we decided to make it a complete date by heading over to the Japanese Garden after it was done. Very cool little place and there was a lot of baby animals at the time since one of the peacock hens had chicks and there was a mama duck who had chicks. The entire time we were there, there was one male peacock who was desperately trying to get the attention of the females by having all his feathers displayed and shaking his groove thang. 

Hawk hanging out in Woodward Park

Baby duckies!

Looking over the Lake

Mama duck making sure to not trust us filthy baby stealing humans!

Baby peacocks following their mom!

Male peacock

Shaking his tail feathers :P

July has been mostly unevenful. The highlights are that Chris and I have both been hired back on at Kennel Bookstore for the beginning of semester rush. Chris has the final assessment for the IRS on the 31st for a Customer Service Representative position. He did pass the assessment last year (they called with a job offer the day after he had accepted a job with the County of Fresno >.<) so we have hopes that he will again. If he does, it would be a 40 hour a week swing shift position (2:30pm-11pm) with the possibility of benefits. In about an hour, we are also heading out to 5 of the out lying school districts in Fresno County for him to apply to be a substitute teacher. He is technically still a tutor, but unfortunately, that hasn't bore any fruit yet. I'm still employed with the Music Dept and may be getting a promotion. They are still trying to figure out specifics since there was re-working of which supervisor was in charge of what aspect so I should find out closer to school starting.

The next month entails mostly finishing a paper for my Phonology incomplete from last semester and various family visits. School starts on August 23rd! I'm actually looking forward to it :) I'm taking 16 units (Spanish Lit., Spanish American Lit., Socio-Linguistics, Bilingualism, Bio/Behavioral Evolution, and Band). Thanks for holding on for this long update. Hopefully it won't be too long until we have more news to share!

Things are going. I know I haven't written in awhile. We are just trying to keep our heads above water. I have 2 papers to finish for school and I will have completed 22 units toward my degrees. I will be graduating next May :D

This summer, I haven't been able to find a job, so I will be playing DDR to try to lose weight to become happy with my figure again, practice clarinet to become a better player, and finally getting our apartment in order. It seems every time I make some progress, something comes up like school...

Chris has gotten a job! He just has to turn in the paperwork and he will be a tutor with Club Z. They tutor for more upper class families in the area. He will also be trying to sub for Fresno County for the following school year. He is studying to take the GRE soon so we can figure out where we might end up relocating to in a year. Our list is: Stanford, Oregon State, University of Oregon, Arizona State University, & UCLA.

Tuesday-Friday of this week, we'll be in Bakersfield since Matthew & Shelly will be coming down from Utah. We're even going to Disneyland with them on Wednesday! So freakin' excited :D

Well, things are going. My grades ended up being all B's with the exception of Band and Orchestra which had A's. I even managed B's in the 2 Incomplete's that I finished! Brings my campus GPA to 2.98 with one more incomplete that I'm working on completing. As far as next semester goes, I had to petition for student aid :( Am waiting for the result. They didn't like the fact that I didn't finish all 3 incompletes last semester... Should know more Tuesday as to if they reviewed my case or not. Crossing my fingers since with no aid, no school for me... Classes start Thursday so I really hope this is all sorted before then.

On the job front, Chris is STILL looking for work... We are both hired on temporarily at Kennel Bookstore for beginning of semester textbook rush. It isn't much, but it's something. This week we are actually going to be working a little over 25 hours between the two of us.

Rattie-wise, we lost Torando. I can't really explain more of what went on except for a sudden bout of pneumonia. We are down to 10 girls and 1 boy. Tornado was loved and will be missed. She was our fuzzy hot water bottle (half rex- half hairless, so she just had fuzz).

What is it with me and not updating >.<

Well, there hasn't been much but there has been some. Chris is still looking for work. He is on the subbing lists for Fresno County (excluding Central, Clovis, and Fresno Unified), but has yet to get called. There is a prospect that has popped up from University of Michigan with doing interview type stuff locally with all travel costs covered in addition hourly pay and he already has experience in data collecting so we'll see! Applications aren't due until January 1st so I suspect we will not hear back until mid-late January.

We are down to 12 rats. We lost Rascal and Rain. Rascal died to old age combined with pneumonia. Rain died due to a brain tumor :( We have 1 boy in a hospital cage all by self and the girls in the old boys cage. Tossed the old girls cage due to it being large and hard to clean and older so there were quite a few spots where the rats chewed through the coating and it was starting to rust.

Schooling is going. The semester has actually gone rather well. It's finals week, but I think I'm in good shape. Orchestra and band have been done for about a week and a half. Finished my Intro to Spanish Linguistics class with I believe a C. Finished General Linguistics with a good chance of an A. Needed an 80% on the final and I think I got that today! That leaves 3 finals on Wed and 2 parts (oral and written) in one of my classes. Wednesday I have Anthropology of Religion where I need an 88% on the final to get an A. Not so sure I can manage that with my test scores averaging 78% in that class, but I'll try! Wednesday, I'm also taking finals for Spanish 4A & 4B to finish out incompletes from last fall! I've been working my butt of the last 2 weeks getting the rest of the work necessary to complete them :) Thursday, I have my Advanced Conversation & Reading Spanish final. Not sure how I'm doing in the class since I've had little feedback, but I've gotten high C's on the exam (don't do well on vocab :( ) and perfect score on participation and most of my homework, but that still leaves presentations (individual and group) and some homework that I have have some feedback on :/ After Thursday is done, I will finally feel like I have breathing room! Although I still have some work to do since I do have a research paper to complete from my Spanish Composition incomplete. But I'm getting there!

Christmas is going to spent in Bakersfield with Chris' family and I'm looking forward to it! Thanksgiving was spent 2 days with my family and 2 days with his family. Was too much driving in too little time!

Anyways, enough of my rambling! And I need to head to bed to get up and study for the rest of my finals and go grocery shopping tomorrow.

Haven't updated in over a month >.<

Well, life has been interesting.

Most importantly, Chris lost his job :( He was at will employment and the board that had funded his position decided they no longer had the funds to do so... So once again scrambling to find work. He has taken up the quest of trying to continue the process of becoming a substitute teacher in Fresno County and looking for seasonal work for the holiday season. In the future may hold the credential program to get the experience, credential, and raise his overall GPA, but we will see.

Classes for the following semester have been posted so of course, I already have my schedule planned out :D I will be taking a total of 16 units. My classes on MWF are Applied Spanish Linguistics (9am-9:50am) and Historical Linguistics (10am-10:50am). On Monday nights, I also have Intro to Literary Analysis (5pm-7:50pm). On TuTh, I have Symphonic Band or Wind Orchestra (pending audition) from 4pm-5:50pm and Phonology 6:30pm-7:45pm. Additionally on Tuesdays, I have Intro to Student Teaching (2pm-3:50pm). The only snag is that Historical Linguistics is not showing up for students yet, but it is on the professors schedule (I have the professor scheduled to teach it for General Linguistics now so I asked) and have also been assured by the chair of the Linguistics dept that it will be offered. It is not necessary, but would be a fascinating elective for Linguistics. Unfortunately due to the time of the Intro to Literary Analysis class and the fact that I will already be taking 16 units, I will not be in orchestra next semester :(

Also something of note, I have decided that I will now be a double major! Spanish Credential and Linguistics with an emphasis in Interdisciplinary Language Studies. There was a 1 or 2 class difference with the major and minor (which I had already declared) and will help me in the future with a possible Masters program (which I have been toying with the idea). It will not add any time if I take 6 units this summer (last 2 upper division GE classes) and 6 units next summer (first two credential classes). With going alumni in TBS & most likely not doing orchestra (but still trying to do band) when the year is complete, I can focus more on school and be done with credential and BAs in Spring 2012!

In rattie news, Oreo had a lump removed from her throat about 2 weeks ago. She starting growing an infection and couldn't remove some of her own stitches, but with adding in her sister Dolce and some antibiotics, both are taken care of. Earlier this week we lost Maple :( She had a weird skin condition going on her nose, ears, and base of her tail and was suffering from pneumonia. With everything, despite eating, she was steadily losing weight. However, at the beginning of the week, we discovered her body had essentially given up on her. In a 24 hour period, she ate nothing but a single sunflower seed and 2 doses of antibiotics. She had no more fight left, so we had her put down :( We are now at 14 rats.

That is it from us! Sorry about the book >.< This is what happens with I don't update in awhile :P

Updates!

I fail at updating! Here's a few quick details on what has been going on.

Chris has a job! The county finally accepted the extra help position and he gets to start on Monday. Essentially what he is doing is helping create and implement economic development programs. Some of the projects up on deck are helping with the high speed railroad, providing a work study type deal for local businesses for them to be able to hire more people for a lower cost, water resistant crops, etc. He has been in the process of filling out paperwork this week and starts on Monday :) It was actually kind of funny because the call from the county happened on Tuesday and then the IRS called him on Thursday offering him a job as a Customer Service Representative. He declined the IRS since he will already have enough on his plate with a 40 hr a week job. But I do feel I need to add that we had just caught up on our tithing on Sunday! Shows that blessings do happen when you pay your tithing :)

We have 2 new little ones! Meet Sugar & Spice :)
















This brings us to 15 ratties :) Fudge and Dewdrop have been integrated back into the main cage and are doing very well. You can't tell they had surgery except that there are still a few bold spots where the fur is still in the process of growing back. Unfortunately, we did discover a lump on Oreo. It's located on her upper chest/ lower throat so she can't sleep very easily and we are afraid that before too much longer it will effect her ability to breathe :( Getting that removed in the next week or two pending our vet's schedule.

My auditions turned out ok. I'm first chair of the 2nd clarinets in Symphonic Band. I hoped for higher, but I'm trying to practice on a daily basis to get better and Chris said if I can keep it up, we might be able to afford some private lessons for me :D In orchestra, I'm playing violin. Last chair, but I did make it in. Concert dates are: Oct. 8th (Symphonic Band), Oct. 15th (Orchestra), Dec. 4th (Symphonic Band), and Dec. 6th (Orchestra).

We are now in the process of getting better car insurance (required by the county) and getting Chris some health insurance so if you have any good websites or companies we need to look at for either of those, please let us know!

Haven't made an update in awhile >.< And of course we've had a lot going on.

Chris : Chris lost that job that he had. Reason being that he had really bad shoulder issues pop up, but they claimed "That his performance wasn't up to par while he was working." Hello!!! He was in training. He couldn't give extensions on rent when he didn't regularly work at that property. Whatever. For the shoulder, we actually went into the ER (on my birthday might I add), and their best guess was that it was brusitis (similar to repetitive stress injury) and prescribed him some vicodin (which still only take the pain down to a 3). It is getting a little better over time, but he is still limited in what he can and can't do. He is still waiting to hear from the county at some point this week since there was a board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday. He had an IRS assessment/ evaluation test on Saturday and has another one this Saturday. He also had a group interview at Apple on Friday. A LOT of possibilities are up in the air right now. Oh, and he passed his CBEST :) We haven't gotten the official notification, but we did receive an e-mail with his un-official scores on Monday.

Rats: We still have 13! We are happy because luck has never been with us when we've had an odd number. Fudge went in Tuesday and had a ginormous lump removed from her crotch/ lower tummy and is home with us recovering. She loves the anti-biotic though and will actually lick it off the end of the syringe :) Dewdrop went in for surgery today and we got the word about an hour ago that it had gone smoothly and she was in the process of waking up. She also had a huge lump on her hip that was actually throwing off her balance.

Me: Got my financial aid last week thankfully! We promptly got stuff we have been holding off on that were needed (like the rat surgeries, a few music supplies, stocking our medicine cabinet again, etc. ). Only spent about$250 on textbooks which I'm very grateful for :) Started classes and am proud to say I'm enjoying each one of them so far! Musically, I have had 1 audition so far and have 2 more this week. On Tuesday, I tried out on clarinet for the symphony orchestra and on Friday, I have the violin audition for the same ensemble. I would prefer clarinet, but it will depend on how many clarinets he needs and how the other players did. I KNOW 2 clarinets did better than me and he said he is taking 2 or 3. I will take violin, just as most of you know, clarinet is what I consider my primary instrument. Today, I have my band placement audition which determines which university band I make it into and my placement in the ensemble.

That's about all that has been going on. A lot in the air with Chris' job situation, but we are managing rather well. I should have more news soon-ish to post for you guys on that front :)