On this day, the 19th of December, 2004, Mr. Peter Scott & Mrs. Teresa Ferguson are invited to join George Zimmer and friends for dinner and dancing at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco... George Zimmer, from The Men's Warehouse, is one of my dad's clients.

Here are Peter and Teresa ready to go out on their big date!

Don't they just make such a cute couple?!?

Oh! And one more, 'cuz we're just sooo proud of them!

Awww, ok, off you two go! Have fun, but not too much fun! Don't do anything I wouldn't do! Just say no!

God, didn't you hate it when parents were like this about Prom?! It was a relief if you even made it to the car!

I'm never letting my parents pick out the Christmas tree again! Look what they got:

Let's start from the top: The most important thing is the star. IT'S CROOKED! And there's no limb that sticks straight up for it, either!

2. What the heck is that gap about 3/4 of the way up?!?!

3. This picture makes it look good, but when you look at it in person, it's not Christmas tree shaped!! It looks more straight down than triangle or whatever... But it looks okay here...

4. They put it on top of soo many boxes that it looks funny. If you want a taller Christmas tree, get a taller one! Our ceiling is about 13 feet high, so we have room for a taller one..

Oh well. I wired the star straight, and we decorated it, so the gap doesn't really show, but this is one of the saddest, most embarrassing trees I've ever seen! =(

My sister wanted me to write this: "Ginny is the coolest sister ever! She only looks like she's 21." (She's 27)

Thanksgiving Day

4am I wake up and take a taxi to the airport. Ugh!

6am I board the plane and who should be there but Fr. Malo! (Yay, O'dowdians) I couldn't say much 'cuz I was holding up the line in the aisle, so I moved on. I wanted to get a picture to put on here, but after we landed, he disappeared, Kaiser Sose style (how do you spell Sose?).

1:30 pm Texas Time Arrive at my aunt and uncle's house. Then we ate a huge yummy turkey dinner. And napped while the boys watched football. Then we played pictionary.. Fun stuff.

Uncle Dave cutting the turkey

My Grandma's plate. Yum

My Grandma, my cousin's little girl Sidney, and my other cousin's month old baby Annabella

My grandpa, my cousin's other little girl, Landen, and my sister. (Don't ask me why she has orange hair. I don't understand)

Me with the baby... She was sooo tiny! A month old. I don't think I've ever held a baby that young. And one of the cutest babies I've ever seen.. maybe that's just 'cuz she's family.

My mom and the baby

Friday

We went to brunh with my grandparents then went to the mall, did a little Christmas shopping and then back to my family's house for Trivial Pursuit 90's Edition. We played younger generation versus older generation, and the parents kicked our butts! =(

Saturday

We went to Starbucks for breakfast then took my sister to the airport which she almost missed her flight. She went home to go to a bachelorette party, but was planning to meet us in Vegas. Then back to the mall with my mom to search for jeans for me.. No luck, but we got some more presents. Then we went to my family's again and played Pictionary again and ate a spicy Indian dinner. And we drew names for our Christmas exchange.

Sunday

I couldn't sleep until midnight and then I woke up at 6am and couldn't go back to sleep! We went to the airport and got on an earlier flight to Las Vegas. We stayed at the Venetian. It was very nice and our room was awesome. Then we walked to Mandalay Bay, which is waaay down at the other end of the strip... like 3,000 yards. Oh my! My feet hurt soo much 'cuz I was wearing heels. We met my sister at the House of Blues Gospel Brunch which was fun, but not really that great. Then we walked around the Luxor and Excalibor and then went back to the hotel. It was below freezing with strong winds outside, so we didn't want to go on the rollercoaster. We went around the hotel and shopped a little and then napped and then got ready for dinner. It was way overpriced and not very good, but we are spoiled 'cuz we come from the Bay Area with the best restaurants in the world. Then everyone was really tired and falling asleep, but we went to "O" and it was awesome! I personally liked Varekai better, 'cuz I could follow the story more, but everyone else said that they liked O better. My mom was falling asleep during the show. Quite annoying. When people appaulded she would wake up and clap extra hard. Haha. After the show, it was midnight and I was 21!!! Whoo hoo! So we walked around Bellagio and tried to find a table or a bar, but I was too indecisive so everyone got annoyed and then my sister wanted to see the inside of Paris 'cuz she'd never seen it before, so we went across the street. My dad's back was hurting and everyone was so tired. I felt bad, I didn't want to keep everyone up just for me, so I just wanted to get it over with, have a drink, gamble a little and then go to bed. So I got a Tequila Sunrise and they carded my sister, not me, then I played slots, then I was like ok, let's go to bed. Supposedly, my mom couldn't sleep, so at 2am, she tried to wake me up and go to Fremont Street (like the old Strip), but I didn't wake up! =( Oh well

I don't know why, but I took a picture of the Forum at Ceasar's

The House of Blues

And, finally, my sister, me and my dad tired on the bed...

Monday

We woke up, gambled and played Blackjack, because I'm 21 and I gotta play 21... I wouldn't have gotten carded, but my mom decided to announce that I was 21 today so the guy is like well then I guess I better check, huh? =( I let my whole family play with me, but we all lost. With a $25 minimum, it was an expensive 30 seconds! =( Then we played roulette. Again a $25 minimum. I put it on black. It landed on red 18 and that was that. =( How unlucky. It doesn't help with my mom screaming in my ear and getting all excited and loud. We're gambling, we gotta play it cool, and she's just embarrassing and bad luck going, "Well, what do we do?! I don't know what we're doing!?" Ugh... Anyway, then we checked out and got on a plane to home. I drove back to Santa Cruz and met Chris after his section. Finally some time to relax... All in all, I think Vegas is just not my family's style. We don't gamble and we laugh at the people who walk in front of us and say, "Wow, this is what it's really like, huh?" No! Go to Europe, it's NOTHING like the real thing! Ah well, Se la vie. (My sister corrected me that it's actually spelled: C'est le vie)

Halloween weekend, Chris and I drove to Santa Barbara to visit Tony! Yay! I finally got to meet Dom... very cool. SB is too much partying for me, I'd never get any sleep... But it was so much fun for the weekend. I really like that you can bike everywhere there, I wish Santa Cruz were like that. Tony was the Mad Hatter, Rachel was Alice, her roomate was the Queen of Hearts and Tony's roomate was the Cheshire Cat.. I wish I had gotten pictures... Oh and Dom was a Legends of the Hidden Temple kid.. (If you don't know what Legends of the Hidden Temple is, you're lame)... Anyway, he was a purple parrot... Awesome! I didn't get to see my friend Phoebe, too bad. I miss you, Phoebe!!!! Anyway, saw my first water polo game! It was sooo exciting!! I can't believe I never went to any in high school. Boy did I miss out!! It went into double overtime and then sudden death! Chris and Tony didn't get to see their friend, Jared play, but that's ok... Anyway, then halloween, we were back in Santa Cruz, but pretty over the whole dressing up and partying thing, so we bummed out early...

Note to self: TAKE PICTURES WHEN YOU DON'T WANT TO, 'CUZ YOU WANT THEM LATER!!!

I guess I should give a promised update of how the saltine race went... We heard from a friend that it's impossible to eat 8 Saltine crackers in a minute. Here are the rules: 8 Saltines in a minute, anyway you can (one by one, 4 by 4 or all eight, if you like)... Nothing to drink during that minute and you can't mash them up before you put them in your mouth. So, Mitch and I think we can do this. We get the Saltines and I go first. I stuff two in my mouth, try to chew, time is running out fast, stuff another two in there and now it's even harder to chew. It was like my mouth was going in slow motion, I couldn't bit down as fast as I wanted to. At 15 seconds remaining, I stuff the remaining 4 into my mouth. Big mistake because then of course the time runs out and I am stuck with the biggest wad of crackers in my mouth and no room to chew... Mitch attempted also, and with a little better luck. He got most of it chewed, but not all, I'd estimate he did about 6 crackers. I don't think it is impossible to do 8, just damn hard! The crackers turn to cement in your mouth and makes it so hard to chew and swallow. We're done with that. If you can do it, you're my hero.... (No pictures because the last ones were ugly enough and I figured I'd spare you of more hidious photos of me just sitting there chewing. Also, chewing is more of an action, that you can't catch through still pictures...)

In high school, I was infamous for stuffing little hostess chocolate donuts in my mouth. One day I stuffed 5 of the 6 donuts into my mouth at one time. Sarah, Kelly, Jessica, and Julia were witnesses. Kelly said of it: You have a big mouth! You're gonna be really popular in college! And then Julia said: Why would that make her popular? Wouldn't that make her less liked?! Oh Julia.... Anyway.. so, Sarah, Mitch and I were in Safeway buying dessert and this came up. He said Oh well that's easy, I bet I could fit 5 of those in my mouth... And so the challenge began:

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Mitch begins... First one, easy!

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2nd one, fine!!

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3rd one "How many more left?!"

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Oye, Running out of room!

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Come on, Only one more! You already have 4!!

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He's done... 4 1/2.. Good job, Mitch. Impressive...

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Now for my turn...

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First one.. How did I do this in high school?!?!

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Number 2.. I think I can handle this...

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Oooh Maybe not..... =(

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Oh no, I'm turning red....

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This is four:

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Aaaannnd, number, five.... Nope, can't do it!!! I was hittin the gag reflex, so I had to stop... =(

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I have no idea how I did it in high school =( But Mitch won: 4 1/2 to 4.... I was so ashamed...

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Stay Tuned for the Next Competition: 8 Saltines in a minute! We've heard it's impossible. We're gonna prove it wrong... Xanga documentation coming Thursday, hopefully...

Pumpkin Carving!!!

We teamed up. Chris/I had one pumpkin and Sarah/Mitch got the other...

Chris makes the first cut for the lid...

After removing the guts of the pumpkin, Mitch draws a preliminary design for the face.

But luckily we had stencils...

Now for the actual cutting...

Chris and I finish our pumpkin first... It's a bat cave!!! (And it has a wart on it's wing...)

Aaannd, like 4 hours later, Sarah and Mitch finish!! Mitch says it was because the face was very hard to do because it was so fragile..

So, I put theirs out on the front porch with the other pumpkin, but then suddenly it falls off the chair! I dropped their pumpkin!!

Mitch comes running!!! "What did you do?!" he shouts. He tells me that if I broke the face that he worked so hard on, he would break my face!

So, we pick up the pumpkin and inspect the face.... The mouth is broken!

Mitch is PISSED. Chris has to hold him back and Sarah has to hide the knives. I apologize, but it didn't sound sincere because I was laughing so hard... Then I told Mitch that it was scowling like a pirate, so it's a Pirate Pumpkin. That made him happy!

Yar! Happy Pirate Halloween, Mateys...

On Saturday, Chris, Jess, Eric and I went to go visit Nicole at her new boyfriends house. That was fun, but when we went to leave, we only got a block before Jess noticed her wheel pulling to the left. We pulled over and sure enough her front left tire was FLAT! Yikes!

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So, Jess leaped into action and changed her tire! What a pro!

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Most of us couldn't really do much except stand around... Here's Chris inspecting the flat tire...

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Finally Jessica got the spare on... (also just wanted to show how rad her mustang convertible is).

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With the exception of Eric, our hands were all at least this dirty:

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end.

Because we can all benefit from some useful information every now and then...

Today, I learned: Eggs have a shelf life of 4-5 weeks after the sell date. So, if you buy eggs today and the date on them says Oct 13, they should be OK until about Nov. 20th... (That's about 2 months from now!) So, don't throw them out after a month, but then again you might not want to eat the ones that have been in the fridge since January...

Since Chris's parents come up to Santa Cruz to move him in, my mom decided it would be a nice idea to have dinner, and meet his parents. So, my parents drove down from Berkeley, and all 6 of us went to dinner at a very nice place called Shadowbrooke in Capitola. It was very nice and both parents loved it; they are already planning a graduation celebration there (that's almost 2 years from now... Chris and I don't plan into the future that much... kinda scary). Oh well. I was soo nervous, but I think it went pretty well. Not too many awkward silences or disagreements. I think my parents still very much approve of Chris (despite political differences). At the end of the night, the moms started telling embarrassing stories. That's when you know it's time to leave.

My mom, trying to make small talk: So, how are the Lakers gonna do now that Shrek was traded?

I went to the San Francisco Opera, which I've been meaning to do for years. I saw La Traviata. The first guy I sat next to was very rotund and breathed heavily. It was very annoying, so I switched seats with my mom, and just my luck the guy next to me had turrets, not the swearing at random moments kind, but the kind where he would twitch and every once in a while make a hiccupping sound. It was less annoying than the heavy breather, so I stuck with that seat. The opera was not as sad as I had expected; I was not all that impressed. Maybe my expectations were too high, or maybe it just wasn't the right story for me. I'll try again, on opening night next year, so I really get to dress up! =) Also, I got to see Jennie and Mitch, who happened to be sitting in the section above me! Yay for funny intermission chats! P.S. My parents thought you were both really nice.

So, I'd been off work for a grand total of two days before I got bored out of my mind and almost went insane. I had such bad cabin fever that I almost took off for LA at 9 o'clock at night, but my boyfriend convinced me to wait til morning. So first thing on Labor Day morning, I drove to LA, and spent a week there. I helped the Witte's with a charity horse show a little bit, and swam in the pool a lot. And even swung at a few golf balls. I say swung at, 'cuz I missed most of them! And I taught Chris how to drive a stick. He was so good that it was sickening to remember how many times I stalled and how frustrated I got trying to learn!! And now I'm back in Berkeley for a couple days. I haven't even been here for a day and I'm already soo bored, wishing I was someplace else! =(

No pictures because my camera is in Santa Cruz, awaiting my arrival later this week.

As promised, here is my friend, Sarah who I haven't seen since about 8th grade. She lives down the street from me, so it's really a shame that we don't talk anymore, but she's cool. She's one of 4 sisters! They are all great, beautiful girls, err women, now... Also in the picture are her little sister, Kate, and Kate's boyfriend, Shiraz. Kate was 10 last I saw her, so it's hard to imagine that she's going off to Brown soon and that she's had a boyfriend for longer than I have!!!

Scanned a bunch of my pictures today. Ah how the memories come flooding back.. Here's a little bit about my high school days for those of you that don't know:

Most of my days were spent with Traci, my best friend in high school. We were inseparable and have some of the best memories. She was a cheerleader, golfer, and flutist in the band. I haven't spoken with her since high school, tho. Weird how things work out. Sometimes I really miss the friendship we had.

Then, there was Meagan! I was really close with her for a couple of years, but we drifted apart when she moved to a different high school after soph year. I had some wild nights with her... but it was always good old fashioned silly, sober fun. She's changed since then. But we had crazy fun times in my VW convertable!

These are the girls that I've loved since Elementary school! Adrienne and Emily. (Sarah's not pictured, but you'll get to see her on Sunday). We didn't hang out much in high school, but are still pretty close. Emily is one of the few people I can travel with and we're gonna be friends till we're 80! =P

Ah yes, and then there were my crushes! LOL We can't forget about those. The one kneeling in this picture was my crush for all 4 years of high school!! (note: the rest of these boys were not my other crushes) haha Ok, I'm gonna move on before I start to blush...

I went to a Catholic high school, which means there were priests. Fr. Glass (far left) was such a hard ass that everyone hated him, but he was all about no BS, so everyone had to respect him. Fr. Malo (next to Glass) was such a great quirky, inspirational teacher that taught the best sex ed class I've ever taken. Another teacher that I musn't go on without mentioning is Mr. Tyler, the Earth Science teacher. That was one of the best classes of my life and he was so enthusiastic and fun!

I didn't do any sports. Instead, I was a choir geek for all four years. I took it every single semester! It wasn't a very prestigious chorus, most took it becuase it was an easy A. But I don't think anyone who hasn't been in Mr. Judd's chorus class will understand why it was so much fun. I doubt you can spot me in the picture; we all look the same! lol

That's about it. Of course I could say much more about my high school experience. But I'll just sum it up with Charles Dickens: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

I picked my parents up from the airport at midnight. They've been in Alaska for 2 weeks and were ready to be home. So, what's the first thing they do when they get home at midnight? Do they: Raid the fridge 'cuz they're starving, go straight to bed 'cuz they're tired from traveling, or sit down, relax and tell me about their trip??? buzzer! Time's up. That's what they would do if they were normal. But no, my parents set their bags down at the front door, and start going through the stacks of mail. Why? Because they "have so much to get done" that they have to start right now. Then, they show me souveniers, and this throws them into more unpacking. So then at 1am they unpack all their clothes, tell me all about it, and start some loads of laundry. It's now almost 2:30am and they are just settling into bed.

Countdowns, because I'm that bored...

2 Hours until my godawful brother, sister-in-law, and 8 year old twin neices come to visit. =(

2 Days until I see Chris again! (In Santa Cruz for a day)

8 Days until my parents get back from Alaska.

25 More days until work is over! (15 more days of actual working)

30 Days until I move into Santa Cruz.

43 More days of Summer! (or 43 days until school starts)

63 More days until Hockey Season starts! Go Kings, Stars, and Penguins!

81 Days until Halloween.

82 Days until Chris and I have been together for a whole year. That's scary!

109 Days until my Birthday!

119 Days until Christmas Break (Winter Quarter is over)

135 Days till Christmas!

141 Days left in 2004!!!

(146 Days until I see Dan again. Whoo hoo?)

At my internship with Chez Panisse, I help the Pastry and Assistant Pastry Chefs. The best part of the job is staff lunch because all the food is delicious! But today, I went to go sit down with my plate of food and there was a table with people crowded around it; full. So I sat alone at the next table while they all talked about life, and I just quietly ate my food. How sad! =( I'm loner (or should I say loser?). Also today, I was chopping chocolate with a tool like this one (it's the best way to chop blocks of chocolate):

You have to put a lot of weight into it to get the block to break into chunks. Anyway, My finger slipped and I accidentally punctured my finger!! I felt it go about halfway through my finger, and it didn't start to bleed for a second, so I had time to go clean it and put a bandaid on it. In the food business, however, you must also keep the bandaid out of the food, so you have to put on a glove, or in this case, just a finger condom! So I had to wear this embarrassing little slip of plastic for the rest of the day! How funny! A picture, of course, for your amusement! =)

Ode to J.K. Witte's Roses.

Don't you dare skim past them! Take time to enjoy the beauty of each one!







Don't you dare skim past them! Take time to enjoy the beauty of each one!

This weekend, on Saturday and today, Sunday, I took a motorcycle training course (which I have to take in order to get my liscense). It went from 6:45 - 11:30am! It was super hard to get up that early!! The classes were challenging and I could just keep up considering some people in it had been riding for years already! Then today, we had our test and I could've sworn that I flunked it because I felt like I did a lot of things wrong, but I ended up passing! Whoo hoo! I still need more practice on a stick shift bike, but good enough for now and I will be riding my mom's little scooter somewhat during the summer... Maybe in a couple years I can step up to my very own bike.. (My parents hate that idea) We'll see, I'll take things slow... =)

Yesterday, June 18, was my dad's birthday... We had a HUGE party for him that my mom, sister, and I have been planning for many months! My dad loves to get dressed up and (more importantly) see women dressed up, so we made it a black tie event for 120 of his closest friends! And they trully are all very close to him, it was hard to even limit it to that number! People responded soo well and flew in from all over the country and some cancelled their vacations in order to come to it. Anyway, it was also a surprise, and even though my mom wasn't very sneaky about it, he was still very surprised and happy to see people from all parts of his life... Everyone looked gorgeous (especially myself, I must say)... I act as hostess and greeted everyone. I was shocked to realize that I knew all but a few people. They, of course told many embarrassing stories about me, and I won't go into detail... Other than a few expected small glitches, it ran pretty smoothly. I was busy running around try to make everything go right the whole time, so I didn't take any pictures! Lame on my part! I shoulda taken at least one group shot of the family. Oh well.

Today was my sister, Ginny's 27th birthday! She decided that she wanted to go to a Moroccan restaurant with belly dancing! We sat on the floor around a table and ate everything with our hands! It took a little getting used to - you are supposed to pick up some pretty mushy stuff and stuff it in your mouth without dropping it all over the table and your lap. The dancing was amazing! I learned a few things: 1. Against American culture, the voluptuous women were more sexy and their dancing was more sensual. The women with flat stomachs just didn't look right... They couldn't shake and roll and gyrate as much. 2. Although they weren't washerboard bellies, it takes a LOT of work and muscles to do the moves they do for soo long! What a workout! 3. No matter how much training or fat on my bones, I don't think it would ever be possible for my body/my hips to move in that way!

PS. I coulda killed myself when I realized I left my camera at home.. If I had brought it, you would see belly dancers, my sister and mom trying to dance, and a 2 year old boy with amazing rhythm! =( Use your imaginations...

Dormcest

Dormcest (dôrm'sest)

n : A relationship between persons who live in the same dormitory.

While living in the dorms, it is highly discouraged to practice dormcest. The consequences of an unsuccessful relationship are evident; they are forced to deal with the awkwardness of seeing the ex around the halls, or even sharing the same bathroom. On our September move-in day, Morison began with 3 couples. By Halloween, 3 more couples had started (myself included). And then one more started during Winter quarter, making it 7 total couples in our building! To my knowledge all but one are still together (one couple is currently "on a break"). We find it pretty amazing that our relationships have endured the dreaded "dormcest". Now, we'll all have to face the difficulties of long-distance relationships during the summer months. Here's to all of us: Ryan, Nicole, Chris M, Lauren, Johnny, Nina, Allison, Cyril, Patrick, Jaqui, Harlan, Wendy, Chris W, and I!!

On Sunday was Jennie's Surprise Goodbye party because she's going to NYU next year! I am so proud of her for getting in and just know that she will rock in New York!! Here are pictures:

Waiting for Jennie to arrive... (I don't know these people)

Surprise!! Jennie had no idea! (Kelly also pictured, in the pink)

Jennie's Party Trick: She can chug Tequila! Bleh! You go girl!

Awww Cute piture of Jennie! (Mitch, her boyfriend, is acting as her seatbelt)

Woah Jennie! Don't laugh too hard, looks like you hit Mitch on the upswing!

No more tequila for Jennie...

All in all, it was great fun! Thanks Mitch, for planning such a wonderful party! And yay for Jennie! end.

Went to my friend, Dan's fraternity formal. (He's in the Jewish frat, AEPi) I remember why I didn't like prom in high school. No matter how much people can make me look pretty, I can't compete with the skanky girls in short slutty dresses! We stayed for about 20 min 'cuz it was kinda lame and the person we came for, Dan, was busy hanging out with his frat brothers. Oh well. This is the last prom I'll go to, so I figured I'd live it up! =)

Anyway, here's Athena. She got tricked into this picture, but I like it 'cuz she's smiling!

Here's our dinner table. (I never did this huge dinner thing in high school. I always just went with my date.) Anyway, starting from the bottom left, going around: Sarah, me, someone, some girl named Chris, someone, someone, someone, someone, Allen, Kelly, Athena, and Kunal)

And finally, Me, Athena, Kelly and Sarah. Why am I the tallest in this picture? Usually I'm the shortest one! (Warning: This picture not to scale)

Went roller skating at a ghetto place in Santa Cruz. It has a lot of potential, tho, and Jess wants to make it cool. I think she can do it. As for my skating. Well I guess my fear of ice skating has transfered over to fear of skating in general. I am afraid to fall, but I don't know why, because it doesn't hurt that much (which by the way I was the only one to fall, and I fell twice). Anyway, I got angry, as usual, when I think people are making fun of me; I thought I got rid of that back in 7th grade! =( Emily, Thank you for teaching me to laugh at myself when I fall; it is one of the most valuable lessons I have learned. =)