An expansive update on my life

Well, howdy.

Now that I've freaked you out with my glorious face, let me tell you what's been going down since the end of April.

This may or may not have been self-plagiarized from my family letter. However, I don't believe in pretending there was never a huge gap in between updates and would rather spam you with long posts about happenings. So if you're related to me, you can just stop reading now and look at the pictures and then leave me a comment that says something like, "yeah, sure, whatever."

The Babe: Hendrik is adorable. UH-DOOR-UH-BOWL. I watch him 4 days a week and he's a pretty chill baby. Every time he sees me, he says, "Deezee!"

He loves the TV shows Chuggington and Special Agent Oso, which I love making fun of. Oso is this creepy stuffed bear who helps kids solve everyday problems. I'll admit I was disappointed when I saw him help a little girl fix her ripped book by taping the pages together. I was hoping he'd do some special agent stuff and magically sew the book back together or produce a new one, but you can't have everything.

We play together a lot, whether with his toys or in his room (he likes to climb inside his closet and turn on and off the old swing chairs) or outside. He loves going outside. My favorite thing to do with him is put him in his neat little seat (rhyme) on his bike and we whirl around town. He's a tantrum-thrower for sure, but I like the guy.

The Boston: Likes: the Common is by far one of my favorite places to go to. It's such a beautiful park and it's fun to walk around. Boston is fun to walk around in general, because the buildings are gorgeous and all the people are interesting to look at.

The people. For the most part people here aren't unpleasant. Some are friendlier than others and I generally keep to myself, but I've found myself connecting with people I never thought I would. Right now I'm taking a figure drawing class in Allston, an obscure part of Boston, and I've gotten along really well with the people in that class.

I like Rocco Ricci, who owns the coolest name ever AND the studio we draw at, pictured above. The people there are nice and I've gotten a lot of good drawing in. I look forward to it every week and will definitely miss having resources like that on hand when I'm back in Utah.

Some tourists more fascinated by a squirrel than the park around them. I can't blame them. I was fascinated with that guy's shorts and tanline.

One of the unfortunate side effects of solitude: lotsa myspace pictures

I feel like I've come to hate children less since I've been a nanny. This is...good, right?

Mmmmhmmmm, Boston is beautiful.

I really try not to be creepy when taking pictures of other people. I've not yet mastered the skill of stealth.

I have a love/hate relationship with the public transportation system. It's efficient, and the people are pretty friendly. I was lost on the way to church one day and this man started talking to me about music. At first I thought he was crazy because I usually think random strangers who talk to me are crazy, but he seemed pretty normal and we had a good conversation. It's something that I feel like we all have in common, and everyone's pretty good about giving directions.

Right now I hate the public transportation system. I hate, hate, hate it. Last night I was waiting at a bus stop for 20 minutes so I could go to my figure drawing class and I saw it approach. I stood up, smiled, and...

It drove right on by.

I couldn't believe it. Me and this other guy at the stop just watched it drive right by us. Wow, I'm so glad that the bus driver was so considerate to not stop for me. I wouldn't have wanted her to, you know, DO HER JOB. I ended up missing the class again.

And speaking of dislikes...

Dislikes: I hate Boston's street system. Today I was 15 minutes late for church, which is impressive since usually I'm over an hour late. I hadn't been to sacrament meeting in weeks. In fact, I started getting bored because usually around that time I would be freaking out about how lost I was. "Oh, dang it, I missed the turn. No problem, I'll just turn around here - HOW THE HECK DID THIS TURN INTO A ONE-WAY STREET? WHY AM I ON A BRIDGE? WHO'S THAT HOBO? WHAT THE #@$% IS WRONG WITH THESE DRIVERS?!"

The nice thing about it, however, is that it's kind of a rite of passage to be lost in Boston. So I'm on my way to becoming a pro. Too bad I'll be leaving by the time I get used to being lost all the time.

Mellifikent: Kent and Melanie have been very kind to me so far. We've done a few things together, like going to the beach on Memorial Day and watching movies together. I cook for them once a week and Kent has dished up (Get it? DISHED UP? Okay, okay) quite a few things of his own. Impressive. My favorite thing about getting to know Kent and Melanie is seeing how much they love their son. Of course, all parents love their kids, but it's different when it's just the first kid and you're witnessing it firsthand.

Me: This has been one of my lonelier jobs. While I love Hendrik, he's not much of a conversationalist and I ache for some company of my own age. I'm finally starting to make some real friends here. I had a great time at church on Sunday and felt at home. It helps that I was actually almost on time. Afterward I visit taught a girl and hit it off really well with my companion and then I went to have dinner at one girl's apartment and we watched Pinocchio.

But not all loneliness is bad. I've come to write a whole lot more (but I'm reading less, which is depressing) and I've been drawing like crazy lately. I actually have this drawing blog that I'm updating more than this blog. I've ridden one of Kent and Melanie's bikes all around town and I LOVE it. It's so gorgeous here. While I still despise how easy it is to get lost, I love how each street has such variety to it. I'm starting to find connecting streets now and have found some great trails into forests and explored wildernesses around here.

Anyway, I'll let you go now. I really do hope to be able to tell you more stories about the things I've done and the places I've gone to.

Peace out, girl scout.