21 For Fun...
The sand crumbles beneath the young man's toes as he walks towards the water, gazing out towards the islands on this early Saturday morning. He says hello to the waves, as they lap up against the shore, as they have for the last twenty one years and millions more prior. He notices a particularly clear area of the wet sand, and decides to create. He digs his heel into the sand, and drags it along the shore, the sand parting for his foot as he moves. He curves around, starts another line, checks his work, goes back to clean up the rough edges. He circles the entire creation with a large oval, and stands back to admire his work. Satisfied, he goes to sit on the sandals he's left nearby, and listen to the ocean. A small boy comes bounding across the sand, being trailed by his mother, who is holding a small girl's hand. He stands before the area, and appears to be thinking very hard as he surveys the scene. "MOMMY MOMMY! There's a 21 in the dirt!" "Yes dear, please walk around it" the mother replies, glancing at the young man as she passes. Waves continue to break, and an elderly man approaches along the shore from the other direction. He's hunched over his cane, taking very small steps, as if each one is an effort. He reaches the spot where the young man is sitting, and gingerly pauses to catch his breath, resting both his arms on his cane as his gaze as well passes over the young man's creation. He looks up at the young man, and with a big grin, says "Happy Birthday." The young man chuckles and responds with a cheerful smile "Thank you Sir." As the elderly man continues on, the young but slightly older now man turns to return to his campsite, leaving his creation to be washed away with the tides. He wonders where he'll be twenty one years from now, what life will be like. If its anything like the twenty one years prior, he has a lot to look forward to.
Only a third or so of the day is gone, and its already been a great one. The camping trip was pretty awesome, got down there around noon yesterday and had a grand ol time all night long, enjoying the fire and scenery, and all the friends from the hall that also made the trip down to Carpinteria. Had a somewhat eerie experience on the way down there, was plowing down Storke doing around 40mph when I suddenly noticed a large bird that looked much like a raven flying alongside my car just outside the passenger window. The strange thing it was matching my trajectory and velocity exactly, other than the flapping of its wings, it appeared like the bird was suspended from a mobile, it was moving neither up or down, nor side to side as far as I could tell. This continued for about a hundred yards, before it peeled off and shot up into the sky out of sight. I could have been seeing things, but I could have sworn it glanced over at me as it flew, peering into my window while it flew alongside. Very strange.
Highlight of the night was during the Taboo game, as I randomly happened to glance behind me towards my car, and notices several people hunched over what appeared to be an open flame on my trunk. "What in the hell are they doing to my car?" was the exclamation that resulted, and "I'm sure they're trying to light it on fire" was the witty response from the guy next to me. I then clued in to the whole candles aspect of what was going on, and the fact that they were about to bring over the surprise cakes for both myself and the other girl who came along who shared the same birthday. Oops.
So, I'm older now, but wiser? Well, there's still time for that.
Thursday, May 02, 2002
Midterms and Tents...
It would appear the internet is back to normal, you wouldn't believe how pathetic I end up without it... A whole lot of TV/movie watching, working out, eating, and that's about it...
Took my Econ 2 midterm today, pretty sure I did very well, but with that class its more of a competition to try to get an A rather than an A-, rather than the usual B instead of a C. Also went through and planned out a schedule for the Fall quarter, the wonderful thing about upper division classes is they're small enough that you don't have to enroll in a section, which means less class time per week. It turns out my Mondays and Wednesdays will be somewhat back, but I'll only have one class on Friday like this quarter (which rules) and NONE on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which has never happened before. Crazy...
T-minus two days until someone around here gets a little older... Crap, gonna have to edit the little mini description of this page, won't be accurate anymore. :) Looks like I'm gonna spend most of the day down in Carpenteria tomorrow, camping overnight and then coming back sometime relatively early Saturday, which should leave plenty of time for celebrating the rest of the day. Actually don't have anything planned, but that will probably be part of the fun.
Wow, now this is sad, I just noticed on the F and J keys there are little raised bumps, so that when you put your fingers down randomly you can tell whether your index fingers are in the proper position or not... I've only been typing for like 3/4 of my life, and I just now figured that out...
[shakes his head]
It would appear the internet is back to normal, you wouldn't believe how pathetic I end up without it... A whole lot of TV/movie watching, working out, eating, and that's about it...
Took my Econ 2 midterm today, pretty sure I did very well, but with that class its more of a competition to try to get an A rather than an A-, rather than the usual B instead of a C. Also went through and planned out a schedule for the Fall quarter, the wonderful thing about upper division classes is they're small enough that you don't have to enroll in a section, which means less class time per week. It turns out my Mondays and Wednesdays will be somewhat back, but I'll only have one class on Friday like this quarter (which rules) and NONE on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which has never happened before. Crazy...
T-minus two days until someone around here gets a little older... Crap, gonna have to edit the little mini description of this page, won't be accurate anymore. :) Looks like I'm gonna spend most of the day down in Carpenteria tomorrow, camping overnight and then coming back sometime relatively early Saturday, which should leave plenty of time for celebrating the rest of the day. Actually don't have anything planned, but that will probably be part of the fun.
Wow, now this is sad, I just noticed on the F and J keys there are little raised bumps, so that when you put your fingers down randomly you can tell whether your index fingers are in the proper position or not... I've only been typing for like 3/4 of my life, and I just now figured that out...
[shakes his head]
Tuesday, April 30, 2002
Room With A View...
Finished off basically the last of my Vegas reservations today, everything set for an amazing weekend in less than two weeks now. If anyone wants to know where I am on Friday, May 10th, at 11:30pm, let it be known I'll be at the Stratosphere's Top of the World restaurant, rotating once an hour looking out at a view of the entire area from a hundred stories up. I made the reservation for two, one because I didn't want to look like an utter and complete loser, and two because I'm quite convinced the girl of my dreams is going to float down out of the sky and appear across from me. :) [watches the reader smile and nod and reach for the phone and the number for the asylum] No really! It's too bad I had to delay it a week, otherwise I would have ticked over to my 21st bday while on top of the world, pretty cool. :) I'll have to just pretend its my bday when I'm there, maybe you get a free dessert! Actually given its probably that kind of place where dessert is another ten bucks, probably not.
So yeah, Girl Of My Dreams Who Is Reading This, now you know where to find me! :) I suppose this could be inviting some whacko stalker prison inmate from Nebraska to come freak me out, but I'll take my chances. ;)
Finished off basically the last of my Vegas reservations today, everything set for an amazing weekend in less than two weeks now. If anyone wants to know where I am on Friday, May 10th, at 11:30pm, let it be known I'll be at the Stratosphere's Top of the World restaurant, rotating once an hour looking out at a view of the entire area from a hundred stories up. I made the reservation for two, one because I didn't want to look like an utter and complete loser, and two because I'm quite convinced the girl of my dreams is going to float down out of the sky and appear across from me. :) [watches the reader smile and nod and reach for the phone and the number for the asylum] No really! It's too bad I had to delay it a week, otherwise I would have ticked over to my 21st bday while on top of the world, pretty cool. :) I'll have to just pretend its my bday when I'm there, maybe you get a free dessert! Actually given its probably that kind of place where dessert is another ten bucks, probably not.
So yeah, Girl Of My Dreams Who Is Reading This, now you know where to find me! :) I suppose this could be inviting some whacko stalker prison inmate from Nebraska to come freak me out, but I'll take my chances. ;)
Monday, April 29, 2002
The Phantom Menace...
No I'm not talking about Star Wars, I'm referring to a run in I had this morning with a ghost twig. At least, I assume it was a ghost, because I never saw it coming, and even after tripping hard over it and having to go down on two hands to maintain my upright position and stumbling several feet, and jogging back to see what it was, I never did find it. Don't you love those? I swear someone with the power of invisibility just wanders around tripping people just to get a kick out of it. Found out I'm pretty consistent, my time from last week on the pier run was within one second of this week. Guess it'll be a few weeks before progress appears. Think I'll go run the steps at Harder Stadium tomorrow, although I'll have to see if I can make it all the way out there first. ;)
Today I really should have been called M.P. Clumsy W. actually, while walking past Pulse the copy store here I was looking inside and turned basically right into this large indoor plant, much to the appreciation of the people eating lunch nearby who were desperate for entertainment. Then in Ortega I did basically the same thing when heading out, they have these tall plants in there that lean out into the pathways and just snag people as they go by, someone really needs to take a weedwhacker to 'em. I'm not bitter or anything.
No I'm not talking about Star Wars, I'm referring to a run in I had this morning with a ghost twig. At least, I assume it was a ghost, because I never saw it coming, and even after tripping hard over it and having to go down on two hands to maintain my upright position and stumbling several feet, and jogging back to see what it was, I never did find it. Don't you love those? I swear someone with the power of invisibility just wanders around tripping people just to get a kick out of it. Found out I'm pretty consistent, my time from last week on the pier run was within one second of this week. Guess it'll be a few weeks before progress appears. Think I'll go run the steps at Harder Stadium tomorrow, although I'll have to see if I can make it all the way out there first. ;)
Today I really should have been called M.P. Clumsy W. actually, while walking past Pulse the copy store here I was looking inside and turned basically right into this large indoor plant, much to the appreciation of the people eating lunch nearby who were desperate for entertainment. Then in Ortega I did basically the same thing when heading out, they have these tall plants in there that lean out into the pathways and just snag people as they go by, someone really needs to take a weedwhacker to 'em. I'm not bitter or anything.
Blog Issues...
Lately its strange, I've been having to hit the post and publish button, then edit the post, then hit the post and publish button again, and repeat this process 2 or 3 times in order for the post to actually appear on the page. I changed the archive settings to monthly, this ends up leave some pretty giant pages, but at least the archive list doesn't take up quite so much space in the right column, we'll see if this fixes the problem. Darn, it didn't, guess I'll have to deal. :/ Anyone have this problem or know a solution?
Lately its strange, I've been having to hit the post and publish button, then edit the post, then hit the post and publish button again, and repeat this process 2 or 3 times in order for the post to actually appear on the page. I changed the archive settings to monthly, this ends up leave some pretty giant pages, but at least the archive list doesn't take up quite so much space in the right column, we'll see if this fixes the problem. Darn, it didn't, guess I'll have to deal. :/ Anyone have this problem or know a solution?
Monday Blunday...
Can you believe it! Up again at 7 even though I was up til like 2! Go me! Note to self though, don't stay up until 2, makes it a big tougher, oi. Think I'm gonna make Monday distance day. Well, the distances at this point are somewhat laughable, but ya gotta start somewhere. Then I'll do hilly/sand/workout routines like the lagoon and the steps at Harder Stadium on Tues/Thurs, with a medium distance on Wed, and some time trials on Fri to check my progress. Okay, on three on three, BREAK!
Can you believe it! Up again at 7 even though I was up til like 2! Go me! Note to self though, don't stay up until 2, makes it a big tougher, oi. Think I'm gonna make Monday distance day. Well, the distances at this point are somewhat laughable, but ya gotta start somewhere. Then I'll do hilly/sand/workout routines like the lagoon and the steps at Harder Stadium on Tues/Thurs, with a medium distance on Wed, and some time trials on Fri to check my progress. Okay, on three on three, BREAK!
Sunday, April 28, 2002
Forging New Trails...
Headed out into the wild blue yonder again today for another hiking trip... Ended up off of Hot Springs road north of downtown at a pretty awesome trail... We originally missed the one we were shooting for and ending up climbing steeply up a ridge and popping out at a paved road up on the other side, somewhat anticlimactic to hike for an hour or two steeply up a hill and then finding out you could have driven to that same point. :) To make up for it we did a little off roading up a drainage chute that was basically solid pebbles, made it real interesting both going up and sliding down, mostly on our asses. On top though was a pretty awesome view, not only of the Santa Barbara area, but also the Montecito and areas further South, I'd never hiked a trail that far east so that was all new to me.
Eventually we did find the intended trail on the way down, which let along a creek and involved a lot of rock climbing and balancing acts, was quite fun. :) The goal on this one was the large waterfall at the top, which was really quite peaceful. All along the way there were the sounds of nature and running water, a sound I'm a real fan of. Highlight was me chucking rocks into one of the pools, gradually choosing larger ones, until I managed to dump in this rather large boulder which splashed in such a manner that it shot a stream of water out to the side, nailing the friend I went with pretty good. Almost had me rollin on the ground giggling, not quite. :) Ended up getting a decent amount of exercise, the first trail was pretty steep, and the off trail work and then the second one kept my hands busy, its more fun that way though.
Nothing planned for the remainder of the weekend, cept for some food, man I'm hungry. :/
Headed out into the wild blue yonder again today for another hiking trip... Ended up off of Hot Springs road north of downtown at a pretty awesome trail... We originally missed the one we were shooting for and ending up climbing steeply up a ridge and popping out at a paved road up on the other side, somewhat anticlimactic to hike for an hour or two steeply up a hill and then finding out you could have driven to that same point. :) To make up for it we did a little off roading up a drainage chute that was basically solid pebbles, made it real interesting both going up and sliding down, mostly on our asses. On top though was a pretty awesome view, not only of the Santa Barbara area, but also the Montecito and areas further South, I'd never hiked a trail that far east so that was all new to me.
Eventually we did find the intended trail on the way down, which let along a creek and involved a lot of rock climbing and balancing acts, was quite fun. :) The goal on this one was the large waterfall at the top, which was really quite peaceful. All along the way there were the sounds of nature and running water, a sound I'm a real fan of. Highlight was me chucking rocks into one of the pools, gradually choosing larger ones, until I managed to dump in this rather large boulder which splashed in such a manner that it shot a stream of water out to the side, nailing the friend I went with pretty good. Almost had me rollin on the ground giggling, not quite. :) Ended up getting a decent amount of exercise, the first trail was pretty steep, and the off trail work and then the second one kept my hands busy, its more fun that way though.
Nothing planned for the remainder of the weekend, cept for some food, man I'm hungry. :/
