I forgot to mention my really cool trip to Mammoth! It was awesome and I skied pretty well. It was hot, tho, so we only skied in the mornings before the snow got too slushy. I was thankful that it wasn't too crowded or windy! The slopes we hit were generally pretty easy-intermediate, so I didn't really have to concentrate too hard on my technique and I didn't have any spectacular falls, just a couple of knock-overs. Anyway, we played Cranium, and played poker, and drank wine, and ate and shopped, and watched sports (of course) and it was so much fun! I didn't take any pictures 'cuz I was lazy and a bastard, so you'll just have to visualize this in your mind:

Getting onto the ski-lift, Chris goes by himself and his mom, dad and I go behind him. Right as the chair is coming around, Mr. Witte decides that we can all 4 go on one chair! So, we scoot up as fast as we can, but Chris is hogging the whole area. I tell him to move over, while I'm skiing onto the backs of his skis. The chair comes around and my skis go either direction, caught behind Chris and his dad's skis (on either side of me). We sit down, and there's no room for Mr. Witte, so he's hanging onto the pole for dear life with one buttcheek on the chair and one off! I'm also on the edge with my ankles twisted outward.Chris drops his pole and Mr. Witte looses a ski, I think. So, Mr. Witte leaps off the chair lift into the snow. All the weight is crammed to one side and the chair is now leaning dramatically. We don't notice this (we are more concerned with untangling my legs) until it scraps on the pole that it goes by. I scream because I'm startled by this metal on metal sound and think we're gonna die! We finally get everything straightened out and start laughing hysterically with Sharyl and Tony who got prime seats to watch (the chair in front of us).

Ooh! I did take a picture! Only one, though. Out the window of the place we were staying:

Today, I went to the driving range and swung at a few golf balls, for the first time in my life... In PV with Jon, Di, Blair, and Chris. I think I just wanted Chris to teach me (you know behind me, with his arms around me) Anyway, at least I hit the ball most of the time and it got maybe 5 yards! It's a start! I gotta work on my swing, tho, and bending my knees. But my follow-thru is definatly perfect! I kick my right foot into the air (makes the ball go just that much further) and finish by spinning almost completely around! It's beautiful; it really is...

Friday: Picked Jon up from San Jose Airport and went to the Sharks vs. Penguins game! It was fun, even though the Penguins lost! =( I get so hot at hockey games, I don't know how people are cold there! I wore a cleave-tacular tanktop and the guys behind me bought me a beer! How umm sleezy... Then they found out that we weren't Sharks fans. Oops! =)

Saturday: Halo Tournement! My boys, who I thought were like top in the nation have met their match. Ryan "Penis" Kolanz, Chris "Vagina" Witte, Jon "Fire Muff" Kimmes, and Chris "Rahmeve" Boujon (spelling?) played on Saturday night from midnight to 4am. Deathmatch was first, which subtracted deaths from kills and Chris woulda won that if his controller wasn't messed up on the last, deciding game. Then came Capture the Flag. Jon flew up from LA to be sniper for the team, which we named "Team Sex". One game went on for about 2 hours with no scoring for the first hour! Finally it was 1-0 against us, took a piss break, then we got the flag, 1-1, then they got it, 2-1, then we quickly got another point 2-2. By this time, it was 4am and Ryan was tired and everyone's skills were slackin, so the other team got another point and the game was over. It was very exciting. Everyone thought it was gonna go on all night. These two were clearly the best two teams playing, but instead of stickin it out till possibly 6am, my boys called it a night, wished the other team good luck and went to bed. The other team probably won, but who knows. Now Ryan and Chris have some good people up in Santa Cruz to play against. Wonder how good they'd be against the whole PV crowd... Next stop, the Nationals? Here's what the scoreboard was after the huge battle:

Went to Kirkwood over President's Holiday. Got in some good skiing and got a pair of new skis, whoo hoo! They turn very quickly, so it'll take a little getting used to. There was a blizzard on the last day, so we left a little early, good thing, too, I didn't really want to be snowed in! Overall, I was not impressed with Kirkwood, but maybe that's because I've been spoiled going to Sun Valley and Park City.. Can't wait to go to Mammoth with Chris over Spring Break! My skiing still needs a little work to be able to keep up with him, but that's ok, I'll just laugh a lot as I tumble down the hill! =( I only fell a few times this weekend and once was 'cuz the skis weren't adjusted right, so my boot kept falling out and another was 'cuz my dad decided to change direction right when I'm in the middle of a bunch of bumps, and I'd never turned on bumps before! Oh well. Highlight of the weekend: Trying to make that one turn on the steepest part of the black diamond moguls and sliding backwards on my back, skis up in the air for about 100 feet. When I finally flipped my skis around to stop myself, the guy next to me says, "Good thing you stopped right after you dropped it, I thought you were gonna slide all the way down the hill and have to climb back up to get it." I thought, 'dropped what?' Then I looked back up the hill and my other ski is stuck straight out of the snow. It took two people to pry it out. I don't know how it happened!

Chris and I went to Eric's house in San Jose last night. While waiting for Sierra to show up, I watched Eric, Kevin and Chris try some crazy shots with a flat basketball in Eric's driveway. Chris was standing under the basket, when a rusty metal plate fell from the backboard, or the roof, or the sky, and hit Chris on the head. His head gushed blood and after looking at it in the shower, we decided to take him to the emergency room. Surprisingly, we didn't have to wait that long in the hospital. They gave Chris 3 stitches, and less than an hour later we were eating dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory. We saw a midnight showing of Miracle, which was pretty good, but by then I was very tired. Chris wouldn't let me take any pictures of his head, so ya'll don't get to see the bloody mess. Sorry...

How to Take a Piss

Sometimes I feel really bad for the cleaning lady of our building. Our bathroom is by far the worst college dorm bathroom I have ever seen. Let's just take the stalls for instance. There is always pee on the seat, and sometimes on the wall...it even got as far as the toilet paper dispenser once. (How do you do that?) Additionally, there is usually pee in the toilet, unflushed, sometimes with a log or two floating around. The floor is sticky with god knows what! And I'm not just blaming it on the guys lack of aim. The girls seems to miss the little silver box designated for "feminine products", so there is sometimes red on the lid of the box. Gross! The biggest problem, however is the pee everywhere, so to help the boys out, my hallmate, Jessica created a lovely, colorful sign:

Then, Ryan wrote out the "real" steps for how men should pee:

This morning, there was a response to Ryan's note:

I'll spare you of pictures of the actual toilets, 'cuz no one needs to see that kind of thing... I think, now we're gonna have to have a boys stall and a girls stall....

San Francisco Zoo

A Lemur basking in the sun...

Yes, Ryan, it is depressing to see a monkey just sit by the glass with such a sad look on his face!

The Lions were cool...

I recently learned that Rhinos horns are aphrodisiacs and that's why they call it being "horny"...

Polar Bears...

...and Koala Bears!

But the cutest thing I saw all day was this little boy who was more interested in splashing through puddles than the animals! He was adorable!

Summary of Marshmallow Tag

Original Players: 32
People Killed within First Few Hours: 2
People Killed on First Day: 20
People Killed on 2nd Day: 5
People who Commited Suicide: 1 (Me)
Person with the most Kills: Me, 6 kills in one day.
By Friday, there were 3 people left, and then it was down to 1 winner: Sean
Number of Traitors: 1 (Me)
What I've learned: When I quit a game, I quit and I shouldn't keep meddling. I shouldn't be selfish and try to decide when the game should end for everyone else, especially if I'm not playing. I should not plot against my friends, hallmates, and boyfriend! I feel like I'm in high school again, continuously losing my parents trust. Why don't I want people to trust me?

Killing People is Fun!

My building is playing "Marshmallow Tag" otherwise known as Asassin. Each person picks a name out of a hat (like Secret Santa) and they must "kill" said person by tagging them with a marshmallow. Then, they must kill the person that their victim had. So, if A kills B, then A inherits B's kill - C and must kill C next. The game continues until there is only one person left. It's hard because you can't trust anyone. Within the first few hours of playing, two people were killed. This morning, I waited outside this girl's door to tag her. How's that for a wake-up: "Good Morning. You're dead." Now I have another person, who should be fairly easy to kill. Kate is taking this game way too seriously!

A Collective Christmas

This year my mom broke her leg, which means that Christmas is pretty much up to me. To demonstrate in a small scale why this is a bad idea, I'll go through what our Christmas tree would be like if it were left entirely up to one family member:
If my Mom does the tree: There'd be a tiny tree, probably small enough to stand on a table, so she doesn't have to move any furniture around and she'd make us put all of our ornaments on, so that each limb has about 5 things hanging off it. There'd be multicolored lights, tinsel and an angel on top. This is convienent 'cuz all the presents can go not under the tree, but under the table, under the tree.
If my Dad did the tree: It'd be a 7 foot tall tree, one of those silver pines, where you can see most of the trunk. There'd be giant multicolored lights and some of our ornaments, no tinsel with a star on top. And the tree would be leaning to one side.
If I did the tree: The tree would be huge, touching the ceiling (16 feet tall) and it would have white lights, a silver star on top and nothing but silver balls and each strand of tinsel delicately placed on each limb. Oh, and nothing would be allowed under the tree unless it matched the color scheme (forest green and silver).
If my sister did the tree: There'd be no ornaments, no lights, no star or angel, no tree, even! And no presents either! In fact, there wouldn't even be Christmas if it were up to my sister. Instead, she'd go to Hawaii or Vegas without us.
This is why Christmas is a lovely time of year. Because all of our "creative" ideas are blended into one big joyful holiday! And we usually end up with a lopsided 8 foot tall tree with tinsel thrown haphazardly around, multicolored lights, all the ornaments, the star on top and gifts scattered around the base. It's the best (or worst) of all worlds and somehow, I guess, it works. =)

If you give a mouse a cookie...

My mom slipped on our driveway and broke her leg. It's a workaholic's worst nightmare, to be helpless, unproductive, and vulnerable trapped on crutches. She hates it. So, I end up being her personal slave. When she rings the little bell, I have to come running and with a cheery smile say, "What do you need, mom?" Tonight, I helped her undress, take a bath, dress in pajamas, then after she crawled into bed, she realized that she forgot to brush her teeth. So I put toothpaste on the toothbrush and gave it to her along with a glass of water and a towel to wipe her face with. She finished brushing her teeth, then realized that she didn't eat her ice cream, so she ate her ice cream and cookie, and I had to get a new toothbrushing set ready! And, she complained about how dirty her retainers were (and complaints always mean that she's asking without actually asking), so I brushed her retainers for her! Then she wanted a glass of milk, so off I went... And that's just 5 minutes!

Finals Week

As usual, Kate did not study for her finals, so hopefully the teacher will have pity and save her ass in the end. Sat on the floor for one 3 hour final, but the guy next to me was nice and gave me an answer. The other final started with a huge game of musical chairs so we couldn't cheat. Good thing it's all over. Sarah's house was fun. Met a guy from Barcelona on the bus back home. I don't understand why all European guys think they're hot shit and can pick up ladies so easily. Now to rearrange my room for the coming of Guadalupe!

Mistletoe

I went to the Christmas Tree Lot to buy Mistletoe, but the old man there said in a scratchy voice, "You're not old enough to buy mistletoe!" I laughed nervously... Then he picked out the best one, held it high and leaned in. He coughed, "Well, how'd you know if it works, if ya don't try it!" More nervous laughter as I handed him my money and wished to be home safe in my boyfriend's arms!

Giving Thanks That I Was Born

Thanksgiving was a blast - the food was delicious! Then came my birthday. Since I arrived at the restaurant before my parents, I decided to order a Margarita for myself. I am 20, not 21, but the lady at the bar never asked. =) My mom came in and was like what the hell are you doing, then proceeded to drink the rest of my Margarita, which was probably a good thing, since I hadn't eaten all day and I'm already a light-weight. Anyway, as far as presents are concerned, I got a sexy silky slip from Victoria's Secret from my brother and sister-in-law, which is a step up from the usual gift of Old Navy socks or something. I liked it, but didn't look right on me, so I returned it. The rest of the weekend, I wrote an econ paper and played cards. I used to be the undefeated champion at Gin, but at least I'm still undefeated at Poker with family and friends. (Note: This does not apply to the Texas Hold 'Em I play in the dorms, 'cuz I lose everytime while playing that ridiculous game of luck!)

Speeding and other such stories

This year sucks. I love driving fast, tailgating people, (yea, so basically I'm a "negligent" driver). I actually think I drive pretty well, but that's my opinion. My first point was about 3 years ago (why won't you go away?!) for accidentally rear-ending someone. It was at a really low speed (like 5 mph), but he made me report it! Then this year, in January, a cop followed me all the way down Hwy 17, watching a waiting. I needed to exit the freeway, so I pulled in behind someone when there was lots of traffic, and the cop tickets me for tailgating! I took that point off my record by doing traffic school. Then, the first day of school this year, in Sept, I got a ticket for speeding past the main entrance of campus. 40 in a 25 zone! No way to contest, couldn't do traffic school, so that is point number 2. This morning, heading to work, didn't even need to take my car. And was only in my car for like 3 minutes, I got caught in a speed trap, where Bay St. makes you speed up at the last little part right before turning into a 25 mph zone. I got stamped with a 45 in a 30 and I cried, but no luck. This is my 3rd point. I think my liscense is going to get revoked! I'm scared.

And I thought it couldn't get any worse...

The people in my hall are extremely open about sex and anything vulgar. Ryan and Nicole, especially, who everyday, have loud enough sex that the next building gives them a round of applause! They continuously come in my room and now that I have a king size bed, want to take advantage and ask Chris and I to have a foursome with them. Last time, Ryan whipped out his dick and almost made his girlfriend give him head right in front of us! Disgusting. Thank god she said, "Uhh I don't want them to feel uncomfortable." First rain was a couple of nights ago and they, of course ran naked (Santa Cruz Tradition). After running, they come back and rub their wet, muddy and bloody bodies all over my nice new clean sheets! Then, to make it worse, they again demand sex from us and Ryan tries to hug me with his shriveled wiena hangin out!! Does anyone realize this is not normal hallmate behavior?!

Psycho

All the showers were full this morning, so I went with another hallmate to the showers on the next floor up. Although, the bathroom was much cleaner, his shower had no light and my shower had a flickering light. I had to wait in between flashes to do things and the whole time, I felt like someone was gonna creep up on me and stab me! Scariness...

Cuffed

I never thought this would backfire on me. Julian came in and handcuffed me to Chris. Then he put my key in his pocket. He tried to search for my other key, but I told hum that I didn't know where it was (I thought it was on my desk). When he left, I went to go find my key, but it was lost! So, for 20 minutes, I sat there searching for my spare key and then for the next 20, I sat on the bed, handcuffed to Chris. Yeah, you'd think I'd be excited, but I really wasn't. Way more uncomfortable than I thought. Then I realized that I could slip my hand through. It hurt a lot, but I did it! And then Chris was just handcuffed to nothing for the next 20 min until Julian came back with the keys.

Breakfast of Champions

Finished my first week of work at Donnelly Chocolates on the corner of Mission and Bay. I do various things like put chocolate in boxes, wash dishes, and soon, she says I'll get to make the chocolate. My employee handbook says: "You may be required to eat chocolate and various stages of the chocolate-making process." Required? To eat chocolate? Now this is a job I can do! Unfortunately, I work in the morning and eating chocolate in the morning makes me sick. =( So far there haven't been any Lucy-like chocolate factory disasters...

Do pets have a sexual preference or are they just trisexual? (they'll try anything)

I went to Grace Cathedral with my mom and sister this weekend to Sunday mass. It was St. Francis day so pets were allowed inside the church. There were cats and dogs and turtles and rabbits and hamsters and porcupines and hedgehogs!! The priest who was leading the mass said he was glad to have a congregation that was listening. This was follwed by an enthusiastic bark! After the ceremony, we got our dogs blessed and that was that. My sister dressed her chihuahua with a white felt halo and wings on her back. My mom tied a red bowtie to her chihuahua. She's also convinced that her dog, Tyson, is gay because he tried to hump a male dog. She says that her next step is to get his ear pierced with a little gold hoop! My family is so weird!

Advice

So, as I was hugging my parent's friends goodbye, they give me the following advice for my second year of college:
Sam: Do well in your classes
Paul: Be Good
Darcy: Have FUN! And I mean really, have fun, that's the important thing.
Helen: Don't hook up with anyone until you meet Victor. (her 22 year old son, who's a hot policeman. She says this slurred, 'cuz she's drunk off her ass, as usual)
Paul: Look for my daughter and keep her out of trouble!
Darcy: (whispered in my ear) Get a good pot hook up...
Helen: (shouted as we get in the car) Remember don't hook up with anyone until Victor!

Tractor Love

Last night, I dressed up in my suede lace-up boots and mini skirt and went country line dancing!! It was so much fun! The dancing all looks really cool, if you know how, which I don't. And the lyrics of the music are funny, like "...She thinks my tractor's sexy. It really turns her on..."

My last days of work

My coworker, Angela, is from Columbia. She is really nice and, again difficult to understand at times. Usually I get confused, she gets embarrassed, conversation halts and then an hour later, I figure out what she means and conversation continues... Today, she was talking to me about computers and asked if I knew about "escunkula and beetles". An hour later, I still don't know what the hell she's talking about. Finally, she explains a little more and I realize by beetles, she means bugs, like computer viruses and I still couldn't figure out "escunkula" until 5 min ago, when I realized her virus detection program is expired. Anyway, so, she invited me to her house for dinner. I went. She and her husband and her 4 year old daughter, named Maria del Mar, live in a tiny like one-room studio. It was very sweet! =) I don't know what my point is. I guess like usual, I don't have one hehe.

Scanning random blogs

I've been scanning random blogs. So far I like this one and was pleased to read that she's a Berkeley mom! I don't like the ones that have too many techy type links and pictures and shit. It's just confusing. I mean this is supposed to be a 'blog', like a journal, not your personal website. OMG! Eye hate the like ppl who wrte like this, 2! So annoying. I'm bored and have to wake up at 4 am tomorrow to sit in a car for 15 hours on my way to Havasu. For now, I'll try to forget the heavenly time I had last time I went.

Lost, Never Found

In three days, I'm going to Havasu (a beautiful offshoot of the grandcanyon with many gorgeous waterfalls). The last time I went there, was my Senior year Spring Break. I went alone and met some really nice people in the canyon! I still talk to a couple of the people that I met! One guy that I met gave me his number and I promised to call him when I got out of the canyon, but as I was leaving the campgrounds, I reached into my back pocket for the tiny bright green slip of paper, but it was gone! I felt like the kid in The Polar Express when he reaches into his robe to show the silver sleigh bell and all he finds is a hole! =( But, there was no turning back, I just hoped that it had fallen out amongst the stuff in my backpack. And now, a year and a half later, I'm still looking for it! Every once in a while, I get a new flood of determination and a new idea of where it might be! 'It's in the bottom of the sleeping bag! It must be! I know exactly how it fell out and got there! And it's still there, despite other people having used it since!' So I race into the camping gear and dig through all the pockets. When it's not in the place I swore it was a moment earlier, I start looking through the other pockets, the places I've checked thousands of times already. Maybe one day I'll come across it, call him and see if he remembers me!