Tidbits of News

Today is Monday. Today I woke up two hours too early for a final I had at 10:15. NOT 8. Great way to start the day. I eventually took it and I'm pretty confident about how I did.

Last Friday I received a bar of organic, fairly traded dark chocolate from my sociology teacher as a reward for getting the highest midterm two grade in the entire class of ?500?. That grade just keeps getting better and better. I looked at my grade sheet and it is now 102%. Not 101% and not 96%. Betchya this never happens again! Hope it does though... :D

I have 3 finals left. Sociology, which is a online with free access to all materials. Political Science, U.S. Politics. This was a fun class but I'm nervous about the final. There will be 25 1 point multiple choice questions, 6 short answer questions out of which you choose 5 for 5 points each, and a long essay question. The long essay question will be one of two essay questions given beforehand. We need to prepare for both. And lastly, my Linguistics final. Not to nervous about this one. Everything is very factual and in its place. You're either right or wrong. I'm cool with that.

My friends and I had a wonderful Ugly Christmas Sweater party on Saturday night. There are some truly attractive new photos of me up on facebook. There was a lot of dancing and a lot of sweet things. I made peppermint cookies and peppermint bark and brought eggnog, apple cider, and hot chocolate. Others brought chips and dip, made some truly awesome gingerbread cookies, and provided some peppermint hersheys kisses and other things.

On Friday night my roomie and I were VERY bored so we made a tent fort in our living room! There are some sweet tent photos on facebook if you want to view the architectural glory. Note to self, next time use the bedding you're NOT using as bedding on your bed. We tried watching Fifth Element on my computer but the sound was all wonky. I'll try to get that fixed when I go home.

I'm going HOME!!! I'll be home by 4 P.M. on Friday. Hopefully, I'll find some chill time before I'm whisked off to the NSSN concert! Soooo much to do during Christmas break this year. We aren't going on a cruise or anything. It's a kind of relief. It will be nice to spend a Christmas holiday at home. While I'm home I'll be going to the SMPAC Holiday Party. Sadly, it is in a new location since dtchgrl618 moved away. I'm sure the new one will be just as nice though. I'll probably be a designated driver again, which is fine with me. I've also got dinners planned with two friends. A New Years Bowling Party in the works. My sister chamedragon is going to be coming from Massachusetts for 10 days!!!! So happy about that! After she leaves just_whelmed will be visiting for a couple days as well!! I want to see Sherlock Holmes while I'm home and it's easy to get to a movie theater. I want to get a haircut and a mani-pedi as well. The mani-pedi would be a fun all girl thing to do with most of the females in my family. I will also be taking shameless advantage of my chiropractor and if he isn't around I'll have my dad do it. OH! And we're seeing Riverdance on Christmas Eve!!! NOT Lord of the Dance... I don't think... Michael Flatley kinda creeps me out.

Lastly, I would like to just do some pleasure shopping! I haven't done that since I got to school and I didn't know how much I liked it til now. Good time for people watching too!

I've discovered that I have issues with focusing on my homework no matter where I work. If I'm at home I'm multitasking on my computer if I'm in the library I'm staring into space or people watching. Pressure is the only thing that reliably keeps me focused. It is irritating. I've also found that if I think "do it for Mom and Dad" that helps me stay focused sometimes.

The Ducks won the Civil War Game!!! We're going to the Rosebowl in Pasadena for the first time in 15 years! The last time we won the Rosebowl was in 1917. Wowza. We'll be playing against the Ohio State Buckeye's. Their defense is supposed to be #5 in the nation. I read that the Civil War Game was the third most watched game in the nation after the Super Bowl and the Pre-Game Super Bowl Kick-off. That's something isn't it?!?

Well, study time.
Love and see most of you really soon!!!

The People We Call Friends

A conversation had with my roommate and his girlfriend on FB. Enjoy.

Katt: i'm suing you guys

Ryan: Whyyyyyyyy?

Katt: y'all have to much fun no fair though
btw
i have been reading this site for the past half hour
it's letters by crazy people

Ryan: /il/

Katt: one guy writes about his swiss cheese fetish

Ryan: Fun? WE"RE DELIRIOUSSSS!@@@!!!L!!

Er, yeah?

... wait, no, pretend I didn't indicate an interest in knowing more about his fetish.

Katt: http://emailsfromcrazypeople.com/

Ryan: Ah, this.

Katt: there are some pretty funny ones though

Ryan: Yeah- and some downright depressing ones.

Katt: like the one written by a person from the U.K. revenue service to this guy

HIIIILARIOUS

oh btw

what WERE you touching earlier?

Ryan: You'll HAVE to be more specific.

Katt: Jennifer was objecting

Ryan: You'll HAVE to be more specific.

Katt: ...

it was kind of vague

Ryan: Yes, well.

Katt: something about spicy gerbils or nipples or something?

Ryan: Uhm.

YOU'LL HAVE TO BE MORE SPECIFIC.

Katt: i can't breath (laughing really hard)

ummm

i don't know if i WANT to be more specific

the thought scares me just a lil bit

i already went as far as spicy nipples

btw were they hers or yours?

Ryan: Or were they the GERBIL'S?

Katt: there's a $100 dollar fee a day for keeping animals in here you know spicy or not!

Ryan: Oh, well, the gerbil's mysteriously gone now.

No worry!

Katt: and why are you having a threesome with a gerbil?

i mean

what is it's function???

btw i'm saving this chat

and posting it on my blog

Ryan: this is where Jennifer says "no, she's not!"

Katt: yes i am

Ryan: We'll be FAMOUS!

Katt: to about the 5 people who actually read my blog

Ryan: (don't listen to her!)

Katt: jordan is asking why you are chatting whilst having a menage a trois

with a gerbil

wait

do ALL of you have spicy nipples?

Ryan:

Katt: jen you ruined it by coming out of the room

Ryan: Jennifer: "Join us and see!"

Katt: sorry i'm a good christian girl i don't have sex with gerbils. spicy or otherwise

sorry mom hasn't sent me any scorned woman yet

Ryan: Missing out, I say, missing out.

Katt: is she talking to the gerbil or you?

how big is the gerbil?

Ryan: It's a JORDAN sized gerbil!

Katt: jordan wants to know if it has any friends

Ryan: IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

"Big enough to go around!"

Katt: around to what? it's butt?

so the jordan gerbil is playing with jennifers jordan?

Ryan: Maybeeeeeeeee.

But apparently it wants to go after JORDAN'S JORDAN.

Katt: where are you in all of this?

Ryan: wink

Katt: you're going to have to be more specific

Ryan: http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1116844646053599333iDATqp

Like THIS.

But SEXIER.

Katt: THAT would be a wombat

i didn't know you liked butt sex

Ryan: BUTT SEX? No no, that's GERBIL HUGGING.

You and your guttery mind!

Katt: it's a WOMBAT

when the heck did a wombat join this circus!?

...

HOW MANY ANIMALS HAVE YOU GOT IN THERE!?!??!

Ryan: DON'T TELL THE APARTMENT MANAGER.

Is he really a wombat? He said he was a gerbil!

Now we're not NEARLY as impressed with him.

Katt: I might have tell the police...

animal abuse and all

Ryan: HE LIKES IT.

Katt: is he squeaking?

Ryan: Like an *Asian*.

Katt: if he were squeaking like an asian i would be able to hear it

from across the complex

in building A

Ryan: We had to gag him.

(He suggested it, actually.)

Katt: Tell me now

is there any swiss cheese involved?

Ryan: We wouldn't take any, that's prostitution!

Katt: ... what?

Ryan: Accepting gifts for sex? That's just WRONG!

Katt: but cheese is good for you!

no, apparently, guys like it if you put it on the dangly bits!

i read it on the internets

Ryan: . . .

Katt: so it must be true

Ryan: No more internet for you, clearly you're misusing it.

Katt: now now

you're not the boss of me!

what's this i hear about "cheese sacks"?

Ryan: What?!

Not us!

Must be... your other neighbors...?

Katt: btw jordan's stomach has an elbow

maybe he can join your freak show

Ryan: The gerbil is TOTALLY INTO THAT.

Katt: oooh! I rhymed

Ryan: ... but us? Not so much.

Katt: what about the wombat?

and what does the block of cheese have to say?

Ryan: Pshh, cheese doesn't talk, silly Katt!

... And the wombat expresses disgust!

Katt: his weenis is amazing he says

does that sway you?

Ryan: Hmm.

Is it well lotioned?

A dry wenis is hardly a wenis at all.

Katt: jordan informs me that it will be lathered in soap in a few seconds

Ryan: Probably for the best.

http://blog.random-squeegee.com/wenis.jpg

Katt: OMG WHY DID YOU SHOW ME THAT YOU SICK FREAK!

eweweweweweew

there is a REASON i didn't watch that movie!

Doesn't he try to eat her?

Ryan: We liked the movie!

Oh, well....

Maybe?

I mean, she was kinda asking for it.

She was all "I hear this monster will try to eat me if I eat this grape. But gosh, doesn't it look juicy? OM NOM."

Katt: "gosh" huh?

Ryan: Yes, but in SPanish.

Thank you and goodnight

Amelie and ummmm... y'know.

I am in the EMU listening to someone play what sounds like the entire Amelie soundtrack on the piano downstairs. I play two of the songs from the soundtrack but not nearly as well as this person. He/She plays it in tempo! It's very beautiful.

I found a person I know who is in two of my classes. Our interests are very different but she is very sweet. I'm friends with her on facebook.

You know that post I wrote about that guy who blackmailed me with my own farts? I just ran into him. I can't remember his name. It starts with a C... He's nice enough. He recognized me and gave me a hug. Nice to find someone from my old dorm FINALLY. Even if it is Mr. OMGYOUFARTED!!!!! O.O Dude. It'd be nice to see other people from my dorm around campus though. Apparently C doesn't have to go looking for them! He lives with four girls who lived on my floor. I DON'T envy him that situation. Someone asked if his girlfriend was worried I laughed and he said he wouldn't touch any of them with a yard stick. If I were a guy neither would I. They're... fluttery and giggly and not at all down to earth.

So far I'm enjoying all my classes to some extent. Human Physiology will be fun I think, even at 8 in the morning! It's only a 50 minute long class so I should retain my consciousness throughout. I'd be worried if it were an hour and 20 minutes or an hour and 50 minute class. It can be difficult to keep paying attention in those classes no matter the subject... Unless there's a movie. :P
My other classes I've attended so far are Sociology and Political Science. Both of the professors make me alternately groan and laugh. The classes are an hour and 50 minutes and an hour and 20 minutes respectively and the profs steadily lose their voices the while. Neither uses microphones. My Sociology professor walks through the lecture hall up and down the stair pacing back and forth gesticulating wildly or with his arms behind his back. He makes me giggle and roll my eyes on occasion. And I don't think I'm convinced that infants don't think in the "I".
My Political Science professor, when talking, "ummms" and "y'know's" a lot! It's fairly irritating because, frankly, no I don't know and you have been a professor for years and years (15 and UofO) and you are educated you shouldn't need to interject umms and y'knows every other sentence! Sometimes he gets stuck. Ummmm and ummm so y'know the democratic debate is eternal... ummm.
REALLY?

I'll get over it. I promise.

I have a two and a half hour break between my second and third class on Wednesdays. I hope that I use them wisely! At two I'll take my first Linguistics class. Wish me luck with that. Tomorrow I will have my last first class. It's a library research class that starts at 7 pm and goes til 8:50. According to some friends you play video games the whole time. I sincerely hope not. I want to learn how to sort through our ginormous library and I'm bad at video games!

Pray that my hip will get better! It's been giving me a lot of problems for a few days now. It cramps... or something. Getting up hurts and it will randomly act up when I'm walking. It needs to go away!

I miss y'all!

... I had a dream about having really really nice abs last night... The night before I dreamed of kittens. I've been dreaming a lot.

I wore my yellow rose flower clip today!

Love and hugs to all!

Roomies and Buses

So, it's been awhile.
Since awhile...
I've moved into my new place! You can see pictures on fb. There will be new ones soon since Jordan moved in and with him arrived much art!
Today (Sunday), I tried to go to church. There was some mix up in my head and, basically, I did not go to church. I went to Target. On the bus. Damn buses combined with Sundays! I am happy because I got every last thing that I wanted for my apartment! Maybe not at the best price (it certainly showed!) but I have it before school starts! I got things like a silverware sorter, ankle brace, an ice pack, a trash can for the bathroom, a mirror, and some metal weave shelves for the shower room! I am excited that I have everything I could want without going into the ridiculous!
The buses though. I'm not so excited about the buses. On Sunday. They are of the fail. If you're strategic you can probably manage to get where you want to go. You just have to think really hard about it.
Today we got a router! I'm very happy about this because it means I have internet. I have had neither ethernet nor wireless for a day and a half. It's very irritating! BUT! We got a router and everything is now hunky-dory!
Tomorrow, I have to figure out how to bike/walk to school. I also plan to get some of my books for skul.
BTW, Jordan makes the most amazing nachos. I plan on keeping him as a friend. I hope everyone is okay with this. If they are not... go find someone who cares! :P

Ryan's pretty cool too... no nachos yet though...

Loves!

Foot Baths, Burning Man, and Moving

I've been working a lot this weekend. It was very enjoyable but it KILLS my feet. I generally am limping by the end of the day. Hooray foot baths and epsom salts! Hooray, also, for money! Good times. Having money makes me happy.
My oldest sister is still here and my other older sister came back from Burning Man this afternoon. She was full of vague stories about the numerous fascinating she saw. She managed okay. :) I did get an impression of how amazing Burning man was just by her helpless gesticulating in her attempt to explain all the things she'd seen! Her stories about the attitude towards nudity in the city. When around 50,000 people dress sparingly or not at all people tend to be pretty relaxed about naked people. My sis says her wardrobe was boots, underwear (ALWAYS underwear, who want's sand there?), something for here chest, goggles (to protect against dust storms) , and a bandana. And a top hat if you're feeling stylish :P.
I've started weighing my boxes for shipping. They can't be above 30 pounds because we're shipping them to my great aunt. She's 81. Can't lift things real easy. So, things must be distributed in such a way that everything is manageable. In two weeks at this time I will be partly moved in to my new home! Very excited!
I hope you're having a wonderful time and that you are not too overwhelmed. That you are acclimating and giving it all you got. You'll come home speaking and dreaming in French!
Love and God bless!

Triumph, Bugs, and Kissing

So, tragedy struck last night! I was looking for the DanceJam video I had put together to discover that it had vanished from my computer! POOF! Five days of work gone. I have no idea where it went.
Yes, I was very disappointed. Yes, I cried about it. Then I pulled myself together and started again. It is now almost 24 hours later (not quite) and I am almost finished with the second take. In a way I'm glad I had to redo it because I had some new ideas. Yet, I also wasn't able to remember some clever things I did which was irritating and made the project hard to do sometimes.
I've put it all back together though. This time around it's two minutes shorter being only 31 minutes and 24 seconds in length. :P
Now I'm just waiting for my sister to watch it with me all the way through so I can take notes and redo anything I find fault with.
I'm back on top.

In other news. I had the most painful dentists appointment ever yesterday. I'm taking care of my teeth now because I hate pain not because I want them when I'm 90. Though that is a bonus.

18 days until Oregon!

Lucy is a follower on my blog which makes me happy.

My oldest sister is here for two weeks! Pretty sweet!

I hate bugs. They bite you and give you itchy lumps on your skin. I don't want tiny things eating me and giving me deadly diseases. Doesn't matter that the bugs who do that aren't in or around my house. That's not my point. My point is I hate bugs.
Why do the buzz-y ones always fly circles around your head?

At dinner we were talking about how it's okay to wait to get married and start a family these days because we live longer in general. Being someone who believes in waiting until marriage to have sex I pointed out that "I don't WANT to have to wait that long to have sex!!!!". Everyone was amused. I believe I have a valid point. Because even for me being a virgin when you're over 30 can be an issue because all my friend will have probably had it and I'll still be outside that circle of beloved girl-talk. Being the most sexually frustrated I will probably be the one that brings the most risque sex toys to the bachelorette party's. Dear me. Hopefully I'll have been kissed enough times that I don't think that it's gross.

Oooh work!

Yesterday, I woke up really late but then I went to the gym and worked out on the elyptical for 30 minutes per my trainers orders and then did some stretching. My flexibility has deteriorated dramatically and my trainer STILL says I'm too flexible. That is where we will agree to disagree I believe! After going to the gym I came home and went grocery shopping for Mom. I got a lot of cheese... I ALWAYS get a lot of cheese... my family likes cheese.
After I got back home I worked on the pillows I've been working on. And I FINISHED them! After Mom fixed the stupid sewing machine which needed oiling. Anyway, I finished my last square pillow and then finished a cheery little round one that I love. You can see them all (as well as other projects I completed this summer) online in my "Look What I Made!" photo album on facebook.com. I am VERY happy with them!
I also got a work offer (finally) at the theater. It will probably be very boring but it's better than trying to desperately fit in as well as control myself in other matters at the church picnic tonight. Besides there's my dad's work picnic to try to have fun at tomorrow. Believe me when I say that it's hard to have lots of fun when there's no one your age to relate too. Both at the church and at the work picnics there will be LOTS of children. Little ones. They're fun but sometimes enough is enough, you want someone your age who's going through your same experiences to talk to.
I don't want to finish on that irritatingly negative note so I'm going to try for something positive... ::effort::

I leave for UO in 22 days!!!
Oh! And I'm pretty much have everything packed! Glad I won't have to do a rush job later!

Love!

Back to Spain

As for Spain... I'm probably going to find it difficult to relay everything in chronological order. But I will tell you the highlights!

Okay so Valencia. We got back to the dock just fine but we couldn't dock where we usually did because the fishing boats were already there! So we enroached on the fisherman's corner where some locals were fishing. They just kinda stared at us stupidly and one guy got rather irritated because we were scaring all the fish away with our frantic paddling. Side Note: after we got to the dock the yacht let us go and we had to paddle the rest of the day. The crew pulled out two tiny paddles and so the rest of us chipped in with various flippers! It was sooo fun! EVERYONE was cracking up.
So anyway, we got to the dock with all the professional fishermen on their boats staring at us with smirks on their faces. They creeped me out a little...
We eventually got home and had dinner in the hotel that night. I was exhausted. Then at the table this pain started in my back I had to leave in order to not make a scene. I was crying and it hurt and then, it just went away. Very confusing. S.C.U.B.A. is a very stressful sport. I'm always trying to suppress a little creature in my brain who's saying YOU CAN'T SURVIVE UNDERWATER YOU ARE GOING TO DIE! and then it's just hard on your body unless you do it all the time. You can also tend to forget about sunscreen... So, I blame the pain on S.C.U.B.A. This also better explains my exhaustion, it was both mental and physical. EXHAUSTED.
What doesn't help is that the Spanish do not believe in short dinners. It's more like 3 hour long dinners. Sometimes it's nice but not all the time.
While we were in Valencia V had her birthday! The presents were relatively small and silly mostly she got her presents when she got home... C still hasn't given her one... :P. And Mom and Dad gave her a 6 week trip to Spain. Need I say more?

We went to an aquarium/aviary place that was very nice. The fish areas often had tunnels that you could go into and have fish to both sides and above you. Here are some pictures. The very blue one is one where I'm looking up.



Later that day, around six, we went to a BEAUTIFUL zoo-like place. It was a park and there were animals in it but everything was designed in a way that didn't scream "CAGES!!!" The lions and gorrilla's were closed off behind tall stone structures that had windows in them but there were no bars anywhere. There was a gorgeous pair of leopards one regular colored one black they were also more securely closed off. But you could go into the areas for the lemurs and the aviary. Everything was open sky, except for the flighted birds. There were some hilariously solemn pelicans looking at a cow of some kind.


It was HOT though. At both the aquarium and ESPECIALLY at the Bioparc. Bioparc was completely outside so you couldn't get out of the sun very easily. I was dripping sweat which doesn't happen very often!

This was our last day in Valencia actually. That night we tried paella. I didn't really like it much. Kinda oily and I didn't want seafood and the game bird one had little bones in it. I was also probably dehydrated. Doesn't make for a happy K!

The next morning we're headed for Barcelona! Our last city in Spain. We have rooms in a little hotel called the Ritz of Barcelona or somesuch. The bathtubs were HUGE. With water jets and bubble squirters and so on. It had a bath faucet, a regular shower head, as well as a large waterfall shower head located in the ceiling. Craziness! We had a large living room and two rooms. There were 6 flatscreen T.V.'s in that suite. It was mostly because usually that one suite was usually two suites and there was a folding wall that could cut down the center. Still! SIX. I don't think we turned any of them on... :p
That night we kinda wandered around the block looking for a place to eat. We came across this place called The Buddha Restaurant. It was a little fancier then we were dressed but we trooped on in. We were the only people there really because we were eating "early" around 9:30 P.M. It was delicious! It had a whole variety of foods. Sushi, Indian, French, Spanish, basically everything and it was all delicious. We liked it so much we determined to come back again on our last night in Barcelona. C asked for a Shirley Temple and what she got was nothing like any Shirley Temple I've ever seen! But guess what! It was amazing. It was served in a martini glass and was light frosty pink. It was cute lookin. See above!

You, Lucy, are probably running out of time to read this! So, I'm going to tell you about the last few days in Spain on a later date! Hopefully, I won't take too long.

Love to all!
K

Pillows and Apple Pie

Hello beautiful people!
I've been having a quite nice couple of days. I've been taking care of my mother for the past week. She got knee surgery last Tuesday and has trouble getting things from around the house. She also tripped the other day and twisted her knee which definitely didn't help matters at all. She's also bored and becomes quite unhappy at times. I can sympathize and I do. I also try to make her laugh at least once a day.
The past few days chores have not been getting done so when I came downstairs at 11:30 this morning and saw Sunday's breakfast dishes on the table I just went into a cleaning frenzy! Cleaned the kitchen and cleared the table picked up dishes from around the house. I washed my weeks of dirty laundry, made myself and my mother lunch. Then I invited a friend over and we made spicy apple pie, which was DELICIOUS if I do say so myself. I'm making apple chips from the leftover filling. Then I made turkey-noodle soup for dinner!
Making things makes me feel very accomplished and keeps me from getting bored. I've been making various things the past few days. I've made dinner most nights for the past few days. I've FINALLY edited the dancejam video footage from before I left UO over six months ago. I have made six placemats and one pillow cover. I'm in the process of making another one and then I have plans for one more! The material I'm using always makes me smile. One is a soft mellow yellow faux suede and the other is a striped cotton. The stripes are coral red, green, and a similar yellow to the suede on a white background. Very cheery and ideal for brightening up a little rented apartment!
I've been building up my recipe's and writing down the one's I know I like in my little cookbook.
I've started packing boxes for shipping to my relatives in Oregon. Sorting through what I'm taking and what I'm not taking. It's three weeks now! Then I'm going to what is closest to home nowadays.
Much Love,
K

AAAAAND we're back!

Hey peeps, I am a irresponsible person who doesn't keep up with posts. Bad me. Kinda like pictures of me... posts sometimes don't often happen. :P

So, where I left off I believe was with the boat sputtering. FUN TIMES. Basically, the boat had run out of gas. What was hilarious was that it was the owner of the S.C.U.B.A. shop driving the boat and the day before he had told everybody in the shop that there was NO excuse for running out of gas. They were all laughing at him now! So, one guy started pumping the tank (pumping a pump in order to get the dregs of gas) and we putted along a little more. About a mile off shore we were completely out of gas. So we hailed a yacht! It is illegal by international law to ignore a cry for from a boat so they turned about and came back. We got tied on and inhaled diesel fumes all the way back! Awesome. I also took pictures... proof you might say, blackmail... ;P

The funny thing was that the captain then took all his employees out for a drink to convince them not to tell his girlfriend/wife because it turns out that not so long ago he had chewed her out for running out of gas and if she found out there'd be hell to pay on his part!

Our driver who had known the captain for awhile almost offered me money for my photos... not quite... but he would have!

Internet Access! It Exists!

So, it's been awhile. Mostly the fault of our computer not being easily accessable. Here goes.
We left Madrid in high style in a manual red van. My dad stalled it twice, I was amused. Fortunately, I have SeaBands, they are amazing. Because of them I can now read in the car without becoming incredibly nauseaus. Unfortunately, I might not have enough reading material for the 12 hour flight back home! Such is life.
We arrived in Toledo and stayed at a Hilton on top of a hill. The hill had once been home to a castle and the Hilton had merged it's hotel into the castle. It was very classy. The bathroom was completely covered in black tile and echoed. Very nice. There was, once again, three beds so there was little debate/argument over who had to share the bed with who. Very nice considering that we find plenty other things to argue about. :( They also had a pool which was very welcome despite the cold water. When we arrived at the pool the sun, which had been staying behind clouds, broke out. There were mixed reactions about it. Dad burns like nobody's business. I don't like to suntan that much so it shortened my time at the pool but we were going into the city anyway so it didn't matter much.
We went and toured Toledo and I got some lovely things. A statue of a bull, it is orange and awesome. I also got my first friend gift as well as a very pretty bowl. It was very hot in Toledo and the streets were very narrow and very cobble-y. Toledo is a very old and very beautiful town though. Also very hilly which is no bueno for my feet, ankles, and knees. Nowadays I am ALWAYS behind my family, usually by a lot.
We stayed one night in Toledo and then piled back into the car and headed for Cuenca. ANOTHER every rising, cobble-y town on a MOUNTAIN with tiny little streets. We took a little train dealy up to the top. We doodled around there for awhile checked out a cool museum in the hanging houses of Cuenca. These houses were built in the ?15th century?, fell into disrepair and were then renovated. It is very cool the house is built right on the edge of a cliff above one of the gorges surrounding Cuenca. The balconies are literally hanging above thin air.
There was a older begger woman who passed us while we were walking. Out of habit I said no to her begging and then stopped and realized what had just happened. She had obviously not been someone who had fallen on hard times because of an addiction. Later, I saw her again sitting on the steps of a cathedral. The first inspection had been sad, the second was heartwrenching. The womans legs were emaciated and her toes went in all directions but the right one. She probably had terrible pain in her hips and back and had obvious sculiosis if not something more. When I had passed her she had been slowly shuffling up a hill in a way that bespoke pain and incredible difficulty in just getting around. She had one arm that was normal length but the other was either amputated or shrunken, most likely a birth defect, and was much shorter then the other. The woman's head was tilted to the side because of a tumor the size of her head that started at the base of her skull under her hair. She was dirty, avoided, an outcast. Her belongings were packed into a small backpack which she carried with her. She didn't even have a cane. The second time I saw her my dad, knowing of my regret that I had not given her anything out of habit, handed me a 5 euro and told me to give it to her. In Europe I have no money of my own, Dad is the walking wallet.
One of the things I do is when we go to some place I usually find pleasure in seeing things other than the main thing I came to see. One such thing was this little family, a mother, father, and their son. They were traveling the country in style on motorcycles. The father had his little boy up behind him and the boy appeared to be sitting on most of the family's travel gear. He was pretty much enthroned. What was the best though was that they all had head sets with mics on them so that they could talk to each other during their travelling on the road. I loved it. I didn't manage to take a picture though. :(
When we got back down the hill we got back in the car and headed for that 8th century Arab castle many of you know about. I forget the town name but the town itself was more like a village. It was tiny and out in the middle of lots of farmland. The castle was the first place we stayed that I had to share a bed with one of my sisters. We managed just fine. Apparently though, after C and I fell asleep, V witnessed something rather funny. I had told C multiple times to not kick my foot. The one that had surgery on it. Well, in my sleep I had moved over until I was basically on C's side of the bed and I slowly moved my leg and touched C's. Whereupon I sleep yelled at her, "C! What are you doing!?!?!" and she responded, in her sleep, with a "sorry" in that sleepy voice some of you know. Of course, all of it was my fault. It caused some hilarity in the morning. Neither of us remember a thing.
We moved on the next day to Valencia. We stayed at a very nice hotel, once again with three seperate beds. We were right on the beach. Valencia is known for it's beaches so we headed there straightaway. The sand was soft, the water warm, and the riptide was non-existant. Very and you had to go relatively far out to get the water to neck level. We also had our first "simple dinner" in Valencia. We had been having a lot of very Spanish food. I understand now why my sis V said she was so tired of ham. Here it's pork products all the way.
We crossed the street to a little italian restaurant. We all had pasta dishes. C and I had pasta with cheese sauce ham bits and peas. Something that is very similar to what we sometimes eat at home. It was incredibly refreshing.
During our time in Valencia we went S.C.U.B.A. diving. I had doubts about the strength of my foot but the first dive was a success. It was also the first dive that I've ever done where my goggles have not fogged up at all!! I was very excited. We saw octopus and many fish. My favorites were tiny little royal purple colored fishes. We went back to shore for some lunch, Dad and C then departed. Dad wasn't impressed with the Mediteranean variety and Cindy had been unable to go down because of her swimmer's ear. Mom decided she'd try again and V and I (we're usually dive partners) decided we'd go down again too. I was down for about 10 to 15 minutes when my ankle and foot started to tire for real. I decided to go up before I got exhausted. Diving is not a sport where you want to get exhausted. So, I signal I need to go up and I get assigned a dive master who is not on duty and we go up and get back to the boat. My mom is there because she couldn't manage to get down again she has issues with being too buoyant and very sensitive ears. There were also two other divers one was teaching the other rescue diving. Fun to watch. Soon, the others joined us on the boat and we started back to land. One of my favorite parts of diving is the boat ride. We were on a inflatable boat this time so I actually straddled the side and rode that way. It was very fun. The water was so blue and clear you could see the bottom most of the time. Anyway, we were riding in and then the vroom of the boat turned into a sputter.
My fingers are getting tired. I'm going to go rest awhile and then continue... ;P

David Bowie and Chocolate

My goodness. Flemenco is LOUD! Poundpoundpound BANG pound ratatatatatat. On and on. I mean watching their feet is only interesting for so long! So, I guess I'm not a fan of flamenco dancing... at least not without ear plugs. It might be easier to be entertained if I had understood the stories that went with the dancing! They were in Spanish and sung. Though the singing was more of a loud "tuneful" yelling than singing. One singer was especially intense, he jerked his arms back and forth when he sang/wailed/yelled, very dramatic! His looks called to mind David Bowie for me and Kieth Richards for my dad. He's the guy with the bowed head in the picture. It isn't the greatest but you could barely see them in the others. Here's another...

Dinner was pretty good. I had breaded calf fillet, veal basically, with grilled vegetables. It was pretty good. I ordered the chocolate custard for dessert my sister V joked that I should drink it, it was so watery! We also had these appetizers called croquettes. They were fried dumplings with ham and maybe potato but mostly made from flour and water. Rather sticky but good!

During the day we went and walked around inside El Prado, a art museum in Madrid. Unfortunately, we walked there so my feet were hurting quite a bit by the time we got there making focusing on the paintings a bit difficult as I walked around some more. I was always happiest when I spied a bench. V had a lot of insights on the paintings, for example, if the artist painted a piece of paper into the bottom of his painting then it means that he wasn't satisfied with the result and plans to come back later to finish it to his satisfaction. She also explained the meaning of different positions of a horses leg or legs. I forget most of them now... I wasn't really listening, one track mind and all.

Today, Sunday, was very restful. I got up around 9:30 on my own and went in to my parents room to see what was up. They had ordered a in room breakfast of bread rolls, croissants, jam and some of the most delicious hot chocolate. It came on a rolling trolly that turned into a table. Very sweet. The hot chocolate came in two pitchers, one was full of pure liquid cocoa and the other was cream. You mixed them together in your cup. Very good and not at all sugary. I was amused to discover the number of pills I was taking during breakfast. One daily vitamin pill, one calcium, two fiber pills, one iron, and one lactaid pill. I take another calcium pill later in the day. I felt kind of ridiculous taking all of those pills, most of them rather large. It's kind of obnoxious actually. Perhaps I am turning into a health nut?? :P Why not? It's supposed to be good for you.

Well, I need to stop writing now, my parents are going to bed and I need to move the computer. Love you all!

We've Arrived!

Hey everyone! So, we arrived yesterday evening here in Spain. It was a lot of travel and we were all tired. Especially me. I didn't sleep on the plane much. I did on the second plane where the stewardess found me a row all to myself. Killed my neck sleeping there though.
We got to our hotel. Which is Gorgeous! The bathroom echos no joke. My parents have their own smaller bathroom and it has a bidet. All very European and fancy. Apparently, really clean lady bits are rather popular here abouts.
We didn't eat our breakfast at the hotel where a plain Spanish breakfast is 30 euros ($50) for one person. We went to a little restaurant and got four breakfasts for 15 euros. We are amazing.
My mother and I went to the airport to pick up my sister after breakfast. Her flight was delayed twice but she finally came through the doors. She looked beautiful!!! She's all tan and stylish and put together. When we got to the hotel again the doorman asked her a question and she went alsidfjoaisdhjfaiswjdf except in Spanish. She's going to be bilingual no question.
Love y'all! We have to go find foods (comida). Bye!

Relaxing is Mandatory

So, today I woke up to my mother telling me I had 10 minutes to get myself and my sister to the chiropractor. We made it. Cause we're awesome.
Then, then I continued my awesome by being productive. I hemmed my dress pants, started to hem the skirt of my new dress, did my laundry, ate, made a picnic lunch for the beach trip I was going on later that day, and got other beach stuff together. After all that I got my sister and I to our piano lessons. I had a lot of fun at my lesson and my teacher told me that if I remembered to e-mail her after I get back from Spain she would make an exception for me and give me some lessons during August, her vacation month!
Switching to present tense now!
After my lesson I drive up to the middle-college to pick up my friend S. I haven't seen her in three weeks and I am determined to get her away from her busy life for even a few hours. Out of all my friends and family S is the easiest for me to have as a passenger. My car can be tempermental and difficult to make happy, especially if I'm going slow. She doesn't mind that and when the driving is smooth she enjoys the speed, power, and awesome that is my car. It's my first time driving over the mountains to the beach and I'm pretty excited about driving on those winding roads! I manage them well and, as usual, love driving my car!
We get to the beach and, thankfully, it's about 10 degrees cooler there than it is further inland. Inland, or near the bay it's 90 degree's and higher. We chill and make fun of or comment (occasionally positively!!) on other people, their looks and their actions. There's a really strong rip tide where we were and I'm not going to go into the water because I've still got a bandage on my foot from my surgery. The waves were huge and a beautiful color. A light aquamarine/robins egg blue. Beautiful. After about two hours of lying about and drinking soda we drive home. We predicted more traffic but it wasn't bad at all.
Back to past tense... with a little overlap.
We got back home and talked to my family a little and waited for my friend A to arrive. She had this pointless meeting to attend at work that went on for over an hour and a half. She was kind of annoyed. So, she joined us and we had dinner. Leftover spaghetti is great! Then I had to race S home because her mother... because. Both my friends were in the car and we giggled and laughed all the way to S's home.
Dropped A off and got back home. I had good intentions to sort out the things I'm taking to Spain but I got distracted and now I'm watching some T.V.
That was my day. It was a good one.

Inspired

So, I've been inspired by my dear friend Lucy to start a travel blog and see how far it goes. Meaning, does it continue after I return from Spain? Also, she's my friend and since she already uses this site it might be easier to see what I'm doing if I use the same site. Basically, Lucy dear, this is for you.
I'll start my blog by giving you a basic itinerary for the next few months. The Big Events.
I leave for Spain on Thursday and will be there for two weeks. I'll hit Madrid, Valencia, and Barcelona. It will be awesome. I will have a blast.
I get home and my mother will be getting knee surgery. We decided I won't be getting the second foot surgery, so my mother decided we MUST have a surgery during August. So, she's going to get surgery.
Then my Grandpa Ed and Aunt Carla visit. They will be here when I celebrate my 19th birthday! I'm hoping to get a lot of practical gifts; pots and pans, dishware, cookware, blankets, maybe a tablecloth. Things like that because the cost does add up as one outfits the places one lives in during the college years. I'm hoping I get pretty good quality so that my stuff LASTS.
After that my oldest sister is visiting which is very exciting. She's awesome. And then it's almost time to start school again. Move into my new apartment with my new roomies Jordan and Ryan. Start my new classes and hopefully not lose all my hair from stress!
Hopefully, I will remain a good blogger and you will hear of all that and more as the days go by.
By the time you get back in a year I hope to still be connected!
Love!