So i had a job interview....

Just checking in! Skyping with Jennica...have been listening to a helicopter that has been circling the block for the past 45 min. or so.  I had heard sirens right before that so I'm assuming they're looking for a fugitive? or just having fun wasting tax payer money.


5 hours later: 

That darn helicopter kept circling for about 2.5 hours. Never did find out what was going on...maybe it will be on the news.  It's now 10:21 pm. I just finished eating my tostadas w/ refried bean and avocados. Yum! I have towels in the dryer and some pumpkin bars cooling. Sitting here watching the latest episode of "Castle"...gotta love that show! :)

So I had an interview today @ the language college in Torrance.  As I was driving over, I realized that the gas light was on, but I was already on the freeway so I decided to just gas up when I got there. I got there about 30 min early so I drove around trying to find a gas station, but there weren't any in sight and my GPS wasn't working, so I was a little grouchy by the time I got back to the college for the interview.  So the interview SEEMED to go really, really well. If i were to get the job, I would be teaching three different classes: Conversation Skills, Reading, and Grammer/writing. The school has 5 different language levels and I think i would be teaching Level 2, 4, and 5.

I think I got along pretty well with the director. We sat there and chatted for a bit, I wasn't nervous at all, and I think I was pretty confident. The atmosphere seemed pretty laid back and relaxed. The school is actually located in an office building so it doesn't really look like a school. And it seems really small. The class sizes would be probably a min. of four and a max of 12. So it's sounds like a really, really great opportunity! She was interviewing one other person and said that she would let me know right away. She said perhaps even by the end of the day, but never heard from her. I think she will let me know either way, so I guess I'll find out tomorrow. Classes start on Wednesday morning, so if I DO get this job, then it will be a stressful couple days.

Sooooo...I've spent  the afternoon/evening waiting anxiously to hear something.....I hate waiting!!!!
Wow, I just had a moment of dejavu. I was thinking about the warehouse/business area that I was in for the interview today and it seemed familiar for a moment...like out of a dream that I had a few years ago. Weird!

Anyways, in other news. Here's what I did this past weekend:

Saturday:  

I skyped with Mom, Dad, and Jennica in the morning! :) 
Leonard came over to hang out for a bit...he rode over to the library with us in Rolling Hills Estates. (We had to take some library books back.)
We checked out the gift shop that they have there. They had some cute owl stuff!

I love these earrings!!!

When leaving the library, Diego headed the wrong way and we ran across this amazing view!

The pictures really don't do it justice! There was this really heavy mist and the mountains across the water looked like they were rising above the clouds...it was really beautiful!

It's difficult to see in this pictures, but there were a bunch of ships floating out in the watery mist.

Leonard showing off his purchase from the gift shop!

Me & Diego

We finally found our way back to San Pedro, just in time to meet up w/ D's family @ the Port O'calls Village @ an outdoor seafood restaurant. D's dad bought 7 pounds of shrimp!!! Now that's a lot of seafood! hehe

Just getting to the pier...they had already ordered the food!

Round 1!

The restaurant is right on the water! Super nice...

Next, are the drinks! A couple large pitchers of pop!

And here come the four huge boxes of shrimp w/ garlic bread!

Getting ready to chow down!

We sighted this adorable sea lion on one of the docks!

The mariachi band was going around from table to table...

At this point, everyone had their bellies full of seafood...well, except for me. I'm not a fan of shrimp, so I ate some garlic bread instead...

D's mom picking out the remaining shrimp...I think they had one large box left to take home...

Larry bought me a choc. covered strawberry!

A couple gigantic cruise ships drove past as we were sitting there...

There are quite a few cruise companies that are located in San Pedro so these are a common sight.

Although, I'd never seen one this close up before...

Me clutching my strawberry and gazing @ the monstrosity! haha As it was going past, all I could think of was the Titantic and how it sank. haha. I'm not a fan of cruise ships. D's Mom was saying that there is a cruise that goes from San pedro to Colima, Mexico ( her hometown). If I were to go on a vacation, I think I'd rather spend my time @ an actual location instead of being trapped on a huge boat. But that's just me....

D's parents were in a hurry to get back home, so they didn't stop by our apartment. But D's siblings came over for a bit.

It's not a big space, but we all fit in...

But then, not everyone was there...we were missing about 7 people..haha.

I was almost embarrassed to offer them the cupcakes I'd made because they looked so messy. I used the cream cheese frosting that I had leftover from the mango cake I'd made earlier in the week.  I tried to pipe it onto the cupcakes, but it was waaaay too runny, so ended up just spooning it on and adding some sprinkles. They didn't look the prettiest, but I always enjoy that chocolate cake recipe! They seemed to like them, so that's good. :)

Later on, we decided to go see a movie. We ended up going to see "Moneyball" , which I really enjoyed. It was a bit slow and boring in parts, but hey it's BASEBALL..a sport that, in my opinion, can be very long and tedious at times. :P But I think everyone enjoyed it. I was glad that we went. The story line was mainly about baseball, but also included some other topics...I think it was a great mix. I would give it a 7.5 out of 10. Here are a couple pics:

Waiting in line @ the theater...

People that went:  me, Diego, Larry, Alicia, Chicho, and Crystal

Well, I think that's all I'm going to share for tonight. I'll write some more tomorrow! I'll end with a couple more pictures...

All the yummy cupcakes before they were frosted...

I tried to add mango, but it didn't mix well with the cream cheese....

Oh, and this is a photo from today:

I got a surprise package in the mail today from Mom and Dad! And this is what was in it!!! Yay!!! I finally have some cooking utensils! And they are soooooo nice! I love, love, LOVE them! Mom bought pink for the fight against breast cancer! It's a pale pretty pink--gorgeous! And it's such high quality! I have never, ever had such a nice can opener! Yes, I am actually excited about a can opener! It's just that I have this thing--I always get crappy can openers. I started out buying the cheap ones and then moved on to the ones that were a little more expensive (i.e. $7) but they always end up being crappy. They don't work and it takes me forever to open those stupid cans and I usually end up with some sort of cut or scratch by the time I'm finished.  I could never bring myself to spend the money on a NICE one, but here it is! I used it tonight and it worked like a charm! It's amazing!!! ;) I LOVE it! Thanks Mom & Dad!!!!!!!

Well, that's it for now. I'm gonna hit the hay. Nighty night all!!!!

Time for another blog entry....

Ok, well I thought that I should write another update before the weekend. I just took some yummy smelling chocolate cupcakes out of the oven and i'm waiting for them to cool. I may as well do something productive while I wait. Speaking of productivity, I feel like I've gotten quite a few things accomplished today! I spent most of the morning finishing up my answers to some test questions for a job. The job would be an editor @ SQA, a local company that works for big name clients such as NASA and John Hopkins. If they like what I wrote, then i think they'll call me in for another test and an interview. So it sounds a bit nerve wracking!

Cupcakes baking in the oven...

Just waiting for them to cool so I can frost them!

Other things that I've accomplished today:  Lots of cleaning! I cleaned the bathroom, changed the bedsheets, vacuumed the entire apartment, fixed the sweeper, scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom floors, cleaned the kitchen and washed all the dishes, worked on budget and paid bills, made dinner, worked out, and baked some cupcakes! I still need to fold a bunch of towels (uck! i hate folding!) And I really need to do some laundry, but that will have to wait!

Things seem to be looking up a bit in my job search. At least I've been getting some calls!!! I have an interview scheduled for Monday afternoon about a job as a part time ESL teacher @ AOI College of Education in Torrance. I'm thinking they might be a bit desperate to fill this position. Schools usually want a teacher with previous ESL experience, which I don't have, so I'm surprised they're even considering me. The lady that I talked to said that the class would start on Wednesday the 5th! Yikes!!!!!  I think the class would be M-F from 9:00 am to 12:45. I don't know if I should start planning a syllabus in case they WOULD offer me the job or if I should even take the job if they DO offer it to me. I mean, i would love to take it! It sounds like a great experience! But what if SQA would offer me a full time job w/benefits? What if they would offer me the job AFTER I've already accepted the teaching job? But then, maybe neither place will offer me a job. Who knows....

I had an interview on Wednesday @ Sylvan Learning about a part time tutoring position. M-Thursday from 3:15 to around 7:30ish. They said they had a few more interviews and they would let me know. But I think they were interested in me. They told me to go ahead and get my TB test right away. So yeah, I have NO CLUE what the next couple weeks may hold! I hate things being up in the balance like this. I would like to know what's happening! I am thankful that things seem to be looking up job wise though. :)

Anyways, enough about the job hunt. Here are a couple pictures from earlier in the week. On Monday, I decided to go for a hike @ near the water. I hiked out to the rocks and sat there enjoying the scenery. That's when I noticed the guy out on a surfboard! He kind of blended in with the seaweed that was floating in the water and I didn't even see him until he rode one of the waves. It was kind of cool to watch. That's the first surfer I've really seen out here. I was a little worried because he kept going towards this big rock that was sticking slightly out of the water. I kept thinking, "what if he hits his head on the rock? What would I do?!" haha But thankfully, everything was ok.

See all that seaweed floating in the water?

See the little speck out in the midst of the water? That's the surfer!

After my hike, I decided to stop by the grocery store since it's on the way home. This is what $80 buys...haha.

 Of course, I was out of a bunch of basics like flour, sugar, etc. so that really adds up! I finally bought some of that yummy Mexican cheese that I love! So I've been eating a lot of bean/cheese tostadas the past week! hehe. And I got a great deal on the breaded chicken patties! They're originally $7.99 and I got them for only $4 and something! yay!

D's big boss was scheduled to come and check out the complex on Wednsday so Diego was super busy on Monday and Tuesday. I went and helped him organize/clean his shop because it was a MESS! Honestly, it was a huge job and there are still a ton of things that need to be done. It was really overwhelming just walking in and looking at all the junk! I swear they don't throw anything away! They keep everything in case they can reuse it. But I finally got a mental picture of how it could look and we got it cleaned up and arranged. We did the majority of the work on Monday night and finished it up on Tuesday evening.

D's supervisor is storing a bunch of things in the shop and had it all in a big pile. We stacked all of her things against the back wall and threw a drop cloth over it. Then we arranged the extra stoves and refrigerator in a line to kind of divide the room.

We put that big table in the center of the room next to the fridge to act as a workbench of sorts. That left a little corner in the back (behind the table) where we neatly stacked all the carts/tools. So all that junk was kind of hidden behind the desk. Kind of like a little storage area back there.

D's supervisor bought this to hang up on the 5th floor. I don't really think it goes with the decor though. i think it would look way better in Jennica's apartment! hehe

So yeah, D's big boss came on Wednesday and I guess things went really well! The boss said that the place had never looked this good! He gave a lot of compliments and had good things to say. He raved over the orginization of the shop and said that maybe he would have D go arrange some of his other shops. ( He owns multiple properties) I think D was a little nervous about that since I'm basically the one that arranged it! haha He had told Margo ( his supervisor) that I'd helped him, but she was really talking him up to the big boss. So hopefully they won't ever send him anywhere to actually organize, because he would be in big trouble! ;) hehe

Homemade pizza that I made on Tuesday....I've REALLLY been  hungry for a hamburger pizza. yum!

Yummy bean tostadas w/ avocado that I've been eating...ive been using canned beans though. They would taste a lot better with home cooked beans....

I've also tried a couple new recipes this week: mango cake and pumpkin spice latte, but I'll save those for a different entry. Happy Friday everyone! Thanks for reading! :)