new roommate, embarrassing story and new email address

I am getting a new roommate!! Her name is Kalo. She's from LA, and she's twenty eight. Her family is from Tonga. She graduated from BYU-Hawaii. She is coming to Chico State to get her masters degree in social work. She seems really nice. She served a mission in the Dominican Republic. I feel like all these sentences are just short and choppy, sorry... Anyways, I am very excited. And I've almost got my room clean....

I had a wonderful time last weekend camping with some of the Ungers on the coast. We camped in the Redwoods. Went on a BEAUTIFUL hike. Played on the beach. Went to this really cool old cookhouse. Anyways, next time I see y'all, which will be in a few days, ask me about it and I'll tell you all about it. It was so fun!!!

So, I was at work last night/this morning. It was actually about 5 am. I had gone into one of the bathrooms to clean it, and then came out and the only thing I had left to do was take out the garbages and then I could go home. So I'm going around emptying them, at which point I got bored and felt like singing. Good idea, no? So I was just singing away at the top of my lungs the song Marie and I sang in sacrament meeting when we were like eleven and twelve. A nice little song about Jesus loving us. :) It was lovely, and I was really getting into it. When you're in a big building like that your voice kinda echoes off the walls, which makes you want to sing louder, obviously. So at this point I'm pretty much singing as loud as I feel like, about Jesus, and I stop for a second to remember the words to the next verse when I hear a computer mouse clicking in the next cubicle. You've got to be kidding me!!! Some guy had come in to work during the two minutes I was cleaning the stupid bathroom. Here I'd been serenading him with some primary-sounding song for like a good ten minutes!!! So I'm completely embarrassed, but still need to empty his garbage can so I had to go face him. On the bright side though, he said I sang very nice and it was a good way to wake up in the morning. It was a good start of the day. Good heavens.... Yep, that's my story for today.

I've also started to use my gmail email account. The address is martineau.christine@gmail.com.

Love you all and see you soon!!!!

Dearest family,

I am excited to see you all on Thursday. Tomorrow is my last day of work. We are planning office olympics during lunch and I made some raspberry bars to share. After work, I'm going out with Yolanda and her family. Tuesday, my roommates and I are going to the largest indoor waterpark in the world. It should be great fun. Going out for dinner may be involved also. I'm going to Utah on Wednesday, so call my cell anytime. I will be at Rachel's wedding festivities though. Then, I will be home on Thursday night. I hope you are planning to spend some time with me because that is prettymuch all I plan to do while there. I also will need to take a trip to Redding to visit Grandmom, and to buy a car at some point.

Janelle, Josh, and I being dirty at work on Friday

I took this smart car convertable for a test drive on Tuesday

Only a week left : (

My time in Canada is coming to a close. I'm kind of sad about that. It has been an incredible experience, but I will be glad to see you all again. We looked at Smart cars today. It turns out they are manufactured by mercedes-benz and are about $20,000. We are test-driving one on Tuesday. I'm excited for mom about her writing test and for Christine with her new scooter. I'm glad it goes real speeds, I was worried. I have 6 more days of work, yeah. No more getting dirty for me. Keep your eyes open for cars I should buy.

I can write!!

As some of you know I had to take a writing exam at Sac State to stay in the masters program, and they think I can write, I scored an 8 (out of 12), but an 8 passes, so YEAH!!!!!!

Marie this has been a worrying week, we had a long talk last week - what's up? I love you!!

Christine, I might be able to find a gun for the car (?) - the scooter looks great!!! Please sleep at night !!!!

Love to the boys, doing good!!

Kent is moving in on the 13th - I am going to be his "care giver" nothing formal since Carmen and I worked it out, but I get to go to the doctors and school, lucky Kent!!!

Someone from the bank that owns the house has agreed to carpet the big room that was unfinished, so it looks like the house is a go!!! (not yet 100%, but getting closer - the carpet has to be put in first)

LOVE TO ALL!!!!

my day

Partly cause I feel like I have stuff to write, and partly because It is now 4:55 am and I know how much mom loves it when I post at these hours...

Anyways, today I woke up a bit late, much like the lazy bum I am. Kari and I ran today, and today was the first time I'm pretty sure in my entire life that I've run a whole mile without walking. It's called "Best Shape of Our Lives 2008" and I'm learning a lot from it, even more than just about exercise. Yep, ask me about it sometime and I'd love to enlighten to you all. :) My mile time was 12:13, which isn't that fast at all, but it is an improvement. My goal time is nine minutes. I will kepp y'all updated.

I think my scooter is supposed to come soon. I am nervous, excited, relieved, and a whole bunch of other emotions. I still need to buy a helmet and go over to the DMV and get a permit and all that.

Tonight after Sports Night I went to work. Fairly uneventful, but okay. As I was walking out the door to go home I noticed a flash of lightning in the distance, which was pretty freakin awesome. Got into the car and turned the key, and alas, nothing happened. I have no reason in the world to be surprised by the car randomly not working, and I guess I really wasn't. So I got the battery charger out and plugged in my car to an outlet in the office building I clean. Walked over to the dumpster and threw away the garbage. There were a couple old computers out on the ground by the dumpster, and for lack of anything better to do for the next hour I picked them up and carried them back to the building. I found a screw driver on someone's desk and proceeded to take one of the computers apart. They've always fascinated me. Anyways, took one of the CD rom drives and put it into my car, then carried the computer carcasses back to the dumpster. By this time it was POURING rain. Went back to my car, unplugged the charger, rolled up the cord, and started the car. Made it about a mile or two down the road when quite suddenly the headlights dimmed to a faint glow and the car started jerking around. Barely made it into the church parking lot, where the now dead car rolled into a parking spot. Our building now has a keyless entry system that uses a code to get in, which I have no reason to know but just do anyways, thank goodness. Went into the church, where I plugged my car charger in again. This time I planned on giving the car more time to charge so I could actually make it home. I played the piano in the Relief Society room from about 2:00 am to 3:20 am. Very fun, a little weird, whatever. It took everything I had to not go outside and dance in the parking lot in the rain at three in the morning. The lightning was magical, the thunder was majestic, and the rain was just cool. After I had been playing the piano for a while and I felt the car had charged enough to at least make it home, I decided to commence on the journey yet again. The car worked just fine til about two miles from home. I drove with the headlights off for a bit of the way, and thankfully made it home, even though it was yet again a dead car rolling into a parking space. Very blessed though, if you ask me. Couldn't have broken down better places today. :)

If anyone would like to just give me a car, I'd greatly appreciate it. I really am excited about this scooter though. Hopefully it will at least be dependable. Or if not, I guess it won't be anything new.... It's all good.

Hope everyone is doing well. Love you all!

p.s. If anyone comes across a motorcycle helmet someone is giving away or at a garage sale or thrift store or something, I would love it...

I did it!

Well my dear family, please say hello to the first moped/motorcycle owner of the bunch. I just bought online the original moped that I had been thinking about that I had a link to on an earlier blog post. Well, same moped, but I found one for 100 dollars cheaper... As Mom and Markie know, I saw some guy selling mopeds in a parking lot today, and dang I almost just bought one right then and there! Mark did have a point though, they were really small and didn't go very fast. I think they were only made to carry up to like 175 pounds anyways. So this one was a few hundred dollars more, can carry more weight (like me and one of the boys), can go faster, and looks more legit. I am terribly excited. I've been looking on ebay for motorcycle helmets. I will go to the DMV monday I guess and take the test to get a permit or do whatever. Mark went to the DMV about a motorcycle license or something... Did he get a permit?

Yeah, I'm really excited. And nervous. But I do think that this was a good decision. :)

Love you all. Have a happy Fast Sunday!

bean

That is an awesome carrot my friend. I'm a little jealous. I can't believe its already August. This summer has gone by so fast and it's been so much fun. I'll have to take you here someday. Work was hard this week. I spent 7 hours spraying castlestone panels with color and sealer. Then we paked and loaded them. After arriving in Lethbridge, the buyer noted that many panels were broken and that the color came off when rubbed with a damp cloth. What a disappointment. All that time wated, plus I did a lot of bending and lifting that day which is why I've been so sore this week. I'm going to Will's family reunion today. Hopefully that's pretty fun. And contrary to the belief of you mother, I am coming home for Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday to celebrate with ya'll.

cool carrots

On the bright side though, i did find this cool carrot. :)