New Year's Resolution

I don't generally make these resolutions. I figure that resolutions shouldn't be made just on new year's eve just to be forgotten about by Valentine's Day. But this year, my first year of University and my first year of living away from home and the first year without any sort of pet, I thought I should make a new year's resolution to help guide my way. Only, I'm hoping this will be more like a "all the years to come resolution". So, I guess, without further adieu here is my resolution.

I resolve to be a better to person in any way that I need fixing. I want to let go of certain bits of my past and with other memories of my past I want to see them for what they are. Then I want to learn everything I can from them and then pack them away at the back of my mind only to pull them out when I need reminding of what I've learned. I need to be more disciplined in my studies, but more importantly, I need to be more disciplined in me. I can't forget who I am no matter what and I need to embrace those things that make me me. I am who I am and who I am is a dork who manages to get stuck in the bubbles produced by putting soap in a fountain, who breaks out in show tunes every once in a while, who dances in her room in nothing but underwear while singing at the top of her lungs, who thinks there's nothing sweeter than puppy breath and nothing more relaxing than a purring cat, and who enjoys waking up early to exercise. All of things I am and all of them make me who I am. I should know what make me me even the bits and pieces I'm not so proud of. I shouldn't forget that I am a pretty awesome person any more often than I need to make me humble. Most of all I need to stop worrying so much. A little worry is needed, but I should stop getting wrapped in little details that don't really matter because it takes away from the experience.

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe new year's eve and a great start to 2011.

It's Good to be Home

I'm very glad I left when I did now. I was a little hesitant about missing the last week of school until I heard of all the trials of my friends trying to get home for the holidays. If I had waited for a week, like I originally planned, chances are I wouldn't be home right now. I might if I got lucky, but there's only so much luck to around between travellers during the holiday season. If you guys haven't seen it on the news, some of the major airports in the UK and in Europe are just closed due to weather. London Heathrow is closed because of all the snow and the fact that they ran out of, what I am calling because I can't remember the actual name, plane antifreeze. I believe Paris is closed too. So, while I did miss a week of classes, I'm very happy that I left early.

Well, enough of my gloating about how easy it was for me to get home. On to present adventures. Rocco and I are in Los Angeles right now. We headed down on the train yesterday to spend some time with my mom and step dad. We're going to leave tomorrow for Phoenix which should be...well interesting to say the least. We're going to see my step dad's family who are Jewish but also not Jewish and he's Buddhist and...well, it's all very confusing. I'm not sure if we're actually celebrating Christmas but there are a lot of birthdays in his family around this time of year. Anyway, it should be fun and it'll be interesting to see how Rocco handles this long of a road trip. It would be so much cooler if we were flying, but then I would have to go through Guide Dogs to get clearance for him to fly. This way I only needed to make sure it was alright if I took him into another state.

Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season so far!

Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

We haven't spoken in a while and that's partly my fault. I lost faith a while ago, but I still like to believe that the impossible is possible. If anyone can do that, it's you.

You know how I know I'm not a little kid anymore? My letters to you used to contain a long list of toys and a variety of pets that I knew my parents would never get me. Now though...there's really only one thing on my Christmas list.

I've been a fairly good girl this year. I've had my bad days, but really, who doesn't? So, a friend of mine is in the hospital after yet another surgery. Santa, I know you can't make all of the health problems go away, but if you could help her be as comfortable as possible that would really help. And, do you think you could make sure she's out of the hospital and back home with her cat and dog by Christmas day? There's also one more thing that I would like. Is it possible for you to make sure that there is a new dog trained to be her wheelchair guide by at least summer? I'm hoping for earlier, but it does take a long time to train wheelchair guides so I'm not really expecting you to make that happen any earlier.

Anyway Santa, that's what I thought I would spend my Christmas wish on this year. There is something I would like under my tree this year, but I don't think you can wrap it, stuff it in a bag, and make your reindeer carry it all the way to me. I'm sure you know what it is though because you're Santa Clause.

Merry Christmas Santa.

Love,
Erin

Pictures of the Town and My Alumni Meeting

I was asked by a friend in Scotland to take more pictures of my hometown. So, here are a few I've taken in the past few days. They also include a High School Alumni thingy that was held on the new school campus.

You've all seen what I see when I look out of my window back my room in Aberdeen...

Well, this is what I see as I have breakfast every morning. All you have to add is a little Labradoodle running around and playing after her breakfast.

My boy Rocco and I decided to walk to the grocery store so that we made sure that we had enough chocolate to make my famous Mint Chocolate Cookies and my Sun Moon Cookies. So next is a few pictures of my neighbourhood.

This is a bit of the circle I live in.
Rocco quite likes the leaves.
But he doesn't like taking pictures.

The UK uses a lot of roundabouts and small four way intersections. I kind of missed these large, 3 lane intersections.

I think where I live is gorgeous in the winter because it looks like autumn. The leaves all start to fall off the trees and the air is crisp and...well not clean, but cleaner.

Now we come to the pictures of my school. I'd like to show you where I went to High School. It's little place called UHS and this is what I spent the last 4 years in.

You see that I went to school in a bunch of portables. It was the paper here that dubbed us "Trailer Park High". I mean, really, it was a whole bunch of trailers that were either too hot or too cold and the ceiling panels liked to fall down every once in a while. Those classrooms that were not portables (generally the Junior and Senior classes) were tiny things that could barely pass for class rooms. We all generally had to pile in on top of each other just to get in the door and shuffle the desks so that we could actually get into the seats.

This is what the school looks like now:It seems only right that as soon as I start going to school at a castle my old school should turn into a spaceship. It's a very nice building, though I'm not still sold on the outside. The inside looks amazing though! The classrooms are actually big enough to fit all of the students in a certain period. And the students now have actual desks! This is exciting news for everyone. And since we are a musically geared charter school we now have a recording studio. There are also lockers and two stories and a choir room that actually has some acoustics. Is Erin mad that she never got to experience this amazing building? HECK YES! I mean, the drama people have an actual storage room now! Do you know hoe much easier my time there would have been if I had had that storage room during drama? Very. It's alright though, because my little brother gets to experience the coolness of the place. I totally forgot that Freshmen don't have a 7th period so they don't have a 7th period final and get to go home early. I was so looking forward to walking into his classroom, yelling "Munchkin!", and embarrassing him. At least he really gets to enjoy his high school time in this cool new building. Not that I didn't. I'm very proud to be the last graduating class of Trailer Park High.

Oh! Also, look at these chairs! Aren't they cool!? These are in the Drama/Musicianship III and IV classroom. The desk park can swivel and the chair rotate a full 360 degrees. And, as I was talking to my old drama teacher he pointed out that the chair were also part strainer (look at the bottom) so that you could have fun and strain your pasta as well. :) Oh, How I miss the Schlieveman.

I really wish I had gotten a picture of the 10 or so alumni who were sitting in the chairs and spinning. :D

My Trip Home

Alright so now is the post where I tell you about my trip home.

Sp, first thing's first. I had to get to the airport by 4:30am since my flight was at 6:30am. Now, I was going to book a taxi to come by my building around 3:30am because that would give me an hour to get to the airport and that's what it usually takes in bad traffic. I thought that since it was going to be early morning that it wouldn't take that long but better safe than sorry. But, a friend of mine, you know who you are, said that I should be extra careful and have the taxi come by at 2:30am just in case of snow and ice. Well, the snow and ice had pretty much melted by Friday morning so guess what time Erin got to the airport. That's right...2:45am. Now, you might ask, "Hey Erin. Is the airport even open at that time?" The answer is no. I waited outside for a good hour before someone came and opened a door and then again until 4:30am for the ticket agents to arrive to get my baggage checked.

Besides having to wait out in the cold for that long I had a very smooth ride. I slept for a lot of it because I was running on an hour of sleep. Even then my sleep on the plane wasn't great so I was basically awake for 26 hours before I got home, took a bubble bath, and finally went to sleep with all of the animals in my room.

Speaking of animals I had a wonderful surprise when I got to the airport. A few people from my puppy group were originally going to meet me at the airport but then things happened and they couldn't come. So, I wasn't expecting anyone besides my dad and step-mom. But when I got there Alyson and Rockford had come! I was so excited to see to see them and so thankful that they came!

Anywho, I'm home now and enjoying the fact that I'm not just eating cereal and salads. :D My dad made biscuits this morning...and I had 3. When I normally only have 2. So, my plan to lose weight here so that I can gain it back when I get back to Scotland might not work out. Because it is the holidays and everyone likes to make cookies and cakes and good things to eat. Eh, we'll see.

Is Home

Just thought I would let everyone know that I am home. I slept for 7 1/2 hours and now I can't go back to sleep because my body thinks is 1 in the afternoon. I'll have a more detailed post later when I can put the events of my travels into coherent sentences. Until then, I'm happy to be home. :D

I Can't Wait

I'm going home early tomorrow morning!!!! I really can't wait to be home again. I love it here, but it'll be nice to have minimal responsibilities again. I have everything set up. I checked in online, though I didn't print out my boarding passes because I really couldn't figure out how to do it online so I'll just pick them up from the kiosk tomorrow morning as I drop my bags off. I booked a taxi to take me to the airport at 2:30am...ugh! I don't mind mornings...but that's really early morning. Better to be at the airport earlier rather than later though. My flight leaves at 6:30am from Aberdeen to London. Then from London to LAX then on home after that. A full 20 hours or so of travelling in all, but I'll be home early evening tomorrow California time. I'll get to see my doggies again and my kitties!!!!!

Erin is happy...except for the 2:30am taxi ride. That's not gonna be so much fun.

Only 2 More Days

Alright guys. I only have today and tomorrow of class and then I leave very early on Friday. Am I excited? Of course I am! I can't wait to be back in Sunny California...even though I hear there has been little sun as of late. All of my friends have told me that it's actually really cold and that it's been getting close to freezing most nights. You know what I say to that? That they should try getting below freezing everyday during the day for the past 3 weeks and then they can talk to me about cold. I'm going to be going around in tank tops and shorts during the days I can assure you.

Anyway, today I'm doing some last minute Christmas shopping. Getting the last present to wrap up and sent to Freya and her family and picking up a few things for my parents and friends. I think I'm going to get something pretty and Scottishy for the annual PWAP Christmas Puppy Meeting. I'm also waiting for some Gaelic children's' books to arrive. The manufacturing centre is in Glasgow which isn't that far from here...maybe an hour or two by car. So, I was hoping they would be here by today and that I would get to pick them up before I left. But, I know buses and trains have been cancelled to Edinburgh from Aberdeen, so maybe the delivery from Glasgow is delayed. In any case, I'm really hoping that they get here by Thursday at the latest. A little girl in my puppy group asked for something Scottish and I wanted to get her a Gaelic Children's book...hmmm...if I don't get word that it's in today then I might just by her a cute Loch Ness Monster Doll. :D

Besides that, I'm packing and enjoying my last few days here in Scotland before I head back to the States.