Sydney – mushakian.com

Moving Onward (and a Bonus Top List)

A final farewell to my first job.

My first official job ended yesterday.

I handed in my two weeks’ notice last Friday to one of the store managers at Frazier Farms Market in Oceanside. He jokingly tried to hand it back to me, but it was one of those jokes where it’s actually half meaningful. I have been employed as a “courtesy clerk” for 13 months, and I have been counted on as one of the most reliable employees there. That’s what made it hard; I knew I was a good employee and was very valued there, but it was time for me to move on.

How did I come to this decision to quit? Well, it’s a little complicated.

A few months ago, I had made the decision to quit in May 2019 right before I graduated, with or without having another job lined up. I really didn’t want to go through another summer working there (last summer was brutal — it was extra busy with all the vacationers at the beach and really hot), and I definitely didn’t want to work there by the time I got married. But then, three weeks ago, I woke up with a terrible feeling, one that made me dread going in to work that morning. I was on the verge of tears for about an hour after I had started. I tried to play it off as just feeling “extra emotional”, but deep down, it was work itself that was making me feel that way.

Courtesy clerk is the entry level position at the store. Think “janitor” who also helps out customers. Initially, the mindlessness of going around the store sweeping and doing other housekeeping tasks appealed to me. School work was mentally draining, so it was refreshing to not have to think so much. But then, the monotonous of it all started to get to me. Sweep, grab shopping carts, sweep, clean the bathrooms, bag groceries, sweep more. The only time I was enjoying myself was when I got to talk to customers and coworkers. I didn’t exactly think that the things that I was doing were “below me”, but I did feel like I should be doing something better, something that is more enjoyable and more applicable to what I’m studying in school.

I had a conversation with my friend, Karlee, during church three weeks ago. Karlee works at the YMCA as a childwatch attendant. I had actually applied to this exact job about a month before I applied to Frazier Farms. I had an interview, but didn’t get hired. Then, I got hired at Frazier Farms…It’s all connected! Karlee told me that the Y were looking to hire a bunch of people for childwatch attendants and that I should apply. I felt a little hesitation because they had rejected me not once, but TWICE (I had an interview for a summer camp counselor a few years back), and I didn’t know if I could handle possibly being rejected a third time. But, I knew it was a sign from God. Why did I have that overwhelming feeling of desperately wanting to quit two days before? And why did the Y desperately need new employees now?

That night, I put in an online application. The next day, while waiting for my class to start, I got a voicemail from the YMCA of San Diego County office asking me to set up an interview. Wow, that was fast. I called back after class had ended, and we set up a group interview for the next Monday, March 4. I had an interview with one other person (my previous interview had two other people), and at the end, the supervisor said that we both had “really good interviews”. Right before my second class on Mondays, I checked my email and saw 4 unread YMCA emails, one that said, “Congratulations on your new position”. WOW, THAT WAS FAST! I laughed really hard — compared to what I went through last time applying for the position, this went through miraculously fast. I think it’s safe to say that this was meant to be. My next day of work at Frazier Farms was that Friday, March 8. That was when I handed in my two weeks’ notice.

Of course, to have it be a proper two weeks, my last day was supposed to be March 22, which is currently NEXT week. I had a quick chat with the schedule manager on Friday, and this is how it went:

Him: So, when’s your last day again?
Me: Next Friday. March 22nd.
Him: Oh…so do you want me to clear your schedule so you don’t have to come in and work next week?
Me: No, that’s okay. My last day will be next week.
Him: Okay. (smiles)
Me: (smiles back, walks away)

It seemed to me like he understood! But then I went into work yesterday and checked the schedule. My name was gone, and somebody else had my typical shifts. I laughed to myself. “Well, I guess TODAY is my last day!!!” I had told everyone that next week was my last day…oops.

Now that my official work at Frazier Farms is done, I thought it was poignant to write about this little experience and to cap it all off with a bonus Top List (these lists have been far and few, sorry about that!)

And thus, here is March’s Top List: Top 4 Most Memorable Injuries I Incurred While at Work
(disclaimer: these injuries were all my fault, and none of them caused any serious harm. I’m very prone to injuring myself, so these are just funny stories)

4. Getting stung by a bee for the first time.

This happened pretty early on, about a few months after starting work. Because I had never been stung by a bee before, it had always been a secret fear of mine that I was actually allergic to bee stings, and the only way I would be able to find out is to get stung, have a super painful allergic reaction, and possibly die. And what’s really funny about this is that I had recently had a dream that I got stung by a swarm of bees! I had maybe thousands of bee stings, but I didn’t have an allergic reaction. And I DIDN’T DIE! I felt like that could be been God telling me that I’m not allergic to bees, and to stop having that fear, stupid, you ain’t gonna die!!! It was springtime, so the bees were out and about. I was on cart duty, and I casually placed my hands on the handle of a cart to push it back to the store. I immediately pulled my hand back, feeling something sharp on that little skin groove between my thumb and my palm. Then, I saw a bee fly away.

Oh crap. I just got stung by a bee.

I put that one cart back, went inside, and consulted my supervisor. “Hey, umm, I think I just got stung by a bee…” “Have you ever been stung before?”, she asked. “Nope.” She went into immediate Mom Mode, took me to the back sink, washed it out, and took out the stinger with some sugar. Then she put on antibiotic ointment and wrapped up my hand with a bandage. IT HURT. My whole hand felt numb for the next hour, and it made working normally a little challenging. But I made it through, and now I know how it feels to get stung by a bee.

3. Cutting my palm with a piece of glass.

A few months ago, I used to exclusively get closing shifts that were from 3:30-9:30pm. Closers have a good amount of extra tasks that they need to do, like taking out all of the trash. My fellow closer that night was carrying a very heavy bag of glass bottles to the trash chute and needed help throwing it in. She had actually put the bag in a shopping cart to transport it, and it had gotten caught on the sides. I didn’t realize that a piece of broken glass was sticking out the side of the bag, and I placed my hand right on top of it to grab the bag.

Oh crap. I just cut my hand.

It wasn’t a very deep cut, and it didn’t gush an excessive amount of blood, so I wasn’t too worried about it. I just needed to wash it off and put a bandage on. My coworker, though, felt REALLY bad about it, and kept apologizing and making sure I was okay.

I was okay, just a klutz 😉

2. Smashing my pinkie finger with a watermelon.

I know, that sentence just sounds crazy. But let me assure you — it happened! I’m not making it up!

This happened last July, during the crazy summer when everyone was buying giant freaking watermelons. I was bagging a customer’s groceries, and I was picking up their watermelon from off of the register counter. It got stuck in between the side, and my finger got caught in between the watermelon and the side of the register. It got bruised right between the knuckle and the first pinkie joint. It hurt just as much as when my index finger got stuck in my mom’s car door (it was even there for at least a minute because the doors lock as soon as they’re all closed). This injury took a while to heal. My finger couldn’t bend a certain way, and I had to briefly keep it in a splint. Now, there’s some weird bump on the inside of the finger (Mark thinks the blood vessel got moved around).

Be careful around watermelons. They’re dangerous.

And now, for the finale…

“Dislocating” my shoulder while cleaning a toilet.

What. the. heck.

This one gained me quite the reputation in my young adults group at church. Although this happened quite a while ago, it still gets mentioned because of its outrageousness.

I use the term “dislocate” loosely because I can’t conclusively and correctly say that my shoulder was dislocated because I never saw a doctor. But, after what it went through, it makes sense to say that my shoulder was briefly dislocated.

It happened on a night when I had a closing shift. I was scheduled with the task of a “thorough”, which is the hour-long bathroom cleaning of the men and women customer bathrooms and the 2 employee bathrooms. During the thorough, we restock any supplies, scrub the toilets, wipe down the stalls, wipe down the mirrors, and take out the trash. I started with the women’s bathroom, and as I was scrubbing the second of 4 toilets, I moved my shoulder weirdly as I bent back up.

OH CRAP!!!! What just happened to my shoulder?? It hurts!!!!

I still had two more toilets in that bathroom to clean, mopping, and then everything else that I needed to do for the remaining 3 bathrooms. I couldn’t even move my left arm. I finished up with the womens’, and ran out to find one of my fellow courtesy clerks. The closing supporter was there, and when I asked her if she could tie my jacket around my shoulder like a sling, she looked at me confusingly. She did it anyway, but it didn’t help. It took me a while trying to do things because I could barely move without being overcome with pain. I had to clock out in ten minutes, and I still had one more bathroom to clean. I ended up not cleaning the last bathroom.

I drove home. Let me tell you, it was a very tough experience. Making right turns was intense. I sat on my bed, crying from pain. I had work the next day, and in this condition, I definitely couldn’t work. And I didn’t want to call out sick. So, while almost yelping out like a dog, I moved around my arm and my shoulder. I thought stretching it would make it felt better because I thought I had just pulled the muscle. Eventually, after a couple minutes, I moved my shoulder at the perfect spot and felt it slide back into place. The pain immediately stopped. Hallelujah!

When I told people the story, they were astounded at the fact that I put MY OWN shoulder back into place — I guess most people get a chiropractor or a doctor to do that…

Thanks for having me, Frazier Farms. It’s been a great year for having some interesting experiences, building new skills, and learning from mistakes.
Now, onward, to the YMCA!

A Mardney Chat: Captain Marvel

Mark & Sydney offer a dual review of Marvel’s latest — and it’s as glowing as Captain Marvel herself!

Marvel Studio’s latest superhero movie was released in theaters last weekend, and the two of us were lucky enough to be a part of the $455 billion global box-office ticket haul Captain Marvel pulled in during it’s opening weekend — a very small part, but a part nonetheless. This marks the 7th Marvel movie we’ve been able to see together in theaters (holy mackerel, that’s more than originally expected before counting), and we’re fully on board with seeing whatever Marvel puts out at this point. Seeing as this blog is run by both of us, and we do enjoy chatting together about movies we love, we thought it’d be fun to create our own super team-up in a post sharing our collective thoughts on the newest superhero flick.

Oh, and if you’re curious what a Mardney is, well.. MARk + syDNEY.

The conversation below will NOT be spoiler-free, so if you haven’t yet watched Captain Marvel, why don’t you go ahead and do that first. If you’ve already seen the movie, though, or are searching for some convincing opinions as to whether or not you should, read on!

And since Captain Marvel marks the first time a Marvel movie has focused on a female superhero, we’ll let mushakian.com’s own female superhero start us off…

Sydney: I have always had a huge love for Brie Larson, ever since I saw her amazing performance in Short Term 12. So, I was already super stoked to see her kick butt as Captain Marvel (and kick even MORE SERIOUS butt in Avengers: Endgame). She’s just so cool, man. I know that most women think Wonder Woman is the best female superhero, but honestly, Diana ain’t got nothin’ on Carol.

Anyway, enough gushing. My favorite thing about the movie was the dynamic between Carol and Fury. If there was a spin-off “buddy cop” type movie with the two of them, I would be first in line to see it.

Mark: I’d be second in line 🙂 I haven’t seen Short Term 12, yet, so I guess that’s another title to add to our ever-growing list of movies to see. The first time I was aware of Brie Larson in a movie (Scott Pilgrim vs the World and 13 Going on 30 don’t count) was in 21 Jump Street, and she was absolutely adorable and so darn endearing. Then came Room and — dang, that was rough. But she performed wonderfully in that heavy role, so when she was announced as the newest Marvel-movie superhero, I was fully on board.

By the way, that announcement came just before Sydney and I even met! We’ve all been collectively waiting on Brie and this movie since 2016, and I’m glad to say that it knocked my expectations outta the park 🙂

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A post shared by Brie Larson (@brielarson)

It seems inevitable that Wonder Woman comes up in conversations about Captain Marvel, given that these are the two female-led superhero movies we have right now. A lot of folks enjoy the aforementioned DC title (I did not), but I think there are actually two different comparisons to be made between them: the movies on a whole or the characters themselves. If I look at these two titular characters, I think they’re both really great in their own way; each carries a quiet strength into each scene, Wonder Woman with an extra dash of sweetness and hope, Ms. Marvel with an equal amount of compassion and leadership. Each of these characters really feel the struggles they’re in, Wonder Woman dealing with the horrors of war and human failings, Ms. Marvel with identity crisis and standing up to imposed limitations. As characters, I think they’re both fantastic — and women that any kid could be proud to look up to 🙂

On the movie side of things, while I’m slightly biased in that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has me fully enraptured, I do think that Captain is simply the better movie. We’ll chat more about the specifics below, but if I’m looking at the stories told, the filmmaking at play, and the simple enjoyment of watching, Wonder Woman can’t compare.

One aspect of these two movies that immediately stood out to me is the differences in how they present their female lead. Wonder Woman was on TV a couple of nights before we saw Captain Marvel, and it made for a nice, immediate side-by-side. Gal Gadot is a stunningly attractive person, and in Wonder Woman, this physical quality of the performer is not at all lost as Diana fights and moves through the movie in her scant apparel. Granted, the Wonder Woman costume has always been very leggy in comics and TV, and it’s far from obscene in this movie, but Gadot’s physical appeal is always very evident to the viewer. Captain Marvel‘s Carol Danvers, however, isn’t portrayed as obviously sexual in the movie — her costume isn’t revealing, there is no romantic storyline, and the actress’s natural good looks aren’t played up. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of those things, nor with a female being presented as very alluring (Marvel does that aplenty with its collective cast of great-looking men and women in their other movies), but it was simply refreshing to see that Captain Marvel wasn’t cast in such a light.

Boy, I didn’t mean to speak so much about another movie in the midst of our Captain Marvel review, but it seems to be a pretty prevalent conversation elsewhere, so I thought it pertinent enough to mention… and I feel it’s one of Captain‘s great strengths.

So, Sydney, what in particular makes the, as you say, “kick-butt” character of Captain Marvel so cool in your book?

Sydney: It’s her personality. I grew up on more of the tomboy side of the spectrum (having a brother two years younger than me made me turn away from typically girly things), and my parents were really into rock music (my mom thought of herself as a “grunge chick” — think back to the scene where Carol steals the clothes from the mannequin), so a lot of that really influenced my own personality.

I never expected a superhero to be so cool. She loves rock music, has a great and hilarious wit, but is also compassionate and knows the right thing to do. She’s the perfect superhero that girls today need (and I wish I knew about her when I was a kid — it would have been awesome to have her as my hero).

And Mark, I totally agree with you about Captain Marvel not being portrayed as sexy. It absolutely was refreshing, and it makes the case for her being the perfect female superhero even more convincing. The movie put more focus on her power and accomplishments than on her looks and feminine appeal. Also, HOORAY! No romantic storyline for a female main character!!!

One of my second favorite things about the movie is the soundtrack. I love 90s music (which is, of course, influenced by my parents as previously mentioned), and when “Waterfalls” by TLC started playing as Carol and Fury were driving to the secret Project Pegasus base I got super excited. The best moment, however, was when “Just A Girl” by No Doubt played as Carol beat the crap out of the bad dudes. It was a perfect Girl Power scene – and it hit me right in my heart.

Definitely not Just A Girl. ©Marvel Studios

Mark: Describing Carol as a witty lover of rock makes me think that she and Tony Stark could be pretty good friends. I think you and her were a lot more tomboy than I was growing up… but that’s not much of a surprise to anyone who knows me 🙂

I actually went into this movie with only medium expectations, but by the end I was in full-on giddy territory. For the sake of brevity, I’ll go through exactly why in a list of my favorite bits:

Injecting Stan Lee into the opening Marvel title sequence is a really sweet tribute — as is his later cameo and the simple smile he and Carol share.
Starting Carol off brainwashed by the Kree and with a fragmented memory make this yet another fresh take on the superhero origin story by Marvel, and as secrets are revealed to both her and the audience, it’s a roller-coaster of emotions.
Mainly, though, this movie is darn fun. Once Carol lands on Earth, my viewing partner was LOL’ing pretty frequently… and I did, too. As mentioned, Carol and Fury’s camaraderie was an absolute blast — the role reversal of Fury not being the one with the answers made him all the richer as a character, and it was great seeing him experience such an out-there world of bodysnatcher-like aliens and galactic wars. And Flerkens… he definitely had one heck of an eye-opening experience learning about those 😉
I either love the idea of how Fury actually lost his eye or it seems like a disappointing throwaway gag. Depending on when you ask me, the opinion changes by the minute — but it is increasingly staying in the love category.
Freakin’ digital de-aging is amazing! I had to actually remind myself throughout the movie that every frame of Samuel L. Jackson has been altered, and that he didn’t somehow find the fountain of youth. I was really impressed when Marvel previously did the same thing with Robert Downey, Jr. and Michael Douglas, but now we’re in near-seamless territory.
The quick cat-and-mouse chase in the Pegasus archives with the motion-activated lights is a really fun and clever bit that I very much appreciated.
The Skrulls browsing through a captured Carol’s memories by fast-forwarding, repeating, and zooming in, is such a subtly trippy way to show what could’ve been a simple and dull thing.
Speaking of Skrulls, I think one of the most poignant lines in the movie comes from the Skrull leader, Talos. As a horrified Carol reels from the realization that she’s been on the wrong side, Talos comforts her with the line that he also has plenty of blood on his hands in this war. It could have easily been a switcheroo (the technical term) of who we think are the good/bad guys, but I really enjoy the gray area in this.
There is no gray in how fantastically exciting it is to watch Carol use her powers, though! Her entire arc of growing beyond imposed limitations makes for a really exhilarating visual display once Carol is able to just let loose. In other Marvel movies, watching someone like Hawkeye or even Captain America in a fight offers times when they seem worn out or hurt. Once her powers are at max-levels, Carol never gives off that impression, though, and it isn’t for a lack of action — she punches her way through planet-destroying missiles, while flying through space mind you, and the effortlessness of it all really sells just how darn powerful she is.
What really sells Carol, though, is her character. She stands up for the innocent Skrull families, she is great with her friend’s daughter, she can admit her mistakes, and the budding trust and friendship that she and Fury share is wonderful.
Our realization that these powers of hers come from an infinity stone is such an exciting reveal, if only for the potential it has in this Marvel movie universe. There are plenty of callbacks to the other movies, as well, and none of them felt rushed or unnecessary. By the time Fury names his new initiative plan after Carol’s call-sign, “Avenger,” my face was plastered with a smile of complete satisfaction.
The most powerful moment of the movie, for me, is when Carol stands up. It was a moment teased in the film’s trailer, and I’d honestly imagined that it was just a cool trailer-specific edit — but the dramatic weight of Carol rising up, as she has since she was a little girl, carries such an emotional heft to her story, to the overall Marvel universe, and to the beauty of the human experience. I didn’t full-on cry, but boy were my eyes damp and my heart bursting!

I’ll cut myself off before I talk about every scene in the movie, and just say that I am an absolute fan — both of this movie and of Carol Danvers. I’ll let my beautiful bride-to-be have the final word on this story, because as much as I enjoyed it and the story touched me, ultimately it meant even more to Sydney. I can’t wait to see more of Carol in future movies, and for now I’ll wrap up by borrowing a line from the god of thunder: “Bring… me… THANOS!”

Sydney: Thank you, Marvel, for giving us such an inspiring character, and for giving me a superhero that I can finally relate to and someone whom I want to be my best friend 😉

Mardney Score: 6 out of 5 Flerkens! (one Flerken ate another, so it gets a bonus point)

East Coast Travels

The tales of my first cross-country trip.

My long-time friend, Nina, moved across the country to Fredericksburg, Virginia with her husband more than two years ago. Since then, I had promised her that one day I would visit, and I finally had the chance to do so. The last time I traveled on a plane was when I was around 7-8 years old, and I had visited my aunt who lived in Dallas, Texas. I didn’t remember a single thing about that plane trip, so the experience of riding on a plane was basically new to me. Mark willingly came with me, which was a relief because I would have been too scared to go alone. Our plane tickets included an overnight flight with a stop at Boston, Massachusetts and an arrival in Richmond, Virginia.

Day 0.5 (Sunday Night-Monday Morning, a.k.a. The Overnight Flight)

The start of our trip was very hopeful. We got through security surprisingly quickly, and that was the thing that I was most stressed about. I spent seven dollars on two granola bars because I thought I would need snacks (note to self: bring your own snacks!)

A quick selfie before the flight madness.

Then, after a bit of a delay, we were on the plane to fly across the country. I queued up 13 Going On 30 to watch on my personal seat screen, but stopped after 15 minutes to try to go to sleep. I said to Mark, “If you need me, just tap on my shoulder”. As soon as I finished that sentence, we experienced some intense turbulence. I clenched my arm rests and held on for dear life, and luckily, it was over within a couple minutes. The rest of the plane ride was pretty bumpy, which meant that neither of us got any sleep. I spent the next four hours switching through the live TV channels, too bored and too anxious to sleep or watch a movie.

We arrived in Boston at five in the morning. The temperature was 20 degrees Fahrenheit, which easily won the award for the coldest I’ve ever experienced. We were both very hungry and very delirious. We took a quick seat at our gate to come up with a plan for getting food.

Why wear a neck pillow on your neck when you can wear it on your head?

We saw that the airport had a few Burger Kings, and after I mentioned that I’ve never had Burger King breakfast before, we decided to get food there. We didn’t know that the Burger King in our terminal was actually outside, and we ended up walking all the way across the terminal. We were NOT going to brace the below freezing temperature for some Burger King breakfast. There was another Burger King in a nearby terminal, so we made our way there, only to be greeted with a gate over the counter. It didn’t open until 10am! Desperate for food, we walked back to our terminal and got Dunkin’ Donuts instead. After eating our food (and messily, on Mark’s part), burrowing ourselves in blankets, and moving our seats away from the freezing windows, it was finally time to leave Boston and get on another plane for a less-than-two-hour-flight to Richmond.

Day 1 (Monday afternoon, a.k.a. The Introduction to Virginia)

Nina picked us up from the airport, and we made our journey to her house in Fredericksburg. We were immediately greeted by Nina’s dog, who is the cutest, kookiest little fluff ball I’ve ever met.

This was taken later in the week, but it was the only picture I took of her, trying to capture her muppet-like face.

Before we were going to do anything, I made sure that I took a shower first because I was covered in plane/airport germs. Nina started making chili, which was meant to be ready by the time her husband, Ben, came home. We all got ready, and Nina took us to an Italian deli called Basilico. We had a lovely late lunch that certainly hit the spot, and our friend Josh, who had also moved to Virginia and, coincidentally, in the same town as Nina, met up with us there. While Josh went to his house to pick up various video game consoles, Nina took us to a local coffee shop, and then we spent the rest of the night eating chili (Nina still needs to email me her improvised recipe) and playing Mario Party on the Nintendo Switch (my right arm received a killer workout, and was pretty sore the next day).

Day 2 (Tuesday, a.k.a. What’s a Belk?)

The sleep you get after not getting any sleep the night before is the best, in my humble opinion. We were ready to start our first full day in Virginia with the help of delicious brunch from a hipster joint called Mercantile, located in historic downtown Fredericksburg.

We visited a nearby antique store after our meal and had some good laughs. There were plenty of creepy dolls, civil war memorabilia, and old pottery. I found a wonderful postcard in the “humor” section and was about to buy it until Mark pointed out the $5 tag written in the corner.

We had to leave the antique store because Nina had an appointment to get her car tires replaced. We went to Costco, and this particular Costco was attached to a secret indoor mall, and the secret indoor mall was attached to a giant store called Belk. Even Nina didn’t know what Belk was. We each made our guesses of what it was (I said a department store, Mark said a home goods store like a Crate and Barrel, Nina said a store like Ikea) and made it our plan to walk in after dropping off the car. I was more on the money; Belk turned out to be more like a Kohl’s, not exactly a department store, but more focused on clothing. There were even signs for “Belk bucks” that looked exactly like “Kohl’s cash”, so I guess Belk is just the East Coast Kohl’s. I was hoping that none of us had guessed correctly, and it was actually something completely random and unexpected. We left Belk and walked around the mall, and there was an outside shopping center also attached to it (this mall was the mall that keeps on giving). We spent the rest of our time waiting for the car by browsing around in a bookstore that was the equivalent to our Barnes & Noble.

It was getting late (time flew by SO quickly the entire trip), and in true California fashion, it was going to be a Taco Tuesday night for dinner. Nina took us to Wegmans, and OH, was that an experience! You know how people get excited about being at Disneyland? Well, Wegmans was MY Disneyland. For those of you who are unaware, I work at a natural grocery store, and you could fit 2 Frazier Farms inside Wegmans (maybe 3 if you’re generous). I was amazed by every aisle and department we went through. There was a full seafood bar, like actual high-end restaurant level seafood bar, right in the middle of the meat department. There was an amazing loose-leaf tea section, and the tea was really inexpensive (I ended up getting some yuzu sencha tea). It took us double the amount of time it would have taken to buy our taco ingredients because we were having so much fun exploring the store. Then, we settled back at the household. Ben came home from work, and he and Nina cooked all the taco fixings together. Josh came over, we all happily ate our tacos (even though we chose corn tortillas, and they all just crumbled onto our plates), and played a board game this time. It was Would You Rather, and there were a lot of laughs.

Day 3 (Wednesday, a.k.a. The Dog Mall)

I got maybe 2 hours of sleep Tuesday night because I had some majorly painful period cramps (just my luck, eh?). Mark and I were by ourselves for Wednesday morning. Nina was receiving a certificate for staying committed to marriage with Ben after he recently reenlisted with the Marine Corps, and she wouldn’t be back until the afternoon. So, we ate cereal, gave the dog lots of pets and snuggles, and watched random Youtube videos (most of them were videos I liked in high school, which included an education on the theories behind Salad Fingers), the first episode of Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, and one of my favorite episodes of Parks and Recreation. Then, Nina was home, and she informed us that Ben got the rest of the day off from work and that he really wanted pizza. So, we decided on Benny Vitali’s, and we had New York style (they call it “the Virginia slice” there) slices bigger than my head! As for festivities for the rest of our day, Nina wanted to take us to the “dog mall” in Richmond, which was an hour south. I was expecting a whole mall dedicated to dogs, complete with dog boutiques and other stores, dog parks everywhere, and of course, DOGS everywhere. It was actually just a regular outdoor mall for people that was dog friendly. And because it was so cold (about 35 degrees), there was hardly anyone shopping, and just a few dogs playing at one of the dog park areas. Since we did drive an hour to get there, we explored a little bit. We went into a dog boutique and picked out a dollar chicken foot (that dog is OBSESSED with chicken) to give to her as a treat later that night (she, of course, excitedly devoured it). On the way back home, Ben took us down Monument Avenue, which featured many civil war general statues and beautiful old brick townhomes. It was great to see some architecture that isn’t around on the West Coast. We arrived back at home a little later than we had wanted, so Josh didn’t come over that night. But after eating some very delicious chicken soup (Mark’s favorite meal of the trip), Ben went to bed, and the three of us watched the first episode of my favorite show, The Haunting of Hill House. And then everybody went to bed for the night.

Day 4 (Thursday, a.k.a. Protests and A Burning Trashcan)

Our last full day on the East Coast was dedicated to all-day sight-seeing and other touristy activities in Washington, DC. We got up early, since it was an hour drive to the metro station and about a half hour on the metro to get into DC. All bundled up with gloves, beanies, and extra snow jackets (the high of the day was forecasted to be 30 degrees), we made our way to the Franconia station. My favorite inside joke of the trip occurred on this day in the car. Nina had been asking me what music to play in the car, and this time, she had misunderstood me. I asked her to play a new Killers song, which was called “The Man”. She has Apple Carplay, and she said, “Siri, can you play ‘Tomato’ by The Killers?” This is obviously not a real song, but Siri did her best and played a song. I was laughing so hard that I didn’t get to see what song she did choose to play. We parked the car and got ready to take the metro. It was 27 degrees outside, and it stayed that way until mid-afternoon. There weren’t that many options of things to do because of the unfortunately timed government shutdown, which meant that the national parks and free museums were closed indefinitely. I love museums, so we decided to go to a cheaper one that was only $8 for admittance. This museum was the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and it was beautiful (the East Coast knows how to create really extravagant museums).

During this time of year, the museum featured an exhibition on Rodarte and her fashion designs. The dresses were, of course, beautiful, and the mannequins were stylishly judging us common folk.

The rest of the museum had some wonderful art pieces from many different female artists around the world. My favorite piece was a sculpture of a pregnant woman. She just looks so happy with her round belly!

There was also this piece, which could haunt your dreams if you stare too closely.

After the museum, we were READY for some food. And what place did we absolutely need to go to while we were on the East Coast? Potbellys, of course! This particular location was a little crowded, but very small for the amount of people that were in there. We ate our sandwiches, pausing for brief moments to breathe and exclaim, “MMMM so good”. We sat at the counter facing the window to the street. What we saw surprised us all (and will surprise you too! Keep reading!). The outside trashcan was ON FIRE! How???? And why wasn’t anyone else worried about it? By the time we left, the plastic was still burning, but wasn’t in flames anymore. I guess East Coasters don’t care about burning trashcans. If that happened in California, it would start a giant wildfire. (Sorry, I didn’t snap any pictures of the trashcan).

Next on the DC itinerary was some monument viewing. On the way to the Washington and Lincoln Memorials, we stopped to check out the White House, but only the back of it was visible from where we were. Since we were right in the middle of the government shutdown (14 days in, to be exact), we were physically in the middle of a full-on American protest. I had seen a protest one day in Los Angeles, but it wasn’t even on the same level as this protest. There were hundreds of people, maybe even thousands, marching to the White House, complete with several camera crews and well-known politicians (but unknown to me because I don’t know much about politics, oops).

It was a truly historical event, and I never imagined that I would be able to watch it happen in person.

Another apparently ordinary East Coast thing that I was weirdly excited about seeing? Steam coming out of a manhole.

Now it was memorial time. Seeing these things in person is a lot different from seeing them on TV or in a movie. You know how people are always saying that Lincoln is GIANT in the memorial? Well, it’s true.

We also saw the Vietnam Veteran memorial. There were lots of leaves everywhere because not only was it super windy, but the groundskeepers haven’t been around to clean up during the shutdown.

Our last DC activity was a quick trip to a gift shop called Chocolate Moose, and this place was very Sydney approved. Super quirky. I bought some caramels for my mom and I and a cute little coin purse that reads, “I’m having an OUT OF MONEY experience!” (I love puns).

When we hopped back on the metro, we checked the traffic back home, and it was a two-hour drive. We were also really hungry (it was dinner time). Our two choices were to (1), eat somewhere before heading back to let traffic die down a little, or (2), eat once we get home. Nina mentioned that there was a Nando’s in Alexandria (a town in Virginia in between DC and our metro station). I immediately screamed “YES!” because I thought Nando’s was only in the UK or Australia, and after seeing all of the cheeky Nando’s memes, it was a must-go.

We had to take that trolley to survive the cold.

This Nando’s experience was incredibly cheeky.

Traffic did die down by the time we finished our dinner. Josh came over again to see us on our last night, and again we all played video games (the classic Josh hangouts always include video games).

Day 5 (Friday, a.k.a. Going Back to Cali)

The morning consisted of packing, more cereal eating, and lots of goodbye pets to the dog. Overall, I didn’t get that much sleep during the week, so I dozed off for most of the car ride to the Richmond airport. We went through security even quicker than San Diego. After the quick flight to Boston, we paid a visit to a gift shop to buy some stickers for myself and my mom, as well as some salt water taffy for her. I told her I would get her something from Boston, since she loves the Patriots, but settled on the taffy because all things Patriots-related were way too expensive for me. I had started to get a bad headache, probably from being sleep deprived and being at the airport, so I was very relieved when it was time to get on the plane. This ride was so much smoother, and I enjoyed being able to see the sunset through my window.

We left the East Coast right before the winter storm came through, but I was able to see some snow from up above.

We arrived back in good ol’ San Diego after six hours on the plane. It was around 60 degrees (ohhhhh yeah). When people asked me how my trip was, I said, “Good, but COLD!!!”

Trip highlights: finally getting to meet my fluffy dog friend, eating so much good food, being amazed by Wegmans, and spending time with my best friend, Nina.

10/10 would visit again

Top Moments of 2018

2018 in review: Sydney style

I decided to dedicate December’s top list to a review of the year (I also apologize for not writing November’s list – that was a very busy month for me). This will be a chronological list.

January – A New Car!

At the beginning of 2017, my friend joined the Air Force and gave me her car. Then, in August, I was in an accident and lost the car (I was unharmed, but unfortunately, the car’s damage was too expensive to fix). I had to start my first semester at Cal State San Marcos without my own transportation. I was lucky in being able to take the local Sprinter train, but that meant that I couldn’t have a job, especially since I was working as an independently contracted pet sitter who needed a car to drive to different homes. I was also lucky in having Mark who drove 40 minutes to my house to pick me up to spend the weekends with him. Then, in January, I was about to start a new semester, and I didn’t want to go through another 6 months without a car. God worked His ways because the day before the semester started, I had a new car! I bought it from friends at church at a great price, and it set the stage for more top moments of the year.

February – My First Actual Job!

I started my first ever part-time, regularly paid job at Frazier Farms Market on Valentines Day. The process went through so quickly, which was a relief because I had experienced many applications, interviews, and rejection emails beforehand. I even had a friend who also worked there to help my transition. This job has given me tons of learning experiences, like how to deal with difficult people, the importance of communication, and the capacity for people to be lazy and gross.

August – The Start of My Senior Year of Undergrad!

I have been going to college for 6 years straight. I graduated high school in 2012 and spent 5 years at community college. I changed my major during my second year, which meant that I needed an extra year to complete my requirements. I could have transferred to a university in a timely manner, but I enjoyed my community college so much that I was afraid to leave. I also received free tuition, so I was enjoying taking all the classes that I wanted without having to pay for them. It wasn’t until I met Mark that I realized that I should be working on transferring so that I can enter the workforce like a normal adult. Soon, I will be starting my final semester as an undergraduate, and it’s been a LONG TIME COMING!

October – I Got Engaged!

You regular readers here would have most likely already read our engagement story, so I won’t re-explain it here. But since it was written by Mark, you don’t know my side of it. Early on in our relationship, we were both pretty decided on how our future would look – we would get married, eventually. So, as we spent more time dating, it wasn’t a question of IF, but WHEN we would get married. At some point during the year, Mark had mentioned that he wanted to wait to get engaged until I was done with school, which would be May of 2019. Although I was a little sad that I would have to wait a long time just to be engaged, I understood his logic behind it, which was that he didn’t want me to be distracted from finishing my last semesters with the stress of wedding planning. Now, you can understand my surprise when he popped out a ring on our 2-year-anniversary.

Objectively, this may seem like a short list, but these were the most important moments of my year and are ones that have made the most impact on my life. I’m excited for what 2019 may bring, but I know some of the things that will be happening, like our wedding and my graduation.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Top 6 Dog Instagram Accounts

A whole list of dogs that have way more followers than I will ever have.

Welcome to the first of a new series, where I pick a list of my favorite things to share every month! For October, you may have been expecting something spooky-related, but I wanted to start us off with something near and dear to my heart – dogs. So, here it is: my Top Six Dog Instagram Accounts.

6. @normanthepomsky

Norman is half Pomeranian, half Husky, and all fluff. He loves to chill out at the beach, in front of the air conditioning vent, and on pool floats.

*“All I need in this life of scorn is me and my Unicorn, me and my Unicorn. 🌈🦄”*

He gets the top 6 spot for always making me smile with his fluffiness.

5. @rustyrodas

Rusty is a Golden Retriever who was adopted from a shelter. His Instagram is full of positivity, encouraging people to be more kind, and spreading the message of pet adoption.

*“Always make time for the things that make you feel happy to be alive. You know… like playing at the park and breakfast burritos…”*

He gets the top 5 spot for being an inspiration for happiness.

4. @itsdougthepug

Doug is a Pug! Arguably one of the most famous dogs in America, Doug has over 3 million Instagram followers, and celebrities are always posing for a picture with him.

He gets the top 4 spot for having the most creative posts and funny and relatable captions. (He loves pizza – a dog after my own heart!)

3. @drewbertcorgi

Don’t let the Instagram handle throw you off, @drewbertcorgi is actually Drewbert AND his little sister, Mona. Both Corgis (my absolute favorite dog breed), the pair are inseparable, but have very different personalities. Drewbert prefers his alone time, while Mona would rather get a belly rub.

“Love is kind and warm and fuzzy and full of wet puppy kisses.”

Drewbert and Mona get the top 3 spot for being the cutest siblings.

2. @harlowandsage

This Instagram account features Harlow, Sage, Indiana, Reese, and Ezra (oh my!). The family started with Harlow, a Weimaraner, and Sage, a mini Dachshund. It grew to include Indiana and Reese, both mini Dachshunds, and Ezra (the latest family member to join), a German Shepherd mix. Their owners are always bringing in new dogs to foster, which you can see in posts from time-to-time. Ezra actually used to be a foster dog who was later adopted into this family.

This account gets the top 2 spot for being the most mismatched family of all shapes and sizes that I hope to have someday (sorry, Mark).

1. @tibbythecorgi

And for the grand finale, Tibby Tibbles. My love for Tibby is unmeasurable. According to her bio, she is half lion and half corgi with a pinch of bunny, and that is the most accurate description of her. She is the fluffiest little dog (seriously, like 90% fluff) with the sassiest little face. If there was ever a question to what my spirit animal would be, it is undoubtedly Tibby.

*“Look Ma, No Legs! 😌😌 #NotThatSheHadMuchToBeginWith #NowItsJustLikeWhoLeftThisLoafHurr #WhyArePeopleWastingPerfectlyGoodBread?!”*

Tibby wins the top 1 spot of this list… and of my heart.

Thanks for reading October’s Top List! Stay tuned for next month!