Life in Washington

Yesterday, Brad and I went to the zoo to see the lions. We got jewed :( We were very sad. First, ticket prices went up FIFTY CENTS from when we were there April '08. Second, the lion exhibit wasn't open even though when we went in April, there was a sign that said it would be back Spring '09. And third, the primate exhibit was under construction too! HOW LAME IS THAT!!! We paid $10.50 to see not the entire zoo!!!
But that's okay because afterwards, Brad let me drag him around Washington Square Mall and through Macy's, Nordstrom, Aritzia, A&F, a giant F21 (not as big as SF, but close), Metropark, and Sanrio for a few hours. It was awesome! Surprisingly enough, I only purchased a shitload of stationery from Sanrio with NO SALES TAX. :( I didn't really like anything I tried on, or the selection of clothing. I was eyeing a few pairs of True Religions, but I decided against them... On second thought, maybe I should get them because there is NO SALES TAX. But then again, I can always get them from Revolve or something online with NO SALES TAX and FREE SHIPPING.
Sometimes I forget why I love my boyfriend so much, especially when we fight and stuff. But then we have days where he lets me practically torture him just so I can do something that makes me really happy, and I remember why: he'd go through practically anything to make me laugh and smile. Also, he cooks for me and that is awesome.

Beautiful Days!

That's what yesterday and today has been! It's been nice, sunny and fairly warm, but not too warm. I still wear a jacket outside, but after enough running around, I start sweating. (I started typing this blog yesterday, but I never got around to finishing it so it will be a combination of today & yesterday.)

YESTERDAY
I had class all day, but in between class it was nice walking around and doing my skippy step around campus. Also, Morgan and I made two epic trips to the bookstore to get scantrons and matching green UCSC sweatshirts (on sale for $22.99!). It was cool.
Then I went to the volleyball game after and skipped my last class. That was fun, but we lost so that was not fun. The guys definitely had an off day, which really sucked. This was the game that counted the most for them. Also the other team was really scrappy/solid and were picking EVERYTHING up. So yeah.
Then Tim and I went to go eat (OMG, I eat so much. Seriously like 4 meals a day! It's ridiculous! 7 day meal plan FTW) and most of the freshmen on the team, Thomas Davidson (middle), Darren Tsai (DS/libero), Bryce Dalheimer (outside), & Austin Kress (outside?), and the junior outside hitter, Brad Sullivan, came and ate with us because they know Tim. I ended up talking to Thomas, his girlfriend, and his friend who I sort of know from Kresge for a bit. I HOPE WE CAN BECOME FRIENDS. Also quoting Ms. Tyson I am "not a creeper, not a creeper". Really.

TODAY
I woke up & talked to Brad before going to volleyball. AND THEN I PROCEEDED TO KICK MAJOR ASS AT VOLLEYBALL. I also talked to the coach about sending me info about tryouts and getting me into the class next quarter to (hopefully? maybe?) do drills with the team. She seemed fairly enthused by the fact that I was interested in trying out. I think she likes me??? I hope so! Anyway, volleyball went SO WELL today. I'm so sad that it's the last class of the quarter, BUT I scheduled my classes around volleyball next quarter so I will be doing this class and playing (and hopefully drilling with the team. Omgomgomg, that would be my dream come true).
Then after that I ate with all my volleyball friends, Chris, Tim, Dave, Cat, and Lauren, and it was great fun! We all made fun of Tim for sucking at volleyball. Many LOLZ ensued. Then I went to go get my mail! I HAD MAIL! :) I got TWO sample pads (one Poise & one Always), and a coupon for the Always. I got a Cosmopolitan in the mail. I got two letters from my bff, Josh, down at UCSB. So awesome. After that, I went back to my apartment, showered and headed to Longs to pick up some things and now I am here! :)
Also a sidestory about my great love of mail. I needed to mail two letters today (one for you, Ms. Tyson! Keep a lookout!) so I went to Longs to do that and to pick up some stuff. As I was getting there, I saw the mailman leaving, so I started sprinting, and then I almost twisted my ankle!!! I kept running through the slight, annoying pain and as he started the car, I banged on the window and was able to drop off my letters. That, my friends, is how devoted I am to mail.
Okay, so back to my day... so now I am about to power through my precalc homework, and then I am going to go eat. And then I am going to play volleyball for three hours with my volleyball friends at some open gym by Cabrillo College or something. I am stoked.
I love volleyball. A lot.
OH, and last night, I had a dream about trying out for the team and making it. And that was my SECOND dream about playing for the team. So yes, it really is my dream. And I'm going to make my dream come true. I am determined. Very determined. I love volleyball! Yay!

This has been a spastic Paulina post.

I LOVE MAIL!!!

I haven't checked my mail in a few days, so today was an excellent surprise!
I am opening it right now and I'm afraid I won't remember what I got so I am tallying them right now.
- a free Crest Advanced Whitening Strip sample AND coupon.
- an Aveda postcard advertising going into a store and getting a free skin care consultation and a three-time try sample of Enbrightenment Brightening Correcting Serum
- a coupon book filled with over $30 worth of coupons for Swiffer, Febreze, Dawn, Cascade and Mr. Clean.
- free samples of Sunsilk shampoo, conditioner, heat defense cream and two one dollar coupons.
- a free Trojan Her Pleasure lubricated condom
- a free sample of Garnier Nutritioniste Ultra Lift Daily Targeted Deep Wrinkle Treatment. INTENSIVE.
- a free Hugo Boss perfume sample
- free Harajuku Lovers fragrance samples
- a returned letter :(
- three free Yogi Tea samples
- a letter and a card from my cousin, Jessica
- a Cosmopolitan magazine
- a free Playtex Gentle Glide sample
- new Mizuno Wave Lightning 4's in the RIGHT SIZE.

Woo!
A new update coming later on things that have happened in the past few days.

Also volleyball went REALLY WELL today. I got two sweet digs off my fist, complete with rolls. Absolutely beautiful ups. I got a few aces, and some more nice digs. My passing was pretty on, especially serve-receive, mostly. My hitting wasn't bad, but it wasn't my best. I would complain about the sets I got, but you're not really supposed to, and I'm lucky that I'm getting set, so, yay.

Thank God it's Almost Friday!

This week has been fairly strange. I haven't been able to keep track of what day it is, and all days seem to blend together/feel the same.

Monday, I had a midterm in chem and I was very sure I kicked ass! Yesterday, I got my midterm back, and I did kick ass. 97! I'm so mad though, I'm pretty sure I could have gotten a 100, but oh well. My Asian side is coming out.
Tuesday, volleyball class was canceled because Selene (women's volleyball coach) was sick. I was going to just go back to my apartment and study/do homework, but then I decided fuck it and I went with some people to go play on the sand courts down at OPERS. The level of play wasn't very high because none of us are used to sand, but it was very fun, and it was sort of a bonding activity. I love this class!
Wednesday, I just had class.
Today, volleyball went really well and it was awesome. My serving was ballin'. My passing was awesome, and my hits were KILLER. Ha ha ha. I've been conditioning and doing a lot of rope/footwork, and I can definitely see it helping. I'm jumping a lot higher and getting on top of the ball. It's awesome. I'm so determined to make the team.

UCSC Women's Volleyball 2009!

Also, today, I got my Asian stationery in the mail. You know those ones from Asia that say nonsensical things and are super cute and stuff. I love it!!! I was inspired by my cousin, Jessica, to get some because she sent me a cute letter in a cute envelope and I didn't want to just send back some ugly binder paper. I found this Etsy store, 3.5 Dollars, that sells this stuff for $3.50! What a steal! So I ordered two little cute sets. Yay! I love mail.

This is one of the things I ordered!

I was fairly bored one night and I researched how the post office works. It is such an amazing phenomenon! They have these machines that read handwriting and see the zipcode and where to send it to and stuff. And if you have the address wrong, the machines will correct it for you to what it thinks the location is! And they have dead mail centers where letters go that they can't read and they get scrutinized by people to be sent off. And then if they can't figure it out, the mail either gets destroyed or auctioned off! It's so cool! Wikipedia it!
Despite the semi-blandness of this week, last weekend, Brad and I decided that he is going to come down for Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend, and I am SO SUPERDUPERLY EXCITED. The majority of my apartment is going to be in Tahoe Friday-Monday (I think), so we'll have this room to ourselves and I won't have to deal with the awkwardness of sexiling them the entire weekend. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about the Thursday and Tuesday that they will be here, but I hope they understand. If not, um, it sucks to be them, I guess. They're not usually in here anyway since they do all their work in the living room, so maybe if the door is closed and stuff they will get the idea. That was probably too much info, but it is a bit of a dilemma and I'm not sure about what to do. I mean, from what I've gathered from various other people about significant others visiting, the general consensus is that the roommates go elsewhere for that duration to courteously give couples time to themselves, so I hope they do the same! I'm not quite sure about what we're going to be doing, but it will definitely involve going to the beach and seeing "Friday the 13th" and exploring downtown/campus and drinking and possibly smoking and whatnot. It should be fun. I'm excited!
Also, I googled sexiled images and this is what I got:

LOL, at this one.


Is this what my roommates will look like?

Another GREAT Day for Mail!

I got...
- Pantene Pro-V Smooth shampoo & conditioner
- a free Nature's Bounty tote bag & coupon for their vitamins
- a coupon for my free Dr. Pepper
- a card in Norwegian from my mom when she was in Norway talking about how the entire world is dumb without me. Not even kidding. This is what it says, according to Google Translate.
"all others are dumb
the sun is dumb
the trees are dumb
sommerfuglene (summer?) is dumb
the flowers are dumb
marihøna (bee?) is dumb
I'm dumb
without you is all just dumb
the spider is dumb
the birds are dumb
fence is dumb
cat is dumb
donkey is dumb
the world is dumb
this corner is dumb
hare is dumb
cow is dumb
I am even more dumb
love you

Whatver it means,
Love,
Mom from Norway"
- a card from my cousin in Virginia
- an Astroglide sample
- two Tempurpedic ads
- an ISV contract

Yay!!!

The Mail Thief Strikes

My friend, Joshua, sent me a letter from Santa Barbara some time during finals week, only he forgot to put a stamp on it so it got sent back to him. I told him to mail it to my house so I would get it back from vacation.
Today, I found the letter, ripped apart and open. I figured it was because it got messed up in the mail. I began to read his letter and I found out that there was a UCSB sticker and a pin in it for me. Someone STOLE them. Someone stole my awesome sticker and pin. I am sad.

Today Will Go Down in History...

...as a great day for mail! YAY!

This is what I found waiting for me in my mailbox!
- batteries that I ordered.
- TWO samples of Astroglide. Not one, but TWO.
- TWO slips saying I had packages: two small ones, and one medium one.
- a letter from ISV

The packages?
- A Juicy Juice sippy cup. Totally rad.
- Orville Redenbacher's 100 Calorie Mini Smart Cakes!, Natural Gourmet Popping corn, and a coupon booklet with "Over $6 of savings inside!"
- A teddy bear and a letter from Brad!

Yay!

More Mail!

I love my friendsies and such. Yesterday, I checked my mail box and I had FOUR THINGS. One was a package from my mom with a CD in it containing Microsoft Office 2003, the far superior version to Microsoft Office 2007. A postcard from the one and only Natalie A. Tyson with a picture of my Berkeley metalhead friend. Well, he doesn't know it yet, but he is my friend. A little card from my cousin, Jessica! It's super cute and Asian. And a super cute and Asian card/letter from Katherine! Yay!
My dad left for Asia yesterday so I called him before he left so he can get me super ridiculously Asian stationary to write to people with. You know, ones that say like "Song bird get far from heart love him long time no her." Something like that. For now, I must resort to ugly binder paper. I don't even have cardstock (or colorz, for that matter) to make cool cards with. Lame.

METALHEAD COUNT UPDATE
Day 25 (10/13/08): Robert the metalhead on the bus in a Slayer shirt who likes the Faceless and didn't know about the Faceless show on November 14th. I had a somewhat awkward encounter with him because I was talking fast and excitedly and a huge spitwad flew out of my mouth and landed somewhere. I think on my backpack. And Chris the Kresge East-residing, Immortal, listening metalhead who I met at Longs!!! )

Total: 21
Legit Total: 15
Not bad :)

Epic Mail

I've been expecting a package of Epic Proportions from Brad because he hinted at one. He told me he mailed it Saturday morning so today after my core class, I went to the mail room. I had a letter from Wells Fargo for my Asian self with my Asian debit card. No package slip. I checked the mailing center attendant times, and the person was going to be in at 12. I decided that I would come back and check. An hour later, I came back and I checked! I had a package slip. It said I needed my ID to pick up my package, so I began to sprint back to my room. Halfway there, I stopped because I remembered that I had my ID on me, so I sprinted back. I threw the slip and my ID at the Mailroom Dude, and waited in anticipation. The package slip indicated that it was a small package; however, the box that Brad and I have been using to mail each other things is an average sized shoe box. Not exactly little. The Mailroom Dude emerged with the shoebox, and my excitement increased tenfold. I ran back to my room through the front door to show off my awesome package, then sprinted to my room to open it. This is what I found.

1. Awesome, delicious cookies that Brad baked for me!
2. Stephen King's Insomnia
3. A purple glove from our first doctor's visit together!
4. My swimsuit that I left in his mom's car.
5. Body butter by Yes to Carrots, my new favorite skincare line.
6. A Mach 5 car from Mike, Brad's little brother.
7. A letter<3
8. My green socks that I left in his socks.
9. All five chapsticks (cherry, carrot, melon, mint, & citrus) by Yes to Carrots!
10. Silk pajamas from Brad's grandma that I asked her to make me when I visited back in August!

Mail!

One thing that I have always enjoyed is mail. After several days of opening up my mailbox to emptiness, and sometimes creeper-like behaviors, today, I received mail! Mail, to me, is similar to running downstairs to see what Santa left under your tree on Christmas morning. I love it. I hate empty mail boxes. There's so much fun in seeing a white gleaming envelope, or even a package on your doorstep (in college cases, a slip saying "YOU HAS PACKAGE!" which I have yet to receive). I don't know. It's just fun. I like sending letters, and I like receiving them. So if you want to write me, send me a picture, anything! Even a hair, an ad, a tooth, a picture of the metalhead in your French class (*coughNataliecough*), feel free to do so! I'll email you my address.

Oh and what did I receive?
A paycheck from Longs, mailed by my mommy. Sadly, no letter was attached.
My debit card from Wells Fargo for my Russian self. A somewhat (not) funny story. On Move-In Day, I signed myself up for another debit card, this time from Wells Fargo, for my new Longs paychecks & as my spending account so I can save whatever is in my Bank of America account. Wells Fargo was on campus, so I thought I would seize the opportunity to do so. Everything was all fine and dandy until I went to log on to my Wells Fargo online account several days later to find out that I am now a Russian Asian named Pavlina Dao. (lol, one of my roommates is currently smoking weed with his door open and now my room stinks. Joyous.)
A letter saying that my credit card application that occured in conjunction with my debit card has been denied. I assume that this occured because the idiot who typed all my stuff up thought I was a Russian Asian. I don't need a credit card, however, it would be fairly useful in case I overdraft. Then the bank would just pull the overdraft from my credit card, so I would not have any strange fees. I would just need to pay off my credit card. Lamesies.

Day 12 (9/30/08): Michael the Opeth fanboy. I went to the Porter/Kresge dining hall by myself. Got all my food, and I spotted his semi-long haired, Opeth t-shirt wearing body as I was looking for a place to sit. He is an Opeth fanboy, if that has not yet been made obvious.
Day 13 (10/1/08): Epica boy. Not many people would know who they are unless they listened to metal, so I deem him a metalhead. Impaled boy with afro. Yes, some guy wearing an Impaled shirt. I saw him on my way to class, and presumably he was on his way to class. No words were exchanged, but I did get to throw the horns at him. METAL.

Total: 15
Legit Total: 10