Steph Part 二

Oopps...

2007-08-18T21:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I made a bad and/or Blogger did, but its most likely me. I did not put a link to the new blog due to the fact that it didn't exist when I made my last post.

Oopps...

So here it is! [VA or Bust]

I've posted every day since Mommy and I left for Virginia and we'll be at Grandmother's house tomorrow so there are a lot of good pictures of about 12 different states we've been through.

Enjoy!

Last Post

2007-08-13T06:18:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! This will officially be my last post of Steph Part 二. Today I leave for Virginia and enter a new season in my life, therefore a new blog is in order.

The new blog is VA or Bust. Time for a new place = a new blog.

Let's do this!

I have some pictures from my last day at home that aren't bad...

See you on the flip side. I am kicking this puppy in the face! (Only those who actually know me will get this. I do not actually kick puppies in the face. I am a lover of all things fuzzy and cute. Just thought I'd add a little disclaimer. Thanks.)

Summer Camp

2007-08-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

From Wednesday until today I was at High School Camp. It was good times and I am so glad I was able to go. (Thank You Lord!) There isn't too much to write so I'll just give you the pictures. And I got Movie Maker to work again so we have a video! Woot!

Tattoo(s)

2007-08-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

Drum roll please!

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...

Ta da!

And there you have it. My tattoo. I got it a week ago at Good Neighbor Tattoo. The artist was Arne Hansen and he did an excellent job. Obviously it hurt, a lot, but now I can't feel it. It gets itchy at times but that should soon pass and is a good thing since that means its healing.

Everyone has asked me why.

My simple (and really only) answer is: because I wanted to. I didn't get it to be cool (mostly) or because I was pressured or because I want to witness with it. I got it because I wanted it and its just that simple. What happens after this we'll see.

Oh, by the way, it is Philippians 3:12 in Japanese and its on my lower left side on my back. And yes, that is what it actually says. I got it out of my Japanese Bible and checked it so I'm 99% positive that it does actually say what I think it says.

"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold for me."

Loans

2007-08-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

I thought this appropriate.

Vacation Part 3: AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

2007-08-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

I'm going slightly mad. Now that vacation is over, I have one more week until I leave for school. I have a day and a half to pack my life into a storage container and a suitcase. I get to sort through all my stuff and decide what to lug to Virginia and what to leave to be forever lost in the sea of junk that is the attic.

This has made me slightly insane. Only on the inside of course. Right now I kind of feel like this little guy we found etched into the sidewalk at church. Whether he was intentional or not, I'm not sure. But I definitely do relate to the guy.

Vacation Part 2: The Actual Vacation Part

2007-08-04T20:56:00.000-07:00

My family and I have been going to Pine Cliff Resort in June Lake for about ten years now. It is a nice, secluded camp ground on a gorgeous lake surrounded by other lakes. All we ever do is sleep, read, play games and go fishing. An entire week of that and I can say that I am relaxed.

To give you a slight visual I took some pictures, of course. There are a lot, and I mean A LOT, of pictures of the lake. Just to warn you a head of time.

But first we have some serious awesomeness: Bunny Biscuits!

Whenever Mommy makes biscuits she uses the leftover dough to make bunny biscuits. I made one too and there it is minus an ear because Mommy got a little hungry before I was able to take a picture. She was properly reprimanded. I regret to say that my bunny looks rather angry and his/her paws are in a rather risque position as was pointed out by my sister.

Oh well. It's my bunny biscuit and I love her/him/it anyway.

Next we have what my sister and her friends did (minus one) the entire day and a half they spent with us.

Nothing.

And then there was the hike. Yes, I went on a hike. I was reading in my room when Daddy knocked on the window and told me to put some shoes o because we were going on a hike. This 'hike' ended up being around the entire lake. Which actually wasn't too bad. We went at a slow pace and there wasn't a lot of uphill business going on. It was also beautiful, I got a lot of good pictures and I was able to see the lake from a completely different side that in all our ten years of camping at Pine Cliff I had never seen.

The hitting my head on a tree and doing a nice little Tarzan swing into a thorny rose bush to avoid falling off the rocks into the lake was interesting. I can only imagine what my face looked like as I was swinging into that bush and I'm sure my parents won't let me forget it for a long time.

All in all it was a good hike and I'm glad I did it. It was about six miles in all and while that may seem like a cake walk to some, was a lot for me. I have been driving for too long but luckily walking is something I can do and this just proved it further. My legs do work and they can be used for something other than walking to the car or refrigerator! Hurray!

Now onto the pictures...

The Trail... Dun Dun DUN!

A hiking we will go...

Our first glimpse of the lake. (It's a lot bigger than this.)

Some spiffy clouds.

Better view.

Pine cones!

Very large tree.

Trees growing out of rocks. This was pretty cool.

This was probably around the time I hit my head on a tree...

Other side of the lake.

Chris and Daddy

Duckies!

Mommy.

Uprooted tree thats still holding on. Pretty amazing.

Pinecone bud. Apparently you don't get to see these too often because they're so high up. This tree wasn't so shy so we got to see.

Someones house. Yeah, I know...

The boat docks.

More duckies! This is while Chris and I were feeding them of course.

A little video of an inch worm inching its way up my leg. This was right after I did my Tarzan swing into the rose bush.

Mommy hiking IN the lake. We had to do a little of that. Felt good though. It was hot!
The End!

Of the hike! I had you for a second there...

The hike was great and of course there was always fishing.

Daddy casting and almost falling off the rock...

Mommy smiling away.

And then... there were crossword puzzles. Dun Dun DUN!

Here's the thing. I am not competitive at all. Nor do I love a challenge, nor am I ever sarcastic.

Knowing all that, the following story will make perfect sense.

Mommy bought a crossword puzzle book before we left. I decided to give one a try because I was bored. It was pretty challenging and it took me a while but I did it. I was pretty impressed.

Then Daddy sat down and did one in three minutes. Three minutes people! I was amazed and of course had to do as many as possible in as fast a time as possible. I'm still working on it and I think I've fried a few braincells from thinking way too hard for a three letter word that means 'A long stretch of time'. That's usually 'EON' by the way...

And so begins my new addiction to crossword puzzles.

Melissa and crew left on Monday. From left to right: Matt, Serene, Melissa and Chris.

A good Mommy face. Not exactly sure what I did to deserve it but I'm glad I did it.

Daddy accidentally left the waders at home so we went into Bishop to get some new ones. Found these at Kmart for $10. Daddy looks pretty spiffy in these.

One of the many chipmunks that graced us with its presence.
That reminds me a story...

One day Mommy and I were sitting on the porch of the trailing doing whatever we were doing, reading or my new found love, crossword puzzles. Because we were so quiet the chipmunks decided we weren't going to stop them from running into the trailer. Boy were they wrong!

But unfortunately I did miss one until it was too late. So I ran into the trailer after it and since I was blocking its only exist, it decided to run into my parents bedroom, jump onto the bed, run over Daddy's leg and back onto the floor to hide under the bed.

Daddy was taking a nap so as the chipmunk ran over his thigh he made a rather funny jerking motion that made me laugh pretty hard.

Good times.

Some stormy clouds. It rained on us a little one day which meant no fishing but more time for Monopoly!

One day we went over to Mono Lake for the free tour. It was definitely made of awesome.

Mono lake has no outlets. Therefore the only way it loses water is through evaporation. But, like the Dead Sea, its minerals and salt do not evaporate because minerals and salt don't evaporate. Leaving the lake with 80% more salinity than the ocean. Ya, pretty crazy. It also doesn't help that Los Angeles took 500 vertical feet of water from the lake by taken water from the creeks that feed the lake.

All of that been worked out now and they are working on getting the level up to where it should be seeing that 80% of all the seagulls in California go through this lake during migration along with a few other types of birds including but not limited to Osprey.

The cool thing about the high salinity is that it has created Tufas. Tufas are calcium deposits that have built up in the water and are now exposed after the decrease in water level. They are pretty cool.

My favorite part were the flies. They don't land on people and there are millions of them. Most of them are along the shore. To show is where they are our guide simply walked across the shore and a few hundred flies moved out of his way and landed a few feet behind him. I thought that was pretty awesome.

Enough talking, more pictures!

Flies! The black along the shore are the flies and the black in the water are the larvae.

Seagulls.

There was a 'small' leak in the bathroom which is how we think Mr. Frog Man here got into the bathtub.

I'm sitting at the table when I hear, "Good Lord in Heaven above" come from the bathroom. I run in to find Mommy standing over the bathtub looking in. I look in and there he is, Mr. Frog Man, just sitting there like its normal for a rather large tree frog to be sitting in a bathtub in a trailer in the woods.

I told Mommy I would catch him and of course the minute I felt that slimy skin I swuealed like a girl. I did eventually catch him and then he jumped out of my hands and I had to catch him again. Eventually he made it outside. Whether he made it back to wherever he came from alive, I had no idea. Lets just say that with all the birds out there the odds were against him.

It was still pretty cool.

And who could forget Monopoly. I totally owned at this game. We played five times and I kicked some serious buns three out of five of those times. Mommy and Daddy each won once, all of us won by a landslide. Good times.

I told you I'm not competitive...

And so ends the story of my vacation. Again, it was a fun relaxing time that left me feeling refreshed and smelling like pine.

I can now say, I'm glad to be home.

Vacation Part 1: Books

2007-08-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

Oh, where to begin?... I have been at June Lake for the past week and so many wonderful posts need to be written, but where to begin? I decided on books because I felt like it.

So here they are:

Blood Memory by Greg Iles

Recommended to me by my Daddy, this was a very interesting book that was different from most I have ever read. The author is a man but the main character was a women... (?_?)''' I know, totally weird. But it was surprisingly well done. The main character was a little crazy and unstable while dealing with some repressed memories from her childhood but Iles kept it pretty much together. It was a good mystery with some nice unexpected plot twists. A very good ending. Everyone got their just deserts which made me happy.

The Princess Bride Abridged by William Goldman

Personally I liked the movie better but it was still worth reading. I could have gone without a lot of Goldman's life story but again, it was worth the read. Probably because it was funny and almost exactly the movie (since Goldman also wrote the screen play) and rather short.

And those are it for the week. I know, not much but there was a lot of crossword puzzle doing and Monopoly winning going on which will be explained in the next post.

Doggies

2007-07-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of babysitting Bubba's sister, Hope. She is a little bigger than Bubba since he is the runt and she has very unusual face markings. She was pretty cute so I had to take some pictures with Daddy's camera (since I sold mine on eBay). Here they are!

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppppp..........

2007-07-20T22:46:00.000-07:00

I am really tired right now. And it feels good. But my hunger overrides the tiredness so I'm going to go eat a hot pocket and then go get some sleep. Ah, sleep...

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

2007-07-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

I went to the library with my Mommy on Tuesday and while we were walking through she saw that there was a new book out by Ray Bradbury that was a sequel to "Dandelion Wine". The only Bradbury book I had ever read was "Fahrenheit 451" and I loved it so she recommended I read "Dandelion Wine". We found a collection of his stories and after I finished "Dandelion Wine" I was very... confuddled. I know thats not a "real" word but its the best I can come up with to describe what I was thinking when I was done.
Bradbury is an exceptional author as anyone who had read anything by him knows. The incite he has into his characters no matter what age or gender or background they are is amazing and his use of language makes me wonder how anyone can come up with this stuff.
Here are a few passages from "Dandelion Wine" that made me stop and marvel at all that is Ray Bradbury:

"Douglas shut his eyes and saw two idiot suns dancing on the reverse side of the pinkly translucent lids." (pg 218).

"Doug did not ask the others. Already the trains were chanting and he saw their faces drifting off on back observation platforms, or pressed to windows. One by one they slid away. And then the empty track and the summer sky and himself on another train run in another direction." (pg 213).

To convey emotions and tiny occurrences like that is astounding. There aren't any words to describe the way Ray Bradbury uses his.

Turning Angel by Greg Iles

2007-07-19T11:25:00.000-07:00

Another great writer that can keep the suspense going in a 500 page book. I had no idea "who done it?" until about 1:00am when I finished the book. This story has everything a good murder mystery needs: a few dead people, drugs, scandal, small towns and a wealthy, handsome hero thats not so much a hero as you think he is...

I give it an A.

Ouchies...

2007-07-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the doctors office and got my Meningococcal Meningitis and my first of three Gadasil (to prevent cervical cancer) vaccines. Wednesday I went in for a physical for UR and found that I needed some shots. I was a little apprehensive about them because I haven't had a shot in a long time but they weren't too bad. There was some definite stinging and my arms felt really heavy for a little while but I'm all better now. You can't even see where they pricked me.

I didn't get a lollipop though which makes me a little miffed...

Kids Say the Darndest Things

2007-07-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

Flip Flops by Antique Mommy

This story first of all, made me laugh. Which then made my mom come in the room wondering what I was laughing about while she was slaving away with the vacuum cleaner. As I relayed the reason for my laughter my mom told me a story about my uncle, her younger brother, who had a few words of his own. Just to name a few: whatsupdoc for carrots thanks to Bugs, gasfew for the tricycle that didn't actually use any gas and helliwopper for helicopter. We had another good laugh at that one.

I had some good ones when I was little as well. My Daddy's favorite is mazageen for magazine. And of course there was yeyo for yellow and pasketi for spaghetti.

Ha! Crazy little kids.

Radar

2007-07-09T19:44:00.000-07:00

"Nuditidity makes me breath funny."

Radar O'Reilly M*A*S*H

Registration Blues

2007-07-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day I was suppose to be able to register for my classes at the University of Richmond for Fall 2007 starting at 9am. I woke up around 10am and realized that so I started on my computer. I entered in the correct numbers I had prepared almost two weeks ago to make sure I wouldn't waste any time and clicked "SUBMIT". Only to find out that four out of the six classes were full or needed a prerequisite.

Needless to say I was pretty bummed and almost slightly freaking out. So I tried to register for other courses that were alternatives and most of those were also closed. That was about the time I realized that when they said 9am they meant 9am Virginia time which is 3 hours ahead of California meaning everyone else had had almost four hours to register by the time I was on the computer.

There wasn't much else I could do but write an e-mail to the Academic Advising Center saying that I had no idea what to do next. A little while later, after I had eaten about two big cookies and paced my room a few times, a very nice and totally awesome lady from Academic Advising called me to see what we could do to get me registered. I was so great full and she was very helpful. I eventually registered for a few classes and ended up speaking with a gentleman who is helping me to figure out the rest.

Right now I am registered for:

Greek 101
Journalism 200
Classics 302- Roman Art and Archeology
History 100- Technology in American History
English 103 (soon to be 297 if everything works out tomorrow)

And that is that. I want to take a different history class but I an still waiting to hear back from the history department because the class is full and I want to try to get in anyway. The English class will work out as far as I know but not until tomorrow. So not exactly my original plan but working out well anyway.
Hey, I still get to take Greek!

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

2007-07-09T14:07:00.000-07:00

Just finished it last night, staying up until 11:30pm to finish it only to be slightly disappointed. Rarely do I think a movie is better than the book but I guess that's because I always read the book first and that was not the case in this instance.
Don't get me wrong, it was a well written, witty and engrossing story that was actually very similar to the book. I simply prefer the more innocent and better behaved characters portrayed in the movie as opposed to the novel.
I would still recommend it. A girly novel with a good moral was a nice break from all the blood and killing of historical fiction.

Ishbosheth

2007-07-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

Steve (teaching on Sunday): And Saul had a son named Ishbosheth.

Me (to Alicia): Who the heck names their kid Ishbosheth?

Alicia: He must not have been the favorite.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

2007-07-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

Speaking about Robert E. Lee:

"When Virginia left the Union she bore his home away as surely as if she were a ship setting out to sea, and what was left behind on the shore was not his any more. So it was no cause and no country he fought for, no ideal and no justice. He fought for his people, for the children and the kin, and not even the land, because not even the land was worth the war, but the people were, as wrong as they were, insane even as many of them were, they were his own, he belonged with his own. And so he took up arms wilfully, knowingly, in perhaps the wrong cause against his own sacred oath and stood now upon alien ground he had once sworn to defend, sworn in honor, and he had arrived there really in the hands of God, without any choice at all; there had never been an alternative except to run away, and he could not do that. But Longstreet was right, of course: he had broken the vow. And he would pay. He knew that and accepted it. He had already paid. He closed his eyes. Dear God, let it end soon."

I thought I'd let the book speak for itself.

Disneyland Day 2

2007-07-03T22:36:00.000-07:00

Finally! Day 2 of Disneyland is here!

So...

Step 1: California Adventure

Seeing that we spent most of Day 1 at Disneyland we decided to do all the cool stuff at CA Adventure.

Step 2: Flick's Fair

They made a cool "little" place that is literally little, or rather everything else is bigger. It is from A Bug's Life so everything is made bigger to make you feel smaller. It was pretty cool seeing giant four leaf clovers and life size lightning bugs.

Step 3: It's Tough to Be A Bug

A 3D movie about how tough it is to be a bug because apparently we humans don't understand what its like to be a bug. It was a lot of fun and kind of scary at times. BUt yet still fun. I love 3D.

Step 4: Signature from Stitch

The second Meagan saw Stitch she freaked out and we got in line. This little booger tried to steal my pen and then attempted to stick it up my nose. Ya, that was weird...

Step 5: Monster's Inc. Ride

This was a cool ride. A little mix of Toon Town and Winnie the Pooh.

Step 6: Screamin' on the Tower of Terror

The only Tower of Terror I had ever been on was the one at Tokyo Disney so this was both Meagan's and my first time. It was awesome. The Twilight Zone theme wasn't that scary but the ride was totally awesome. One of those stomach in your throat things. Awesomeness!

Step 7: Soarin' Over California

This is a cool ride. It's like watching a movie on California with Smell-O vision. Made me remember how beautiful California is.

Step 8: Back to Disneyland!

By this time it was very, very hot. Probably about 90 degrees or hotter. So we walked around and found some shade.

Step 9: Winnie the Pooh

So we went on the Winnie the Pooh ride where the line was shaded and the ride was air conditioned. And I just love those little hephalumps and woozels.

Step 10: California Screamin'

Back to California Adventure. The craziest part of the trip because this was the first roller coaster Meagan had ever been on. I know! I was just as shocked so we had to go on it. And of course she loved it and wanted to go on it again.

Step 11: Muppet's 3D

If you think that the Muppet's are cool regularly then you will love them in 3D! This movie was really well done and very entertaining.

Step 12: Golden Vine Winery

Lunch! I'm not exactly sure when we had lunch but this was where the picture was in the set so this is where its going. This restaurant was amazing! It was about $50 all together for the two of us and we each had a salad, lasagna, dessert and coffee. The food was great and the atmosphere was relaxing. A good break from the heat and very vacation-ish and gourmet. Who doesn't love a cheap gourmet meal at the happiest place on earth?

Step 13: The Bee's

What I call the Yo-Yo. Another good chance to relax because we were extremely tired and still had about 5 hours to go.

Step 14: Lights Show and Fireworks

Very, very well done. I loved the show. They went through every ride at the park using lights and music and all timed with fireworks. Leave it up to Disney to make such a spectacular display.

Step 15: Find an open ride thats working
After fighting the insane crowds and finding out that Big Thunder Mountain that we had Fast Passes for was closed we went to Pirates. We waited less than fifteen minutes and the ride was enjoyable. A good last ride.

Step 16: Goodbye Disneyland
Now that we've done and seen everything its time to finish up our shopping and go home.

Goodbye Disneyland!

D Part 2

2007-07-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

Pardon my lack of Day 2 at Disneyland. I've been a little busy hating money.

I Hate Money

2007-07-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

Today I had the pleasure of stressing out over how I'm going to pay the $18,505 it is going to cost me to go to school next semester. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Not.

But it wasn't too hard to do and I'm getting started on time so I'm okay. I filled out my FAFSA and looked up loans and scholarships and all that jazz. I also was approved for a Student Visa card. Heck yes. My first real credit card. Too bad I can't spend any money because I owe the University of Richmond $18,505!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What about all those cute tops and that totally awesome belt we just got in at Hollister or the new shoes I want or all of my free time?!!!!! *crawls into the corner and cries*

Okay I'm done now. I much prefer being able to have the excellent education and options I will receive from UR than all that material stuff. I mean come on, I get to take freakin' Greek! Who would want to miss out on that? I am not being sarcastic I am really excited about taking Greek. Yes I am a nerd/geek whatever you chose to call me.

I'm done with my little rant now. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and beg the government for money.

I'm Goin' Ta Disneyland!

2007-06-30T19:21:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I already went to Disneyland but thats not the point.

Anyway, Disneyland was awesome! Meagan, my totally awesome friend with a totally awesome Mommy, and I had a great and relaxing time and now you have the chance to enjoy it a little with us. How you ask? Close your eyes (well mentally, not physically because then you wouldn't be able to read nor see the pretty pictures) and pretend you are there with us in beautiful Anaheim, California at the Happiest Place on Earth where dreams come true.

Step 1: Starbucks

How anyone starts a day at 5:30am and doesn't have a little coffee in the morning is beyond me. If thats you, you are my hero.

Step 2: Drive

With Queen and Disney blasting the trip went by quickly.

Step 3: Find your hotel/hostel

Finding our hostel wasn't so quick. When we did finally find we parked and went into the lobby. The minute we stepped in we knew we were in trouble. The smell let little to be desired and the fact that the "clerk" didn't ask for ID was disconcerting but we shrugged it off and put our stuff in the room, making sure to take our valuables with us. Hey, it was cheap.

Step 4: Get to Disneyland, park and take the tram

All of which was fairly simple and didn't take too long.

Step 5: Buy your tickets

God loves us. We were planning on the tickets for two 2 Day Hopper tickets to cost us about $240. Turns out Meagan could upgrade her Annual Pass that was blacked out that day to one that was not for only $30. So our tickets ended up being only $150! We were excited because that meant we could buy more stuff. Haha!

Step 6: Enter the park

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Step 7: Get a Fast Pass for Splash Mountain
Because I am not waiting 60 minutes for a ride if I can avoid it and I certainly can.

Step 8: Ride Indiana Jones

What a great ride. Go Harrison Ford! This is also where we analyzed cooking shows and discovered some Southern CA slang like ta for to. Example: Going ta the beach dude. Instead of, Well friend, I am going to the beach. Gotta (see it there too?) love line conversation.

Step 9: Jungle Cruise

These guys are always funny with their inevitable puns about fake nature. Only at Disneyland.

Step 10: Take the Fast Pass to Splash Mountain only to have the ride have a "Log Jam" and be closed for an "indefinite period of time"

A risk you take with every ride. We Disneyland Veterans have learned these things. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Step 11: The Haunted Mansion

Another awesome classic ride that has been redone a little since the last time I rode. My favorite part is still the dancing ghosts.

Step 12: Star Tours

One of my favorite rides only because it is such a classic. The gift shop afterwards is pretty awesome as well. Mr. Potato Head makes a pretty good Darth Vader.

Step 13: Go to the Mad Hatter and try on all the crazy hats
This is one of my favorite parts of Disneyland. We did it at Tokyo Disney and had a blast so Meagan and I decided to do it again. The results were just as fun.

Look familiar?

Step 14: Big Thunder Mountain

More classic Disney-ness. A Roller Coaster Type Ride in a "mountain" that whips you around a few times and then, ends. Good times.

Step 15: Pirates of the Caribbean

The redone ride is a lot more fun the older version. There are a few more dips and a nice scene where you actually get a little wet. It also helps that Johnny Depp is in it. As hard core Pirate fans Meagan and I felt obligated to ride. It was a tough job but we figured someone had to do it.

Step 16: Lunch!

Next to the Pirates ride there is a litte cafe called Cafe Orleans. It is massively overpriced and not very fancy but the Monte Cristo Sandwich they sell is amazing and rather famous at Disneyland. We bit the bullet and paid the $16 each for a sandwich and enjoyed as much as we could eat.

Step 17: Signature from Winnie the Pooh

Signatures are a very important part of the Disney experience. And Pooh is just totally awesome.

Step 18: Signature from Remy of Ratatouille

He was there and we figured "What the heck". Little booger tried to steal my pen.

Step 19: Jedi Training Academy

I'm not the bigger Star Wars fan but I do like the movies and Meagan is a hard core Star Wars fan so we watched the Jedi Training Academy. It was totally awesome. It was an interactive show. A few Jedi's came out and the main Jedi Master did a little karate style sword form that was very well done. Then they picked some young padawons to come on stage, about 20 or so. Then the kids were given a robe and a "training light saber" and taught a little drill. Then the fun began. Darth Vader and some Star Troopers came out followed by Darth Maul. Each kid then got to use their newly learned drill to fight either Darth Vader or Darth Maul. I was highly impressed at how well the kids did and that they behaved the entire time.
Its pretty amazing how little kids will listen to a guy with a microphone pretending to be a Jedi when they don't even listen to their own parents. Maybe parents should dress up in brown robes and carry around light sabers.

Step 20: Space Mountain

After waiting in line for about 45 minutes behind a very hyper group of Jr. Highers we made onto Space Mountain. I loved it! I hadn't been on any version of the ride for almost five years and I was surprised at how well done the ride was. It is entirely black with a few stars the entire ride, its fast and just loads of fun. I was so excited about it. Ya, excited.

Step 21: Watch the Parade

As we were walking towards the exit of Disneyland to go into California Adventure the parade started so we stopped to watch. The parades are always fun. There's just something cool seeing your childhood life size.

Step 22: The Animation Building in California Adventure

This is a very fun building. Inside they have giant screens all around the room showing scenes from classic Disney movies with the music and everything. There are several rooms inside the building. The first one we went into was the Turtle Talk With Crush from Finding Nemo. Another wonderful technological advance in entertainment. Everyone sits in a theater and has a conversation with an animated Crush on a screen a the front of the room. Crush asks questions and answers questions from the audience. It was pretty amazing. I'm assuming there was someone behind the small windows next to the screen that was operating the Crush and speaking for him. Must have been even coller for the little kids. They definitely enjoyed it.

Step 23: Dinner
At the Award Wiener in CA Adventure. Those Chili Dogs were seriously awesome.

Step 24: Eating Dinner while watching the Electrical Parade
We ended up sitting down to watch the parade while we finished up dinner and bought a little dessert from the candy shop. Chocolate covered pretzels shaped like Mickey Mouse. Heck yes.

Step 25: Ride the tram back to the parking garage to get Meagan's sweater

More fun times on the tram.

Step 26: Ride the tram back to the park

Step 27: Stay on the tram back to the parking garage because Meagan left her ticket in her other shorts...

Step 28: Back to the park for good this time!

Step 29: Wait in line at the Mad Hatter for Meagan to get her name stitched in her new Pirate Mickey Ears hat.
I love how they will stitch your name in your hat for free. A very good deal and great souvenir.

Step 30: The Matterhorn

Another classic ride that never fails to be worth the wait. We only waited about twenty minutes and it was worth it. Fun times with the Abominable Snowman.

Step 31: One more tram ride back to the parking garage

Step 32: Drive to the hostel

Step 33: Sleep.

And that's Day One!

Thanks Bill from Arkansas

2007-06-30T19:18:00.001-07:00

I sold my camera on eBay! My only other experience with selling something on eBay didn't turn out so well so this time I was a little worried but I guess when you're selling a digital camera in its original box for only $50 someone out there will buy it. This time it was Bill from Arkansas.

Thank you Bill. You're camera should be arriving shortly.

Very Angry Cats...

2007-06-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today we had to take the cats and Bubba to the vet to catch up on some shots and various other medications that had to do with mini turkey basters and cat noses.
Anyway, the first step in getting the cats to the vet was getting them in the car. To do that we had to get them in the cat carrier. To get them in the cat carrier we had to catch them.
And so our journey began.
We had the cat carrier open and ready for the cats and then had the cats, kind of. There was a little incident and Skit (the 11 1/2 lbs. orange tabby) got loose and ran into the master bedroom Mr. White Paws (the female mix) squirmed her way out of my grip and ran out the side door, into the background and then into the master bedroom. I chased her the entire way of course and closed the door behind us. After Skit was in the room I closed the other door leading to the hallway and we had them cornered.
Mommy and Melissa entered to assist and we figured we could coax the cats out from under the bed in a few minutes and be on our way.
We were wrong.
Very, very wrong.
The cats were just far enough under the couch to be out of reach so we had to resort to alternative measures. We pulled the California King mattress off the box spring and onto the floor/leaning on the small dresser. Mommy caught Mr. White Paws rather easily and stuck her in the carrier. Then Melissa prodded Skit with a random steel pole we found under the bed until he ran over under the part of the mattress that was propped up on the dresser and meowed incessantly while I tried to get my hands on him. When I wasn't looking he ran out from under the mattress and attempted to jump out a window we forgot was open but missed so he ran around the room, jumped off my back and under the bed again.
I got him to try and jump through the now closed window again and when he missed I grabbed him and stuck him in the cat carrier but he jumped at the right moment and ran under the bed again.
Mommy wanted to give up and just go without Skit but I hadn't been jumped on nor inhaled ten pounds of cat hair for nothing so I went for him again. I grabbed the pole and poked him until he ran into the bathroom where Melissa shut the door and grabbed him. Mommy got the idea of putting him in with a towel over him so he couldn't jump out again and it worked!
We had the cats in the carrier and we were ready to go. It was outrageously heavy but it worked.
They were not happy cats but we were some happy and very hairy people.

The Aftermath. Ya, very angry cats.

Dean's List

2007-06-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah! I received a letter from Temple Japan the other day and it informed me I had made the Dean's List for Spring '07 (last semester). I was pretty excited, especially because it will look good for the University of Richmond when Temple sends them my updated transcripts I paid almost $20 for...

Anyway, just thought I'd share that.

Golf

2007-06-18T23:12:00.000-07:00

"Golf is a good walk spoiled." Mark Twain

A good quote I saw on a tv commercial while watching the big golf tournament thingy with my parents on Father's Day. Actually it was more of me reading my book on the couch while my parents watched golf.

Whatever.

I Need You

2007-06-18T22:29:00.000-07:00

I Need You

I've dug up miles and miles of sand
Searching for something I can't see
And I've just got bruised and battered hands
And a brand new void inside of me
Complete with walls I did create
From all the earth that I've displaced
A mess that I have made from what
I've just let pile and pile up
I have not been abandoned, no I have not been
Deserted and I have not been forgotten

I need you
I need you here
I need you now
I need security somehow
I need you
Like you would not believe
You're the only thing I want
Cause you're everything I need

Explore the cave that is my chest
A torch reveals there's nothing left
Your whispers echo off the walls
And you can hear my distant calls
The voice of who I used to be
Screaming out "someone, someone please
Please shine a light into the black
Wade through the depths and bring me back

I have not been abandoned, no I have not been
Deserted and I have not been forgotten

I need you
I need you here
I need you now
I need security somehow
I need you
Like you would not believe
You're the only thing I want
Cause you're everything I need

When my hopes seem to dangle
Somewhere just beyond my reach
You say you've heard my prayers
And read my words there on the beach

I need you
I need you here
I need you now
I need security somehow
I need you
Like you would not believe
You're the only thing I want
Cause you're everything I need
---Relient K

I've been feeling like this lately. This song and the entire CD (Five Score and Seven Years) has been an encouragement through not-so-easy times. God just continues to prove Himself and to be everything I need.

Taken from www.azlyrics.com.

Daddy's Day

2007-06-17T22:14:00.001-07:00

Our Father's Day today was a good one. Mommy and I made baked beans, bratwurst and strawberry shortcake after I wrapped presents and then we had dinner. The cheesy brats were totally awesome and tasty. Then Daddy opened presents and loved them. I especially liked my card (that I bought today). It said, "Dad, I know you told me that hard work it a reward in itself... But now that I'm older I see that we both know thats a load of crap. Happy Father's Day!" I thought it was hilarious and so did Daddy. Good times.
Presents! Nothing big this year but it was fun. Mommy bought him a Steven King book, a hat and shirt set thingy, and a bottle opener (why I have no idea but whatever. From my sister and I he got a picture frame with a picture of us when we were about 10 and 6 years old. From Mommy and I he got a Travel Kit because of all the traveling he does for work now. It was in a baseball lunch box and included: a mix CD I made, Scooby Doo Band-Aids, a Q-Tip purse pak, Snickers bar, Wrigley's Doublemint Gum, and a nail kit. That was fun putting together and I think he enjoyed getting it.
After presents it was time for dessert! While listening to the mix CD we had out strawberry shortcake and talked about random things and took pictures of the puppy who is almost big enough to jump on the couch now.
Overall it was a pretty good Father's Day.
Happy Father's Day Daddy! I love you!

Daddy's hat was a little big...

Now a little too tight! I think he looks like Elmer Fudd...!

Mommy

Daddy and Bubba

Hahaha! Those ears...

He is so cute.

Suckiness

2007-06-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, so when one of your friends does something thats really not cool and then you just happen to find out about and then you have to go talk to that person about it and its awkward and uncomfortable and wieird, I think that equals suckiness.
We'll leave the details out but just believe me.
At least I know that it will all be okay in the end. Go God.

Japanese Fonts

2007-06-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

I was trying to find some new fonts for my Japanese text on my computer because, well, its just cool. I found this website: Wazu. There are some great fonts that are a lot of fun to play and I'm sure would be great for anyone who needs them for any reason that I can't think of at the moment. I also learned how to download these fonts and actually make the work. So for anyone who is as computer illiterate as I am, I thought I'd help you out.

First, click the link to download the font and follow the instructions. Download them to your Desktop.
Once the Download is complete, open My Computer, then Local Disk (C:).
Next open the WINDOWS file, then FONTS.
For this particular website the fonts are put in a file on your Desktop and named according to the font name. Open the font file and drag the contents in to the FONTS file.
And there you have it! I have no idea if this will be of any use to anyone but I'm bored.

Witness

2007-06-12T20:11:00.000-07:00

"Witness" by Karen Hesse is a novel written as a collection of diary entries of the people in a small town in Vermont. The Ku Klux Klan moves into town and their lives are changed in a profound way. The insight and observations made by the 12 and 6 year old girls frightened me. The similarities between the Ku Klux Klan and the discrimination that occur today is way too similar.
An amazing story that took me about an hour and a half to read.
READ IT!

UR

2007-06-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was attending the church's Women's Retreat at the Calvary Chapel Murrieta Bible College and Hot Springs. Because this was a reateat and I was reatreating I did not keep my cell phone on me at all times. Therefore I did not get my moms voice mail message yesterday until 11:00pm. Some of the ladies in my room were trying to sleep so I went into the bathroom area and began listening to the message. My mommy had called me to inform me that a package and letter came for me from the University of Richmond and that congratulations were in order.
I freaked out.
And I mean freaked out. I started jumping up and down and spinning in circles trying my hardest not to make any noise. It was a true and complete happy dance brought on by pure excitement and joy. Of course I failed miserably at the whole not making noise thing but it was okay because Terry and Regina were excited for me even if I did interupt their beauty sleep.
The rest of the night and so far all of today I've been pretty buzzed. Its a wierd sensation I can't really explain but I like it.
On another note, I had my orientation for Hollister today. Learned all the secret ins and outs and got to be at the mall before it opened which is pretty cool. Made me feel like I was in a movie. Good times and working will be nice. Especially the 40% and 20% discounts. Sweet!
Ya, still pretty buzzed so thats the best I can do right now.

The Killer Angels

2007-06-07T17:48:00.000-07:00

I am currently three fourths of the way through an amazingly well written historical-fiction novel called The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. It is a story through the eyes of both the Union and Southern Army during the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. Shaara gives a factual yet personal view of the battle itself as well as insight into the causes and effects of the Civil War.
There is a particular passage that had a personal meaning for me. (Keep in mind my entire family is from Virginia and fought in the Civil War on the side of the South and that my Grandmother married a preacher from Virginia.) "'Southern women like their men religious and a little mad. That's why they fall in love with preachers.'" (132) Spoken by one of the generals on the side of the South, General Longstreet, a wise and observant man.

Hollister Co.

2007-06-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

Even though I have already expressed how much I hate working, I have a job! I went to a group interview at the Hollister Co. in our local mall and about two and a half hours later I received a call asking me if I wanted to accept the position. My response: to her, "That would be great!", to myself: "Heck yes!". I have orientation on Sunday and will begin working next week.
The interview was fairly easy. A few questions about what kind of wonderful people we all are and why we would make Hollister a better place. There were two other girls and three guys there. It will be interesting to see how many others got a call back. I have a feeling they have a rather high turn over rate seeing they have group interviews every Tuesday and Friday.
Anyway, I'm so happy to have finally found a job I will enjoy and benefit from. Almost like God knows what He's doing.
Yeah, clothing discounts!

Ahhhhh.....

2007-06-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

The beach.

Binkis!!!!!!!

2007-06-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

Isn't he so cute! He is growin' like crazy and I cannot believe it. *sigh* They grow up so fast.

Baby Peach is My Hero

2007-05-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been playing my DS a lot lately trying to get 100 points and I have to say that Baby Peach is now my hero. She is so cute, can fly and kicks some serious Shy Guy buns.

The Definition of Christian

2007-05-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

Christian --

[adjective]:

Extremely flatulent

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Boy is this true.

The Definition of Me

2007-05-27T21:18:00.001-07:00

Stephanie --

[noun]:

A person who has the ability to be invisible

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Pirates 3

2007-05-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

Heck yes. As anyone with a tv, newspaper or brain knows Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was released yesterday with showings starting at 8:00pm (which I personally think is lame but I'll talk about that later). Because I love the Pirates movies and because I'm just hard core like that I went. Sasha, Anna and I arrived to the theater at 8:30am, yes I said am, with all our gear. Our gear being various blankets for sitting upon, books, of course Starbucks, a tv, our DS's, GameCube, Playstation 2 and various games and movies.
Throughout the day we played our games, read books, ate food, watched some Pirates 1 and generally had an awesome time. You see, waiting in line is half the fun when you're hard core geeks like us. If you've never done it I strongly suggest it.
At 6:15pm I had to leave for worship practice and by the time I got back at 8:30pm Sasha, Anna and Chante were already enjoying the Piratey goodness of the 8 o'clock showing. But because Meagan, Mommy and I are super hard core we waiting like good little fans for the traditional 11:59pm showing. There was more waiting until they finally let us in. Because I'm cool like that I was the first one in the door and we had the best seats in the house.
For the half and hour before the movie started we waited with bated breath for the previews to start. After the twenty minutes of future reasons for us to spend too much money for something that has no lasting value our feature presentation began. There was a huge applause and then a hush fell over the audience.
Now would be the time where I would give a detailed and well written description of what happens in the movie but I am a die hard Pirates fan that wants you to spend the money to go and see it for yourself.
The movie was awesome. I have no better words to describe it. Definitely the best out of the three and the finale to the trilogy. All issues and conflicts are resolved in a suspenseful and dramatic manner fitting a Disney movie.
Don't forget to stay through the credits to watch the ending of the movie. You will not be disappointed.

I Hate Working

2007-05-26T12:35:00.001-07:00

Just in case I haven't said this enough times, I really hate working. Yes, the money is much needed and it gives me something to do instead of sitting on the couch writing blog posts but I still can't bring myself to like it. It really is just the thought of working that displeases me. Once I begin I do enjoy it. The learning something new, accomplishing tasks, meeting new people, etc. give me a nice sense of fulfillment but I'm getting paid for it. I'm only doing it because I get paid. That makes me feel so selfish and rotten but its necessary. I have to work to make money because without money I would be dead. Literally.
So I propose a new idea for our current monetary system: annulment. Not divorce because then we have to split it down the middle. None of that. I say we get rid of it completely. Let's just get rid of money. Make a clean break and vow to never look back.
I haven't come up with a better idea as of yet but I will keep you posted as I come up with more ways to be misled into thinking my Utopian society can actually exist. Hey, I can dream.

Road Trip

2007-05-20T18:15:00.001-07:00

Okay, this is going to be a long post because its covering a two week period where I, or should I say we, did a LOT of fun stuff.

Day 1
To start off The Road Trip my Mommy and I drove up to San Carlos where Kimi, who is made of awesome, lives. The ride was rather easy seeing as I a now accustomed to being in a squishy airplane for eleven hours and Mommy did most of the driving. She is not a fan of being a passenger like Daddy as Kimi and Matt discovered.
Once we arrived in San Carlos we met Kimi's family, also made of awesome. There was a lot of sitting and talking until we decided to hit the sack due to the fact that we had a very long day of driving ahead of us.

Day 2

We woke up before the butt crack of dawn to leave for Seattle. First we had to make a pit stop at the San Fransisco International Airport to drop of Mommy which ended up being the wrong airport we found out. It turns out that my moms flight left from the Oakland airport which is completely different than the San Fransisco International Airport as you can see by there different names. So after dropping Mommy off at the correct airport we began our adventure to Seattle. There was a lot of driving, a lot of music listening and a lot, I mean a lot, of snacking. The snacking part was mainly on my end thanks to my newly learned eating habits in Japan.
There were also a lot of cows. Lots and lots of beautiful green hills and full service gas stations. Oregon was beautiful. Most of our drive through California was on the 5 freeway so all we saw there was freeway but Oregon was gorgeous.
California did have its up side though, Weed. Yes, Weed, CA. Kimi and I stopped there for lunch at the Hi-Lo Cafe, thank you Jason. The food was delicious and just the thought of being in Weed was satisfying.
After being pulled over for driving the speed limit and a pathetic attempt to maneuver through the very complicated streets of Seattle we made it Matt's house. All the family, except for the two youngest came out to meet us and we headed inside. There was again a lot of talking, meeting and greeting until we went to bed.

Day 3

Kimi and I were awakened to the soft sound of the piano being played in the living room. All of Matt's five siblings play the piano, all three older ones very well. More people made of awesome.
After getting ready we headed for downtown Seattle. We found some parking and walked over to the Space Needle where we had reservations for lunch. For those of you who don't know anything about Seattle like I didn't, you can read about the Space Needle here. We ate a very tasty and expensive lunch in the rotating restaurant located directly underneath the Observation Deck where we had an amazing and full view of Seattle. It was also an amazingly clear day making the view that much better.
After lunch we spent some time on the Observation Deck and then headed for Pike Place Market. Pike Place is basically a conglomeration of shops and an open market area where people and companies sell everything from fish to souvenir t-shirts. Pike Place is also where the very first Starbucks is. Needless to say we went to Starbucks and had a little coffee. I say little because I was the only one drinking coffee. Kimi and I did buy some merchandise. Kimi bought a cute thermos and a mug for her mom and I purchased a mug for my mom for Mother's Day. I also bought a CD of an acapella group called I'll Take Mine Black that was performing outside the Starbucks. They were very talented, unfortunately the CD was poorly made but I still like to do what I can to support amateur artists just in case I end up being one someday. I mean, you never know.
Then it was back to Matt's house to have a nice dinner with his family and then a lot more talking and staying up late.

Day 4
We planned on going to Mt. Rainier so we woke up, got ready, packed a lunch and headed for the mountains. Unfortunately, the road was blocked off about an hour and a half from Matt's house. So we didn't get to see Mt. Rainier up close but we did get to sit in the middle of the woods and eat lunch. It was gorgeous and peaceful and of course a lot of fun.
After our little trek through the woods we headed back to Matt's house and tried think of something else to do. We played a little Scattergories which was a lot of fun. Made some good inside jokes that day like Jackson 5. hahaha...
We decided to go to the Kubota Gardens close to Matt's house and they were beautiful. It wasn't really an authentic Japanese garden because there were flowers but thats okay. The colors were full and vibrant. You can see it for yourself.

Day 5
The next day we woke up a little earlier and headed for the Seattle Science Center with the family. By the time we arrived our stomachs were rumbling so we opened up the picnic lunch we had made earlier and dinned on the wall of the very large fountain. Apparently its a big thing to try and touch the fountain without getting wet. After a lot of coaxing, I ended up wet. Luckily it was another warm day in Seattle, who knew, and I dried off rather quickly.
We saw a few exhibits in the center, my favorite being the Butterfly Room. There was one particular butterfly called the Morpho peleides limpida or Blue Morpho that was beautiful and of course the only butterfly I could not get a clear picture of. This is because this particular butterfly is a very plain brown with spots that look like eyes on the outer part of its wings and a brilliant blue on the inside. I did get an okay video, you can judge for yourself.
Next it was an IMAX movie about the adventures of Lewis and Clark who I also knew nothing about until this trip. The movie was well done and informative and made me want to learn more about the subject which I believe was the purpose. There is more I should add to that story but I'll deal with that later.
There was more playing around with the cool stuff at the center and then onto (or into) Underground Seattle. Apparently the original settlers of Seattle where not the brightest fish in the cookie jar and decided to build a city on tide flats. Being that tide flats are what they are, the city flooded. This made a pretty big mess that was explained to us in depth by our humorous tour guide. Lets just say it was pretty gross, especially when she got to the sewer system backing up thing. Ya. Anyway, to fix this problem they decided to build retaining walls and bring in dirt from the surrounding hills to fill in the city and start again. Why they didn't just move to the hills I don't know but people tend to be kinda funny like that. So they built the walls anywhere from eight to forty feet along all the sidewalks. Unfortunately the shop owners who would have the first floor of their fine establishments filled in and inoperable for at least ten years were not to keen on this idea. Therefore they decided to keep running their businesses even after the retaining walls were built. Shoppers then had to climb up and down eight to forty foot walls to do their shopping. I don't know about you but I would not be a happy camper if I had to climb up and down ladders with groceries in my hands and wearing a corset. No thank you. At least they left these cool areas under ground that they can now charge money to go and see. It was well worth the money don't get me wrong. I love seeing the strength, ingenuity and determination of the human race, and the stupidity.

Day 6
Its now Day 6 and we are heading for San Carlos at 6:00am. Ugh, but not that bad. With a farewell from Mason we were off on the freeway driving down the 101 freeway. The ride was amazing.
We made a quick stop in Astoria to see the tower or column as they call it in Oregon.

The view of Oregon from the top of the tall one hundred and sixty something stairs was incredible and breath taking. Our stop was short but it was well worth it.
We then made a stop at Fort Clatsop which is the place Lewis and Clark stayed during their first winter in Oregon in 1805-1806. Apparently it rained all but twelve days in the four months they were there. And yet they still decided to settle the area. Whatever.
Then there was the ice cream. We stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory and had some ambrosial cookies and cream. We watched through the windows as the workers on the assembly line cut, weighed and packaged the best cheese I have ever had the pleasure to consume. While we were admiring the great work of these wonderful cheese cutters, Matt noticed a women doing just that: weighing and cutting the cheese and placing them back on the conveyor belt to be packaged. We figured it had to do with the cheese needing to be the correct weight. Matt followed that conclusion with a rather witty remark that kept us laughing until we could again smell the sweet nectar of cow manure back in the car. The remark: "I wouldn't want to see any overweight cheese in a bikini." If its not very funny to you then you either had to be there, I didn't write about it the correct way or you just have no sense of humor. More than likely its the second one.
After a lot more driving we arrived at a quaint little hostel fifteen miles south of Crescent City. The hostel was quiet and quaint, one of those places you see in a Thomas Kinkade painting. The women at the front desk, Barb was one of those people who gets you energized and just happy after you talk to her. After paying only $20 per person for the night and receiving the grand tour we took off to Crescent City to find a Safeway and some dinner. We decided on Chili and butter bread and some yogurt and toast for breakfast the next morning. Back at the hostel we made dinner and soon went to bed seeing that it was already 10:30pm.

Day 7

The next morning we woke up early, again, had breakfast and got back on the road. By lunch time we were in Santa Rosa and visiting with Kimi's friends having lunch and playing tag in the park. My favorite part was the swings.
We eventually made it to Kimi's house and went out to dinner with her family at a great pizza place. In fact, I think I still have a salad sitting in her refrigerator... Anyway, it was fun and of course there was more staying up late talking.

Day 8
Our first day in San Carlos was Mothers Day so we spent it with Kimi's mother. After church we had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. My soup, salad and sandwich lunch was delicious and the Caramel Pecan Turtle Cheesecake was divine. Man how I love cheesecake.
Kimi, Matt and I then headed over to Laurel St. which seems to be the downtown of San Carlos. We walked around and saw the different shops downtown and headed for the library then back to the house where we ate a very tasty dinner of terriyaki marinated steaks, corn on the cob and fruit. OMG was it awesome. After dinner we watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles. A movie with John Candy and Steve Martin that Kimi and her family watch every Thanksgiving that Matt and I had never seen. It was pretty hilarious. "You're going the wrong way!" "How does he know where we're going?" hahaha

Day 9
Then it was off to San Fransisco's own Golden Gate Park where we ate another homemade lunch at the AIDS Memorial Park and then a stroll around the park where we ran into the Observatory of Flowers. It was closed but the building itself was amazing (have I said that enough?). The entire building was made of glass windows that apparently smashed in the last big earthquake and had to be replaced. Luckily we got there after it has been repaired. While we were driving out of the park we noticed a giant purple head just sitting there in the grass. Of course we had to stop and take oodles of pictures.
Next it was Pier 39 and Fishermen's Wharf where we shopped at the Bubba Gump shop. I purchased a tasteful little shot glass displaying pictures of shrimp and San Franciscan icons. I also decided on another tasteful item that just happens to be the stores symbol; a pin with a yellow happy face and the words "Stupid is as stupid does.". That one went on my backpack.
Back to Kimi's house we went to have another lovely dinner with her family followed by a game of Cranium where Matt, Kimi and I showed our brain power by winning. I almost forgot about the walk in the park we took with Kimi's dog Shadow. We had the pleasure of watching some geese trying to cross the road while angry drivers honked to tell those geese to get the heck out of their way. Needless to say the geese were very apologetic and moved along as quickly as possible. Not.
After Cranium we gave Matt a good round of training for his future adventures in wooing by making him sit through watching The Holiday, a movie I dearly love as does Kimi's mom. Unfortunately it appears that it is an extremely girly chick flick that is only watched by the other half of the human species to please our half. Oh well, it was good training at least.

Day 10
And now for my part of the trip. We left for my neck of the woods at another amazingly early hour with the intention of taking the 1 freeway down to Escondido. Unfortunately we missed it and ended up taking the 101 freeway which was still nice.
We made it by around 4pm to sunny Southern California. We went to Blockbuster and got The Pink Panther which was a goal of the trip because Kimi has never seen it and it is hilarious. There was good movie watching and then off to bed.

Day 11

For our first adventure I decided to take Matt and Kimi to Balboa Park in downtown San Diego. It was a pretty cloudy day but the park was still beautiful. We finished walking through the park earlier than expected and we were hungry so we went to In-N-Out to give Matt his first taste of the yummy freshness. Then we took a walk over to the local Japanese market to buy some well missed candy.
That night I took Matt and Kimi to church to meet all of my other crazy friends. I'm sure they understand me a lot more now. Sorry guys...

Day 12
Six Flags! Mommy, Daddy, Melissa and two of her friends, Matt, Kimi and I headed to Six Flags Magic Mountain. Kimi, Matt and I separated from the group and headed for Goliath. There were very few people there so we were able to ride every ride we wanted to at least once. It was pretty awesome.
Then of course we had to have funnel cake afterward which lead to Matt's shirt getting a little messy. It wasn't me I swear...

Day 13

Our last day together was spent at the beach. Unfortunately it was foggy and really cold but we survived and went into the water and did some boogie boarding and then laid out in the sand until we were hungry enough. We ate a nice hot dog stand and headed home.
Every Friday night between April and September there is an event called Crusin' Grand in downtown Escondido where people bring their classic cars and park while other people walk around and admire them. The three of us along with Mommy and Daddy walked around and admired the cars and then waiting for a really long time at Fillipi's Pizza for dinner. Once we were finally able to sit down and eat the pizza was delicious as always.
Then it was back to the house to watch Gladiator. Kimi had never seen it and it is just a great movie so we rented and watched it. When it was over at 1:30am we decided to forget sleep and hang out all night until we had to leave the next morning at 7:30am to drop Kimi off at the airport.
We did stay up all night and the results were pretty funny. These pictures are just a sampling of the fun times we had.

Day 14
At around 6:30am we started getting ready. It was a solemn and very tired morning on the way to the airport. We got there okay and waited around until Kimi had to go through security and we had to say good-bye.
Matt's plane didn't leave until 9pm that night so we hung out until we had to go back to airport. Then we did it all again and it was officially over.
There truly are no words I can think of that would accurately describe what it felt like for it to be over and to not know when or if we'll be able to see each other again. The Lord blessed me immensely with Matt and Kimi. I know I will have them as friends for the rest of my life and that I will never again be able to have the same kind of friendship with anyone as I have had with them. I love you guys and I miss you. I will see you soon if I have anything to say about it.

Kimi made an awesome video of the three of us after the trip as well. Check it out here.

Road Trip '07

2007-05-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, I know it appears that I've fallen of the face of the internet but the truth is that I have been on a road trip for the past few days. First Mommy and I drove up to San Carlos which is about 30 minutes south of San Fransisco to Kimi's house. The next day we headed out bright and early for Seattle where we have been at Matt's house for the past three days. Since then we have been seeing Seattle and hanging out with Matt's family. I'll post more about what we actually have done when I have time. For right now you get some pictures.

Tune in again next time. Same bat time, same bat channel.

So This is Love

2007-05-05T00:10:00.000-07:00

Buppa Pup, Bailey and Sammy showing us what true love is.

Coral Pink

2007-05-04T15:50:00.000-07:00

Heck yes. While Mommy and I were shopping at Costco today I noticed they had Nintendo DSs for $160. After a little convincing and bargaining Mommy bought me one! I thought they only had black and white ones and I was definitely not caring about the color when I noticed a pink one! I was like, heck yes! And Mommy responded with a roll of the eyes. haha... It was pretty funny. It also came with Yoshi's Island and a spiffy "My Yoshi Game Case" with an extra green stylus. And yes, I am completely spoiled. Thank you Mommy!

Bookends

2007-04-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

I made a video to commemorate my leaving Japan. Its a little late but better late then never. *sigh* Makes me want to cry.

Tacos

2007-04-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

Today I went with a group from church down to Tecate, Mexico to the Rancho San Juan Bosco boys orphanage where a team goes down once a month to help out and bring supplies. Right now we are building a new dormitory for the boys and today we finished adding the roof. I got the fun job of screwing in the plywood roof to the metal frame. It was a little frustrating for a while because the drills and screws weren't exactly perfect but eventually we figured it out and it worked well.
It was hot and a good days work but still a lot of fun. I even got a nice tan which means that summer id almost officially here. I have to go to the beach once and the pool once and then summer will officially be here no matter what people say. Its summer all year long in Escondido so we don't go by weather, more like experience because summer is all about the experience.
Anyway, back to Tecate... I made a little video of some pictures and video I took but none of the actual orphanage seeing that I was working on the roof the whole time so the theme of the video is tacos. Hope its at least slightly entertaining. The songs are as follows: Taco Song by Never Heard of It found on YouTube and Lean Like a Cholo by Down aka Kilo given to me by my sister who when I asked what song would fit with tacos suggested it. I think they both work pretty well.

What a great picture they picked...

Don Imus Doesn't Listen to Hip-Hop

2007-04-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

This is a post I started working on about three weeks ago and never finished. I added a few concluding sentences just now so hopefully it somewhat resembles something that kind of makes sense.

Last night my mom and I had dinner together (gyoza and miso soup that was yummy) and she mentioned Don Imus and his "lovely" comment that got him fired by CBS and MSNBC. Being in Japan for the past seven months or so I didn't know anything about the issue and she proceeded to inform me of the situation. From what I understand, Don Imus who is, excuse me was, a shock radio host made a comment about the mostly African-American women's basketball team from Rutgers University calling them "nappy-headed-hos". According to my mother there was a huge uproar over this egregious statement that lead the investors of CBS like American Express and Ford to release any ties with Imus. This, of course lead to CBS and MSNBC to break all ties with him as well.
Now the tables have been turned and the blame is being placed on hip-hop. Apparently the explicit lyrics containing mass amounts of profanity along with racial and sexual epithets caused Don Imus to believe that all black women from the hood are in fact "nappy-headed-hos".
I beg to differ.
Don Imus is a sixty-six year old man. He is not the target audience of hip-hop and I think it is safe to say that Don has not been listening to 50 Cent and Eminem enough to be able to decipher their explicit lyrics. Much less come to the conclusion that these basketball players were in fact a stereotype of the aforementioned explicative.
In a nut shell, now that this is all over with, who really cares? It was one ignorant man trying to get a rise out of people and apparently it worked.

A's

2007-04-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

Heck yes! I checked my grades today and I received A's in every one of my classes. Two were A-'s so my GPA for the semester is a 3.86 but thats okay. I got a an A in my Greek Mythology class which was my hardest class, making me one happy scholar. More semesters need to be like that.

First Post!

2007-04-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

I decided to make a new blog since I'm not in Japan anymore. So here you have it, Steph Part 二. The Japanese character at the end there is the kanji for 2 making the English translation Steph Part 2. I know, so amazingly creative, what can I say? This blog will hopefully be a good mix of text and pictures and videos. I would like to be a little more journalist and comment on current national and world issues seeing that I'm looking at becoming a journalist. Here goes nothin'!