I'm Engaged

Last Saturday night, at around sunset, I popped the question.
I've had the ring for a while and I already had her dad's permission to ask her, so what was stopping me? I wanted to see how long I could wait.
Saturday, September 12th, 2008 was our one year anniversary, she wanted me to ask her then, I told her I wouldn't. I was going to ask her the following Saturday, just because, but her parents are leaving on a cruise the following Sunday, so her mother convinced me otherwise.
In my original plan, Nicole's cousin, Emily, was going to be there to take some cool pictures without her knowing. The night before, I had to quickly text Em and see if she could still do it, and she said sure. So, Saturday night after choir practice, Nicole and I went to the beach just to see the beauty of it all. Unfortunately, I had did not know where exactly Emily was. After a few frustrating minutes, I called her. She told me to scoot over so that she could get a really good picture, so I scooted. Nicole had no idea what was going on, so she was wondering why I was scooting. When Em told me that I was in a good place, I got Nicole to come close to me and I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She said yes, of course.
Don't ask me how exactly I said it, because I don't remember those 10 seconds that I was on my knee, I had some sort of black-out from all the excitement. Nicole doesn't remember either, strangely enough.
After I called my parents and Nicole called hers, we made tracks to her house, where her whole family was waiting with a little party all set up. After which Nicole and I went to dinner at this super nice restaurant, in celebration of our anniversary/engagement.

AHTCHOooooo!

Wow. It has been quite a bit of time since I posted here...you can tell from the layers of dust and all the cobwebs and all the squatters and all the hobo fires...I think I've made my point.
What has happened since I last posted? Quite a lot. Lets start with the most important.
I have bought and paid for an engagement ring for my long-time girlfriend/ better-half Anna Nicole Braun (sorry I didn't call you cyp, there is an explanation coming shortly). Last saturday I took her dad out to lunch and asked his permission for his daughters hand in marraige, he said yes. Don't worry, Nicole already know all about this, she just doesn't know when I will ask her to marry me, if you are a sibling of mine and want to know when I will be asking her, ask Mom and Dad for my new number.
Next important thing, Nicole and I bought a car. We were fortunate to be at the right place at the right time. Someone at our church, St. Barnabas (stbarnabasoc.org) was going to college in San Diego and she didn't need a car, and she knew that Kel (Nicole) and I needed a car. She got ahold of Kel of Facebook and told her that she was leaving town for school and that if it was okay with her parents (the actual owners of the vehicle) she would be totally willing to sell us her car, a 1986 Volvo. After we talked to her parents, they said that they would sell us the car for $500. Kel and I thought that that would be barely affordable for us so we accepted, so on the same day I took Kels dad to lunch to ask that fateful question, I meet The Lehmans at the Auto Club, where we changed the title to my name and I paid them the money, I drove for the first time since last December.
The next important thing that happaned is my old cell phone broke. Basically it shorted out. Whenever I try to turn it on it shows the loading screen, loads all the way and then turns off. Same thing if I take out the battery and plug the phone into the wall, no go. That is why I haven't been calling people. All my contacts are in the phone and not my head, so go figure.
Oh yeah! One more important thing, I got my own netbook. Basically it is a laptop that is most effective when used to surf the web or type a paper for school. It's pretty sweet and that is what I'm using right now to type this!

P.S some of you might have noticed that I left out some recent good news. I started this before it happaned and I didn't get around to finishing this until now.

"You've been here before, haven't you..."

Well, I got another job. I am now, once again, a Wal*Mart associate. Every day that I work there I am mentally kicking myself in the butt. I could have tried to get a transfer, which means that I would have Medical and Dental insurence as well as my discount card. When I was getting ready to move I thought, "I don't like working here, I can find a job easily enough." WRONG! I just got hired by them and it's my first real job.
I have been hired by Vector Marketing to sell Cutco products but...that job relies on people, and having lots of friends and connections. So basically it was the worst job I could get here.
I know what your thinking, "Is there any good news James?" the answer is yes.
Nicole and I have been dating for 5 months now, and I'm getting 854 dollars back from The Man. YAY!

I'll see ya next time (Lavar Burton)
JP

A place to call my own

Well, I finally did it. I got my own place. After many hours searching and toiling on craigslist, and driving, I found a place.
My first choice was a nice place in the same town as St. Barnabas, Nicole and I went there after church one Sunday. I was interested, she thought the landlord was a creepy, "hard-core Prod". I didn't think he was that weird until that night.
That night he called me up and asked me some run-o-the mill landlord questions like, if I don't make enough money to pay the rent do I have some money saved up, am I a clean person, et cetera. Then he asked me questions about my church. He started off with, "You said you go to St. Barnabas, that sounds Catholic, are you Catholic?" I tried to explain that I'm Orthodox and how it's different from Catholicism. Then he said, "There is someone here I'd like you to talk to, he lives in a separate building out back and has his own bathroom. He is a professor and his name is Bob." He then handed the phone to Bob who asked me more questions about my faith and at one point even said, "...now the Orthodox church I think is real similar to Protestant churches?" It was bad.
So the next morning, Nicole and I again went on Craigslist to look for a cheaper place. Lo and behold we found one that was $400 a month for rent and was two streets over. I called the guy up and got the address, which was hard because he had a thick Asian accent.
Nicole thought that this was going to turn out bad and thought that the place might be in an area called "Little Saigon" (an area in this part of California that has a lot of Asians in it) and she also thought that the guy wouldn't like me because I'm White.
I went there, found out it wasn't in "Little Saigon", that the guy wasn't racist enough to refuse me, and I also found out why it was so cheap. The room is little more than a glorified closet next to a bathroom that I have to share with another "Caucasian" ( the word my landlord used) who smokes. I figured this was a lot better than being hassled for my faith so I took it.
After I payed the guy for my room, I called up the other guy (Bill) whose place I looked at first and told him I was no longer interested. He said that was okay and then asked if he could say a prayer for me. I thought, "What the hey? It won't hurt me, he's just being nice in his own way." So he said one of those on-the-spot Protestant prayers and ended it with, "...and we ask this in your son's name amen."
So that's my finding-a-place-of-my-own adventure. My new address is 8811 Rathburn ave. Westminster Ca, 92683. In case anyone still needs to send me a Christmas present or anything...
Saiyonara!

Alms?!

Well, I had that interview at Noah's Bagals and I didn't get called back for another interview. I called them today and the manager said I still might get a call back in a week or so. I have had several other interviews in the meantime. First, I interviewed at Goodwill, you'd think that they'd hire me right? Wrong! Turns out that they can't give me every Sunday off, and since I'm a religious man, I turned it down. Then, I had an open interview at a restaurant called "Lazy Dog" it seems like a cool place, that was two days ago and when I called earlier today all the managers were too busy to talk to me so I'll try again tomorow. Also, I applied at a Subway near here and I haven't heard back from them yet...
However, there is an upside to all this, because I can't afford a car and I don't want to rely on others to get me around, I have been getting around on a bike. I am getting tons of exersise. The Goodwill is about a 30 minute bike ride one way. At least I'll be in shape right?

Successful hunt?

I may have had a successful job hunt. Tomorrow (techinically today because it's 1:30 in the morning) I have an interview at a place that is actually hiring! If that doesn't work out, I might have another opportunity on monday at a restaurant. All in all, I am having a pretty good time here in sunny and outragiously warm California!
Good day all!

That's Life

Well, here I am still in California and still no job or transportation. However as we speak I am playing E-mail tag with a guy selling a bike on craigslist. I also have just recently turned in about 14 billion applications to places near where I am currently staying. I have only had one promising lead for a job, and that is at a bank being a teller about 3 miles from here. What can I say? Most of my family is freezing their buns off and I am here in 70 degree weather. I just hope that I can find a job and a bike and a place to love soon. The plan is, once I get a job and a place to live and I'm settled down a wee bit, I start looking for a car for el cheapo. I have to say, its scary living without the parents, but it is also feels quite liberating.
Until next time.