Sunny Trip to CA

So . . .it's been awhile. Nineteen days to be exact, but who cares. I figure that you all want to hear about the amazing CA college trip so I decided I better write about it. And if I was wrong, and you don't want to hear about it, then why are you still reading?? Just hit "Like" on Facebook, and no one will realize you never even read it.

It was a really good trip, and I was so super excited about it. Now that I'm back in the freezing cold area of NW Iowa, I feel  . . .bored and kind of sad. But mostly cold. Yeah, really cold. The weather guy said rain all weekend. Thankfully, he was wrong. It was warm enough that I could wear shorts. That definitely made my weekend.

We left for the airport Thursday right after school's early out. By the time we were flying out of Sioux Falls I could hardly remember that I even went to school that morning, other then the homework I took along of course. (Because I'm a good little student) So, for the first half hour of our flight to CHICAGO I was classifing fingerprints. Thank you Mr. Kamp. Okay, wait a minute, back up you say. Chicago? Isn't that in the opposite direction of CA? Yes, yes it was. It was also cheap, so I didn't care.

After a four hour flight to CA, made longer by a delay in Chicago, we finally made it to LA by midnight. California time; so around two in the morning. Justin was really nice and got In-n-out while we waited. (and waited, and waited for him to come back) Gotta love those burgers, wish we had them in Orange City!

Friday began the Sea Beggar experience. We toured the campus, talked with professors, students, even the president of the college! We got to go to Chapel and the lunch. Which, by the way, was super good. Not at all like Unity, it wasn't chicken! That night, after game night, a couple car loads of students went out for Cheesecake at the Cheesecake factory on Colorado Blv. OH YUM. A little guilty pleasure, but for seven bucks, it was definitely worth it.

Saturday was a tour of Pasadena, and lunch at Bella's Gourmet pizza, which was also amazing. When we got back my favorite CA big sister took us on the Metro to LA. We went to Little Tokyo for Mochi, and Olvero street, (Not sure how to spell it, but it was a pretty neat place) for shopping. We also got to see Occupy LA, which was pretty neat as well, even though everyone smelled bad . .but I would smell bad to if I was camping in LA for a month and a half.

Sunday was the day where we tried to cram as much stuff in as possible. Picnic at Griffith Observatory after church, a walk down Hollywood where they were setting up for the premier of Happy Feet Two. Then off to the beach to watch the sunset. That was so spectacularly pretty. Our last stop of the day: Korean BBQ in Korea town. MMMMM, that was SO GOOD! Spicy, but good. My only problem was the chopsticks. Someday maybe I'll get they hang of them. But probably not . . .

So, that was my college visit. (and sister visit) For all of you Unity Students who aren't sure what college you want to go to, a Providence Rep, (a.k.a. my sister) is coming in December. :D It is a really small college, but that is one of the things that makes it so great, everybody is really close, its like a community of people who really care. It's like a mini-Orange City, but better, and warmer. O.K. bad comparison, it is so much better then OC. I could go on and on about all the things I really love about Providence, but you are probably bored out of your mind, (I said you didn't have to read it, but you obviously didn't take my advice if your this far already) and this is already super long. (sorry!) So, now you may click the exit button at the top left hand corner of your screen and move on with your life. Also, if you want to see pics (I am to lazy to add some and you've probably all ready seen them anyways) you can look at them on Facebook. But like I said, you're probably already a step ahead of me.

Field Trip!

Wow. It's only Tuesday and already its been a long week.

Monday was the Ultimate Field Trip for those of us at Unity Christian High. The entire school, students and teachers alike, helped pick up corn from two fields that had burned down early this fall. It really was actually quite fun, even though I couldn't breath at all because of the dust and my cold. It was amazing how much corn we picked up in two short hours, and how dirty we got! It really was the perfect day for it, not to warm, and not to cold. However, it was really windy, and the dust was flying everywhere! Faces, teeth, hair, clothes, gloves, boots and busses where covered in it. We raised over $14,000, and Unity is planning on giving some of it, if not all, to charities.

News reporters were even out there, from Orange City's paper to KTIV news channel. (Watch it here I'm pretty sure that you catch a quick glimpse of me at 14-15 second mark. I'm the one in the light blue sweatshirt working really hard at trying not to cough my guts out) We could tell who the reporters were because they where the only ones out there who were not either hauling five gallon buckets or driving tractors. And then there was the one reporter who was wearing high-heals in the field . . .not so bright there. On top of that, there was the choir teacher who wanted to know how she would find a row of corn. Obviously she's not from Iowa. :D

Overall, way to go Unity. That's one of the things I really enjoy about Unity, there are opportunities that we can use to serve each other, the farmers in our community, and those in third world countries who are suffering from hunger just by doing something simple like picking up burnt corn. Another thing I learned from that day, I'm not going to be a farmer; or eat corn ever again.

SPLAT

I never realized Pep-Rallies involved so much whipped cream.

The short classes where nice, the pep-rally funny, but the best part of day? Skipping through the freshman hall at the end. Why, you might ask, is that so great? Because we hadn't gone very far before we fell flat on the floor with a big Ker-SPLAT!

Okay, something must be wrong there. Falling was the highlight of my day? What about the girls digging gummy worms out of whipped cream? Or football players getting hit in the face with whipped cream? Or the teachers getting hit in the face with whipped cream? (moral of the story there, don't become a teacher or play sports. You might get hit in the face with whipped cream) No. Believe it or not, falling was the best part of my day. I am still laughing about it. A few days ago Emma was told not to skip to lunch because it was a twisted form of running. Our response to that? In whose twisted mind is skipping a twisted form of running? Turns out Mr. Dykstra was onto something when he said no skipping. It's dangerous. You could seriously hurt yourself.

Unless you are used to falling, running into parked cars, doing summer-saults over handle-bars, skidding in front of cars in the middle of intersections, slipping on ice, slipping on a puddle, falling up stairs, and just all around clumsiness. I'm used to it. So if you ever see me fall, don't panic. It's okay. I'm just clumsy, its not serious or contagious. I think . . .

Dear Reader

So, I figured it was time for another post, but I was to busy relaxing in Psychology class today (it was nap time!!!) to come up with anything. So I am simply going to use an email I got from a friend. Enjoy them, and I am going to go to bed. My nap as apparently not long enough . . .


~Dear U.S. Government,

I do not like this Uncle Sam, 

I do not like his health care scam. 

I do not like these dirty crooks

or how they lie and cook the books.

 I do not like when Congress steals,

 I do not like their secret deals.

 I do not like ex-speaker Nan,

 I do not like this "YES WE CAN."

 I do not like this spending spree, 

I'm smart, I know that nothing's free. 

I do not like their smug replies 

when I complain about their lies. 

I do not like this kind of hope. 

I do not like it. 

Nope, nope, nope.

Sincerely, Dr. Suess.

~Dear Walmart,

Why are you selling Obama Christmas ornaments? Does this mean you condone hanging black men from trees?

Sincerely, a confused customer

~Dear Disney,

Winnie the Pooh: overeater. Piglett: phobic. Tigger: ADD. Rabbit: OCD. Eeyore: depression. christopher robin: schizophrenia.

Sincerely, AP Psych ruined my childhood.

~Dear periodic table,

I see you've forgotten about me...

Sincerely, the element of surprise.

~Dear J.K. Rowling,

Your books are entirely unrealistic. I mean, a ginger kid with two friends?

Sincerely, anonymous.

~Dear unborn son,

Please note that your name will be Luke purely so I can say "Luke, I am your Father" when you question my authority.

Sincerely, soon to be father.

~Dear fourth grader on Facebook,

How are you in a complicated relationship?

Sincerely, what'd he do, steal your animal crackers?

~Dear Walmart,

So, Google and I talked it over and we agreed that you can be in on our world domination plans.

Sincerely, Facebook.

~Dear Martin Luther King Jr.,

I have a dream within a dream within a dream within another dream... What now?

Sincerely, Leonardo DiCaprio

~Dear Kayne West,

Roses are red, violets are blue, if Rebecca Black wins any awards, you know what to do.

Sincerely, the world.

~Dear World,

I think we should seriously consider changing the saying to, 'There are plenty of birds in the sky.' Thoughts?

Sincerely, BP

~Dear Officer,

I can't even say the alphabet backwards when I'm sober! I never took AP Kindergarten.

Sincerely, trying to not get arrested

~Dear gangsters,

I would pants you, but it looks like someone beat me to it.

Sincerely, anonymous

~Dear "I'm not drunk!",

You threw a sock at a midget and screamed "Dobby be free!"

Sincerely, yes, yes, you are.

Dear Mulan,

If you got him to fall in love with you by dressing up like a man, that should send up a few red flags.

Sincerely, just saying.

~Dear "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me",

Try getting hit in the face with a dictionary.

Sincerely, anonymous.

~Dear murderer,

I watched when you splattered my mother's entrails all over the wall. I saw you beat my little brothers and sisters to death. I heard you screeching that you'd come for me next...

Sincerely, spider.

Dear people in Febreeze commercials,

What was going through you mind when someone came up to you in the streets, blind folded you, led you to a crusty old bed, and told you to "BREATH DEEPLY?!"

Sincerely, what part of that did not spell rape?

Dear Math Teacher,

Your ceiling has 86 1/2 tiles, 9 mysterious black stains on said tiles, 4 sprinklers, and 10 lights. Oh, and I forgot to mention... 2/3 of your students aren't paying attention. They're trying to figure out what I'm staring at.

Sincerely, Your Bored Student

Dear Wizard of Oz,

The scarecrow had no brains, tin man had no heart, lion was a coward, and the wizard was a liar.

Sincerely, you've summed up men quite well!

Dear Humpty Dumpty,

We tried... But there's only so much we could do under Obamacare.

Sincerely, All the Kings Men

Dear poets,

Violets aren't blue, they're violet.

Sincerely, reality doesn't rhyme

70's Returns

It's official. The 70's are back! On our amazing trip to the Mall of America all the stores we went to had the tunic shirts, the leggings, leg-warmers, leather jackets, fringe, floral, flared jeans, one shoulder shirts, boots and my personal favorite, saddle shoes! One of the restaurants was even playing 70's music. Mom and Dad also thought they spotted Elton John, but most likely it was just some random old guy wearing orange crocs and a weird hat. 

We shopped from ten A.M. till about three o'clock, I spent all my money plus some of Tina's, and there were still stores I hadn't even looked at yet. Some of the more interesting stuff I spotted at the Mall of America was a Darth Vader spatula, black and white floral print skinny jeans, ten inch cheetah print heals, a pair of jeans on sale for $118, a simple black cable knit sweater for $60, and oh yeah, and let's not forget the crazy looking people shopping there too! When we walked through the Aquarium we also spotted some HUGE turtles. Seriously HUGE turtles. Like, HUGE. Sharks, another even BIGGER turtle, starfish, seahorses, Dory and Nemo, and these two crazy looking fish that were eating each other.

Before the MOA we also stopped at Cabbella's for Dad. The proud fisherman couldn't leave without a huge fish pillow, Walleye magnet, fish-mouth cup holder, and a fish hook key chain. The animals in the middle where really spectacular. HUGE moose, polar bears, dear, turkeys, black bears, foxes, lynxes, wolves, beavers, squirrels, and mountain goats. They where arranged in "gravity defying" ways, turkeys in flight, dear leaping of cliffs. My favorite part was the Africa exhibit; the elephants, zebras, (which, according to some, aren't cool) vultures, hyenas, and don't forget the lions!

After all that walking around and up and down and around and in and out and then up and down some more, my legs HURT. The Mall of America is super huge, four stories, not including the basement aquarium, with 500 something stores. Of course I have a terrible sense of direction so I took the long way around to the different stores quite often. The four, five, miles we ran Wednesday night on our communist run didn't help much, especially since it has most likely been two years since I last ran.

So combining the run, the drive, the mall, and the drive home, I am super stiff and sore, and am SO glad I can sleep in tomorrow. Still, as much fun as it was, I am glad to be home. Although I am going to miss that hot tub at the hotel . . .

SILBWHNCUN

Words cannot even begin to describe how great if feels to be sitting in bed instead of Mr. Kamp's Applied Science class waving strips of paper around. No joke. That's what we did the other day. Today is ITED, or Iowa Test of Endless Dots, for all the Freshman and Juniors. Sophomores have PLAN, and Seniors have SILBWHNCUN. (Sleep in Late Because We Have No Classes Until Noon)

In circumstances like this, I would normally still be asleep, but I had Morning Glory Singers at seven. I had forgotten about the early morning, so my dreams of sleeping till noon where rudely awoken when my alarm went off at six AM. But, the amazing cinnamon rolls afterwards made up for it.

But it's okay now. I am going back to bed for a few hours and then I will be all set for a half day of school. There are more ITEDS on Thursday, so I'll sleep in then to. :) Wednesday will be another great day, because it is Cast Chapel day. Basically we get to ride on a bus, do chapels for Western and SouthWest, play games with 5th graders, and not do school. I think I like being a Senior this year. :)

One of those Days

"Ever have one of those days where you just can't win, Eeyore?" ~ Winnie the Pooh











Today just happens to be 'one of those days'. I don't know why, or what caused it, but its just been like that all day. Even after an amazing Cast night and a early Morning Glories practice, I still feel like curling up in my bed and crying. Why? I honestly have no idea. No idea at all . . .

I'm looking back and trying to figure out what went wrong today, and it was actually not a bad day, I got to work with Emma, twice! (more gas money, yeah!) I got all (most) of my homework done WITHOUT procrastinating. Including that one college comp paper that was such a pain to wright but now I am really happy with how it turned out.

But then again, some kid stopped in front of me and I really hurt my toe, it still hurts now. I actually got a bit of homework, and overall I am just so sick of school that the weekend doesn't even cut it anymore. I want Summer to come back. Yes, I do know that tomorrow is the first day of Fall. But really? What's wrong with skipping Winter?

The fact that I don't know WHY it is 'one of those days' just makes it worse. Which obviously doesn't help at all. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I can only hope for the best, knowing and trusting that everything happens for a reason. Good and bad days both, they teach us, shape us, mold us, make us want to be more and more like Christ.