Rachel K. Doing History

We've begun our social studies methods strand in my Master in Teaching Program at last! Our instructor is the head of the MIT program, and she is the inventor of Storypath, which is an amazing social studies curriculum. 

Right now we are "Doing History" in class. We've created personal timelines and yesterday we wrote about specific events in our lives in class. Then, for homework, we each had to talk to someone about our historical event (a primary source). I talked about the nine months of my life that I refer to fondly as "Lifeapocalypse," during which I had absolutely no idea how to become a teacher. I had just quit my job at Starbucks, and I was trying to figure out what direction to tumble in next.

Today we had to write a historical account of our event that comes from multiple perspectives, or primary sources. Here is my combined history as remembered by myself and Kevin:

Lifeapocalypse: A Brief History 
     Lifeapocalypse describes the months of March 2010 until around June of the same year, during which a 25-year old called Rachel K. Sreebny quit her job at Starbucks and began her journey in pedagogy. The events that led up to Sreebny's resignation from the coffee conglomerate are not clear, though it is documented that Starbucks introduced a line of lunch sandwiches during the same time. Reports also show that the weather in Seattle during this time was cold, and an unseasonable bummer.
     Upon leaving Starbucks, Sreebny was reported to have spent two straight days on her couch watching Jeopardy on her DVR; the Direct TV account was canceled a month later, though it is speculated that this was due to financial constraints more so than a proclivity for sloth. In fact, Sreebny was said to have been rather "industrious" by those who knew her well.
     In a personal account by Kevin Costello, Sreebny's boyfriend at the time, she was said to have spent only a short time on the couch during Lifeapocalypse. Not long after she had formally severed ties with her barista position did she begin, "plotting, scheming and color-coding..." in an alleged wall-sized calendar constructed by hand, and affixed to the dining room wall.
     Costello recalls fondly that Sreebny studied a lot of math, which he helped her with in his spare time outside of being a Microsoft employee. "(She) seemed like she felt she wasn't doing enough, but she was already on track for graduate school like a week after talking about it." Costello also remembers that Sreebny spoke often of graduate school notions, sometimes while donning a makeshift cape made out of a Snuggie.
     According to Sreebny's blog entry, dated March 8 2010 and entitled, "Rachel K. Restart," Sreebny claims, "I need to start focusing on what I need to do to find the path I know I want to take in life." This informal goal statement marked the beginning of Lifeapocalypse, which would unofficially come to an end the following March in 2011 when Sreebny began her Master in Teaching Program at Seattle University. As Costello summarized in his personal account of the event, "[She] went from job to no job, but it was the good kind of job to no job." 

Rachel K. Pass!

Wahoo! I passed the WEST-E with flying colors! I am done with standardized testing forever! Or at least for my current goal purposes...

Other than that, I am an official student at Seattle Central Community College, which will make taking classes there actually possible and thus a lot easier to do. Hooray!

I was able to sign up for the math class for elementary school teachers, but it cuts into my Kumon schedule, so I'll be working even less now. Yeugh. Oh well, at least I'll be knocking three prerequisite classes out of the way. Three more to go in the next few quarters, so hopefully I'll be able to find some kind of income by then and pay for it all. Damn you, financial pitfalls.

School things aside, this weekend I helped Kevin move two flights up, where he now has a view of Elliot Bay and a roommate who knows how to do dishes and vaccuum. This couldn't be a better situation. The kitties are confused, but they are having a good time bouncing around a new apartment.

Rachel K. Desperate

Seattle weather has taken a turn for the autumnal, which is a comfort and a reminder that I have been here longer than a year now. The leaves are starting to turn gold and red on a few kinds of trees and the air has turned crisper. It's the kind of weather that is conducive to reading, eating pie, and wearing over-sized sweaters. One of the blessings of having no real source of employment is that I have the time to enjoy these fall days at home and around downtown Seattle. The downside to having no real source of employment is that I have no real source of income, which is a constant reminder that I am fucked need graduate school to work out.

School-wise, I've been making slow progress. I've finally turned my applications in to the University of Washington and Seattle University. At this point I would gladly go to any school that would accept me, but I am currently hoping against hopes for UW to open up their lovin' arms and allow me the distinct pleasure of learning. I have also signed up as a second-class citizen non-matriculated student for two classes at UW. I'm on standby for Intro to Geology and Intro to Globalization. These classes, in theory, will fulfil my world geography and lab science course requirements as pre-requisites to either UW or SU graduate programs. In other words I've spent $3,000 in the hopes of taking classes to fulfil the needs of universities, in hopes that these universities will accept me.  I remain hopeful, since it's all I can really do.

On the community college front, I have applied for studentship at Seattle Central Community College, located on Capital Hill and right across the street from a Panera Bread that will OPEN SOON (according to its banner.) I took a math placement exam, but didn't place well enough to take the elementary school teacher math course that I need for one of my pre-requisites... SO I have spent the last weekend studying my polynomials and I plan to retake the placement test this week. This time I'll be ready! This is very much due to the kindly tutoring of Kevin, who has an exponential amount of patience with me and my inability to absorb mathematical concepts. <3

In the end of my application process, I took the WEST-E, which is the teacher's exam in Washington State for elementary endorsements. I have no idea if I passed, which is really scary. If I don't pass it, it could mean I don't get a graduate program this year, which would be an enormous set-back. I really hope I passed, and that's all I can do. On the bright side, it's the last exam I need to take, which is a tremendous relief. Or... a relief if I passed, anyway.

I am still tutoring part-time at the Kumon Center, which is my only source of income right now. My boss, Marty, has created a new position for me that she hopes will work out for me as well as for her. I'm somewhat of a glorified secretary starting in October. I'll be doing less tutoring, which is a bummer, but I'll have more responsibilities as a new title as, "classroom manager," which looks fancier than "tutor." I am thankful for the Kumon Center and all of the cash and sanity it has provided me with over the past year. Plus, my students are awesome and they're all getting SO TALL.

I am currently looking for part-time employment to supplement my meager income from Kumon and to give me more of a purpose in life. A year in Seattle and here I am applying to retail stores, the apple store, and coffee vendors that aren't Starbucks (I don't think they'll hire me back.) The apple store and multiple retail venues have thus far rejected me, but I am holding out for some kind of waitressing or barista position where I won't be expected to stay for the long haul. I just need something for the rest of the year or until I can finagle my way into a teacher certification program.

I feel more and more desperate all the time, I won't lie. All of my money from summer camp is going into classes and I feel like I am not making any progress with finding something to bring the money in. I hate that I have to focus on and worry about money and part-time jobs when I should really be focusing on salvaging a career out of this past year, which has been a glorious mess. Everything's always backwards. I'm stressed out and I hate that I'm 25 and I can't justify buying a hoodie for fall or yarn to make Christmas presents for my family. I've been filling a lot of the time with studying and baking bread. Somehow baking bread makes my day feel infinitely more successful, and I don't suppose I'll ever know why.

In a nutshell, my social and love lives are top notch, my professional life is non-existent, and I'm worried and anxious almost all of the time. I hope that my next blog post will be a lot more hopeful and that it will report a lot of GOOD THINGS. I will be hearing back from the Universities I applied to starting in October in any case.

I just want to teach.

Rachel K. Goal-setting

To make this entry less ridiculous, I've decided to paste an e-mail I wrote to my family about the progress I've been making in the past few weeks with regards to teaching and whatnot.

Herro family,

SO there have been some developments in the misadventures of your daughter/granddaughter/niece/nephew/surrogate/shoe elf.

Firstly, I have been trying to get my grad school/life plan/job applications all organized and together. Right now they exist in a huge time line on the dining room wall. I think it compliments the room, personally.

So here are the goals... this is easier to send in an email than to explain anyway.

Jobs etc:

I have a phone interview with UCDS on April 28th. It's a private elementary school that Mo used to attend and they hire resident teachers, who are basically assistant teachers, every year. I hope to be one of them! The job would offer me about $30k as a salary with some compensation for health benefits. It would start right after summer camp and go up until next summer, so it would be the full on elementary classroom experience. I hope they hire me because I would like to have a full time job again someday.

 Volunteer Work:

As of tomorrow, I am starting at BFD Elementary School as a volunteer for two fifth grade classrooms helping out with math work. I'll be there from 9am until 12:30pm every week day from now until the end of school in early June. They seem really great there and I know I will learn a lot about how to become a teacher if I get to work with REAL ones and with other volunteers and student teachers. It's a public school, so it's good to see the differences between those and the private school that I applied to work for next year. I love the diversity at this school so far -- it's 60% minority, making it 160% less Japanese than my last school (or some non-apocryphal %). I'll let you know how that goes when I start tomorrow!

Grad School:

So far I haven't really applied to any graduate schools. Although, I did go to a q&a a session about the masters in teaching program that they have at UW. The program is two years long: the first year is courses and classroom experience and the second year is student teaching with minimal campus time to check in with mentors and supervisors. I would come out of this program with a residency certification (allowing me to teach in WA state) and I would attain my masters after the second year of student teaching. So, that would be ideal.
The only challenge to that program (the MIT) is that I need the following to be eligible:

• 60 hours or more of classroom observation time (which is why I am doing the volunteer work). 
• 6 prerequisite courses (which I would have to complete as a non-matriculated student, online or at night at community colleges before August 2011) 
• The regular letters of recommendation, goal statement, resume, etc. for the application itself. They're allowing me to transfer my application from this year to next year for no extra cost (Huzzah!) 
• taking and passing two state certification exams; the West-E and the West-B, which are for elementary school certification.
• No GRE. God is laughing at me.

So the challenges for this program are mostly going to come down to me figuring out how to complete that many prerequisite courses within the next year! It sounds expensive and if I get the UCDS job, I'm not sure I would be up to the challenge since I would already have a full time job teaching. Though, it's something to think about and although the application for this job is due Sept 17, 2010, they allow you the rest of the year to find out if you got into the MIT program and to complete your prereq. studies between then and 2011, which is somewhat helpful.


As for other grad schools, I have a few in mind that I am going to apply for during the summertime. They have some teacher certification courses (no masters) and masters programs as well. If don't get the job with UCDS, I will look into ways to get some kind of certification while taking courses for the MIT program at UW. The downside is that I would likely have to get a part time job somewhere else to keep up with rent and study costs and food... things like that.

The Rest

Aside from all this craziness, I am trying to study for the GRE, which I will have on May 26th -- ready or not. I don't feel overly confident, but I also just want to get it over with so I can study for other things. I also need to eventually study for the WEST-E and WEST-B exams, although those will be a lot easier and less ridiculous.


Kevin and I have decided to visit Laura and Tristyn in LA at the end of the month to quasi celebrate our half-anniversary. Also, it's a good excuse to get out of Seattle for a while! Then I'll be traveling to San Francisco at the very beginning of June to visit Natanya and Amy, who live there, and to go to my iD Tech camp training seminar at UC Berkeley. I'm looking forward to that since I've never really gotten to explore San Francisco! And let us not forget, I will be spending a brief few days in Boston for Laura's graduation from Emerson. Bring on the Dunkin' Donuts and the funny accents!


I have a lot of work to do when it comes to the camp this summer. I haven't even opened my handbook, and I know I have a lot to read as far as being the asst. director goes. It's hard to make that a priority when there is so much else going on, but it's always in the back of my mind. That and refreshing myself on all the programs I might have to teach if the camp doesn't always have 60+ kids and I have to relegate myself to being an actual instructor again (oh no!) Oh well, the thought of a decent salary and free breakfast, lunch and dinner compensate my worries for now.


Kumon tutoring continues and remains totally awesome.

This completes my life outline to date.

Questions or comments are welcomed and can be directed to diplobrat@gmail.com to our Life Coordinator, Rachel Sreebny.

Best Wishes,

Rachel's Brain & Friends

Rachel K Meals on Wheels

I woke up at a decent hour this morning and proceeded to shower and then [gasp] study for the GRE!

Not only that, but I managed to REGISTER for the GRE, which was an easy process, but will be a grueling commute. Why can't they have a test center that is bus accessible? The closest bus stop to the center is still about a mile away so I'll have to walk after taking two buses, or rent a car from Zipcar. I'll figure it out; I'm sure it'll be the least of my worries that day, anyhow.

General financial panic is setting in as my Japan money still hasn't arrived and I'm not sure if the checking account correction I made and sent back to Tokyo ever made it. I trust in Japanese bureaucracy almost entirely, but when it comes to the postal service, I'm never sure. I just need those thousands of dollars so I can do things like buy real bed-side tables, get a coffee table, and go to the dentist. I still have enough in my savings account to last me more than the next few months of unemployment, but I want my Japanese pension refund already! I want it! Gimme!

Now begins the ides of March! Today after studying for a solid three hours (aided with TV in the background, coffee, tea, lunch, a snuggie-cape that I made complete with belt, and colour coded notes), I'm off to Kumon for tutoring! Then I will scurry off to meet Kevin at Chipotle for our weekly tradition; burrito Monday. It makes Mondays bearable and delicious.

The weekend was relaxing and exhausting. Kevin and I visited my old Starbucks to pick up my last batch of tips and to say hi to the weekend girls (Hilary, Ashley, Ally etc) who I miss now that I don't work there. Kevin said it was cute to see me with all the tittering girliness of the store -- and I was happy to have him see that I had friends outside of Megan and Sarah. Friends who I miss! We spoke to Hilary about joining us for rock climbing on Sunday and went off to the Mobile Food Festival near Safeco Field.

The food festival should have been cooler, probably. There were too many people, the lines were too long and there wasn't enough seating or shelter. The temperatures ranged between a chilly, sunny day and a blustery cold one. Kevin and I trouped through three lines total; pizza, hamburgers and finally hot dogs (after meeting up with Sarah and Ian from Fremont). The food was good, but in the end it was just too cold and crowded.

Kevin and I later played board games at his friend Greg's house and then we went home early for rock climbing with Hilary on Sunday! We sprinted for the bus to Ballard, which we then had to wait for, and met Hilary at Stone Gardens around noon.

We climbed and climbed! Kevin had gone climbing the previous day, but went again with me because he is a trouper and loves climbing fake rocks. Hilary turned out to be a BEAST. She did most of the bouldering routines with ease and grace and went to work out in the gym after Kevin and I were ready for naps and death. I wore myself out, but I feel like I'm making a little progress considering the dearth of times I have tried it. I'm able to do routines more quickly, although I still can't finish a lot of them. I need more upper arm strength and then I will be able to do things more easily, I think. In any case it's nice to have an 'athletic activity' that I do once in awhile. How unlike me!

After grabbing food at Zak's burger place on NW Market Street, we grabbed a bus downtown and tried to catch another bus to a game store in upper Queen Anne so Kevin could find this game called 'agricola' that he wanted. I was looking for 'Mexican Train' anyway, so I decided to join him. We sprinted for another bus, catching it narrowly and with awesomeness, and went to the game store. The store was really decked out in all sorts of games, but they did not have the ones we were looking for. A bit disappointed, we returned to my condo to nap until hunger struck again.

Kevin had the idea to take us out for pasta at The Old Spaghetti Factory, where we got to sit in the fake trolley table area and dine on delicious spaghetti and something called a 'strawberry citrus fizz', which was mostly high fructose corn syrup in pretty colors.

I came home on Sunday night to hang out with Megan and we watched the newest episode of America's Next Top Model. I'm not sure if that show is getting stupider or I'm just getting older, but it's probably some combination. O Tyra, why are you so crazy?

Rachel K. Acclamating

I feel like I'm already going crazy from all this free time. What am I doing?! Why did I quit my job? I mean, I know I quit my job because it was super lame and stressful, but ... BLAGAGGHH!

I'm not doing all the things I told myself I would be doing! I keep freaking out about all the to-do-for-LIFE lists I've made for myself and running off to do random things like read blogs or watch old episodes of House. Shouldn't I be studying 9 hours a day? Or writing cover letters for assistant teaching positions?

I had a good Kumon day tutoring the children, but I am not bold enough to go up to the substitute teachers who work there and ask them, "HOW DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO AND HOW CAN I ALSO DO THIS?!" I am the meekest.

I admire Amy D., who I met on JET a few years back. I'll be visiting her in June when I go to Berkley to do my iD Tech Camps training and I'll have to pick her brain. Not only can this girl play the banjo, but she went through a masters program that she hated and now she has a job that she's really doing wonders with ESL kids. I wish I could have some of her awesomeness, but for now I'm just glad to be buddies with her so I can ask her a million billion questions about ... things.

I sat down with dinner tonight in my rocking chair and felt lonely all of a sudden. Megan is out with friends tonight doing JET alumni things and Kevin is out with his friends doing happy hour, which I opted out of because it feels irresponsible to spend money on beer when I should be saving my money for grad school and impending unemployment etc. All  of this non-Rachel fraternization leaves me high and dry in the social department. I guess after all those hours alone in my apartment, the last place I want to be in the evening is alone in my apartment. Although I should probably get used to being by myself since that's what happens when you don't have a job! Baby steps. 

For now I'm going to run away from my crippling fear of inadequacy by actually going for a jog on ye olde treadmill in the downstairs exercise area.

Rachel K. Things that start with the letter M

I woke up at a reasonable hour and decided on how to organize and clean Kevin's room in my head.

Went home to work out a little bit, do dishes and shower. Then I took on THE MIGHTY TAXES. Ian in Kyoto helped me out a lot with this one. I am able to file for something that essentially says, "UNCLE SAM DON'T TOUCH MY JAPAN MONEY! I HAVE A FORM! MWAHHAAH" and then I can put said money into a Swiss bank account and let it fester into riches. Or spend it on a coffee table. The important thing is that I did something productive with my time.

In the afternoon, I joined Sarah for a viewing of Alice in Wonderland, which I'd give a 7 out of 10, although I didn't like the amount of bad CG. We also ate delicious sushi! Afterwards we explored the Pike Place Market some more and I bought sausages for dinner.

After another trip to the non-market grocery store, I went home to cook a large dinner of fettuccine Alfredo with sausage, corn and broccoli for dinner. Megan and Kevin showed up to eat it and we finished the meal off by drinking red wine and watching Zombieland, which I would give a 9 out of 10.

I'm still going to bed at a reasonable time and waking up at reasonable hours. So far, anyway. Tomorrow I have work at Kumon!

Rachel K. Restart

When I came to Seattle at the tail end of July, I had no idea what I really wanted out of my life. I knew that I'd like to explore the education career track, though in the past six months the only progress I've really made on that path is that I have expanded my "what NOT to do to become an educator" list.

After two years of teaching elementary and middle school students in Japan,  a summer of instructing at a computer camp and now tutoring kids in math and reading twice a week, I know that a teacher is what I want to become. So, after years of trying to figure out exactly what I really wanted to do with my life, I've reached the answer! This is exciting, there's no doubt about it. Though, now that I know what I want to do with my life, I'm having trouble finding a way to get there.

I'm jumping into education without any formal training. It's been difficult watching some of my friends from Japan find themselves in assistant teaching positions already, most notably because I didn't realize any of them actually wanted to become educators themselves. It seems that becoming a substitute in evergreen state is as challenging as becoming any kind of certified educator; it's going to require a lot of work and a lot of training. So I find myself back at square one -- "What do I do now?"

Applying to graduate programs was the next logical step! I put in an application to the University of Washington's Teaching & Curriculum program, which is one of the types of Masters in Education -- something I feel like I would like to achieve. The problem is that applying to grad school, along the process of becoming a certified teacher, is something I know nothing about. My background at a hippy burnout film program that was anti Hollywood and anti internships has prepared me for almost no part of the real world that I now seek to join. Though I rushed to put together my application, letters of recommendation and two written personal essays, I failed to complete the GRE in time to submit my scores to the school. I thought I was able to do it in March or April, but it turns out my GRE scores should have been submitted back in January with the rest of my application, again something I knew nothing about until I had made these mistakes.

With all the mistakes I am making, however sophomoric they may seem, I'm learning about the process of getting into graduate programs (or, in this case, NOT getting into graduate programs).

I have come to a new decision that may take this blog and my life in an interesting and possibly disastrous new direction! I have quit my primary job at Starbucks after six months of exhaustion, dissatisfaction, and low income. It's simply not worth the time and effort, and I need to start focusing on what I need to do to find the path I know I want to take in life.

I'm taking the next three months off from having a normal person job and I'm going to learn about grad school programs within Seattle, I'm going to try and pinpoint exactly what field of study I want to explore and I am going to study for and ace the GRE. This is a goal statement of sorts.

I also really want to start exercising more and become strong enough to keep up with my sports-enthusiast boyfriend, Kevin, who I admire and adore.

In a nutshell, I'm taking the next three months off in order to better my mind and body and to focus my life more.

I'll try to update on my progress or lackthereof in the coming weeks and months. Wish me luck!

Rachel K. Rachelmas

As is characteristic of my blogging habits, whenever I have a real life outside of video games, blogging, and reading blogs about video games, I stop writing.

So since my last few entries a few things have happened:

• Landed myself a boyfriend
• Thanksgiving
• Festivus
• Channukah and Failed Failed™ Latkes
• Hosted Rachelmas 2K9
• Had six guests stay at the ol' abode. 
• Resigned myself to working at Starbucks for the rest of my nubile existence.
• Wrote 45 Christmas cards
• Knitted an awesome scarf of awesomeness. 

So yeah, I'm the kid who starts dating someone and gives up on writing about the inane details of their lives. Deal with it 'cause I'm not apologizing for that. He's pretty rad, he works from Microsoft so he's a PC user and I'm a Mac user and together we are the most boring Shakespearean tragedy ever not written. He's tall and we both enjoy octopuses and eating, but not octopus-eating. And that's that.

Around Thanksgiving, Natanya (my friend from Japan) came up from San Francisco for a visit in Seattle. We didn't do too much together (on account of work), but she spent a few nights and I got to meet her friends from college. It was really awesome hanging out with someone from Japan and feeling so nonchalant about the whole thing. Also she managed to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy while staying at my apartment, which is damned impressive.

Other than that, I spent Thanksgiving with the Family Sreebny up in Matthew's Beach. There, we dined on too much food, accidentally sugarless pumpkin pie, a headless turkey cake, and all the Irish Coffees we could remember. The feasting was mighty and lengthy, the children played a youthful game of RISK (ohhh why do the wee ones always try to take over Europe!?) and I eventually tryptophan'd myself out of conversation and looked at a big book of architectural sites until it was time to drive home the old people.

Natanya left shortly after Thanksgiving and her visit was directly followed by a visit by my sister, Laura and my parents. The parents stayed in the fancy schmancy "guest suite" in the apartment complex and Laura stayed with me. I had been feeling a cold coming on for a few days, but it managed not to hit me entirely until Friday night. Zaydeh, the patron Sreebny, threw a swanky soiree for the family Sreebny and we ate fancy cheese on his couch while looking out the window at the glorious space needle. Laura and I then dashed off to our other party that night (at my place) for board game excitement! It was the first time Kevin was meeting a lot of my friends as well as Laura, so it was a really fun night despite the fact that I was basically sick.

The next day we went out to Bainbridge Island to be tourists. We drove around the water front and had a nice lunch at a local pub. It couldn't have been nicer outside, weather wise. I was sick as a very sick dog and downing sudafed and tea by the metric ton. Still, the day was totally enjoyable and as I napped in the car on the way back from the ferry, I fever dreamed happy thoughts.

When all the guests were gone, it was time for more parties and holidays. Between the two, Laura and Megan and Megan's friend Kelly and I managed to see the most spectacular version of the Nutcracker EVER. The backgrounds had been designed by Maurice Sendak and they were as animated as the dancers. Being the sickest had no effect on how glad I was to have seen the ballet.

Thanksgiving was followed by my 25th birthday, which was more memorable than I had anticipated it to be. I originally would have spent it eating a burrito (thanking God every day for the Chipotle that has opened on 3rd and Pike) and watching reruns of Jeopardy from the DVR. Thanks to my wise roommate, Megan [pictured right], dinner plans were soon made. We had tried to make reservations at a classy Japanese place called Chiso in Fremont. However, they were changing management and wouldn't be open on that Saturday. Instead, I made a reservation at Anthony's, a really fun seafood restaurant nearby the condo. We figured that would be good food for everyone since it has seafood, steak, pasta and just about everything else. Plus, free rolls.

Megan, Sarah [pictured left] and I got dolled up and walked over to the restaurant with Ian (Sarah's roommate) and Kevin (the kid who is dating me of his own accord, HA). The hostess took us upstairs, which was new and exciting because I had only ever been on the first floor dining area. Unfortunately, the upstairs was three times as pricey and had half the menu. Why does less choice make something classy?

With the realization that our $14 dinners were now going to be $60 (everyone knows that 14 x 3 = 60, shut up), we ordered drinks. Sadly, my brand new Washington state license was at home in my other jacket. Instead of getting a cherry coke and calling it a night, Kevin and I walked back to the condo, grabbed my ID, and returned triumphantly to our alcoholic beverages. I wasn't going to spend the evening of my 25th year sober, no sir.

The dinner was delicious and totally pleasant and we managed to pay for the bill (by which I mean that the girls in the group were completely unable to chip in and the boys paid for everything instead. I'm glad to be supporting 1940's gender stereotypes with my poverty and addiction to absinthe and cigarettes in no particular order.)

Thinking back on it, I can't think of a more memorable way to turn 25 than being carded and not having an ID, and failing to pay for my own dinner. I've come along way since the birth canal. Maybe by the time I'm 26 I'll have mastered the art of picking up after myself or flossing.

Festivus was the very next week! It was a party hosted by Kevin and his enigmatic roommate, Waseem (Canadian, works for Amazon, extraordinarily tall). It's based on the Festivus episode of Seinfeld and has traditions such as an unadorned aluminum pole (purchased at Home Depot), the airing of grievances and feats of strength. It was really fun getting to hang out with the few of Kevin's friends that I've already met and a lot of new ones. His pals are really friendly, fun types and I felt right at home with their excitement for video games, drinking at home, and celebration of things that come from TV. The airing of grievances was interesting to listen to... it started out as things like, "I hate my job" or "not getting laid" and eventually broke down into incoherent screams or multiple guys yelling out, "F*** Tom Brady!" and who can blame them? We can't all be professional athletes who marry Giselle. It's just not plausible for that to happen to more than one person. Meanwhile, the female of the friends, Madeleine and I just talked about clothing from Victoria's Secret because we have the same sweater from their catalogue. It's almost the same thing because Giselle worked for Victoria's Secret. Everything is connected. The feats of strength deviated from the hosts 'rassling' one another and turned into a very organized Street Fighter contest. I died and soon after lost interest, but the final battle was between Waseem and Kevin, which was fairly epic.

December as a month generally boiled down to the epic holiday preparations for Rachelmas 2K9, which involved Xmas cards, facebook invitations, 600 coloured lights, and a lot of baking. Not all of this happened at the same time, but every part of it was epic, as always.

A lot of people were able to show up to Rachelmas this year, though none of my coworkers from Starbücks (sad!) We had a lot of people visiting from out of town, including Natanya (again!), R2 and Ian. Ian's visit was plotted more than planned. We decided to surprise Megan with Ian's arrival by telling her that Ian couldn't come for Rachelmas. Despite some weak alibis and the fact that both Natanya and I accidentally spilled the beans about 4 times, the surprise appearance was a success. I took Ian and Natanya out to Chipotle (Thank you, Jesus) and we called for Megan to join us from work. We had Ian sit at a separate table and when Megan sat down, Ian came over and bumped into her. He apologized and walked off and Megan had the most ridiculous double take before turning purple and jumping up to hug the crap out of him. "I'm so happy you're heeeere". It was momentously joyous. Other than that I discovered that though I had bought Natanya some earrings for X-mas, she hadn't had any pierced ears. The clear next step was to go out and force her to put some holes in those lobes. And we did.

Surprise visits over and done with, R2 showed up a few hours later and so began Rachelmas 2K9. Sarah and Ian brought about 100 chocolate chip cookies, R2 baked some macaroons, Natanya baked me a magnificent cake, Megan made buffalo chicken dip, and Cheryl brought lasagna! It was an impressive feast to be sure. Natanya and I started off the party at the Marriott next door to the apartment and did some tequila shots before returning to the party and welcoming the guests with red cheeks and dizzying smiles. Huzzah!

We played celebrities and loaded questions and of course "Never have I ever" while dining on cakes, cookies, dips, pastas, and delicious drinks. Kevin's flight was delayed so he was even able to stay longer, which was great for me (drunk and obnoxious) and less wonderful for he (itching to leave, frustratingly sober). The evening came to a close with a "She Wolf" dance contest and watching inappropriate muppet-related videos on Youtube. My friends rolled me into bed and removed my socks, and another Rachelmas had come and gone.

And so I wrap up my epic blog entry and go to watch It's a Wonderful Life with the Family Sreebny.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good snowstorm.