I am surviving. I am still at school. Friday through Sunday was the fish and wildlife leadership retreat at Opal Creek, which was gorgeous. The Little North Santiam River reminds me of the rivers in Glacier - cold clear aquamarine water and slate colored rocks. There were huge icicles hanging off everything along the road we hiked in on - ferns, rocks..it was so beautiful. We did some "team-building" activities while Rebecca, our advisor, was there, and then just relaxed the rest of the time. It was a good opportunity to eat delicious food: vegan chilli with tomatoes, corn, and beans, whole wheat macaroni with newman's own sauce, organic greens, garlic bread. And even artificial pancakes with fakey syrup. It beat the co-op food for sure. One of the semi-permanent residents up there had an awesome black german shepherd. I want a dog :(. I had a good long talk with Emily, which has been useful for me as I set out to attempt sticking with my school plan and not killing myself. On the hike out I spotted fresh cougar tracks on the road and got to point those out to everyone, which was fun as most had never seen cougar tracks.

When I got back my jeep's birthday present to me was death. I had trouble starting it on Friday, but thought it was just the cold weather. Nope. Luckily all the fish and wildlife guys hadn't left the parking lot and they gave it a jump start. I then obtained a battery at Napa and had Ian put it in. Super nice! I love how guys always know how to do such practical jobs.

So I am totally of legal drinking age now. Last night Emily took me out to McMenamins, and I was not carded! I was somewhat appalled at this, as I still see myself as looking about 16. Emily ended up asking the bartender to card me as it was my 21st, and he gave us free kamakazes. They were quite lemony. Emily had a fuzzy navel while she suggested I have sex on the beach. It was pretty good. I finished it in an hour and a half. Of course I tried a few other things that my fellow drinkers ordered (Bill's white russian, which I really liked, the blueberi lemonade Emily ordered, and the fuzzy navel). Sasha, another fish and wildlifer, showed up later and had to buy me a drink too, much to my dismay as I really didn't want to feel any negative after-effects. She had it (a greyhound) made really weak but I still had Emily drink about half of it. A trip to the jukebox was the perfect opportunity to fake me drinking more of it. Matt (of fish and wildlife persuasion) offered to buy me petrone, which is I was informed a spendy tequila. But I passed on that. Today I felt fine when I got up, so yay for that. Of course I also had a gardenburger while I was there and spaced the drinking out ridiculously, so I don't think I was in any real danger.

Tonight Matt and I went out to Ruby Tuesday. Creole Catch = yummy. I do like my fish.
In other news, I am so learning tons of technical information about mammals now. Ask me about the mammary glands of the platypus. I totally know.