Photofinish Friday: The end of junior year

Oops. I meant to post this yesterday, and thus begin the tradition that is to replace Excavations of Claymore for as long as I have no Claymore to excavate (i.e. for the summer). It's been crazy - I'm simultaneously trying to move back home and pack for Italy (I'm leaving tomorrow). So, alas, our new tradition fell by the wayside.

I am calling it Photofinish Friday. Although I cringe a little bit at the alliterative title, I think it's apt - Photofinish Friday posts will finish off the week with a series of photos I've taken that week.

I have two hopes for this new tradition. First, I hope it will encourage me to keep experimenting with my new camera, Cassie - not that I will simply take pictures but that I will learn all the cool features she has to offer. Second, I hope the posts will be quick "reads" for all of you. As much as I like to write longs posts, I don't usually like reading them because I have so many blogs to keep up with, and I figure many of you feel the same way - hence, the quickie.

So to kick it off, I've got some photos from the last week of school - enjoy!









Peace, love and packing,
Miss Rex

On Being a Loser

I wrote this for my internship in light of the fact that yet another school year is ending, possibly the best school year I've had yet at Go-Co, and how depressing it is that summer break is starting even now while my friend KZ packs his stuff into a mini-van and drives away.

I had the best hall ever this year. Thanks, guys, for resurrecting my social life. I made great friends in Claymore and I am sad to see the ghetto basement coffee house relocate to our lame fake pub next year. It's weird to say goodbye to the seniors after looking up to them for the past three years, and even though I have fewer close friends graduating this year than I did last, the ones that are leaving..... how will Go-Co ever be Go-Co without you? It will become a different place, and it will always be deficient without your presence, your advice, your laughter. Without you.

So yeah, before I start bawling my eyes out, here's the thing I wrote, entitled "On Being a Loser."

Every time I go home for the summer I find myself excavating the closet under the eaves in search of something I’ve lost. This also happens at Christmastime, Easter, Thanksgiving, and on sundry weekends throughout the year. I can’t help it; I’m a loser.

My favorite pants went missing for more than half a year. I haven’t seen my hiking boots since high school. There is a tragic space between Mae and Muse on my CD shelf where Matchbox Twenty should be. Sometimes when I leave my dorm I don’t even know where I parked my car. For the record, I hardly ever lose the keys.

But these things are only misplaced. More regrettable are the things that promise to stay lost: the poem I wrote in fourth grade, the recording of my best friend singing about green tea and the word “pshaw,” the plush bear my birth father gave me when I was born (one of the only mementos I had of him).

Are these important losses? I don’t know. For now, I still have the memories. The poem was less important than how nice it felt to see people smile when they read it. It’s not important that the recording got deleted as long as my friend and I can still scream “green tea!” to each other at random and confuse everybody else at parties. Knowing that my father wanted to be remembered is enough to remind me to remember him.

I think the greater losses are the ones we couldn’t hold to begin with. I lost a best friend once, and not knowing what happened to our friendship was volumes worse than not knowing what happened to the many books and CDs absent from my shelves.

I lost my childhood a few years back, and that was a shame, too. Finally realizing what a blessing I had in spite of stupid bullies at school, I’ve returned to my tree-climbing, Disney-watching days as best I can, but it’s not the same as having no obligations.

With the end of the school year looming, I realize I am about to lose something again. More friends are soon to graduate. In another year, I’ll be the one leaving school behind. Maybe then I will look back on these four years the way I look at childhood now.

But I don’t think we really lose the things we leave behind. I think we carry them forever. They carve themselves into the fleshy pink tissue of our brains and into the caverns of our hearts. We don’t lose them because they are us, and if we do lose them it’s because we meant to, or maybe they didn’t pierce us as sharply as we once thought.

My grandfather is losing his memory to Alzheimer’s. To me this seems the greatest loss of all. Everything I create, writing or otherwise, comes back to the friends who left and the ones who stayed, to the parents who loved me enough to give me up to a better life through adoption, to the songs that served as soundtracks through the high school gauntlet. To the things I carry in the compartments of my mind.

I know how to love because I’ve been hated. I know how to sacrifice because I’ve been shown more than selfishness. These are things I haven’t lost and will never lose, even if I can one day forget where they came from. I can tell that my grandfather still has them, and because of that, I can hope that wherever I may have left my car, there are some things I’ll never lose.

RIP, Go-Co 2009-2010. We'll go out with a bang at the Batrave tonight!

Peace, love and black lights,
Miss Rex

The Beach of Salisbury

As promised, the photos from Salisbury Beach! Can you spot "That Guy?" He's in more than one.....





I invite you all to suggest captions, since I have never been good at crafting them, and frankly I'd like to hear a little more from you in my comments section, O readers ^_^ If I like yours best, I'll post it with a link to your blog. Yes, networking! Feel teh lovez.

Peace, love and epic sneezes,
Miss Rex

Hello, my name is: Energizer Bunny

So today. Was a very, very good day. Very little was accomplished school-wise or internship-wise or anything-really-wise, although I did finally bully myself into writing some new material for the novel. It's been slow going. Even though writing and creating are what I love to do, once I'm out of practice getting back to it is excruciating. But write I did, and I also finished a series of maps last night showing the expansion of my imaginary world from creation to the present. In all that's about 6-8 maps of varying sizes and complexity. I'm somewhat elated from all that, but depressed thinking about the other things I'm neglecting in order to make progress with the thing I love.

But that wasn't the reason today was so good, or at least, not the only reason. I ate lunch outside with Taz (my roomie), Misty (a girl who lives on my floor and shares my unabashed love for Pokémon), and the guy I played private eye with the night the power went out, who shall henceforth be known as Cripple, even when his foot gets better and he ditches the crutches he has acquired since our first meeting. Cripple squished a spider that was crawling on me and I squealed like a little girl because he got icky spider guts all over my foot. He thought it was the funniest thing ever. I didn't. Then Cripple and I went to the beach for like 20 minutes and talked randomly about relationships (more specifically, his success at having one and my failure to do so), but we had to rush back because I had class.

After class I sat under a cherry tree and wrote some more until it was time to go to Zumba, which, coupled with the 82º weather and humidity, inspired me to try my first iced coffee (it was goooooood) and I have been totally out there ever since. Taz and I went for a walk around the quad and I frolicked and sang and laughed at things that weren't funny and threw my shoes in the air. I also pointed out that the side of one of the buildings we passed had a sort of cross on it and marveled that I had never noticed it before.

"It's more of a double cross, really," said Taz.
To which I ever-so-logically replied, "It's for a double Jesus!"

Coming back into Ferrin, I ran into another friend of mine and convinced him to come with me on another walk. I was still doing the Energizer Bunny thing (that is, going and going and going). I felt bad because I couldn't stop babbling about random stuff that only crazies like me would find interesting.

I decided I felt like going out to Gull Pond even though we didn't have a flashlight (you have to go through the woods to get there, which is kinda spooky at night on account of its being pitch black). Well, okay, I'll admit I'd been wanting to go out to the pond since Zumba ended because swimming would have felt really nice after that, but I think I freaked out Taz by announcing that I wanted to go skinny dipping so there went that plan. (For the record, skinny dipping was no longer "the plan;" I just wanted to go wading and have a random adventure walking in the woods at night, for it had been far too long since my last flight from the mysterious monsters of the woods. But the monsters didn't show up. They must not have been hungry for kids tonight. Or they only swim in AIDS-infested Coy Pond, which seems likely since Taz and I got chased by one near there once.)

So instead we just went swimming. The water was really nice from sitting in the sun all day, but I still got cold really fast so we headed back through the woods, at which point I remembered why people don't usually swim with pants on: It's squelchy.

Peace, love and skinny dipping,
Miss Rex

Sandy Claws

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a summertime equivalent of Santa Claus? You could send the jolly man in red (that's sunburn red) your wish list, and just like magic, you'd wake up one morning to find that everything was amazing! Maybe I'm just let down because the sky went and dumped a foot of snow on us yesterday when the grass was finally starting to show; now all I can think about is how much the suck-o-meter will go down once the temperature goes up.

Fabulous summer Santa, if you're out there somewhere, snowed in and bored with nothing to do until June, maybe you could get a head start on my wish list. Here are the top ten things I can't wait to do:

10. Buy new flats.
9. Rock the heart shaped sunglasses. (I'll admit I've already done this in spite of winter's dominating presence. You might call it a sun ritual... or denial.)
8. Drive with the windows down and the music loud. (All right, maybe I've cheated on this one a little, too. Spaz can testify.)
7. Go stargazing on the roof.
6. Get lost in the woods.
5. Eat ice creemz at Captain Dusty's.
4. Walk to classes barefoot.
3. Play ultimate frisbee on the quad... barefoot.
2. Take a nap in the sun.
1. Go skinny dipping in Gull Pond.

What's on your summer wish list?

Magical Musical Road Trip Extravaganza pt. 4

My family used to play a cheesy game at the dinner table, where we'd go around the table and everyone got a chance to say the highlight and lowlight of his or her day. In Rex-family fashion, allow me to share with you the high and low lights of Rev Gen 2009. Let's look on the bright side first.

We sat in on Paul Colman's set purely because we wanted to have good seats for Jon Foreman's set, which was next. But Paul turned out to be one of the most entertaining individuals I've had the good fortune to see. We later talked to him and he said he'd love to come play a show at our school. WIN!



Jon Foreman played us a song about being an outlaw, which he literally wrote in his sleep. He also played a number on some wacky variation of a harp, which a friend had given him earlier that day and which he hadn't even had a chance to tune. Somehow the song was still brilliant. Probably because he's Jon.



No one moshed for Relient K, which I'm sure was as sad for the band as it was for me. Nonetheless, it was as great a set as always, made all the more amusing by the fact that the lead singer (Matt Thiessen)'s hair gets more wild every time I see them.



Switchfoot closed out the day with a set that would've sent the Richter scale scrambling for cover. Jon alternated between climbing the scaffolding and swinging drummer Chad Butler's cymbals around the stage, and pausing to ask everyone to look up at the stars for a minute while words of wisdomatic gold dripped from his lips. "We don't know why the dry times come," he said, "but those are the times that force us to dig deeper below the surface."



If you want all the juicy details (and lots of exciting pictures!), go here and here! Remember to click on "Entries" when you get there!

Now for the lowlight. I think this accusatory letter, which I sent to the people at Rev Gen last night, pretty much sums it up:

"...we purchased Switchfoot Interview Passes at $15 apiece and we did not receive what we paid for. The item was called "Interview Pass" on the website. So, naturally, we walked into Tent 7 expecting to see an interview with Switchfoot. Wouldn't you? Imagine our disappointment, then, when only half the band was present and the frontman, the one responsible for writing the songs, was conspicuously absent. All right, there's a little disclaimer at the bottom of the ticket saying interview times are subject to artist availability, so it would hardly be fair to lodge a complain purely on that basis.

But then the interview was cut off after ten minutes of surface-level questions whose answers could have been found on Wikipedia in under two minutes, so that the man hosting the interview can tell us about his daughter who died in a car accident and how her death taught him to seek hope from God. A wonderful message. I truly am sorry for his loss and I truly am glad that he found hope in spite of it. But this was not the time or place to discuss such matters, as the fans under the tent had paid money to watch an interview with Switchfoot. And then he had the gall to try and convert us to Christianity. At a Christian festival.

His sermonette was out of place and condescending. I have never felt so emotionally manipulated in my life. Moreover, it was dishonest and unjust to take kids' money and not deliver what was promised. This is the least Christian thing anyone has done to me in quite some time...."

Total LAMESAUCE, right?! And worse than the injustice to us, it was disrespectful toward the band (or anyway, the half of them that were there.) I know this because I'm a journalist. You don't ask people questions you could've looked up answers to. It's a waste of the interviewee's time and it makes you look unprepared, uninformed and unprofessional. The poor guys were bored silly. Joanna and I agreed that Drew was definitely texting under the table.



But the rest of the day was so wicked awesome that getting ripped off, driving 16 hours, and sleeping just ten across the entire weekend WAS SO FANTABULOUSLY WORTH IT!

Yeah, I live in a fishbowl. 's pretty sweet.

I want THIS for my birthday:



FANGS UP.

So I moved in at school on Monday. The process gets a little less painful each year, though they always seem to pick the hottest, most humid day of the year for this event. I'm starting to believe it's not a coincidence. Worse, I now live on the third floor of the same building I've lived in for the past two years. As if traipsing up one flight of stairs after a typically weighty meal at the dining hall weren't bad enough, now I get to lug myself up TWO flights of stairs! Lucky me! Who needs a gym when you live on the third floor?

Well anyway, my three roommates have also moved into our former lounge of a dorm room. As far as on-campus housing goes, the Fishbowl (so named because two whole walls consist of nothing but windows) is truly the best you can get without making the step up to an apartment. Except for the furniture and visitation rules, I'd say it's even better because of the view. But, we aren't allowed to have upholstered furniture, which sucks because how are we supposed to entertain company without chairs, and we don't get apartment hours, which means we still only have 5 hours of visitation a day. For those of you who don't go to a Christian college, visitation hours are hours during which you're allowed to have guests of the opposite sex in your room or hall. Gay, right? Almost literally.

Since classes have yet to start, the only exciting bit of news I have to share is that I swam across Gull Pond and back yesterday. It's a heckalot bigger than it looks! And, there is a metropolis of seaweed in the middle, which likes to entangle breathless swimmers and force them to thrash about for their very lives.

I could have drowned.

I think I found my new workout regime!

Happy Days

In continuation of my epic story of the epic past two weeks of my life:

Bear came to visit from Ohio the day after the Reel Big Fish show and so naturally everyone wanted to hang out that day. Ravin and Bear came to my house, soon to be joined by Boyfriend and then Ash. We watched Ranma 1/2, this preposterous show about a guy and his dad who fell into magic ponds that caused them to turn into a girl and a panda, respectively, every time they touched cold water for the rest of their lives (but luckily, warm water could turn them back).

My mom got us pizza and then we all went to the playground at Derby again, where those of us who were so inclined proceeded to act like five year olds. We were pirates and fought over the crow's nest. We were farmers and planted corn in the sandbox. We were artists and made sand sculptures (Ash naturally made a Caterpie). Then we went down to the water, where I risked life and limb climbing out on a fallen tree, and followed the trail up again to the sports field, where I rolled down the grassy hill yelling "AS YOU WISH!!!" like in The Princess Bride.

Then we went back to my house to watch some horribly violent anime that Boyfriend chose, which was an all right movie except for some reason I really couldn't keep up with what was going on. Maybe I was too distracted by all the blood and sex. Ugh, anime sex. That's an experience I'd rather not repeat thank you. Then we left my house just as The Pantsless One and Shark got there, because the fam needed to go to bed, but my mom and I had a falling out first. I hadn't planned on going anywhere because I was tired, but then I was mad and didn't want to get yelled at just then so I left anyway. I accidentally passed out at Ravin's house and got home later than I should've, but I'd texted saying I'd be home so I had to go back. I got yelled at the next day and then apologized to because apparently my one responsible act of the night, texting that I'd be home, was never seen. =/

I was pretty tired the next day, but things at work were going all right. We took the kids to the music circus, which means we have to walk with them down the street and keep track of them at the show. Everything went smoothly until we were leaving. Coming out of the tent, I had all my kids and then Ian started crying again. It had been like a week and a half of this - he literally hadn't stopped crying since the fourth of July. So I was trying to console him, and the next thing I knew, two of my girls were nowhere to be found. I searched the whole place and couldn't find them. But when I got back to the group, they were back. Aaah. I do not envy parents; that's a freaky experience, and I can only imagine how bad it is if the kid's your own.

My boss said I handled it well and stayed very calm (this alleged calm was actually exhaustion but shh). She wasn't even mad that I lost them to begin with and had only good things to say to me at the end of the day. Ummkay.

Then I joined up with Ravin, TPO and Bear and we went to the beach. We drove to like five different ones before settling somewhere, and the one we finally picked had bacteria-infested water, so we couldn't go swimming, and was roped off for like half a mile because of endangered birds in the dunes. That night we were going to go dancing, but Ravin had to go home for dinner and I passed out at Boyfriend's house after that so obviously I didn't go. I guess it turned out the others didn't either.

Friday Boyfriend and I went to the beach with Ravin, TPO and Bear. We didn't stay long, but long enough for me to convince Boyfriend to get in the water, which was actually quite nice for ocean water. I didn't even have goosebumps. My dorkburger of a boyfriend was wearing scrubs instead of a proper bathing suit and we made fun of him. Or rather I did, I think the others actually had very little to say on the topic.

We left pretty soon. Boyfriend, Bear and I walked to Scoops, ate ice cream, and walked back while waiting for Ravin and TPO to be done with.... whatever it is they do when nobody sees them for hours on end. Getting dressed, I guess. XD

Later The Cuddle Rapist and his friend Spaz showed up and we all went swimming in Ravin's pool. We'd already been in the ocean so the pool felt especially warm after that. And the heater had been on all day. It was practically like taking a bath.

Saturday: same time, same place, same people. TPO made delicious gooey brownies and Spaz serenaded us all with Ravin's guitar. Then everyone went swimming again, but by this time I was so tired that even the warm pool water would have felt chilly. I react to exhaustion by getting cold. My body just doesn't have the energy to warm itself up. Since Boyfriend didn't feel like swimming either, we went downstairs and he played video games while I slept AGAIN. I need to work on my sleeping patterns. I just kept not catching up at nights and involuntarily trying to catch up at all manner of inconvenient times.

Sunday night, I went to hang out and swim with people again. Ravin and TPO's new buddies Gerry and Alex came and we swam for a little bit. After that, someone started playing video games and before I knew it I was asleep again. In my sleep I recruited Bear as a space heater since Ravin's basement is frigid at all times of the year. Everyone else went on some adventure, probably to Wal*Mart, but I was dead to the world. And didn't feel much better when I had to get up for work the next day. Ughhhh.

Tuesday night, Bear's last night here, we all went to see the new Harry Potter movie at midnight. I got Boyfriend to come even though he's not into Harry Potter at all. What a good sport. But yet again, since I still hadn't caught up on all the sleep I'd been trying to catch up on all week, I was brutally tired. Unlike Bear I managed to stay awake for the car ride there, but I kept nodding off for the first half of the movie. Then it got funnier and laughing helped me wake up a little.

That was the strongest point of this movie, I think - the humor. Because it's really just a set-up movie for the last one (or two, since I think that's what they're doing with the last book). Romance was a big factor in the story but the actors made it hugely awkward. I think the director must have realized that and purposely made things even more ridiculous so it wouldn't be as painful for the rest of us.

I definitely passed out for the entire ride home, and when we got back to Ravin's house, Boyfriend had to drive us back in my car because I couldn't even walk in a straight line, let alone drive in one. We bid Bear farewell and drove back to Boyfriend's. The sun was already coming up by the time we got home and crashed.

Work really sucked on Wednesday. This one kid who's always causing trouble kicked someone and I was told to bring him to the boss (she's the highest order threat we can pull on these kids), but he refused to move so I just dragged him down the hall. In hindsight I'm sure that was a terrible idea. I figured that after a couple feet worth of dirt and embarrassment, he'd realize he was being ridiculous and get up, but he made me drag him all the way across the school. W

e walked by this random guy about my age or a little younger, I don't know why he was there because he definitely wasn't with the rec program, but anyway he laughed at us and said he wanted a turn, which I'm sure didn't encourage the kid to get off his behind. So the moral of the story is, try to sleep when you have a job that involves working with children, because they will push you to your limits even if you're well rested and lord only knows what you'll do to them if you're not. XD

Things only got worse later that day because I had to get a shot, which is a bad enough ordeal when I've slept because my body passes out when foreign substances enter my blood stream. I've developed a terrible phobia of needles because of the reaction I have to them. I knew I couldn't drive myself home after that, so I got Boyfriend to take me (long story short, I was absolutely justified in doing so rather than having my mom bring me) and he handled it really well, even when I saw the needle and started bawling and shaking, all while curled up in the fetal position. Unfortunately I exaggerate not.

I managed to stay conscious while we were at the doctor's office and all the way out to the car but I passed out on the way home, and I mean actually passed out, not like I just fell asleep again. I hate the feeling because first I get really nauseous. Then I start sweating. Then I get this ringing in my ears, which gets louder until I can't even hear myself speak (but I knew that I was telling Boyfriend I was going to faint, I just couldn't hear it or feel my lips saying it). My vision goes black around the edges and I get this aura in the middle, which would be really pretty if it didn't feel like crap. And then I go out. But I always come to, and we got home all right and then at long last I got to go to sleep for real, for the first time in over a week, uninterrupted sleep alone in my own bed with my blankie and my beary. Mmm yay

Well that was really long and I don't blame you if you didn't read it all. Haha Bear, you thought you were special to get a mention in my blog? How about a novel, here ya go XD

Ban the tube top!

I just ordered these sexcellent new galoshes! I've spent way too much money today but I really do need new rainboots, it was a fabulous deal, and I mean, look at them:



Soooo.... I went to this Reel Big Fish concert with Ravin and The Pantsless One foreverrr ago and I'm finally getting around to blogging about it. Life's been that way. No time, busy busy busy. But in a good way. More on that later. Anyhow, the concert was great. The venue was awkward in a new-agey-meets-parent-of-a-kindergartener's-fridge sort of way. There were these weird paintings that looked like my campers could've done them, with nonexistent words painted clumsily across the page. A big oval plaque up front over the stage bore the image of what I'd say was a hand, but with three fingers and a curly thumb on each side; it read, "All is one. Who do you love?" Perhaps supposed to be endearing, like our "Home is where your Mom is" sign, but really it only managed to be unsettling. The ladies' room was circular, which also made me uncomfortable, and the coloring/lighting did not help my phobia of public restrooms.

The openers were good enough, but you know how it is when you don't know any of the songs and you're waiting for the main act to take the stage. When they finally did, I let the circles sweep me away. Somehow I hardly got bruised at all in the melee. Although I did get knocked to the ground during "Beer" and while down there, managed to trip another three or four people before someone pushed the crowd back and helped us up. I love it when moshers are kind and helpful. Ravin had a personal protector all night. He kept pulling her out of messes and saying things like, "you'll be safe now."

We had to leave before the encore because we thought we'd miss our train. But then we weren't sure where the station was and walked past it, at which point we encountered some random dudes who had a question for us.

"Hey, hey, can I ask you an honest question?" one of them asked in this brilliant accent that made us all melt a little more than we wanted to admit. "Does it look like I am wearing eyeliner?"

I was confused why he was talking to us and didn't manage to say anything, but finally Ravin or TPO was like, "no, no - you just have, uh, really dark eyelashes." So I nodded and agreed. Then they asked us to go to the Roxy with them and we were like ummm no. Then it was double awkward because we realized we'd passed the station and had to turn around and walk by them again.

Then, on the train, we befriended this one kid who was also at the show, and he was a sweetheart and didn't hit on any of us, which was great of him, because as soon as he left, two more guys came up to us with another question.

"Does he look drunk to you?" said the first guy, pointing to his friend.

I didn't particularly think so or care, so I was like "no, not at all... tra la la la la" and went about my business. But then, after me Ravin and TPO had a long and loud discussion about the Disney channel, they tried to get us to come for a ride in their limo (what? What is attractive/seductive about discussing the Disney channel?). We told them unless their limo had ice cream, we'd have to pass. Then we got in TPO's car and drove to Wendy's, where I got ice cream. The end!

Oh, but I did promise to explain why I've been so absent. Aside from work, my social life picked up and I've spent 80% of my waking hours (and a lot of my sleeping ones, too) at Ravin's and Boyfriend's houses. I've been swimming in Deluxebury countless times in the past two weeks (my poor gas tank, but well worth it anyway). Ravin's friend from school, Bear, who we befriended when he visited last summer, came for another visit and I basically moved in at Ravin's for the week he was there. But not as much as TPO, who literally moved in.

I have many a story about said visit, but it shall have to wait until my eyes no longer burn from staring at a computer screen and not sleeping in order to make this 30-second short I'm entering in a scholarship contest. I found out about it a week ago. Shot it this weekend. Captured yesterday. Rough cut done today. I mean business here; $5000 are on the line! I'm supposed to show how I'm saving money for college. It's allowed to be funny and creative. I hope that encompasses "fictional" because my concept is that I try to sell a few things we don't need and end up selling everything we own. So, final cut will hopefully be done tomorrow, which coincidentally is Boyfriend's birthday!! Yay, happy birthday!!!

And now this post is officially over.

Episode Three: The rockets are burning

Once the house was spotless, I drove to The Pantsless One's, where we waited for Ravin to get unstuck from traffic. Unfortunately this took over an hour since there was a parade float taking up all two lanes of the highway, which is the only sensible way for Ravin to get from her house to TPO's unless she wants to drive an extra 15 miles or something.

She finally arrived and we stuffed our faces yet again, then set out for Boyfriend's cliff by the sea. They dropped me off at Boyfriend's, since I was going to his and Dick's bonfire, and they went to meet up with some other friends. I helped the guys haul wood palettes down to the beach for the fire, although we weren't sure we would be able to light them since the po-po were being very strict about no bonfires happening on the beach this year. Luckily we were at the end of the beach and would have plenty of warning if they decided to crash.

And they did. Before we'd even dared to light our own bonfire, we saw them dousing someone else's a ways down. Some celebration of freedom. I couldn't help pointing out that our country was founded on rebellion and there's really no better day of the year to uphold that tradition than on Independence Day. However, I don't think the po-po would've liked that explanation.

The menfolk (a.k.a. 90% of the people there) amused themselves by shooting Roman candles at each other, in greater numbers and with less accuracy as the amount of alcohol in their systems went up and up and up. Me and fire don't really mix that well so I mostly observed from a semi-safe distance, poised to bolt if something stupid happened.

Oh, and it did. We had a few fireworks stick in the seaweed after they were lit and explode all over the ground, nearly smiting us all, not to mention the little whizzing sparklers that basically go where they please, especially if you can't throw (like me). One of them nearly owned my face but luckily I dodged it by falling on my bum.

Ravin and TPO kept calling to try and figure out where we were. It shouldn't have been that difficult since we were the last group on the entire beach and I kept telling them that, but it wasn't sinking in (thank the Jell-O shots).

At last they found us. Ravin goes "Mandii. This is our new friend GERRY!" Gerry was kind enough to walk them most of the way down the beach because he didn't want them to die/get raped/wander into the ocean unawares in their drunken state. TPO announced that she and Gerry were getting married. By Ravin. Aww, cute...?

We didn't stick around long after that. TPO was going to pee her pants so I took her and Ravin to Boyfriend's to use the bathroom, where she peed for two minutes straight (and I have no problem announcing that on my blog, as she came down the stairs and announced it to Boyfriend's dad when she was done.)

As soon as we got back to the beach we ended up deciding to leave for good and had to walk up that awful hill again. Honest to God if I walked up that hill once a day for a month I would be 100% in shape. That's all it would take.

Then I talked Boyfriend into driving Ravin and TPO back to their friend's house, except I didn't know where it was and they didn't remember either so we basically drove the entire length of the peninsula and back before finding the place. And then they were too lazy to find their friend so they ended up sleeping in the car! When I'd offered them their own room with a bed in it at Boyfriend's house!

They woke up early and were waiting outside the house when Boyfriend and I woke up. I went with them, he went to work. We stopped for breakfast and then lounged uselessly in TPO's bed watching Family Guy and listening to music until noon, when I left to go home and see my family.

At which point I announced that two people would be staying in our house that night - Schneckleface and her friend Ashley were spending Schneckleface's last night in MA chez moi before embarking on the cross-country road trip Schneckleface and I were supposed to take last summer. I'd known about it sooner than that day, I just hadn't brought it to anyone else's attention. They were gone, you know? They ditched me. No one was there to tell.

Schneckleface and Ashley got here around 5 and we had dinner and dessert. Then we went to the grocery store for them to get provisions, which took forever because they're both apparently very indecisive. After that we walked a bit on the beach (Ashley has pictures on her camera, but I won't have them until those two make it back to Phoenix in a couple of weeks) and then went to watch fireworks at the neighboring town's harbor. I was glad I'd get to see a real show, and glad that I would not have to fear for my life since Boyfriend and Dick weren't in charge of the fuses.

We met up with Ash and Bat in town and we all found a spot on a narrow strip of beach, which only got narrower as the night went on until there wasn't any more beach to sit on and we had to climb the rocks or swim. After the show, to avoid the traffic, we went to the Derby playground to kill time and Bat took a bunch of sweet long exposure shots of us running around with cell phones. Twas a lovely evening in every way imaginable!

Episode Two: Leave us one more weekend.

Friday I went to the beach to tan. I've been going to Boyfriend's beach instead of mine because I don't have the proper permit to park at my own town's beach and can't afford one. Also, Nantasket Beach has a way better name than the painfully obvious "Sandy" beach. After I'd napped for a while, Wanda came to see me and we walked around, noting the obscene number of jellyfish littering the shore and coming up with ridiculous reasons for their presence. Stay tuned for an explanatory vignette, which we intend to write at the earliest possible date.

Friday night, Boyfriend and The Pantsless One came over to hang out. Ravin was supposed to be there but she couldn't come until she got out of work, so we were killing time until she got there. First we made Boyfriend buy us Ingredients for Jell-O shots and other Fourth of July nommies. Then he went upstairs and played Mario Kart 64 while TPO and I made 6 different flavors of Jell-O with said Ingredients and spooned it all into little cups, which covered two whole shelves of my fridge by the end of the evening. What a painfully stereotypical night, with me and TPO in the kitchen while my boy sat upstairs playing video games.

Then TPO and I decided we wanted to make punch using the rest of our Ingredients, but all we could find was sherbet. We were going to make Ravin bring us Sprite and Hawaiian punch until we found out she wasn't coming after all because she got out of work very late and was exhausted and wanted to get enough rest that she could have a good time on the Fourth. None of us could really hold that against her. So I went online and begged our friend the Cuddle Rapist to bring us stuff for punch, which was such an amusing conversation that I must share it.

Amandasaurus: get your butt to my house
Amandasaurus: and bring
Amandasaurus: sprite and hawaiian punch
Cuddle Rapist: sprite
Cuddle Rapist: why
Amandasaurus: for punch
Cuddle Rapist: where am i going to get that this late
Amandasaurus: riddle's?
Cuddle Rapist: its 11
Amandasaurus: damn
Amandasaurus: you dont have anything in the house?
Cuddle Rapist: find some where thats open
Cuddle Rapist: i've got a bottle of gray goose
Cuddle Rapist: haha
Cuddle Rapist: and cough syurp
Cuddle Rapist: lets make sizzurp
Amandasaurus: no no no
Amandasaurus: we don't need any more of those things
Amandasaurus: nvm TPO says we'll add it
Cuddle Rapist: shut up
Cuddle Rapist: you dont drink
Amandasaurus: uhhhhh
Amandasaurus: well
Amandasaurus: i wish you were here right now
Cuddle Rapist: how old is your mac
Amandasaurus: what? why???
Cuddle Rapist: just answer the question
Cuddle Rapist: i need to make a decision
Amandasaurus: 2007 i think
Cuddle Rapist: is it an intel mac?
Amandasaurus: macbook pro, that's intel right
Cuddle Rapist: yes
Cuddle Rapist: do you have the discs that go with it?
Amandasaurus: yes
Cuddle Rapist: okay
Cuddle Rapist: do you know where they are?
Amandasaurus: yeah
Cuddle Rapist: good
Cuddle Rapist: find some where that's open
Cuddle Rapist: and ill come over

Thus, we obtained our Sprite and Hawaiian Punch and made delicious punch, which we enjoyed while watching the Incredibles. Choosing a movie was quite the fiasco; TPO kept telling me she wanted to watch a movie and I kept saying well go pick one out off the shelf. So the third time she asked me I was like "GODDAMMIT TPO, GO LOOK AT THE GODDAMN SHELF AND PICK A GODDAMN MOVIE." Helpful as always, Boyfriend said, "I knew she'd be an angry drunk." BUT I WASN'T DRUNK. Not even a little bit.

Halfway through the movie, everyone got sleepy so we decided to go to bed. Boyfriend was going to leave because he sucks... uh, I mean, had work in the morning... but TPO and Cuddle Rapist refused to move their cars so he was stuck.

In the morning, Cuddle Rapist dove on me and Boyfriend to wake us up and we repeated the stereotypical performance of the night before. Boyfriend dragged his butt out of bed at a glacial pace while I made him French toast, and then he and Cuddle Rapist lolled uselessly at the kitchen table while TPO and I made banana pancakes. Well, Cuddle Rapist was on his PC trying to get it to run my OS (that's why he was asking for my disks the night before), so I guess Boyfriend was the only one acting useless. Wow, I'm really being mean to Boyfriend in this entry. Sorry, Musclecakes.

Soon they both left. After that, TPO and I stuffed our faces, walked around in the sunshine, bought stuff for me to make a pie for the dessert picnic we were supposed to have later with Ravin, and baked a pizza for lunch at 11:30, a true testament to how early we'd woken up.

Then TPO went home and I had a couple of hours to tidy up for my family, who were coming home late that night. I had an unpleasant surprise when I opened the fridge. The whole thing reeked of Jell-O shots. It was like someone had drained all the coolant and replaced it with Bacardi and artificial fruit flavoring. I scrubbed the little circles from the cups off the shelves, but the smell remained. I left the door open and placed a fan on the shelf to coax out the fumes. When that didn't work, I left an open bowl of tuna in there for about an hour, and it was good as new.

I'll have to owe you the last installment or two tomorrow, because it's almost time to leave for the Reel Big Fish show! HUZZAH!

Episode One: Tuesday's gray and Wednesday, too.

BUH I'm SO tired right now. Didn't sleep much all weekend, and as usual when I don't sleep, it was well worth it. Let's see let's see, but it's been a while since I updated so I'll start with last week.

Sunday my family was supposed to leave for vacation in New Hampshire, but my dad was re-siding the house and put off leaving til Monday. Then when I got home from work on Monday he'd decided they weren't going at all because he wanted to finish siding the whole house and not just the part he was supposed to finish before vacation. If it could've stopped raining the week before everything would've been fine, thank you; he would've got the siding up and they would've been out of here Monday at the latest, leaving the place to me.

I've never had the house to myself. I didn't have any grand plans (although Boyfriend and Dick were determined to show up with lots of people and even more booze) but I was looking forward to the quiet, to not being bothered while in the middle of things, to not being bossed or interrogated or forced to use dirty towels in the bathroom because my dad's the only one who ever gets clean towels and he needs one for every shower he takes, even if he takes more than one a day. All minor annoyances, but they drive me nuts when I'm home from school for longer than the month I'm here for Christmas, so I was really upset when I heard they weren't going. It didn't help that it was still raining.

But in the end, it DID help that it was raining. We got some thunder on Wednesday and it looked like it would turn into big storms later on, not to mention the amount my dad, who's a diabetic, had been working was literally killing him, so he relented and decided to go. I was sort of glad to give up giving him the silent treatment. It feels very rude to me, and I hate to be rude. However, even those to whom we automatically owe respect, like parents, can lose respect, and in my opinion, going back on his word, disappointing the four other people who'd been looking forward to this week, and thinking only of himself and how he wanted to have weekends to himself for the rest of the summer were good enough reasons to shelve my respect for the time being. But thankfully he followed through in the end. Better late than never.

That night I had Boyfriend over for dinner, served on our holiday dishes and illuminated by candlelight. Then we watched Ghost Hunters again. Last time we watched that I couldn't sleep, and not because it's an especially scary show but just because after watching it, I started assuming every miscellaneous sound was caused by something supernatural instead of something normal like wind or water in the pipes, and there were a lot of miscellaneous sounds that night. And a storm, which normally I like but that night all I could think of was how the tree thrashing outside my window looked like a laughing demon and I could feel him watching me even with the shade closed. So I took some melatonin and conked out. Anyway, after watching Ghost Hunters this week we watched Kiki's Delivery Service so I wouldn't wig out all night in the empty house.

Thursday was my last day of work for the week because of the holiday weekend. My cute story of the week is, there's this one little boy named Ronan with the most adorable golden blond ringlets. I met him the first time we went outside and the kids had a toy car wash. He was running around in terror, saying that "they" were trying to run him over. I'm assuming he meant the other kids but I guess "they" could've been in his head, too, since no one was actually doing anything of the sort. Anyhow, he does that kind of thing a lot, and he also always walks to and from the playground with me because he trails behind and gets stuck at the end of the line, and that's my spot. And he always says "aww, fiddlesticks!" at least two or three times per walk. When I ask him what's the matter, he says, all huffy, that he's at the end of the line again.

Also, today, me and him and Zach (the one who called me beautiful) and a couple of my girls had a great discussion about love on the way back from the playground. It all started with one of them hugging me, and when I said "Thank you! I love hugs! They're my favorite!" all six of the kids near me had to take turns giving me hugs or kisses. Then Catherine explained, "we give love to our families." I wish you could've heard her say it because it was way cuter coming from her than it is from me.

Thursday night was made of fail because we invited so many people to my house and in the end it was just me and Boyfriend. So we watched the end of Kiki's Delivery Service and went back to his house to sleep.

Friday was when things really started to get interesting. Bet you really want to read about it, don't you? Well HA, you'll have to wait until next time, because I'ma pass out on my keyboard if I try and finish this post now. And it'll be a BEAST of a post if I cram all that excitement into one. Anticipation, my friends. It's a wonderful thing. Often better than the thing you're anticipating. I look back on my high school days of counting down 20, 60, even a hundred days to a show I'd bought tickets to, because going to a show was that big of a deal. It still is, I just go to more of them now and don't have enough space to count down to them all. Lawl. And come to think of it, the show is almost ALWAYS more fun than the anticipation. Reel Big Fish tomorrow at the House of Blues! 1240 minutes... =D

TTFN~

Everything you do makes it easy to fall in love with you.

Boyfriend and I had a lovely 6-month anniversary celebration this weekend. Boyfriend will call it a victory celebration, and I can't really argue that: six months marks the longest relationship I've had, and still no qualms!

He surprised me with flowers. Now, as a guy, you can never go wrong with flowers, especially red roses. See how pretty they look in my kitchen? I smile every time I walk by them. ^_^



(I love that the chalkboard in the background says "Happy B-Day Julia.")



For dinner we went to my favorite restaurant, the one my family often went for special occasions and celebrations when I was younger. Boyfriend hadn't been there before but he enjoyed it as much as I did. It's such a cute, quirky little place; what's not to love? It's out of place on the busiest intersection in town, surrounded by the likes of Taco Bell, Mickey D's, Chili's and a car dealership. You'd think it was someone's cheery little yellow house. Out back is this tiny little dirt lot. You wouldn't suspect a thing - but surprise! It's a restaurant. The walls are decorated with strawberry-themed antiques and the tables and chairs are all mismatched. It feels like a little, very eclectic country kitchen. And the food is SO GOOD. We both ate way more than our stomachs could actually fit.

That, of course, meant we had to go walk it off at the reservoir when we got back to my house. Dusk was just turning to night and the fireflies were out in the canyon by the dam. Unfortunately, so were the mosquitos, so we soon walked back home and usurped the family room to watch Toy Story 2. Boyfriend's idea, not mine, I'll have you know. Not that I would ever complain about watching Toy Story. I just thought it was worth mentioning since I generally complain about him choosing terrible movies. So, on top of being the reigning champion of my love life, Boyfriend must also be congratulated for doing absolutely everything right on our anniversary. ^_^

And now it's tangent time! Because what would my blog be without random drivel peppering every post? Has anyone else noticed that Woody looks an awful lot like Gabe Saporta? It's his eyes and mouth, I think, and the general way his face moves.



My new theory is that Pixar is wholly responsible for Cobra Starship. How else could that band possibly be as amazing as they are? Okay, that's all I have to say about that.

Weekends are for the Warriors!

Wow what a weekend it has been! And the longest one I can remember having all year. I have finally discovered the secret to slowing down the racing rapids of time: NO SLEEP! Haha. But truly. Friday feels like a lifetime ago. I had lunch with Ravin and The Pantsless One that day, which was great because I hadn't seen either of them in over a week and that is unacceptable for summertime. But I was sick most of the week so it was really all right. Boyfriend and I had a date that night and I made him take me to see "Up," which was amazing! Just the right amount of goofy and random mixed with totally adorable. Even Boyfriend managed to like it, though at first he was like "NO. We're not seeing that." Win!

Saturday, TPO and I helped one of my former teachers throw a custom birthday party. Holy cow. Any family that can afford that for their daughter has to really be raking it in. It's a catered event, and when I say catered I mean there are sandwiches cut in hearts, stars, and crown shapes, shoe shaped cookies, and cupcakes adorned with massive frosting flowers and butterflies. Princess Sharon (it's weird for me to suddenly call her by her first name after being her student) brings costumes and puppets. She sings and plays games. I mean WOW. I would've loved to have Princess Sharon throw me a party as a little girl. But I don't think we were ever that rich.

It was a long drive there and back, during which TPO and I had significant discussions about some of life's bigger issues. Things are a-changing, we noted; our discussions, which once circled around Pokemon and schoolgirl crushes (and schoolgirl crushes on Pokemon characters... I mean... that never happened XD), have shifted to anything from work to booze to sex to families (the ones we have now and the ones we will start in the not-as-distant-as-it-once-was future). Sometimes I hate that I'm growing up, but other times I think about it and realize that I have always been content no matter what age I've been. I think you grow into the number. But age IS just a number. Even if you're dealing with different issues than you used to, it doesn't mean you have to be grown up in every sense, and I don't think I ever will be (just wait til you hear how we spent the rest of the weekend if you don't believe me). However, adults need to behave like adults when they are in families and relationships and stop acting like nobody else matters. Their thoughtless selfishness scars the people they ought to care about and that's unacceptable.

Okay, random tangent, sorry. That night we went to Boyfriend's for a movie night. I don't know when we will learn that he's the wrong one to send to Blockbuster. I felt bad that I'd dragged him to a kids' movie about a house that travels by balloon power so I didn't argue, even though the back of the movie was fraught with terrible grammar and spelling, which should've been enough to clue us all in to the quality of the thing. I mean talk about no plot, disturbing (if not especially graphic) violence/sex for absolutely no reason, terrible acting, terrible writing, and terrible cinematography. Even Boyfriend hated it, and he picked it.

Then TPO and I drove to the other end of the world to swim in Ravin's pool. I was glad to have something to do all night, since in spite of my sickness I'd been struck with pretty bad insomnia for the past couple of nights. We had to take a long, dark, winding detour because 3A was shut down for a few miles. Got there at 1AM. The pool was deliciously warm and we were at that silly, happy point of tiredness that I've missed for quite some time. Quote of the night: "I wonder if I can stretch both of my legs without blubbbjihaiewhfjasdnfl." The answer, Ravin, is you can't.

After swimming, we went to the 24-hour Wal*Mart to buy ice cream. It was 3AM. Ravin and TPO had to sit in the car seats and dance about in silly galoshes. Then they bought sippy cups to drink their Mountain Dew out of. TPO did Cher impressions on the car ride home while Ravin sang like the old man in Teen Girl Squad who has the running gag about ointment. Then we devoured the gallon of white mint chocolate chip ice cream, drank allegedly citrus flavored soda out of baby cups, and watched Pokemon until we fell asleep.

Only two hours had gone by when Ravin's mother came in to complain about us sleeping in the living room, open all the shades and proceed to do something in the kitchen that involved a suspicious number of pots and pans. So I got up and left. I had to be at church to videotape the sermon anyway. No matter that I was almost an hour ahead of schedule. Somehow I made myself look alive, went to the service, and filmed the thing, averting the slight disaster of not getting shit for audio and having to awkwardly run around the sanctuary trying to fix things. I looked after the pastor's son for a few hours while most of the congregation went to a wedding and then joined Boyfriend and Mama Swede for dinner.

I really appreciate that she always feeds us when we go there and I will never complain about that. But apparently my body forgot how to digest ham, because I felt awful when we left for Ravin's. Still, I went swimming with everybody (meaning Ravin, TPO, Boyfriend and the Italian, except Boyfriend wouldn't get in because he didn't have a swimsuit), laughed at the awkwardness that is my friends, tried some of the beer that Boyfriend snatched from his Mom's fridge (which is really lame since he's old enough to buy his own), and went to Wal*Mart again to get noms. It was fun, but I don't remember a whole lot of details. My brain was beyond functioning. I probably said/did retarded things that made no sense, like even worse than usual. I remember I was jumpy because I kept imagining that I saw people out of the corner of my eye. Every time I blinked it felt like I had been startled out of a light sleep. If I stayed awake beyond midnight, it wasn't by much.

I had to bring Boyfriend back for work this morning. Ravin and TPO still hadn't slept when I left. I crashed the second I got home and slept for four glorious hours. Still not feeling quite human but it was all worth it. =)

Experimental rock: drummer makes beats using ketchup.

Apparently, as soon as I have no school work that I SHOULD be doing, I abstain from blogging altogether. Funny how that works. I realized I hadn't posted pictures in quite some time, so I'll be playing ketchup tonight. Ever played ketchup? It's like drumming on water. Some cool Asian guy is probably amazing at it... but in the end it's most likely a waste of my time.

Behold! My beloved new heart sunglasses.

Cam wearing my beloved new heart sunglasses during the making of "Trade Fair."

Ghostbait!! Today she told me to tell her brother not to dress like a stalker at her dance recital. Love that girl

What happens at A.C. Moore... should definitely stay there.

Discovered this with Ravin while perusing a stack of CDs I found in my room, none of which I'd ever listened to. Turns out I really like this band. They're a little wiggity wack, but in a good way, or at least in a way I like, although I can see how his voice could turn you off to the awesomeness. That's all right. I forgive you.

Well, happy summer, all - especially all my wonderful, just-graduated friends (and my wonderful just-graduated boyfriend) who are enjoying their first summer free of school! Go-Co's gonna be effing weird without you all. I think I personally knew at least 15-20% of the graduating class this year. SAD SAD SAD (for me... but YAY YAY YAY for them!)

Boyfriend, my other half, and his brother Dick at Boyfriend's graduation. D'awww. Life's waiting to begin, right? ^_^

Schneckleface, my other other half! Congratulations, biffle.

Summer's been fabulously relaxing thus far. I've been to the beach at least six times in the past not-even-a-week. Granted, the water is WAAAAY too cold to actually swim in, but. It's the beach. I've been sunning a few times and, yes, I actually have a little color, and no, it's not crimson!! Hah it was so windy one day that I basically got free spa-style exfoliation just from sitting on a towel reading. In fact I practically got buried. Then when I got in the shower I had sand in all the places you normally forget to wash, like behind your ears... and inside of them... and a pile of sand fell out of my hair when I took out the ponytail.

Yesterday, Schneckleface and I walked all the way from the strip to Boyfriend's cliff by the sea. By the time we'd passed the water tower we decided we might as well just go the whole way, just so we could say we'd done it. Then we got to the end, copped out and made Boyfriend drive us back to my car.

I found all of these walking on the beach with Boyfriend one night.

We had a movie night at my house on Friday. That was the best. Ravin, The Pantsless One, their high school friend LL and I went to the beach in the afternoon, then Boyfriend and the Cuddle Rapist joined us later and we forced them to watch The Lion King 1 1/2, or most of it, before we finally gave up on the DVD because it kept skipping.

Schneckleface arrived for her weekend stay, but then we had to bring LL to meet up with her mom because that's how she was getting home, and no one could follow my directions to Home Depot (because my house is just that out in the boonies), so we all piled into Boyfriend's car - that's right, seven of us, all out of high school and grown enough to know it was a dumb idea - and drove to the Home Depot to drop her off.

Back at my house, we made s'mores with Nutella while Cuddle Rapist raped our fire pit (but in his defense, he also rescued a flaming copy of the Tartan with my article on the front page) and then watched a movie Boyfriend brought, whose plot I had a hard time following since it seemed to me to be a sequence of random events showcasing Arnold Schwarzenegger's various degrees of awesome.

...Nom...?

My kitty cat! He's uh... "helping" me unpack. Obviously.

That's all for now. A) because I'm BEAT, and B) because this post has already taken up more cyberspace than it deserves. Hopefully I'll have a new excerpt soon, but I make no promises. I'm at the really scary part of writing where I have no previous drafts to draw from, and so I must draw new material entirely from my imagination. But wait, you say; isn't that what you wanted to do? YES. IT IS. But it's heckalot scarier than I remembered.