Strawberry Neglectar Juice

Okay, today is December 9th, 2006. I started to write a blog months ago, that was meant to catch you up to date on my life. However, there was so much to write about, it was more daunting than anything else, and I never felt up to the task of completing this chronicle. So, I'll post what I started to, then I'll add any more important events I can remember, and then I'll just move on from there. I must let go of the past in order to move forward, right? :) So without further adieu, here are the beginnings of the post I started months ago!



About that last post... it was the morning of my last day of classes. I had been up all night, and I had three Red Bulls and a banana in my tummy. I was feeling quite strange, and knew I had a very long day ahead of me. But the energy drinks and lack of food, that's where the 'puking' bit came in.

So, now we're back in School Season. I go back tomorrow. I have a morning class with Deny, who I haven't had a class with since my second term here. It's a class I hadn't been looking forward to, since when Paul and Ryan took it they had a different teacher and a crappy experience. We'll see how mine goes.

This break has been a blast! I'll do my best to tell you everything we did in these past two weeks, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to cram it all into one post. It will just have to be a very brief overview of my recollection.

...

Okay, so I started this post on October 2nd. It's been a few days... Let me get back to what I started. Um... It's going to be a bit difficult to remember, but I'll do my best.

So, first of all, classes ended. So, I finished photographing events for TBA (all of which were really cool, by the way). The Monday after school was out, Paul and I went down to visit my parents and check out their new place. They found a 'cozy' little apartment in Corvallis, and they really like both the neighborhood and the town. I'm glad.

Then later that week, Paul and I saw "The Last Kiss" (starring Zach Braff), with Ryan and April. We liked it, and had a very cheerful and long relationship talk on the way home (that's the kind of conversation this movie is likely to inspire, though most likely not always the 'cheerful' kind).

One of the days that week we went hiking on Larch Mountain, which was great. It was a bit chilly and wet, but Paul gave me his rain gear (which was sweet) and we brought a packed lunch. It was nice, and we hiked down the mountain to Multnomah Stream (which feeds into the famous waterfall), then back up again.

Then for the weekend, we traveled up to Centralia to hang with Paul's family and friends. Friday night, we went to see Jackass 2, with Drew, Josh, Athena, and Dee. The movie was absolutely hilarious! I didn't think I'd enjoy it much, but I got a huge kick out of it. So did Paul's mom and sister, which kind of surprised me. The next night, we stayed in and relaxed. Josh brought over a movie called Kashern, which I loved. It was a, very cool, live-action anime film. Then Sunday we had planned on leaving, but decided to stay one more night. So we decided to see a movie at the Olympic Club, and dragged Drew with us. Um... let's see if I can remember the movie... something about a grass dog... Oh yeah! The Lady in the Water. I liked it. The dog creeped me out, though. Anyway, I had a beer and a Pink Floyd (it was very pineapple-y), Drew had a beer and a bunch of water, and Paul decided to have --

We bring you this interruption to announce a recently-transpired event: Callie just tackled Paul to pry candy from his death-gripping fingers, then he sat on her with his fat butt and crushed her. Now back to your regularly-scheduled bloggings.

Paul decided to have five Vodka Sours and three AMFs (they usually cut you off after two of these...). Needless to say, Paul was completely gone by the end of the night. It was hilarious, until he started puking when we got home. Poor guy. Then, the house gets a call at 8 in the morning-- Ron's been in a car accident, and has been admitted to Harborview Hospital, in Seattle (he works a night shift in Seattle, and commutes every night, so it wasn't strange that he should be admitted all the way up there). So we all piled in the car and spent the next twelve hours at the hospital, waiting to see if he would be released. He ended up with a broken foot, and was kept overnight, but he's otherwise okay.

The next day, Paul and I went back to Vancouver, received a phone call from David, regarding a trip to the beach.

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Now back to what I can remember... I believe I was trying to eventually get at the fact that Paul and I went on a wonderful vacation, just the two of us. We went down to Newport, and stayed two nights at The Embarcadero, which I recommend if you should ever get the chance to go. It was super relaxing and a wonderful getaway, which was much-needed at the time.

Oh, also, the beach trip with David and Co.... we got out to the beach at night, built a bonfire, and had a lot of fun under the amazing starlit sky. Then we had some hot chocolate when we got back into town. Good times!

Anyway, here are some various pictures taken over the fall break. Enjoy!

The color and sponginess of various parts of the path on Larch Mountain.

The atmosphere of various parts of our Larch Mountain trek.

Paul's drunkenness and two of his empty glasses...

The hospital where we spent an entire day.

The benches in the smoking area of the hospital.

The view of Seattle when we left the hospital.

This is the bridge in Newport. The fog was strange; it usually didn't travel beyond the bluffs into the bay area, it just stayed collected on the coastal area.

This is the lighthouse of Newport, and the only lighthouse I have had the pleasure of visiting thus far.

These are the cute sea lions that we heard barking from our room all weekend, so we paid them a visit on the way out of town.

And now, I added a few bonus pictures. See, after our mini-vacation, Paul and I went up to Ellensburg, to visit several friends. The first night there, we all went out dancin', which was great. The second night there, we stayed in and drank, which was also fun. However, I had *quite* a bit, causing me to black out most of the night. I remember the beginnings of strip poker, and I know all but one person ended up naked (no, I was not the fortunate one). Anyway, the point of my story is this: while drunk, I was given a little shove. I did deserve it, since I was doing my best to pick on everyone. Anyway, the small shove completely threw me off balance, and somehow the weight of my whole body landed on my leg, which landed on a futon frame. I was left with this bruise, as a reminder of my stupidity. It stuck around for about 4 weeks...

Here's a detail view of the bruise.

And here's a look at how much of my leg it covered. It wasn't pleasant.

So there you have it. That was my last break. I'll get you caught up from there in a new post. And I'm sorry I've been neglecting for such a long time... I'll try to stay more current with this. :)

No sleep 'till...

I feel like puking. :(

Busy Bee

There's a lot going on right now! I'll start with the biggest news: My parents have left California and have moved up to Corvallis, Oregon! So, they'll be just over an hour away from me, now. I'm excited! I'm supposed to help them move, but if they move into their new apartment any sooner than Thursday, I probably won't be able to help them, due to this being Finals Week at school.

Next on the list, my recent goings-on. I've volunteered to be a photographer for PICA's art festival, TBA (Time-Based Art). So Friday night, at 10 pm, I went to see Shaky Hands, which was an awesome show. The music was a ton of fun to listen to.

Then Saturday night, at 11, I went to Dancepod. It was absolutely packed. The artist's statement was something like "I can't think of anything more honest to make than dancing with you." So a big white pod was erected in The Works (the building where these events have been taking place), dancing music was put on, and then it was just one gigantic dancing party. I didn't dance, but I think I had almost just as much fun watching everyone else dance. I've come to the conclusion that people, on the whole, are inherently bad dancers. It made the experience that much more humble, though. Oh, also, projected onto the pod was a list of "I fear..." and "I believe in...," and there was a computer off to the side, where you could type in your own answers to be projected.

Then last night, at 10 again, I went to an electro-operah put on by the very sexual group called Fleshtone. And wow... wow. It was amazing, and hilarious, and amazing... Hah, the best part... The main girl came out onto stage, looking all sleepy like she had just waken up, and then started rubbing her tummy like she was hungry, then she sat on the ground. Then, this gigantic waffle with butter on it came dancing out... and it was naked. It was a waffle with a penis, and it was hilarious. Then the girl hopped up, so excited, and danced around the waffle and took bites out of it while she was dancing with it. Sooooo funny! And then a sausage with boobs came out, and a box of juice, again with a penis. Hah, it was great.

So yeah, that's pretty much been my weekend. I can't really remember if I've done anything during the daytimes... Well, yesterday Paul and I went over to Ryan and April's house to do some homework... and then April made us fajitas for dinner! Mmm, they were so tasty.

Oh, and on Friday afternoon, I was sort of recovering from a hangover... I went to the birthday party of a friend I haven't seen in about a year or so, on Thursday night. My friend Tahni turned 22, and so there was surprise party for her down in West Lynn. But I was directed to the wrong bar, so I was about an hour late... all the while drinking Vodka Sours at the bar I had been waiting at. So, needless to say, I finally arrived at the party pretty late, and pretty drunk. Tahni was happy to see me, though! And I was happy to see her.

Oh, I almost forgot... Saturday night (Dancepod), I got to wear my new cute brown dress, 'cause Paul made me. I don't have any shoes to go with it, though, so I wore my green converse (heh heh). I don't think it looked bad, and I felt like I fit in with the arty crowd at the PICA event. But anyway, I felt very pretty wearing it. Paul took pictures of me when I got home, and I'm putting them on my Flickr account so you can see. They only look okay in black+white, though, because the light was way too red to repair in Photoshop.

But, now, I must get back to the stack of homework, for there is very much in my In box, and very little in my Out box.

Hopefully, more bloggerific goodness to come soon.

Bridges of Multnomah County

So as it turns out, Snakes on a Plane was an awesomely entertaining movie, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. And hanging out with Clint was wonderful! It was a great night, all around.

Yesterday, I went to go watch Paul play hockey with Ryan and his friends, out in Gresham. There's this old abandoned outdoors rollerhockey rink, so every Saturday (if plans go well) everyone gets together to go play for a couple of hours. Paul's gotten hurt every time he's gone so far, but he has so much fun he keeps going back for more. This time I wasn't the only one watching from the stands; April was there, too. I haven't seen her in a while, so that was pretty cool.

However, instead of going and sitting in the shade with her (which was the smart thing to do), I decided to stay in the sun so I could get a bit of color. But the color turned out a bit red. :(

Today was fun; Paul went out of town yesterday afternoon, just after hockey, so I had the rest of yesterday and all of today to myself. I honestly have no idea what I did after Paul left yesterday. He left at four, and it wasn't until ten that I realized that the day was gone and I hadn't accomplished anything. Woops... So today I decided to be semi-productive. I went out at noon to downtown Portland, and took 129 pictures (filled my memory card) in two hours, all of the bridges. I got more sunburned. But that's okay, I loved my afternoon! I saw the middle through the end of about fifty people swimming across the Willamette; I saw a lone, forgotten book underneath a park bench; I saw two people being led by two other people, one of which was reciting a poem, the other was playing guitar; I saw a ton of dads riding bikes with their daughters. It was a great day.

AAAAAhhhhhhhhh!!!! no way!!!

Paul's dragging me to go see Snakes on a Plane in about an hour. I'm not terribly enthused (sorry...). But he told me to go call and invite Clint to go with us, since Clint's been trying to hang out with us, and we haven't had a chance to get together yet. So I called him, and now Clint's up here, eatin' an enchalada, hangin' out with us!

Guess who got tickets to go see RATATAT???

That's right, the guy next door!

...just kidding.......


I DIDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

eviction of the brain

I feel melancholy, apathetic and generally caught in the doldrums at the moment. I think this post is probably meant for my public blog, and not my private one. So I think I'll post it there. Anyhow, I'm not quite sure how I got in this funk. But the song I'm listening to currently, Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah, is cementing the mood. Oh, now it's Bright Eyes' Lua. Much better (/sarcasm)...

I keep finding remnants of the night I drank nearly a full bottle of wine (a big bottle, not regular-sized). I've found a few conversations and blogs I don't entirely remember doing, but I'm sure it was me. My sincere apologies to those I bugged and may have hurt. Way too much wine. And unfortunately, I don't think Paul will let me buy another bottle anytime soon...

I should be doing homework. Paul and I are going up to Centralia tomorrow morning. There's a family reunion on the Thomas side of Paul's family, and my presence is requested by his father, for getting to know the people I could one day be bound to the tree with. We have to be there at nine, so we (I) should probably wake up at around 6-6:30-ish. And it's nearly 11 now. And I'm not sleepy. Well, maybe a little...

I'm charging my camera batteries, because I need to get in the habit of actually using my camera when I take it everywhere with me. I've already missed two great photo opportunities this weekend (the beach with my family, and Potholes with my friends), and I'm super-bummed about both of them. I need to be making lots (hundreds) of photographs for my Advanced Image Manipulation class, and I currently have about thirty. Whoops...

I think I've found the source of my current mood. There's a being in the room that seems to be draining all the energy and life out of the situation. It does that fairly regularly... I don't think this regular exercise is a particularly helpful mechanism, but maybe there's something going on behind the scenes that I'm not quite understanding. Ugh.

I'm listening to a delightful song now, and it could just lift my spirits a bit! Hah, it's great. It's by The Boy Least Likely To, and the name of the song is I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star. Oh, now there's flute, or pan pipes, or something. How happy. It sounds like something that would be sung out in a sunny field by little girls holding hands and skipping in a circle.

I think I should try to get some sleep now. Goodnight, all, and have sweet dreams!