Caught!

So the other day as we were on our first of two weekend phone dates, the boyfriend found my blog.

Now, I'm not entirely sure how he came upon it, because he CLAIMED it came up on the 15th page of the google search for Emmanuel Lewis. I know, this whole thing sounds entirely random, but I didn't believe him so I proceeded to copy the google search and went the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th pages to see if there was any possibility that he was telling the truth. Nothing. So I think he was trying to fool me and really he just typed my name (or some variant of my name) on google and it came up.

Either way, he knows about it and regardless of whether or not he'll ever look here again, I thought it should be known that another person has sneakily discovered my blog (which is far less exciting that Miss Alli's, for she is much better at maintaining her blog than I am).

So boyfriend, if you are reading this... HI! If not, then I'll tell you hi next time I talk to you :)

It's Christmas Break! I'm stoked. ♥

Procrastination Proclamation

If I know that I'm procrastinating does it make it better or worse for me?

On the pro side, I tend to work best under pressure with the clock ticking.

On the con side, I stress myself out when I don't allow myself to be productive.

I went to Six Flags today for the first time EVER! It was great (except for the part where the security people stole my flower highlighter, fat sharpie, and tiny keychain sharpie for "graffiti prevention" as I entered the park. Bad first impression.). Tatsu is my favorite ride cause it feels like you're FLYING and it's amazing. Deja Vu hurt my head like none other. X hurt pretty bad too but it was fun besides the splitting headachiness. Goliath was pretty darn fun too, that is a FABULOUS roller coaster. It was good to get to hang with Ben and Ryan again, I've missed them dearly :(

Thanksgiving is in a week and two days! People are starting to return home on SATURDAY which is in four days, and I seriously cannot WAIT! Although i will be very busy until that time with server training/shadowing, school, and making a paddle for my Big Sis (whom I love dearly, even though she led me to believe she was NOT going to be my big)

Can I fast forward to Saturday please? Great. Thanks.

And for the record, I have decided that as long as I know and acknowledge the fact that I am procrastinating it's not such a bad thing, because I am not lying to myself and pretending to be productive. At least I realize that I am a ridiculous silly fool lacking the motivation to write an essay about Descartes...

Train Station Observations and Random Thoughts

Train station.

Aggressive pigeons.

Ew. A guy spat. I hate it when guys spit. Why do guys spit? Is it a masculinity complex? It is SO not attractive.

Homeless man with the Bible. I want to buy him a sandwich.

Woman checking her face in a compact. Maybe she’s going to see her boyfriend. Maybe they haven’t seen each other for days or weeks or months. She looks excited. I’ll bet she hasn’t seen her boyfriend for a long time.

Boy with mini faux-hawk and UCSD sweatshirt tapping his feet and hands to the upbeat music coming from his i-Pod. He looks bored. I would talk to him but I would rather watch people.

Ooh! Guy in a Navy (?) uniform (it’s tan with the little sailor-like hat… I think it’s the Navy’s new uniform). I’ll bet he’s going home today! He looks excited too.

Old man picking his nose. His name is Andres. Well, his hat has “Andres” embroidered on it. I will call him Andres regardless of whether it’s his real name or not.

Policeman! R. Anderson. I like policemen. I hope Tyler’s dream of becoming a cop comes true. He would be such an amazing police officer.

Navy man looks tired now. I’ll bet he wants to go home really badly.

Cute couple sitting behind me. The woman is crocheting something blue. I’ll bet she has grandchildren. She looks like she would be an excellent grandmother.

I probably should be writing my essay for humanities.

I like San Diego. It’s a really pretty city. It’s a mix of city and country. There are SO many amazing trees—I love it. Greg does too, which is great because he lives here now.

I’m not sure how the whole train thing works… this guy told me I don’t buy my ticket until I board the train. I hope I understood him correctly. It would suck to miss the train.

Trains are loud. Who rides the train in California nowadays anyway? I feel like I’m living in the 20’s. I’m going to board the train and Humphrey Bogart is going to run alongside it telling me he’s in love with me and doesn’t want me to go back to my home in Georgia. He’ll keep running until the train reaches top speed, and he’ll slowly stop running as a single tear rolls down his face. I’ll look on him with sadness as I kiss the glass window. My ruby red lipstick will stain the glass and then the credits will roll.

The woman sitting next to me has a really cool straw baseball cap. She’s the same woman who was looking at herself in the compact a few minutes ago. She works here collecting trash. She’s putting on lipstick and eye liner now. She’s really pretty. I feel bad that she has to collect trash. Why can’t people just pick up after themselves? Local governments have supplied us with a surplus of trash receptacles; is it that hard to walk an extra five feet to a trash can? I think not.

My Monster isn’t cold anymore. I want water. My texts aren’t going through to people so no one is answering me. I’m listening to a song that reminds me of my ex.

Isn’t time a strange thing? Six months ago I was nowhere near as happy as I am now. I felt like there was just something missing but now I seriously feel so content and so complete. I seriously have such an amazing life with such amazing friends and family. I’m so lucky!

The Navy man got on his train. There he goes, heading home to his long lost love or his mother who has secretly cried in the bathroom every night over his absence for two years while he’s been away at war. Actually he’s probably just been at Camp Pendleton for basic training, but that’s not as exciting of a story.

Super cute little boy weather a turtle shirt. His grandma is holding a white and a purple balloon. Maybe it’s his birthday. Or hers?

I can’t read what I’m typing. The sun is really bright. There are probably a lot of typos. I think I’ll post this as a note on facebook. I’ve never posted a legitimate note. Has anyone really? Facebook notes aren’t really a popular thing.

Clarissa told me I’m “prec” (pronounced like fresh but with a ‘p’). She’s a cute girl. I like the sound of that. You’re so prec! People at UCSD are super cute. I have a new twin. Her name is Lis. We don’t really look all that similar—we determined that the similarity pretty much ends at our round faces. She has really pretty blue eyes and I only wish I did.

A really nice woman with red streaks in her hair just asked me about my computer. She liked it and didn’t mock it for its size like boys do. Boys are just jealous cause I can say, “mine is bigger than yours.” Haha I’m so funny. Not.

I love seeing couples. It makes me happy to see that love actually does exist. Although not all couples you see are necessarily in love, you can expect that they have the potential to be—I think that’s such a great thing to be capable of. I love loving people. I love being loved too.

Text to Tyler isn’t going through. I would resend it but I feel needy and lame when I do that and I don’t want to.

I just had a lovely conversation with the train station officer and R. Anderson (the aforementioned police officer). They are super nice and fun to talk to. I was sitting on the total wrong side of the train tracks and had to walk a really long way around to get where I’m supposed to be. I’m sitting with the grandmother of the little boy I was talking about earlier. Their whole family is here now and they’re all super cute together.

It’s weird how I have now interacted with almost all of the people I was writing about in the beginning of this ridiculous little montage. It’s like life—we’re all interrelated in some way. I think that’s fabulous. It’s the whole six degrees thing. I know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows Brad Pitt. I do not particularly care about Brad Pitt, but Greg does, so this association could make him happy.

I think Crocs are such silly shoes. They look super cute on babies and toddlers though. Perhaps my children will wear Crocs. I am so excited about the prospect of getting married and having a family. I think it’ll be so much fun. Hopefully by then I’m mature enough to take both advancements seriously rather than pretending like I’m playing house. I loved playing house when I was younger. My preschool boyfriends got very used to playing house every day before school, at school, and after school.
What lucky kids those boys were. Not.

I wish writing essays for school was as easy as writing random thoughts and observations. If that were true I would be almost done with my humanities essay which needs to be at least three pages by Tuesday. It is currently less than 0 pages. I say “less than 0” because I haven’t even brainstormed for it yet. I’m such a failure. It’ll be good though. I’ll find some inspiration.

I have had the urge to listen to my old Avril Lavigne CDs for a couple days now. Why? I don’t know. It’s a strange urge to have at age 18 when the world is at my feet. I could be out traveling to exciting new places, meeting exciting new people, and learning new languages—but no. I would prefer to stay at home and listen to my old Avril Lavigne CDs. I love college.

Wouldn’t that be cool if someone read this blog and decided that I was this amazingly talented, innovative person whose thoughts and ideas could change the world, and they paid me millions of dollars to go sit in various random public locations to watch people and ponder the ways of the world? I think I would quite like that. My odds are probably pretty good too, considering all the ridiculous things people are paid to do nowadays. Unlike some of the random weird people in reality tv shows, I will not flash people. I will make my money and claim my fame honestly and conservatively with my top ON, thank you very much. ♥

Recap of my week...

Monday: I went to the fair in the park on campus to check out all of the sororities that I will be rushing (beginning tomorrow). I narrowed my prospective list from 8 to 5 in a mere 20 minutes. One of them (I'll refrain from using their name) was just psycho. Each sorority is responsible for putting their top 3 members in the booth to recruit girls-- if these three girls were that sorority's top 3 I feel sad for them. These girls were weird, I honestly thought one as a trekkie and they all looked like they hadn't done any form of grooming in weeks. That statement was my mean quota for the day. It just had to be said. I backed away slowly (but not smoothly, I hit my head on one of their Greek letters on my way out) and pretended to get a phone call.
That night I met up with Danielbeast at the ARC for a big Late Night thing which I ended up leaving after about a half an hour. I did, however, meet a lot of the boys from the Jewish fraternity that are trying with all their might to recruit Danielbeast. They're nice and they really like me :)
After leaving the ARC I went to karaoke as I have done for the past 4 or 5 Mondays, but this time was different. I finally got up the courage to sing! BY MYSELF! People got up and sang and danced and swayed and totally got into it so I was really stoked :))))))

Tuesday: don't remember.
Wednesday: don't remember.
Thursday: First day of school! Parking is miserable, but hey, it's a commuter school-- I should've expected it. I have to park on the OPPOSITE side of campus from where my classes are, but I'm hoping it will prevent the whole Freshmen 15 thing from getting me within its horrible, chubby, stereotypical grasp. I also went to a recruitment meeting and watched The Office tonight. PB & J forever. It's about darn time!
Friday-Monday: Rush!
♥♥♥

Shopping!

So I went shopping today and got some really cute stuff! I got two longish top/dresses that I plan to wear with leggings and a belt. Do you care? Perhaps not. But that could be because you're jealous that I bought cute new clothes and you didn't. BUT YOU CAN! I was perusing the H&M website so that I could post pictures of the clothes I got but I couldn't figure out how to just look at clothes... I ended up making my own virtual model and it's super fun. You make the model to have your body style, hair style, face style, EVERYTHING and you try clothes on her to see how it looks. If you're bored or don't want to take the time to go try things on, I definitely recommend it. Check it out!

More sap than a Maple tree

After talking to a few people at work tonight about high school I came to realize just how amazing my high school experience was.
First of all, I had the most solid close circle of friends, plus a lot of casual ones. My close inner circle included Deannie, Alli, and Lindsey-- three of the most amazing friends and people ever. One was a four year varsity softball player, talented saxophonist, and one of the funniest girls I've ever met. Another was a beyond talented performer; whether she was singing with the top singing group at our school or dancing in one of the many shows she was in, she stood out like no other. The last of the three was a total animal lover, adopting her science teacher's frogs and looking for any opportunity to take another science class to put forth for credit to become an animal trainer. All three of them are amazing listeners (and talkers), hard workers, and entirely devoted friends. I think in a way we take our friends for granted, but I am SO grateful to have had all three of them all four years of high school (and two of them since age 5!), it wouldn't have been the same without them.
I also realized that the activities I chose to participate in really shaped who I've become. I did color guard for the first two years which really taught me about discipline, hard work, and dedication. Cheer taught me that you can love a person, but hate their drama. It turns out even Link Crew was worth something! I discovered that the people that bring you into a new environment and show you the ropes really can have an effect on the way you approach your new surroundings. Journalism taught me everything I needed to know in order to choose my potential career path-- I learned so much in my time in journalism I can't begin to write it all out.
Basically high school was amazing! I feel fully prepared to head into college and learn more. I know how to deal with people and situations that I could never have without my high school experiences. Who would have thought I would appreciate high school so much after an extended summer away from it?

I'm starting a new diet I think. Not like a crash diet. In fact, it's not even because I feel like I need to lose weight, I just want to see if I have the will power to cut out certain wonderful (but unhealthy) foods. I haven't worked out the details quite yet... but I'll post the rules when I set them.

Happy 18 years and 100 days to me!

As of today, I am officially 18 years and 100 days old. How do I know this you ask? Because I added the Countdown application on my facebook and upon entering in a countdown for my birthday, it told me that it was 100 days ago. This means that my next birthday is in 265 days! We'll forget that little number. I think I'll turn 18 again this next year, sound good?

18 sounds like a good age-- what's so great about 19? It's not even an even number.

PICTURES!

You may or may not have noticed that my last blog was the first in which I uploaded pictures... WELL THIS IS THE SECOND!

I am posting this post for the sole purpose of uploading pictures that I have not shown anyone yet. They're from Ben's going away party...

Time share

So I'm sitting here on the balcony of our villa in Newport. I love time share time. This resort is the absolute best home-away-from-home. The weather is basically amazing! It's 101 degrees back home (which is only about 10 or 20 minutes inland) and it's much cooler here, but still warm. It's perfect.

The main reason for this post is so that I can post the pictures I just took of our view. See for yourself!

"Why not two??"

So last night I went to a movie at the dollar theatre with my good friend Matthew. As we walk up to the ticket window the ticket salesman looks at me and says, "You wait there." Matthew and I exchange confused glances and Matthew approaches the window.
"One ticket for Ocean's Thirteen please," says Matthew.
"Why not two??" Says the ticket salesman.
Matthew makes his 'I feel awkward' face (he's a shy boy) and says, "Why NOT two?!" very enthusiastically.
(At this point I'm trying to contain my laughter...)
And ticket salesman says, "I mean c'mon, it's not like it's very expensive..."
"True," says Matthew.

As we walk away from the window I can't help laughing. And I don't stop for ten minutes. During this time my dear Matthew is trying to un-awkward-ify the situation, saying things like, "I don't know why I didn't just say two in the first place... it's cheap... and it would have been faster."

I'm still laughing about it as I write this.

I mean c'mon... WHY NOT TWO?!

51!

This is my 51st blog entry! It seems like I've written a lot more over the year(s), but apparently Alli is right. I don't write very often.

But I'm writing today! I think I'll write about my exciting visit to the post office yesterday.

I don't know how many of you are experienced post office visitors, but I assure you I sincerely lack in the area of post office experience. I've been twice in the past week and I've never felt more lost or confused in my life (that's a lie; precalculus was no picnic.) But I really felt like I was drowning... sinking, deeper and deeper into the inescapable black abyss... sinking... sinking... until the guy at the desk called me over.

I was carrying an unclosed box (aka an OPEN box) which had no postage and no sending/return address. I asked my savior ("guy at the desk") for some packing tape and he said "I'm not supposed to give you any" and handed me the tape. He told me to just write the addresses directly onto the box and seal it up and come back. I followed his directions and returned. "Guy at the desk" reprimanded my taping skills (I had merely sealed the box along the open gap) and taped it across the other way "for security purposes." Then he saw the black X's on my hands and said, "Straightedge?"

This comment reminded me of precalculus (because it was the last time I was required to use a staightedge... mine was Kathleen's boyfriend's middle school ID card that I found). I said, "No...?"

"The X's, on your hands, are you straightedge?"
"Oh... no those are from Hogue's. I was there last night."
::Big smile on "guy at the desk"'s face:: "Who was playing??"
"Um... no one. It was karaoke night actually."
"Oh right on. I used to go there all the time (mumbles something under his breath) before I got into a fight there."
"Ummm... got into a fight?'
::Big awkward, guilty smile:: "Goodbye, have a nice day."

And that was that. And with that I left, and my box was sealed and sent.

I intend to return for further questioning. He got off easy that time.

Refusal to fall behind...

I am writing this blog for two reasons:

1. Because Alli would get mad at me if I didn't :)
2. Because I'm on my BRAND NEW laptop :) :) :)

I love this computer. I've only had it for about an hour at this point but I am so incredibly excited about it. I can't wait to put all my music on it and pictures and start writing the screenplay that has been brewing in my mind for the past few weeks.

The only problem? For a few weeks I've put certain things off, saying that I didn't want to worry about them until I got my new computer. The time has now come to get down to business and do the things I have so irresponsibly put off...

the only problem is--I can't remember what they are now.

Anyway, Deannie left for school on Wednesday, Cassie left today, Shirine leaves in about a week, Alli leaves super soon (I really hope I get to see her before she goes to school, whether I have to drive up north or she gets to come down... ALLI YOU CAN'T LEAVE WITHOUT SAYING BYE!) Oh. But for all of you college-bound friends of mine who have webcams on their BRAND NEW laptops... I have one now too :) Let's chat.

I regret to inform you all that I will not be living in the dorms this year after all. I'm not totally sure how I feel about it yet... I was sad at first, but after letting it settle in my mind a bit I realize it's not that big a deal. I'm going to school five minutes from my house, why pay an extra $10,000+ a year to live in a dorm five minutes away? I think this is the more practical option. Think of all the shoes I can buy with the money I'll be saving! ♥

First SINCE the Last (kind of like "Firsts and Lasts" but not)

The date of my last blog? June 10 (as you can see if you scroll down a bit). My life has seemed far too chaotic and, I want to say "exciting" but I'm not sure that word is completely appropriate, to take the time to blog about.

But here I am.

I think I'll start my first blog in two months with today's events. I woke up to a scratchy voice (a variant of the scratchy voices that I have had for the past three days). I have to say, I like today's version a lot better than the other days. I got myself up at a decent hour, took a shower, and got to work! I cleaned the kitchen, family room, living room, my brother's room, and my bathroom. Then, I walked my dog and got dressed to go out for the day! I drove to CDM to pick up the lovely and fabulous Alli and we headed to our beloved Wing Stop. Neither of us had been to The Stop in over a month (almost two for me :/ ) so naturally we were SUPER EXCITED! Yuki, our dear WS friend was working, luckily, and he gave us (get this) two drinks, an order of fries, two types of wings, and extra ranch for $1.82. That's an INCREDIBLE value and I feel permanently indebted to him. We tipped him five dollars though so I think he felt it was worth it.

The rest of my day hasn't been all that excited, except that I cleaned my room! Fun. Oh. And I have a boyfriend again ♥

I've missed blogging. I think I'll do it more regularly again :)

First and Lasts

This has been a very strange week for several reasons:

1. The Ducks won the Stanley Cup! (It's fabulous but it's so special that it makes the week abnormal)
2. This weekend was the last real weekend of our high school lives... at least the last one that had a full week of school following it.
3. CPK, my place of employment, was flooded yesterday. Apparently a pipe burst above the women's restroom, flooding the ceiling and filling the entire restaurant with water knee-deep. This meant that I didn't have work tonight and I may not the rest of the week! (Which would be fab because I have finals this week...)
4. I turned 18. I didn't feel different until Friday night when I called to ask for a ten minute extension to my curfew and I was granted an extra 30 minutes. That was fab too.
5. My car got washed... YAY!
6. I was sick for a week straight. That really hasn't happened to me in awhile...
7. Friday was our last pep rally EVERRR. My last time doing the color shout EVERRR. My last time dressing up for spirit week EVERRR! A lot of lasts.
8. I got mad at my brother for the first time EVERRR. I never get mad at my brother but he was terrible. Not nice.

Yeah that's about it. I also spent a lot of time on projects today. I'm so ready to go to bed and be done with them (but they all turned out FABULOUS!).

Success! (The Sequel)

As if it wasn't fab enough that I had a successful night at work LAST night, tonight was even better!

I got to work and was told by my favorite(x1000) boss to go check the scheduling board in the back, read the flyer, sign it, and bring it out to him. So I sachee (yes, sachee, I didn't just walk) to the back room where I discover a flyer that says MY NAME in big letters talking about how fantastic I am. Now that sounds conceited, but it actually said that. It was basically a write-up about the bussing incident last night, making me seem like I was a lot more gallant than I really was. It honestly wasn't a huge deal... but I don't mind the fuss ;) So I take the sheet out to my boss and thank him for acknowledging me or whatever and he tells me he has nominated me for a ROCK Star award. (ROCK being our philosophy at CPK) So I filled out this questionairre and put in my t-shirt size and it was done. And it set the tone for the rest of the day.

That whole transaction took about 30 minutes. Then, for the next hour I basically did...well...nothing! There was a fire at the nail salon in our center so the fire department blocked off the whole parking lot... so business was crazy slow. Luckily, they killed the fire and opened the lot back up so business returned, but it was a fun little respite while it lasted.
While the fire escapade was still going on my boss asked me to walk over to investigate the situation. So I casually walked out, went up to these two police officers. Here's the convo:
Me: Hey, so what can you tell me about what's going on here?
Cop 1: Well (looks at nametag) Legacy. I mean... Lacey... from Newport Beach? Very nice. What we have here is a classic case of... combustibles (mumbles a bit)... combusting. It's called a fire.
Me: Oh gosh! That's awful! How long do you think it'll take to put out?
Cop 2: Well...
Cop 1: Well Lacey, the fire is out, but they have to clean it up.
Me: (Frustrated like crazy) So how long do you think it'll be before you can reopen the parking lot?
Cop 1: Oh yeah I'll bet business isn't exactly moving like wildfire HAHAHA. Get it?
Me: Oh AHAHAHAHA! So it'll be open again soon then?
Cop 2: Well...
Cop 1: Yes, it'll be open again soon.

Ridiculous. And rude.

But work was good :)

Success!

What constitutes a "successful" day at work? I will tell you... since I had a totally, completely, absolutely successful day at work.

I arrived feeling, well merely so-so. I had had a relatively eventful day prior to my 4 o'clock clock-in time (and by eventful I mean I had attempted to clean a couch, gone to Disneyland, sat on Lindsey's car while waiting for the Disney courtesy car-openers to come and open her car, and rushed to make it to work on time... so not ALL that eventful I suppose). So I got to work feeling sort of tired and basically dreading the next 5 hours of my life. It wasn't until 4:30 that I sat my first table (or tried to anyway). It was a party of three women who were dissatisfied with the first two tables I tried to sit them at. They finally said, "Haven't you got a booth?" To which I said "I'm sorry, we only have two full booths in the restaurant and they're both occupied at the moment. I've got this half booth..." and the chicks in the full booth behind me said "Oh we're leaving!" and they got up, making me look really lame. So I turned to the three ladies and said, "I'll bus this booth right up for you!" in the cheeriest voice I could muster. I mean c'mon, first freakin table of the night!

So I juggled two phone calls, the arrival of two more parties, and bussing the coveted full both for the next few minutes before seating the frustrating party of three at that beautiful newly-bussed full booth. And they were happy. So I was happy. Then Lauren (the other host) arrived and time started to move faster. The customers started being friendlier and easier to please, AND I discovered that Juan (the salad/dessert man) respects me! (Apparently it is because he respects me that he always insists on giving me free dessert at the end of the night. I like the idea of being respected AND getting free dessert, don't you?).

Then my boss comes up to me and says that I can leave (mind you, it is only 8pm and I am scheduled until 9, so I was excited!), but he asked which of us had bussed a full booth for a party of three ladies earlier in the day. I got worried. I assumed one of them had complained about me for something or another because people ALWAYS seem to find something to pick at you about, even if you're as nice to them as you can possibly be. But no! They had called in to our corporate office to commend our restaurant on the excellent service, giving us a score of 5 (which I guess is the best?) and they specifically mentioned ME! So my boss was happy with me. So I was happy.

And then I went outside and ate my happy little salad and my happy little slice of key lime pie (thanks Juan!).

Successful night at work? I think so!

Awkward much?

It's official. I am offically awkward. I remember the days, not so long ago, when I would laugh with Alli about how much fun it was to be in "awkward situations" that you really didn't think were awkward but you knew the other people did.

But now I am awkward... and they're not so funny.

Where did this awkwardness come from? Good question! Perhaps it's the series of awkward encounters with the 'Latino' (not 'Mexican') dishwashers and bussers at work. Apparently they say a lot of things about me that I am completely oblivious to... smiling and saying 'Si' is no longer appropriate since APPARENTLY they are saying rather inappropriate things to me.

So now I'm awkward. If you have any other insight into my newfound awkwardness feel free to share. ♥

It's a B-E-A-UTIFUL Day!

Today has been... FANTASTIC! I really can't recall what I did before 12:45pm, which is okay cause it was neither wonderful nor horrible... so I'm happy! But at 12:45 I got home, ate half of my full-sized Waldorf Chicken Salad (copyright CPK) and my DELICIOUS slice of Chocolate Banana Royale Cake (copyright CPK), while watching the latest installment of House. So I was happy. Then I perused my e-mails and comments for awhile before watching Hannah Montana with Lindsey and my mom. My friend Bret's girlfriend was on so we had to watch her. She's a fun girl. Very enthusiastic. Then I went to work, where I hosted alone for the first hour and a half (I seated about 5 tables total in that time and only took about 4 take-out orders... it was QUITE slow), after which I was joined by Nikki, a new-hire. We worked together for a half an hour before Shadee showed up. By this time business still hadn't picked up a whole lot, so my new temporary manager told me that I could leave work early (this was at 6:15! I wasn't supposed to be off until 8:30!!). So I got my Thai Crunch Salad (copyright CPK) and children's sundae which Juan surprised me with :) and FEASTED! I then drove home in my grandfather's luxurious car, rolled the sunroof back, turned the music up, and cruised home.
I just finished my current event (only real homework for the night) and will be leaving in a few minutes to go to the jacuzzi. It's been such a wonderful Wednesday. Tomorrow will be good too! I know it.
♥

Only semi-original blog : )

I kind of stole Alli's blog idea... but instead of things that make me happy it is going to be a list of


THINGS THAT MAKE ME SMILE
1. Songs by Jason Mraz :)
2. Funny faces :)
3. Silly laughs :)
4. Caramel frappaccinos :)
5. DINGS! (texts) :)
6. Alli, Lindsey, Deannie, Emily, Greg, Matt, Ricky, my parents (sometimes), and a lot of other funny and entertaining people :)
7. Gaby and Prancer :)
11. The fact that I actually typed the number 11 after the number 7 :)
9. Boys :)
10. Old pictures that remind me of funny times :)
8. Glennykins :)
12. Writing exciting horoscopes :)
13. Going to Ducks games :)
14. The Guacamole Bowl :)
15. Seeing cute couples :)
16. The silly little pictures and animations on my phone for text messages :)
17. Every single installment of the Confessions of a Shopaholic series :)
18. Seri and Dom from work :)
19. When I make a fool of myself :)
20. When people think situations are awkward and I know that they do but I actually don't think they're awkward so I milk them for all that they're worth :)
21. Thin Mints :)
22. Lying to protect my Thin Mints :)
23. When I lie... :)
24. My lime green bed sheets :)
25. Seeing/hearing cute boys play guitar *sigh* :)

Countdown to college

Realization: I am college-bound.
Reaction to Realization: Oh my God.

It's a weird feeling, realizing that your life is going to be REALLY different in just a few months. In two months' time I will be graduating, leaving high school (and unfortunately a lot of really cool people) behind. Until today I felt really unsure about which college I wanted to go to. I felt the most pull toward Wisconsin because I absolutely fell in love with the school (and for you skeptics, my love affair with the city had nothing to do with a certain guy I met there).

After a long, enlightening conversation with my second cousin Sean, a successful attorney (who recently made partner at his law firm) about the consequences of student loans, I decided to rule out the college that would cost me the most money. Not only because of the cost, but the distance, the weather, and the fact that I would not be able to afford coming home more than once or twice a year.

That left me deciding between 5 other schools, a few of which I had ruled out a few weeks ago (ASU--because I don't want to become a wild lush, BYU---because I don't want to fall in love with a man who may or may not be interested in marrying me unless I convert / Not sure I could handle a lot of my friends getting married their first and second years of college, UC Davis---I heard it smells like cows. I also heard that there's nothing to do up there except for drink and go to school. Again, I don't want to become a wild lush, but I also do not want to be a reclusive 24/7 student)

So now I was down to two. Cal Poly SLO and UCI. I think if I hadn't taken a roadtrip up to SLO this week with my mother, I would have registered at SLO for sure, without taking a second thought. Luckily we did, and although I absolutely love the town, the people, and the beautiful drive up there, I did NOT like the campus. It was extremely small, not good looking, and I didn't see much that attracted my interest. I also learned today that their writing program is not very good, which is not okay considering I would be in that department.

So I toured UCI today and I love it. I took the campus tour and then met up with my brother's girlfriend, a third-year there and she took me to a few of her classes and showed me her dorm. Basically with all the information I got about UCI, I really want to go there, I don't even mind that it's so close to home. The way I see it, if I find myself wanting to go further away after a year or two I still can. I'll just keep my options open.

So that's where I'm at now, however, everyone's input is pulling me every which way.
"Don't go there... GO HERE!"
"The weather there gets pretty intense, try this place, it's a lot more comfortable."
"Who cares if it smells like cows? Cow tipping is FUN!"
etc...etc...etc...

We'll see.

To be tolerant...?

I consider myself a very tolerant person.

I tolerate it when people tug on the phone cord as I'm trying to take a take-out order.
When old men are dissatisfied with their dining experience (or their seating experience) I tolerate their ridiculous criticism and crude remarks.
I tolerate mini vans (it's taken years for me to come to terms with the fact that they will ALWAYS BE THERE, so there's no use complaining about them).

Sometimes I wonder if people take advantage of my tolerance.

Oh look, she's smiling even though I'm insulting her and making her feel like pond scum... perhaps I'll throw in a mean comment about her shoes just for the heck of it.

Hey she doesn't care that I'm pulling her hair... perhaps I'll continue and ALSO stomp on her feet!

Well last time I flaked out on her she said that it was okay and not to worry... why don't I do it again? She'll understand...

(Examples are taken from real-life experiences that have taken place in the last week. I'm not bitter or anything...)

Is it worth it to be tolerant when people are going to try their damndest to be intolerable?

These are the questions that haunt me...

What do chow mein, shark diagrams, and depression have in common?

Me.

Today, I ate chow mein. Ooh! Exciting.
Today, I colored several shark diagrams.
And today, I was approached (for like the millionth time) by a depressed friend who doesn't listen to me and doesn't understand what I tell him. *sigh*

Nothing too exciting to report.

Lost my wisdom teeth on Friday--gained about two inches in cheek volume (that doesn't make sense in scientific terms... but basically it means my cheeks have been crazy puffy for the past 3 days).

Gosh, my life lacks excitement. Goal for tomorrow: Make life exciting.

Scooter: Vehicle of Violent Serial Killers

So, to continue the series of "Why I am afraid to live in Irvine"-themed blogs I will mention something that surprised me tonight. As I am walking down my friend Deannie's driveway after watching yet another exhilerating episode of 24 at her house I hear voices. The voices of two males. I strain my eyes to look all the way down to the other end of the block where I see two dark figures in the shadows-- and I suddenly feel very afraid for my life. The funny thing about me fearing for my life is that these boys are on scooters. Even once I realized that these boys are on scooters I still felt the need to power walk to my car. Just as I was getting into my car the two boys on scooters rode right past my closing car door and, instinctively, I locked my car door.

I can't really explain why I felt so afraid... I know, I know. I'm lame.

On a brighter note, I finished Shopoholic Ties the Knot, baked brownies, watched Aquamarine in its entirity, and edited lots and lots of really perfect photos for a project which I feel the need to keep under wraps for the time being.

With love ♥

Fearing for my life.

Only sort of fearing for my life actually...

You see, I worked take-out tonight at work (did a pretty darn good job of it if I do say so myself!) and I had the unhappy job of telling this eager-to-order woman that she could not place a take-out order, as it was 9:11 and we closed at 9. She said "It's 9 right now."

To which I said, "Actually, it's 9:11. I'm really sorry about that."

To which she said, "Are you serious?!?!"

To which I said, "Yes, I'm really sorry. Our kitchen closes at 9 o'clock on Sundays."

After which she turned on her heels and stomped out of the restaurant saying "Ugh!"

Too bad I'll probably get in trouble for this. I always seem to be the one put in the uncomfortable situation where I have to break bad news to a could-be patron.

That's pretty much the extent of my day's excitement. I'm going to go read and go to bed. No school tomorrow! Hooray!

The dangerous streets of Irvine.

I was planning on writing a big long blog about this weekend's events but I decided that since I had a conversation about it with someone while I began writing it, I might as well just copy, paste, and censor it here. Beware! You may be compelled to move after reading this entry... scary stuff man.

MK (12:13:03 AM): I have to ask, how is woodbridge scary...?
Lacey (12:13:12 AM): OH MY GOSH
Lacey (12:13:24 AM): do you really want to know? you might be too afraid to leave your house...
MK (12:13:32 AM): haha, im intrigued, yes
MK (12:14:02 AM): what could be so scary in woodbridge...?
Lacey (12:14:06 AM): okay
MK (12:14:16 AM): too much sameness?
Lacey (12:14:20 AM): it all began on a friday night like any other
Lacey (12:14:21 AM): no no no
Lacey (12:14:35 AM): this weekend has shown me that no town, even irvine is truly sheltered
MK (12:14:38 AM): it was a calm and quite friday night in Irvine C*********..
MK (12:14:43 AM): yeesh ok
MK (12:14:45 AM): splain
Lacey (12:14:56 AM): k.
Lacey (12:15:11 AM): so i was at "dj ****'s" party
MK (12:15:22 AM): right..
Lacey (12:15:29 AM): (i only recently discovered that he is called "dj ****" in all seriousness, i find it funny.)
MK (12:16:02 AM): anyone who calls himself that needs to be laughed at
Lacey (12:16:02 AM): anyway, so i get to his house, music's blasting, marijuana's burning, alcohol is being consumed
Lacey (12:16:07 AM): ya know, a "normal high school party."
MK (12:16:10 AM): right
Lacey (12:16:32 AM): there was a whole lot of annoying drama going on and slutty dancers all over the place, so i stayed outside most of the night with my sober friends
Lacey (12:17:11 AM): fortunately, my curfew had been shortened to 11:30 on this particular evening because i was being punished for being late all the time
MK (12:17:22 AM): haha alright
Lacey (12:17:36 AM): so i left at 11:20, driving like crazy to make it home on time. the moment i arrive home i receive a text message
Lacey (12:17:41 AM): "someone just got stabbed!"
Lacey (12:17:43 AM): it reads
MK (12:17:49 AM): ...
Lacey (12:17:54 AM): i get online to talk to the person who sent me the text
Lacey (12:18:12 AM): she didn't know anything other than the fact that a huge fight had broken out at the party and someone got stabbed in the eye
MK (12:18:20 AM): whoa
MK (12:18:25 AM): who stabs someone in the eye..
Lacey(12:18:37 AM): the next day i find out that that was not the only abnormal thing that had occured on this fateful evening.
Lacey (12:18:40 AM): (i know seriously!)
Lacey (12:18:55 AM): turns out the kid wasn't stabbed IN the eye, just in the general vacinity of the eye. the face, if you will.
MK (12:18:57 AM): this was in woodbridge?
Lacey (12:18:58 AM): yes.
MK (12:19:20 AM): pathetic.
Lacey (12:19:30 AM): so it turns out that TWO kids were stabbed, there were TWO huge brawls, someone got hit by a car, and a girl went to the hospital from alcohol poisoning.
Lacey (12:19:47 AM): this same evening my friend B** got in a car accident
Lacey (12:19:57 AM): the next day he sprained/broke his ankle
MK (12:20:10 AM): unrelated to the accident?
Lacey (12:20:20 AM): yes, unrelated
Lacey (12:20:23 AM): totally different accident
Lacey (12:20:24 AM): BUT
Lacey (12:20:34 AM): also friday night (in utah) my friend is at a dance party...
Lacey (12:20:37 AM): AND THE FLOOR CAVES IN
MK (12:20:47 AM): hot damn
Lacey (12:20:52 AM): but no no, that's not all that has occured this weekend.
Lacey (12:21:15 AM): tonight i'm at my friend's house playing Guitar Hero and eating chocolate chip cookies when i receive a call from my concerned mother telling me not to come home
Lacey (12:21:45 AM): apparently a criminal was on the loose in our neighborhood and there were helicopters and cop cars and everything all over the place
MK (12:22:03 AM): what no way..
Lacey (12:22:18 AM): anyone who claims woodbridge is safe is sincerely mistaken. it is just as prone to hysteria as any other small-town community.
MK (12:22:32 AM): lol, i think ur overreacting a bit
Lacey (12:22:36 AM): haha
Lacey (12:22:49 AM): well, i'm making myself sound dramatic for... effect.
MK (12:22:55 AM): haha
MK (12:22:56 AM): i know
Lacey (12:22:56 AM): but it's been a really weird weekend.
MK (12:23:06 AM): yeah that is for sure
MK (12:23:17 AM): do u know how the whole fugitive thing went down?
MK (12:23:35 AM): did they catch him?
Lacey (12:23:40 AM): when i finally came home all the cop cars were on m***/**** yale ****
Lacey (12:23:50 AM): i'm pretty sure they must have because there were a ton of them all there
MK (12:23:57 AM): i see
MK (12:24:20 AM): irvine cops finally earning all that cash.
MK (12:25:06 AM): so did the stabbing kids go to whs?
MK (12:25:30 AM): either the stabbers or stabees?
MK (12:25:32 AM): lol
Lacey (12:25:48 AM): i know haha
MK (12:26:02 AM): ?
Lacey (12:26:04 AM): well apparently the fights involved kids from uni who invade all the woodbridge parties to get into fights
Lacey (12:26:18 AM): all i know is the kid who was stabbed in the face's name was ***.
MK (12:26:28 AM): thats a very stabbable name
MK (12:26:29 AM): figures
MK (12:27:03 AM): don't uni kids have anything better to do? Like, math problems or something?
MK (12:27:46 AM): god humans are so dumb
Lacey (12:28:32 AM): haha
Lacey (12:28:33 AM): seriously.
Lacey (12:28:41 AM): i just don't understand...
MK (12:28:57 AM): i'll never be able to comprehend such behavior
MK (12:29:26 AM): and I will always wish I had the power to sterilize people with the snap of my fingers
MK (12:30:00 AM): sadly, however, those kids will probably procreate one day soon, when they knock up some drunk chick at a party, and the cycle will continue.

^Well put MK, well put.^


* Names have been changed to protect the identities of mentioned people and places in the story.

Apparently it is Jesus who sits in the old gum tree

While washing my face tonight I was reminded of a song I used to sing back when I was a child going to a Lutheran preschool (not to say that children who went to Lutheran preschools were the only ones who sang this song... I just included that little fact as a detail). I began singing the song and was slightly appalled at the rather skewed and somewhate humorous version of the song that came out of my mouth...

Jesus loves me this I know
For the Bible tells me so
Little ones to him belong
They are weak but he is strong
Laugh kukaburra, laugh kukaburra
Save some gum for me

(Now, I advise you to sing the words as I have written them before you write me off as a psychopath. I think you'll find that my confusion was completely justified.)

The Big Bear trip of a lifetime... and almost a deathtime

I will explain my blog title at the end of the blog. This is going to be a long blog by the way, because I took a lot of pictures and I may end up interjecting little bits of commentary.


That's Kyle inside THE CAVE. Yes, there is a cave that we tend to visit in Big Bear, only to smoke ourselves out minutes later (not like WE smoke, we set fire to a piece of paper and are smoked out... did I really need to explain that to anyone on here? Probably not.)

John... also in the cave.

That's the fire that smoked us out of the cave, with the fire starter himself.

I just thought this picture was cool cause you could see the smoke in the air through the flashlight light. Maybe it's just me.

SMOKED OUT!

Kyle with his expertly-built snowman.

Alright, so my snowwoman isn't all that well-built... and my eyes are closed... oh well. We can't all be so photogenic as Kyle.

The snow covered creek bed outside John's cabin.

Footprints Kyle and I left on our hike. I thought it was pretty? Maybe it's just me again.

I actually didn't take this one. But I took the next few because, well. I got a little bored on the hike... shhh! Don't tell.

I took it. It's goofy. I looked goofy. Whatever.

I didn't mean to take this one. I was about to take another one of myself but I tripped on a rock and... well. There ya go.

There were footprints leading into this log so I took a picture of the inside to see if there was an animal inside. It kind of looks like there was, maybe?

The last one I took of myself, I swear.

Kyle's and my snow people having a snowball fight. Can you see the tiny little snowballs??

So now for my near death experience. John and I began our descent down the mountain and got about 10 minutes away from his house when he realized that he left something back at the cabin. He made a u-turn and was about to made a right turn onto the main road when a cop drove by and saw the very dangerous turn John made onto the road, in front of oncoming traffic. Seconds later the cop turned on his sirens and John and I started freaking out that we were going to get a ticket. The cop was driving the opposite direction so we figured if it was enough of a big deal to him he would turn around and follow us. He didn't. So we got to the cabin, got the forgotten items, and heading back down the mountain. When we got a little further down there was a huge queue of cars and an orange sign that said "Accident Ahead." We were waiting in this line for nearly 20 minutes before we started moving again. It turns out a car had driven over the side of the mountain, right in the part where the railings end (what are the chances??). When we drove past the parked ambulances we saw the very same cop that we had seen before. It occurred to us that if John had not remembered to go back to the cabin we would have been a couple minutes ahead of that policeman when he got that fateful phone call, and granted the exact same circumstances, the car that went over the edge could have been us. Trippy to think about.

That's my story.

I'm ba-ack.

I decided that it's about time I post a new blog. The only thing is, there are a lot of things I don't want to write about because there are so many people that have access to my blog now. I don't really like that. Originally this blog was a place for me to write about random things, knowing that only Alli, Lindsey, and Glenn would read them. Now that that isn't the case I feel a little bit... cautious. So from now on I will choose my words wisely.

Ooh. Just not right now. I'm going to go dry my hair.