living sacrifice

Boogie Woogie

2005-04-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

There is a such a satisfied feeling after you are done with a test. I was up til 3 studying for both midterms but I think I did pretty well on both. I am glad Ashley is in my educ class because I wouldn't have studied as well without her.

I am at work right now but everyone is in a conference so here I am. I got their car washed and the oil changed. It is busy out. Cars everywhere. I witnessed 2 almost-crashes. This is why I miss the bus.

I am going to Lancaster this weekend with Cindy to visit my cousins. Yippee!

I wish I had something exciting to write about since I finally have time with absolutely nothing else to do. My eye keeps twitching.

Ack I Need to Study

2005-04-19T21:26:00.000-07:00

I ate Baobab fruit today. It tasted like dried apples to me, but other people said it was like sour candy. Maybe because I taste with the front of my tongue instead of the back.

There were people flyfishing on a lawn on campus today.

Pineapples and Zuchinni (mmm my favorites)

2005-04-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

College is weird. When else in my life am I going to get up at 9 on a Tuesday and go to school at 10? It seems unnatural. I have two midterms tomorrow that I am going to busy tonight studying for.

Interesting things I learned in biology yesterday:

pineapples and bananas don't have seeds, so they can't reproduce on their own.
a tomato is a fruit. Technically it is a berry. But legally it is a vegetable because the gov't taxes vegetables and not fruit.
blackberries are not berries; they are aggregate fruits
a zuchinni is a fruit. Fruits enclose seeds; vegetables are just random plant parts.
speaking of pineapple and zuchinnis, I had a really good rice bowl that had pineapple and zuchinni and snap peas and chicken and teriyaki
oops I am late for class. Bye!

Funny in Farsi

2005-04-18T00:43:00.000-07:00

If you want to read a good book, I recommend Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas. I had to read it for my educ207 class and it is quite entertaining but also brings up a lot about cultural differences and immigrants and stuff like that. And it only took me a few days to read, which always makes a book good for me. Here is a quote from it, to give you a small taste:

“The Limoges set has brought us more joy in its absence that it ever did in our cupboards. Of course, we no longer own a set of china to pass down to our kids, but that’s okay. Francois and I plan on giving our children something more valuable, the simple truth that the best way to go through life is to be a major donator of kindness. We’ll tell them that it’s possible to own a whole bunch of beautiful, valuable things and still be miserable. But sometimes just having a recipe for chocolate Bundt cake can make a person far, far happier.”

Ready for Monday? I'm not! :) Have a good week!

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

2005-04-17T02:10:00.000-07:00

Please don't read this unless you are really bored.

If Kim desires for pancakes in the morning, she will decide that it makes more sense to make the batter at 1:30pm instead of in the morning.

If she decides that it makes more sense to make the batter at 1:30pm instead of in the morning, she will not have sense to make sure there is enough milk.

If she does not have sense to make sure there is enough milk, her pancake batter will lack the crucial ingredient of milk.

If her pancake batter lacks the crucial ingredient of milk, she will use some of the condensed milk in the cupboard.

If she uses some of the condensed milk in the cupboard, she will have leftover condensed milk.

If she has leftover condensed milk, she will decide to make the corn chowder that she bought the condensed milk for.

If she decides to make the corn chowder that she bought the condensed milk for, she will need the bowl that has the tuna casserole in it.

If she needs the bowl that has the tuna casserole in it, she will transfer the tuna casserole to another bowl and wash that bowl.

If she transfers the tuna casserole to another bowl and washes that bowl, she will be up until 2:30 in the morning.

All I wanted was pancakes.

Public Nuisance

2005-04-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

I thought of a couple things that I wanted to write on my blog. Why these things are more important to me than the rest of my thoughts is something that a pyschoanalyst might want to investigate.

Sara gave me one of those banana holders that sit on your counter. It has palm trees on it and I like it. Someone gave it to her and she gave it to me.

I was sitting in my liberal studies class, looking out the window at Bishop's Peak. I was thinking how pretty it was and then I realized how incredibly lucky I am to live here. I get to look out my window and see and absolutely gorgeous green mountain/hill with a bright blue sky. This is what people dream about. What they pay big bucks and go on vacation to see out their window. What people paint on pictures because they can't have the real thing out their window. Wow.

Oh and I didn't say anything about work. I like our new office -- it is quiet. But we don't have cabinets yet so I have to go from the break room (temp storage) back to the tables to get anything done. The most exciting part of this work week was going to the Pacific Home Do-It Center to get copies of keys made. I strolled through their beautiful garden section and longed for a garden of my own. The most boring part of my work week was helping Kristina write stuff that used the Stockton General Plan. I came across a page of ordinances all about the many nuisances of public telephones. Note this is an official public government document. Here is an example of one: Any pay telephone used as an instrumentality for, or contributing substantially by its presence to, lewd acts, is hereby declared to be a public nuisance.

I Finally Have Time to Write in My Blog

2005-04-16T21:46:00.000-07:00

Fabulous! Today was sooo good but I didn't get any homework done -- oops! Today was a Sara day. First I went to the laundrymat with Sara and did a load of laundry (aren't you shocked?) While we were waiting for our laundry, we went across the street to a restaurant called the Tiki Hut and got really yummy rice bowls and ate them on in the bed of Sara's trunk under the nice hot sun. Then we went to get her hair cut and she got me a frappuchino and her hair looks super-cute now. I tried to get ink at Best Buy, but they were out. So I guess I will have to stop at Staples on my way home from work on Monday. Sara and I then spent way too much time and way too much money at Mervyns. It was fun. I needed some nicer clothes for observing in the classroom and also I just wanted some more clothes because I really don't have many that I like. I got a pair of gray pants, a new pair of nice black sandals, and four shirts. We then ate tortelinnis at her house. I will miss her if she goes to France.

Ashley and I looked at an apartment today that I think is just what we are looking for so hopefully Joanne and Michelle will like it too. It is right down the street from where we are now and has two big bedrooms and two bathrooms and two parking spaces and a kitchen and a living room and is furnished as has a 10 month lease. And I won't have to drive to school!

Last night Sara and Helena came over and we watched Spanglish and got take-out Mexican food and baked a cake. Busy school weeks help me enjoy the weekend more, I think.

This quarter has been crazy so far. Crazy but good. Here is an overview of my classes:
Biology 114: Plant Diversity
This is a fun class. Two days a week I learn about plants from a guy who is so excited about them and I like plants so I can be excited with him. Then two days a week we either do labs or field trips with a guy named "Joe Mello" and his name fits him perfectly. He is a really cool guy and the labs and the field trips are fun. Here is a picture from the Horse Canyon field trip (I wish I had brought my camera!)

Liberal Studies 230: Observation
I am observing a 2nd grade classroom at Bishop's elementary school in Ms. Schmidt's but have only been once so far. I am supposed to just be observing, but since I have funny hours that I am there, I have to help out grading papers since the kids are at lunch/home for part of the time (shhhh don't tell my instructor.) My first day was good. I have sooooo much to learn before I will be able to be a teacher. I wonder what grade I will want to teach. Ms. Schmidt suggested I get my single subject credential, but I think I would rather have my own class of kids than just teach boring math all day.
Liberal Studies x213
Don't ask me why there is an x as part of that class's title because I don't know. This class is a ton of reading, but luckily she just changed it so we won't have to take notes on the reading and so hopefully it will go much faster. So far I am learning all about ancient civilizations. I find the information fascinating, but I was spending at least 12 hours per week on the reading (ahhh!) so it wasn't my favorite class. My biggest struggle with this is how Christianity fits in with it. I don't understand how there can be so so so many people in the world before the Bible was even written. We play jeopardy ever week in this class and Ashley and I are good and get our team lots of points.
Education/Child Development 207
Ashley and Joanne are in this class with me. I have two instructors for this class. Wednesdays I have a good teacher who teaches on child development and cultural things and all this interesting information. Fridays I have a kind of funny teacher who treats us as 5th graders but also presents interesting information. We have book reports on elementary books. Last week I wrote a fake newspaper article. I think I'm going to decorate a trash can for my next one. We talked about racism on Friday. It shocks me how much racism is still around and how the Civil Rights Movement really wasn't that long ago. We watched a video on those nine black students who first went to a white school and they are still young! Crazy.
English 253
English teachers are strange. My last one was the sanest I have had. This one is fairly sane, but a bit egocentric, I think. He likes to hear himself talk, and luckily for me he talks about pretty interesting things. Last class we talked read The Kreutzer Sonata by Tolstoy and talked about women and sex and society. He makes a lot of broad assumptions that maybe I will have the energy to talk about in another class (I was on minimal sleep last class.) Perhaps I am really in the few that aren't sexually active, but I think there are more. Or maybe I am deceived and live in such an isolated Christian culture that I don't realize that every single person in my class wants to have sex right now. Who am I to judge? Better yet, who is my teacher to judge? He also talks a lot about how important brand-name clothes are to everyone. They are not to me. So there. I think he tries to make a statement against this by wearing a black tshirt and black pants to every single class.

Oy this is a lot of writing! But I still need to talk about wonderful women's retreat last weekend. Here is a picture of some of my Bible study and then Ashley being oh-so-pretty:

We went to Mt. Hermon near Santa Cruz. We slept in cabins (I got a top bunk!) and met in a central meeting room and dining room. Carrie Walker, some hot-shot national Campus Crusade leader spoke for the retreat. Her talks were good and I got a lot to chew on. For free time we went down to Santa Cruz and walked around thrift shops. We ate at New Leaf market where they have yummy sandwiches and had the best ice cream every at Marianne's -- I had Kahlua Krunch and Cinnomon Caramel. Mmmmmm

Well I am supposed to be reading now so reading I will now be doing.

Cesar Chaves Day

2005-03-31T19:12:00.000-08:00

I can't talk for long because I have to go read for my four classes, so I will make this short. Today was Cesar Chavez day (no school!) and I was going to do homework, but you simply cannot ask a girl to do homework on a day as gorgeous as this. I had four hours of sleep and so I went to Starbucks in the morning to wake me up! I worked from 8-noon unpacking boxes and putting together chairs. Oh funny story -- I went to work and no one was there and the building was empty! They moved without telling me! Our new office is very nice, though, so I forgive them. I went to Mo's for lunch with Stacey, Amanda, Erin, Laura, and Ashley and then to Bali's. Mmm. Then we went to Cuesta Park (a very nice park with a stream and everything that I had never heard of) and played soccer and then to Thomas' to play basketball. It was sooo nice. And I just finished my book report. Yay!

Since I have no one to complain to, I will complain to you. Actually I find this a bit amusing. Injuries I inflicted on myself in the past 24 hours:

I burnt my tongue because I am used to my old microwave and tried to make tea in Erin's new one.
Broke my toenail somehow when I was putting chairs together.
Made my fingers and thumbs ouchie from screwing in screws and pushing those black screw-covers onto chairs.
Scraped up my knees when I tripped over Ashley on the pokey grass. (She says she pushed me, so maybe this wasn't self-inflicted.)
Stapled my finger. I was always curious how people stapled their fingers. Now I know. It is an interesting pain because since the staple goes about halfway into your finger, it is more of an ache than a sharp pain. Don't try it, though.

Days Go By

2005-03-29T23:05:00.000-08:00

Well the first two days of school have been interesting.

My first education class was a shock. The teacher talks to us like we are in elementary school. "And where would you find a book if you didn't want to buy it? Where is the year of the book found?" And I have a book report due Friday on a elementary school book. All throughout the class I wanted to laugh because it is all just so foreign to me. I am looking forward to it, though. And Ashley and Joanne are in it. Oh but I don't know if I am in it yet b/c I'm not enrolled yet and so I have been going to Linguistics too, which has actually been kind of interesting.

Bio lab today was pretty basic but interesting. The best was looking through a microscope at a plant. It was so awesome seeing the cell wall and the chloroplasts moving around to chase the light. I just stared at it for a long time and smiled. There are so many perspectives you can see things from. And things are so intriquite and interesting. My lab teacher's name is Joe Mello. Haha. His name fits.

English was traumatic. I went to room 311, and was on the late side, but another guy walked in the same time as me so I thought I was fine. The prof had already started talking and I looked around and people had about four lines of notes so I figured he had started a little early. This guy was a nut case. He rambled about how the romantics searched for ideals and something about neo-classicism, and something about the universe being inside us, and then got on a rant about how no one has positive thoughts and somehow it is connected to the fact that living is expensive. I endured a half an hour of that torture and was seriously thinking of dropping the class. Then I realized that the prof had gotten really good ratings on polyratings, so I got to wondering if I was in the right class. I asked the person behind me what section this was. It was 12. I was supposed to be in 13. Dang it. This class was from 5-7. Mine was from 6-8. Dang it again. So I left and was quite distressed and Ashley was at work so I called Thomas and asked him the room number of my classroom. It was 211, not 311. Oops. So I went down a floor, fearing that I was going to be dropped already. But he hadn't taken roll yet! And he had just gone over the syllabus and I was soooooo happy.

I have lots of reading now and here I am procrastinating!

Spring Break is O-o-over

2005-03-28T13:16:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day of spring quarter and I still don't know what classes I am taking. I crashed an LS class, but I won't know if she lets me in until Wednesday so I have to take a linguistics class also, which is dumb because I am really not doing work for either of them, but still have to go to the classes since I don't know which one I will be in. And I need to get my books and that is just nonsense also.

Joanne and Michelle might live with us next year. Ashley is looking for housing.

Spring break was good. I have told so many people about that I don't feel like writing about it here, but the Urban Immersion trip was good. I met new people and learned new things. We'll leave it at that. The weekend at home was super-fun too. Friday night Steven's choir had a singing-thingy at the Marketplace and it was really good and Steven sounded muy bien and I took pictures. Then we went to Gina's and waited forever for our salad and calzone, but it was fun watching them run around trying to making pizzas with the big rush of people that came in after the singing.

On Saturday I went with Cindy and Grammy to the botanical gardens and it was beautiful with many brilliant flowers. Cute kids roamed about everywhere as an aftermath of an easter egg hunt. And the highlight was a big sculpture made out of pussywillows called "Toad Hall." In the afternoon I mowed the lawn and made a cake-like substance for Mom's birthday. :) We had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner and played pinochle and watched Little House on the Prarie.

Sunday -- Happy Easter! Everyone went to 8am church and a breakfast smorgasbord at GSLC and then we went to Cindy and Glenn's for Easter lunch! Mmmmm lots of food! We played pinochle and walked around Cindy's yard and then my cousins came and then Lori came!

Spring Rain

2005-03-18T16:29:00.000-08:00

"I wondered if when we take Christian theology out of the context of its narrative, when we ignore the poetry in which it is presented, when we turn it into formulas to help us achieve the American dream, we lose its meaning entirely, and the ideas become fodder for the head but have no impact on the way we live our lives or think about God. This is, perhaps, why people are so hostile toward religion." -- Donald Miller, Searching for God Knows What

Finals are done and Spring Break is here! Yee-haw, yippee, wa-hoooooo!

Last night was simply wonderful. After my final at 7pm, Sara came over and were going to go the craft store to get crafts, but it was closed. We took an enormous detour because I got off on the wrong exit and somehow did a huge loop and ended up where I started. :) So we went to the grocery store instead and got chocolate and butterscotch chips to make cookies (so much for giving up sweets for Lent....) We made cookies and were just plain goofy all evening. I put 4 cups of flour in the cookies instead of two.... oops!!! We had an interesting time trying to scoop out the extra flour. :) While they were baking we made Easter cards. I made one for Mimi and one ugly one that I gave to Erin and Stacey along with some cookies that they really liked. So at 11:30 I went to Erin's and we caught up on everything since we don't see each other too much and it was really nice to talk to her. I came back at 1:30 and did dishes for half an hour (there were a lot of dishes from just one day!) and then spent an hour packing and then went to bed at 3:15 but it was OK since I didn't get up til 10!

Today I was at first a bit sad b/c I wanted to go home earlier, but then I decided to just enjoy the day here and enjoy it I did. I had my quiet time in the morning and then went to lunch at Veranda with Erin since she works here. She sneaked out a sandwich for us to split on her break. :) Then I went shopping!!! Every time I go to Mervyns there is a sale. I bought two bras (that I spent forever picking out), a new pillow for $5 that is not so squished and hopefully won't kink my neck, and a new purse for $3. Then I passed a homeless lady with a sign and I felt really sorry for her because it is cold and rainy outside so I went to Albertsons and bought some healthy food plus a candy bar and brought it back to her and when I got there there was another man with her, so I hope they both get enough to eat and don't freeze in the rain. They were very friendly. Soon Ashley should be back and then I am going home and tomorrow to LA!

2005-03-14T18:54:00.000-08:00

"He said jazz music was invented by the first generation out of slavery. I thought that was beautiful, because, while it is music, it is very hard to put on paper; it is so much more a language of the soul. It is as if the soul is saying something, something about freedom. I think Christian spirituality is like jazz music. I think loving Jesus is something you feel. I think it is something very difficult to get on paper. But it is no less real, no less meaningful, no less beautiful." -- Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

This morning we gave our "life philosophy" speeches as our final speech in scom 102. I learned a lot through the experience about other people. There were so many different philosophies people had on life. The first few people who went seemed to have their life pretty together. But by the end I had heard some pretty awful life philosophies. I think I had it in my mind that people pretty much have their lives together. But I saw so much pain and depression in those people. It made me want to reach out to them and tell them that God loves them more than they can imagine.

At work today I didn't really do work. Kristina asked if I wanted to go to Morro Bay with her to take pictures of a historic rock wall and a quarry where they might dump sledge from the marina. So we basically got to spend a few hours doing what I would do on my free time and I got paid for it. We hiked up a bit of a trail and it was so pretty overlooking the estuary and their were tons of wildflowers -- big, bright monkeyflower bushes, buttercups, California poppies, blue-eyed something, and lots of other flowers that I can't name. Here are a couple pictures she took, but they certainly don't express the beauty of it.

I just spent an hour talking to Marissa, my discipler this quarter. It was a good time. I enjoy good conversations about things that really matter.

Orchestral Music Melts My Heart

2005-03-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

I wanted to comment on all the pieces played at the Cal Poly Wind Orchestra & Ensemble last night, but I lost my program. O Magnum Mysterium was beautiful, and all the other ones they played were wonderful too, and more fast-paced. One had amazing percussion instruments, including a cup attached to a string or something and a hammer and a screwdriver, if my eyes served me well. There is something so pure and beautiful about a concert. Sigh. I am glad Sara likes things like these also.

I saw Bride and Prejudice and The Girl With the Pearl Earring. Both good, but not fabulous, movies. Joanne, Michelle, Ashley, and I went to IHOP for breakfast. I hadn't done anything with them for ages and it was good to see them again.

I'm Sleepy

2005-03-11T21:04:00.000-08:00

Mr. Heron is no longer my friend. I saw him eat a poor squealing rodent. It was cold and foggy at Montana de Oro today, even though it was sunny here. I saw lots of bunnies and stink beetles.

Why are there only two joints in my big and little toes and three in the middle ones? This is what I was pondering today as I was reading some nonsense about agricultural land at work today. Someone came and fixed the Xerox machine.

I could not go to sleep last night. I laid there for an hour and then walked around like a loony person for a while and then listened to a sermon on tape for an hour and then finally fell asleep around 3am. Then woke up at 7am to go to class. Surprisingly, I wasn't tired all day until now.

Busted Knee

2005-03-10T19:11:00.000-08:00

Today was the most beautiful day so far this year. The sun was shining and it was warm and happy outside! I worked on my essay for a couple hours on my porch outside and during English corrected someone else's essay out on the grass. Sooooooo nice outside.

Just in time for shorts weather, I have a lovely 3 inch bruise below my knee (yup, I measured it.) I must admit I am a bit proud of my battle wound from soccer. Some girl tripped me on Tuesday and I fell on the hard gym floor. I think I killed some nerves or something b/c part of it is still kind of numb. Our last game was pretty lousy, though. I was thinking about it, and probably everyone's last game wasn't their greatest except for the overall champions, since your last game always has to be a losing game. But hey, we made it to the semi-finals and actually grew quite a bit as a team. It was fun. I highly recommend IM sports.

Finals are next week and then Spring Break!

The Hills Are Alive

2005-03-07T21:20:00.000-08:00

I am watching The Sound of Music again. I love this movie.

I jammed the Xerox machine today. I think it is broken for good. Oops. I don't think it was my fault, but I wasted so much time trying to fix it. Arg. The rest of my day wasn't too good from then on. But when Ashley came home from work she cheered me up and we had dinner at 8 and now we are watching the most wonderful movie ever and doing homework all at the same time. :)

I only have one more week of school and then finals. This quarter flew by. Then Spring Break which I haven't decided if I am excited about yet. And then I will have a new busy quarter. Oh speaking of busyness, here is a quote from Captain von Trapp: "Activity suggests a life filled with purpose." Something to think about.

"I am sixteen, going on seventeen..." I remember when I used to watch this movie and think of when I was going to be sixteen. Probably thought I would have a boyfriend named Rolph by then. Heehee. Guess that didn't work out.

Tsunami Run!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-03-06T13:22:00.000-08:00

The Tsunami Fund Run yesterday was AMAZING. I had prayed all week for sun and it was the most gorgeous day we have had all year. Friday was drizzly gloomy and Saturday the first thing I did was open my door to check the weather and the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky and I was so happy! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! My class has been working for nine weeks getting everything organized, getting sponsors, and spreading the word about this event. Saturday we had the signs ready, the food bought, the t-shirts made, the registration forms out in people's hands, and we had about sixty people signed up. Each person had to pay $25 to run the 5K (which turned out to be shorter b/c someone marked the course wrong) and they got a tshirt and a tri-tip BBQ. Saturday morning my class all gathered at Laguna Lake Park at 8am and began setting up, not really knowing who would show up, but planning for 100-150 people. I made two balloon arches which was fun and about 10am people started showing up. By 11, we had almost THREE HUNDRED people! I think everyone in my class was on cloud 9. We actually pulled this thing off. My teacher and I made a mad dash to Smart and Final to buy more food, so I didn't see any of the race, but everyone I talked to had a good time. We ran out of tshirts, and so were giving away three different types of tshirts (luckily they were all light blue.) It was craziness but so much fun. I got to eat lunch with Sara and Erin and Jessie and Marissa, who ran in the race. Then popped all the balloons in my balloon arch and went home. I was exhausted and took an hour-long nap that made me feel worse, so I just had a couch-potato evening, watching Harry Potter and then The Sound of Music. Oh but God definitely had his hand in this event. So exciting. If you want to look at the organization we are supporting go to VeAhavta's website.

Friday night was Night of the Oscars, a dinner with Campus Crusade where we watch videos that people make. Sara picked me up and we got dressed all pretty-like and went to Jessie's to have her do our hair. The dinner was good. They served chicken cordon bleu, which no one at my table had ever heard of. I thought that was kind of weird. The movies were funny, but it was freezing in the auditorium and I wanted to go home before I turned into a popsicle. Then I went to Sara's and we watched The Importance of Being Earnest with her friend Chris. I fell asleep halfway through the movie. :)

Oasis

2005-03-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

This morning my boss was super-annoyed at his bosses who are trying to micromanage him, so he took us all out to lunch for a company meeting to talk about the logistics of the upcoming move. We didn't talk much about it, but that was fine with me and I got a free lunch at a Moroccan restaurant called "the Oasis." The restaurant is lit with just ornate lamps, and cloth lines the ceiling and the walls in interesting patterns. I sat on a couch-like thing and had almond chicken in a honey-cinnamon sauce. Since I missed an hour of work for that lunch, I decided to stay an extra half-hour to finish what I was doing. Unfortunately, I didn't know that the bus has a different schedule on Fridays so I waited what seemed like forever for my bus and didn't go to English because I would have been late. I cleaned my apartment instead.

Photoshoot with a Heron

2005-03-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

Though Montana de Oro means Mountain of Gold, this morning the land is bursting with purple. I begin walking through the field of purple and white flowers that majestically shroud the landscape. A vole, or mole, or some small creature scurries out from beneath my feet into his hole. The late morning air is filled with songs of birds and crashing waves. As I round the bend, I am caught between the triple-syllabled calls of three red-winged blackbirds. The bird's beautiful yet harsh song jumps over and around me, to be echoed by the other two as they avoid my camera's lens. I continue down the earthen path marked with puddles left behind from the recent rains. Sparrows bathe in the shallow pools, sending round ripples over the water. In the distance I see a large object, maybe a man. As I approach it I see that it is a heron, standing on the green plateau of grass. He is cleaning his feathers, unaware of my presence. Such an odd, prehistoric-looking bird. I wonder at how he maintains his graceful movements with such a large, oval shaped body. He scratches his face, much as a dog or even a person would do. As I slowly circle him, I imagine him lazy, waiting for the very last moment before he makes an effort to flee. His body constantly changes shapes, sometimes straight and tall and he watches and listens to me, other times with a beatifully curved neck and slight crown, perfectly shaped as an artist would paint him against the hazy blue water. When finally I invade his comfort zone, he spreads his huge, curved wings and floats lazily to the next bluff. I turn back to avoid the muddy path, and the morning changes from quiet mystery to bright and vivid as the clouds drift along, letting the sun beat down upon the earth and my skin. The tide is low, and walk down the steps to the shore that is covered with smooth stones. Schoolchildren find sea stars and anenomies scattered admist the hundreds of round, walking shells. I rise again to the bluffs, and the sun has woken the greenery. I no longer breathe air, but breathe the thick, dense perfume created by the plants that permeates my body.

We Won!

2005-03-01T23:12:00.000-08:00

Wooooooo hooooooo we won our quarter-finals in 4x4 soccer! It was a most exciting game and I ran like a crazy person the whole time I was in and thought I was going to die. It went into 5 min overtime and Andres scored the winning goal! I almost made a goal (Ashley set it up perfectly but of course I missed -- she forgave me because I'm not an offender.) Well I need to go help my bro with his english and take a shower -- adios!

Because I'm Tired of Writing Full Sentences

2005-03-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

Breakfast and a Bible in a garden at Linnea's.
No more tripping over a long green wire, thanks to Steven's help setting up a wireless router.
A calzone with Sara at Pizza Solo.
Watching Ray, which was much different than I expected.
No school until 3pm.
Excited about our soccer game tonight.

I Love the Hammorks

2005-02-27T23:20:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning I awoke and crawled down from the top bunk and ate two bowls of cereal while watching country music videos. Then I read on the big comfy couch with the weiner dogs. I want a dog. Someday, when I can afford to pay for all the food and doctor stuff and everything that goes along with a dog. We ate homemade beef stew for lunch and when Sammy got back from soccer, we went to Kohl's and then to a movie: In Good Company. I enjoyed it. Then we came home and had pizza for dinner and watched Forrest Gump. I love that movie. I have watched it so many times and still could watch it again right now.
This morning we went to Saddleback church which was super-exciting because I like that church and was tempted to move to Mission Viejo just so I could go to that church. There are soooooo many people there. We went to the gospel venue in one of the big tents and then listened to Rick Warren on the big screen. Then we cleaned up and drove to Riverside to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant and look at the tract house that they are going to buy to stick on their land that they bought. I didn't imagine them looking nice but the one they are going to buy is really nice and they get to pick out colors and carpet and everything and it is huge! 3432 square feet.... I wonder how big our house at home is. Then we went to Ashley's to watch the Academy Awards and then back to SLO where it is raining. I got to talk to my mommy for a long time on the phone which was nice. Well I am super-tired and am going to bed but I had a great fantastic weekend that was so much fun.

D-Land

2005-02-26T13:18:00.000-08:00

I turned in my research paper and gave my speech (whew) and played hookie from work and English and went to Disneyland and California Adventure! Ashley, Chip, and I arrived around 4 and stayed til midnight, but if seemed like we were there the whole day. We went on Tower of Terror twice (say that three times fast), took a tour of a Boudin bakery and a Mission tortilla factory, and ate Clam Chowder in a Sourdough bowl (that was soooooo good). They had Mickey-shaped Boudin loaves for sale. Then we went on the giant Ferris Wheel overlooking the lake colored with the lights of all the rides and the ride that shoots you up high... I don't remember what it is called. Then we scrambled through all the people waiting for the electrical parade to Tower of Terror right before the park closed. Our picture was awesome. At the top of the ride, they take your picture right before it falls and most people are screaming, but Ashley and Chip and I were looking at the map with pondering faces, like confused tourists. I wanted to buy it but the cheapest one was $17 (yikes)! We caught the end of the electrical parade and then squirmed our way through the crowds over to Disneyland. We went in the Animation place and had fun drawing pictures that you put in those things that spin and you look through the hole. Mine was a whale jumping out the water and it actually worked. Then we recorded our voices over a clip from Bambi and Alice and Wonderland. Then we went got a cookie and ate it at Pizza Port because Chip wanted pasta and they have the best pasta there. We met Cynthy and Sammy and went on Star Tours, which I don't think I have been on since I was seven years old. We continued to the Matterhorn and Big Thunder Mountain and then got white hot chocolate and went home. Soooooooo much fun.

Mwah ha ha

2005-02-23T12:46:00.000-08:00

I am a work-ditcher this week. Monday was a holiday so I didn't go. Today I went but there was no one there and I don't have a key so I waited an hour and then went to Firestone's and had a delicious tri-tip sandwich and watched a truck deliver flowers to the flower stand. Pussy willows remind me of my childhood. Did we used to have pussy willows in the garage? Because I feel like we did, but my memory often fails me. Also, was there a painting or something with kittens and pussy willows? And now I have time to work on my research paper and speech! Hooray! Oh and on Friday I might call in sick and go to Disneyland instead. Shame, shame. :)

A Candle , a Dictionary, and Hot Tea

2005-02-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

Even though I only have one class on Mondays, having it off made the weekend seem much longer. That, and I took work off.

Friday afternoon Helena came over, but she could only stay a couple hours. I planned my schedule for next quarter (which takes a long time since there is lots of strategy involved now that waitlisting is an option.) Ashley and I watched Dirty Dancing and then Sammy, Cynthy, and Toni came up to visit!

Saturday was a very strange day.... it kind of felt like a dream. Speaking of dreams, I had an awful dream about giving my speech completely unprepared last night. Anyways, on Saturday we woke up and made chocolate-chip waffles and eggs and bacon. The apartment smelled like breakfast the whole day. We saw a movie: "Million Dollar Baby" at 12:30. It is up for best picture at the Academy Awards. And it is about boxing, not a baby. Then we picked up a movie from Hollywood Video and went to Subway for lunch, but I didn't want anything there so I had tuna glop at home. We played Mexican train and played darts at Thomas'. Then Cynthy brought us Mexican food and we watched "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."

Sunday we went to church and then since Ashley's cousins were going through Santa Barbara on the way home and Ashley's parents were coming back up here on Monday, we went with them. So we came home and packed and washed the ant-covered dishes and went to Margie's Diner for lunch. I split a burger and had a ton of french fries. When I got home around 4 I thought the doorbell was broken, but in fact the power was out. Steven and I had quite an adventure. I had reading to do, so we did that until it got dark, then I found a candle, but it was quite flickery and not very bright. So I got a lantern from the garage, but there were no batteries. We read by flashlight for a while, and for some reason this whole evening I kept looking up words in the dictionary. I don't remember what they are now, but I'm sure they were interesting words. Then we went out through the pouring rain and gusty winds to get dinner and batteries. Batteries were on sale at Longs so I got lots, and then we went to Carrows for dinner and I ate yummy soup and salad and cornbread and it was quite an enjoyable evening out with my brother. We came home and I was cold, so we made a fire in the fireplace and I finished my reading sort-of by the fireplace, but it wasn't very comfortable, so ended up on the couch with a lantern. I made tea (the stove is gas, luckily) and watching the steam backlit by the lantern was the coolest thing ever. Swirly currents. Then we played Scrabble, with some interesting rules regarding the connotation of words, until the power came on at 12:15.

Monday morning I washed my towels and waited for the Huberts to pick me up, which they did at noon. I met my parents and Cindy and Glenn at the Apple Farm as they stopped through on their way back from Yosemite to have lunch with me! Then from 3pm-1am I worked on my essay and my speech, taking a short break for homemade vegetable soup that Sara made. And I was so tired I felt like I was melting into my bed.

Stuck on a Corner

2005-02-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't go to Bible study. Sara picked me and Ashley up to go to Jessie's, which is right around the corner. When we got in the car I told Sara that she was really low on gas, and she hadn't even noticed, so she decided to go to the gas station before Bible study because she was running on fumes. (She had stalled on the way here, but didn't realize it was b/c she was out of gas.) So on the corner of Foothill and whatever road the detour is on we ran out of gas. Luckily that point is super-close to the gas station, so I stayed with the car while Sara and Ashley went to the gas station and got 2 gallons of gas (helped by some very strange gas station workers.) But they didn't give us a funnel, so when they got back the truck, we had a tank of gas, but no way to get it inside the truck. Sara and Ashley tried, but only succeeded in pouring half the tank on Sara. So Ashley called Thomas and he went to RiteAid and bought a kitchen funnel. While he was there, someone got pulled over right behind us, lied to the cop, and was doing something that was a misdemeanor. I'm not sure what, b/c I couldn't hear, but it was kind of exciting to watch anyways. So then Thomas showed up and he and Sara got gas into the tank and then Sara and I went to the gas station to fill up the rest of the way. Excitement!

Malaysia

2005-02-17T19:54:00.000-08:00

I want to go to Malaysia. I have a speech on the people of Malaysia and I have been researching and mostly getting distracted looking at photographs of the region and it is beautiful and looks like an exciting place to visit, especially if you went during the Malaysian festival in September. There are three different ethnic groups, complete with three distinct cultures complete with food and holidays and religions. And there are flowers and birds and big cities and small villages... Anyone want to take a month off and go with me? :)

Yesterday I spent three hours organizing business cards at work. The funny thing is, I kind of enjoyed it.

I love tuna glop. Or tuna casserole, if the word "glop" is unappetizing to you. But it is not really casserole since I made it in a pot and didn't bake it. I think casseroles have to be baked. But I'm not sure. And you must eat it with peas.

A Story for Your Entertainment

2005-02-07T23:27:00.000-08:00

In public speaking this morning we had an impromtu speech. I had to ramdomly pick three pieces of paper, each of which had a word on it, and somehow give a speech about it. I picked "waitress," "deserted island," and "dry erase markers."

My speech went a little something like this:

Last summer, I was a waitress at Tahoe Joe's. It was a good job, and I was making good tips, but I really wanted to become a teacher. That was my goal. And so I started collecting teaching supplies: paper, posters, dry erase markers.... and these were my prized possessions. I kept them in my room like a little shrine.
One day I was waitressing at Tahoe Joe's, and a cute guy named Johnny said "hi" to me. He looked suprisingly like Johnny Depp, which I was happy about. We talked for a bit, and then he asked me if I wanted to go on a cruise with him. Since I was kind of bored with my job and he was cute, I said, "sure, why not?" And I went home and packed all my stuff: clothes, some food, my toothbrush, and of course all my teaching supplies.
Well, it turns out that he wasn't taking me on a cruise, but on a pirate ship! We sailed for a couple weeks and ended up on a deserted island. And I was like, "oh great. I am really in trouble now." So I searched all over the island for something to make a raft or a signal fire or something with, but there was nothing. Just a lot of sand and rocks. So I looked at what I had, but all I had was a bunch of teaching supplies. I looked through the paper and the posters my big box of dry erase markers. I popped a cap off of one of the dry erase markers and said, "eww this really stinks." Then I had an idea and I took all the caps off of all of the markers and all the fumes rose into the air, forming a huge, billowing cloud of dry erase marker fumes. A rescue plane saw the fume cloud and came and rescued me and I went back home and became a teacher.

Daughters of the King

2005-02-05T01:39:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Daughters of the King.... such a good evening. Here is a picture:

I am on Women's team so I helped out mostly with food. Yesterday we went to Costco and spent $600!!! We bought 25 lasagnas! Today after my class I went over to Grace Church and helped prepare the food. About 200 girls from Campus Crusade came so we had to have lots of food. Lasagna, rolls, salad, and cheesecake! And the hall was decoraed beautifully and someone shared their testimony and another girl spoke and then we had worship.

Mardi Gras is here in full swing... it is kind of loud. And I passed probably 25 cops on my way home. I am thankful for them.

I should be studying right now.

2005-02-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

I ate the last of my sloppy joes tonight. Mmmmmmm. Thanks, Mom! Mom-cooked meals are the best.

I finally got a sponsor for our run! I asked Eric if Padre ever donated to organizations and he said only if someone is personally involved and I said, hey, I am personally involved, and he gave us $100. Woo-hoo!

It seems like every time I walk from the bus to work, I am amused by someone. I pass so many different kinds of people on that 4-block stretch of downtown SLO. People in a hurry, people who walk too slow, people with children, people with pink dogs, women carrying babies in backpacks, people looking at pictures sitting on skateboards, crazy people who talk to themselves, people who limp, people in business suits, people with ugly clothes, people going to the gym, people with their head down, people who smile at you. One of these days I am going to sit on a corner and take pictures of all the people passing by.

I read two poems in scom this morning with "interpretive emotion" and I think I did surprisingly well. I will have to see what my teacher thought.

Random Rambling

2005-02-02T01:26:00.000-08:00

It is perfect outside.... warm for midnight, and slightly breezy. And the stars are out. I want to go camping. Soccer was fun! We tied, but the other team had beat other teams by a lot, so it was a good game for us. My schoolwork has finally commenced after five weeks of practically nothing. I get to make a children's book but I am kind of worried about it because I'm not artistic and it is due next Friday -- ack! I took a political party test and it said that I am in the middle, leaning toward the left. I think most people are in the middle. I haven't got any sponsors for the Tsunami Fund Run. :( People don't like to give their money away. The organazation we are raising funds for is called Veahavta, which means you shall love in Hebrew. They are helping a Sri Lankan orphanage. Well I need to go to sleep now. Goodnight!

Saturday Morning Fruit Compote

2005-01-29T11:14:00.000-08:00

Kim's recipe for fruit compote:

Ingredients:
1 peach
1 tsp sugar

Directions:

Buy a peach at the store, rejoicing in the fact that it is the middle of winter, but you live in such a wealthy country with increasing technology that you can buy a peach, and at a reasonable price.
Eat the skin off the peach.
Cut the peach into small pieces and place in a bright blue bowl, so that the yellow-orange peach contrasts nicely, making a work of art.
Sprinkle sugar over the peach.
Microwave for 1 minute if you have an old, incompetent microwave: probably less if you have a new one.
Mash with a fork.
Spoon onto hot pancakes, and enjoy while drinking coffee and reading an inspirational book.

Ant Lessons

2005-01-27T23:45:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of ants in my apartment (which I sprayed today finally.) I was observing one particular trail of ants that meandered all over the countertop from the wall to the sink and back. There were many more direct routes that I easily could have pointed out to the silly ants as I looked on from above. But no ant looked up to me to ask directions, but instead followed the trail of that first ant who first found the food. I was thinking how we as humans are a lot like those ants. We try so hard to do things our own way or by following the ways of others, and sometimes even get to where we are trying to go. But how much easier would it be to look to God, who can see our lives from such a different perspective, and ask Him for directions.

I listened to a very interesting speaker tonight who talked about near-death experiences. It was a lot to take in and I am still thinking about it. But I have to go finish my essay now.

Fabulous, Simply Fabulous

2005-01-26T17:13:00.000-08:00

Today was a FABULOUS day, if I do say so, and I do. I splurged on a white mocha from Uptown Expresso -- I should stop doing that b/c there really are better things that I could spend my money on. But it was really good. Then I was just typing stuff at work but I was just in a really good mood for some reason and so it was fun. And then my co-workers said they wanted to take me out to lunch for my birthday! So we went to Firestone's and I got a delicious tri-tip sandwich and Padre paid for it b/c it was a "luncheon" or something like that. And then one of my co-workers bought me a Cowboy cookie. :) So I didn't get much work done, but oh well! Then I came home and found out that I got accepted into the Liberal Studies program! Yay!!! I was super-excited. So I went and got a bunch of signatures and stuff. Then I saw that the Veritas art gallery was set up and I looked at all the interesting, though-provoking works of art. Then tonight me, Ashley, Thomas, and Sara went to Applebee's for my belated birthday.

Happy 20th Birthday to Me!

2005-01-24T15:54:00.000-08:00

I had a great birthday weekend!

Friday night I hosted a pizza party at my apartment. I got chips and dip and Dominoe's pizza and sodas and baked a funfetti cake! Some people came late and some left early, but here is who came: Ashley, Thomas, Sara, Erin, Stacey, Amanda, Laura, Joanne, Michelle, Katie, Marissa, Jessie, Helena, Kelly, and Kathleen. I think that is everyone. So including me, 16 people. We ate chips and cheese dip and then ate pizza and then ate See's candy that Ashley got for the party and then played Scene It and then had funfetti cake with chocolate chip icing and coffee ice cream and cookies-and-cream ice cream and then watched Top Gun. One of the best things was hearing everyone singing just for me! Here's a tip in case you don't have any matches and only have an electric stove: Rub a q-tip on the electric stove and it will light on fire, then transfer that fire to the birthday candles. :) Oh and I got lots of presents too!

Saturday morning my mom and Cindy came up to visit me! We had a nice breakfast at the Apple Farm, then drove around stopping at pretty places like Black Hill and the estuary. It was nice to have them up here for a fun afternoon. Oh and I got more presents!

Saturday night around 8 I went with Ashley and Thomas and three other people to Bishop's peak. Quite an adventure. The moon was large, so we didn't need flashlights (which was good considering we only had dinky ones.) First we had to cross a large, extremely muddy creek. Shawn jumped across and realized that it would be hard to jump back, since it was uphill on the way back, and we waffled for a while about how he should get back. Finally he just jumped back and made it, so we all decided, if it can be done once, it can be done again. And off we went up the hill. Our next obstacle was not really an obstacle, but we made it into one. See, cows are kind of scary at night. So we half-ran through the small herd of them, hoping that they weren't mean-spirited cows with horns. They weren't. On the trail up I felt like I was in one of the Lord of the Rings movies, trekking over hills and rocks and inclines and such. And possibly being followed by Gollum. We reached the top in about an hour and a half, I think, and the view was gorgeous. San Luis Obispo was all lit up and twinkled like the stars, and you could even see out to Pismo. And it was only a tad bit cold and windy. We stayed up there for about an hour and then came down throught the rocks and bushes and cows. Alysha fell into the creek, but luckily the car was right there. Then we went to Denny's and exhaustedly ate "Moons over my hammy" and an oreo cookie shake.

Taking the Bus on a Hot Winter Day

2005-01-19T14:50:00.000-08:00

It is an absolutely gorgeous day today! After weeks of rain, it is --- I was going to say balmy, meaning quite hot, but I looked it up on Dictionary.com and the description is "mild and pleasant." I never knew that. I would guess that it is about 80 outside. Oh weather.com says that it is 78 degrees. How marvelous the internet is.

I took the bus to work today and I must say I don't know why I didn't do it before. The times work out perfectly and although it is a bit more walking, I don't have to drive in crazy downtown traffic and try to find a parking place. And it helps save the environment! Bus to work, everyone!

IM Soccer

2005-01-18T23:35:00.000-08:00

I love IM SOCCER! Ashley and I played 6-on-6 at 10:30 tonight and it was super-fun!

Power in Nature

2005-01-18T20:37:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures that amaze me. I can't imagine being in that kind of distruction. Some of it is oversees, due to the earthquake-caused tsunami, but the first picture is right around the corner in La Conchita.

The rain rain rain rain rain caused a big mudslide in La Conchita:

Before and after pictures taken in Indonesia:

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. and All Who Participated in Changing Our Country for the Better

2005-01-17T23:34:00.000-08:00

Best parts of my weekend:

having a fun evening and dinner with my family, Cindy, Glenn, Cheryl, Fred, Ashley, Thomas, and Chip playing games and eating chili
going on a bike ride with my dad
finishing the roof to the stable on the nativity set
fixing the phone charger in the 4Runner
walking out on Ellwood Mesa and watching the sun set
having breakfast at the Summerland Beach Cafe with my mom
walking around the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens

Twas a lovely weekend at home. I seem to have a problem with feeling like I am wasting time. I think that is why doing things like building a roof and fixing a cellphone charger plug thing are on my list. There is a physical result that I can see.

Saturday would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 76th birthday. I was amazed when I heard that because the whole civil rights movement seems so long ago, but it really wasn't. And I know they say that, but I don't think I really believed it until today. So, in honor of him, I will put a few quotes up from a letter he wrote to some clergymen while he was in jail in Birmingham. If you have the time to read his twelve-page Letter From Birmingham Jail, you really should, because it is really quite amazing.

"There was a time when the church was very powerful -- in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores ofsociety. (...)
Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Par from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the churchas never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit ofthe early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty ofmillions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for thetwentieth century."

And another:

"One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face Jeering, and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy-two-year-old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with herpeople decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My fleets is tired, but my soul is at rest." They will be the young high school and college students, the young ministers of the gospel and a host of their elders, courageously and nonviolently sitting in at lunch counters and willingly going to jail for conscience' sake. One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence."

Searching for Nature

2005-01-13T18:12:00.000-08:00

Today I didn't have school until 3pm, so I went some places that I had been wanting to go. First I went to the Morro Bay Estuary Visitor's Center, which was small and kind of dissappointing, but I don't know what I was expecting. I still don't know where all the birds are, since I surely did not see many. Morro Bay looks like it could be fun to go for a day and explore if you were in the mood for touristly little shops. Then I tried to find the trailhead for Black Hill, but failed. Then I went to the Elfin forest, which really isn't a forest... seemed more like chapparral to me. It was pretty and there is a boardwalk, but it was nothing super-exciting. But I heard the neatest sound -- about a hundred of ducks or some sort of bird all landing in the water at the same time a fair distance away. And there were lots of chatty ladies out walking their dogs. I needed a girlfriend and a dog to make the experience complete, I suppose. So then I went to Montana de Oro and the rains have made it very green. The large vegetation is still dead or dormant, but there is a lot of green grass and some poppies and a few other flowers. I think it will beautiful in spring. I saw a hawk or some sort of raptor that had a white butt. Just above the tail feathers. Mom, do you know what it is? That was neat. Oh and I saw the cutest bunny ever -- reminded me of Buttons. Then I went back to my apartment because I felt like it and it was morning of doing what I felt like.

Every-day Moments

2005-01-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

Sitting on a comfy brown couch under a soft blue blanket, reading a book for fun, sipping poorly-made coffee, listening to the creek behind my apartment that provides the trickling sound like my own personal fountain, I enjoy the late-morning sun dancing through the wind-blown trees, providing golden shapes to entertain me.

Do you know what shocks my socks off? I am going to be 20 this month. Craaaaaaaazy.

How many employees does it take to fix a light bulb?

2005-01-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

Two. I must say that replacing flourescent lightbulbs is harder than it looks. My boss and I spent over an hour this morning replacing lightbulbs in our office. I had to stand on my tippy-toes on a stool and he was on a tall swivel-chair. But it is not an easy process, and since heat rises, it is about twenty degrees hotter near the ceiling. First you have to remove the plastic panneling. Supposedly you just slide it one direction and it pops out. But many are too tight-fitting and this proves to be an enormous challenge. Then you have to remove the old lightbulbs. Now it turns out that you only need two to make it work, but they have to be the two across from each other, not next to each other. Don't ask me why -- I dropped my electronics class. Then you must put a new bulb in, which is equivalently difficult, because the lightbulb is three feet long and as you line up one side, the other pops out, and then you line up that side, and the first side pops out, and so on. Finally, you must replace the dusty, dead-spider-filled plastic panel. It was kind of fun, though. And another thing to add to my list of odd jobs that I do at work.

This is Your Life

2005-01-09T16:33:00.000-08:00

Lyrics by Switchfoot: (http://www.switchfoot.com/musicmain.htm)

Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
Yesterday is a promise that you've broken
Don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes,
This is your life
And today is all you've got now
And today is all you've ever had
Don't close your eyes

This is your life, are you who you want to be?
This is your life, are you who you want to be?
This is your life, is it everything that you dreamed
that it would be when the world was younger,
and you had everything to lose?

Want to buy a bag of air?

2005-01-08T14:13:00.000-08:00

Rumors of 8 inches of rain by today were rampant all across SLO, but so far it has only drizzled and spattered and misted. So much for the big exciting storm that was going to keep me hostage in my apartment for the weekend.

The first week of school has seemed like a month and a half. So far it has been a fairly light work load, and since I am taking 3 GE's, hopefully it will stay that way.

Last night was a lot of fun. A bunch of us went bowling and had pizza (a campus crusade-sponsored event) and then we saw Finding Neverland, which was really good, but all the hype about how good it was made it not as good, I think. I liked the music in it. Especially the song at the end. Then Ashley and I watched Napolean Dynamite.

I discovered that you can buy air in bags. For packing purposes, I guess. Just what I always wanted. A bag full of air. What a strange country I live in.

Livermore and San Francisco!

2004-12-16T09:45:00.000-08:00

Dad just put up the Christmas tree for me to decorate today!!!! I love Christmas.

Last Thursday I had my last final and on Friday I had a fun trip up north. Stacy drove me up to Livermore -- we had fun chatting and listening to Christmas music for the 4 hour drive. We met Erin at a Starbucks that is midway between their houses because I stayed with Erin for the weekend. Kelly, Erin, Stacy, Kathleen, and Amanda (so the majority of my bible study) all live within about 15 minutes of each other. How crazy is that? Makes for easy get-togethers during break. So Friday night Erin and Kelly and I watched The Terminal in Erin's room -- I thought it was a good movie, until you found out why he was there which I thought was kind of a dumb reason. If you haven't watched the movie, that made no sense at all to you. But I would recommend it. Oh and on Friday night I went to Sweet Tomatoes (a restaurant that is like Fresh Choice) with Erin and her mom. Saturday we did random errands in the morning .... I just realized that I have already written about Friday in a previous post. Oh well. You get to hear it twice. Then we went to the movies with Stacy and saw Ocean's 12, which I didn't think was as good as the first one, not that I really remember the first one, but it was good. I thought that I understood it all, but then the more I talk to people about it the more I think that I really didn't. I guess I will have to watch it again. After the movie we went to Casa Orozco (or something like that) for dinner and it was mucho bueno. I split a burrito with Stacy and had lots of chips and salsa. Then Erin and I watched A Walk to Remember. Still a good movie. Sunday I felt laaaaazy. We went to Cornerstone (her big church that looks like a huge hotel) at nine. It was a pretty good service, but you would definitely have to go to smaller ministries in order to meet anyone. We went to Country Waffles for breakfast and I had pancakes (my favorite). We went out to eat a lot, but I think that Erin and her mom usually go out to eat a lot b/c they don't like cooking. So maybe it is not a lot to her but it is for me. Most of the afternoon I just lounged on Erin's bed and read Angels and Demons (which I am sort of almost done with and it is very exciting.) Finally Erin got me out the house and we went for a drive around Livermore and then hiked up Fatty Hill, which was really pretty and had lots of birds that I wanted my mom to see. But I don't know if she could have identified them since they were norcal birds. On Monday we were going to go Tahoe, but that trip was cancelled because we had too many people for Stacy's cabin, so we went to San Francisco instead. We all met at a central Starbucks (they're everywhere, I tell you!) I got a gingerbread latte and it was delicious. I wish I had one right now. We all hung out there for a long time and then, since there were seven of us, we drove in Kelly's minivan to San Fran instead of taking BART. It was a lot cheaper and easier b/c Kelly knows the city pretty well so we could just drive everywhere. We drove over the bay bridge and then over the Golden Gate Bridge. They were beautiful. We spent forever trying to take group pictures with the Golden Gate Bridge as our backdrop. We then went to Pier 39 and walked around the shops a bit. The seals smelled sooooo bad. I don't know how so many tourists were just standing and watching them. We took a few pictures and then left. We drove over to Union square and ate lunch at the food court at Macy's -- fancy food court. Ashley and I split clam chowder in a sourdough bowl and a turkey avocado croissant. It was soooooooooo good. Mmmmm. Then we walked around for a bit and did some shopping, but I think only two people bought anything. And after not too long, we all would stop at the couches in the stores and start to fall asleep, so someone suggested we go home and no one objected, so we did. So we didn't see much of San Francisco, but that was OK b/c I was there just a few months ago and saw all the touristy places then. We drove back to Kelly's and watched The Bourne Supremecy and then ate chicken and mashed potatoes that Kelly made all by herself for us all and then we played Trivial Pursuit pop culture, which Jessie's team won b/c she knew what the first Star Trek movie to have Picard as Captain was, and Scattegories -- that was a heated game. I still say mustard is not a type of sandwich, El Rancho is not a street in Santa Barbara, and elephants are not farm animals. Then we watched Dodgeball and all slept in the living room next to a dying fire in the fireplace. Tuesday Erin drove us to San Jose and Ashley and I were going to take the train back to SLO, but ended up taking a bus, which was actually a little bit less expensive and an hour faster and it left an hour earlier and it dropped us off right at Cal Poly, so it was good. A man came up to us while we were waiting and said something like this: "This may sound a little bit corny, but I just got off a 16-hour shift, and seeing your smiles just makes everything OK." And then he walked away. I just kind of stood there dumbfounded. So we took the bus to SLO and drove to Santa Barbara. I was super-excited b/c we got home early enough for me to go to Steven's concert. It was a wonderful concert, but I always like going to Steven's concerts. When we came home I made two different cookie doughs so they could cool overnight. On Wednesday I made ginger cookies that didn't turn out quite right, but they still taste good. Then I did random things like laundry and I cleaned a bit and I made a sign in hopes of selling Steven's chocolate at my dad's work. Then my buddy Ashley came over and brought me Christmas presents! She gave me rock candy, a boggle pen, a handheld boggle videogame thing that is really fun, a soft blanket so I stop stealing hers :), and one of thsoe things you put over your eyes at night to block the light b/c I can't sleep with the lights on. Yay! Then she helped me make Sand Tarts. A dumb name, since really they are just thin sugar cookies. It was fun, but we made a lot of them! So now I have two days here to do whatever, like decorate the Christmas tree. This weekend I am going to Riverside with my mom and then Monday-Thursday I am going to Lancaster and then Friday is Christmas Eve! Yippee! This blog took me exactly an hour to write. I don't know how people write 500-page books. Speaking of that, I am going to go read now.

Finals week

2004-12-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

Hello all. I am at the Livermore library b/c Erin's house does not have internet. A whole week has gone by since I last wrote.... what should I say about it? Last weekend I went home and it was nice to be home. I did lots and lots of studying for finals, but also went to Steven's SBCC concert (a very nice concert, especially the last few songs.) Saturday morning Dad and I went to Trinity Lutheran Church to get a Christmas tree and afterwards Cindy and I went to the ethnic craft fair at the SB Natural History Museum and bought some cute stuff and had sloppy joes for lunch. Sunday I went to church and the Wadleys were in town and they gave a slideshow about their work in South Africa and after the service I bought lots of stuff that the "Bead Ladies" in South Africa had made through the microbusiness the Wadleys helped start. I went back to school on Monday morning and studied with Jessie for a bit and then went to work. Tuesday I had my math final from 7am-10am and then physics at 10am. They were both difficult... hopefully there will be a curve. Wednesday I had my chemistry final and afterwards we watched a movie with Laura and her roommate. Thursday morning I had a great suprise at work and was in good spirits the rest of the day. I studied all afternoon and had my philosophy final at 7pm. And then I was free! I packed and watched a movie with Ashley and Stacey and cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom until 2:30pm. :)

Friday morning Stacey drove me up to Livermore. Last night I went to dinner with Erin and her mom at a restaurant like Fresh Choice called Sweet Tomatoes. We watched The Terminal with Kelly, who wasn't in SLO this quarter so that was exciting to see her. And then I read "Angels and Demons." Not the whole book, of course, but I started it. Here is a quote: "The laws of physics are the canvas that God laid down on which to paint his masterpiece."

Sugar Cookie Craziness

2004-12-02T23:09:00.000-08:00

Today was a wonderful day. I just came back from decorating cookies with my best buds from Bible study and it was so much fun! We each cut and decorated about a dozen cookies and there were tons of colors of frosting and sprinkles and Christmas music and laughter and fun times! I realized I really haven't spent much time with them this quarter.

I left two hours early from work because there was nothing for me to do and went shopping! I was trying to find Christmas presents for other people... not much luck there. But I got black pants for only $7! And it was fun wandering downtown with the bustle of Christmas shoppers.

But now I must go study... but I will probably fall asleep instead. Merry Christmas.

City Sidewalks, Busy Sidewalks

2004-12-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

Today I felt productive at work, unlike most days recently. I mailed a bunch of stuff and copied and bound stuff and then walked all over downtown mailing things and dropping things off. It was late in the day and cars and people and wind added to a dull roar.

I am listening to LaunchRadio on yahoo because I discovered they have Christmas music!

Today I had a slight stomach ache all morning and I came home after class and all I wanted to eat was my bittersweet chocolate that I had forgotten about until recently. So instead of using traditional remedies I had a big piece of dark, rich chocolate, and suprisingly enought, my stomach ache went away. Chocolate cures everything. Especially bittersweet chocolate. It is like dancing in the rain, like the last movent of a symphony, like holiday cheer.......

I have to go study my extremely confusing physics for an hour and half before Campus Crusade so I will say "until we meet again..."

Happy Thanksgiving!

2004-11-29T23:44:00.000-08:00

I'm listening to Christmas music in my apartment that is finally warm! Here is a funny that described my apartment pretty well:

We were trying to save money by not turning on the heater but it was seriously freezing in here and we were tired of being cold even with winter jackets on so we gave in today and turned on the little wall heater in our bedrooom that reminds me of Grammy's house in Lancaster and now it is nice and warm in the bedroom!

This is the last week of school before finals. This quarter was so short! I feel like I haven't even finished moving in yet. And there are friends that I still haven't even hung out with yet.

Thanksgiving break was good. Wednesday I went to Magic Mountain with Ashley and Chip and his friend Neil. We got in free b/c Ashley's uncle had free tickets from his work or something and there was hardly anyone there and it was so nice b/c we didn't have to wait for the rides hardly at all and got to go on everything we wanted to and even left early so we didn't have to eat dinner there. The new rides are lots of fun, and so are the old ones except for the rickety ones that just give you a headache. I had never been on X and Scream before and they are crazy!

After we got back from Magic Mountain I had some homemade soup that Mrs. Nancy made and watched "I Love the 90's" for two hours -- it was nice to not have anything to do and not feel guilty about wasting two hours watching TV. Then we watched the 2-hour finale of "The Bachelor" and Byron chose Mary and I was soooo happy b/c Mary was definitely my favorite. Then we watched the 1-hour "After the Rose Ceremony." Drama drama drama!

Thursday was Thanksgiving! We drove to Bakersfield and I played Sims 2 the whole way there and it was lots of fun, but it didn't save and so my people that I spent so long making perfect are no more. But I made a new family and they are pretty decent. But the grandpa doesn't dance in the bathtub anymore. I ate lots of good food -- turkey, mashed potatoes that Lori somehow made into the weirdest consistency that I have ever seen, stuffing, creamed onions, green bean casserole, and yams that had more pecans and brown sugar and whatever other yummy things my mom puts in them than yams. My favorite was the green bean casserole. 2nd were the onions and the yams. I guess I am a side-dish lover. And I must like my mom's cooking b/c the stuff she made was on the top of my list. I had cranberry-macadamia nut pie for dessert. I wanted pumpkin, but there was no whipped cream so the next night I made Peter go get me some and it was quite delicious.

Friday and Saturday we went to Lancaster and worked on Grammy's house. There is a ridiculous amount of stuff there to sell at the estate sale. Lori thinks esate sales are weird. Kind of a phobia, I think. I like estate sales. They always have more interesting things at them. Not that I have been to that many. So anyways, I got covered in dust both days but succeeded in sorting at least a few boxes and shredding some papers. In the evenings we played pinochle and poker. Glenn is fun to play cars with. Too bad mom had to go home -- she had a baaaaaaaaaad headache but is feeling better now so that is good. One evening I got on the wrong side of a conversation. Everyone was talking about taxes and the fairness of them and I didn't really know what I was talking about but I kept arguing against the majority just for the heck of it and I think I made some fair points but Peter put devil horns on me. Well, candles that looked like devil horns. On Saturday night it rained and we went to dinner in the downpour and I thought poor Grammy was going to freeze. I had soup and salad b/c I felt like I needed to eat something healthy after Thanksgiving. Allie and Brady came home late Saturday night and I slept next to Allie on the blow-up mattress. I got to soak up my cousin time on Sunday morning. I even got alone time with Allie b/c I painted her nails out in the freezing cold. It wasn't that cold, but pretty crisp. Ooh and for breakfast I had waffles with whipped cream.

Then it was back to Santa Barbara and I got slightly carsick in Bouquet Canyon and then fell asleep and naps always make me feel yucky and give me headache but it I couldn't keep my eyes open. When we got home Dad and I put up the Christmas lights. I more watched than did anything. It was nice lying on the driveway watching my dad put up the lights with the bright blue Goleta sky above and just cold enough so you know winter is coming up not freezing. Twas lovely. Then I started to read a book, but didn't get very far and forgot to bring it with me. Dad made tritip with onions and bell peppers that were surprisingly delicious. And I ate about twelve servings of peas to make up for my lack of vegetables.

Today I sat a little stunned in my classes. Five days of no school is enough to clear my brain of any knowledge I formerly possessed. I got a test back that I didn't remeber taking and was informed I have a quiz tomorrow on material I don't remember learning. But the vacation attitude stayed with me so I didn't get much done today. I watched TV this morning and had three hours of school. Then I went to work and drew lines on a map for an hour and a half and then got the oil changed at Jiffy Lube which I was happy to do b/c I feel like I'm getting paid for doing nothing. For dinner I heated up spaghetti that my mom had frozen for me and it was very good.

Well I should go now b/c I have to do the dishes still and it is almost midnight. Goodnight!

Disneyland Decorations

2004-11-22T23:59:00.000-08:00

A few numbers for you:
Times I just listened to Rhapsody in Blue: 4
Days until Thanksgiving: 2
Percent I got on my math test: 50
Days until Christmas: 33

I went to Disneyland & CA Adventures with Chip, Ashley, Helena, and Joanne and it was lots of fun! We went on lots of rides and did lots of things I had never done before like the Muppet Show and the Animation Studio. I started to make a list of all the rides we went on, but my memory is not too good. Oh well. And we ate good food, especially the cookie Ashley and I split. And on Friday we played Mario Party 4 and Mrs. Nancy made turkey dinner and I got to see my family (except Steven was sick) and on Saturday night I got to meet Helena's parents and they are very nice and her mom made pancakes for breakfast. And we listened to Christmas music in the car! Oh and Disneyland is soooo pretty decorated for Christmas -- it's magical! Especially Small World.

2004-11-14T01:10:00.000-08:00

I think I have watched a few too many movies where they talk in an English accent because now I think in an English accent. So to read this post properly, you must read it in an English accent.

Last night we saw Bridget Jones' Diary II, we meaning me, Ashley, Erin, Helena, and Linsday (Ashley's sister.) It was quite delightful. It was much better than was to be expected from a sequel. I would like to watch it again right now, but I cannot because I don't own it. After going to the cinema, we had some frozen yogurt at Bali's and then came back here and played Mexican train. Jolly good fun.

This morning I went to the farmer's market in the Gottshalk's parking lot and bought too many fruits and vegetables. Ashley's family came up for the day and we went out to lunch at Mother's Tavern. I had a fine hamburger and caesar salad. We then went to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got caramel apples. The one Ashley and I split had chocolate on it too. Mmm.

Well this post doesn't make today sound all that exciting, but it really was quite a good day. Cheerio!

Blue Gatorade Is Toxic

2004-11-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

I am work right now... hee hee hee. Everyone is on the phone and I have nothing to do.

So I learned even more things that I really didn't need to know at school today.
1) If you run really fast at a brick wall about a billion times, you actually will go through it. (As demonstrated on some TNG episode, for all you trekkies out there.)
2) If you drink 350,000 servings of blue Gatorade you will die because the blue dye is toxic if you drink that much.

I have no school tomorrow! Yippee skippee!

I finished The Scarlet Thread today. It was good, but not as good as her other book by any means.

After 3 1/2 quarters of physics, I finally learned what this Schrondinger's Cat is all about. Well, I don't really get it, but at least it was presented to me. And this is what my professor's drawing of the cat looked like:

Although I do not know as much physics as him, I must say I am a better artist.

Physics Problems

2004-11-09T21:04:00.000-08:00

Today, after doing a bunch of nonsense calculations for an hour, my professor came to this conclusion: If you run straight into a brick wall about a billion times, chances are one of those times you will actually go into the wall.
What am I doing here again?
The one day I really needed to go to office hours my professor cancels them because he had to go the post office. That is the worst excuse I have ever heard. Ever. Someone help me! I don't understand physics or math (we are doing the same thing) and while my understanding is quickly falling into the depths of oblivion, my one hope goes to the post office.
This week has been very strange. I feel like I am not in school but not out of school. Just in an inbetween state of things. I think because of the holiday on Thursday. So I feel like I don't have to get everything done right this instant. Not a good feeling to have when you really do have things to get done.
I watched an hour of Christmas cartoons today. I like Christmas. I need to stop talking about Christmas or by the time it gets here I will be done with Christmas.
I like Gilmore Girls. It is a good show. I hope that I don't always write on a third-grade level.
I wish I had a dog. I watched a beautiful golden retriever from my window today. She was well-trained.
This has been quite a rambling blog today.

And All That Jazz

2004-11-08T17:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had to stop for a freight train and it had one engine and 89 cars. I like trains. They remind me of Steven when he was little, which reminds me of me when I was little. Hey Steve -- how come you aren't going to be a train conductor or a civil engineer?

On Saturday my family came down to SLO because Steven had a jazz thing at Cuesta. I had a good time listening to a ton of vocal jazz. Cuesta's choir was the best, I think, but they were also the smallest. I noticed that there were a lot of songs that I have heard performed before --- A Train, Georgia, etc..... is there a shortage of good jazz music?

Every time I try to type "cuesta" i type "chuesta."

Well I should get going and do some homework. I am excited for Christmas.

It's Raining Cats and Dogs.

2004-11-04T15:45:00.000-08:00

It is pouring buckets outside. There are lots of cliches for rain. I think people are friendlier in the rain. The guy at the county building was friendly, the guy at kinko's was friendly (and they are never friendly), people passing me on the street kept smiling at me (one guy I passed even asked me how my day was going), a driver let me go in front of him....

I suppose that for posterity I should mention something about my first presidential election, assuming that these words of my college years should last that long. I voted absentee for John Kerry and our current president, George W. Bush won. There, is that enough? I wish I cared about politics, but I really don't. It would take ages to read everything I would need to to even understand the most basic things. And I'm not much of a reader. I think the government is important, but I will leave it to people who care to work it out for me. Also, I think voting is dumb because I can spend two hours reading all about the propositions so that I make a wise decision while the person next to me can fill in any bubbles they want and still their vote counts for as much. I guess people would think the same thing about me since I am not a very informed voter. OK this is probably the last you will hear of politics from me.

Autumn

2004-11-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

This morning's weather was nothing unusual, then half-way through my physics midterm the dark clouds rolled in with the gusting winds. It was gorgeous. The fall leaves blowing around in the strong winds, and big billowing clouds backlit by orangey-pink sunlight. I was dancing. Well, not literally. But I was standing in the parking lot looking at the sky with a beaming smile, and I think one of my co-workers thought I was a little nuts. I hope I am.

This morning I went to Lannaea's with Jenny and I had delicious coffee and the best waffle ever.

Delightful Season

2004-11-02T14:36:00.000-08:00

About mornings: "Can thee be a pleasanter time of the day, or a more delightful season of the year? That purple sky, those wild but sweet notes of birds, the fragrant bloom upon the trees and flowers, the gentle influence of the rising sun, these and a thousand nameless beauties of nature inspire the soul with secret transports; its faculties too being at this time fresh and lively, are fit for these mediations, which the solitude of a garden and tranquility of the morning naturally dispose us to." -- George Berkeley, Irish philosopher

It seems like it has been forever since I wrote on my blog and I fear this will be a short one since I have to go to class in twenty minutes.

Halloween is over, and I am excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas already. :) Perhaps I am a bit too anxious.

I got my chem test back and it was baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. Lesson learned. I need to study more. Now if there weren't so many distractions then maybe I actually would. My biggest distraction has been the book I am reading called The Scarlet Thread. I am zooming through it, for me, at least.

I made burritos last night (and I made the Spanish rice my mom got me). They were quite delicious, if I do say so myself.

Halloween was last weekend. Not too exciting. I dressed up on Saturday in a kimono and we went to Jenny's party around 11:00. I am not too big on parties. They had dancing and candy and stuff but I wasn't too into it. So then we came back here and me, Ashley, and Helena watched the end of The Music Man. (We had started it on a previous day.) Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little, cheep cheep cheep, talk a lot, pick a little more.... Now that song will be in your head all day.

On Friday we went to the movies and saw I Heart Huckabees which is an independent movie and was very different but I liked it. And I saw Helena's house for the first time. One of the girls has a HUGE master bedroom and bathroom all to herself. Crazy.

I just looked at my blog and I didn't write anything for the Sunday after we saw Riverdance. That was a good day so here is my delayed description: I went to GSLC in the morning and after the service my mom and I went to the church Bratwurst and beer picnic in the back of the church. (To celebrate Martin Luther? I don't know.) Then we came home and were deciding what to do and it was almost 1:00. We looked at the movies in the paper and Ladder 49 was playing at 1:00 so we rushed down to the Camino Real movie theater and just missed the very beginning of the movie. It was a really good movie but very sad. Boohoo!

At 5:00 I went down the the Santa Barbara Harbor because my dad, Cindy, Glenn, Allie, Brady, Peter, and the Kanalakans were sailing and I wanted to meet them for dinner. They didn't get back until about 5:30 but I walked around a bit and it was beautiful. I don't know why I don't go down to pretty places in Santa Barbara more often. I took a couple pictures of the Redhawk as they came in. We had dinner at the Yacht Club.

Happy Halloween

2004-10-31T18:45:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from Halloween:
I am an Asian person. Or a white person wearing a kimono. Ashley is a pig. Helena is Scary Spice from the Spice Girls.

At Jenny's party:

3 Hours of Sleep

2004-10-28T17:51:00.000-07:00

I am wired on caffeine right now. I misjudged how long my philosophy studying would take and so ended up staying up until 5am last night studying for my midterm and helping Erin do her physics. This morning I got up and had tea which kept me awake during math but at work they made me read two "statements of qualifications" which are basically really long, boring repetitive papers that say that our company can be trusted to do your work. So I was pretty tired at work. But then I came home and drank a big glass of iced tea because I didn't want to be tired taking my midterm. I think it went pretty well, but only time will tell.

I have a bump on my leg and it really itches and it won't go away.

Well I have to go study for my chem midterm and math quiz tomorrow. Fun fun! Oh and go to Bible study too!

Riverdance!!!

2004-10-23T23:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight we saw Riverdance at the Arlington and it was fabulous! Cindy, Glenn, my mom, my dad, and I went to Cafe Buenos Aires at 5:00 and had a wonderful dinner on in their outdoor Spanish-style seating, complete with a glorious sunset. My mom and I split a fancy-shmancy salad and pork cooked in an orange glaze with spinach and butternut squash. Then we ordered deserts and I ate vanilla ice cream-filled puffs covered with dark chocolate. It was exquisite.

We then walked down State Street a bit because we had some time before the show. We fell into one store called "Random" that I think Dad and I could have stayed in for a couple hours looking around at all the random stuff.

Then we went to Riverdance! The dancers were amazing, the singers were amazing, the musicians were amazing... it was a good show. My favorite was when the Irish dancers had a showdown with some tap dancers. :) A lovely evening!

Earlier today was good too. I woke up this morning and had raisin muffins and bacon and cottage cheese with peaches and hot chocolate. Then I read some political stuff to see what I should vote for and did some homework. Cindy called me and I spent the afternoon with her.
We went to the pumpkin patch and I got a perfect little pumpkin and some gourds to decorate my apartment. And I have to get a pumpkin or else it just wouldn't be Halloween. I love the pumpkin patch. We also did some random things like going to Longs and the Rescue Mission. Oh and we went to a Harvest Botique at Mt. View school but it wasn't too exciting.

If you get the chance, go see Riverdance!

OW My Head Hurts

2004-10-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

I have a very interesting headache right now. Usually I can tell what my headaches are from b/c they feel different. But I don't know about this one.

I had a very weird day today. I don't think my head was attached properly. (Maybe that's why I have a headache now. It is being screwed back on.)

My alarm didn't go off this morning and I still can't figure out why. But luckily Ashley's did and it woke me up. So I took a shower and it was cold. Not the water, but the air. Brrrr. In Chemistry I got to mix solutions which is my favorite thing ever. So that was kind of fun, although none of them were very exciting and I have done them all in high school chem. I just put a Good and Plenty down on my desk for approximately 10 seconds and an ant found it. I hate these ants!

So then I went to office hours and got my question answered and came home and ate lunch. Then back to school for physics. The first half of class was interesting -- he did this demo that involved a vibrating wire and a strobe light -- I don't really know how to explain it. But then I was on the verge of sleeping for the last half-hour. Then I went home and Ashley said "I thought you have class right now." And I was kind of confused because I had just come from class. And then I realized.... I have chemistry class! Ahh! So I ran down the stairs and hurried off to class and was only a few minutes late, but kind of sweaty.

At work I went to Kinko's and made 70 color copies. Lots of fun. Note the sarcasm. Then I got an oil change in the company car and that was scary because I had never done it before and I don't like driving other people's cars too much. Oh, and I got lost. So I called Ashley on my cellphone and she looked up JiffyLube on the internet and told me how to get there -- yay for Ashley and yay for technology!

I made dinner and thought I turned off the stove and left the oven on (b/c my pot pie was still in the oven.) But I went back a few minutes later and noticed that the spatula that I had left resting on the pan was melting! I had turned off the oven and left the stove on, heating up an empty pan and melting my spatula handle so that now it is completely in two pieces. Oops!

Well now I have to go to Crusade and hopefully when I get back my head will be screwed on right enough for me to do some homework.

Rainy Day Thoughts

2004-10-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

Today the rain poured down and rain tends to make me think of nice things. Here are some thoughts that I have had today, some about rain, some not.

sitting by a fireplace with a cup of tea, listening to the rain on the ceiling
my mom
warm laundry fresh from the dryer
sitting on a comfy couch watching the rain
reading a book in the dry indoors while it rains
chocolate chip cookies and milk
bright umbrellas and bright green grass
floating leaves down the gutters

Burnt pickles

2004-10-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

The only thing I don't like about the rain is that all the ants seem to have decided to get out of the rain and come in my house. They're in the bathroom, in the kitchen, on the couches, in the living room, on my clothes, in my bed, in the pantry, on my homework. But the most of them right now are in the pantry. So I don't want to cook because I don't want ants in my dinner. Make them go away! We got ant poison things and it seemed to have worked for the bathroom, but they haven't discovered the ones in the kitchen yet. Too much other food there, I guess.

In Chemistry today we were learning about ionic compounds conducting electricity and to prove his point my professor tried to get current to run across a pickle, but there was a short somewhere and he ended up just catching it on fire. Twice.

I wore my new earrings today. How pretty.

I think Ashley must have stayed up all last night b/c she was sleeping all today. Right now she and Thomas are upstairs watching Young Frankenstein.

I met with Jenny this morning at Lannaea's for coffee and we had a very nice talk in the lovely garden there with the rains just stopped and the sun just starting to shine through the clouds, warming the crisp air.

Ooooh! I'm so excited! The UPS guy just came to my apartment with a delivery for me! And it was my nalgene bottle! Yay!!!!!!!!!!

Enchiladas

2004-10-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

Mmmmm I just had an enchilada from Trader Joe's and it was goooooooooood.

This morning I took a walk along Bluff Trail at Montana de Oro. It was really foggy at first and the tide was super-high so the waves were crashing along the bluffs. I stood out at one point and the waves were crashing in front of me and spraying up through a blow-hole and behind me they were pounding against the bluff walls -- it was so loud! Then the sun came out for the first time that I have been there and it totally transformed everything. I like it better foggy, but I was glad that the sun came out! Oh and I saw a gopher snake. That was cool, except I almost stepped on him b/c I was looking at the ocean.

I was on my way home and saw a sign that said something about a trail so I pulled over and took a short hike and my mom made me paranoid that I was going to get lost. I really hope that I don't get poison oak b/c there was a lot of it on the trail, but I don't think I touched any. It was a nice trail, though, and nice to talk to my mom for a bit.

Then I came home and took a shower and started to do my homework, and thought I was going to the football game, but then I didn't and was in kind of a sad mood so I went shopping! I was looking for new flip-flops, but didn't find any. But I went in about half the stores in Madonna Plaza. Things that I ended up buying:

2 lollipops from See's so I could get a free sample (and they gave my favorite -- Bordeaux! How lucky!)
Earrings that are kind of fancy, for all those dates I go on and parties I go to
a birthday card for one of my cousins (it was only 99 cents, so if I lose it before next May or June, it is not the end of the world.)

I had a good time just wandering through stores, though.

Then I remembered that I had a coupon for free pasta at Trader Joe's so I decided to try to find it and I did, after only going on one wrong street. I got some zuchinni and pasta and enchiladas and the check-out guy was very friendly. When I walked outside, it was raining! How exciting!

I Think, Therefore I Am

2004-10-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

I finally have time to write on my blog!

Wednesday:
I didn't feel like doing anything today. In Chemistry lab we did a tedious titration experiment that I had done in basic chem in high school. I am discovering that I had a really good chem class in high school. My teacher knew what she was talking about. Maybe that's why I liked it so much. But I feel like I am just repeating high school chem with an occasional thing thrown. And you would think that would mean an easy A, but since it is so easy I don't study and then it becomes hard because the last time I learned it was three years ago. But I really didn't feel like going to my chemistry lecture so I didn't. I did my philosophy homework in the time that I was supposed to be in Chem and then didn't want to go work, but I did. I'm not that dumb. It wasn't that bad -- my boss was very talkative. He told me all about how he wants to go back and get his master's at UCSB.

After work I went to Sara's house and she made us dinner -- Teryaki chicken, corn bread, green beans, and mashed potatoes -- it was gooooooood. At 8 we went to Campus Crusade and we sang good songs and had a good speaker. Then I came home and did some more homework and Erin came over around 11:30pm and I helped her with her physics homework from around midnight to 3am. We had a physics slumber party! I don't know why I wasn't tired... I guess physics just excites me. Just kidding. But I do like doing her homework because it so easy!

Thursday:
This morning I got up and drank some tea to keep me awake during math. Then I had five hours of work and all I did was babysit a xerox machine. I despise those machines. Actually, it worked for the most part. But I learned that it needs a nap once in a while or it gets ornery and also not to feed it staples.

Jessie came over and we studied for math before Bible study and then we had Bible study and ate the best chocolate peanut butter bars on Earth and read Romans 2. Then I studied more for math until 1:30am.

Today I had my math midterm and it went pretty well. One of the problems I used the whole sheet of paper and kind of just went in circles. But maybe I will get lucky and get at least partial credit for it. I had 6 hours of sleep last night and 4 the night before, so I think I might crash later today, but so far I am not tired.

I must be in college because I am finally learning about those famous things that you always hear but never really understand. In philosophy I learned Descartes' argument behind the famous quote "I think, therfore I am." And in physics we learned what E=mc^2 really means.

I Like Chocolate Chip Cookies

2004-10-11T23:59:00.000-07:00

Sara came over tonight around 6 and we went for a very short jog. We were going to job around the track but they are resurfacing it so we just ran down a street and back and we both are the worst runners ever. We then did some homework and then had pasta roni for dinner and then did some more homework and then made cookies and did some more homework. It was nice to have her over.

My new pet peve: people who talk to themselves in class. Chemistry is a pretty big lecture and I was sitting in the back and this guy was talking non-stop to himself. He was on the topic of chemistry, but no one wanted to hear him talk! He was driving me insane! I got a bit of a break from him because he fell asleep for a few minutes in the middle, but I wanted to stuff a sock in his mouth. And Erica agreed, so it wasn't just me.

Foul Mood

2004-10-11T17:32:00.000-07:00

I am not very cheery right now and need to vent. I just back from one of the most frustrating days at work that I have had so far. I didn't know a person could screw so many things up in only 2 1/2 hours. I printed stuff single sided instead of double sided, I punched things wrong, I copied things wrong, I printed out postage on the wrong pager, and I wasted $4 of postage. I couldn't do anything right! And then I didn't have a ride home because I forgot to ask Erin if she could take me home and I called about 8 different people and none of them answered. So this guy Brian who I work with took me home but I could tell he didn't really want to because he didn't really have room for me because he had his surfboard with him. But being the nice guy that he is, he did anyways. And I feel really strange. Like my heart is not working properly. But my pulse seems fine. I think I am just going bananas.

On a happier note, I think my physics test went fine. Oh and I met with Jenny today and we went to Lannea's Cafe and I had a caramel latte and it was good talking with her. But now I have lots of homework and have to go.

Weekend #5 (I think)

2004-10-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend I planned to catch up on my homework, but that definitely didn't happen. Maybe it was a good thing -- I took a nice break from school. On Friday after classes Helena and Erin came over and we had a ton of fun just hanging out and playing Mexican train. Helena brought us frapacchinos --- I love the new Javachip one. Mmmmmm. For dinner we had Domino's doublemelt that really wasn't that good at all, but Erin liked it. Helena and Ashley watched the first half of Pride and Prejudice while I helped Erin with her physics homework. Then at 10:52 Erin's friend called and asked if she wanted to go to Bali's, so she and I raced over there because it closes at 11:00. We made it just in time and had yummy yummy frozen yogurt -- sounds healthy. But really, it is not because I put lots of candy and chocolate chips and hot fudge on it.

On Saturday Ben and Ryan came up to visit. They arrived around 5 and Ashley was at work, so we walked over to visit her and had Quizno's sandwiches for dinner. Then we walked across the street and rented a couple of movies at Hollywood Video and then went to Bali's (yes, again.) Then we played Mexican train and in one of the rounds I got 124 points in one hand. It was awful! But when Ashley came back from work we started over and I was winning that one. Then we watched The Ladykillers, which was good, but not good enough that I would want to see it again, and then 50 First Dates, which I absolutely love! I don't know what we did the rest of the night, but we ended up going to bed at 4am. Too late, if you ask me.

Today we woke up around 10am (didn't go to church -- shame, shame.) We scrounged up some breakfast -- it was difficult because our fridge was barren. After that we took a quick tour of Cal Poly and then went downtown. We had lunch at Mo's and then walked around going in random shops. Then we went to See Canyon and bought some delicious apples. After that we finally went to the grocery store and now we have food! Yay!

I have a physics midterm tomorrow so I probably should go study. Bye! Oh, and by the way, I love wikipedia.com! It is quite helpful with homework dilemnas.

Oh How I Love Xeroxing

2004-10-08T01:12:00.000-07:00

I love country music. Not all of it, but the good songs are so good. Right now I'm listening to Launchcast radio on Yahoo and you can skip songs and rate them and it remembers your ratings, or so it says. The commercials are super-annoying, though.

I have a chem midterm tomorrow and I really have no idea how hard it is going to be. In my mind I think it is going to be a piece of cake, but I really don't know.

OK I just skipped through about 18 songs. Maybe I should turn it off.

Sometimes at work I wonder if they are just playing a big trick on me. The things they have me do are so random. Today I Xeroxed a whole book, page by page. By the 200th page, I was really fast. I think it was 350 pages long and it actually didn't take me that long. I raced the Xerox machine and when I got good I could lift the lid, pick up the book, flip the page, put the book back down, and close the lid before it was ready to scan the next page. So ha! Oh wow I'm pathetic. Then I went to Kinko's which is one of my favorite things to do because I get to walk a couple blocks and I feel important as I walk with my fellow worker-bees on the city sidewalks (hmm that reminds me of a Christmas song.) So then I worked on the document that I am typing into a word document. I don't like it too much because it always hurts my left hand and elbow. But don't tell my dad because he will probably tell me I shouldn't do it. The five hours at work went by pretty fast. Much faster than my philosophy class that is only two hours. And Ashley agrees that the first hour and half of that class go by much faster than the last half hour.

We had Bible study here tonight and Jessie told us a bunch of history behind the book of Romans. Then we went through Romans 1. And we ate cheesecake. Mmmm.

Pions and Muons

2004-10-05T21:57:00.000-07:00

Ow I just whacked my knee on my desk.

Today I gave blood at the new Tri Counties Blood Bank and it is fancy! You sit in a comfy chair and have your own computer to do whatever you want on (except you have to type with one hand, which is kind of difficult) and they come over every so often and ask you if you want anything to eat or drink....I like giving blood. You get pampered. And my iron was high enough, thanks to multivitamins! After I was done I had juice and cookies and chips and some 76 year old man talked to me about how the world is going downhill, and has been ever since WWII and it is all "our" fault. I think by "our" he meant the Americans because then he started to talk about the war and how there will never be democracy over there so we are dumb for trying to say that there will be.

Things I learend today:
1. A pion is pronounced pi-on, like the number pi with "on" at the end. And it is represented by the number pi. So I have to stop imagining teeny tiny poor people flying around, since I now know that it is not pronounced peon.
2. Muon is pronounced moo-on, so maybe I should start imagining teeny tiny cows flying around speedily.
*Please note that I have no idea what a pion or a muon, or even a neutrino, for that matter, is.

Just How Small are Those Molecules???

2004-10-04T23:02:00.000-07:00

Interesting comparisons for those of you who like to think about the universe:

A mole of water molecules can be swallowed in one gulp.
A mole of periods (.) lined up side by side would equal the radius of our galaxy
A mole of marbles stacked tightly together would cover the United States 70 miles deep.

Crazy!

Errand girl

2004-10-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

Homework is attacking me from all angles. Ack! Well I guess it is not really that much, but I haven't had much time to do it with work and school and writing on my blog and all that other stuff.

Today I had math and physics and chemistry, none of which were very exciting and then I had 2 and a half hours of work, but it seemed like a lot longer than that. I made some copies, bounded some documents, walked to the UPS drop box, walked to Kinko's and made some color copies, and got one of the company cars washed.

I went to a Habitat for Humanity meeting tonight, but it wasn't too exciting. I got some free pizza, though.

Today I walked past a group of small children -- pre-school, maybe? and they were all lined up and one of the girls waved at me and I waved back and then she looked concerned and told me that I was going the wrong way. She was cute.

Well I will stop procrastinating now and go do my homework.

Wikipedia

2004-10-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

I just lost my blog somehow and now I have to write it all over.

I went home for the weekend and it was oh-so-nice. Friday night I went to a Campanile concert with my dad and it was a lot of fun despite the awful L.A. traffic.

I wish I were basking in the sun in the front yard right now.....

Here's an interesting site that has lots of information on just about everything, including the twin paradox, which happened to be what I was looking up: http://www.wikipedia.com Steven and I spent about an hour reading stuff on it -- you click on a link that leads to another link that leads to another link... you get the idea.

Good thing I brought my warm clothes back here because it is like 20 degrees colder in SLO than in Goleta.

Friday!

2004-10-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

Something about the weekend just makes me happy!

Today after math I treated myself to an overly-priced, not very tasty lunch so that I could see Ashley at her new job at QUIZNO'S!!!! My beloved old job........ It took 13 minutes to walk there and I got to walk through all the construction on the bridge that was kind of cool to see. I want to operate one of those huge machines and feel the power! Ashley learned how to wrap a sandwich with my sandwich -- I feel so special. In the parking lot I saw a girl hit a car right that was parked next to where Ashley had parked my car -- I was so glad that she didn't hit my car.

Last night was our first Bible study and we had it at our apartment and it was so good to see all my girl friends (well, most of them) again and to hear the room filled with girls talking. We had key lime pie --mmmmm. Actually, it wasn't my favorite, but it was still good. We are going to go through the book of Romans.

I helped Erin with a physics problem last night but couldn't do it. How pathetic. I can't even figure out the velocity of a rocket. But I felt a little bit competent when I helped her with one that I could figure out while talking to her on the phone in my car.

Yesterday I had five hours of work, which I actually don't mind so far. I went to Kinko's at picked up three boxes of documents and the total was about $500 and I almost had a heart attack right there in the store. I propose everyone just uses CD's with acrobat, save yourself the $500, and save a few trees! When I was walked to my car trying to carry the boxes, a random man helped me carry one of them. For some reason, that really made me happy. Someone was looking out for someone besides themselves. Oh and a weird thing happened. I passed a homeless man when I was carrying one of the boxes, and I was going to offer to buy him lunch b/c he was sitting right next to a deli, and so I put the box in my car, and when I turned around he was gone! Like he was magic or something. OK maybe you had to be there.

Well I have to go now and learned all about things that move really fast in physics and then small things that move really fast in chemistry. Bye!

Southern California: Dangerous Country

2004-09-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought I was stuck in boring math classes, my teacher turned the tables and today we played Jeopardy! OK, so it wasn't really that fun because all the answers were "What is the inverse Laplace transform of blah blah blah?" or something like that. But I scored 10 points for my team!

The most exciting part of my day: EARTHQUAKE!!! Erin, Ashley, and I were just sitting on the couches upstairs and we hear the windows rattling and we are all confused and then the floor starts shaking and we discuss where the best place to be in an earthquake is, and I try to tell them about that triangle of life thing, but I don't think they believed me. And then there were two small aftershocks. But we weren't even really sure that it wasn't an earthquake until words were scrolling at the bottom of our screen as we watched the Ellen Show and later I heard all over the place that a 5.6 earthquake hit a few hours North of here.

It's the weekend!

2004-09-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up and decided to make pancakes because I love pancakes, and so I found a recipe for pancakes that have molasses in them, and they turned out quite delicious. After breakfast I went to Montana de Oro and walked out on Bluff trail again. The visitor's center was open this time so I got a map and maybe I will go on a different trail next time. It was foggy and quiet and beautiful.

This first week of school has been busy. I have had a lot of homework (mostly math) and I worked 10 hours. But I kind of like work because it is a nice break from school. And I get paid. :) Here is a brief description of my classes:

Math 344 -- wow I don't know how I got into a 300 series math class. What was I thinking? I like the prof (a woman!), but there is too much homework.
Physics 210 -- Modern physics. My professor makes me laugh because he has a crazy accent and he says "eh?" a lot. And he makes up funny examples like the Iron Chef trying to chop a centipede in half. Or Captain Kirk watching fireworks. Yesterday I was the only person in that class wearing a shirt that wasn't black, white, or navy blue.
Chemistry 127 -- So far this class is quite easy. I had a good chem teacher in high school, I guess. And it is a 100 series so I guess I shouldn't expect it to be as hard as my math class. The most exciting thing so far has been his demonstration where lit some ethanol on fire.
Philosophy 230 -- My professor likes to hear himself talk. I think this class has potential to be a good class. I read some Plato last night and it was pretty interesting.

The only reason I just wrote all that was because I wanted to make a list because I like how it does it for you just by one click of a button.

Well I should go do the dishes now because they are piled sky high.

I live in an apartment!

2004-09-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I didn't have work so I had the whole day to do whatever I wanted! Mrs. Nancy came up from Santa Barbara to drop off stuff that we had forgotten or found out we needed. She took us out to lunch at McClintock's and I had a BBQ chicken quesadilla that was delicious and we split and enormous piece of chocolate cake. She left in the early afternoon because she wanted to drop by Santa Ynez to see Lindsay's class before they got off school. I decided that I wanted to go to Montana de Oro and Ashley didn't want to come so I went up there by myself. It was so beautiful! And I think it would have been even prettier on a sunny day. I went on "Bluff Trail" which, as the name implies, is a walk (maybe about 3 miles round trip) along the bluffs overlooking the ocean and the eroding rock walls. I saw birds and a bunny and dolphins and sea otters! I wish I had binoculars, but luckily I met a lady who had some and so I got to see the sea otters close up. And she said that she saw a whale too and that there are often whales there, especially from November til January. So I will definitely go back there in the winter with my binoculars. I also want to go back there for sunset sometime. And there are lots of trails to explore and also tide pools when it is low tide. So many things to do! Here is a picture that I didn't take, but is a picture taken looking toward where I was.

I came home around 6:30 and took a shower and then went to a movie called "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" with Laura and Cynthia and I really liked it, which surprised me, because I wasn't expecting it to be a good movie. You should go see it. Then I came home and read “the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.” It is from the perspective of a boy who has autism. Here is a quote from it: “Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.” I think next to Harry Potter, it is the fastest I have ever read a book. Maybe because the words are all double spaced and big.
We moved in last Sunday, so I have almost been here a week. I love our apartment! It is two stories with a big bedroom and a nice living room with two couches and a big kitchen. And it is super-close to campus, which I especially like so I can walk to school and don’t have to buy a parking permit or take the bus or anything. We are all moved in but our walls are still pretty bare. It has been fun making dinners and making banana bread and stuff like that.
I got a new job. I am working as an errand girl for Padre Associates, Inc. They do environmental stuff, mostly for oil companies, but the project they made me read was for the City of Morro Bay because they need to dredge the marina. They like making me do random things. Some of my tasks have been:

going to the post office, twice in two hours
walking to the UPS store
driving to Morro Bay to pick up documents
Xeroxing (I despise the Xerox machine)
faxing stuff (which I did upside down so they got a blank document –oops)
typing the numbers of two hundred trees that were on a map into an excel document

It has been kind of interesting and good that I am learning things like how to use a Xerox machine and a fax machine. And it was crazy that a job just fell into my lap. I am very thankful for that.

Today I woke up and read and then went to Mondeo’s for lunch with Ashley and Helena. It was fun sitting in the window seat and watching everyone go by. Then we went to the movie theatre that is right across the way to see what time Wimbledon was playing, at it was playing in 15 minutes so we decided to see it and I thought that it was quite a good movie. I came home and turned right around again and went out to dinner with Sara. I had a really good time with her. At first I thought it might be awkward because we were friends as kids but haven’t really talked for a really long time, but it wasn’t awkward at all and it was really nice to talk to her. We went out to that Mexican restaurant that I always forget the name of that is next to Scolari’s. Then we came back here and chatted for a while and she got to see my apartment and then I dropped her off at her apartment and got to see her cute apartment.