Big Bear Lake

After work on Friday, I drove nearly 150 miles to visit my best friend from elementary school at his house/cabin in Big Bear Lake (I mean the city; his house isn’t actually in the lake. English is funny sometimes.). The almost three-hour drive is twice as far as the farthest I had ever driven in one sitting before, and driving up a mountain is a little scarier than flat freeway driving, but I challenged myself (after debating all week) and drove it successfully! The drive wasn’t even as scary or as tiring as I thought it would be, but this is still a big step for me. I never would have even contemplated such a trip two years ago.

When I arrived at my friend’s house/cabin (it looks like a one-bedroom vacation home, I’m so jealous), my friend had dinner waiting for me! He’s a pretty good cook (cooking is one of his many hobbies), and he made slow-cooked ribs for me! Over the course of the weekend, he also made me waffles and homemade pizza! Healthy and economical.

Besides just visiting my friend, the other excuse for driving to Big Bear Lake this past weekend was to attend a chili cook-off put on for the city’s Old Miners’ Days. We went around to 25+ booths that each let us sample some of their amazing chili, and we got to vote for our favorite. I loved learning about the Gold Rush and California history back in elementary school, so this kind of event appealed to me. I don’t know what chili has to do with history, but joining in on a small town tradition is always fun. Also, I just love chili.

Of course, we also did some walking around the local shops and took in some views of the lake and the scenery. Basically, I had another amazing weekend (three weekends in a row of hanging out with my best friend from elementary school!). Spending a couple days in a secluded little town up in the mountains really felt like a mini-vacation. It’s so relaxing to escape reality, one weekend at a time.

Lost In Pasadena

A friend of mine from graduate school has been visiting LA this week, so we made arrangements to meet up last night. He doesn’t have a car while he’s down here, so I had to drive to see him. We decided to meet at a bookstore in Pasadena, which is about 45 miles away from my office. I had never driven to Pasadena before, so I used Google Maps to plan my route. I printed out the directions and left for Pasadena straight after work.

Surprisingly, there wasn’t much traffic on the way there. I thought it would take over an hour, but it took me only 45 minutes. I figured I’d be really early and I could shop around the bookstore for half an hour while waiting for my friend (I love bookstores).

I followed my Google Maps directions and got off the freeway at the correct exit, but I then somehow missed the turn I was supposed to make after exiting. The street I was on was a one-way street (I hate those), so I couldn’t make a U-turn and find the right street. I had to continue driving until I saw a major street with which I could find my way back.

I have a terrible sense of direction. After making a few turns onto streets I thought would take me where I wanted to go, I was lost. I ended up somewhere in Alhambra, around 5-10 miles away from Pasadena. I don’t have a GPS, so that wasn’t an option. I would have called my dad for directions (he knows the area really well), but my cell phone was out of battery.

So what was I to do? Luckily, I had my trusty iPod touch with me! I drove around until I found a McDonald’s, since I know they have Wi-Fi. Unlike the McDonald’s near my house that has free Wi-Fi, I had to pay $2.95 to get a two-hour block of internet time, but that’s a small price to pay for finding a way out of being lost.

I typed in the address into Google Maps to get directions from where I was, and I found I was about 6 miles away from my destination. I got in my car and followed my iPod precisely, even looking at my odometer to see how many tenths of miles I was going before I was supposed to see a particular street at which to turn. In 15 minutes I had parked and was in the bookstore, making me only two minutes late.

I couldn’t believe that I got myself lost, even after I had printed out directions. I’m so glad I had my iPod with me. I would have gone crazy otherwise. Best purchase I’ve ever made!

Driving The Company Van

To right the wrong from the end of last week, I had to travel to my client’s warehouse again today. It was incredibly exhausting, especially since the delivery was a success this time, meaning I had to single-handedly empty the inventory from the company van into the warehouse’s receiving department. My boss was there, but he was tasked with organizing the boxes onto pallets so that the receiving department could properly accept the delivery.

After an hour of continuously unloading the van, I was sweating so profusely that I could barely keep my eyes open. I’m really not used to exercise anymore. I must have strained my left leg at some point too, because my left quadricep has been hurting whenever I walk or go up stairs since the delivery.

My boss and I had lunch before heading back to the office. Usually my boss drives when we do deliveries in the van, since he’s a pretty good driver and I don’t like driving unfamiliar cars (especially ones with less field of vision on the sides and rear). But my boss made me drive the van back this time, partly so I would learn how to drive the van (so he doesn’t have to come with me on deliveries anymore) and also so he could sleep.

It was pretty scary at first. Driving a big van feels quite different from driving a sedan, but taking it slow and being defensive (the way I usually drive) made it okay. Focusing on driving even more than usual, though, made me extra tired by the time we got back to the office. What a start to the week!

The Carpool Lane

My friend/boss and I had a meeting in the afternoon with some of our clients. Unfortunately, the meeting was at the clients’ office 60 miles away. An hour before we had to leave, my friend/boss asked me to drive.

I’m still pretty uncomfortable driving long distances, especially if I’ve never driven there before and if I have a passenger. But my friend/boss is my boss, so I couldn’t say no that easily.

Some of the freeway junctions in LA are very confusing too. My printout from Google Maps didn’t tell me that I would have to change four lanes to the left to change to the right freeway.

Getting to the meeting was mostly smooth; I only hit traffic toward the end of the trip. Coming back, however, was terrible. We left the meeting around 5pm, right during rush hour. It probably took half an hour to move half a mile.

Eventually, the traffic loosened up, and I discovered the joys of the carpool lane. I don’t usually qualify to take the carpool lane. It was so gratifying to be able to drive really fast and not have to worry that I’m going to hit traffic or have a car cut in front of me.

I really should carpool more often.

Early And Late Meetings

I went to Target early today and met with the store team leader. He was really nice and encouraging. He said that he would give my resume to his boss (the district team leader or something) and we would be in touch. He’s going on vacation for a week and a half starting tomorrow, but he said he’d send off my resume today. I’m probably not going to be hearing back for a little while, but I think my meeting went well.

I’m working the closing shift tonight, as usual. My college friends are getting together and want me to drop by after work. They’re meeting at a bar about 25 miles away from my Target. I’ve never driven to that area before, so I haven’t decided if I want to go. I got directions, but it will be pretty late when I get off work. I don’t know if I’ll be able to see the road signs. On the other hand, I rarely see any of my friends these days. How can I miss any opportunity? We’ll see if I’m brave enough to go.

Planorama

Driving to the new Target was surprisingly easy. I never hit traffic; my travel time was exactly what Google Maps said it would be. My first experience driving on the freeway by myself was about as painless as could be.

About 20 different Targets from around the area sent team members to the new Target to help set it up. My Target sent about ten people, most of whom are team leaders. The big gathering was called a Planorama, because the main task we had was to set planograms for the entire store.

Planograms are basically the blueprints to the store’s layout. Given a particular aisle, the planogram tells us how many shelves we need, how many inches apart (vertically) the shelves should be, what products go on the shelves, and the exact location of each product on those shelves. Setting a planogram just means we follow the instructions and make the aisle look like it should.

Every new Target always has a Planorama weekend. I like the idea that all the people who work at different Targets make up one very large team, and we all gather to help make our team even larger.

Because I’m just a sales floor team member, I never learned how to set a planogram before. Now I can read the labels on the shelves and understand a lot more of the numbers and codes on it. There’s a lot of information encoded into those little strips of paper!

Participating in the Planorama was really fun. I love learning and doing new things, and I love being part of helping a new store get started. I almost wish I could go again tomorrow, but I’m scheduled to work at my Target the rest of the weekend. It’s okay, though, because I don’t really feel like getting up at 5am again for a very long time.

A New Target

Okay, a quick update today. I have to sleep early tonight because I’m going to a different Target early in the morning. The Target where I’m working tomorrow is a new store opening in a couple months, and I’m helping set it up! Only a handful of team members were chosen from my Target, so I feel pretty honored to be going.

The scary thing about this new Target is that it’s 40+ miles away from my Target, and I have to drive on the freeway almost the whole way. So, tomorrow morning will be the first time I ever drive on the freeway by myself. Yes, I’m old for such a milestone, and it probably won’t be a big deal, but it’s still a first for me.

Because of traffic and having to get there bright and early, I have to leave my house at 6am. I’m a night owl, so 6am is excruciatingly early. We’ll see how it goes.

In other news, I found out that there is an executive team leader (ETL) position that is well suited for math majors. The position is ETL of Operations. The current ETL of Operations (who has a bachelor’s in applied math) said she uses math all the time. She briefly explained what she does, most of which I can’t remember now, but it sounded really interesting and something I can totally do.

The ETL of Operations and the daytime LOD (different from the LOD for the closing shift) said I should show them my resume and they could help me out! Maybe my excitement for a math related ETL job will motivate me to actually use their help!

Many Miles Behind Me

I wanted to drive more, and today I did. In the morning, I drove 20 miles, mostly on the freeway, to my dentist for a follow-up appointment to see if my wisdom teeth caused any problems for the neighboring teeth. My dad was with me to give me directions. After five minutes, my appointment was over, and I drove the 20 miles back home.

Later in the morning, I drove the 60 miles to my grandfather’s house. I made the same trip last week, but there was much more traffic this time. Just like last time, my parents were in the car helping me. After we picked up my grandfather, my dad took over the driving, and then we met up with my sister for dim sum.

After hanging out with my grandfather all day (walking around a nearby mall for a few hours, going out to dinner, and grocery shopping), we took him back home. It was pretty late by the time we were ready to head home, so my dad was really tired. Thus, I took to the wheel again, driving the 60 miles back home.

All in all, I drove 160 miles today. Not only is that the most I’ve ever driven in one day, it’s also a huge amount of practice driving on the freeway in different traffic conditions (low traffic, high traffic, and nighttime). I do still feel a little nervous when I drive on the freeway, especially when I change lanes to the right. Moreover, my parents were still there to help me. It’s getting much better, but I still have many more miles to go before I feel truly comfortable driving on the freeway.

In Transition

I’m becoming increasingly frustrated by the fact that my life is on hold because of the actuarial exam. I spend my days at Starbucks studying, and then I go to the gym. That basically describes my week.

There are so many other things I would like to be doing. I would love to hang out with my friends more often. My friends are such a big part of my life, and yet I rarely see them now because I’m trying not to take time away from studying. I only have three posts on this blog in the “Friends” category so far. The importance of my friends is very underrepresented, and the reason is because I just haven’t seen much of them these last few months.

I would also love to practice driving more. Online dating guy thinks it’s pretty strange that I’m 25 years old and I don’t drive on the freeway (I think he might even be losing interest because of it…). Living in cities for college and graduate school where I didn’t need a car, I put off practicing driving. Now that I’m back home, I should be driving a lot more and getting used to LA traffic. But no, I drive to a Starbucks that’s ten minutes away from my house to study, and then I drive down the street from there to go to the gym. Because of my exam, I have no real reason or opportunity to drive further and push myself to practice.

Today I went with my parents to visit my grandfather (who lives with my uncle and his family). My grandfather had relatives visiting him from Shanghai. They are my grandfather’s cousin’s children (their father is my grandfather’s brother’s son). I don’t know what they’re called. Second cousins? I certainly don’t know what to call the relation they are to me. Anyway. I drove the 60 miles to his house, which includes driving on multiple freeways. It’s good practice, but my parents were in the car helping me. I have yet to drive on the freeway by myself. But the only opportunities I have to drive long distances on the freeway are with my parents, and even those are few and far between.

What else? I’d like to find a choir. I miss singing and I miss the social interaction with other singers. I’d like to go shopping and maybe have the occasional day of splurging. There are a lot of things on my wish list, including a fantastic cashmere hoodie I saw at Bloomingdale’s. It’s $250. Besides the tuxedo I bought for my choir in college, it’s probably the most expensive piece of clothing I’ve ever wanted. I can’t even consider buying such a thing until I get a job.

I’m getting so antsy. I want a job! I want to make money and start living on my own again. I like living with my parents for a little while, but I think living at home too long is stifling. I need my independence back. This transition period has gone on far too long already.

Not Worth The Drive

My circle of friends from college is a tight knit bunch. Since living in the dorms together in freshman year, we kept our core group of friends until now (seven years later). Every time I came home to visit from graduate school, the few friends from that group who live in LA would make a point to hang out at least once.

One college friend in particular seems to be the center of our circle. She was out of the country in the Peace Corps for the last two years, rarely visiting home. Around the end of 2005, she came for a visit. Our entire group of friends gathered back to our college town and had a huge New Years reunion party.

That friend recently moved to LA. She has seen some of our friends from around the LA area who I still have not seen, even though I moved back from graduate school a month and a half before her. One reason is that I live in the San Fernando Valley ( “the valley” ) and she lives in LA proper, where more of our friends live. I suppose it’s only natural for them to hang out with her more than with me because of the proximity. But in 2005, the LA group drove six hours to see her. Driving the forty minutes to see me is not worth the drive, even though I had been away from the area and none of my college friends saw me for the last nine months. Even the one friend who does see me is only in the area because his girlfriend lives in the valley too.

You could ask, well why don’t you drive to see them? I’m not a confident driver, and my experience driving on LA freeways is next to nothing. Going to see them is a much bigger ordeal for me than it is for them to see me. And they know that.

It’s probably all in my head. I tend to overreact when I feel like my friends are hanging out without me. I’m sure there are issues of loneliness and neglect that make me react this way, because I know my friends do care about me. I shouldn’t complain. I should be grateful for the time I do get to spend with my friends. When I see them in person, none of this ever enters my mind. It’s only when I hear about what I missed does it really bother me.

Even knowing that, though, doesn’t help the fact that I still feel this way.