FINALLY!!!!!
I just completed the last of my four midterms….YES! I’m so excited to be done and I’m ready to start my Spring Break. I feel like I should do something fun and amazing after all of this hard work. I guess I did the first part of Delaying Gratification but now I need the icing to eat. (Sorry, it’s a psych term I needed to learn for the test about putting the plain before the pleasure…I guess I’m still in school mode). Well, I have one…count it , uno, day left until I’m home. I can’t wait; it will be nice just to sit back and relax. I haven’t done that for a while. Unfortunalety, I still have class tomorrow, but luckily there are no tests. I just have a little bit of homework. NO MORE STUDYING!!!!!!!!!!!
The Touch Avoidance Scale
These are some of the questions you had to answer for our communications test. It was found on page 71 of our communications book. The statements we had to respond to were really quite funny. Here they are. By the way, we had to put a number 1-5 to answer how much we do or do not agree with the statement.
1. A hug from a same-sex friend is a true sign of friendship.
2. Opposite-sex friends enjoy it when I touch them.
3. I often put my arm around friends of the same-sex.
4. When I see two people of the same-sex hugging, it revolts me.
5. I find it enjoyable when a close opposite friend and I embrace.
These are hilarious aren’t they?!?!?!?!!!
old experiences that last a lifetime.
There I was, sitting between my sister and my brother in the back seat of our Chevy Malibu. I wasn’t too happy wearing a pair of jeans and some Christmas shirt my mom picked out. I was eight years old and I really wanted to pick out my own outfit, especially for our Christmas Eve dinner. That year we were going to the Queen Mary. My brother and sister were excited about it, but not me. I really did not understand what the big deal was about some giant boat named after some queen from a foreign country. I had been on a boat before, so why did we have to go on one tonight? None the less, I had no choice in the matter because there I sat between two fighting siblings on my way to a night I couldn’t wait to be over.
While my dad sat in the driver’s seat tuning the radio to a station playing Christmas music, my mom asked us what we thought Santa would bring us for Christmas. I never really understood why they thought we still believed in Santa. My brother was twelve at the time and my sister was seven. I guess she still believed in Santa but I sure didn’t. I wasn’t going to be the one to ruin Christmas for everyone, so I played along. Once my dad found the right radio station we began to sing to the songs. “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree†was playing on the radio when traffic began to get bad. We were in Anaheim when it started. My parents began to complain saying “We are going to be late for our reservations if we don’t hurry†and “Why is this taking so long?â€
During this time Disneyland was under construction so the exit you would take to enter the amusement park was being redone. There were cones everywhere and bulldozers and tractors in the far right lane working on the road. The freeway had five lanes and the one closest to the right lane was now the exit to Disneyland. My dad began to get very frustrated and decided to try and make his way around the cars. He traveled into the right lane that wasn’t blocked and tried to pass as many cars as he could. The right hand lane was exiting and he did not have enough time to get over to one of the left lanes because there were too many cars, so, he ended up taking the Disneyland exit. My siblings and I immediately began to tell my parents that they could not just take the exit to Disneyland and not go in. They reassured us that their plans were to get to the Queen Mary and that we should get the idea out of our heads. In my mind I knew there was no chance of me going to Disneyland that day, so I stopped pursuing that idea. All the hope inside of me drained away.
I put my head back on the edge of the seat and decided to try to take a nap, hoping that it would make the time go faster. The car trip was going to be even longer because my dad had to try to get back onto the freeway and through all of the traffic. As I lay there, I could feel the car begin to slow down. Thinking we had only hit another stoplight, I thought nothing of it and kept my head against the seat and eyes closed. Then, hearing a man’s voice right outside our car, I lifted my head and witnessed my dad exchanging money for a slip of paper. I immediately turned my head in all directions in search for some indication of where we had stopped. Moving right to left and up to down, I could not tell where we were because of all the construction. Then I saw it, the wonderful bright blue, red, and yellow sign that read “Disneyland.â€
My heart skipped a beat as I thought of all the possibilities that could have come from this encounter with the man. Unable to believe that there was any possibility of Disneyland being our actual destination I came to suppose that my dad had only turned into the parking lot by mistake. I kept waiting for him to turn around, but he never did. My brother, sister, and I still could not catch on. We sat there dumbfounded. The confusion ran throughout my brain, leaving me in a state of complete shock as our car pulled into an available parking spot. I remember sitting in the back seat as everyone else got out of the car, unable to move. My dad came back in to get me. All I could do was look at him and say “But dad, now we have to go to Disneyland.†My dad’s laughter illuminated what had just happened. My parents had planned to go to Disneyland all along. The joy I had inside me could not be measured. The dread of this day vanished, and the possibilities of what was to come were endless.
Never had I been surprised like that. I walked hand-in-hand with my dad as I told him everything I planned to ride. With my wide-eyed excited look I stepped into line, awaiting my turn to join the thousands of people in the happiest place on earth. The magical experience will be kept in heart always. I can never forget the enchanting rides that took you into far away places of new adventures and into fairytale lands.
This experience made me realize how much family meant to me. Even though I was only eight, I could tell that my parents had gone way out of their way to take us to Disneyland. They did not have to spend all that money to take us for half a day to the magical kingdom. My parents have been the most influential people in my life. My life has been shaped by their hands. The morals and the values I live by come from them. My future family will obtain the same values and love that my parents have bestowed upon me. By lovingly surprising my siblings and me, my parents have ensured that I will follow on in their tradition of loving my children and teaching them the same morals and bring them up the same way my parents brought me.
when Zach and Jeff asked Lauren and I to the ball
They wrote us a poem, which they recited to us in front of 20 people. Here it is:
Throughout the pages of history
One thought stayed strong
Of time and Lady Mystery
Men’s hearts are strung along
As we ponder the roots of this affair,
These adventures all quite novel,
Of hugs, cuddles, and played with hair,
You know we’re nothing but trouble
When my eyes discover your face
My heart beats to the polka,
So I invite you to a dancing place,
A ball! With queer ass folk-a.
So, funny story.
Do you want to hear something funny?
Well, even if you don’t you have no choice. I went to the caf with Lauren and Kathryn like I do every day. I get in there and get my food. I was feeling a little motion sick because of the constant reading of the computer screen (Madame Bovary) so I didn’t get too much to eat. All I had was a piece of pizza and a banana. I really don’t know what this has to do with my story but I put it in here anyway. I got two cups of water, like I always do, and went to find Trae and Erin. There were sitting at one of the round tables that you can see when you walk into the caf. I went to sit down between Carissa (a girl from my hall) and this guy Kevin, whom I haven’t met until this moment. Well, the table was crowded so I had to turn my tray vertically and attempted to gently slide it onto the table gracefully. If you know me, and I think you do, then you should know that I am incapable of being graceful. Well, I was able to turn the tray vertically but before I could ”gracefully” slide the tray onto the table I knocked over my two cups of water. The water went CRASHING down onto Kevin’s lap. The worst part was that the cups were falling in slow motion; so, everyone knew what was happening but we couldn’t stop it. I felt so bad. His pants were soaked and he had to leave from the caf and go straight to class. It looked like he peed in his pants. I did all I could to help him and apologized immensely. He was really nice about it and we ended up having a pretty nice conversation afterwards. But I’m pretty sure that was the last one we’ll ever have.
2006…what a year!
This was a bulletin on myspace that I filled out, but it seemed too important not to paste here.
1. If you could give just one word for 06 what would it be?
Amazing!
2. What are your favorite memories of 06?
There are so many, graduating from high school; Disneyland with Joc, Trae, and Ren; Tea Party with Joc, Trae and Ren; dormlife; Anything Ren and I did with Zach and Jeff, including going to TJ, the bonfire in the middle of December, and all of our crazy movie nights; and just hanging out with family.
3. From 1-10 how would you rate this year?
Well, it would definitely be a 10. It was a big change, but the best one I’ve ever made.
4. If you could change one thing about 06 what would it be?
I can’t think of anything I would want to change, maybe just how I handled some of my relationships with friends.
5. If you could rewind back to one moment what would it be?
Family: I would want to rewind back to last Friday when we were all decorating cookies for Christmas and we got into a huge flour fight….just times like that, unexpected and incredible.
Friends: The night when Joc, Trae, Ren, and I attempted to all sleep in Ren’s bed. It was an adventure.
Friends-
1. Did you make any new friends?
Of course, and once again they are amazing.
2. Do you think any of your friends have changed?
Yes, I’m sure everyone has, but change is important. Everyone needs to change one way or the other.
3. Do you still have the same friends you had in the beginning of the year?
Yeah, and I’ve made many, many more.
5. Who are your closest friends?
Lauren (Ren), Trae, Joc, Zach, Jeff, Gina, Jen, Michelle, Tarah, and of course Whitney.
Life-
1. Do you have any regrets for this year?
I never think of life as having regrets…they are experiences that you can learn from.
2. Has a lot changed in your life?
What hasn’t changed? I moved away from home and into a whole new environment. College!
3. Do you think you have changed?
Yeah, but I think I’m still fundamentally the same. (I like the way Joc wrote that)
4. Do you have a New Years resolution? What is it?
To be more adventurous and willing to try new things…i think those are kind of the same thing, but they both need to be said.
Relationships-
1. Have you had any heartbreaks?
Everyone has heartbreaks….but you move on.
2. Did you break any?
I hope not….but you never really know.
3. Did u meet someone special?
I have met many special people…all of my friends are special to me. But if you mean Zach, then yes I did.
4. Have you fallen in love?
I don’t think so.
In 06 have you:
[ ] Kissed anyone
[x] Hugged anyone
[x] Been out of state
[x] Gone on vacation
[ ] Failed a class
[x] Been camping
[ x] Ridden a roller coaster
[ ] Gone snow boarding
[x] Played laser tag
[x] Been out of the country
[x] Fell asleep crying
[x] Wished you didn’t do something
[x] Laughed so hard it hurt
[ ] Had surgery
[x] Been to a bonfire — Yeah, if you can call it a bonfire..psh, middle of december
[x] Made smores
[x] Went tanning — Of course, I live in california
[x] Made a mistake
[x] Prank called anyone
[x] Dyed your hair
[ ] Chopped off a lot of your hair
[ ] Broken any bones
[ ] Been in a physical fight
[x] Played hide and seek
[x] Been to a funeral
[x] Said something to someone you wish you could take back
[ ] Been to the circus
[ ] Shot a gun
[ ] Passed out
[x] Played a sport
[ ] Been to the hospital
[ ] Been pantsed
[x] Lost your voice
[ ]Gone to the zoo
[x] Been shopping
[x] Cooked your own food
[ ] played paintball
[ ] Gone mudding
[ ] Ridden a motorcycle
[x] Painted a room
[x] Lost weight
[ ] Gone four wheeling
[x] Lost someone important to you
[x] Slept for over 12 hours
the plans for the new year…
Well, in two days I’ll be off to Lauren’s house. Our plan is to spend the night on Colorado Blvd. and watch the Rose Parade on New Years day. Both Zach and Jeff are coming to this too. I can’t wait. Unlike Lauren and Jeff, Zach and I haven’t seen each other since we left Loma. I really miss him and I finally get to see him on Saturday. He comes in at 2:35 at Union Station. I plan on going over to Lauren’s house earlier that day to get ready for the guys. We’ll go pick up Zach and come back and wait for Jeff. Once we all get there, we’ll most likely go get stuff for New Years Eve. We have to get snacks and stuff for the night. We’ll come back watch a couple of movies and get in the hot tub. We’ll relax the rest of the night and get a good nights sleep before our big day. On Sunday we’ll get up bright and early and go to Church. Afterwards, we’ll come back to Lauren’s and change and grab our stuff, then it’s off to the Rose Parade. We’ll stay up all night playing games and watching movies on Jeff’s laptop. The Parade starts at 8. We’ll watch the parade and then go back to Lauren’s to sleep for a couple of hours. After we are all rested we can hang out and do whatever for a couple of hours before going to my house for dinner. We’ll spend the night at my house and hang out until the boys have to leave once again. It should be a lot of fun. I hope we can stay up all night and not freeze to death. But hey, that’s what college is al;l about, right? Doing stupid things and learning from those experiences…
bonfire?
There we sat, not knowing what would come next. I turned to say something to Zach and saw that there were five guys sitting on the other side of the fire talking. How did it come to this? When did they even get there? If you had asked me three hours earlier that this is what the evening would end up like I would tell you that you were crazy. Nobody expected this…..Nobody!
It was 4:30 and Lauren and I were sitting outside Klassen waiting for Zach and Jeff to pick us up. They were late…like always. Finally at a quarter til, they drove up. Apparently, they had walked out of Hendricks and found out that Zach’s car was on the other side of campus. We got into the car and drove off. Once we got off campus, we had to find a grocery store to buy wood for our fire. Whenever my brother and I had bonfires we would go to Von’s and buy a bundle of wood. So, Zach drove to the nearest grocery store, which happened to be a Von’s, and we went inside to get the wood. Once inside, we found out that the only wood they had were Duraflame logs. Lauren and I both knew that they were not a good idea. How can anyone have a good bonfire with Duraflame logs? Sure the fire would last a long time, but the fire wouldn’t be very big. The next problem was that you could either purchase individual logs or a box of six. Well, somehow the boys (mostly Zach) talked Lauren and I into getting the box of six logs. They even wanted to get lighter fluid but we decided against it.
We left Von’s and went to Arby’s for dinner, then it was off to the beach. The first place we went was Mission Beach. We pulled into the parking lot and unloaded everything, which was a lot. We had blankets, our backpacks, Christmas presents, the wood, and stuff to make marshmellows. We walked over to the sand and right before we were about to step onto it in search for a pit, Zach read a sign saying: “No fire allowed on the beach.” Man, now we had to pack everything back into the trunk of the car and find another beach. I told Zach that OB (Ocean Beach) had pits. We got back inot the car and began our journey to OB.
Once we got there, we parked and went to find the spot before we took everything out of the car. We found the pit and went back to grab our stuff. There was no one around. Well, then again it was 6 o’clock on a Wenseday night in the middle of December. We set up our blankets and Zach and Jeff took a log out of the box an began to light it on fire. It took him a while to get the matches to light the wood before it went out. The boys had obviously never lit Duraflame logs before. Lauren knew excactly what to do and quickly showed Zach the tricks of lighting a fire. Our fire was a pretty pathetic fire. We only had one side lit when our unexpected visitor came along.
As we all sat around the fire watching it intently, a guy came up and asked if he could share the fire with us. We agreed and he walked over to the lowly lit flame. The first thing he said when he saw our fire was “What? Where did you get that wood: Von’s?” We were cracking up; we could not believe he said Von’s of all places. He introduced himself as “Dirty Kevin” and quickly made himself at home. He did not let up on our so called “fire”…even when we had three logs in there. Around 7 or so, Zach had to go to the bacthroom and made me go with him. We walked over to the once empty bathrooms and found a bunch of locals standing around outside of the bathroom. I was a little afraid to wait for him out there; so, he offered to walk me back to the pit and then come back, but I decided I would be fine. Once he stepped into the boys bathroom I went inside the girls and waited for him. On our way back to the pit, we talked about Dirty Kevin and both agreed that God must have sent him there for a reason. If not to help Dirty Kevin then for this story. When we got back, we sat down by the fire and wrapped ourselves in my pink blanket and listened to Dirty kevin tell us his history. He was a rapper/grafitti artist, who in three days was on his to Ohio to “teach the kids how to really grafitti” or that’s what he said he was going to do.
By 8 o’clock. Zach and I decided to open our presents.We had waited long enough. The boys opened two of their gifts when we were interrupted once again…this time by a crazy Shaman man. He walked up and handed a bongo to Zach and attempted to give me the tambourine. He was about 60 and wore a long colorful poncho and had long white/grey hair. He smelled of pot and talked like he had been on it for the past 40 years. Dirty Kevin immediately went to shake his hand (over the fire), as they shook hands crazy Shaman man (this was the name given to him by Dirty Kevin) introduced himself as “Lucky Love”. He then proceeded to ask Kevin what his name was. Once Dirty Kevin replied, Lucky Love began to laugh hysterically. He thought it was the funniest thing ever. We knew Lucky Love was a goner. He laughed for a good 10 minutes. Dirty Kevin was getting a little angry, he kept saying that it wasn’t funny because he earned the name he has now. I wonder what he did to earn the name “Dirty Kevin.” As Zach opened his presents that I gave him, Lauren and Jeff were being entertained by Lucky Love. He was singing them a song about Wildflowers. Everytime he got to the chorus and he said the word Wildflowers he would hit himself in the head with the tambourine. I actually have a picture of him doing this.
After everyone opened their presents, I turned to Zach and found five guys sitting on the other side of the fire: There was Dirty Kevin, Lucky Love, and three other guys. By this time Zach and I decided to leave. We all packed up and got ready to leave. Before we were able to go Lucky Love asked, “Before you guys leave, could I have a hug from your two beautiful girlfriends?” Zach immediately pulled me behind him. I thought we were clear of that question when Jeff said, “It’s up to them.” Well, Neither Lauren and I wanted to hug him; so she asked him what we would get out of hugging him. He said,” I’ll give you a half a million dollars, a castle in Bulgaria, and your name on a postage stamp.” Lauren asked him to show us the castle then maybe we would talk about it. He responded with,” Here is your castle .(pointing to the beach) These are your stars and here is all the running water you’ll ever need (pointing at the ocean)”. Zach replied with, “Yeah, but she can’t drink it.” Then. Lucky Love asked for hugs from the boys and Lauren and I reluctantly gave him a hug too.
We grabbed our stuff and began to walk away saying, “Merry Christmas and God Bless.” Lucky Love called out to us to come back for a second because he had a question to ask us. He asked us if we smoke Marijuana. We all just looked at each other and laughed. Jeff thought that Lucky Love sounded hilarious so he asked him to repeat what he said. After he did, he said, “you kids don’t smoke do you?” We responded “no” and Jeff said that “it was against the covenant.” Of course we found that funny, but no one else would get it if they did not go to Point Loma. Then Lucky Love said, “good, more for me” and we left it at that. We left the beach and went to Denny’s. We sat there for a while joking about the events of that evening and played with our new Christams presents. We went back to school just in time to watch the meteor shower. It was the perfect ending to a crazy event-full night.
The Royal Tea Party
AS I drove onto her street I could see a suburban parked outside of a house with its lights on. I let myself out of the huge van and my dad helped me get my stuff out of the back. Just then, the doors to the suburban flew open and three girls came running out of the vehicle. I immediately dropped everything I held and turned all of my attention toward them. They ran up and wrapped their arms around me and they all began to talk at the same time. They kept talking about how much they missed me and about what they had been doing. It was as if we hadn’t seen eachother in years….but it had only been about 6 hours. This is how we were…inseperable. The four of us had become the best of friends in only 3 months. We could not go longer than four hours without seeing eachother, let alone a full day. But that didn;t matter because this weekend we were going to spend every waking second with eachother….we were very excited.
I said goodbye to my parents and threw my stuff into the back of Lauren’s car. Once inside they began to talk about everything they had done and their trip down on the train. I wasn’t able to ride with them but my parents did drop me off on Friday night rather than early Saturday morning. We drove to Lauren’s church and dropped by to say hello to her youth group. We met the youth pastor who we had heard a lot about. We talked for a while, while Lauren socialized with the other kids. Once we left there we drove through Coffee Bean and got something to drink and then drove around mindlessly for an hour talking about what else…boys!
That night we all slept on Lauren’s bed…yes all of us. We definitely didn’t get more than a complete hour worth of sleep. But it was fun. We shared stories from our past and plans for our future. We told scary stories followed by a cute fairytale because Jocelyn was scared after the story of the midget clown. The fairytale was supposed to be really short but lasted an hour and a half. It definitely put Joc and Trae to sleep.
We woke up around 9 and had until 11 to get ready and we took up all that time to finish. We helped set up and make the food for the party. At 12 the kids and their parents began to arrive for the tea party. It was Ren’s (Lauren) 18th Birthday Party. We all wore our tea dresses that we went out and bought weeks before. We drank tea and ate the tea food. I had never been to a tea party before, but I loved it. The girls were adorable….they all wore tea dresses and had a lot of funny jokes to tell everyone. We stuffed our faces then began our craft.
After the tea paty we slept for a couple of hours then ate dinner. After that, we went to city walk. We got lost on the way there…Ren took the 5, which is what her dad said she should do. The drive should have taken us 10-15 minutes from her house, but it ended up taking 45 minutes. But luckily we made it. We walked around for a couple of hours, we shopped and got Jambe Juice and headed back. Well….I really don’t know how she did it again, but Ren got lost once more. This time we were lost in Hollywood. We went through every major town…China, Italy, Ethiopia, and any others that you can think of. We were on Sunset Blvd. when we decided to call her dad and we drove into a Ride-Aid parking lot. We never stopped though…we kept driving in circles until he told us what to do. Once Ren’s friend Steph said “There’s an old guy in leather pants right there, we need to leave now!” we were gone. We got home by 1 and went to bed.
The next day we went shopping at the Glendale Galleria. Trae took forever to pick anything out and Joc was on the phone trying to get someone to go out with her when she got back to school. it was her Birthday on Sunday so she wanted to do something with her friends. We took the train back and had our friend Zach pick us up so we didn’t have to take the bus back to school.
The trip was exciting and fun….but it wouldn’t have been as good if I had gone with anyone else. Trae, Joc, and Ren have become the people that I spend most of my time with from now on. They have taught me so much about love, friendship, faith, and life. I would not be the preson I am today if I had any other friends here at Point Loma. Their friendship and love for me and especially for God is what makes them mean so much to me. I can’t imagine going to school here without any of them. I love you guys!!!!!
The happiest place on earth…do you think so?
The moment I heard the truth I couldn’t believe it. I have never heard those words come out of anyone’s mouth before. The very thought of it was piercing to my heart. I knew something had to be done.
On Friday I took her to the one place she has never been before. She knew where we were going but she never expected what she found there. Lauren, Tracey, and I were probably more excited about what she would find there than she was.
Disneyland is a place that everyone should experience. It doesn’t matter how old you are…you are never too old for disneyland. I know that sounded cheesy but I think it is the truth. Oh man, we had so much fun. We were there for almost 13 hours. It rained a little while we were there but maybe it made it even more fun. We went on all the big rides and even had time to see the Alladin show at California Adventure.
Jocelyn’s first ride was Space Mountain…which I think is a great choice…she screamed throughout the entire ride. Next, we went on Star Tours. Now that was a great ride. So, we told her that characters from the actual movie sit in random seats and ride the ride with you. I gace her this elaborate story about how once I sat next to Chewbacca. In the middle of the ride her turned to me and growled, following he scratched my arm. I told her I had never been so afraid in my whole life. Lauren caught on to what I was doing and went into her own story about how this beak alien that would turn around and whack people in the face with hios huge beak. Joc began to get really scared and didn’t want to get on the ride. She has a huge fear of masked people. Once the doors opened and she saw that the characters weren’t really there she got pretty upset with us. It was like that the rest of the day. We would lie to her about the ride then she would get mad..only for a little while. She would get over it pretty fast.
We all got Mickey Ears. Trae, Wren, and I got pink ears, while Joc got red ears that stated “Where dreams come true”. It was pretty cute. We had sooo much fun that day. I’ll never forget that day…ever!!!!
