MY FRIENDS
ARE FREAKING
AWESOME!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, December 27, 2004
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Twas the Day Before Christmas
All right, all right, last post for today. There are so many I've wanted to do, and this is the first time in awhile that I've had time. Anyway, here's something I with some help from a few guys at work came up with yesterday during the drawn-out day of Christmas Eve.
PS- "Green" means really, really good. Target stores are either in the red, yellow, or green, and most are stuck in yellow-- only few every achieve the perfection of green by the district execs.
Twas the day before Christmas
And all through the store
Every team member was running
As the customers demanded more
the end caps were filled with clearance galore
From aisle A1 to aisle G44
The backroom was cleaned with the utmost of care
In hopes that Christmas bonuses soon would be there
Team members rushed about it their khaki and red
While visions of going home danced in their head
A team huddle was held in the middle of the day
And each team member prayed they wouldn't be asked to stay
Then the manager apeared with a smile on her face
And informed one and all everything seemed in place
She gave them a pep talk; they seemed to be dead
Then with these words sent them back to their dread:
"Go team leads, go backroom, go price change and sales flooor.
Guest service and plano, cashiers and operator."
The teamed worked hard as the day wore on
Then noticed with delight it was almost gone
The clock struck six and the customers fled
And the team members began to smile as they nodded their heads
One final sweep and the store was clean
It was even so good as to be considered green
They ran for their cars as they sang out this song:
"Merry Christmas to all and may tomorrow be long!"
PS- "Green" means really, really good. Target stores are either in the red, yellow, or green, and most are stuck in yellow-- only few every achieve the perfection of green by the district execs.
Twas the Day Before Christmas
Twas the day before Christmas
And all through the store
Every team member was running
As the customers demanded more
the end caps were filled with clearance galore
From aisle A1 to aisle G44
The backroom was cleaned with the utmost of care
In hopes that Christmas bonuses soon would be there
Team members rushed about it their khaki and red
While visions of going home danced in their head
A team huddle was held in the middle of the day
And each team member prayed they wouldn't be asked to stay
Then the manager apeared with a smile on her face
And informed one and all everything seemed in place
She gave them a pep talk; they seemed to be dead
Then with these words sent them back to their dread:
"Go team leads, go backroom, go price change and sales flooor.
Guest service and plano, cashiers and operator."
The teamed worked hard as the day wore on
Then noticed with delight it was almost gone
The clock struck six and the customers fled
And the team members began to smile as they nodded their heads
One final sweep and the store was clean
It was even so good as to be considered green
They ran for their cars as they sang out this song:
"Merry Christmas to all and may tomorrow be long!"
"I'm Dreaming of a Red Christmas"...
... also known as "Christmas at Target." Ahhh, the holidays and retail. This particular Christmas has been so much better than those of the past at my place of employment. In the two years before, we've had so much overstock it was ridiculous. The backroom had to be waded through and all the shelves were overflowing. There was never any room to backstock and pulling the things that customers bought for restock (otherwise known as pulling batches) took hours and hours and we never finished on time.
This year we have a new manager, and though she pushes us hard, things get done. As of yesterday, the backroom was completely empty of all Christmas stuff, we were finishing batches and stocking them within an hour, and our normally gruff leader person, Rocky, was outside barbecuing, complete with a Santa hat, for our Mexican Christmas lunch.
As Irene, a fellow college-age co-worker put it, yesterday was the epitome of Christmas at Target: we had Mexican food, James Brown, and Jessica dying (James Brown was singing on our breakroom TV and Jessica had just whined that Irene made her die on the video game she was playing. Good times, good times.
Anyway, we slacked off for the better part of yesterday since Rocky was not there to keep us in line, and everything was already in good shape anyway. And the most beautiful thing happened: we kicked all customers out at six o' clock. It was wonderful getting work done without the forty-second person coming up to ask where the tape was or to complain about the lack of carts. And don't even get me started about the Bermuda Triange....
This year we have a new manager, and though she pushes us hard, things get done. As of yesterday, the backroom was completely empty of all Christmas stuff, we were finishing batches and stocking them within an hour, and our normally gruff leader person, Rocky, was outside barbecuing, complete with a Santa hat, for our Mexican Christmas lunch.
As Irene, a fellow college-age co-worker put it, yesterday was the epitome of Christmas at Target: we had Mexican food, James Brown, and Jessica dying (James Brown was singing on our breakroom TV and Jessica had just whined that Irene made her die on the video game she was playing. Good times, good times.
Anyway, we slacked off for the better part of yesterday since Rocky was not there to keep us in line, and everything was already in good shape anyway. And the most beautiful thing happened: we kicked all customers out at six o' clock. It was wonderful getting work done without the forty-second person coming up to ask where the tape was or to complain about the lack of carts. And don't even get me started about the Bermuda Triange....
NEW BLOGGER ALERT
Three down, one to go. First it was Justin # 2 and his Adventures of Mr. Awesome. Then Jesse broke through with his ThunderRalleyRacer site. And now we have Mr. Secret Agent Man himself, Tyler Deyling, the newest blogger, setting up a site for his new bent in life, that of a secret service coffee maker.
So you all are not thoroughly confused, my good friend Tyler got accepted to an internship with the secret service for the next semester, and for a possible paid job over the summer. This is exciting news for us as well as for the gun-wielding, bad-guy getting TJD himself. And as he will be gone so long we decided he must blog his life as coffee getter for all of us to see.
So here's his site address: www.secretagentmantd.blogspot.com
He is not accepting comments yet (Justin and I have to change that on his site still), but that will be up and running soon.
And Ty, don't worry-- I'm sure they'll let you make copies, too. :)
So you all are not thoroughly confused, my good friend Tyler got accepted to an internship with the secret service for the next semester, and for a possible paid job over the summer. This is exciting news for us as well as for the gun-wielding, bad-guy getting TJD himself. And as he will be gone so long we decided he must blog his life as coffee getter for all of us to see.
So here's his site address: www.secretagentmantd.blogspot.com
He is not accepting comments yet (Justin and I have to change that on his site still), but that will be up and running soon.
And Ty, don't worry-- I'm sure they'll let you make copies, too. :)
Wednesday, December 8, 2004
Senioritis as a Junior
It has been brought to my attention recently that I have senioritis. This is unfortunate, seeing as how I still have three semesters left after this one!!! This semester is almost over, and I couldn't be happier, though I still have until Friday before everything really calms down. I've brought down the "plethora" (word brought to you by Adelaide and Frijole's Favorite Words of All Time Dictionary) or essays to a minor five, four of which are for a final due no later than two thirty on Friday afternoon (Dr. White has no mercy on us), so I should probably get cracking. Errrrr..... I don't want to. Justin # 2, please don't call me tonight and reprimand me for slacking on my homework-- despite the fact that I've been quite lackadaisical about all of it, I did manage to pull off an A on that reality paper, and a 99% on that math test. I should market my technique: don't do your work and still pull off a sold B in any class!
In other news, the bookstore is only offering a buyback for one of my books, and it's not even from this semester, but from three ago. And my classes for next semester are looking to be $60 and over each. Yikes. Add that to the $2500 I'm trying to scrounge up to live in center this semester with my wonderful friends Frijole and Salsa, and you have... sore knees from the hours of prayer spent beseeching God for mercy.....
In other news, the bookstore is only offering a buyback for one of my books, and it's not even from this semester, but from three ago. And my classes for next semester are looking to be $60 and over each. Yikes. Add that to the $2500 I'm trying to scrounge up to live in center this semester with my wonderful friends Frijole and Salsa, and you have... sore knees from the hours of prayer spent beseeching God for mercy.....
Monday, December 6, 2004
Justin Paul's birthday party
Unfortunately, I cannot go into many details of what went down at this particular party. Let's just say to welcome Justin into the twenty and over club, we (Jessica and I, along with help from Justin #1, Mikey, and Jesse) effectively scarred him for life with a lesson in Femininity 101. We'll leave it at that. We also played a new game called Spin the Cell Phone (there were no available bottles), just to say we've played the game, although no one ever really did it except Mikey and Jessica cuz they're allowed to. The rest of us blew air kisses. And sadly, the boys seemed more excited when the cell phone rested upon one of their own, rather than on one of us girls. As Justin Michael (#1) would say, *sigh*. Boys are funny.
Saturday, December 4, 2004
Procrastination (and snowboarding)
So here I am, a glorious Saturday night where I don't have to work, but unfortunately am stuck with a ten page paper for Dr. White's grammar class. So of course I find myself wandering from the monstrous homework assignment over to blogs and xangas and catching up on everyone's life.
I realized I have not yet had time to write about last week's snowboarding trip, so I guess I'll do that now (cuz it's more fun to write than an essay!)
In the deep recesses of the dawn us four brave souls awoke to greet the day and what it held for us. We arrived at justin #1's house at five thirty, loaded up the Montero, and headed off on our adventure: Albertson's at six in the morning. Talk about a zoo. We loaded up on gatorade, water, and other snacks to carry with us on the mountain (which we promptly forgot to take out of the car and pocket when we got there).
The ride up was especially fun, as we amused ourselves with, first the alphabet game ( I won, with an amazing last minute spotting of the word 'Zita' on an Italian restaurant window right before we stopped at a Carl's Jr.), and then moved on to 20 questions, where the three guys seemed to forget for an hour than I AM A GIRL... but it was still fun.
We finally got up there, parked, spent twenty minutes layering ourselves with extra clothes, socks, hats, etc., and then caught a ride up to the mountain. Another half an hour later I had a board, we all had lift tickets, and we were waiting in line for the lift.
Now, if you all have read my previous Knott's Berry Farm log, you will know that I don't like roller coasters or rides like that. And one of the reasons for that is that they go up high. So it's reasonable to say that I don't like the ski lift either, although I can do it without freaking out, as long as the bar stays down. Jesse and Justin #1 thought it would be funny to lift the bar up mid-ride and the result was a scathing look and a vow to never speak to either of them again if they did not put it back immediately. They did, and I was calmer. (I know, I'm horribly weird and a fraidy cat... I'm dealing with it, you all should too.)
We got to the very top and Jesse goes down the first incline like he does it everyday. Now even though I know how to "plow", I still have never been able to stay up on that first steep part, so I didn't even bother trying, and slid down instead to join him. Justin #1 was teaching Justin #2 how to get up and plow toeside, which I was very envious of because I cannot do that but now Justin can. When I try, I fall on my face. Maybe I will master the fine art of toeside next time.
Anyway, so Jesse taught me a few tricks to help me find better balance and an ability to turn of my own free will (up till now, the board has always been in control), and I even was able to get some speed. If it weren't for that stupid part that's practically flat and all ice with the speedbumps, I think I could get down the whole mountain in about fifteen minutes, with only a few falls.
Around three thirty, it just started getting too cold and the snow was practically ice, so we packed up and left. Down the mountain we go, singing along with such songs as "Tribute" (of which, yes, even I know the words),with a pull over to the side of the road to fill the cooler with fresh snow (with which we later "snowed" the outside of Jessica's apartment). Then back in the Montero, an hour down the mountain, and a stop at this ghetto Subway that was also part of an AMPM. Don't even get me started on this Subway. Justin #1 and I slept for most of the way home, but fortunately i woke up in time for 95.7 to play the best song in the world, and to force Jesse and Justin #2 to listen, too, as well as to some other country greats. Justin #1 woke up somewhere around the off-ramp to Jessica's apartment, and when we called Mikey to inform him of our evil plan, he took Jess and Gwen out to Jack in the Box so we could "snow" her. So we put the gloves back on, made her porch a winter wonderland, and then hid in the trees for fifteen minutes (freezing). The guys were giddy with tiredness by this time and were playing some weird hide and seek among the trees, and when I mocked them for this, Justin #1 tried to put me in the cooler. It didn't work. Anyway, Jessica and Mikey came back, and by then the snow was more of a puddle, but she still liked it. And then we went back to the Aubrey's house, cleaned the Montero out of empty gatorade bottles and granola bar wrappers, drove home, and fell fast asleep. The next day I was so sore, I couldn't take my sweatshirt off by myself, and the day after that at work, i couldn't lift any boxes that were over my head. But it was totally worth it, and I am so buying my own snowboard before we go again.
The End.
I realized I have not yet had time to write about last week's snowboarding trip, so I guess I'll do that now (cuz it's more fun to write than an essay!)
In the deep recesses of the dawn us four brave souls awoke to greet the day and what it held for us. We arrived at justin #1's house at five thirty, loaded up the Montero, and headed off on our adventure: Albertson's at six in the morning. Talk about a zoo. We loaded up on gatorade, water, and other snacks to carry with us on the mountain (which we promptly forgot to take out of the car and pocket when we got there).
The ride up was especially fun, as we amused ourselves with, first the alphabet game ( I won, with an amazing last minute spotting of the word 'Zita' on an Italian restaurant window right before we stopped at a Carl's Jr.), and then moved on to 20 questions, where the three guys seemed to forget for an hour than I AM A GIRL... but it was still fun.
We finally got up there, parked, spent twenty minutes layering ourselves with extra clothes, socks, hats, etc., and then caught a ride up to the mountain. Another half an hour later I had a board, we all had lift tickets, and we were waiting in line for the lift.
Now, if you all have read my previous Knott's Berry Farm log, you will know that I don't like roller coasters or rides like that. And one of the reasons for that is that they go up high. So it's reasonable to say that I don't like the ski lift either, although I can do it without freaking out, as long as the bar stays down. Jesse and Justin #1 thought it would be funny to lift the bar up mid-ride and the result was a scathing look and a vow to never speak to either of them again if they did not put it back immediately. They did, and I was calmer. (I know, I'm horribly weird and a fraidy cat... I'm dealing with it, you all should too.)
We got to the very top and Jesse goes down the first incline like he does it everyday. Now even though I know how to "plow", I still have never been able to stay up on that first steep part, so I didn't even bother trying, and slid down instead to join him. Justin #1 was teaching Justin #2 how to get up and plow toeside, which I was very envious of because I cannot do that but now Justin can. When I try, I fall on my face. Maybe I will master the fine art of toeside next time.
Anyway, so Jesse taught me a few tricks to help me find better balance and an ability to turn of my own free will (up till now, the board has always been in control), and I even was able to get some speed. If it weren't for that stupid part that's practically flat and all ice with the speedbumps, I think I could get down the whole mountain in about fifteen minutes, with only a few falls.
Around three thirty, it just started getting too cold and the snow was practically ice, so we packed up and left. Down the mountain we go, singing along with such songs as "Tribute" (of which, yes, even I know the words),with a pull over to the side of the road to fill the cooler with fresh snow (with which we later "snowed" the outside of Jessica's apartment). Then back in the Montero, an hour down the mountain, and a stop at this ghetto Subway that was also part of an AMPM. Don't even get me started on this Subway. Justin #1 and I slept for most of the way home, but fortunately i woke up in time for 95.7 to play the best song in the world, and to force Jesse and Justin #2 to listen, too, as well as to some other country greats. Justin #1 woke up somewhere around the off-ramp to Jessica's apartment, and when we called Mikey to inform him of our evil plan, he took Jess and Gwen out to Jack in the Box so we could "snow" her. So we put the gloves back on, made her porch a winter wonderland, and then hid in the trees for fifteen minutes (freezing). The guys were giddy with tiredness by this time and were playing some weird hide and seek among the trees, and when I mocked them for this, Justin #1 tried to put me in the cooler. It didn't work. Anyway, Jessica and Mikey came back, and by then the snow was more of a puddle, but she still liked it. And then we went back to the Aubrey's house, cleaned the Montero out of empty gatorade bottles and granola bar wrappers, drove home, and fell fast asleep. The next day I was so sore, I couldn't take my sweatshirt off by myself, and the day after that at work, i couldn't lift any boxes that were over my head. But it was totally worth it, and I am so buying my own snowboard before we go again.
The End.
Friday, November 26, 2004
My Freaking Awesome Friends
Be prepared, Sonia, this will be a long one....
Of all the things I'm thankful for, I'd have to say my friends rank up there at number one. For those of you who have never met my closest friends, I am sorry, because you are really missing out. Someday soon (when I have time, like when school's over), I'm going to post some pictures of my freaking awesome friends and all the fun things we do.
Last week I was feeling a little frustrated with some things and I guess a little unwanted (to those of you who know what I'm talking about-- I know that's not how it was, but I felt a little that way at first, but I got over it after I looked at the "situation" more objectively ;) Anyway, so I had to leave my job at school and go right to work at Target for another five hours, and I was so not in the mood for that. But then, while I was at work, everybody started calling me to convince me to hang out that night. By the time I had only half an hour left of work, I had three different options of hanging out with close friends. Fortunately, everyone compromised so I didn't have to choose (I told you you'd end up going to he movie, Justin!), but I just felt so darn special that everybody wanted to hang out with me. I don't know if the guys know this, but they always make me feel so special and wanted. I do know that they read this, so I'm going to use this to give them my Why my friends are so rad list, containing both generalities and specifics on why they are so cool.
Why my friends are so rad
#1 My very own, Justin&Justin produced homemade version of "The Game" for my seventeenth birthday
#2 The fact that, whenever I'm too nervous to drive somewhere I've never been before (or places such as "crowded" drive-ins), I can always get one of them to drive for me.
#3 Yet another Justin&Justin produced birthday movie last year in which they interviewed random strangers in Grossmont Center about me and the day of my birth
#4 The two attempts (soon to be three, come Sunday) by Tyler and Justin #1 to teach me how to snowboard (What I got out of those attempts: the raddest bruise I've ever had from when Tyler tried to teach me, and the ability to "plough" as a result of Justin Aubrey's lessons).
# 5 How many guys do you know who get excited about the idea of taking dance lessons with a bunch of senior citizens at Balboa Park on Sunday nights? Say hello to Jesse, Tyler, and
Justin #2
#6- Sunday after-church lunches with the gang
#7- Good times like last week at Jessica's apartment: we watched our homemade movies and videos from our senior year while feeding on a "vat" of Top Ramen.
#8 HOME MADE MOVIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The best thing the guys have ever thought of, where we spend an evening (and sometimes well into the night and next morning) coming up with hysterical plotlines (you should see our latest 'reality show')
#9 Scary movies with these guys are the best. I get to sit in the middle with a blanket and pillow to hide behind and feel protected from whatever's out there. Of course, then when I get up to go to the bathroom, I return to find them all hiding and waiting to scare the daylights out of me....
#10 Games like our version of hide-and-seek, or the barrel game (only to be understood by the Justins, Jesse, Jacquie, and Tyler). There is no greater way for a college student to spend a weekend night than playing Sardines at the Aubrey's house in pitch black darkness with the rest of your nineteen-year-old friends
#11 Two weekends ago they showed up, literally, right outside the door to my work, as I was leaving, and forced me to go with them for dinner and a movie. It was this close to a kidnapping.
#12 For my last birthday, the Justins, Jesse, Tyler, Mikey, Jessica, Jarod, Bev, and David made me a mystery theatre party, taking it upon themselves to be someone completely against their normal character for the night, even to the point of looking and sounding absolutely ridiculous. It was awesome. And Tyler dressed up like a girl. Now that's friendship.
#13 This one happened tonight. As I was leaving work, I realized that the Justins, who had gone to another friend's house tonight, had driven right by Target, and had not stopped to say hello. I was a little disappointed at that realization. But then, my car came into view, and I saw that my tailgate was down and the windshield wipers were sticking straight up (a somewhat annoying calling card that we each use to let someone know that we were there, but didn't happen to catch them, only their car), and the first thing that came to my mind was "They really do love me!"
These are a lot of funny things that my friends do, and there are plenty of others, like our "book" we wrote during eleventh and twelfth grade and our Big Bear excursion last summer and plans for our road trip as soon as we're all done with college. And there are a lot more serious reasons for why I love my friends so much, but those would take up pages and pages too. My friends are always there for me. They always listen to me when I need to talk to someone. Seeing as how most of them are guys, they try to fix all my problems, and it's cute watching them try, but fail. ;) I feel safe when I'm with them, and I know that if I ever broke down somewhere, I could call any of them and they would come get me in the middle of the night. They're just freaking awesome, and I hope that everyone is as lucky as I am when it comes to the people they're closest to.
The End.
( I hope you were able to finish it, fellow English major. I am sorry it was so long.)
Of all the things I'm thankful for, I'd have to say my friends rank up there at number one. For those of you who have never met my closest friends, I am sorry, because you are really missing out. Someday soon (when I have time, like when school's over), I'm going to post some pictures of my freaking awesome friends and all the fun things we do.
Last week I was feeling a little frustrated with some things and I guess a little unwanted (to those of you who know what I'm talking about-- I know that's not how it was, but I felt a little that way at first, but I got over it after I looked at the "situation" more objectively ;) Anyway, so I had to leave my job at school and go right to work at Target for another five hours, and I was so not in the mood for that. But then, while I was at work, everybody started calling me to convince me to hang out that night. By the time I had only half an hour left of work, I had three different options of hanging out with close friends. Fortunately, everyone compromised so I didn't have to choose (I told you you'd end up going to he movie, Justin!), but I just felt so darn special that everybody wanted to hang out with me. I don't know if the guys know this, but they always make me feel so special and wanted. I do know that they read this, so I'm going to use this to give them my Why my friends are so rad list, containing both generalities and specifics on why they are so cool.
Why my friends are so rad
#1 My very own, Justin&Justin produced homemade version of "The Game" for my seventeenth birthday
#2 The fact that, whenever I'm too nervous to drive somewhere I've never been before (or places such as "crowded" drive-ins), I can always get one of them to drive for me.
#3 Yet another Justin&Justin produced birthday movie last year in which they interviewed random strangers in Grossmont Center about me and the day of my birth
#4 The two attempts (soon to be three, come Sunday) by Tyler and Justin #1 to teach me how to snowboard (What I got out of those attempts: the raddest bruise I've ever had from when Tyler tried to teach me, and the ability to "plough" as a result of Justin Aubrey's lessons).
# 5 How many guys do you know who get excited about the idea of taking dance lessons with a bunch of senior citizens at Balboa Park on Sunday nights? Say hello to Jesse, Tyler, and
Justin #2
#6- Sunday after-church lunches with the gang
#7- Good times like last week at Jessica's apartment: we watched our homemade movies and videos from our senior year while feeding on a "vat" of Top Ramen.
#8 HOME MADE MOVIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The best thing the guys have ever thought of, where we spend an evening (and sometimes well into the night and next morning) coming up with hysterical plotlines (you should see our latest 'reality show')
#9 Scary movies with these guys are the best. I get to sit in the middle with a blanket and pillow to hide behind and feel protected from whatever's out there. Of course, then when I get up to go to the bathroom, I return to find them all hiding and waiting to scare the daylights out of me....
#10 Games like our version of hide-and-seek, or the barrel game (only to be understood by the Justins, Jesse, Jacquie, and Tyler). There is no greater way for a college student to spend a weekend night than playing Sardines at the Aubrey's house in pitch black darkness with the rest of your nineteen-year-old friends
#11 Two weekends ago they showed up, literally, right outside the door to my work, as I was leaving, and forced me to go with them for dinner and a movie. It was this close to a kidnapping.
#12 For my last birthday, the Justins, Jesse, Tyler, Mikey, Jessica, Jarod, Bev, and David made me a mystery theatre party, taking it upon themselves to be someone completely against their normal character for the night, even to the point of looking and sounding absolutely ridiculous. It was awesome. And Tyler dressed up like a girl. Now that's friendship.
#13 This one happened tonight. As I was leaving work, I realized that the Justins, who had gone to another friend's house tonight, had driven right by Target, and had not stopped to say hello. I was a little disappointed at that realization. But then, my car came into view, and I saw that my tailgate was down and the windshield wipers were sticking straight up (a somewhat annoying calling card that we each use to let someone know that we were there, but didn't happen to catch them, only their car), and the first thing that came to my mind was "They really do love me!"
These are a lot of funny things that my friends do, and there are plenty of others, like our "book" we wrote during eleventh and twelfth grade and our Big Bear excursion last summer and plans for our road trip as soon as we're all done with college. And there are a lot more serious reasons for why I love my friends so much, but those would take up pages and pages too. My friends are always there for me. They always listen to me when I need to talk to someone. Seeing as how most of them are guys, they try to fix all my problems, and it's cute watching them try, but fail. ;) I feel safe when I'm with them, and I know that if I ever broke down somewhere, I could call any of them and they would come get me in the middle of the night. They're just freaking awesome, and I hope that everyone is as lucky as I am when it comes to the people they're closest to.
The End.
( I hope you were able to finish it, fellow English major. I am sorry it was so long.)
Saturday, November 13, 2004
The Game of Life
So last night, Justin #1, Justin #2, and I went up to Pine Valley to hang out with everyone who had gone on the college group retreat. (We did not go for the full weekend due to lack of time, funds, and meanie-head bosses.) We arrived around nine, just after the last meeting had ended. After shooting off a few paintballs on the street (don't ask), we proceeded to Worthington Hall (Pine Valley's equivalent of The Barn, except a lot nicer) to get our hands on some gigantic chocolate chip cookies, on the way passing Tyler who was about to go to sleep until we informed him of the game night we had planned in front of the artificial fire in the room otuside of the snack shop (our favorite Pine Valley hang out spot, next to the room off the game room where we once spent hours playing Egyptian Eruption on a school retreat). As we gathered around said artifical fire, bounced on the very cushy cushions of the couches, and set up Life, I remembered this exact same scenario from last year (except with Cranium instead of Life), and mentioned this to Josh, because last year was the first time I had ever really actually talked or hung out with him before. And Enrique remembered that it had been the first time she'd even met all of us, so it was kind of like an anniversary in a way....
Anyway, there were too many of us to play individually, so we split into teams. Jesse and I decided to go to college, and that is how we ended up being doctors with $100,000 every payday. I so wish real life were like that. You spin the wheel, you can get married, have a kid, or get a ton of money. And then you get to do it all over again two minutes later, when your turn comes around again. Real life should be so easy. Anyway, Jesse and I won, and now my dad wants the computer so I must leave!
Anyway, there were too many of us to play individually, so we split into teams. Jesse and I decided to go to college, and that is how we ended up being doctors with $100,000 every payday. I so wish real life were like that. You spin the wheel, you can get married, have a kid, or get a ton of money. And then you get to do it all over again two minutes later, when your turn comes around again. Real life should be so easy. Anyway, Jesse and I won, and now my dad wants the computer so I must leave!
Monday, November 8, 2004
My run-in with the law
Okay, so it wasn't exactly a run-in, but it was the first illegal thing I've been busted for! Here's the story:
So on Saturday night, my friends and I attended church. After edifying our souls for an hour and a half, we decided to spend the rest of that night in good, clean fun to further bond our friendships: we decided to play a board game. As Justin # 1 puts it, "We're Christian kids-- we don't party, we don't drink, we don't do drugs-- the only thing left is playing board games and renting movies". So don't mock us! Jesse, Justin # 2 and I went to Target to get Scene It, a game our group has been coveting for awhile (that, and 90's Trivial Pursuit, yea!). Next stop was Jessica's apartment, where we met up with her, Mikey, Josh, and his wife, Enrique. Now, when we go to Jessica's apartment in big groups like this, we always park in the small dentist's parking lot next to the building, to avoid flooding the visitor parking spots for her complex. We've done this at least ten times according to Justin (I've actually only parked there twice), and nothing has ever happened. So we spent a few hours at Jessica's glorying in our new game and the gobs of extra Halloween candy that she kept feeding us. It was good clean Christian fun (and Jessica and I, the now infamous popcorn-piece "Team Estrogen", won the first ever Scene It game by a landslide :-).
So around midnight we start gathering our stuff to leave, say our good-byes, and head over to the parking lot next door, only to discover that OUR CARS ARE GONE. All four of them. Josh calls the cops, and they tell him our cars were towed for being in a tow-away zone, even though it was a freakin' dentist's office at freakin' midnight. What kind of dentist holds hours at that time of night, I don't know, but apparently some tow truck driver decided for the sake of any customers that might show up at that time, he'd better give them room to park by REMOVING OUR CARS AND IMPOUNDING THEM. I must admit, I said a bad word. (In my defense, it was a quote from a movie, not something that technically came out of my own head.) The tow company told Josh our cars would be two hundred and seventy dollars a piece to get out, but when Josh asked about the group discount rate, the guy knocked it down to two fifty. Swell.
So after Mikey drove Enrique and me to their apartment to pick up their other car, and then we drove back to Jessica's to pick up the boys who were standing there, in the middle of the downtown El Cajon area at midnight and freezing, the five of us were on our way to reclaim our cars, by force if necessary. During the ride we contemplated TP-ing the place some other night, and Jesse realized that now he had something to write about in his xanga. Brilliant. Justin decided it was all an act of God to give us something interesting to write about in the online journal cult. As a result, Josh ended up learning about xanga and blogs, his interest was peeked, and the next morning at church we gave him our site addresses. If you're reading this, HI JOSH!
So the guy was waiting for us, and proceeded to drag the process of giving our cars back for another half an hour to forty-five minutes, while we all stood outside freezing. He was a little chatty, and seemed to forget we were probably in a hurry at that time of night. I did feel a little sorry for him though, when he told us that his wife (or girlfriend?) had left him awhile back. He also told us we were the nicest people who had ever come back to buy back their cars (for even though we had been quite threatening and plotful on the car ride over, we were actually very polite when face-to-face with said enemy). So here are my two conclusions on that: either there have never been any other Christians to get their car towed by this particular guy (great, we're going to hell now), or any other Christians who have gotten their car towed were just as jerky about it as anybody else would be, and that's sad.
So to sum up the night, the five of us had a very good bonding experience outdoing each other in useless movie trivia and finished off the night with a two hundred and fifty dollar short missions trip to the Lakeside towing yard.
So on Saturday night, my friends and I attended church. After edifying our souls for an hour and a half, we decided to spend the rest of that night in good, clean fun to further bond our friendships: we decided to play a board game. As Justin # 1 puts it, "We're Christian kids-- we don't party, we don't drink, we don't do drugs-- the only thing left is playing board games and renting movies". So don't mock us! Jesse, Justin # 2 and I went to Target to get Scene It, a game our group has been coveting for awhile (that, and 90's Trivial Pursuit, yea!). Next stop was Jessica's apartment, where we met up with her, Mikey, Josh, and his wife, Enrique. Now, when we go to Jessica's apartment in big groups like this, we always park in the small dentist's parking lot next to the building, to avoid flooding the visitor parking spots for her complex. We've done this at least ten times according to Justin (I've actually only parked there twice), and nothing has ever happened. So we spent a few hours at Jessica's glorying in our new game and the gobs of extra Halloween candy that she kept feeding us. It was good clean Christian fun (and Jessica and I, the now infamous popcorn-piece "Team Estrogen", won the first ever Scene It game by a landslide :-).
So around midnight we start gathering our stuff to leave, say our good-byes, and head over to the parking lot next door, only to discover that OUR CARS ARE GONE. All four of them. Josh calls the cops, and they tell him our cars were towed for being in a tow-away zone, even though it was a freakin' dentist's office at freakin' midnight. What kind of dentist holds hours at that time of night, I don't know, but apparently some tow truck driver decided for the sake of any customers that might show up at that time, he'd better give them room to park by REMOVING OUR CARS AND IMPOUNDING THEM. I must admit, I said a bad word. (In my defense, it was a quote from a movie, not something that technically came out of my own head.) The tow company told Josh our cars would be two hundred and seventy dollars a piece to get out, but when Josh asked about the group discount rate, the guy knocked it down to two fifty. Swell.
So after Mikey drove Enrique and me to their apartment to pick up their other car, and then we drove back to Jessica's to pick up the boys who were standing there, in the middle of the downtown El Cajon area at midnight and freezing, the five of us were on our way to reclaim our cars, by force if necessary. During the ride we contemplated TP-ing the place some other night, and Jesse realized that now he had something to write about in his xanga. Brilliant. Justin decided it was all an act of God to give us something interesting to write about in the online journal cult. As a result, Josh ended up learning about xanga and blogs, his interest was peeked, and the next morning at church we gave him our site addresses. If you're reading this, HI JOSH!
So the guy was waiting for us, and proceeded to drag the process of giving our cars back for another half an hour to forty-five minutes, while we all stood outside freezing. He was a little chatty, and seemed to forget we were probably in a hurry at that time of night. I did feel a little sorry for him though, when he told us that his wife (or girlfriend?) had left him awhile back. He also told us we were the nicest people who had ever come back to buy back their cars (for even though we had been quite threatening and plotful on the car ride over, we were actually very polite when face-to-face with said enemy). So here are my two conclusions on that: either there have never been any other Christians to get their car towed by this particular guy (great, we're going to hell now), or any other Christians who have gotten their car towed were just as jerky about it as anybody else would be, and that's sad.
So to sum up the night, the five of us had a very good bonding experience outdoing each other in useless movie trivia and finished off the night with a two hundred and fifty dollar short missions trip to the Lakeside towing yard.
Thursday, November 4, 2004
Why?.... because....
I feel so... unworthy. Here I am, being blessed in so many ways, shapes, and forms, more than I could possibly count, and I allow myself to ask God why, why must you take this away? When it seems I've worked so hard to hold onto it, when it seems right to hold onto it, when it seems wrong to give it up... it's not even up to me in the end. Some of you know what I'm talking about and some of you don't, and even out of those who do, only a couple of you really know. This is just so hard to simply let go of, and at the same time, there's such a relief to release it to God, knowing that He's already got it worked out. I was reading Sonia's entry earlier, and she had the perfect quote (Sorry, Saenz, but I'm going to borrow it here)-- "God says to me, to His children, as He once said to abraham, "I only wanted to remove [him] from the temple of your heart that I might reign unchallenged there."" He's talking about Abraham giving up his son, but it fits so perfectly for me, too. God, reign unchallenged in my heart. Take away everything and anything that gets in the way.
Monday, November 1, 2004
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Wonders Never Cease
When we were at Johannah's house last weekend, I set Jesse up with a xanga account (xanga, not blog, because Brittney and Justin #2 are ardent xanga-ers and would not tolerate us setting up a blog for him). He protested a little, telling us he wouldn't even write in it or anything.
Well, guess what?
Not only has Jesse written two very long posts in his xanga, he has even paid for a year long subscription so he can get all the cool features.
This is wonderful.
On Wednesday night he and Justin #2 spent like an hour making his site all spiffy and adding music and everything. His first entry was about his two girlfriends (just read it), and now he's added one about snowboarding, complete with pictures (including the one of Tyler practically hanging upside down by his board). This is a glorious day for men, as they have gained yet another testosterone-driven online journalist who is not afraid to express what he is truly feeling-- even if it is just about cars and snowboards.
Well, guess what?
Not only has Jesse written two very long posts in his xanga, he has even paid for a year long subscription so he can get all the cool features.
This is wonderful.
On Wednesday night he and Justin #2 spent like an hour making his site all spiffy and adding music and everything. His first entry was about his two girlfriends (just read it), and now he's added one about snowboarding, complete with pictures (including the one of Tyler practically hanging upside down by his board). This is a glorious day for men, as they have gained yet another testosterone-driven online journalist who is not afraid to express what he is truly feeling-- even if it is just about cars and snowboards.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Note to self
Note to self: This is Jesse's xanga address
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=thunderalleyracer
So to all of my friends out there who want to here about my wonderful friend Jesse.... go there.
(He didn't really write all that stuff-- I set him up with xanga.)
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=thunderalleyracer
So to all of my friends out there who want to here about my wonderful friend Jesse.... go there.
(He didn't really write all that stuff-- I set him up with xanga.)
This week's highlights
Sunday 11/18-- Sadie Hawkin's went down in the RAC (that's the Ryan Athletic Center, or simply gym for you non-CHC, CHS, or SMCC people out there). I think we all had a good time, playing silly picnic games and eating Subway and all that hooplah. But by far the most memorable experience was the three-legged race where, due to my partner's lack of knot-tying skills (didn't you say you were a cub scout, Jig?), we ended up falling on the hard wood floor, resulting in a glorious bruise on my knee, which is still a deep purple, almost black, color a week later. It's not quite as good as that bruise I got when Tyler tried to teach me to snowboard, but it's still up there (remember that, Ty? When you tried to kill me?). After Sadie's everyone was lame and went home, so I headed over to the Aubrey's to wait with Justin for the others to come home from dance lessons. When they got there, Jesse tried to teach me what they had learned, so I wouldn't look completely stupid this week, but I'm afraid I'm still a little lost. We watched The Day After Tomorrow, and it was as good as when we saw it in the theatre six months ago. (Question: is it ironic that the day after we watched The Day After Tomorrow, we found ourselves in the biggest rainstorm we've had in like forever?)
Monday 11/18-- The rains came down and the floods came up. I discovered the only times I enjoy rainy weather: when you don't have to be out in it. I was perfectly content doing homework all afternoon on Monday, solely because there wasn't anything else to do. Rainy days are good for curlng up with a blanket and a good book or movie. And, as Sonia added (and I agreed), a cute boy.
Tuesday 11/19-- Work, yuck.
Wednesday 11/20-- No work, yea! I got to go to Bible study with the CHC-ers again, and the Breuningers once again had my favoritist snack ever, popcorn, as well as my second favoritist snack ever, chips and salsa. It was a good night.
Thursday 11/21-- Work, again, but we were stocking snacks which is always the funnest, so it wasn't bad. Then off to college group, and afterwards our dance lesson, where I finally got the routine down. I'm so proud of myself. Now on to conquer the world....
Friday 11/22-- School, and then right off to work. The temporary manager was there again today (our manager's on vacation), and it's great because she doesn't quite know what our responsibilities are. So she'll come into the back and ask us to do something that's already our job, and then be extremely grateful when we agree to do it. I feel a little bad about that.... but, oh well. And since there were so many of us there last night, we finished everything early and basically got to do whatever we wanted (as long as it was productive for the store). Back to stocking snacks! After work, we went to Justin #2's house, me, Jesse, the Justins, Britt, and Johannah, and watched The Sum of all Fears (another great movie). Britt and Jo went home around midnight, but the boys and I stayed up late discussing deep theological questions. We covered such topics as predestination and foreknowledge, the disprovability factor of something that has been proven true, the Ice age theory, how cross-breeding works (Justin Aubrey broke up this conversation to say, "How the heck did we get talking about the mating systems of donkeys?"), and finally, how do scientists really know how far away a star is? Jesse thinks it's all a conspiracy.
And so that brings me here, Saturday, 11/ 23. I'm chillin' in the writing lab for five hours, two of which I've already procrastinated in doing my homework, although I did read a few pages. Guess I should get going on that. Lots of tests this week. See ya'll later.
Monday 11/18-- The rains came down and the floods came up. I discovered the only times I enjoy rainy weather: when you don't have to be out in it. I was perfectly content doing homework all afternoon on Monday, solely because there wasn't anything else to do. Rainy days are good for curlng up with a blanket and a good book or movie. And, as Sonia added (and I agreed), a cute boy.
Tuesday 11/19-- Work, yuck.
Wednesday 11/20-- No work, yea! I got to go to Bible study with the CHC-ers again, and the Breuningers once again had my favoritist snack ever, popcorn, as well as my second favoritist snack ever, chips and salsa. It was a good night.
Thursday 11/21-- Work, again, but we were stocking snacks which is always the funnest, so it wasn't bad. Then off to college group, and afterwards our dance lesson, where I finally got the routine down. I'm so proud of myself. Now on to conquer the world....
Friday 11/22-- School, and then right off to work. The temporary manager was there again today (our manager's on vacation), and it's great because she doesn't quite know what our responsibilities are. So she'll come into the back and ask us to do something that's already our job, and then be extremely grateful when we agree to do it. I feel a little bad about that.... but, oh well. And since there were so many of us there last night, we finished everything early and basically got to do whatever we wanted (as long as it was productive for the store). Back to stocking snacks! After work, we went to Justin #2's house, me, Jesse, the Justins, Britt, and Johannah, and watched The Sum of all Fears (another great movie). Britt and Jo went home around midnight, but the boys and I stayed up late discussing deep theological questions. We covered such topics as predestination and foreknowledge, the disprovability factor of something that has been proven true, the Ice age theory, how cross-breeding works (Justin Aubrey broke up this conversation to say, "How the heck did we get talking about the mating systems of donkeys?"), and finally, how do scientists really know how far away a star is? Jesse thinks it's all a conspiracy.
And so that brings me here, Saturday, 11/ 23. I'm chillin' in the writing lab for five hours, two of which I've already procrastinated in doing my homework, although I did read a few pages. Guess I should get going on that. Lots of tests this week. See ya'll later.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
FYI
Yeah, so for those of you who want to here the testosterone side of the Halloween Haunt, visit my friend Justin's site-- www.justinpaulgibson.xanga.com, or go to the Justin link on this site.
Oh, and I have recently been informed that the Who's Line game mentioned in my post is actually called the Irish Drinking Song.... yeah....
Oh, and I have recently been informed that the Who's Line game mentioned in my post is actually called the Irish Drinking Song.... yeah....
Monday, October 18, 2004
3 a.m. continued
So I left off at the point when we were tramping through the park off to my doom. Of course, I was oblivious to that fact until I saw... the monster.
Okay, okay, so I'm a wee bit dramatic. But those boys were insane if they even thought they were comparing the ride we had just been on, which didn't go two feet above the ground and actually very closely resembled the teacups at Disneyland, with this horrifying deathtrap they wanted to go on.
It went the way it normally goes at amusement parks. They downplayed how high it actually went. I witnessed how high it went and told them they were nuttier than I thought if they thought I was going with them. They said I would have fun. I said I've never had fun on a ride like that, why would it change now? They said this one was different, that I'd like it when I was on it. And once again, I succumbed to their pleading and joined them in line, telling myself I could always back out at the last second.
So I got on the darn thing. And for awhile it was okay. But then we started going, and suddenly I hated them, offficialy hated them, for doing this to me. Because they knew I would not enjoy it. Well, the Justins knew. Jesse was still a little unsure of how much I would hate it, and decided for my own good, he had to make me have fun. Well, he learned. I think his hand is still hurting, and I'm surprised I didn't break it with how hard I was squeezing it as we were on that STUPID DEVILISH MONSTROSITY. My hand hurt afterward.
Aside from my brush with death, the night was very fun. We watched the "hanging" and the fun show that goes along with it, where basically every big celebrity, singer, or politician over the year is mocked and thrown off the stage, by each other. The greatest thing was Bush kicking Kerry's butt.
I do have one complaint. In the years before, they've always had guys wearing "greased up knee and elbow pads" who basically go running and sliding all over the place. They are my favorite part of the Halloween Haunt, but I only saw two of them the entire night! The place used to be crawling with them! I was severely disappointed....
We left at two, when the park closed, but we didn't actually get out of the county for another forty-five minutes. We stopped at four different gas stations before we finally found one that didn' t have an out of order sign on the bathrooom door.
I was dead by the time we finally got going home and fell asleep pretty quckly, but the guys, somehow, were wide awake the entire way. Somewhere around three thirty I regained enough consciousness to understand that they were playing the Who's Line song game.... again. I caught my name in their little lyric a few times, too, but I wasn't awake enough to make sense of it.
And that is my Friday night adventure. Not much of one, and yeah, I was a scaredy cat through most of it, but hey, I survived, Justins. Who knows? Maybe next year I'll open my eyes for those rides.... maybe.
Okay, okay, so I'm a wee bit dramatic. But those boys were insane if they even thought they were comparing the ride we had just been on, which didn't go two feet above the ground and actually very closely resembled the teacups at Disneyland, with this horrifying deathtrap they wanted to go on.
It went the way it normally goes at amusement parks. They downplayed how high it actually went. I witnessed how high it went and told them they were nuttier than I thought if they thought I was going with them. They said I would have fun. I said I've never had fun on a ride like that, why would it change now? They said this one was different, that I'd like it when I was on it. And once again, I succumbed to their pleading and joined them in line, telling myself I could always back out at the last second.
I think I'm finally scared now You think I'm weak - but I think you're wrong I think you're already leaving Feels like your hand is on the door I thought this place was an empire But now I'm relaxed - I can't be sure
So I got on the darn thing. And for awhile it was okay. But then we started going, and suddenly I hated them, offficialy hated them, for doing this to me. Because they knew I would not enjoy it. Well, the Justins knew. Jesse was still a little unsure of how much I would hate it, and decided for my own good, he had to make me have fun. Well, he learned. I think his hand is still hurting, and I'm surprised I didn't break it with how hard I was squeezing it as we were on that STUPID DEVILISH MONSTROSITY. My hand hurt afterward.
Aside from my brush with death, the night was very fun. We watched the "hanging" and the fun show that goes along with it, where basically every big celebrity, singer, or politician over the year is mocked and thrown off the stage, by each other. The greatest thing was Bush kicking Kerry's butt.
Everywhere someone's getting over Everybody cries and sometimes You can still lose even if you really try
I do have one complaint. In the years before, they've always had guys wearing "greased up knee and elbow pads" who basically go running and sliding all over the place. They are my favorite part of the Halloween Haunt, but I only saw two of them the entire night! The place used to be crawling with them! I was severely disappointed....
We left at two, when the park closed, but we didn't actually get out of the county for another forty-five minutes. We stopped at four different gas stations before we finally found one that didn' t have an out of order sign on the bathrooom door.
Just stay all through the night And in the morning let me down Cuz that's all that I need, right now
I was dead by the time we finally got going home and fell asleep pretty quckly, but the guys, somehow, were wide awake the entire way. Somewhere around three thirty I regained enough consciousness to understand that they were playing the Who's Line song game.... again. I caught my name in their little lyric a few times, too, but I wasn't awake enough to make sense of it.
And that is my Friday night adventure. Not much of one, and yeah, I was a scaredy cat through most of it, but hey, I survived, Justins. Who knows? Maybe next year I'll open my eyes for those rides.... maybe.
It's 3am, I must be tired
I started Saturday morning in a state of complete and utter panic. No, I did not wake up in the middle of the night from a horrific nightmare; this was much worse. The panic was real. At twelve am I found myself-- against my will-- holding on for dear life to the harness holding me into the giant swinging and rotating pendulum that my wonderful friends had forced me on.
Backtrack to four-o-clock on Friday afternoon. With carefree hearts and expectant of a night of fun, Jesse, the Justins, and I met at Jesse's house for our annual October trip to Knott's Berry Farm for the park's Halloween Haunt. This is a tradition where they basically turn the park into a plethora of "scary" mazes, demonstrate a public "hanging", shoot off smoke machines everywhere, and dress their employees in less-than-comfortable monster outfits. It is wonderful, and my friends and I have made this a tradition.
We started our road trip off with a little KFC and some Matchbox 20 tunes (lyrics of which inspired above title and will be showing up in this entry for no reason other that that I like them). Of course, being a Friday afternoon heading into LA, we hit massive traffic and it took more than three hours to get there. But don't worry-- they boys kept themselves (and me) entertained by playing that song off of Who's Line.... you know the one where they make up some lyric by giving one line each and the second and fourth line have to rhyme? Yeah, they did that... for a long time.
Anyway, once there we had to wait in line for tickets for like forty-five minutes, before finally being granted access to our fright night. We went to a few of the houses before finding a ride that we all wanted to go on-- including me. See, I'm not into the whole being plummeted through the air at fifty miles an hour from two hundred feet in the air. I really, really don't like roller coasters unless they're Jordan-friendly... you can ask a Justin which one those are. So we went on this one ride (not a roller coaster) that basically whips you around, back and forth, and makes you think you're either going to hit a wall or someone else. It gave me quite a thrill. I commended the Justins for picking a ride that I actually liked, and they tell me, "Oh, well if you like that one, you'll like Revolution. Let's go!"
They tell me I'm naive, but I've discovered I'm never more naive than when I'm with them! In complete ignorance of where I was going, I followed along as we crossed to the other side of the park.
To be continued....
Backtrack to four-o-clock on Friday afternoon. With carefree hearts and expectant of a night of fun, Jesse, the Justins, and I met at Jesse's house for our annual October trip to Knott's Berry Farm for the park's Halloween Haunt. This is a tradition where they basically turn the park into a plethora of "scary" mazes, demonstrate a public "hanging", shoot off smoke machines everywhere, and dress their employees in less-than-comfortable monster outfits. It is wonderful, and my friends and I have made this a tradition.
We started our road trip off with a little KFC and some Matchbox 20 tunes (lyrics of which inspired above title and will be showing up in this entry for no reason other that that I like them). Of course, being a Friday afternoon heading into LA, we hit massive traffic and it took more than three hours to get there. But don't worry-- they boys kept themselves (and me) entertained by playing that song off of Who's Line.... you know the one where they make up some lyric by giving one line each and the second and fourth line have to rhyme? Yeah, they did that... for a long time.
Straight up, what did you hope to learn about here if I were someone else, would this all fall apart
Anyway, once there we had to wait in line for tickets for like forty-five minutes, before finally being granted access to our fright night. We went to a few of the houses before finding a ride that we all wanted to go on-- including me. See, I'm not into the whole being plummeted through the air at fifty miles an hour from two hundred feet in the air. I really, really don't like roller coasters unless they're Jordan-friendly... you can ask a Justin which one those are. So we went on this one ride (not a roller coaster) that basically whips you around, back and forth, and makes you think you're either going to hit a wall or someone else. It gave me quite a thrill. I commended the Justins for picking a ride that I actually liked, and they tell me, "Oh, well if you like that one, you'll like Revolution. Let's go!"
They tell me I'm naive, but I've discovered I'm never more naive than when I'm with them! In complete ignorance of where I was going, I followed along as we crossed to the other side of the park.
To be continued....
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Those were the days....
The Theology Papers
Part Two
Another week has come and gone. It seems like in college, days go by super fast. The semester is already almost half over. Very hard to believe. While I am anxious to finish “growing up” and getting out of college and homework, I still want to be a kid. It’s kind of scary knowing that from here on it will only be more and more responsibility, and that never again will we just be carefree kids of the past. That’s really something I struggle with. I would love to go back to the days of high school, basketball practices, and youth group, living and loving, and not really having anything to worry about. The days when we would spend our afternoons hanging out in the yearbook room (and working on the yearbook), or go to the football games after school on those beautiful California fall days, or spend the entire spring break at Justin’s house watching movies all day long. Call me nostalgic; say I live in the past, whatever. I’m telling you, those were the days. No work, no payments, but still a lot of the freedom that come with that stuff. Sometimes it seems like “growing up” doesn’t really have a lot to offer….
Part Two
Another week has come and gone. It seems like in college, days go by super fast. The semester is already almost half over. Very hard to believe. While I am anxious to finish “growing up” and getting out of college and homework, I still want to be a kid. It’s kind of scary knowing that from here on it will only be more and more responsibility, and that never again will we just be carefree kids of the past. That’s really something I struggle with. I would love to go back to the days of high school, basketball practices, and youth group, living and loving, and not really having anything to worry about. The days when we would spend our afternoons hanging out in the yearbook room (and working on the yearbook), or go to the football games after school on those beautiful California fall days, or spend the entire spring break at Justin’s house watching movies all day long. Call me nostalgic; say I live in the past, whatever. I’m telling you, those were the days. No work, no payments, but still a lot of the freedom that come with that stuff. Sometimes it seems like “growing up” doesn’t really have a lot to offer….
I (subject) soon (adverb, describing when) shall-go (extended verb) out of my mind (adverb, describing state of being)
Grammar class used to be my favorite class. I know, I know, you all think I'm weird. But it's something I'm good at, something I understand, and therefore, it was a good class. However, we are now getting into the devilry of verbs (dum, dum, dum....). Oh, the horror. To give you all a little taste of what we are going through in our Approaches to Grammar class, I will write out the verbs in all of the following sentences in the extended diagramming version we learned today.
Last night I past+ be+ ing+ go (was going) to stay at home because I didn't have to work. I past+ be+ ing+ need (was needing) a little rest and relaxation. But present+ ing+ have+ en+ be+ en+ invite (having been invited) to hang out with my friends at some coffee shop, I decided I past+ shall+ go (should go) with them-- I don't see them that often anymore and we past+ ed+ need (needed) some bonding time. I past+ shall+ not+ have+ en+ tell (should not have told) them i was coming, however, because I really past+ have+ en+ want (had wanted) to go to a Bible study at the Breuninger's house with Sonia. Just before I left, I found out I past+ can+ do (could do) both, so my night was set. Maybe I past+ shall+ have+ en+ stay (should have stayed) home and studied. If I past+ have+ en+ be+ ing+ study (had been studying) last night, I past+ can+ have+ en+ be+ en+ prepare (could have been more prepared) for today, and I past+ may+ have+ en+ be (might have been) able to understand how to work with these darn extended verbs!
Yes, I know. This is just ridiculous, people. Please pray for me, and my cohort, Frijole, as we drudge through verb extensions on Tuesdays and Thursdays between eight and nine fifteen.
PS- ask Frijole about the specially constructed sentence I diagrammed for her in class....
Last night I past+ be+ ing+ go (was going) to stay at home because I didn't have to work. I past+ be+ ing+ need (was needing) a little rest and relaxation. But present+ ing+ have+ en+ be+ en+ invite (having been invited) to hang out with my friends at some coffee shop, I decided I past+ shall+ go (should go) with them-- I don't see them that often anymore and we past+ ed+ need (needed) some bonding time. I past+ shall+ not+ have+ en+ tell (should not have told) them i was coming, however, because I really past+ have+ en+ want (had wanted) to go to a Bible study at the Breuninger's house with Sonia. Just before I left, I found out I past+ can+ do (could do) both, so my night was set. Maybe I past+ shall+ have+ en+ stay (should have stayed) home and studied. If I past+ have+ en+ be+ ing+ study (had been studying) last night, I past+ can+ have+ en+ be+ en+ prepare (could have been more prepared) for today, and I past+ may+ have+ en+ be (might have been) able to understand how to work with these darn extended verbs!
Yes, I know. This is just ridiculous, people. Please pray for me, and my cohort, Frijole, as we drudge through verb extensions on Tuesdays and Thursdays between eight and nine fifteen.
PS- ask Frijole about the specially constructed sentence I diagrammed for her in class....
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
This is my test picture, to see if this darn thing will actually work! Anyway, this is a picture from like two years ago, me and Justin Aubrey (Justin #1) on the houseboat we had for our senior trip. This is one of my favorite pictures ever, because it was just so darn beautiful there! I want to go back.... 
Monday, October 11, 2004
Help!
To anyone out there who has figured out how to post pictures: Please help me!!! I'm driving myself crazy. Maybe my computer's just stupid (valid reasoning), but I just cannot figure out the whole 'Hello' thing. So please, someone who can give blonde-friendly computer instructions, leave me some kind of direction!
The Bright Side
Okay, so I guess I've been kind of a downer lately, for reasons that some of you know but are not really that important to begin with. So I've decided to go back over the last week and find all the things that were great about it.
1) The Over the Line tournament-- Fun stuff! Our college group split into about fifteen teams of three and went down to Coronado last Sunday afternoon for a little OTL. I played with Justin #2 and Tyler, and in keeping our OTL tradition from last year, we won the first two by a lot and then lost both the next games which kicked us out of the running. But then we played with a few of the other teams that had lost, which included Jesse, Brittney, James, and just had a no-pressure game, which was way more fun. I just want to put it on record right now that, while I can hold my own at bat, I am terrible at catching, but I managed to snag on of our very own baseball legend James McHugh's fly balls out of the air. That was my amazing moment of the day, and I am really quite proud of it.
2) Stupid movie night-- I got to spend some quality time with the Justins on Wednesday night. They had rented two stupid movies a few days earlier, and we watched the second one after we got foot long Subway sandwiches (yum, yum). This movie was defintely the stupidest of all stupid movies we have ever watched, and I am not even going to reveal its title here, lest any of you decide to actually go and waste money renting this horrible film.
3) College group dance lessons-- Don't freak out, all you CHC-ers! This is church-run, choreographed, and Doug Damon-approved. Question of the day: What do you get when you put two blondes together and try to teach them to dance? ..... Well, maybe not the exact routine, but Jesse and I still have a lot of fun! Actually, we do pretty well. We've been learning a lot of swing, and recently we've started a few other types, too. It's really fun seeing all of your friends' attempts at coordination. My friends, Kevin Costner and his dancing partner, are especially entertaining (see Liberty and Justin #2's xanga sites for details).
4) Friday chapel-- well, after a week of the Bible conference and one of the hardest to follow speakers I have ever heard, we had an amazing guy talk to us on Friday. This guy, Chris something, is a youth pastor at North Coast Church (not sure where that is), and he totally knew how to appeal to our college-level attitudes... he brought in flannel graph. Flannel graph! The guy's a genius! We were all on the edge of our seats as he put up pictures of David, Moses, a tree, Noah's ark, clouds, and even flannel depictions of heaven and hell. It brought me back to my childhood. Anyway, his main point was about God's love. Sounds simple, right? But the way he explained it all was just what I needed to hear right then. Best chapel all semester. We need that guy at the Bible conference next year.
5) Lip sync contest-- Well first of all, the best part of the night was my very own teammate's daring Sadie's invitation at the end of the well-known Relient K song (see Frijole's site). Other memorable moments were the girls soccer teams' line dancing, Paul's enldless list of puns, "Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin", and Josh's oh-oh-oh's, while dancing onstage in his khaki pants. It was great, and next year, I am so going to be part of it.
Afterward, Jenna and I went to Denny's with Jig and Spike, where the two guys told us funny stories about each other, before finally turning on us and demanding our own embarassing stories. I couldn't think of any, only stupid things I've said or done, that didn't really embarass me. But guess what, guys? I finally thought of one, and my friends agree that this is a good one. I'll tell ya all about it on Sunday.
6) Saturday night with friends-- Started off really good and promising, but we ran into some "disagreeable" things midway. But I learned a very valuable lesson through it: I have the best friends in the entire world. Actually, I already knew that, but that night just re-enforced my opinion. Johannah and Brittany and I spent a lot of time talking, while the guys, knowing I was upset, picked out a movie that they knew I liked, and convinced Johannah to make popcorn just for me, because they know I love it. Then they would not even start the stinkin' movie until I was in there with them, comfortably set up on the couch with my popcorn. I know this doesn't make much sense to anybody who wasn't there, but to those of you who were: I am so blessed to have you as my close friends. Justin, Justin, Jesse, Brittney, and Johannah-- you guys are awesome, and you have no idea how much I appreciate you.
So all in all, it has been a pretty good week. Sometimes you've just got to step around the disagreeable things in life and spend time focusing on the good ones.
1) The Over the Line tournament-- Fun stuff! Our college group split into about fifteen teams of three and went down to Coronado last Sunday afternoon for a little OTL. I played with Justin #2 and Tyler, and in keeping our OTL tradition from last year, we won the first two by a lot and then lost both the next games which kicked us out of the running. But then we played with a few of the other teams that had lost, which included Jesse, Brittney, James, and just had a no-pressure game, which was way more fun. I just want to put it on record right now that, while I can hold my own at bat, I am terrible at catching, but I managed to snag on of our very own baseball legend James McHugh's fly balls out of the air. That was my amazing moment of the day, and I am really quite proud of it.
2) Stupid movie night-- I got to spend some quality time with the Justins on Wednesday night. They had rented two stupid movies a few days earlier, and we watched the second one after we got foot long Subway sandwiches (yum, yum). This movie was defintely the stupidest of all stupid movies we have ever watched, and I am not even going to reveal its title here, lest any of you decide to actually go and waste money renting this horrible film.
3) College group dance lessons-- Don't freak out, all you CHC-ers! This is church-run, choreographed, and Doug Damon-approved. Question of the day: What do you get when you put two blondes together and try to teach them to dance? ..... Well, maybe not the exact routine, but Jesse and I still have a lot of fun! Actually, we do pretty well. We've been learning a lot of swing, and recently we've started a few other types, too. It's really fun seeing all of your friends' attempts at coordination. My friends, Kevin Costner and his dancing partner, are especially entertaining (see Liberty and Justin #2's xanga sites for details).
4) Friday chapel-- well, after a week of the Bible conference and one of the hardest to follow speakers I have ever heard, we had an amazing guy talk to us on Friday. This guy, Chris something, is a youth pastor at North Coast Church (not sure where that is), and he totally knew how to appeal to our college-level attitudes... he brought in flannel graph. Flannel graph! The guy's a genius! We were all on the edge of our seats as he put up pictures of David, Moses, a tree, Noah's ark, clouds, and even flannel depictions of heaven and hell. It brought me back to my childhood. Anyway, his main point was about God's love. Sounds simple, right? But the way he explained it all was just what I needed to hear right then. Best chapel all semester. We need that guy at the Bible conference next year.
5) Lip sync contest-- Well first of all, the best part of the night was my very own teammate's daring Sadie's invitation at the end of the well-known Relient K song (see Frijole's site). Other memorable moments were the girls soccer teams' line dancing, Paul's enldless list of puns, "Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin", and Josh's oh-oh-oh's, while dancing onstage in his khaki pants. It was great, and next year, I am so going to be part of it.
Afterward, Jenna and I went to Denny's with Jig and Spike, where the two guys told us funny stories about each other, before finally turning on us and demanding our own embarassing stories. I couldn't think of any, only stupid things I've said or done, that didn't really embarass me. But guess what, guys? I finally thought of one, and my friends agree that this is a good one. I'll tell ya all about it on Sunday.
6) Saturday night with friends-- Started off really good and promising, but we ran into some "disagreeable" things midway. But I learned a very valuable lesson through it: I have the best friends in the entire world. Actually, I already knew that, but that night just re-enforced my opinion. Johannah and Brittany and I spent a lot of time talking, while the guys, knowing I was upset, picked out a movie that they knew I liked, and convinced Johannah to make popcorn just for me, because they know I love it. Then they would not even start the stinkin' movie until I was in there with them, comfortably set up on the couch with my popcorn. I know this doesn't make much sense to anybody who wasn't there, but to those of you who were: I am so blessed to have you as my close friends. Justin, Justin, Jesse, Brittney, and Johannah-- you guys are awesome, and you have no idea how much I appreciate you.
So all in all, it has been a pretty good week. Sometimes you've just got to step around the disagreeable things in life and spend time focusing on the good ones.
Saturday, October 9, 2004
Alright, alright. I am now in the blog cult, as opposed to the xanga cult. This one just looks cooler. And everyone else is converting anyway. And Sonia made me do it.
Anyway, not much excitement here. I'm stuck in the writing lab for a couple more hours, and haven't had visitors yet. I think I'm going to go check out the guys' soccer game for awhile-- nobody will know I'm gone. I should probably get some English Lit done, too, while I have the time, but I'm just not feeling inspired yet.
By the way, I would just like to add my congrats to Sonia for finally deciding to nab a guy for Sadie's, and in such a gutsy mannner, I might add, and despite the valiant attempts of appropriately nicknamed Napoleon and Hitler to thwart said date (see Adelaide's site for more info). It's gonna be fun, teammate. And, Napoleon and Hitler, you better watch out, or you'll be wearing pink next Sunday....
Anyway, not much excitement here. I'm stuck in the writing lab for a couple more hours, and haven't had visitors yet. I think I'm going to go check out the guys' soccer game for awhile-- nobody will know I'm gone. I should probably get some English Lit done, too, while I have the time, but I'm just not feeling inspired yet.
By the way, I would just like to add my congrats to Sonia for finally deciding to nab a guy for Sadie's, and in such a gutsy mannner, I might add, and despite the valiant attempts of appropriately nicknamed Napoleon and Hitler to thwart said date (see Adelaide's site for more info). It's gonna be fun, teammate. And, Napoleon and Hitler, you better watch out, or you'll be wearing pink next Sunday....
Conforming to Society
To all my adoring fans:
The following dialogue went down at 1:05 pm on Saturday afternoon.
Jordan: I'm sorry. Sonia made me do it.
Sonia: Whatever. You just wanted to be trendy.
Jordan: True. I'm a follower. And the crowd is going to blogger. So I am following. But I'm leaving a link... does that make it okay? That's what Sonia did.... And apparently nobody's yelled at her yet....
Sonia: I want to go buy a newt.
(See previous 'ADD' entry and you'll understand)
Anyway, so I've converted. Sorry, your leader has left the xanga cult. But I'll still keep it up here, so you xanga peoples can get on quick. And I have a link to ya'll on my blog site too. So it's still convenient for everyone.
The following dialogue went down at 1:05 pm on Saturday afternoon.
Jordan: I'm sorry. Sonia made me do it.
Sonia: Whatever. You just wanted to be trendy.
Jordan: True. I'm a follower. And the crowd is going to blogger. So I am following. But I'm leaving a link... does that make it okay? That's what Sonia did.... And apparently nobody's yelled at her yet....
Sonia: I want to go buy a newt.
(See previous 'ADD' entry and you'll understand)
Anyway, so I've converted. Sorry, your leader has left the xanga cult. But I'll still keep it up here, so you xanga peoples can get on quick. And I have a link to ya'll on my blog site too. So it's still convenient for everyone.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Warning: This is only a test
Hello, everybody. The only reason I made one of these is so I could comment, just like our good friend Daniel. I already have my online thing in the Indian Hills Camp Online Journaling Cult in xanga. Everybody should check it out, we've got sixteen of us camp staff writing down our thoughts daily... seventeen now that we've sucked in Wyatt. Maybe I'll leave stuff here every once in a while though as well. See ya'll later....
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