sunday say yes

no. 38

2009-05-08T10:36:00.001-07:00

gaby and i went to sunrise service at the pier on easter morning. i through the bikes on the back of the car, picked up gaby at 5:30 am (oh my word!), and went to get coffee. gaby said that her old store should be open, but unfortunately we were wrong. we sat at the speaker of a minute or two until we figured it out and pulled around. as we past the window i saw becky inside making drinks so i yelled at her to open the window. she was on her way to sunrise service too and she was making herself a drink so she said she would make us drinks too. you can't beat free coffee before they're even open.

after coffee was taken care of we headed downtown and somewhere in the neighborhood for free. then we got the bikes down, put on our backpack chairs and the rode off, coffee in hand. when we got to the pier we parked our bikes and the set our chairs up by my dad who was running sound. we then bundled ourselves up in our blankets and pretty much didn't move for the whole service.

the service this year was really awesome. it really is a blessing to live in a place where we can worship outside in the community, all while enjoying the beautiful sunrise at the beach.

after the service gaby and i rode our bike to sugar shack to get breakfast. unfortunately, they were closed so we had to do plan b and go to ruby's. food was still great the gaby and i got a chance to hang out and talk, which with our busy schedules is pretty awesome. then we headed home went to "big church".

no. 37

2009-05-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

oh my word... so right now i'm in my arc 150 class which is all about using computer programs to do our projects. first problem: its at 10 am; second problem: i know all of the programs that are being discussed; third problem: i'm not learning anything new, which could be the worst; forth problem: today he is teaching us how to make an online portfolio using a blogging site. this is so lame... i already know how to do this... it's what i'm doing instead of listening to the instructor! what a waste of my morning... i should be sleeping!

no. 36

2009-04-28T23:12:00.000-07:00

ok spring break!

so this past spring break i was blessed to go on a trip to santa cruz with cru from not only cal poly, but uc irvine and uc davis too. i had a general idea of what we were doing, but really i had no idea what i was getting myself into.

so i rode up with some friends and to make a long car ride short; 9 hours later we arrived in santa cruz. i did my best to get some sleep the first night, but the air mattress that i was excited about failed all of my expectations. so the first day after breakfast, the staff lead us through some training for sharing that we were doing later in the day. after that wrapped up, we took the bart into downtown san francisco and broke out into our different groups to go sharing. now this is something that i have never really done because i've always had good excuses not to. one being that i have never been prepared to do something like this and two, i'm crazy shy and talking to strangers isn't my thing. but God totally broke down those barriers and i was able to go out and talk to people. i was very fortunate to have a very out going guy in my group that was very good at initiating conversations. after a few hours on the streets we headed back to the church that we were staying at. the night continued on with game and hanging out and then bed time. again i got no sleep.

on the second day we went out sharing at the santa cruz boardwalk. this time i was sharing with a guy that might have been as shy as me and i soon realized that i would have to be the one who started the conversations. but God totally provided me with boldness and again we were able to the share with more people. after t few hours of sharing we started hanging out on the beach and playing football. some people started wondering off looking for downtown, but i somehow ended up in a beach volleyball game. next to basketball it is my worst sport, but i really enjoyed playing and hanging out with everyone for the afternoon. this day conclude with again, no sleep.

i will now take a moment to discuss the showers. so the people who planned the event made a deal with a near by 24 hour fitness to uses their showers for the week. the unnecessary part included taking a plastic fairy wand as a hall pass to use the showers. we looked like little kids trick-or-treating.

on the third day we went sharing on the santa cruz city college campus. this day was a little more difficult because there didn't seem to be a lot of students on campus. the girl that i was sharing with and i were fortunate enough catch a guy just coming out of class. we had a 45 minute discussion about the gospel and his religious background. it was really awesome and ultimately God was glorified. however, the day end early because some school officials did not appreciate our presence on their campus so we were asked to leave. that night, my friend a i bought some ear plugs which helped a lot and i, finally for the first time that trip, got some much needed sleep.

the next day was went to uc santa cruz and because school was not in session, we did a prayer walk around campus, asking specifically for a Christ movement to start on their campus. after that we went back to the church and had a question and answer time with the staff. before i thought i didn't have any questions, but by the time we were finished i had at least 7 questions in my head. i hate it when that happens. after that we had campus connection time in which we separated into schools and had a time of discussion on what had happened on the trip and how we take this back to our own campus. it was really awesome to hear other people's experiences and idea for the future. i felt lead to share my experiences of how God used in spite of my shyness to reach out to other people. i also shared that this aspect of my relationship with God had never focused on or even demanded of me. i defiantly learned a lot from this trip a was able to connect on a deeper level to those around me; not only those from my school, but also new relationships with uci and ucd students.

the following day we packed up the cars and headed out. 4 friends and i decided that we were going to stay up north for one more day so we could enjoy san francisco. so mid afternoon we took the bart in from castro valley and spent an amazing day in the city. we did all the tourist stuff, including watching the bush man for 30 minutes. we then head back to our friend's house and crashed. the woke up late the next day and took our time getting ready to leave and even the drive home was packed my good times and great memories.

no. 35

2009-04-28T22:53:00.000-07:00

so the coolest thing happened last quarter at my school. we had a disability awareness week and several events went on all over campus. one of the events was a seminar with key note speaker amy roloff from tlc's: little people, big world. the auditorium was packed with people and when she walked out on stage the crowd went nuts. it was so fun and she is a really awesome speaker. she talked about overcoming adversity and adapting yourself no matter what your disadvantages or environment. obviously she was not there to talk about her faith, but she did make mention of how important her faith is in her life... so cool! it was a blessing to hear her life experiences and it makes me a bigger fan of the show. she is so legit.

no. 34

2009-04-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

holy crap, i've missed 3 months worth of stuff! i'll break this down into smaller blogs so zaida doesn't yell at me for writing an essay.

i guess i'll start with a reflection on my winter quarter. well i enjoyed my classes more than first quarter, but i still found myself bored with most assignments. i did however pull off a perfect 4.0 which i was pretty stoked about. time will tell if its a repeater. i did have this one class that was all about using computer programs for architecture and man was that lame! it was at 10am and he talked about all this stuff that i already know. this wasn't even a legit computer graphics class. the only up side was that because it was a computer class i had my laptop, which only results in playing games and talking to friends on facebook that are sitting next to me in class. i was able to connect more with my classmates which is really awesome. talking to other students about our projects in my mind is half the learning process.

no. 33

2009-01-04T20:14:00.000-08:00

disneyland

my poor hand

ellie is the cutest dog ever, no contest

Christmas morning

so i'm a slacker and a bad blogger, but i was on vacation and i was extremely distracted by guitar hero. so where to begin.

my first quarter at cal poly went well enough. i got all A's except for one B+ which i'm kind of kicking myself for. i don't know if i could have tried a little harder, but it was ridiculously impossible to write papers in the context that my teacher wanted. whatever. as expected my first arch class was very easy and completely unnecessary. i can for the first time in my life, legitimately say that i learned nothing that i didn't already know. but the quarter wasn't a total loss. i did make friends and i am in love with campus crusade. did i mention the at the cru Christmas party, we had a white elephant gift exchange and i walked away with the third season of the office on dvd... clearly someone does not understand "white elephant" and i'm reaping the benefits.

so i spent most of my break being a bum. i took my last trip to disneyland with hannah, kate and bethany just before my pass expired. i did general pre-Christmas stuff like shopping, wrapping and baking. because my dad had shoulder surgery, i had to go on roof to put the Christmas lights on. i'm not afraid of heights, i'll just afraid of falling from unstable heights. i also had trigger finger surgery on the 11th. it wasn't too painful and it took like 15 minuets. i was left with a gnarly wound and it was most painful when the nurse removed the stitches without thinking twice about being gentle. anyway that's all over and my finger is almost in perfect working order. it is still a little hard to stretch out my hand around large items, but that is normal and i may have difficulty with heavy objects for several months.

so for the most part this Christmas went as expected, except for my sister's dog, jeffie. first off i think he is retarded and i'm not his biggest fan, but i tolerate him. anyway, on Christmas eve night, just before we went to bed, macy tells my mom that jeffie is acting weird and she wants to take him to the vet. we didn't really know what was going on but macy was going crazy so my parent and my sister took him to the all night vet. the vet decided that he did something to his neck that was causing him great pain. the vet kept him overnight and gave him a ton of pain meds. everyone finally came home around 1 am on Christmas morning.

Christmas morning was normal. my dad and i worked on breakfast until my mom told me that i need to go back into my room, so she could bring out "santa presents" which are the special one that don't get wrapped. i think that at 21 it's a little ridiculous, but i humored her anyway. so the big gift was a wii for the whole family complete with guitar hero-world tour so we can play the whole band setup. it is pretty awesome and we haven't stopped playing... my parents are playing it at this very moment; i can hear it through the wall. after the exchanging of presents, we then laid around the house in our pajamas for most of the early afternoon... a tradition that i will continue for the rest of my life. jeffie then came home at 4 in the afternoon and laid on the couch with his tongue hanging out for the rest of the day.

on the 28th i drove to san jose to meet jessica maher for tsunami (state youth conference). jess was in charge of the exhibit hall and came to help out. it was a lot of work, but i still had a good time. we got to stay in the Marriott and all of our food was comped. jess and i were so exhausted everyday. we calculated that we each walked between 13-16 miles, most of which was on hard concrete. our feet were not happy and we felt like old people when we were going to bed and complaining about everything that hurt.

i returned home on new year's eve andafter dinner with my parents, lizzy and kate came over to play guitar hero. on new year's day i watched usc kill penn state. sucks to be from penn state; bad football team and crapo weather. the next day, i took jessica grubb out for her long over due birthday event. we originally planed to take the metro train down to san clemente and get lunch. the metro has the dumbest schedule, so that didn't work out. we instead drove to dana point and got lunch at harbor house, because jess had never been there and that is outrageous. we then went back to my house and played guitar hero. the next day kate, hannah and lizzy came over around 4 and we again played guitar hero. we did take a break to eat dinner, but then quickly returned to the game. when we packed it up at 11, kate commented that our 7 hour playing spree was "disgusting".

now i'm just getting ready to go back to school, which i'm looking forward to. i'm sure i'll eat those words when this week is over.

no. 32

2008-11-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

more jessica time. on friday late afternoon, zaida, luke, bethany and i went on i bike ride from zaida's to downtown huntington beach. after cruising on the beach we went to wahoo's for lunch and the then looked through the side walk sales. i found some good stuff, but it is a standing rule in our house that you can't buy anything for yourself after thanksgiving, because i could have been a Christmas present. of course the only people who violate this rule are my parents. i was also a little disappointed that none of the produce or flower stands were out... that was petty lame. after that we rode back to zaida's the through around luke's football in the driveway. it was hard for luke to catch so the football quickly changed into a tennis ball, which was any more catchable for luke. it was fun and i felt like a little kid... when was the last time you just stood in front of your house with your friends and through a ball around?

it was defiantly the day for running into people. while riding there i ran into my friend, sarah, from high school band and softball. while we where shopping, zaida ran into her friend from high school. just as we where leaving downtown, brad shultz saw jess and started screaming from the car he was riding in. while jess rode down the street to see brad, syl smith saw us on the corner and pulled over to talk to us. it was a very busy day to know people.

and i did almost none of my homework over my six day weekend.

no. 31

2008-11-27T18:12:00.000-08:00

so thursday was thanksgiving and it was a little different this year. it was the same as always in that it was small, at my house, and an overall lazy day. this year was different in that my mom decided that she didn't want to cook and we order a turkey dinner from marie calendar's. everyone had doubts, but i was certainly pleased with it. we got a whole turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, veggies, yams, corn bread, gravy and cranberry sauce. we also cooked some of our family dished and overall it was a really nice dinner. the rest of the day was spent sitting and doing nothing as all post thanksgivings should be.

so a little while after dinner, my grandpa came to me as said "so what is this facebook?" my grandpa is such an old man, especially the in the way he asks questions regarding newer developments. so i explained it to him and he said that he received an email from my uncle saying to look at his facebook picture. so i signed on and showed my grandpa the picture of my uncle and his 20 month old son wearing matching white collard shirts and bow ties. he was really impressed with this facebook thing and 20 minuets later i get a facebook friend request from my grandpa. he then sent the next 3 hours exploring everything and reading every one's pages. what a kook.

so school is nearly over which is pretty exciting. my classes aren't terribly challenging so i sometime just don't go. last week my teachers left to go get coffee and i got tired of waiting for them to get back to class so i snuck out the back door and left. i don't even have finals! two of my classes didn't even have that day listed on their syllabus and another classes of mine requires a rather lengthy paper due during finals week, but he said we had the option to email to him instead of showing up for the class. i will be taking him on his offer. so my last class is this coming friday and i don't even have anything to do for that class. so really my last meaningful class in wednesday.

cru is going great. last monday night i went with some girls to a house in laverne for a worship and prayer meeting. i really enjoyed the time that i got to spend with those girls and i'm really grateful for the opportunity to unexpectedly worship with others. i'm also helping out with the cru Christmas party that is on friday. i'm really looking forward to it and i'm sure it is going to be so much fun. and i'm also going to play the dejembe (hand drum) for worship at our weekly meeting. how fun is that! i'm sooooo stoked about what God is doing and the people He has started to place in my life in such a short time.

no. 30

2008-11-27T18:11:00.001-08:00

jessica flew in from washington on wednesday morning so our original intention was to have a bike ride in the late morning and have lunch at the sugar shack in downtown huntington beach. of course God thought otherwise and decided to send us rain (see previous post). so we changed plans and jess, bethany and i met becky and johnny at harbor house in seal beach. we had a good time catching up with everyone and left around 12:30 so bethany could get to work and becky and johnny could go to the getty.

after lunch, jess went to buena park to see someone and i pretented to do laundry (i do that a lot). when jess came back we went to mother's market where we met addie and then went to starbucks where we met gaby. we stayed there for about an hour just talking and then jess and i headed over to the cutler's house for zaida's amazing tacos. i was stoked that most everyone was able to make it. after dinner, hannah, kate, lizzy, mukta, bethany, zaida, jess and i all play an exciting game of cranium. of course the two most competitive people in the room (me and zaida) were the winning team, only because we were furthest along when everyone decided to quit.

great food, great friends, great times, great day.

no. 29

2008-11-27T18:10:00.000-08:00

on tuesday night gaby, rox, my mom, and i all went to see coldplay at the honda center. we stopped on the way at the gypsy den in santa ana to have dinner and the talked about our past concert experiences. i found it hilarious that rox's first concert was sonny and cher.

we had decent seats for being the cheapest. gaby and i went to an earlier coldplay concert in july and were unimpressed with the opening bands. the first was this weird dj that played crazy music while showing an acid-trip, pot head animation that just gave me a headache. the second band was a little better but they were no coldplay. so when we arrived a little late on tuesday and missed the first band, i was happy that i wouldn't have to listen to the dj. well someone decided to switch the acts and the we got stuck listening to the acid dj.

anyway, the lights turn off and everyone goes nuts for coldplay. gaby and i were on our feet for most of the night talking "illegal" pictures and videos and holding up phones for third parties to hear. in short, they were amazing and never disappointing. it was so much fun to go with our moms and night was pack with great memories.

the funny part of the night: so when we were leaving the house, i told my mom to grab her jacket in case it started raining. she did grab it, but left it in the car because she knew she wouldn't wear it once inside and she didn't want to hold it all night. well when we stepped out of the center, it was pouring and i was the only one who had a jacket. my mom was mad, not because of her lack of jacket, but because her new shoes were swede and she didn't want to ruin them. so to save her shoes she took them off, stuck them in my purse, and walked to the car barefoot. here is the scene if you can picture it in your head: gaby and i are speed walking in front under my jacket, rox is a few yards behind us look like she doesn't have a care in the world, and my mom is barefoot and lagging behind. gaby and i make it to the car and start the heater while waiting for the moms and then start honking and yelling at them when they walk past the car. then we sit in the car soaking wet for the next 15 minutes waiting to get out of the parking lot, while creating puddles like melting snowmen.

no. 28

2008-11-22T21:20:00.000-08:00

today at balboa

1. were you named after anyone? my dad's mom's middle name is katherine and lynn was my mom's original middle name

2. when was the last time you cried? last friday night

3. do you like your handwriting? when i try, not my note taking

4. what is your favorite lunch meat? turkey

5. do you have kids? no

6. if you were another person would you be friends with you? yeah, i'm pretty cool

7. do you use sarcasm a lot? yes, i probably use it more than i think

8. do you still have your tonsils? yes

9. would you bungee jump? in a second

10. what is your favorite cereal? frosted mini wheats

11. do you unite your shoes when you take them off? yes

12. do you think you are strong? yes

13. what is your favorite ice cream? chocolate

14. what is the first thing you notice about people? their eyes

15. red or pink? red

16. what color shoes are you wearing? black

17. what was the last thing you ate? tortilla soup

18. what are you listening to right now? "one sweet love" by sara bareilles

19. if you were a crayon, what color would you be? orange

20. favorite smells? bleach and christmas trees or christmas in general

21. who was the last person you talked to on the phone? lizzy called to see if i could name a song that she hummed... i could

22. favorite sports to watch? hockey and football

23. hair color? brown

24. eye color? brown

25. do you wear contacts? yes

26. favorite food? rice

27. scary movies or happy endings? happy endings

28. last movie you watched? at home: shine; in theaters: the changeling

29. what color shirt are you wearing? dark green

30. summer or winter? summer

31. hugs or kisses? hugs

32. favorite dessert? brownies

33. what book are you reading now? what's a book?

34. what is on your mouse pad? i don't have one

35. what did you watch on tv last night? top chef

36. favorite sound? i don't know

37. what is the farthest you have been from home? italy

38. do you have a special talent? i can ride my bike with no hands

39. where were you born? fountain valley, ca

no. 27

2008-11-13T15:36:00.000-08:00

i know that many of you share in my confusion over why department stores start promoting Christmas stuff in august. clearly this is lame and there should be an unspoken rule that the Christmas season doesn't start until the day after thanksgiving to spare us all of talking santas displayed next to smoking faux grave markers.

i wonder if there is a rule as to when you can start listening to Christmas music. i personally have been listening to a charlie brown Christmas for the past week, because i had a strange desire to do so and because its the best. so chill and so fun. it only furthers my desire to learn to play the piano; which will never happen due to my complete lack of coordination between my two hands. what does this blog have to do with anything... nothing. its very random and i just wanted to share my Christmas enthusiasm with everyone.

oh and my school sells fresh cut and locally grown Christmas trees. my school get cooler everyday in every way besides my education. but really, the education side of college is highly over rated. and that's my life.

no. 26

2008-11-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

so it's been a while but life is more or less the same. school is going by very slowly, yet fast. i know this doesn't make any sense. most of my classes are pedestrian, but i'm thankful that there are only 3 1/2 weeks left of school in this quarter. i'm thankful that i'm making some friends through my classes and through campus crusade. i recently joined the team that plans our thursday weekly meetings. i also went to a tailgate party with cru last thursday and had a great time. the tailgate party was just a hang out in the parking structure on campus. i pretty much did nothing but freeze and meet new people.

halloween was also a ton of fun... much better than last year. i raced home from my friday afternoon class to make my costume. i had a vague idea about how to do it but i was pretty much winging it. after finishing my magnificent rubik's cube costume, i went to the harvest festival at church to see greyson and chad play. i also got a chance to see gaby and brandon there. gab was pretty much sitting at the end of a car giving away candy, but eating half of it. after that i made my way over to a friend's house for her annual halloween/birthday party. was lame last year and jut stopped by for a few minutes with no costume, so i had to make it up to her this year and stick around for a while. she was very happy to see me in my amazing, yet highly underestimated uncomfortable costume. after that i w meet tim and bethany at the culter's house to watch saw 4 in anticipation of seeing saw 5 in the near future.

that's pretty much been my life... i know, pretty riveting stuff. blogs to come: coldplay, thanksgiving, ditching class, and avoiding finals.

no. 25

2008-10-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

so i come home every weekend; because i want to and because it seems that there is always something happening. two fridays ago my mom and i went down to cbu to watch chad in "all my sons". it was pretty intense, but very good. i also got to see emily, gaby and greyson, so quadruple bonus. on sunday my family all went to my uncle's wedding. it was at the golf course that he works at and it was so beautiful. i wasn't totally looking forward to it, because i only knew like 5% of the guests, but i was really looking forward to seeing my cousins, colby and casey. thankfully casey's girlfriend, martine, was also there so all of us hung out the whole night. i actually had a pretty good time and sometimes it's just fun to dress up for a reason.

last week school was nothing special. i met two girls in my studio class that are pretty cool. they are both studying architecture and one decided to do her project on downtown huntington beach. she is from northern california so she is really unfamiliar with the area, so the two of us went there on tuesday. it was fun showing her around like a tour guide. after spending sometime downtown, we went over to balboa island where i'm doing my project. then i introduced her to chronic tacos. what a great alternative to the cafeteria. later that night i met some girls from my Bible study for dinner on campus. after we ate and before study started, we had this "jam session". basically everyone with and instrument hangs out and plays worship songs for the hour before study. i just came to hang out and listen, but someone asked me if i wanted to play his extra djembe (hand drum). i said sure so he sat next to me and showed me how to play. i've never had so much fun worshiping in my life. it was such a cool experience and i can't wait for next week. the Bible study last week was also very good. we are digging a little deeper now which is awesome. we talked about the basic gospel and answered the question "why is it important to remember the beginning of our walk with the Lord?" it was a great time to share and i'm totally comfortable with the foundations that they teach on. all in all it was an awesome, God centered, night of worship.

so i came home again this last weekend and caught up on all my recorded shows. leanne won project runway and i was totally stoked. friday night i went over to the grubb's where jessica made tacos. we then watched batman begins which was pretty cool. i decided that i have to quit being a slacker and watch the dark night. on saturday morning, my mom, my grandma and i drove down to san diego for hang out time with family. the day started with my cousin's soccer game, which they lost horribly (8-1, i think... something ridiculous like that). after that we went back to my aunt's house and proceeded to play 3 hours of rock band... so much fun. after that we went to old town san diego for lunch-dinner. we ate at this mexican restaurant (big surprise... that's all there is) and i had these great fish tacos. then we walked around the town which just reminds me of mexico. we ended that trip at this really cool coffee and tea shop. unfortunately i didn't by any tea, but i did leave with a really good mexican mocha. then we headed back to the house and again played rock band for several hours. we had this system down where two people would play the drums; one on the set with the sticks and the other on the base pedal with their hands. good times; we got home at midnight. on sunday i avoided my homework by going to disneyland with bethany, hannah and kate. it was really fun to hang out with them, especially because i feel that i don't see then very often anymore. i have to say that i'm getting pretty good and the new toy story shooting game... 199,000 points!

check this song out for real:
buildings & mountains
by the republic tigers

no. 24

2008-10-09T14:50:00.000-07:00

with the glorious amount of free time that i have, i have been thinking about my ability to comfortably to interact with others. call it shyness if you want, but i wonder it's more that just that simple label. i was looking at a flyer posted my out counseling center in my bathroom. they hold free, non-credit classes every quarter and one of them has to do with being able to socialize well. i looked at it for a while and seriously considered signing up. i'm not sure why, but i just have this desire to be bold and to have the confidence to talk to other people that i don't know.

the first meeting that i went to for campus crusade, they announced their fall retreat. just a small trip to the mountains for a weekend in order to get to know new people and to share in God's word. immediately in my mind i said no and searched for an excuse in the unlikely event that someone would ask me if i was going. the stupid thing is that this is far from the first time that i have done this. it seems that my immediate reaction to meeting new people or stepping out of my comfort zone, is to run and hide. i'm determined to find out why and hopefully get over this fear.

the lamest part is that i'm going to san diego that saturday, which serves as the perfect excuse, and after hearing more about the trip, i really want to go.

no. 23

2008-10-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

so last friday i got the chance to go to la for the day to take a walking tour of downtown. this was with my design class and part of the field trip was that we had to take public transportation to get to union station. i decided to take the metrolink and it was really fun. it was nice not having to worry about traffic or parking. i could just sit and drink my coffee. once everyone had arrived, all 300 students and 2 teachers headed out. we walk all around and saw pretty much everything there is to see in downtown. we spent 7 hours there, all on foot. i was so tired but i got some great pictures and i wasn't sitting in class, which is always a bonus.

man, my studio class is really lame! on monday i got to class early and did crossword puzzles for 20 minutes. the doors finally opened and we all walked in at 12, but nothing happened in class until 12:15, which means i continued to do crosswords. we posted our work up and then went around the room to talk about them. it was laughable. i think i could teach this class. i'm sure that everyone was trying their best with whatever experience they have, but i shouldn't be in this class. people made these huge mistakes that you just don't do when presenting a design project. they changed fonts from page to page; some had pictures that where not kept in scale, but stretched in one direction; some used font size 26 bold just so they could fill the page. it was ridiculous. the worst thing is that i don't think my teacher gives good or enough advice. i can look at these projects and tell my classmates what they should do for this reason or that reason, but my teacher never brings those things up. bottom line, i will not learn anything from this class... period. after 30 minutes, we went back to our seats and waited for a computer tutorial starting at 1. well 1 can and went and nothing was happening in the class. apparently the aid didn't have the right cable to connect the computer to the projector. so we all sat there wondering what to do. all three of our studio teachers were gone and no one had taken attendance, so we didn't know if we could leave. i spent the whole time playing games on my computer or doing more crosswords. other people we making use of the time by working on their project, but mine didn't need a lot of work. finally at 2 our teachers came back (with starbucks... clearly not intending to stick around while we sat through a tutorial). the aid told them of the problem and then everyone started to leave. i gathered my things and asked the teacher if she was going to take attendance and she said "i took a visual attendance". bs... you don't even know my name, how does that work out? i was so frustrated that they would waste so much of my time. and if my teachers were even in the room they would have at least dismissed us around 1. in the 2 1/2 hours that i was there, i was doing something productive or educational for about 15 minutes, and all that consisted of was her telling me that my work was good. this class is such a joke; so today in studio we pinned up our final prints for this portion of the project and did the same thing that we did on monday. surprise, surprise, my teacher again said that mine was good... because i didn't have to do anything different from the first draft. so i left early.

i think that dorming is getting better. off of em's advice, i left the desk lamp on when i went to bed so my roommates wouldn't need to turn the light on when they came in. its working.

our Bible study met for the second time last night. i'm really liking the group and general community. i'm not intimidated by others and i fell really welcomed there. the lessons aren't super deep, but just giving that time over to God is really rewarding and will ultimately draw me closer to Him. and i'm happy to say that i feel safe in what they are teaching. through listening to the leaders speak, i'm convinced that their view and plan of salvation in accurate, so it's good to know that they aren't a bunch of crazies. next week we are planning on eating dinner together in the commons before Bible study. i'm looking forward to this given that i have yet to eat with anyone at any meal.

this is also my first full week at school (5 days, 4 nights). to be honest i wasn't really looking forward to it, but i think that i am doing alright and i'm getting more comfortable being here. i have found my haven... the library! never thought i would say that. its a great place to study (obviously) and to nap. big open spaces and lots of light. way better than the dorms.

no. 22

2008-10-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

"katelynn rodgers does not lose contests, she wins them... or she quits them, because they are unfair."

on tuesday, i was at school and i almost ran over a squirrel with my bike, no joke... and harming animals on campus in a finable offense. i also went to the 25th annual "hot dog caper". its basically free all you can eat hot dogs on campus. i tried "exploring" pomona because it was my day off, but it didn't work out. i didn't really know where to go and i didn't find anything interesting. at night i went to a Bible study held by campus crusade. i really enjoyed just being around other believers. i had a fun time getting to know some new people and i hope that over time i can make some friends.

as for classes: i got into my regenerative studies class which i really like. it is probably my most interesting class and as a bonus there is no textbook and no tests. unfortunately this is the only highlight of my quarter. my other classes are pretty ordinary and not exciting. my design class is especially boring and underwhelming. this is not to say that i don't have work to do, but it just seems that this class is what i took at occ. i guess that i will just have to the make the best of it.

as far as my room: it's really hard to get use to sharing a room with someone when you have always had your own. and i have to share with two other people. i think that over time i will get use to it and it won't be so difficult. i'm always hoping for the best.

"but the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in time of trouble. the Lord helps them and delivers them; He delivers them form the wicked and saves then, because they take refuge in Him." Psalms 37:39-40

no. 21

2008-09-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

well thursday i didn't have any classes so i decided that i would finish my room and kind of explore a bit. i survived my first community bathroom/shower experience which was a plus. the bathrooms aren't terrible, but they're not great by any means. after getting ready i went to the commons to get breakfast. unfortunately i was unaware of the food schedule and when i got there they didn't have any food out. so i sat and waited until 11 for lunch to start. after that i rode my bike over to my car to grab a few things and then i talked to my mom for a while. apparently i left before teaching her how to use the tv remote and she couldn't watch project runway the night before. then i went to the campus crusade meeting at 12. it was really fun getting to know some new people. everyone was very friendly and i signed up for a Bible study for the dormers.

after the meeting i went back to my dorm and finish unpacking. i then made a rather long list of everything that i still need to get. then i did some blogging and checked emails. i went back to the commons for dinner around 6:30. the food isn't too bad, but they do have a killer salad bar. after dinner i went to a hall meeting. they explained some of the rules and answered questions. after the meeting i was really stoked to watch the office. my hall coordinator is a huge fan so our hall will host the office every thursday night. unfortunately about 10 minutes before the show, while we were watching the usc game, someone moved the tv and our ghetto cable connection broke. so selina, the coordinator, was moving the cord around trying to get reception. we did get a picture was it looked pretty bad. every commercial she would go back and try and improve it. in the end it all worked out and what an amazing episode. jim and pam, and dwight's stupid face... love it!

after that i went to my room and got my stuff together for my classes the next day. then i started getting my stuff together for bed and my two roommates left at like 10:45. i really don't know where they were going, because quiet hour starts at 10. so i just got ready for bed and i decided that i was just going to sleep and not worry about when my roommate were coming back. they didn't come back to the room until 12:45am. i know this because they turned the lights on. it wasn't even like an accident and then they turned them back off. they left them on until they were ready for bed. and then they sleep in until 1 in the afternoon. i just don't get it. i don't know if this is something that they are always going to so but it is really annoying. i know that it will be difficult, given that i have always had my own room and this is just something that i need to get use to, but i'm not staying up until 1 in the morning, regardless of what i have to do the next day.

so friday was my first day of classes and i was very excited. my first class was communications at 10:30, so i got ready, grabbed some breakfast, and then rode my bike over to class. it was a usually first day; go over the syllabus, talk about the course, and then a small exercise. i did meet one student in my class that is also an architecture student so that was kind of cool. after that i went to my architecture lecture series at noon. i got to the class that had about 125 seats and there were about 225 people in the room. i was so mad, because i thought that all these student were trying to petition the class. then i discovered that this was a mandatory meeting for all architecture students. it will be nice to know that i won't have to compete for a seat next class. next i went to my arc 101 lecture class. i was scheduled for the 4pm class but i wanted to get into the 2pm class so i could go home earlier. my teacher is pretty cool and he said that i could sit in on any class as long as i told the ta so i wouldn't be marked absent. after talking in the class room for a while, he took the whole class outside and told us a little about the history of the campus and our large pointed building. there is some pretty interesting history behind our school. after that class was over i packed up some stuff from my room and head home for the weekend.

some interesting things about cal poly:
1. the kellogg family (the cereal company) use to own the ranch that the school is built. on this ranch the bred arabian horses which disney decided to use for there depiction of prince charming's horse in sleeping beauty.

2. mr. kellogg's favorite horse is buried under our campus rose garden.

3. our school, being so founded in agriculture and farming, has it's own slaughter house where you can buy fresh stakes.

4. we have an equestrian team, but no football team.

5. we have our own pumpkin patch

6. cal poly is built into a hill side so it is extremely difficult to ride a one speed bike around campus. its nothing like riding on cbu's completely flat campus.

no. 20

2008-09-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

yesterday was hectic.

so we had this thing called bronco fusion which is a lot of different activities around campus designed to help students get to know each other. it was also check-in day for the dorm rooms. i didn't really want to participate in fusion but i thought i should, given that i don't know anyone. so i signed up for a few things and later realized that check-in was at 9 even though i didn't sign up for any activities until 10:45. kinda lame. i decided that i wasn't going to rush myself to get there right at 9. i figured that a lot of people would be checking in late anyway, so i didn't get there until 9:30. i was right. so i still had some time to kill and the first check-in session for the dorms wasn't until 10, so i first went to buy my $90 parking permit... honestly i don't know what i'm paying for. it's not like they are going to keep my car from getting stolen.

after that, i went to the dorms and met my ra, sarah (very nice; probably why she's an ra), who showed me my room. holy moses; it's small! a room for two made into a room for three by adding more furniture. and my particular hall has five sided rooms, which limits the space even more. someone counted the floor space and the counted all the space the furniture would take up and said "it'll fit". to bad they didn't take into account the function of the furniture. what good is a desk if the chair can't pullout because it is against a bed. so i, being the architect, spent a good 20 minutes rearranging all the furniture. it works much better but i still have to stand on my desk to get into bed. the ra also said that i was the first of my roommates to check-in so i should claim everything that i wanted before they came. this meant that i needed to move some stuff in to stake out my spot. so i pulled my car around to the unloading zone and started moving some boxes. ps: i had about 10 boxes to moves and i had a hand truck so it would be easy to move three at a time. so i turned down my mom's offer to help. 2 words: no elevator! so i had to carry the boxes up the stairs one at a time. and in the words of becky, it's poopin' hot here! so that whole experience was ridiculous. i then decided to move everything because i would have no motivation to do the second half later. because it took so long i ended up missing the first workshop that started at 10:45. but i didn't really want to go and i figure that no one would be checking to make sure i attended.

so after i finished unloading my car i was super hungry. so i parked my car in some far off parking lot (because i have no idea where i am) and rode my bike to the student center. i got subway and i enjoyed it in the nicely, air-conditioned dinning area. then i went to my second workshop at 1:15. it wasn't what i expected and i was glad that i ditched the first one. that finally got out at 2 so i went to the bookstore next door and picked up my pre-ordered textbooks, and then headed back to my dorm to do some unpacking before the bbq at 4. i got to my room and saw that my roommates had moved there stuff in but they weren't around. so i got half of my boxes unpacked and then headed to the lawn for the bbq.

the food was ok; what else do you expect. each of the tables were assigned to the different colleges so you would meet some other students from your general field of study. i decided to be bold and sat right next to two other girls and introduced myself. they were both freshman architecture students from the san diego area. gina, the girl right next to me, was very nice and we talked for most of the bbq. she was also in band in high school so that gave us something to talk about.

crazy thing: about five minutes after i sat down to eat, someone on stage started saying into the microphone "medic 1... medic 1". just then paramedics started running through the tables towards this group of people waving their arms. about 15 feet away from my table, this girl started seizing and was convulsing violently on the ground. i was so scared and felt so bad for this girl. she looked so helpless. all i could do was pray, but she was seizing almost 10 minutes. eventually i saw her get up and walk away, looking a normal as could be, but what a crazy thing to happen on your first day on campus.

anyway, after the bbq gina and i walked over to the club fair. it was crazy packed, like cattle herding... which incidentally happens at cal poly. who knows, it might be a major. at first the clubs were slacking in my interests. i got a flyer shoved in my face for a vietnamese club and another girl gave me a jewish calendar from her club shouting, "you don't have to be jewish". maybe not, but i would help. eventually things turned around. i signed up to possibly help with the rose parade float. i also signed up for the pep band... i'm not really sure why because i haven't played in 3 years and i don't really feel like starting again. i'll keep you posted... practice in on monday. then i made it around to campus crusade which seemed cool. free food for the next two days (which i'm all about) and Bible studies in the dorms (which i'm also all about). i also signed up for e-mail alerts about bronco home games and got free chipotle and so you can't go wrong there.

at night there was a free concert going on. i listened to the band's myspace and wasn't that impressed. the only reason that i would have gone was because the plain white tees (who are also pretty lame) played at fusion a few years ago and now they are a big deal. if these guys ever became big, it would be cool to say, "yeah, i saw them play". so instead i decided to stay in my room and continue to unpack. i then finally got to meet my roommates, rahel and sara. they are twin sisters who are pretty cool and easy to get along with. from what i have seen they also get along well with each other. they are freshman civil engineering students from cyprus. they are also familiar with huntington beach, which makes our conversations easier. whats also cool is that they don't take up a lot of space. oh and did i mention they are black! how cool is that. kate would die.

that's pretty much it. i might post again tonight with all the cool stuff the happened today.

no. 19

2008-09-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

before

after

sorry that it's been a while since the last post. i haven't been really busy and maybe not doing anything hasn't given me anything to blog about. anyway... so last week was pretty eventful for me. on monday i got my hair chopped off, tuesday i got my braces off, and wednesday i dyed my hair. big deal for me. i hoping that i look at least 19 years old now instead of 15. my week was also filled with other fun things like visiting zaida at work, bike riding and smash ball (super fun!) with emily, tea with carol williams, and breakfast with my mom and sister for macy's birthday.

of friday my mom and i left to visit my grandparents in kingman, arizona. don't feel left out if you have no idea where this is... all you need to know is that there is a cracker barrel there. anyway we got there around 5 and found out that my grandpa would be truck driving all weekend so it turned out to be a girls weekend. we went out to eat at cracker barrel and then came home and watched enchanted. we went to bed at midnight and my mom and i didn't get up until 11:45. whatever i'm on vacation. at a lack of things to do we went to the london bridge in havasu. if you weren't aware, the original london bridge was torn down and some guy bought all the bricks. after carefully numbering the brick,s he brought them over to arizona and had the whole thing reconstructed over a small part of havasu lake. its something to see once in your life and never again. the "old english town" that was described on the Internet was not as cool as it sounded. oh well, it was fun to hang out with my grandma. it was also my grandma's birthday so we told her to pick some place for dinner. her pick... dairy queen. the next day we again got up late. we were planning on leaving around 2 or 3, but then my grandpa called and said that he would be home around 4 so we stayed to have dinner with him. so we killed time by going to 4 different dollar store all within 5 miles of each other. dollar stores out there are like starbucks in oc; they're on every corner. i guess those little old ladies can't wait to spend theire dollars on some crap and the slots are a little to far away. and because it is so good we went to cracker barrel for dinner again. i had a great time hanging out with them and i was pretty excited when my grandpa taught me the trick to win the peg jumping game that the have on all the tables. all around good trip.

tonight i had some friends from high school over for dinner and it was so much fun. in high school i was in band and i became friends with some members on color guard team. one of them, of course, is becky and because we worked together and had classes together, it has always been easy to stay in touch with her. however, our other friends: amanda (gayle), briana, and melissa (mels), are a little harder to see. so when gayle said that she would be home from uc davis for a few days i said that we needed to have a taco night like we did in high school. i was so excited that everyone was able to make it. i can't remember that last time we were all together since high school. it was so fun sharing stories, especially hearing gayle's. i haven't laughed that hard in a while.

so now my focus is getting ready for the school. i've got a few errands still to run and i haven't packed anything. i'm doing it all tomorrow. i'm a little nervous mostly because it is a new environment and i don't know anyone. i'm afraid that i will feel lost, but i think that it will force me to be bold and to make new friends. but i think that some of my nervousness is because i'm excited. i'm really eager to learn at a university level. i want everything they have to offer me. if i cough once i'm going to see the free doctor on campus.

no. 18

2008-09-10T23:14:00.000-07:00

updates on summer check list:

go to disneyland at a normal hour with bethany and lizzy (for lizzy w/ kate, hannah, and mukta)

go to disneyland at 8 am with hannah (we'll just count it done)

sleep in (i have master this still)

get a rocking tan (it might be as good as it gets, but i'm still working on it)

ride my bike (above picture is from a ride)

taco night with the cutlers (it was amazing as always)

have a bonfire with addie (we'll i finally got to see her, so done)

watch as many good movies as possible (see list below)

still to do:

finish a book (in progress)

clean my room out (in progress though i'm easily distracted)

make my italy video (kinda in progress, but running into formatting problems)

go to the gym (ummm, yeah)

go to the beach with kate and mukta (we'll make it happen)

have lunch with my mom (this week or next)

ride the train to san clemente or oceanside (postponed until winter)

visit my grandparents in arizona (next weekend)

get my braces off!!! (sept. 16)

cut and dye my hair (sept. 16)

wash my car (again!)

go to college (sept. 25)

summer movie list thus far (out of five stars):

lars and the real girl (5): so cute; i almost cried!

there will be blood (5): "i drink your milkshake! i drink it up!"

the bourne ultimatum (5): intense!

life is beautiful (5): worth the oscar.

cold mountain (5): great story.
king of california (4): the best movie you've never heard of. go watch it today.
the martian child (4): cute story and it has amanda peet in it.
everything is illuminated (4): interesting and funny at times. "why you not park your own car?"
once (4): pretty cool film, i watched it more for the music which is amazing.
casablanca (4): great if you enjoy old movies.
the missing (4): cate blanchett makes everything good.

vantage point (4): pretty good thriller
no reservations (3): cute, but predictable.

kramer vs. kramer (3): good, but i am sam is better.

driving miss daisy (3): kinda slow, but good story.

the greatest game ever played (3): enjoyable disney film

moulin rouge (2): good, not great.
no country for old men (1): i've made my opinion known.
you can count on me (1): lame; by the end i hated almost every character.

no. 17

2008-08-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

summer so far has been pretty good. i'm not entirely sure how white space works (i need to check with rox), but i made no plans on tuesday and decided that i would just do things as they came up. zaida called me in the morning and invited me to lunch. i was really excited because i hadn't seen zaida in nearly a month and i wanted to see her new hair cut. we went to banana cabana and we talked about our different trips that we have been on. we also got to talk about the college group which was really good and i am excited to see what God does with our group in the next few months. after lunch i decided that i want to go on a bike ride at the beach. i was really stoked when emily decided to join me. we rode from her house to the beach and then chilled on the sand for a while. i've really enjoyed the time that i have gotten to spend with her over the summer. side note: i've been practicing my no-hands bike riding skills all summer and i have to say that i'm really getting the hang of it... and i can do it with a full basket. anyway, i attempted to explain to emily how to do it, but i'm not sure there are real instructions other than "let go". we spent much of the ride home practicing our amazing skills. seeing the excitement on em's face when she rode for 10 seconds with no hands was the highlight of the ride for sure.

wednesday my mom and i went to cal poly for my orientation. i was really excited to go because i feel really out to the loop of what is going on. so many people have asked me all these questions regarding school and i never had a response. this was the day to get all questions answered. the day started at 8 with several presentations from many of the student services and associations. after lunch the students divided up into their colleges for advising and the parents stayed for more presentations. so i headed off to the college of environmental design with 5 other students and the chair of the architecture department took the 3 arch student and told us everything you need to know about the program. then we went to their computer lab and signed up for classes. after that i met up with my mom and we raided the the student bookstore. we got a 20% discount for going to orientation so naturally we bought everything. then we had dinner at bj's and headed home.

on thursday i decided that i would do the grocery shopping because my mom was sick and we had no food. we have been on vacation most of august and so we never went to the store. i wanted to buy only stuff that i need for dinner that night, but because we had none of our regular, in-stock food items, i had to go to sam's club and albertsons to get everything. while i was at sam's club i received 2 comments about how much stuff i had in my cart. 2 1/2 hours and $637 later i finally left sam's. then i was off to albertsons where i spent another $160. all together it took me 5 hours to buy everything and then unload it into the house. big fun. then hannah, kate, and becky came over for dinner. i was a lot of fun especially because i haven't seen them for a while.

friday night lizzy, hannah, kate, bethany, mukta, and i went to aerial's grotto in california adventure for lizzy's 20th birthday. it was a lot more fun than i expected it to be. it was a little awkward trying to make small talk with the princess characters that walked around the restaurant with the obligation to greet every table, even though our table clearly didn't care. after dinner we were hoping to go on some rides, but there was a massive amount of people there and we opted to go back to my house and watch a movie.

my saturday is pretty easy to sum up: i didn't leave my house and i didn't take a shower until 4.

and that's my life.

no. 16

2008-08-31T13:45:00.000-07:00

so last weekend my mom, my sister, my grandpa, and i went to colorado to visit my aunt and her family. we left on wednesday afternoon and again the airport was an interesting experience. if you read my earlier blogs about macy and air travel you would know that she has a pretty terrible track record. we always seem to be stopped by security because macy for some reason does not completely understand the rules. well this time was no exception. in light of the new fees for checked luggage we decided to take everything carry on. so we had to pack lightly and leave behind things like shampoo and other liquids that where too large to take onto the plane. of course macy's bag gets stopped and they need to check it. what do they find... a 12 oz. bottle of body spray! macy's reasoning: i thought that it only applied to the bag that you hold in your lap, not the bag you put in the overhead compartment. what? it's on the plane macy; it goes through security; you can't have it! anyways, the flight to denver was fine and after landing we headed to my aunt house in westminster, co just in time for dinner.

on thursday afternoon, my mom, my sister and i had a chance to meet lon and kathy catto for lunch near their new church in littleton. it was a great time to catch up with them and after lunch we went over to the church and lon took us on a tour. their church is very small, both in building space and congregation, but you can defiantly see the potential there and it will be exciting to see what God can do with that community of believers.

on friday afternoon jeslin came by the house to pick me up. she took me on a small tour of her house in arevada, which is freakishly similar to the grimes house in fv. so much so that they have a red wall at the end of their kitchen with the same family sign. scott was working from home that afternoon so i got a chance to say hi to him as she showed me around and told me of all their planned improvements. then she drove me around her church campus, which is huge and also contains the dorming house that bethany lived at. after that we drove into the downtown area near the baseball stadium that the rockies play in. denver's downtown is pretty cool. it's easy to navigate, parking isn't impossible, and it isn't overcrowded when you choose the right time (defiantly not like la). after parking in a garage we walked over to "the market" which is this really cool coffee shop slash cafe slash market (it's kinda hard to compare it to anything here). i got what they called a "california cappuccino" which was pretty good. not really sure why the name, but it's a cappuccino made with condensed milk (which is sweetened if you weren't aware). anyways, jeslin and i grabbed a seat outside and talked for a while. then we headed down the street so i could weight in on this heated debate centered in denver. no not the democratic national convention (which ruined my life while we were there), but the rising argument between chipotle and qdoba. if you have been living under a rock for the past 5 years, chipotle is a huge mexican restaurant chain centered around their amazingly ginormous and good burritos. qdoba is their biggest and closest competitor with many locations in the state of colorado. i asked jeslin for her opinion and she enjoys the better variety that qdoba's menu has. to be fair i order a vegetarian burrito with fajita peppers and black beans so i could have an easy comparison between the two. the result... they're the same! so get off it those of you that think qdoba is way better and needed in southern california. just go to chipotle and get you free drink with your old high school i.d. card (yes they no longer except a college i.d. card, so i present my high school one and strategically cover the year with my finger... whatever, i look like i'm 14 anyway). but i digress. jeslin and i continued our conversation at the restaurant and on the car ride home. it was a great time to reconnect with my friend. she an amazing woman, and has always been easy to talk to. i am really thankful that we were able to get together.

on saturday night we had a bbq at the house and my grandpa invited some of his brother's children over. my mom has always had a lot of family in colorado that i have never met, so it is always a little awkward meeting all of these extended family members. i think that the adults had a really good with each other. most of the time was filled with my grandpa telling stories from his childhood.

on sunday my mom and i went to lon's church for morning worship. it was good to be in any worship service, because i've bee away for a while. even though the music aspect is one guitar and three singers, singing mostly songs that i don't know very well or don't like very much, it was still a very worshipful experience that i felt was very God centered.

the rest of our time there was spent mostly with the kids. bekah is extremely talkative a is always inviting everyone to come and play with her. "do you want to have a conversation on the couch?" she would ask me with a bit of a lisp. it was a lot of fun with them and we said our goodbyes on monday afternoon before we headed to the airport. of course we couldn't leave the great state of colorado without a souvenir and what better souvenir then a speeding ticket from the colorado highway patrol 2 miles from the airport. lame! and of course we still had to do airport security and once again macy's bag got checked. it wasn't that macy had contraband, it was that she didn't pull out all of her liquids and put the in the separate bag. she again thought this was only applicable to a hand bag and not the suitcase that you put in the overhead compartment. macy is now 4 for 4 in security hold ups. great job macy... if this was an olympic event you would win the gold medal... assuming that you understood the doping tests procedures and weren't disqualified.

no. 15

2008-08-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

since i have had a good amount of free time on my hands, i've given a lot of thought to my "prayer life", or lack there of. i have always been stunted in prayer; typically only praying in church settings and occasionally before meals. i've matured to the point that i know prayer doesn't have to sound a certain way and that in its simplest form is a conversation with God. i think that my recent difficulty was that i was caught up in life and didn't want to give my time to God. i became lazy in a way and needed to refocus. so towards the end of july i made a list of things that i wanted to do (see post no. 4) and one item was to pray for others. for me, i find it easier to pray for others rather than myself so decided that this was a good starting point. when i set this goal i wasn't sure how God would put this to use. at the time a few people were heading off to or already on a missions trip so that filled a good deal of my prayers. but i still felt like i should be praying for something else or something more. God can use all prayers in many ways, but i felt lead to change my focus. and i found it!

i visited my work after i came back from hawaii, because i had brought back some coffee for them. it was really fun talking to everyone especially my former boss kathy. she had told me some time ago that her 12 year old son, karson, was going to hume lake with a church group in july. so when i came back to visit i asked her if he enjoy himself. she said he had a great time and how she had received an email from the group leader that 11 kids from the camp had received Christ the second day they were there. so when karson came back from camp, kathy asked him about the 11 kids and he said the he was one of them. kathy seemed really excited about this even though they were not a church going family, and i shared in her excitement. she can already see a difference in his behavior and his willingness to help around the house which i find amazing. his decision has also caused the two of them to start attending church services, even though his dad chooses to stay home.

after talking to kathy about all of this i felt a huge conviction to pray for them. throughout the day the same thing kept running through my mind: "who is praying for them?". being a family that has been removed form church for a while, i wondered if they were on any one's prayer list. and then God answered my question: "they're on yours katelynn". this is what God wanted me to do. this is why He convicted me to pray for others. i made that goal one day before karson made his decision.

Lord i pray that You guide this family. i pray that You would be with karson in his new found faith. this can be such a difficult time in a kid's life and reliance on You is so important. i pray that You will grow him and reveal Yourself to him everyday. may he wake up longing to know You more and wanting to walk closer by Your side. i pray that through his example a door would open for kenny to know You as well. let him see the change in karson's life and want that change in his own. i pray that You would renew kathy's faith and may she know what a real relationship with You looks like. not one based on works or religious deeds, but one based on Your incomprehensible love for us. surround their family with love and patience.

no. 14

2008-08-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

this one is about bike rides (kinda)... mainly because jessica grubb was bugging about it.

so last week i got to enjoy the lack of responsibility that comes with being unemployed. the first two days i hung out with luke at the beach and wednesday was my becky day. in true katelynn/becky fashion the day started with breakfast at ihop. we had an awesome time catching up with each other and laughing over our great stories. after breakfast we went on a bike ride with her sister jessica and arin mearig. we road down to huntington pier and met up with arin's mom who bought us lunch. then we headed back so i could make my 3:15 orthodontist appointment. after that i went back to becky's house to help jessica wash the truck and then becky and i grabbed some dinner with friends from her church. then lizzy joined us for becky's Bible study which was pretty awesome. we spent most of the time in prayer focusing on the different aspects of prayer. it was a great time to fellowship with new faces and i certainly can take away a new perspective on praying.

after coming back from camping i got a chance to go on a bike ride with gaby and emily. its never a bad day when you ride bikes to sugar shack with em and gab. good times. thanks guys.

summer checklist update:

colorado with the fam to see my little clone bekah: check

camp in morro bay: check!!!

sleep in: check

get a rocking tan: i have had 2 complements

ride my bike: check, but certainly not done

have breakfast with gaby and emily: check

hang out with becky somewhere other than starbucks: check

have quiet time with God: check

pray for others: check (more on that later)

wash my car: check, but it needs washed again

no. 13

2008-08-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

morro bay camping weekend with lizzy, bethany, jessica, and heidi!

so pretty much one of my bikes got stolen while we were in the del taco parking lot in fv. of course i didn't notice it until we were on the 405 in the middle of la. so lame; i hate people! i was so frustrated with myself, i pulled over to the side of the road and when i opened the back door to get the bike lock out, my Bible fell out. i'm pretty sure that was God telling me that there are worst things in life and i should get over myself. i was then determined that this would not ruin our weekend. in any event, we did leave at a reasonable time and i always amaze myself with my packing ability.

we arrived at our campsite in morro bay around 3:45 and quickly unpacked the car and set up the most amazing, ginormous tent ever. of course after we set up our tent, i realized that we had set it up on the wrong campsite. so we moved it over and i made turkey burgers with mashed potatoes and salad for dinner. jessica and heidi were still on their way so i stayed up for them and lizzy and bethany went to bed around 11. they arrived around 1:30 and opted to skip food and head straight for bed. i was happy to fall asleep quickly, but was upset when i woke up at 3:15 because i had to go to the bathroom.

on saturday i got up around and 8:30 and started making breakfast; french toast with sausage and cantaloupe. the weather was kind of a bummer, but we decided to go kayaking anyway. it was pretty cold out on the water, but really fun... even though lizzy and i were incapable for traveling in a straight line. after kayaking we headed back to the campsite and had sandwiches and chips. after lunch was over heidi, bethany, and lizzy wanted to chill on the beach and jess and i wanted to ride bikes. so we loaded 2 bikes on the car and drove north to the beach. the girls headed for the sand and jess and i headed for town on our bikes. we walked around the farmer's market and picked up some vegetables for dinner that night. we then stopped by a small kite shop and i bought an easy flyer from a very nice couple who were watching the olympics. then the girls called wanted to leave the beach. they were cold and waiting in the car. we went back to camp and had bbq chicken with grilled vegetables and rice for dinner. then we did hot chocolate and mallows and headed for bed.

we woke up on sunday and had hash browns, bagels and fruit for breakfast. then we slowly packed up camp and drove into town one last time. we stopped at our favorite coffee shop "top dog" and then went into an incense/herb shop next door (i wouldn't be surprised if they had other "herbs" behind the counter). then we all said goodbye and head for home. lizzy, bethany, and i stopped in santa barbra for lunch and made it home around 7:30.

all in all it was a great weekend and i was so stoked to spend time with my friends.

no. 12

2008-08-12T22:11:00.000-07:00

i took luke to huntington beach on monday and san clemente beach on tuesday. it was pretty fun riding zaida's bike with luke on the tag-along to huntington. zaida: you're a stud! what i enjoyed most was making luke's sand hole. i had a good time and i always enjoy getting to spend my summer outside.

on another note; i'm exhausted, partially because spending the whole day in the sun wears me out and partially because i have been staying up until 12 watching the olympics. i'm know i'm not the only guilty person.

no. 11

2008-08-08T02:22:00.000-07:00

sorry i didn't post yesterday. there weren't any great stories and i was wiped out, so i assumed that you would miss anything. yesterday we went horse back riding at a ranch in kapp'a. it was a really nice ride and my family were the only ones on that particular tour. the trail took us around a 300 acre ranch that had a private waterfall that we got to swim in. after that we just chilled by the pool and had dinner at the condo.

roads in kauai: like i stated before, kauai has one main road that runs around most of the island. most of this road is single lane in each direction with little or no shoulder... its a tight fit. on top of that there are many small bridges that are only one lane wide, so traffic is constantly stopping a yielding to the opposing traffic. the worst is when construction is going on. there is no where else for traffic to go so the road is shut down to one lane often for many miles. on our way to house back riding, we got stuck waiting to travel through construction for 20 minutes. it was pretty lame and at least so cal construction can be avoided to an extent.

today my dad and i went surfing on hanalei north shore for a few hours. after we finished we came back to the condo and picked up my mom for snorkeling. we went to tunnels to go snorkeling which in my opinion is the beach for it. my dad dropped us off with all the gear and then headed further down the road to find a parking space. he returned a little while later and just as we started out for the water, it began to rain. it wasn't the bad so we covered up our stuff with our chairs and headed out. it continued to lightly rain on and off for the next 45 minuets while we where in the water. i got tired so i decided to head back for the beach while my parents stayed out for a little while longer. while i was sitting on the beach by myself, drying off, it began to pour. it didn't really matter to me, because i was already wet. so i just sat in my chair with my hat on while God dumped a bucket on me. and 5 minuets later the rain completely stopped. and 5 minuets after that the rain pick up again and just as hard as before. eventually my parents came in and decide that we were done for the day. but the car was on the other end of the beach, so i offered to go and get. we loaded up and on our way back to the condo we stopped at a few stores and did some shopping. i found these really cool tea mugs that have a steeper inside. after that we all showered up and went to duke's for dinner. that is the one dinner that i look forward to every two years. i've only ordered one thing and i have no intention of changing it. after dinner i decided to pack a little because check out is at 10 tomorrow even though our flight isn't until 6. tomorrow we'll be heading out to the coffee plantation :) and finish up our shopping before flying a red-eye to honolulu and then on to lax.

that pretty much wraps up my vacation. i promise more picture will be up on the other site in the next week.

summer check list so far:

hawaii with the fam: check
sleep in: check but still have much more to do
get a rocking tan: still in progress
watch as many good movies as possible: no country for old men; life is beautiful on the plane ride back
blog more often and comment on others: double check
pray for others: check, but still needs improvement

no. 10

2008-08-06T02:21:00.000-07:00

for the first time this vacation i got to sleep in and i was totally stoked... unfortunately i am use to getting up at 6 am for work so i only slept in until 8:20. i guess it is best that i didn't waste my day, but with sleeping being around the top of my favorite activities, i never consider it to be a waste. anyway, my parents left in the morning to attend some time share pitch so we could get free stuff, so i grabbed a bowl of cereal and decided to watch no country for old men. roxanna you are totally right; there is no redemptive quality to this movie. i should say the picture went black but the movie did not end. rox - God is defiantly not in this movie. after my parents got back from the meeting, we had lunch in the condo and then headed to ke'e beach for some snorkeling. we would normally go to a beach called tunnels, but this beach came recommend so we decided to check it out. if you are not familiar with the shape or road system on the island of kauai: it is more or less a circle with one main road (hwy 56) going around the shore, with the exception of the north-west portion of the island. this portion has no roads and can only be viewed via helicopter or boat (by the way: boat tour of the north-west coast; totally not worth it). anyway we went to the beach that is at the north end of hwy 56. and when i mean the end of the road i mean that you make a u-turn in the sand. while my dad was pretty pleased with the beach, i wasn't impressed by any means. the snorkeling wasn't anything special; the reef was very close the surface which makes it difficult to swim over; the sand is filled with sticks and needles from the trees above; the trees are constantly dropping more stuff on you while you sit; there isn't much sand, and what sand it does have is cover with people; not that i need one, but the lifeguard "stand" is two guys sitting at a table in the parking lot (i'm not even exaggerating); the place in littered with chickens (more on that later); and it is further away (being that it is at the end of the world). needless to say that we didn't stay long. we did stay long enough for my mom to have a panic attack when i told her that the two people way way out in the water were my dad and sister. it made her so nervous that she walk over to the table "lifeguard stand" to which they replied "they'll be fine". in her defense there was a sign that said don't leave the reef and you could barely see them out in the water. after the afternoon at the beach, we had dinner at the condo and then played spades for the following hour.

chickens: there are hundreds of chickens everywhere you go on this island. are the worst part it that several of them that run around the condo and the roosters are so loud all the time. i swear, next time we go to walmart, were buying a shotgun.

parking space: besides the fact that most of the island doesn't have parking spaces, the ones that do exist are about 8 feet wide. if you can't visualize that dimension, most cars can barely fit, especially our jeep commander. but in any event, it doesn't really matter because no one on this island can park anyway. most everywhere we go, you can point out half the cars in the parking lot that are straddling the line and taking up two spaces or people you park so crooked you would think they were student drivers (or lizzy).

prices: holy cow! everything over here is crazy expensive. my guess is that 1) everything gets brought in from outside the island which makes the prices go up due to shipping and 2) where else are you going to go if you don't like the prices? we had to buy another bottle of sunscreen at walmart (cheapest store on the island) and it was $11.48. the same bottle in hb cost me $7.35. at safeway (cheapest grocery store on the island) i saw a gallon of 2% milk for $10.25. i'd rather mix water with dry coffee creamer.

no. 9

2008-08-05T01:06:00.000-07:00

this morning we went to the oki diner to have breakfast, because they serve macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup... which is pretty much an intense sugar comma on a plate. because we had atv reservations today, we decided to spend the afternoon on the south side of the island. we first went to spouting horn which we have already been to twice. if you're not familiar with it, spouting horn is the "hawaiian gauzier". basically there is a small park that overlooks a large rocky shore. this rock bed has several air pockets or tunnels running through it and when a large swell comes in the water is forced into these small tunnels and is shot out of holes on the surface. the largest hole can shoot out water over 20 feet in the air and is named spouting horn. really my mom just want to go there because there are 8 or so vendors there with their carts full of crap that no one really needs, that we seem to buy in handfuls. after that we went to old koloa town to kill time before our check-in time at 1:00. my family decided to go around to the different shops and i slept in the car for a few minuets before meeting up with them. around 1 we headed to the atv place to check in. their little store has a ton of outdoor shoes like crocs (which are lame! dutch wooden clogs meet gardening sandals; i don't get it), and chacos. jessica i'm not sold on them. the souls of the shoes are so heavy and these supposedly had 30% less mass then previous models. there was also a small display of rainbows for $45 a pair. i smiled as i glanced down at the pair that i was wearing, knowing that i paid only $33 because i live so close to the outlet. and they are worth every penny. we finally hit the trail around 2 in out atvs. my dad and i were the only two who wanted quads and the rest the tour were in muddy buggies (2-4 people cars). the guide took us on a 3 hour tour that ran us around an old 22 acre sugar cane plantation. the first half of the trail was in the lower valley closer to the coast. this section was very dry and dusty. the second half was up at a higher altitude and was rather wet. out guide (hilary) told us that the lower part sees about 15 inches for rain a year and the upper part can see over 80 inches. that is the biggest rainfall difference in a two mile distance in the world. during the later part of the tour it began to ran which created a lot of puddles and mud which made the tour a lot of fun. by the end of the tour we were covered in mud, just as we wanted to be. my family and i had a blast and i defiantly recommend this to anyone who travels to kauai. after the tour was over my family headed back to the condo on the north side. we first stopped at bubba burgers in princeville for dinner, because there is a lot of talk about is on the island. pretty good, but i'm still a bigger fan of in-n-out.

on a completely different note i feel like expressing how i really feel right know and i truly apologize if this offends anyone. this is not directed at any one person and i mean that. this is just something that is on my mind and it's about time i started being honest about my feelings. one of the things that i truly long for is to spend time with my friends. i often feel like i put a good amount of effort into this and come up short. what i mean is that i feel like i go out of my way to spend time with people and often don't get the same in return. this is not everyone and this is not every situation, but it honestly lets me down. i get really bummed out and often think that in some way it is my fault; that i'm too attached or that i expect too much from other people. i tell myself that just because i want something or think something is important doesn't mean that others feel the same way and will in turn treat the situation differently. i have told some people that the little things matter to me; both good and bad. i don't really know why that is but it really does affect me. i often feel as though i'm not important enough, which in the grand scale of things i'm really not the important. i guess it is just really difficult to love someone when you don't feel that coming from them. it wears me out and i'm not sure how much longer i can keep trying. i honestly feel like trowing in the towel on so many relationships. but i won't; i can't. i was briefly talking to someone about this without so much detail, and i remember telling them i can't give up on people. i need them. i guess i just want to be needed sometimes too.

no. 8

2008-08-04T00:02:00.000-07:00

i'm not sure what's up with the time stamp for these posts, but it's still sunday over here and this is what happened today. we were all planning on going to church this morning, but macy woke up in horrible pain over her toes. my mom decided that they needed to see a doctor that morning so we switched our plans around a bit. my dad and i decided that we would go hiking while my mom and macy waited at the doctor's. i packed 2 towels, 2 bottles of water, sunscreen, bug spray, chap stick and my dad's phone all in my little hiking backpack (i was pretty proud of my packing skills). my mom drop us off at the trail head, which was only a few miles down the road from the hospital, and then headed off with my sister at 10:30. my dad and i started down the trail which was a little familiar because we had hiked the beginning portion 2 years ago. the trail curved around through a large forest area until in met the river and ran adjacent to its bank. we continued on pass the first waterfall (which we hike to last time) in hopes of finding the lower and larger falls. the trail took us up and further away from the river and at times got lost in the think forestation of our surroundings. after traversing some difficult sections we came to the top of the lower falls. it was an amazing site to look down upon. the local directions my dad had received called for us to continue down the path where the trail would then cut back and lead us down to the base of the falls. when we arrived at the fork we noticed that the trail continued on further down the river. we being the somewhat adventurous type decided to follow it. i felt like we were getting lost, but every time the path came into question, my dad sharply defended it and marched on. the trail finally came back down to the river bank where we could see a large meadow on the other side. i decide to cross the river in my very cool teva water shoes (one of the best purchases that i have made; and i make a lot of good ones) and use the open field to easily run up and down to see if it was worth exploring further. i started heading down river, running adjacent to a barbed wire fence which was protecting a paved road. the river was mostly still water and i turned around when the protected road crossed the over the water on a bridge. heading back up river and past the location i crossed over, i could see a sign in the distance. i decided that i would go far enough to read the sign and then head back to where my dad was waiting for me. as i came closer i could make out the large red letters reading "warning", which is never a good thing. the sign read something like "warning, this area is used for law enforcement / k9 training. trespassing violations strictly enforced." great i going to be eaten by dogs while trying to find a waterfall. i met back up with my dad and we decide that we should head back to the base of the lower falls. it took a little bit of work to get down there but it was completely worth it. i was able to climb on some of the falls because i had water shoes on, but most of the area was extremely slippery. on the far right-hand side of the falls was a portion the of water that fell uninterrupted by rocks. this made it very powerful and difficult to get close to. i have had some practice being close to the base of a waterfall, but i don't recommend it to everyone. it becomes extremely hard to breathe and you can easily be overwhelmed and start to panic. after playing around at the falls for a while we headed back up the trail. by then it was nearly 3:00 and my mom and macy had finally finished so they could come pick us up. the diagnosis: another ingrown toe nail that had become infected. the doctor was able to remedy the situation by cutting off only a small portion of the nail off which meant that she can continue to participate in the week's activities. add to that some antibiotics and some vicodin and you are a happy camper. after that we went by a tahitian dancing and drumming event in the area and then had dinner at the condo. the later part of the afternoon look really cloudy and a few minutes ago the rain finally came. this should make for good conditions for off-roading tomorrow afternoon.

embarrassing story: last year when my dad and i went hiking in this area, i didn't have bug repellent on and was subsequently bitten 74 times (no joke, i counted them by circling every last one). so this time i came prepared, bug spray in hand. mid way through the hike i began to see a lot of mosquitoes and felt the need to reapply. as my dad continued on ahead of me, i stopped and began spraying my legs. i then stood up to spray my shoulders. while standing up the adjustable nozzle rotated and when i went to spray my left shoulder i instead sprayed my face. while thinking of some choice words in my head, i remained claim and dumped some of my water onto my face. in case anyone wanted to know what happens when you spray your eye and mouth opened face with bug repellent; my left eye was burning and part of my lip and tongue were going numb, not to mention the horrible taste that is left in your mouth for hours. i wiped my face off and hurried after my dad. i frantically asked him if my eye was red and when he said no, i knew that there was no need to contact the poison control as the bottle suggests. i'm glad to say that my eye ball and tongue have no bug bites.

i realize this was a long one but i didn't want to leave out any details. i promise more on parking spaces and prices later when there is less to blog about. i also have some additional pictures up on my other website so go and check them out (the link is on the right-hand side of the page).

no. 7

2008-08-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

it's our second day in hawaii and we have decided that the weather we are having is perfect. not too hot and not too humid. today we dragged ourselves out of bed, had a quick breakfast at the condo, and headed out for our 8 am check-in for kayaking. the kayaking company drove us down to the shore in hanalei bay (north-east side of kauai) where the kayaks were waiting. my mom and i were in one kayak and my dad and macy were in another. we had two guides plus another family (dad, mom, and 2 daughters) from sacramento, a newly wed couple from virgina, and an older couple from texas. we started out on a small river that flowed out into hanalei bay, and then moved down river in the open ocean. we never paddled around the larger waves, but it was still a fun experience being out in open water instead of a bay. after paddling around for an hour or so, we beach our kayaks at a small cove and went snorkeling. the water was so clear and filled with reef and fish. the guides passed out lunch when everyone started coming ashore and after lunch we headed back to where we first entered the water. then we were driven back to the check-in location and we returned to the condo around 12:45.

after kayaking i got a chance to finish reading brandon's blog. i was a super slacker and didn't start reading it until earlier this week, up i am completely caught up. if you didn't know brandon (collins) has been in paris for the past month and he has written several post about all of his experiences. if you have a chance i highly suggest reading it. his blog is very interesting and i find his witty comments and one liners very amusing.

after that i laid out by the pool and then we went out for sushi. more on parking spaces and ridiculous prices for everything tomorrow.

side notes: my dad forgot to take his blood pressure medicine in the morning and started to get a migraine in the middle of our kayak adventure. he then napped for the whole afternoon to recover. a while ago macy had infected toe nails and the doctor had to remove the nails on both big toes. they have since grown back and were doing fine... until yesterday. apparently now the hurt all the time and need to be cleaned out twice a day. i sure it is very painful, but macy is being insanely dramatic about the whole thing, both in what she does and how she verbally describes the pain. this just further exemplifies our extreme differences. me: i would just suck it up.

no. 6

2008-08-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

so i finished packing last night around 11 and was pretty happy with myself. however my dad wanted me to get gas that night which i really didn’t understand why, but i did it anyway. after that i finished up a blog and went to bed a little after 12. i had set my alarm for 2:30 am, because i was told that we were leaving at 3 for our 6 ish flight to hawaii. so my alarm went off, i snoozed a few times, and then got up. but the whole house was dark and no one was up. i was so confused so i went into my mom’s purse to check out the exact time of our flight. 8:32 am!!! i was so pissed. unfortunately my family has an extremely inability to communicate any information and all 4 people in my house hold neglected to tell me when the flight actually was. so i tried going back to bed, but as soon as i fell asleep my dad was waking me and asking for my car keys. none the less we all got to the airport on time, but of course the most aggravating part of any vacation has to be the airport, especially the security. so after standing in line for the security scans for 7 years, we finally made it to the front. we have all 4 laptops which have to be put in separate bins (like I’m going to let tsa f with my laptop in my checked bag), plus all other carry-on items. everything came through just fine, but they wanted to go through macy’s bag which is no big deal because it happens all the time. except that macy had a freaking pocket knife in her carry-on. “are you joking me!” i said out loud to macy as she fumbled to put her shoes back on. “i forgot i had it in there; i just always carry it around.” shut up macy. only boy scouts and australians can carry a pocket knife around all the time. world of war craft junkies who never leave their bedrooms don’t need pocket knifes. whatever… we got on the plane, which of course took off late. just after we took off it was then announced that the av equipment was broken and there would be no in flight movie. needless to say, it was a boring flight. side note: when did everything about flying get so expensive. I]i know about the whole bag fees, but they upped the prices on alcohol and now you don’t get a meal during the flight unless you pay like $10. its only a matter of time before its $2 to use the bathroom.

enough with the negativity. hawaii is amazing as always. the weather is great and everything smells wonderful. i layed out by the pool in the afternoon and then we all went out to dinner. i think that’s all for now. we have kayaking at 8 am tomorrow so I should be getting to bed.

another note: who wears shoes to the airport anymore. if i travel with you, you better be wearing sandals or i’ll punch you in the face.

no. 5

2008-07-31T23:41:00.000-07:00

today was my last day work and it really was bittersweet. as allison put it, it was like any other day, but i was crying on the inside. on one hand, i'm leaving for hawaii in 6 hours and i'm totally stoked for the rest for my summer vacation. but on the other hand, i'm really going to miss my job especially the people i got to work with. at first as many of you know i was terrified to go to work. my nervousness thinking about going to work made me physically ill; no joke. but eventually i got the hang of things and started to enjoy my job. I only worked there for 10 months, but i still felt welcomed. so to brion, bonnie, wun sze, martin, amy, brad, don, jeff, allison, and especially kathy: i thank you for an amazing experience. i truly enjoyed working with all of you and the thanks for putting up with my many mistakes.

(if you are wondering what the picture has to do with the blog; it doesn't)

no. 4

2008-07-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

like every summer the end has sunk up on me and will soon be over. while realizing my fast approaching unemployment, i made a list of what i wanted to do with my free time for the rest of the summer. we’ll see how much i really get done. (nothing is in a particular order and feel free to add to my list)

hawaii with the fam
colorado with the fam to see my little clone bekah
camp in morro bay
sleep in
get a rocking tan
ride my bike
finish a book
clean my room out (i’m mean really clean it out)
make my italy video (it’s only been a year)
go to the gym
have breakfast with gaby and emily
go to disneyland at 8 am with hannah
go to disneyland at a normal hour with bethany and lizzy
go to the beach with kate and mukta
hang out with becky somewhere other than starbucks
have a bonfire with addie
taco night with the cutlers
have lunch with my mom
watch as many good movies as possible
blog more often and comment on others
have quiet time with God
pray for others
one day of complete white space (a rox suggestion i’ve always wanted to try)
ride the train to san clemente or oceanside
visit my grandparents in arizona
get my braces off!!!
cut and dye my hair
wash my car
go to college

i also imagine that there will be lots of coffee too!

no. 3

2008-06-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

so i have to take some time to talk about my aunt and her family that live up north in livermore, ca. she is one of the coolest persons i know and i really wish that she lived a little closer, but of course they are moving even further away to colorado (denver area). apparently that is the thing to do these days, but i am really excited for them. my uncle got a great job out there and moving to another state means that they will actually be able to own a home. their intention is to move in late july and this will coming only 6 weeks after giving birth to her 4th child. rebekah lynn (4), haley elisabeth (3), luke alan (1), and megan hope (born on thursday, june 26). yes 4 kids under 5! she is also crazy. they are the cutest kids in the world and bekah is a miniature version on me. hopefully i will get a chance to see them in august out in colordao to help them unpack but we haven't nailed anything down yet. just pray for their safety in traveling and general support in taking care of 4 kids and packing at the same time. that blows me away, but God is always at work and can make anything happen.

no. 2

2008-06-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

so i have come to realize that i sometimes mumble when i am talking for no particular reason. i thought it was only when i was tired, but has as gaby has confirmed, that is not always the case. my thought is that i am now compensating for yelling a lot due to my former job as a teacher's assistant/daycare worker or being a drum major in high school. that probably isn't why but i like to have a reason for almost everything and this one works for now. if you have any theories i welcome them with open ears and a half open mouth. continuing in this conversation with gaby i was discussing other minor flaws (for lack of a better word) that other people have. i have heard the saying "true love is blind" and i think that sometimes it is very true in all kinds of relationships. there are "flaws" that i have never notice about long time friends that were only brought to my attention through other people. my guess is that when you are so close to someone the little things that might annoy others are hardly noticeable to you. what it really comes down to is that i'm sure all of my friend have some kind of minor flaw just as i do, but that really doesn't matter to me. i love them all. but in any case i apologize for mumbling to anyone during a conversation past or future as i am sure that my mumbling will not be going away anytime soon.

no. 1

2008-06-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

riding your bike is highly under rated. bicycling is a good cardiovascular exercise that could increase the health of your heart, is kind to the joints, shapes leg muscles, increases your balance, and can release your stress from daily work. plus it is good for the environment and it is flat out fun. i have recently started riding my bike to work on fridays and i really enjoy the feeling of contributing to a greener environment in a practical way. and because i live in southern california and we have amazing summer weather, i have been on at least one other bike ride a weekend for the last two months. i think that the most amazing thing about bike rides are the people that i get to share them with. good conversation, good food, good fellowship, good music, good times. i hope my best riding buddy is still getting a chance to ride even though we are miles apart. now i'm off to ride some more and you should to.