good times

hello all, i dont have time to write much, but i just wanted to pass along a few pieces of great news. First off, I am officially the new Case Manager for Rockwall with CITY House, a youth shelter in Plano. I am really excited about starting this new job. It is only 20 hours a week, but i think it will be great experience and just enough money to pay the bills. Yeah for that!!! Thanks May-Ling for being a super reference. You rock.

Secondly, I figured out when my graduation date is. i will graduate with my Master's in Social Work on May 15 at 11:00 in the am. You are all invited. :) anyway, i am off to enjoy the rest of my weekend. Peace out.

the busy life

well, life is still as busy as ever. classes are off to a great start. The job hunt has been quite frustrating. on a good note, i have an interview with CITY House, a youth shelter in Plano, on Monday. I am very excited. they have two part time case management positions open and they seem pretty interested in me. I will keep you all posted on how that goes. this weekend has been kind of nice. I actually had some down time to get some work done. I also went to check out Pieces of East. They were playing last night at Muddy Waters in Dallas. It was a great show and it was wonderful to see laura and anuj. Always good conversation and great company. This morning has been very productive. I finished up my LMSW application. That is the application you have to fill out in order to take the test to get your license after you graduate with a Master's in social work. anyway, mayling is in town this weekend, so hopefully we can catch each other tonight so we can celebrate mayling's birthday, which is next week. i think will and i are also going to check out Monster today. I hear it is a very hard movie to watch, but that it is also very good. Well, i am off to get ready for a wonderful day of fun.

i could blame michael, but that would be wrong :)

i know that it has been forever since my last post and for that i do apologize. i take full responsiblity for my delinquent blogging. :) i am finally feeling all settled back here in the states and am about to start the last semester grind. my classes start tommorrow and my internship has been going on for a few weeks now and i am currently still looking for a job. The Londoner and Cape Buffalo are both good prospects for waiting tables. I will keep you posted. So, michael and i got back yesterday from a fabulously relaxing and enjoyable weekend. We hit austin up for some mexican martinis and some haning with my old roomie, may-ling, and her beau, leith. good times were definitley had. We also ate at pyramids, a new mediteranean restaurant in austin. it was certainly no Fadi's, but it was quite delicious. then, michael and i headed off to fredericksburg. We had a wonderful time. we stayed in a little cabin that was all ours for the weekend and we hiked up enchanted rock. my knee was quite a pain in the ass and started hurting halfway up the rock. it hurt so much we actually had to slide down some of the rock on our bottoms. it was actually quite fun. michael really enjoys telling that story. anyway, we really enjoyed the town of fredericksburg. i dont think we could have stayed there longer than a few days, not really our kind of crowd, but the time we spent there was wonderful. It was a great way to relax and get ready for the semester ahead. for those of you that worried about me and the men i chose to date, worry no more. michael was a total gentleman and overall outstanding man throughout the whole trip. i am a lucky woman if i do say so myself. :)

well, all is fine at my internship. i am definitley feeling a lot more confident in my couseling skills this semester. i feel like i am really making some progress with some of my clients. it is a nice feeling. i hope to start waiting tables soon to have some money coming in again. that would be quite nice. I think it is going to be fun. i have never waited tables before, but i am looking forward to giving it a shot. Wish me luck. :) well, i am off.

I'm back

ok, so since i got back from Lebanon, I have been a delinquent blogger, but things seem to be in order again and i am ready to continue my life here in the states. so, i have been back in the states for about a week now and i am finally feeling like i am ready to get back to the routine. my laundry is all done, cleaned up the apartment a bit, saw some people i hadnt seen in a while, payed some bills, finished registering for classes, and spent much quality time with Michael. :) it is good to be home, but i really miss my family in Lebanon. I took a lot of pics while we were there and everytime i look at them, it reminds me of all the good times we had. Anyway, i guess this is life. you cant be with everyone you care for at one time.

anyway, a little bit about our flight to the states. so, we took middle east airlines from beirut to paris. we left lebanon at 2 in the am and arrived in paris at 8 in the am. We were supposed to get on a 10:30 am American Airlines flight from paris to dallas. Well, when we arrived at the gate in paris, they had to search us, which we expected since we were coming from lebanon. well, they took us into this freezing cold hallway and opened every single one of our carry on items. They took everything out piece by piece. they even opened each of my sis's markers and pens. we were each frisked. Anyway, that took about an hour and half and all the time we were standing in this freezing hallway. anyway, i was pretty upset by this point. i guess i understand that they have to search us, but i wish the searching was more random and not just people who come from the middle east. anyway, it was quite humiliating, i felt like a criminal, just becuase i was coming home from the place i am from. Anyway, had we gotten on our 10:30 flight, i would have been fine, but it seems that american airlines had misplaced one of our bags and their policy is that you can fly unless all your bags are on the flight with you. So, they told us that middle east airlines had not send two of our bags and we could not get on the flight until our bags arrived. So, we went back to the ticketing line and they tried to get us on a later flight to the states. we waited for about another hour while they were trying to get us another flight, all the while standing up. Anyway, they wanted to put us on a 2:30 flight to chicago and then onto dallas. They said that if our bag got in, we could take that flight, but they would have to search our stuff again. by this point, we are all very exhausted and very pissed off. my father said that we would only be searched again if they find our bag and can guarantee that we get on the 2:30 flight. anyway, needless to say, they did not find our bag and we did not get on that flight. so, this is the point where we find out that middle east did not lose our bags, they went through american airlines x-rays at 9 in the am and they misplaced them. so, we go back to the ticket counter and after much arguing, they put us on a British Airways flight to london in the morning and then onto dallas. british airways does not have the policy where you can only fly if all your bags are with you. anyway, american airlines paid for our hotel, dinner and they upgraded two of our tickets to first class. i believe i was frisked 10 times that day. it was ridiculous. it all worked out in the end, but by the time i got to the hotel in paris, i was as angry as i have been in quite a while. anyway, it is all over now. it really irks me how other travelers could arrive at the gate 5 minutes before take off and get on the plane, yet we had to spend 1.5 hours getting searched. anyway, i guess that is how it goes.

well, all is well now. i am getting back into the groove. this weekend was quite nice. michael actually took the weekend off, so we were able to spend a lot of time together. it was very nice. we saw lord of the rings: return of the king on the IMAX. it was quite wonderful. we also say Big Fish, another good movie. we smoked a bit out of our new narghiles (hookahs). they are top of the line straight from the homeland. anyway, life is pretty good. this weekend, michael and i are heading to austin for a night and then onto fredericksburg for a few nights. we need some relaxing quality time before classes and internships start again next week. well, i hope you are all well.

it is good to be home

well, we finally made it home. i am way too tired and really dont want to get into how the trip home went. lets just say it was quite the hassle and i'll write more in my next post. just wanted to let everyone know that we made it home safely and all is well. hope your holidays were great and your new year is off to a great start.