Je fais des excuses pour la mauvaise grammaire. Vous savez que je ne parle pas français.

Également je devrais mentionner que c'est l'anniversaire de Peter aussi.

Joyeux vingtième anniversaire Summer et joyeux vingt-deuxième anniversaire Peter.

There's so much to say about the trip that I'm going to limit myself to bullet points and pictures and you can ask Chris, Ashley, or me about the details.

What deeds done well (the good stuff):

    - Railroad museum
    - Devils Postpile
    - Rainbow Falls
    - Earthquake fault
    - GPS tracking our off-roading adventures
    - Bald Mountain
    - Pumice mine
    - Drove to Nevada
    - Aurora peak
    - Bodie
    - Mono Cone
    - Mono Lake
    - Spoke in accents
    - Commanded flies like Imhotep
    - Tufa-tufa
    - Learned how to play Gin
    - Apples to Apples
    - Loaded Questions
    - Hoyahoyahoya-back riding on Deets, Jr., and King
    - June Lake Juggalo
    - Mariposas
    - Jumping over cascadas
    - Black Sheep
    - Hot Fuzz
    - 28 Weeks Later
    - Getting tan
    - Drank with the dads
    - Pink Floyd and Mew
   

What not (the bad stuff):

    - Long wait in the heat for a bus back to Mammoth
    - Lost avocados and bad cooks resulting in wasted time and a free burger for Ashley
    - Flat tire #1
    - Blocked route to Aurora cemetery
    - Flat tire #2
    - Sunburn
    - Developed a drinking habit
    - Bug bites


What left undone (what we didn't do that we wanted to):

    - Lift to Mammoth peak
    - Fern Lake
    - Fishing
    - Saddlebag Lake
    - Mothman Prophecies

All in all it was a good trip. It seems like we did a lot more this time than we usually do, but at the same time it feels like there was so much left undone.

I took the day off of work today to get my life back together. I don't want to go back to work, I just want to enjoy my summer.

pictures

Yesterday was pretty epic for Joe and me:

- Last minute decision to go to LA to see Wilco.
- The Bee-pass.
- Almost getting lost while looking for a gas station in LA.
- Driving through Korea Town, reading signs in Korean out loud in a stereotypical asian accent.
- Walking through Korea town trying to find food, me being the only white person.
- Getting snared in to a sushi bar by a man who claimed it was happy hour, it was not.
- Bartender refusing to serve Joe alcohol cause he wasn't 21 yet.
- 2nd worst restaurant service ever.
- Seeing Wilco perform a 2 hour set.
- Looking for a theater in LA to see the midnight showing of Transformers.
- Getting lost in some shady neighborhoods with no street lights and men waving us down while blocking the road so they could steal Joe's car.
- Finding the freeway and getting the hell out of there.
- Finding an AMC theater around 12:15am in south LA.
- Not having to pay to see Transformers although we did miss the part of the opening scene.
- Seeing Transformers from the front row of the theater.
- Transformers saying "spectacular."
- Getting lost on the way home and having to ask for directions.
- Screaming infidelities about the places you have come to fear the most.
- Getting back to Salk around 4:45 am, just in time for me to start working again.

I slept in my car from 6 - 9am because I just couldn't stay awake anymore. I have very little work to do for the rest of the week so I'm thinking of going to the Del Mar Fair today and tomorrow. I am actually somewhat obligated to go because I told Stephanie and Justin that I'd see them each perform, but I don't want to go alone. So I guess we'll see what happens.

On Monday night I created my first Iphone app and helped chris code some c# while Ashley played some Link to the Past. All the app does is put text on the screen but just wait.
Sunday, fathers day, was nice. I spent most of the day cleaning my house and doing laundry before I went to my parent's. I have to say, I used fabric softener for the first time and it is fabulous.
Saturday we had a mostly unsuccessful band practice, met up with Pat and drank at his parent's house.
Friday was Jeff's graduation. I was sad I missed his speech but I at least got to read it. And yes Jeff, I still want that signed copy. Afterwords I followed him around holding a big sign above his head with his name on it. We sat in comfortable chairs and ate fruit and cheese. Had dinner, drinks, and then Jeff and I promptly fell asleep upon returning to his house.

Seriously Jeff, congratulations. You have your freakin degree and so many options for what to do with your life, it's... SPECTACULAAAAAAR!!! I am so envious of you right now. So once again, congratulations.

KORO SUZO! KORA!!!


edit:
I went to the Del Mar Fair today.
It's an interesting place.
I was in a crowded area and I sat at a big table by myself watching my friend perform.
I don't like to sit on my wallet so I always leave it on the table I am sitting at.
Some guy sat down next to me for a while and wasn't watching the show at all.
He wasn't even facing in the right direction.
After a while I noticed him periodically glancing at me and then looking around.
It was pretty clear that he was eying my wallet so I took it off the table and held it in my lap.
A minute later he left, defeated.
Mark: 1    Potential Thief: 0

I have two of them now. I went back to the shelter the other day and saw that one of Mew's siblings was still there, so I decided I had to get him. I felt bad for Mew because I am not at home very often and I wanted her to have someone to play with, so I adopted a second kitten. They are literally giving cats away at the shelters right now. If it's a year or older you can adopt the cat for free. If it's less than a year it's only $58. AND if for some reason you want to bring your cat that you adopted back you have 30 days to return it. So in case Mew's brother doesn't get along well I can always take him back at and maybe get a different one. I could just trade out kittens each month and have kittens forever.

Anyways I was going to include a bunch of photos in this post but I decided  just to link you to a kitties set on my flickr. All they do is chase after each other and I'm afraid Mew is going to hurt her brother cause he is malnourished, but he seems to be able to hold his own. If you haven't guessed, I haven't named him yet. I was thinking about letting my little sister name him but am also questioning that cause I don't want to calling out something like "Snuggles" multiple times a day for years to come. Although it would be cute.

In other news:
- I am working full time now.
- I am on a normal sleep schedule.
- Joe and I can buy season passes to the fair for $13 for anyone who wants one.
- There's also a few other bonus deals we get at the fair if you're interested.
- I hurt my knee a week ago, running is out of the question for a while
- I haven't been able to have as great of a cooking session as I've wanted to so far, but pizzas at hazz's party was pretty good.
- I either need to update more, or take notes on things to update because I always think of things but then forget to include them.
- I tanned my face today by looking into a UV light for about 10 minutes at work.

That's about it. My life is cats and work right now.

I've decided that, at least for the summer and beginning this Thursday, one night per week I am going to cook a good meal for myself and I will never cook the same meal twice. And I'm not talking about heating up pre-made crap from the store. I'd like to try and do as much as possible from scratch. Now all I need is a list of ideas to choose from each week. Let me know if you have any ideas. I'm going to keep a list of them in here and cross them off as I do them. And let me know if you want to join in too. It would be much more fun to have other people there.

I think I'll begin with things on here. Sam makes cooking look pretty easy.

Friday was Courtney's birthday. I still haven't gotten her something even though she's probably the easiest person in my family to shop for. I feel like I have to get her something really good because she got me a great present, so I'm still putting thought into it.

Saturday was my grandmother's birthday. We went over to their house for dinner, swimming, and video games with aunt, uncle and cousins. Afterward I had Shelly, Craig, and Courtney over for the night. Courtney loves animals so she was really excited to get to play with Mew. We spent the night playing Mario Party and Guitar Hero, playing with Mew (Craig took some video which I will try and post asap), and falling asleep on the floor in the living room to the first season of Scrubs. Which is probably the best season. I made breakfast in the morning/afternoon and then we went to see one of my little cousins play clarinet in some youth orchestra concert. It was nice falling asleep in my seat to Dvorak's New World Symphony.

Playing all the video games made me reminiscent of grade school summers when I'd sit and play for hours straight. I've thought about getting our family's old gamecube and 64 so I can play games during my free time at home, but I'm sure there's better things to do with my time. I do have a game to finish at Jeff's still.

Summer is finally here for me. I'll be working full time now but I'll probably be working 6am-2pm, so I'll be done with plenty of time to hang out during the day. I am looking forward to the big paychecks. I'm also excited to go to the beach often and vacation to June Lake.

Also, I've decided I need a video camera but I don't feel like spending hundreds of dollars on one, unless it's something awesome like the new Canon dslr that does HD video.

Joe and I briefly discussed the idea of going to Lollapalooza and possibly making a road trip out of it instead of flying, to save money. Anyone else down?
OR
For the same price we could get round trip tickets to Copenhagen and go see Mew Perform at Beatday 09.
OR
For about twice that we could make a trip to Iceland sometime. That would require some saving though so that happening would be a ways off.

If anyone wants to do one of these I will go.

I started this at 7:45 AM.
I didn't sleep last night.
I came to Salk instead.
I realized yesterday that I broke my 50mm f/1.8 lens when I dropped it on Saturday.
Man down.
He was a good soldier.
My last two finals are on Monday.
I've been sleeping a lot lately but not on a normal schedule.
I seem to lack the motivation to get up and do things that I need to do.
I think it's because I get bored with things easily.
I blame that on change.

I used to fear change. I didn't really like having to adapt to new things. I liked being content living in the world I knew and not being forced to face the unknown in fear it would change things for the worse. Sometimes it did but sometimes it made things better. A lot of things in my life have been changing recently and its because I finally am the one making the changes instead of being forced to follow them. I like change now, I love new things and I'm much more open minded. It's made my life a lot better. I feel like I've somewhat spoiled myself with everything because obviously I am going to choose to try new things that interest me. Once I get bored of that I look for something new to catch my interest. Now, when faced with something I don't really have a choice on (e.g. college courses), once I get bored with them I just want to move on to the next thing. I am no longer motivated to do well, my only concern is that I pass. Which, I know, is a terrible outlook to have, but I just don't care anymore for some things. I'm bored and I don't care. And college isn't the only thing this applies to. So now I need to change that, but that requires motivation. Perhaps this outlook is heading me towards a precipice in which I'll be forced to change, and that will be my motivation, but I hope it doesn't get that far. I'd like to have something else than fear be my motivation.



Random Thought:

All dreams are bad dreams,
When all your good dreams,
Make you wish you could sleep,
And dream,
Forever.

So many great things happening lately. I really should be keeping track of them cause I know I will forget. I've come to the realization that I have a terribly memory.

Getting to see Mogwai was awesome. It was so loud that it sounded like I had their amps as headphones. The sound was literally inside my ears. I've never heard a band so loud. It was perfect.

M83 was wonderful too, although it would have been better if they were as loud as Mogwai was. The drummer was amazing and I was able to get one of his drumsticks to add to my collection. The opening guy was really good too. I don't know how to describe his music besides that it was acoustic dance. I really enjoyed it. A lot of dancing happened that night. People went up on stage for the last song, it was hilarious and awesome. Especially since M83 seemed to be all for it.

Mew, my cat, is fantastic. She acquired an upper respiratory infection after I had her a couple days due to the stress of a new environment and her surgery. She was very lethargic and wasn't eating or drinking, so for a few days I had to nurse her back to health. For those of you that don't know, giving a cat antibiotics through a syringe is a very difficult task, and I have to do it twice a day for 10 days. She is doing much better now and is back to her crazy self. She loves sprinting through the house and attacking bits of trash, but she is also very loving and will come sit in your lap and ask to be pet. I really enjoy having her and I know I will not ever regret getting her. She makes living alone a lot less lonely. It's just really nice having something to care for and having something/someone around at all times.

We went skateboarding/scootering tonight and I fell. We haven't done that in a long time and it felt really good. I bruised my left palm where my thumb connects. Now I can't move my thumb very well because my hand it kinda swollen, good thing I am left handed.