Hippy at heart.

"I have a dream....." to live in Northern California, where the sun don't stop shining, and the air is clear, and plants flourish. But really. I think it would be amazing to live in a small house on an acre of land, with *Larry* and my 5 boys. We'd have tons of fruit trees, a large garden, and animals galore. Wouldn't it be amazing??
Until I get there, I do things like make yogurt at home. It was super easy, and basically all you need is time. I made it last night, let it grow over night, and then this morning, presto! Yogurt. Know what I discovered? I don't like plain yogurt. So I have some blueberries that I'm going to blend and ad a little brown sugar to to try to mix in. We'll see if it works, or if I can manage the taste any better.

Picture post

Perspective

Talk about putting things into perspective. One of my friends, my RA, has been seriously sick. With an infection that no one can find, pneumonia, trouble breathing, and low blood platelet count, she's been in the ER, ICU, and had to transfer to a larger hospital. Not to sound callous, but coming right after my disaster with my car, how could I not be grateful? Not that she's sick of course, but man, I have nothing to complain of! Hard way to learn this lesson, but all I can do now is pray for her. He is, after all, the best physician and ultimate healer!

Fail (cubed)

Bad things come in threes, no?

With the arrival of summer comes the ever present query, "what do you want to do?"

Well, for once, I actually knew. So I dragged Danielle up to Signal Hill Wednesday night (after her Spanish class, which left her *slightly* loco). Just a normal night, right? We made a pit stop at Starbucks for drinks, then pulled the blanket out of my car to sit on and look at the lights. Evidently brain deprived from her class, she looks over the expanse, and asks, "is this ALL Long Beach?" About 30, maybe 40 minutes, after we arrived a security guard came flashing the brightest light into everyone's face, telling them to leave. Fine. We'd go to a different park, no problem. WRONG! As files of people stream past us to get to their cars, my car decides to- NOT turn on!! So there we sit with it 'revving' but not starting- looking, well you can imagine how intelligent. :). Eventually, we were able to call a tow truck (Danielle had AAA, thankfully), and about 45 minutes after the park closed we were on our way home. You can imagine how thrilled the security guard was when we couldn't leave. The next morning my dad and brother took it to my dad's old work where, since he is friends with all the mechanics, we don't get ripped-off. (Because, naturally, once we had it towed to the mechanics by my house, it started. Figures, right?!). Anyways, we got a call the same day, saying they'd fixed it! Awesome!! My dad and I went to pick it up. I told him I needed to stop for gas, so he told me to follow him, and after a bit on the freeway, we'd get off. Once on the freeway, though, things didn't looks os good. My temp. gauge turned to HOT, and my 'check engine' light turned on. So there I am crawling behind (rush hour), honking my horn repeatedly, and waving my arms to try to get his attention (he has no phone). I can only imagine what those around me thought. Anyways, to head this off.... turns out my car is definitely over-heating, and Monday I need to take it back to where we first had it towed, because it won't make it all the way back to his work. Yay for being ripped off by mechanics, eh?
And now, my computer is acting up, and won't let me on Word, and keeps freezing or alternately shutting down- which defo needs to be fixed before school starts. BUT I just had it fixed!!! ARghh.
And because, as the saying goes, bad things come in threes, I am deciding to count the fact that my bike is broken, as an 'evil.' I didn't get paid until Thursday, and my car broke Wednesday, so I didn't have a chance to get a new tire. Blech. Would've been nice to at least have a bike while my car is broken.

BUT, on the bright side. I might be watching a second little boy this summer. It would be at the same time as Aiden, so it might actually make things easier, and the money will definitely be useful in the car/computer situation. So much for saving up for next year life/college expenses, right?

Picture Timeline :)

Here is what I've been doing lately- while waiting for work to begin :)





Joey is adorable.

Many a prank took place the last couple weeks of school! The guys- Henry and Ben- put goldfish in all the sinks and plenty of toilets around the dorms.


This one was my fault. Mine and Annika's (just wait, though- we haad reason). We took Vaan's underwear and strung it up in the shower room.

I also took part in this one. Deb, our RA, gave Candace candycorn to fill her cupcake candy jar. May I state that it was like March? Way past candycorn season. So we returned it! :D




This is what Vaan did to me and Annika. Dressed our pillows with all sorts of clothing- and then strung our underwear up. What a way to come back from spring break :P All in good fun.



So yes. Sorry this was out of order. Kind of went backwards. And not really a timeline- just my random compilation of pictures that I haven't posted anywhere :)

done, done, and DONE!

Freshmen year is finished, never to be repeated! Oh man, am I glad. I enjoyed the year immensely, though. It certainly went out with a bang. Friday was my roommate, Candace's, birthday. Evelyn and I (another roommate) conspired to plan a surprise party for her up on the mountain. A group of 4 of us often went up to a particular mountain at midnight to gaze up at the stars, and get away from school. I took up a group of people around midnight- there ended up being around 20 altogether, and then at one (it took them a bit longer than planned) they came up. We had a cake, and balloons, and a group of people waiting for her. So from 1-3am on Friday, I was partying it up on a mountain under the stars:)
I slept in Friday, since exams ended Thursday, and then began to pack for home. After lunch, Justin Bond and I headed down to LA. We went to USC for an MRI. USC was offering some money for a marijuana research program, so to help another roommate out on May term, we went down and did it. We split the money. That was one of those things I never thought I would do- participate in those 'phony' research assignments. But I did. Cross that one off the bucket list.
MRI was finished around 5- rush hour. I was NOT going to drive out of LA at 5. So we went to dinner, and then brought out the Garvin to see what was around. We ended up going down to Sunset Blvd, and Amoeba Records. Pretty neat place. On our tour of Sunset Blvd, we saw..... Annie Wersching and Kiefer Sutherland! Fairly random, but pretty awesome! They were across the street from us on a red carpet event. We made it back to campus around 9.
I watched a senior video, and then began to pack again..... Candace's mom was coming at 11, so it was a race to get the room semi-decent before she arrived. We made it look presentable, considering everyone's stuff was in the middle of the floor, and closets were empty ;)
At midnight, a group of us headed out under the gazebo, hearing that there was going to be a prank pulled. Well there was.... on us. A crazy Costa Rican (aka Stalin) and his friends brought out the eggs and began throwing them at us. It is tradition to throw eggs at the birthday-person, but they decided to expand a bit, and include Sarah and I. Fortunately, the egg shells were pretty hard. One was thrown at me, but didn't break. So I picked it up, and ended up smashing it over James. Which was both brilliant and foolish! I got him, but then I got chased down the field and had a nice scalp full of egg- I've always heard it's good for the hair, though.....
So that was that. After putting clothes in the wash, and washing my hair, I headed down to Lowes. Lowes is just a block away, and a bunch of us hang out behind it just for the sake of getting off campus. We sit on a wall that faces the freeway and watch the cars zip past and talk.
At 2am we had a room check to make sure we hadn't harassed any of the furniture too badly. After that it was bedtime! Bed at 3, up at 8:45 for graduation. Have you ever heard of a more extremist day? :D A great way to end the year- with the most random things that could have possibly happened.

Mt Wilson

Friday night- after a week full of paper writing, and staying up late, about 25 of us drove to Mt. Wilson for a 4W. We left at 3, and got back at 3. Being up that late after a week of no sleep, you can imagine how crazy everyone went!
It started with the drive, which can be highly entertaining in a 15 passenger van, with 15 people on little sleep. We were just joking around and talking the whole way up. When we got there, we parked at the base of the observatory and had dinner. Then I walked around with a senior, Annika, who I don't know super well, but love. We had a photo session with the whole group, and played around a bit with the little snow that was on the side of the mountain. Finally, the lady who was going to show us the telescope, came down. She was amazing! She was totally Ms Frizzle's sister or something. She had a star jacket on and the rocket ships coming out of her hair :) We made our way up to the observatory (where Einstein studied!! it was a 60in telescope:). The dome opened, and the explained all their technology to us. Eventually, it got dark, and the stars came out. We saw the moon, a cluster of stars (100,00-250,00 stars!, Saturn (rings and 4 moons!!), and a couple other stars. It was spectacularly amazing. The dome had great acoustics, so we started singing hymns. I've never heard anything so wonderful. At the end, the lady, who was not a Christian, asked us to sing a couple more- awesome. It was also freezing in there. We were there from 7-1 am, with the dome open to the night. No one knew it would be that cold. So I ended up sitting on Lorah's lap, with two blankets on top of us, listening to Jake tell stories about his childhood.
I love 4Ws so much because I get to talk to people I wouldn't regularly talk to: Scouting around the mountain with Annika, sitting on Lorah's lap, listening to Jake, talking to Kevin, huddling under a borrowed blanket with Bond to keep warm- it was an amazing night.

It started behind the dumpster.....:)

I was so incredibly hyper last night. The night started off with a chorale concert, which sounded amazing. I've thought about joining choir, but it isn't a choir where just mediocre people go to sing and fulfill their fine art credit- they all truly have amazing voices. So that's out.
After the concert, I came back to campus and watched a Harry Potter film. Half-Blood Prince, I think. It was after that, that I went berserk.
I was being hyper, but just talking to people in the hall and looking for food with Justin Bond. After that, I went out with Candace, my roommate, to empty our trash. There we met Brett and Jake. Then Bond came out. Candace was still normal at this point, but I think I completely scared the guys. Then Candace and I left them. Across the street they were playing some music- so she and I held a dance party! With some pretty weird moves. We brought the dance party onto campus, and got some very weird looks from the security guard and all the couples that are still up at midnight.
Later, we ran and danced through the sprinklers. Then, left the sprinklers to sit in the hammock. That section of sprinklers then decided to turn on! Naturally. We got soaked, because we didn't want to move. Eventually, around 1am, we made our way to bed. I just never have gone so wild with anyone on campus!

Kicked out of class.....

I took AP English senior year, but I was pretty sure I wasn't going to use the credits. In fact, I didn't even want to take the AP test- but they wouldn't give me my money back, so I took it anyways. I did decently well on it, but still, didn't turn it into PCC. Instead I took Eng 101 - Composition, thinking that I could begin learning to write on a college level. The prof. is really well known- he went to speak at a convention in Paris, earlier this semester, in fact.
I've roughly turned in a paper for that class every 1.5 to 2 weeks. I did well on them, but not so much better than anyone else in the class, I thought. I knew some people were struggling, but I figured those were mainly the people who had English as a second language. The last paper I turned in, I scored perfectly. He was calling us up to the front, one by one, and discussing our papers with us. He basically called me up and asked why I was in that class. He said I've done well on all my papers. I replied yes, I took an AP class last year ,but figured college writing would be different. Apparently it isn't- not for him, anyways. We went to see the registrar, and all he has to do is write a letter explaining why he's letting me out of the class! So I get credit for it, I just don't have to show up or do the work! How great of a deal is that? such a blessing, too, since my computer broke, and the last paper is research, which would require tons of time spent in the library. So yes, I have officially been kicked out of a class- for good :D

Conglomeration

This is going to be an assortment of mismatched items that have nothing whatsoever to do ewith each other :)
#1- I have another "Only at PCC moments." I was sitting in the chapel painting a background for drama one Thursday night. It was two days before a dinner, at which, the choir would be singing! Around 8:45, they came into practice. Upon the arrival of the last person, they collectively moved into the guys bathroom to sing. Apparently the acoustics are much better in there. (It also appears that it is not uncommon for them to go in there to practice!:) Only at Providence....
#2- My computer broke!!! It appears that I am going to spend the last 4 weeks of school computerless. Oh joy. With 7 or 9 papers (I can't remember which) due and tests galore (notes all on the computer, of course), it's going to be a super stressful rush to finish.
Alright. So that really wasn't that much, but it felt like a lot :P

Getty AND the beach!

End of the semester. Which means 4W crunch time!
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to go with a group of about 40 people to the Getty! It was so amazing. We split in half, and one group went with one professor, and the other group went with the president. My group went with professor Mac. Unfortunately, we couldn't hear him at all! So, I was just looking around the room at all the paintings. Next time I looked up, the group had vanished, and it was just me, Ev, and Stalin. So the three of us ditched the rest of Dr. Mac. and Pres. Halvorson- and slowly walked through all the paintings. It was so amazing, and I definitely enjoyed the whole day. After lunch, we basically ran through two more buildings and the gardens, because we wanted to see it all.
On the way back, squished into a 15 passenger van, we decided nothing would be better than hitting the beach. We came back to school for a quick 15 minutes, picked up another person, and headed out again. We were nearly out of gas, so we stopped before heading to In-N-Out for dinner. Unfortunately Stalin forgot the keys to unlock the gas tank, so we ended up sitting in the back of the car, while both guys tried everything- including breaking- the stopper. Finally we went to a mechanic and they were able to lift it out with pliers :) We finally made our way to dinner and then the beach- after what felt like 50 billion u-turns. But it was a great night, and a great day. No homework was completed, it was just an all-around relaxing day to end a super stressful week!

Crowded much?

We signed up to host visinting students who are thinking about coming to Providence. So for the last 5 nights, we've had seven, yes SEVEN people sleeping in our room. Can you imagine? It is quite the jungel gym getting out of bed and out the door without waking anyone up:)
And supposedly this is just the beginning. This weekend we have eleven visitors coming. Yikes! I think this campus is already operating at full capacity- aren't we breaking fire code or something? :D It's going to be a crowded rest of the semester- not to mention next year.