The Story of Doug and Ana

It's our 5 year anniversary, y'all!
That felt so unnatural...

December 16th, 2006, a pretty awesome day in history.

Doug and I met whilst I was singing as a 2nd Soprano in Twilighters (way before Twi-hards everywhere started calling themselves the same). He was the sound guy, it was his job to make me sound awesome and the rest of the group too (also to turn off the mics of those who oversang the crap out of everything).


That was awkward me, in the 2nd Soprano T-Shirt and some of my awesome singing buddies (I love you guys).

 Doug wanted to ask me out, but he didn't have my digits, so he asked my good friend Jana if he could get my number, and then Jana called me immediately to let me in on what was going on. What a good friend.

I was sort of flirting (me, a flirt, no way) with this other guy at the time that Doug asked me out, but to be fair as soon as Doug asked me to be his girlfriend I stopped writing notes, and made sure the other dude didn't walk me to class anymore.

We went to a local Japanese restuarunt, that is undoubtably not there anymore, called Kame. They gave us chopsticks instead of American flatware! Sadly, I asked for a fork.....

I'm skilled with chopsticks now, just 16 year old Ana was not that coordinated.

It was a double date, so we all went back to Doug's place, to his makeshift bedroom in his parents garage that was lovingly referred to as "The Box", because it was literally, a box (a livable box though, not like a cardboard box or anything), oh and it was painted pink (Blushing Bride to be exact).


Doug and I @ Winter Formal



We were all talking about watching a movie, so we decided to watched American History X. Which coincidentally is not a good first date movie. After the curb stomping scene I told Douglas I needed to get home becuase of some fake curfew that my Dad never gave me, and Doug drove me home. But really, I just didn't want to cry my eyes out on our first date. It's a good movie though.

And with that small goodnight kiss was born our undying love for each other. Not really, we broke up (for like 5 days) right before prom, but we rekindled our love and have been together ever since (and yes we ended up going to prom together as a couple).

Happy Anniversary Doogle!

Side note: Happy 2nd Birthday Buddy, you are so adorable! Look at that face....now stop stinking like vomit, and we will have it made. Or maybe I should say, stop eating rocks, dirt and twigs!




Young Buddy

 
I love December, its full with my Anniversary Christmas parties, potlucks, Secret Santa's and best of all Christmas! Happy December everyone! And thank you Jana for giving Doug my phone number.

XOXO, Ana

2 of the Best and 2 of the Worst Jobs

I'm starting to find my groove here at work, finally. The first few months were sort of rough for me. I didn't understand what I was doing, but I knew I was doing it wrong. That's the worst of both worlds (I don't know if that phrase is supposed to be inverted like that, but it was certainly the opposite of  "the best of both worlds").

I'm the kind of person who wants clear direction, especially when it comes to complex evaluations for sustaining lives of children and families that need support. But you know, to each their own.

I have been fortunate to have honestly liked 90% of my past jobs. They were fun, or at least interesting, or if they weren't either, at least it was something to do. My favorite job of all time, and will always be my #1 is working at Hovland Computer Labs as a student worker at Oregon State University (Go Beavers!). My boss understood that first I was a student, and then I was his employee. He wanted to nourish my learning, not hinder it. I tried my hardest to model my managerial style after his, but different institutions value their employees in different ways.

Weatherford Hall = prettiest dorm ever!

Also, I made some kick ass friends for that 3 year stint at Hovland. Lifelong friends (Kim knows what I'm talking about), which are very hard to find.

 My 2nd favorite job was working at Florida State University, the people, my employees, they taught me so much, mostly how to strongly word your emails to make them almost crap their pants. I love those kids (kids = college students that were about 4 years younger than me). I miss them everyday.

University Center A: Where Admissions (among other, lesser things) is.

My least favorite job was my first "real" job (I did telemarketing for an insurance company under the table when I was 14). I was working at Deli Yogurt Express in my small hometown of McMinnville. I didn't need a food permit, but I had to make sanwhiches and wraps, and serve fro-yo. The no-food-permit thing should have been my first clue that this wasn't a legit place to work, but I didn't really care. My second clue would have been that there were gnats in the lettuce. My third clue was that this food establishment was sharing a building with a sketchy video rental/consignment boutique. MAN, those are a TON of clues, I was such a dense kid!

My shift manager had food issues, and would cry almost every shift and have to call her mother. It was scary, and her underwear would always be whale tailing out of her shorts, yikes!

The last straw was one day my car (the big blue beast plymouth acclaim) didn't start so I couldn't come in to work my shift, and I called my boss and he screamed at me, and made me feel horrible. I hung up the phone and cried, then my Dad came home from work, and I told him what happened and he called up my boss and told him I would be coming by to collect my last check. My Dad is amazing, he rescued me!

My other least liked job would be, the nursing home internship. I felt like I walked into a prison. The inmates, I mean, old people, would try and hide food at lunch and dinner, some would just put the food in their mouth and pocket the food in their cheeks like rodents. The nurses would have to come by and finger out the food in their mouth. UGH! Gross. Also, I saw an inordinate amount of poop from this experience.

 And just so you know, I think poop jokes are hilarious. I'm pretty sure I have the sense of humor of a 15 year old boy. But when I'm forced to observe poop(ing), it is no longer is a laughing matter.

On that note, you guys should all be grateful that your jobs do not suck, like really badly. Everyone's job sucks a little, but at least you don't have to feed people gnat infested lettuce, or deal with bodily fluids.

What are your favorite/least favorite jobs?