Yet Another Blog

http://mellinhead.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving upon us tomorrow, it is time to remember all of the people and things in our life that we are thankful for. As cliche as it sounds, I am thankful for my family and friends. Without each and every one of you I would never have made it where I am today.

Today, I am taking a breather from all the forms I have been filling out and phone calls I have been making to arrange my departure for Seattle at the beginning of January. Yes, it is true. I was accepted to Seattle University for this winter quarter. Classes start January 3, which is much closer than I thought. I have just found out today that I will be able to get the studio apartment I wanted just a block away from campus. The biggest perk in my mind is that I have my own washer and dryer. Such a little thing to be excited about, but I have an irrational concern about my clothes being stolen from public laundromats. Much like my fear of riding BART alone, I am sure I will be forced to overcome that eventually, but it is nice not to have to fret about it while I settle in.

Still so much to do before I am ready to start at Seattle, but it is nice to take these next few days to spend time with all the people I love. If I do not have a chance to see you this holiday weekend then I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving filled with delicious food and good company.

For future reference, I have a few friends who have asked me to start a blog of my adventure in Seattle. I will not start it until I am up there, but I promise to post the link on my Facebook as well as this blog in case any one is interested. I personally doubt my life will be that fascinating, but I suppose it will motivate me to get out and explore instead of just remaining cooped up studying 24/7.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Cats & Colleges

Before I begin sharing about myself, I want to give a major congratulations to David for getting his PhD and becoming DOCTOR David Nicol. I can appreciate the heart, soul, and time you put in to completing this endeavor, and I more than commend you for it. In fact, I am awed by your dedication. I am honestly not sure if I am capable of pursuing a PhD in my own future. Congratulations on completing this stage of your life, and the new life experiences it will bring for you.

Now, from what I can tell, nobody has so much as glanced at this family blog since the end of the previous school year. I know we pass around info from time to time, but I highly doubt we really know the full updates of one anothers' lives. Well, maybe everybody else does, but I'll admit I've felt a tad out of the loop lately. I figured I'd share a slight insight into my life that some of you may already know (in which case I apologize for any rambling or repetition), or that some of you may be shocked to hear. I would also love to hear from everybody else, even if I have heard about it. It never hurts to hear the stories from the person living them.

In the past few months I have put a lot of thought into what comes next in my life. While I have greatly appreciated my parents' reluctant, yet understanding, support of my decision to attend DVC, I always knew that was far from being the end of my education. I have already sent in my applications to Seattle University and New York University. I'll admit that I felt a tad reminiscent of senior year at Carondelet with the frenzy of balancing my school work with all the effort and time put in to make my applications pristine. Having sent them off, I feel both a sense of relief and nervousness. I have at least six weeks of impatient waiting ahead before I will hear back, but I choose to remain optimistic about my acceptance into either school.

I am definitely looking forward to the wetter, chillier weather. There, I admit to the fact that I am the worst Californian ever. My skin refuses to tan, and I much prefer the damp, overcast, and rainy weather provided by both Seattle and New York. The first day I noticed the rain here in the Bay Area, I actually went outside and jumped around with joy for about thirty minutes, nearly tearing up from sheer pleasure that fall had FINALLY arrived.

If my parents have not shared, I am hoping to get an apartment of my own until the end of this school year. I think that having the space to myself to focus on my studies and revel in the new found freedom will be both an important and unique experience for me. Most of my life I have relied upon people to be around to entertain me, but having the chance to be alone in my living situation could be just the experience I need to expand my sense of independence. I know some of you (especially you, Kate, or Kathryn, if you still wish us to convert to that), have teased me about my fears of the little independent acts, such as riding the BART train alone. So, this is my major leap into an independent future, with bright hopes of it bringing out the best in me. Sure, my future living arrangements have not been totally settled. Although, I will not lie, I hope that if either of my parents ever read this they can appreciate why it is of such importance to me.

Anyways, in all of this rambling it is my way of saying that I will be much farther away soon enough, and I will miss all of you at the monthly family dinners. I will do my best when I leave to keep in touch with everybody, as you all mean the world to me. I sincerely look forward to this next stage in my life and the adventures and challenges it will present. I am fully aware that in comparison to Hennessy studying abroad in Chile (I am completely hooked on your blog Hennessy, I cannot get enough of it.), David getting his PhD, and Kate's new job, this seems extremely trivial in comparison, but as far as my life goes, it is a pretty big deal.

I hope everyone is doing well, and I hope to hear more from everybody either by email, Facebook, phone, or on this blog.

Love,
Jen

*The picture at the top is one that I took earlier today of Cody's cat, Annie. The picture below it is one of Chris' cat, and my personal favorite cat of all time, Rusty, that I took a few weeks ago. I have made it a personal goal to make better use of my camera, even for such small projects as random photo shoots with friends or stalking my friends' cats. While they are far from my finest shots, I still take pride in their raw vision through my sporadic and sudden impulses. I also promised myself that I would progressively learn the ins and outs of Photoshop Elements before attempting to get my hands on the newer, better version that was recently released. Bill, I would love to talk to you more about suggestions on lenses and camera technique in the near future.

If you have made it this far, then my deepest apologies for the excessive rambling. It is late, and I felt I had a lot to share and that a blog that provided me with family feedback was the best source to release all of that energy and thought into.

The Conclusion of yet Another School Year

Once again it is June and that can only mean that school, where Bill hangs out, where, Kristy hangs out, where Jenny hangs out, where Hennessy hangs out, where Keenan hangs out, where Kate once hung out and David continues (for just a little bit longer) to hang out goes on summer hiatus, YIPPEE!! Jenny finished up her semester with an impressive 4.0 and the jury is still out for the two other students (they are both preparing (well at least one is) for this week's final exams. Keenan is pretty confident about his Algebra II grade as he heads into these tests of mental strength with four 100%'s already in the grade book. In addition to his academic feats, Keenan was selected as a peer crisis counselor at Northgate. Apparently he wooed the selection committee with his sense of humor! One of the perks; a laminated hall pass in his possession at all times. Way to go!! Hennessy will return home on Sunday having completed her second year at Cal Poly. She starts her summer job on Monday and will begin to plan for her semester abroad in Chile. Part of her preparations include the reintroduction of meat to her diet; something that has been absent for about 6 years. Wisely she wants to have a full Chilean experience living with her host family. Like last summer the whole family will again eat from the South Beach cookbook but this year we can add red meat to our protein category. YIPPEE!!!

TESTING, TESTING ,TESTING

If I understood the directions, I think everyone (with the exception of Jenny as I don't have her email address) should receive an email notification when a new post goes up on the family blog. I am hoping that it might prompt both readership and authorship!

Paris in the Springtime

Some among us spent their spring break working. Others found time to garden and one lived on the baseball diamond most of the week. I, on the other hand, along with my girlfriend Lee took a jet plane to Paris to visit Jeff and frolic with the French!

Big Birthdays, Baby's on the Way and General Family Fun

Family and friends gathered at a afternoon luncheon to welcome Jamie and Frank's baby daughter Charlotte (due mid April) and then followed that event with a dinner to celebrate Keenan's 16th birthday, Cliff's 73rd birthday, Jerry's 57th birthday and Kevin's 31st birthday.