A blast from the past: I didn't always hate camo

As everyone knows, I hate camo (the camouflage pattern) unless you are hunting or in the armed forces. But, confession time: I didn't always.
In the sixth grade I had this long sleeve camo shirt with a big red sparkly  star right in the middle of it. I thought it was cute because I was 12 and it was tight. So this one time my brother, Tyler, and I walked to the Circle K gas station on the corner. I was wearing my 'cute' camo shirt. Then, as we were buying whatever we were buying, the lady at the counter says, "now you boys have a great day!"
From that day forth I have hated camo.

Things I forgot

I've been home in the AZ for a couple of days now and it makes me remember how many things I've forgotten. Maybe 'forgot' isn't the right word... I remember things that I don't think about when I'm away. I think about high school a lot more, and the things that happened back then.
I play the 'what-if' game in my head. It makes me laugh. Laugh and wonder. In every ridiculous 'what-if' situation there's a little truth, a little possibility of what could have been. I wonder if things would be any different now if I could go back and change little things. If I had done all the things I said I wanted to do before I left... If I had left nothing unsaid...
The long and short of it (where did that saying even come from?) is that it really doesn't matter. I mean I guess I could go back and say, "oh hey, in high school I really wanted to tell you ____, but I didn't, so I'm telling you 2 years later when it doesn't really matter. I'm glad this isn't awkward. Kbye!" But somehow I don't think that would be effective in any way.

change and giving thanks

Recently I've been feeling... I think "shaky" is the best way to put it. Not shaky like a frail old lady who might fall over & break her hip, but shaky like less sure about things than usual. It may just be because I'm not going home for Thanksgiving & I miss my family, but I've just been a little nostalgic. Maybe it's because I can feel things changing &, as much as I like change, I don't like change that I don't dictate (it's a bit of a control thing). Not to mention the school stresses that are always at the back of my mind.
Anyway, what I've decided to do is make a list of some of the things that I love and am thankful for, because I know that I wouldn't have any of them without change.
I am thankful for/love:
-My family, and that they love me enough to miss me.
-All of the wonderful relationships that I have made since coming to Loma, they are better than I could have ever imagined.
-The friendships that have the stamina to span time and distance and carry on to and through college.
-My best friend Bailey that I love and miss so much; we'll grow old together even if we're apart.
-Point Loma itself. As much as I complain about some things, there's nowhere else I'd rather be.
-Love itself.
There are so many more little things, like scarves, dogs, cuddling, that Marissa isn't super messy, etc that I'm thankful for too.

"Don't hurt or be hurt and don't live in a way that makes you feel dead and don't deceive anybody or yourself and take care of what matters"
-Zadie Smith On Beauty

sister wives

I am currently sitting in my dorm room watching Sister Wives. What is that? It's a show about this polygamist family. First an foremost, I could never be a polygamist. I would be too sad. And jealous. These women are saints slash brainwashed. Not helped by the fact that their husband is a tool box with not ok long hair.

Mommy Dearest

I know that it's a bit after the fact, but this past weekend my lovely mother traveled the hour long plane ride from Phoenix to San Diego to come visit me. It was an excellent break for the both of us: mine from school and hers from life mothering three, variously aged, school children and a dog.
What we accomplished:
We did a lot of eating, that's for sure; from pizza to burgers to Asian goodness, our bellies were never empty.
We survived riding in the car with my 82 year old grandfather, who is nearing the age where one should stop driving (for the safety of the public).
We caught up and enjoyed each other's company.
We successfully avoided being roped into any large family gatherings that neither of us wanted to attend.
We made a significant amount of pumpkin bread (and left out those weird allspice balls that I put in there last time).
Overall the weekend was a smashing success. Love you Mom!

For romantics the world over

“You have bewitched me, body and soul. And I love- I love- I love you.”

—	Mr. Darcy, Pride & Prejudice

Things I've learned this week from:

My best friend, Bailey:
Give people a second chance.

This precious dog on caf lane:
I have puppy fever. You know how girls of a certain age get baby fever, where they just want to have a baby? I don't want a baby, I want a puppy. I just want to cuddle it & walk it & tell it how much I love it. I think I'm obsessed.

Andrew Peterson (in his song "dancing in the minefields"): 

The softest part of my heart is the overlap between true love and old people. It just gets me every time. I don't cry very much, but that music video just made me tear up. I love that true love is out there, that people have found it and made it work. It makes me so happy now just thinking about it, like a big yellow sunflower in my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtTa81LyuQM

Excuses & Catching Up

Now that it's been more than a month since I last blogged, I figured I'd come back.
The first month of school was just so... hectic? I was getting back into the groove of school plus working, and catching up with everyone that I hadn't seen since May. So my excuse is pretty standard: I was busy.
BUT
It is one of my new (school) year resolutions to blog regularly.
SO as a crash course on the past month & then some:
-Drove with Claudia back to lovely Point Loma
-Moved in
-Started classes & work
-Started dating Michael (became facebook official, so you know it's real)
-Remembered how to procrastinate on homework

more specific updates to come.

Slacking: The Story of a Sad Summer

Why haven't I blogged in over a month? Because I wanted this blog to be about cool and exciting things that happened this summer, and there haven't really been any. Most of my friends were gone/busy during the summer, so I sat around playing Mario Kart & reading books. And eating so much Pei Wei that I'm pretty sure my belly's going to burst.
But now summer's practically over! All I can really say is "finally". Not that I didn't like being home with my family, but I was lonely. This home just feels like kind of a weird in-between place now; I don't really belong here. Everyone has their own lives now, this past year is the first one where we were all free to really define ourselves, and we all changed. Sometimes growing up means growing away, and that's ok.
Now that I'm really packing up I'm so excited to go back to Loma, but I also want to spend a little more time with the fam-bam. Until Sami starts screaming because she doesn't want to take a shower that is.

Away We (san die)Go [part 2]

Today's adventure: sailing.
First and foremost, I have never been sailing before. All I knew was that, according to pictures and movies, I should probably wear navy blue and khaki.
Sailing trip notables:
- I messed up from the start (somehow failing to secure us to the dock & then shove off from the dock adequately), establishing that I had the least amount of sailing prowess on the boat.
- Coleman was deemed the most promising sailor of the three of us guests, and so was allowed to steer for a bit.
- The above did not work out so well, the wind started blowing us right & the Colemeister panicked. In this panic he momentarily forgot his right and left, and, instead of correcting by turning the wheel left, kept turning frantically right. This near capsizing caused Alain (our skipper and esteemed professor at PLNU) to jump up and, to the relief of everyone aboard, take control of the boat. Coleman then had to deal with a few minutes of "don't you have a driver's licence", etc comments. In Coleman's defense, driving the boat is a daunting task (not saying that the entire scene wasn't a comical one though...).
- On our return course I, ashamed as I am to admit it, got sick. Although I was extremely successful at keeping the boat clean, it went straight into the water (sorry fishies).
- Pulling back into the boat spot was a little difficult and we may or may not have run into the dock.
- There was a bird's nest, complete with eggs, hidden in one of the boat's sails. Unfortunately the baby birds inside the eggs dropped right out onto the deck at my feet when Alain was trying to re-situate the nest. Poor little unborn birdies.
When all is said and done I consider the adventure a success. Nobody fell overboard, we didn't capsize, everyone enjoyed him/herself, I got to meet Alain and Adam, and learn a few things about sailing.

Away We (san die)Go [part 1]

Some of my best childhood memories occur at the Del Mar Fair (now the San Diego Fair). My mom always hated it; she hates crowds & anything that makes you sick, but we loved it. We have tons of pictures and home videos of my brother and I in the petting zoo hugging huge nasty pigs and whatnot.
Anyways, we went to the fair for the first time in at least 5 years the other day. I was so stoked. Not only had my mother finally given in to years of pressuring, but I got to hang out with the ever lovely Michael Morris for the day.
My mom and Sami had no inclination to ride many rides so they hung out in the kiddie section and pet farm animals while we spun around trying to make ourselves sick.
My day at the fair brought me to the conclusion that all sorts of crazy people go to the fair, from dancing gender ambiguous ginges to leash babies, and eat all sorts or crazy fried foods (fried butter being the most outlandish that I saw).
Altogether: a successful day. The only non-successful part was that I forgot my camera. And my nose may have gotten a bit toasty, but it was worth it.

Thank you for calling Pei Wei at The Summit...

I am currently spending my summer working about half of the hours I want to at Pei Wei Asian Diner. Here are the things that I wish everyone knew about Pei Wei, and common courtesy in general:
1) Wrong pronunciation does not bother me until you try to tell me how to pronounce the name of the restaurant at which I work or the dishes on the menu. I am paid to know more than you.
2) You cannot bring a dish back after you have already eaten it all. "I ordered shrimp & I got chicken. I ate it all already, but I want a gift card or something" is just rude.
3) Yes, we do clear off your dishes & wipe off your table after you leave, but that does not make it ok to throw your food all over the table. We gave it to you on a plate for a reason.
4) If you order all your drinks in to-go cups take them with you.
5) "I want chicken and vegetables with brown rice" does not help me in the slightest.
6) When you walk in at 8.50 and see that we close at 9, please do not dine in, at least have the decency to order take-out.

Sibling Bonding: The MIM

To start off: the MIM is the musical instrument museum. It's the only one of its kind, & they decided to build it at a random intersection right off the 101 freeway. I wish I knew why.
Anyways, my mom decided that Sami (my 9 year old sister) & I needed to get out of the house, so she sent us to explore the MIM. I thought that a museum of instruments could either be a mega-bust or just the opposite.
The top floor was broken up into rooms based on region: Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, Latin America, United States/ Canada, & Europe.
The bottom floor had different galleries where you could play some of the instruments, see self-playing instruments, & a gallery of famous artists.
Sami spent most of the time telling me that I could get her this or that outlandish instrument for her birthday. One of the security guards thought that she was serious & tried to explain that the instruments in the gallery were not for sale, they were just for looking at. I didn't have the heart to tell him that she did not really want an enormous Asian gong for her birthday.

Weight Loss Program

My doctor has decided that it is necessary that I go on a 'no-solid-food' diet starting tomorrow. This will be a crash course diet that will last about 3 days; after which I will be able to slowly begin eating solids. To make sure that I do not cheat on this diet an oral surgeon has been employed to extract my wisdom teeth. The injuries to my mouth will prohibit me from eating solids. So I am not choosing this diet, it is being forced upon me.

The doctors try to console me by telling me that this diet is because I need my wisdom teeth taken out, but I know the truth. The whole wisdom teeth thing is just a ploy.  

If you want to read about the unnecessary surgery that I am being forced to undergo, you can look at pictures and everything here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_tooth

Lulls

I know that there's been a bit of a lull in my blogging.
Why is that?
Because my life is currently in a lull. Maybe summer itself is a lull; for me at least. I just want this summer to be a lazy one. I have to spend as much time as possible working, so when I'm not working I just want to sit at home and read books.
I did, however, have a whale of a time today playing apples to apples with Taylor Stephens, her bf Ben, and Maegan Rowley. Ben blew us all away, but we did laugh a lot. Not to mention that I missed Taylor Stephens a great deal, & was stoked to see her.
On the flip side of that shocking display of socialization, I spent an embarrassing amount of time on my computer last night searching for free piano sheet music. I didn't attempt to play any of the music that I found; I didn't even print it out.
So what do I do with my days? Sit around my house in running shorts, my bathing suit, or a combination of the two and, as my mother likes to term it, 'holing myself up in my bedroom'.

For the Summer...

I made a list. A summer to do list. I wrote it on my white board so that I won't forget anything.
So here's the list:
-Read books
I have a 'books to read' & a 'books read/ in progress' list.
books to read include: Lord of the Rings series, J.D. Salinger, Atlas Shrugged, and John Green.
books read/ in progress include: An Abundance of Kathrines, The Fountainhead, Lullaby, The Angel's Game (only one of those falls under the 'books to read' list)
-Cook/bake things
The only thing on my repertoire to bake is pumpkin bread. I love pumpkin. 
-Make money
I start my job at Pei Wei on Monday. Yahoo!
-Play the piano
This is pretty self-explanatory. I don't have a specific song list yet.
-Be crafty
There's a really neat sketch I did that I want to turn into a painting. It's of tall skinny houses.
-Get in shape
This includes running, swimming, and maybe learning yoga.
-Take advantage of all opportunities
I would really like to have adventures.
-Eat obnoxious amounts of Asian food
This goal will be made a lot easier by my employment at Pei Wei.

My list could and would be longer, but I ran out of white board marker colors & I wanted each task to be a different color. So 8 it is.

I Love Palindromes

A car, a man, a maraca.

Bird rib.

Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic.

Dumb mobs bomb mud.

Evil olive.

Flee to me, remote elf.

God saw I was dog.

He maps spam, eh?

I madam, I made radio! So I dared. Am I mad? Am I?

Jarred arts sell less, Trader Raj!

Kay, a red nude, peeped under a yak.

Lager, sir, is regal.

Mr. Owl Ate My Metal Worm.

No, it is open on one position.

Ogre, flog a golfer. Go.

Pull up if I pull up.

(none for 'q')

Roy, am I mayor?

Star comedy by Democrats.

T. Eliot nixes sex in toilet.

UFO tofu.

Vote to not slip up, refer pupils to note TOV.

Wontons? Not now.

Xerxes was stunned. Eden nuts saw sex, rex

Yawn. Madonna fan? No damn way.

Zeus was deified, saw Suez.

My Bestie Bee-lee

So tomorrow my best friend ever, Bailey, is coming to visit. I'm SO excited.  We haven't seen each other in almost a year. How crazy is that?
So Bailey & I have been best friends for 6.5 years. You know that your friendship is real when you make it through all of things that Bailey & I have together.
Milestone 1: we made it through middle school. Middle school is generally the worst time in a person's school career & only the true friends make it out still friends. I remember the lunch periods spent sitting in the student store being dumb & making up code words for everything from bodily functions to boys.
Milestone 2: we made it through freshman year of high school. Barely. This was probably the toughest year of our friendship; we said that we were best friends, but didn't really act like it. She made weird new friends that I was a little scared of & I drifted into sports & had my first boyfriend. But there are still fun memories: Bio class with Ms. Oliveri where we just messed around all the time & she managed not to hate us.
Milestone 3: we made it through I.B. We had all of the same classes for 2 years. Usually when you're around someone that much you start to kind of hate them. But Bailey & I protected our friendship by secretly making fun of all the people around us.
Milestone 4: we made it through freshman year of college. Even though we lived 8 hours away from each other and didn't see each other for almost a year, we still manage to be each other's best friend.
I'll never forget any of our sleepovers, where we stay up all night talking about everything. I'll never forget all the ridiculous nick-names that we have for each other. There are so many stories that I could tell, memories that I want to share, but that would take all of the time in the world. The most important thing is that Bailey, you are my y.b.b., my heart attack buddy, my borderline midget best friend in the whole wide world & I cannot wait for this time tomorrow.
  

Home Sweet Furnace

Yup, you guessed it, I'm back in the Az. Today is my first full day back, and I can say one thing for sure: I will never fly home for the summer again. I can only take so much stress, so much intensive packing, so much of a grumpy Southwest employee telling me that my bag is 0.5 lbs overweight & no I cannot rearrange my stuff here.

If I had to write the dictionary definition for Arizona it would be one simple word "dry". I'm pretty sure that the moment I stepped out of the terminal my epidermis cried for a second before all moisture was sucked out of it.

I have to change the subject now, before I'm forced to play the world's smallest violin for myself.

I am glad to be home & see my family. My dog was happier to see my mom, who'd been gone for an hour, than me, who's been gone for months. Oh well, I'll chalk it up to the fact that he's a dumb dog that eats rocks, so what can I really expect?

My mom made all my favorite foods for my first night home, so that was awesome. I can't even explain how stoked I am not to have to eat caf burgers and toast for every meal. Now I can fry my eggs myself on my back patio. Yahoo!

Pokémon nerd

So, since tonight was Michael's last night at Point Loma (until August), I decided that I would dedicate this blog entry to him. Since Michael's ideal world is the Pokémon world, I found it only fitting to post a video of all 12 Pokémon theme songs in his honor.

Enjoy

Summer: a double edged sword

So, yesterday's post and this one are a bit similar. They're both composed of pro's and con's. The topic of today: summer.
On the one hand I'm super excited for the summer. No school, I get to see my bestie Bailey! (there's a whole post dedicated to her later), and my fam of course. At the same time it means that I have to leave the beautiful southern California coast for the sweltering desert known as Arizona. Do I have a pool? yes. How hot is it during the summer? 90 degrees. Definitely not refreshing. It also means that I have to work. Unfortunately being a college student costs money. The other unfortunate thing about working: my uniform is all black. Arizona's average summer temperature is 110. That's a little less than comfortable believe it or not.& I'll miss all of my Loma friends.
But I know that we all need a break; especially from school work. It'll be nice to just refresh for the upcoming semester.

sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad

Today is Mother's day. It is also the day before finals. Which means that while all I want to do is be at home making quesadillas for my mom, I have to be in the library studying for a 250 question bible final. Fair? Definitely not. But, as every adult loves to tell children, life's not fair. And, on the bright side, a week from today I can make my mom quesadillas as a belated mother's day gift.

As for why I pick quesadillas to make for my mom for mother's day: it's not because she particularly loves quesadillas, but because they're the food that I make best. I make an excellent chicken quesadilla, if I don't say so myself.

"Just make yourself a dang queadilla"
Long story short, I love you big, mom.

a re-christening

Ok, I know that my blog just changed names. I'm sorry if this has caused any confusion. I wasn't completely satisfied with 'life full of laughter', it felt a little too cliche.

So where did 'chasing the great perhaps' come from? It's inspired by my book of the moment: Looking For Alaska, by John Green (who has sweet glasses). Francois Rabelais's last words were "I go to seek a Great Perhaps", & isn't that what we're all doing, chasing the unknown? And the question that we must all ask ourselves is whether it's worth it to leave behind our minor lives to chase grander maybes?

i do's

Everyone loves weddings. Who doesn't love an occasion to celebrate and dance and get dressed up? My aunt got married this last weekend, & I was the maid of honor. It was an awesome opportunity to let somebody else do my hair and makeup for me.

Weddings are also a great learning experience. Here's what I learned:

- Just because there is an open bar does not mean that you should hammered.

- Just because people of a certain age shouldn't dance, doesn't mean that they won't dance.

- Do not use somebody's name unless you are 100% sure that it is, in fact, their name. There's nothing more embarrassing than calling somebody by the wrong name.

- Family members rarely fail to try to set you up on dates with people you often times don't know (or are related to).

Did I catch the wedding bouquet? No. But not for lack of trying. She didn't throw it because I was only one of two people that came out to catch it. I was willing to battle for it, but she decided that it would better to not throw it at all. Bust.

I also learned that I like my brother more than I thought that I did. We basically danced embarrassingly together for the entire night. So I guess it was a win.

my muses

I apologize for the semi-lame first blog. I'll chalk it up to the multi-use excuse: I was tired. To set the stage for this blog I find it necessary to introduce the people in my life that make me laugh. There are so many of these people that I can only blog about one group at a time, otherwise this entry would go on like the song that never ends. I 'll start with my school muses: (introduced alphabetically)

Alli: Alli is one of those people that, upon meeting her, you would expect to be a neat freak. She is not. I'm pretty sure evidence of sustainable life has been discovered in her vehicle. That and an entire second wardrobe.

Claudia: There is never a dull moment with Claudia. As a show-choir baby she can find a song to match anything you say, and she often does just that. When I'm with Claudia there is constant background music.

Julia: Oh, Julia. Julia is my little innocent angel. She is a dietetics major, and is always exercising. Nothing makes you feel guilty like watching t.v. and eating sour gummi worms while Julia sits on the bed next to you eating celery.

Marissa: Marissa is my roommate. We listened to the song "Beauty and the Beast" the other night on repeat for 1.25 hours. We tried to see who would crack first; it was a tie. Marissa actually is a neat freak. I'm pretty sure she wanted to kill me first semester when I left my shoes all over the room.

Michael: I'm pretty sure that Michael and I are different genders of the same person. We do have our differences. I did not make it my day's mission to list all 151 original pokemon by memory. But how can a kid with an extensive costume wardrobe not be funny?

Tori: Tori is my jigglypuff. I have learned more good words and sayings from Tori than from anyone else. Does anyone else say "chicken noodle soup on a hot summer day" as their code word? No. And we say 'Tyler' the same way.

A whole new world

Welp, I've finally entered the blogging world. Happy Birthday to my baby blog.