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. =)

Today is one of the hottest days of the year and I had to go to work and make truffles (play with Chocolate, basically). Within a half hour, my boss discovers that the freezer broke during the night and the ice cream is totally melted and the chocolate is near to being ruined! We move most of the stuff to the Falafel House's freezer next door. Phew. Then, while my boss was making lunch, I decided to stir the pot. Luckily I did, 'cuz the pasta was starting to stick! Then I put the spoon down, where I found it, and washed a few dishes. I turned around and saw the plastic spoon in flames! I blew it and hosed it off in the sink and aired out the kitchen. I showed my boss what I did. It was funny. Then later, when I was carrying a bowl of chocolate, I dropped it and a line of chocolate went from the sink to the floor. I cleaned it up quickly and then had to hose off the mat. The air-conditioning didn't seem to work very well, and it was 75 degrees in the kitchen (too hot for making chocolate)! I went home early. I didn't want to be around when my owner came in and found out about the freezer! I can see him now, his face will turn five shades of red, even brighter than his very orange curly hair!

More Bathroom Problems

More bathroom problems. Ok, so the signs with intructions on how to piss properly got torn down. Maybe they helped. Maybe they didn't. But all I know is that during the weekend, when the cleaning lady doesn't come for 2 days, this is the result:

Now, honestly, this is like our home for 9 months, so how would you like to walk into your personal bathroom and find the toilet not flushed and dried pee all over the seat?!?! Luckily there is another stall which might have less pee in/on it. I wonder if these guys do this at home? I feel sorry for their mom's or whoever cleans their bathroom. Frankly, I feel terrible for the cleaning lady in our building, who comes to work on Monday and finds she has to touch this! Only 1.5 more months with these pigs...

I'm bored, so I think I will show you (anyone) random pictures from my collection:

This is Tyson, my mom's dog. A chihuahua terrier mix or something. He is named after Mike Tyson because he is known for biting people and dog's ears. He just recently bit some delivery person.

This is Chris and I in his room doing what we usually do: Me studying and him watching TV. =) Who am I kidding, I'm usually watching TV, too. =)

This is Jessica, who lives next door to me. She's gonna live with Chris next year. She's really funny and has an awesome boyfriend who is gonna be famous someday. Check them out: 5606live.com

Sarah and Lupe. My roommate next year and my roommate this year, respectively. I also went to high school with Sarah, fun stuff.

A blurry picture of Jon. This is Chris's USC/Arizona/Texas-obessesed friend, who drives a sweet motorcycle and goes to hockey games with us.

Sean, my sister's boyfriend. Of course he doesn't wear these glasses. He's brings laughter to my usually serious family.

Chris's cat, Larry. He's got 2 other cats named Moe, and Edward (Eddy). He says Larry looks like a panther. I just think he looks stoned.

OK, Last one, I promise... This is Emily and Rene, my oldest friend and her boyfriend from Holland. Yay! She's at UC San Diego and I haven't seen her in a while. I miss her, lots!

End of my random photos.

Easter was fun. Chris came home with me and we dyed easter eggs (my mom claims that it's tradition and we do it every year). Then we went out to breakfast and then went on a hike in Sunol, which I haven't been to in about 3 years. We came home and my mom decided to bring out the baby albums and videos of me from over 10 years ago. How embarrassing! Then we went to dinner with my parents, sister and her boyfriend, then we drove back to Santa Cruz. The End. No pictures, sorry.

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?