All Shook Up (And NOT by an Earthquake)

Well, ladies, it had to happen eventually, given that I am in fact an Asian female driver now in California...Emily and I were in a car accident yesterday, rear-ended by another guy while trying to get on the freeway. I was the one driving, but (without going into detail) it was 100% the other guy's fault, he even admits it, and both of us are a little sore but otherwise okay. My car is another story, but that's what insurance is for, right? I suppose the one absolutely fabulous thing about this whole ordeal is that I came to the hilarious realization that I actually do have State Farm Insurance, which made me laugh out loud that I never remembered that before.

Don't worry, my next post will have more fun news than that. :-D

For those curious about the damage (and all my fallen stuffed animals really make the image that much more dramatic):


~Jenni~

After the Storm

So I've survived my first official hurricane here in Houston, Hurricane Ike. It really wasn't that bad--at least not where I live. There was no significant damage to my apartment building (a few tiles are still loose but that's about it) and though a tree did fall down, it got caught on a power line instead of taking any houses out. Thank goodness.

If anything, things are really annoying right now because power still has not been restored to most people's homes in this city. At home I have water and that's it. No lights and no ways to cook as my stove is electric. Fortunately they are feeding us free dinners until the electricity gets up and running. Still, it's annoying and I had to clean out the fridge, but it still stinks. I didn't realize how much I took just having power for granted. They're saying it could take until the end of this week for everything to be up and running.

Rice has power which is where I come every day to mooch for my computer and cell phone. During the storm I stayed with another first year grad student Heather as my apartments were mandatorily evacuated. The storm hit early Saturday morning and howled from about midnight until 6 am. I barely got any sleep, but by Saturday afternoon Ike had moved on. We took a walk to see the damage. It wasn't major, but man the canal near Heather's apartment was raging with water and there were trees and branches everywhere. I've also seen pictures of Galveston and it seems that they got hit so much harder than we did. I can't imagine.

Classes were cancelled on Monday (it's really hard and not all that romantic to read by candlelight I've discovered) and yesterday my only class was not held as a tree fell on my professor's house. Yikes. I suspect it'll be about a week before things are back to normal. Until then I'm trying to get as much work as I can done so that when power comes back on and supplies are in abundance at stores again I can run around and do errands.

It is annoying and inconvenient, but all things considered, things could have been a lot worse. I am glad to be safe and have access to everything I need. Thanks so much guys for your prayers and thoughts!

Take care!

Rock You Like a Hurricane

So I have not even been in Houston for a month and I'm currently set to face my first hurricane ever--Hurricane Ike. Although technically, having lived in Okinawa ten years ago, I have been through typhoons and even super typhoons. However, this is a bit different and quite exciting in an absurd way.

I'm bunkering down with my newfound friend Heather, another first year grad student in the English department, since they ordered a mandatory evacuation of the grad apartments. We've got water, filled our bathtub after showering this morning, have ice in the fridge, canned food, and candles galore. Also plenty of homework to keep us busy (Ike had to hit over the weekend, didn't it?). Nothing has happened so far but we seem pretty set and have at least two places to go if things get really bad.

Otherwise life in Houston has been pretty good; I've been learning the ropes of reading lots and lots of literary theory. Unfortunately it looks like I'm going to continue having problems with the roommate (she's been rather disrespectful, unfortunately), but until the storm passes, I can't do much about it.

So that's a quick update to let people know that so far I am safe. I'll try to update as soon as everything passes. They're saying it's going to be dire, but since Houston isn't on the coast and we're not in a low-lying part of the city, we should be fine. Wish us luck! I'm off to prepare for craziness.

Ciao!

Hooray, It's LA!

The easy thing to do would have been to quote that @*!&# Phantom Planet song that became the theme song for The O.C., but I thought I'd save everyone the headache...Plus, it's me! Of course I had to go for the obscure reference with a Swedish Christian metal band featuring the lead singer from the Smashing Pumpkins!

Anyway, it looks like it's my turn for the "I've-Moved-Here-And-Here's-How-I'm-Doing" Update. :-D I know I just sent you all an email and just wrote a blog on my other page, so I won't repeat all that, but there is stuff I didn't bother to include over there. *drama* I mentioned that I'm "sharing" my room with another girl...That's a rather sticky situation. Her name's Ashley, and she's only 18. Apparently, her parents are divorced, and while her mom is in San Diego, she's been living with her dad in Maine and was having issues with skipping class, etc. So apparently their solution was to send her to Southern California within minutes of Venice Beach. :-| Needless to say, she hasn't been going to class (she's supposedly going to Santa Monica College) and hasn't been paying Alissa rent. In fact, she hasn't been really living here--when I moved in, Alissa said she literally hadn't seen her in a week. And her parents hadn't heard anything from her either, all of which is rather disconcerting. It wasn't until my 3rd night there that I actually met Ashley--in the middle of the night when she arrived with her hippie boyfriend (she looks rather hippie-ish herself now, thanks to too much time spent in Venice Beach) in his pseudo-hippie van to pick up most of her stuff. Apparently, she had lost both her cell phone AND the key to the house, which is why she disappeared off the face of the Earth, but somehow managed to communicate with her sister (who lives with her mom, by the way) to have her come visit her in Marina Del Ray--hence why she needed her stuff.

Needless to say, Alissa just gave her notice the other day, and we're in the process of looking for another new roomie. We actually already have a few prospects because, as Emily can attest to, the place is GORGEOUS in a fabulous neighborhood for what's considered pretty cheap by LA standards. And, seriously, I almost want to send Sonia a thank-you card for bailing on me, because this place is perfect, and I never would've found it if she was still around! Although, as I told State Farm, with all the good things about this house, once I find some flaw it'll be so heartbreakingly devastating, I don't think I'll be able to handle it. :-P

And of course I have to leave you guys a few more pictures...

This was when we saw the redwoods up in San Francisco.

Me and my mom with Mickey in Disneyland!!! :-D



And, because I really am about 7 1/2 years old, this is a video of the male panda (Gao Gao) at the San Diego Zoo...Eating bamboo...SO CUTE!

Edit: Ha, found my first major flaw with the place--Apparently, Alissa and her friends are 4-20 friendly. Ask me for the story another time. If she ever asks, I'll tell her flat out I'm not comfortable with it and would prefer that they don't do it here, but for now I'll just choose not to be home when Mary Jane is...

~Jenni~