A little bit of reality

Well hello there! I must say it has been over a year since my last post and many things have happened. The ones that stand out to me right now are:

1. Hercules!!! He is a black dog of unknown breed and he's been amazing :) He just got neutered yesterday. We hoped that he would calm down after his balls get chopped, but our hope dissipated today when he continued to bark and run around.

2. Camp Kesem - grown to love it then grew to hate it, but still love it. ahh.. it's so hard to describe

3. Megan - my sister bought a little place down at mission valley. and i realize that we have a lot in common. weird. oh and every time i go over to her place, she inspires me to do projects and be organized. but then i come back to my place and realize its too big and living with other dogs and irresponsible people is a big pain and that clogs my inspiration.

4. Death - experienced my first death in in the family. love you grandma!

5. School/Debt - i'm not fit for school, and as long as i'm enrolled, i'll have money problems. vicious cycle.

overall, this past year has been such a learning experience for me. i've gotten a taste of reality and it's bitter. but it gets better whenever i get a bit of sweetness and kikkoman soysauce every once in a while. what can you do--it's reality :D

my paper and my two step

i thought i had a midterm on thursday which i crammed for (unsuccessfully) and on wed night, i realized the midterm is next week. i was filled with:

1. relief because my unpreparedness is okay for now
2. embarrassment-and a little bit of anger (how can i be so foolish?)
2. joy-too much maybe
3. laziness-all that studying made me not want to do anything anymore... ever

as a result, i practiced piano for the remainder of the night. the following day, i took advantage of my new found free time by doing even more nothingness and catching up on some sleep. and as a result of THAT, i didn't do my paper that was due on friday and the result of THAT is that i'm doing it right now... which leads me to a blog entry.

here are some things that i miss:

and here are some things that i'm happy to have now:

i'm a pretty lethargic person. i think i need to stop... or do i?

because i love lists so much, i will end this posting with a list of the material things i want:
-piano keyboard
-digital slr
-macbook
-nickel free earrings
-swimsuits
-goggle straps (bungees?)

can i come over?

you: hey can i come over?
friend: um... why?
you: ....ohhh okay, um, i'll just call back in 10 min.

so lisa and i have decided that:

if you call someone and ask to come over and they respond with "why?" it's an automatic assumption that they are doing the nasty with or without a partner. the correct response would be to let them know you'll call back in a varying amount of time (as little as 1min--depending on the person, make your best judgment).

with this tactic, you should be able to avoid any embarrassment or awkwardness you or the receiver may experience if the conversation leads elsewhere.

AB Havasupai

Disclaimer: Photos do not reflect the beauty of the journey. Sounds corny, but I was way fucking more astounded during the trip. These are just 3 of my favorite pictures that I jacked from my buddy Emily that I felt captured the moments as close to reality as possible.

We hiked with ~50 lbs on our back 1 mile down into the canyon and about 7 miles more in the canyon until we reached the town of the Havasupai Reservation. And then another 2 miles to our campsite. And another mile to our work site. Boy, was it fun!

The Havasu Falls, baby.

The view from the top. This was Day 7 of the trip--no showers and lots of sweat, but all well worth it. L to R: Shaina, Ryan F, Taylor, Vanessa, Me

To sum up: this has been one of the best times in my life. I liked the purpose, I liked the people, I liked the journey.

All these photos are taken by Emily

piano

i forgot to mention that i'm taking piano lessons from jeff and it's been really fun! i really hope to learn how to play and read music and just learn a little about music itself. i've always liked it and have always been fond of those who are so musically talented.

oh and jeff and elly have been really awesome lately. i played risk with them the other day. i really like how they are so chill and its always fun with them. we seem to enjoy the same type or similar type of humor and we're never just sitting there bored.

speaking of people, my roommate for 3 years-isabel is awesome. she thinks we should have more roommate bonding time and i agree, but sometimes, it's hard to b/c we have such different schedules and priorities.

spirituality and fun

well hello again!
1. on wed, i got elbowed in the face playing bball and i had to get stitches--you may wonder why this is on my list of 3 good things. it's because i've never gotten stitches before and i feel badass.
2. in the last week, i got to meet some cool new people--chris and kerry of whom i play bball with a lot and also just hang out with. i met them through lisa, who i also got to know better. i like them b/c they are very open to do things and i dont have to schedule a time to play bball. it's spontaneous and fun and lasts long.
3. i am almost sure that i made it as a camp kesem counselor!

so to reflect--i really like this new group of friends that i've been chillin with. however, coming back from such a spiritual AB trip, i don't know if i can incorporate the deep spirituality that i've been hoping to get more involved with and the part where i just really enjoy hanging out and having fun. i definitely feel more comfortable playing bball and being relaxed and be silly, but on the other hand, i do want to delve deeper into what defines me. hmm... i guess in some sense, this tells me that i am a spontaneous person and i like being silly (i.e. with lisa and we just sing and do random things).

here are some questions that i'd like answered: what is my own spirituality? should i or do i need to be in touch with it at times when i feel so comfortable and welcomed? or am i already there?

notice how none of this involves my academic life. i am really out of touch with school and i am wondering if i need to focus on it more. most people would say yes, education is first and i used to think that, too. and i also used to think that education=school. but that's not the case anymore. i can learn anywhere and to learn, i have to put myself in new situations. i think what i need is to balance learning and fun. i want to know what it is i want to learn. that's gonna be a toughie.

yay for bball!

1. swam w/ justina!
2. played a ton of bball
3. drank w/ lisa, chris + new friends :)