Southern California

On the road again. Yes, that is correct. Another trip has thrown itself my way. My dad had a tradeshow in Longbeach this weekend so I decided I would go with him. We drove down the coast to get there and made many stops along the way. This is my third trip within a one year period to the L.A. area, and many times before in my life but I had never journeyed down the coast. It's such a beautiful way to get to the city! Along the way we stopped at 6 colleges...CSU Monterey Bay, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Santa Barbara, CSU Channel Islands, Pepperdine, and CSU Long Beach. The only one that I took an official tour on was UC Santa Barbara, the others I just looked around and got a feel for and went to the book stores. Out of the six my favorite was probably UC Santa Barbara. My plan is to major in a science and minor in journalism...sadly that is not an option at Santa Barbara; however there is a newspaper. One of my favorite stops of the trip was at Hearst Castle. Yes, the home of William Hearst the one you learn about in Newsies. It was very inspirational to see. Although it wasn't a scheduled stop and I didn't have time to tour the castle itself, I did look through the museum and it was very inspiring! Journalism field trip perhaps? haha Two nights, three days later and I'm in Burbank at my uncle's house. I'm going to Venice beach tomorrow. I'm excited! :) It's such a great place to observe and people watch. Well I should probably go to sleep soon it's been such a busy couple of days, and more to come. Bring it on!

Think Before You Speak

It's not unusual for some of my friends to snarl a derogatory comment such as "that's so gay" or "that's so retarded."

Truth being, it's not right to say things that insult a group of people. I mean, as Doctor Seuss said "A person is a person". If something bothers me, I say "That's so irrational" or "That's weird" or "That doesn't make sense" because it's so much better than targeting a specific group. Yet some people still can't grasp the same concept. It doesn't necessarily mean people are mean, but it shows their ignorance.

I was interviewing someone for my last story when someone said "...it was gay...". At that point, I stopped to think: As journalists, where do we draw the line? Yes, we quote people word for word, but are there any restrictions, technically speaking?

Food for thought. In general, it's really not a terrible idea to think before you speak-about anything.

Camping con Paige

It feels like I haven't blogged in so long! In my mind I thought that this summer would be more relaxing than it has been in the past because I didn't have as many trips planned...on the contrary. After getting back from Pennsylvania I was home for a few weeks and then my dad asked me to go camping with the family. The night before my dad said that I could take a friend. So I text Paige (yes the Paige that is on staff with all of us :)) and she said that she would go with me :) so the next day we left...headed for Lake Siskiyou. Yes that is indeed a real place, Lake Siskiyou. The camp ground was a lot bigger than we expected and arrived on a Friday night. On saturday we went to a nearby fish hatchery to watch my little cousins Jersey and Sierra fish. Later in the day we went to the lake itself. Our first adventure out on the water was in a little blow up raft with my cousin Sierra, Paige, and I. We were rowing back towards the shore and the end of Paige's oar floated away!!!! Then we tanned on the beach a little bit. Went out on the water, this time just Paige and I, attatched ourselves to a rope and just sat out on the water for a bit. Apparently the sunscreen we had put on earlier in the day had gone away and by the time we walked back up onto the beach we were as red as strawberries! By far we recieved the worst sunburns of our lives...not fun. I really liked the camp ground though. We spent the rest of that day and the days to come in agony, even after we got home. Then we peeled. My advice from that experience...wear sunscreen especially when you are around water. We got home and within a week my grandpa planned our trip there for next summer.

Change in plans. Again.

Well, as some of you know, I have a history of knee problems. For the past few years, my knees have been so much better! Like basically healed except for a few random things like squatting and kneeling. But they are now at the point where I can totally live life normally.

Last spring, I realized that I didn't really want to play water polo again this fall. Kinda sad since it will be my senior year. But for various reasons, I just decided not to, but I decided do cross country instead. And I was pretty excited about cross country. I had been running a lot ever since swim team ended. But after Breakaway (the insane kids camp at my church), of all things, my knees got the worst they've been in a long time-like years. After taking a few weeks off running they still weren't as good as before. So, now I'm not doing cross country. A few years ago, this probably would have been really hard on me. But I am definitely over allowing my knees to disappoint me. So, I'm not doing a fall sport this year, but I'll probably be swimming at Cal Fit a lot and doing some running too.

Spanish

I'm taking AP Spanish this school year. Hmmm. I'm probably like one of 10 students from RHS doing it. Yep. I'm pretty excited but a bit nervous about it. I was just reading a book in Spanish (it's part of the summer homework) and it took me forever to finish chapter 1. But I understood most of it. So that's good. I will be really excited if in June I can remember reading this book and laugh at how hard it was. Yeah, that would be pretty cool. I'm excited to take AP Spanish because I think I will learn a ton! I love learning about and experiencing other cultures. Because I live in CA and because of my interest in other cultures it seems like this class will be pretty useful for me.

Can we really trust?

There are people out there that are worthy to be called decent. The realism of this though is that there is a small percentage of those decent people. It is so hard to find a true friend out here in this crazy world. You never know what type of people you are dealing with. Finding that right person to build a relationship with takes a long time. Believe me. People can be fake and trick you into thinking that they are good. Thank God that this isn't true for everyone, but to find the diamond you have to dig deep in the earth, you know what I'm saying?

I am fortunate that I have 2 really great friends that will always be there for me and I can go to them when I need help. Friends these days can end up either not for real or can change into people that you didn't become friends with at first. It does take an effort to find and keep that true friendship. Sometimes it's not so hard. Maybe you and one person just click and BOOM!, you are best friends! That is the best in the world! Seriously! You got lucky, but that doesn't happen for everyone.

All I'm saying is to take your time and don't rush into things with another person. Sit back and obverse and you will find out if you really feel like making a relationship with the individual.

Old Soul.

I am a lover of all things French--lucky to claim it as my last name as well--and always have been. All the fiction stories I've written since I was about seven years old have a contingency to be set in pre-revolutionary France (the epicenter of the world before Robespierre and the Reign of Terror came in and mucked everything up), and post-WWI-Belle-Epoque Paris.

Maybe that is why I am so drawn to the work of Brassai and Atget... there's something so beautiful and human in all of their photographs. Look at the post below for my personal favorite.

A piece of Atget's--"Boulevard de Strasbourg, c. 1912"

and another-- "Organ Grinder, c.1898"

Home for the moment

Or so it seems.
Having read back, we have a core group blogging and some folks not. I'll send out another e-mail today.
I just finished 10 days in Florida and then four more in MN. Now it's off to San Diego Sunday for 11 days. But not all work and no play.
Clearly there are many stories, but here are the key ones.
* Carson is thriving. Her language continues to explore, she rarely stops talking or singing, and is such a positive kid. She's seen her Great Grandparents in Florida and many friends, new and old. Always the life of the party. Most importantly, she is fully indoctrinated into Mickey and especially Mini after Disneyworld.
* Health is still sketchy, but getting by. Such is life. I do wake up at 4 a.m. every day and am able to do things like this.
* How 'bout them Giants?
* I remmain excited about the school year despite Cali being a financial mess.

And my positive attitude story...
Returning from MN, I wanted to catch a direct flight and get home three hours early. I'd done a motivational talk to end the workshop, and was feeling very good about life.
Trying Delta's three-hour standby (for $50), they twice said the plane was full, on the phone and in person.
An hour before the flight I tried again, still no go.
"Oh, well"... I went to my gate for Salt Lake (thus a three-hour longer trip) and was chatting with a nice guy from Idaho (I rarely talk in airports, he started it). They asked for volunteers for a bump and voucher, and since I was going to be late anyway, what the heck.
I simply told "Yvonne" I needed to get back to Sacramento that night, but I'd gladly take a bump. A few minutes later she called me up, and said she'd gotten me the last seat on the 5:15 direct I'd been trying to get on! No charge (but no voucher).
I told her she'd made my day.
But my good attitude kharma was not over.
I preboard for medical, so I'm sitting in my middle seat waiting... when a family comes in around me and asks would I be willing to switch to an aisle seat so they could sit together. "Would I, that's the second nicest thing that's happened to me today!"
Bottom line, I got home by 7 p.m. Pacific and had dinner with my wife and daughter. All because of a positive attitude.

cn

Shasta

I'm finally blogging this summer! Wow! Summer is flying by! I've been super busy, but busy w/ awesome things I love doing (besides the summer homework part). Last week I got back from Shasta Lake. I spent a week there on a houseboat. It was one of the best weeks of my life! During the day we got to hang out, swim, jump of the roofs of the houseboats, go on ski runs, etc. I finally learned to stay up on the wakeboard for more than just a few seconds. So much fun! At night, we'd have program, play games, hang out more, and we slept on the roofs of the houseboats under the stars. It was beautiful. I saw so many shooting stars! I made some great friends, and got into some deep conversations. I learned so much and I look at life different now since that trip. Oh yes, and the last night there was a dance party on my houseboat. Probably about 5 houseboats worth of people were packed into mine. Some friends and I went on the roof and we could feel it moving up and down. It was pretty intense!

My experiences in Journalism

I am really looking forward to beginning my 2nd year in journalism and The Flash staff this year. I am going to be co-web editor, which is so fortunate because I would have so much to contribute. 2008-2009 was a great year for journalism and each issue of The Flash just kept getting better. I know that we will make this year even better and every student will bring something new to the class. Ever since I became involved in journalism, I have learned much more about writing about what the students want to here and how to make my writing better. This class will be another learning experience and definitely fun and worthwhile for my final year at Rocklin High.

Summer Away

This is my first blog this summer. My first blog ever actually... but about two weeks ago, i just came back from a month vacation with my family to Italy and Greece, and let me tell you, I needed one.

But as soon as I got home, it was back to the daily grind and it feels as if nothing ever happend. Of course, I made many memories. I feel rejuvinated and ready to get back on track with my life. I feel like a whole new person with new goals and a new found confidence, and I realize how fortunate I am to have had such an experience. I made some amazing friends to last me a life time and strengthened bonds with my family members overseas.

It was an extremely long trip. Very tiring. So tiring I need a vacation from my vacation. It took two days of flying to reach Rome. We stayed there for eight days (but you really only need three days to see everything) then visited family in a small village named Todi (the Rocklin of Italy but five hundred years older). From there, we caught the cruise ship and sailed for 12 days. Each day we had a new excursion: Monte Carlo, Livorno (Italy), Naples (Italy), Santorini (Greece), Kusadasi (Turkey), Mykonos (Greece), Athens (Greece), Katakolon (Greece), Corfu (Greece), Venice (Italy). When the cruise was over, we stayed three nights in Venice, two nights in Milan to visit friends and family, and then we stayed one night with family in a country town called Agrate Conturbia.

Differences in lifestyles:

(1) Eat dinner no earlier than nine and stay up past midnight at "Discos" or just chilling outside. The teenagers have a lot of freedom.

(2) No street lanes. Red lights don't mean anything. Police don't really seem to enforce traffic laws.

(3) European men are more aggressive when it comes to picking up women.

(4) Everyone smokes

(5) They dress well. ALways make themselves presentable.

(6) Tip is always included in the bill. No one ever tips otherwise. We were cheated a couple of times.

So ya. Travel is one of the greatest gifts someone can bestow on you. I hope everyone gets the chance to get out of this country and see what else is out there. Now I have to go do homework. Not much of a summer anymore...

Girl Arrested for Swearing on 911 Call

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=42129

Horrible. It scares me that people like this can answer 911 calls.

eek.

pug face, hiccups, and sun burns, OH MY!

allow me to explain; between Friday and Sunday evening I've developed some fun memories from camping at lake siskiyou near mount shasta with victoria and a handful of her family. i highly recommend camping there. its a gigantic camp ground and theres always stuff to do and the lake is the perfect size, and its not gross on the bottom like Folsom Lake.

there was a lot that happened but these were the highlights:

first of all, this camp ground had an outdoor movie theater, and was playing ice age 2 when we arrived, nuff said. this is also right around the time when victoria almost "biffed it", and also where we likely ruined the movie for some of the people around us because we got up to leave and come back 3 times.

just before this is when i met her grandpa who said, right after we pulled up, "victoria, get out and go watch the movie with grandma." then turned to me and introduced himself saying "hi, im grandpa" and got in the truck and left. haha :)

saturday morning was fishing day, but we slept in late and missed all of it. we finally got there, bought a doughnought, fed the fish, and left to go cut their heads off (aka clean them). this is where i lean on the table in the wrong way and ended up getting gross, red and green fish guts on my shirt and shorts. it was lovely.

sunday morning, there was suddenly another RV next to the one we were all sharing, but no people around, just a lonely, fat pug dog, too fat to even hold his own body weight, tied to the tree, begging for breakfast scraps. he was readjusting his skinny legs to try to hold himself up but it was too weak to, and eventually just gave up and layed down.

later, at the lake, tori and myself ended up chauffeuring her cousin around the lake in a raft for a little bit. however, the wind was pushing us farther and farther in the wrong direction, so we tried to paddle back, but right then, the flat end of my paddle came off and floated away so we ended up using our hands to paddle back against the wind.

at the beach, we also "met" Dredlock Man who was extremely tan and, well i'll stop there xD

also met Little Boy Who Loves to Splash Everything and Everyone. he kicked an ungodly amount of cold water on me suddenly while i was lying (eyes closed) on a floating bed thing. then said "bye!" and left. gee thanks, kid.

by the time we had to go, we had unknowingly become bright red all over the front half of our body from neck to the tops of our feet. it made sleeping a circus act trying not to move too fast or lay the wrong way, which we ended up doing anyways and waking up in pain.

on the drive back, tori got a case of the hiccups that lasted for a half hour, starting when we stopped for in-n-out. it was funny, to say the least; her giant pink sunglasses added to the comedy somehow too.

before we got home we went to pick up her dog, Peachy, at her aunts house, who apparently had spent the whole weekend being sexually harassed by their other 4 dogs and mini horse. poor Peachy.

THE END.

Three things I love.

#1: Two Apaches in Paris, by Brassai. I first saw this photo when I went to the Art Insitute of Chicago this summer, and this photograph seems to haunt everything that I do. I fell in love with it the second I saw it; there is a raw emotion in this photo that seems to resonate across the space beside it--which is not a wall, by the way, the photographer purposely left the space undeveloped to give the photo its stark, deep feeling. Looking at this photo makes me feel as if I am not alone in the world--stunning. Beautiful.




#2: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I'm 3/4 of the way through this book and it's shaping up to be my favorite book of all time. Unfortunately, I had to use the Amazon.com version of this book cover with its LOOK INSIDE skewing the beauteous masterpiece behind it... :). This story chronicles Esther Greenwood's slow descent into some kind of insanity, with a keen eye and sharp language, pointing out things that we have always noticed but never been quite able to put into words. I have been completely immersed in this story ever since I picked it up, and the dreamy, cynical way Greenwood views her own life is both entertaining and tragic, at times so human and endearing that I feel as if I am experiencing this with her. Four stars in progress.

#3: Fictionpress.com Even I have a username on here, but I won't tell you what it is :) I can spend hours just clicking around on this site, reading and critiquing manuscripts, some of which are absolutely wonderful. These are the bestselling authors of tomorrow, publishing their work online for free. If you find the online communities for each genre, they pick out some of the more worthwhile reads--very handy.

Wonderful summer, everyone!

Harry Potter Mania

History was made yesterday. Well I guess technically this morning. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (HBP) set the midnight gross record, according to Variety. HBP made $22.2 million, beating Dark Knight by about $5 million. This of course was predicted before the movie came out.
I was lucky enough to experience the madness first-hand. I went to the 12:01 am showing with some friends. I bought a shirt of Ron Weasley, played by Rupert Grint, and waited at the theater since 4pm. The theater unfortunately said they wouldn't let us start a line until 5 pm, which honestly I don't understand. It's Harry Potter. This is big. I for one thought people would camp out, but I guess people weren't that excited about it. A couple of my friends went at around 9 am to wait. The manager told them to come back at 5, bribing them with the HBP life-size cutouts. I wish I got one.
The line starting getting longer at around 7pm. By that time, the theater had lines for 5 showings. It was such an exciting atmosphere. Although, the manager got mad at a couple of groups, including ours. Lets just say the size of our group tripled. But we couldn't really do anything about it. Some of the people waiting in line with us turned out to be friends of friends of OUR friends.
Finally the doors opened to the theater. Auditorium 4. My favorite number. How lucky. As we sat down on our seats, which i might add were perfect, some people were separated. It's a shame you can only sit next to two people, but there is really no other way to arrange seating now is there? I sat next to the two biggest Harry Potter fans I know. I felt a bit intimidated. I've only read through the series once so I don't know every minute detail like those two. But it was worth it. We constantly looked at each other and smiled for the next scene we knew was coming.
Lights dimmed. Everyone screamed. Then we realized it was only the previews. Not the best to add before HBP. Now, it got even darker. Warner Brothers logo showed up. Opening Scene. HARRY POTTER!

Switchin' Careers???

Hey all my homies!!! Well, throughout the summer, I've been going back and forth on what to do for my career. I need to figure this out soon so I know what type of colleges I need to apply for. My two loves are writing and performing. I've always had a dream of making my own magazine strictly for plus size individuals. Being overweight most of my childhood was really difficult for me. Even though I was barely teased, it was hard for me to have a total confidence and trying on clothes was a PAIN! Making a plus-size magazine, I believe will help everyone understand that no matter what size you are, you aren't different from anyone else. Everyone is the same. We all have hearts, brains, and blood running through our veins. So just because we look different on the outside, that doesn't mean we're different on the inside. Actually, how boring would it be if everyone looked the same! UGH! That would not be cool.

Another dream of mine is help the world through music, like Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and John Lennon. If I became as famous as these people, I would make sure the music I make will get through people's hearts and hopefully create a more peaceful world. I would not perform just for the money or the publicity, I would perform to create a better world. I haven't figured out the talents I've had till I was 14 years old. I didn't know I could dance, sing, or even act till that age. Once I discovered the talents I've had all along, I realized that I could take it to the next level, then thinking about what happens to celebrities with the media made me think twice. So, if I wanted to perform on broadway or have an actual music career, I seriously would have to think about the time and effort I would put into it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not perfect at these talents yet, I'll still need a lot of work to make them perfect. I believe though, that I cannot live without dancing or music. We'll see what happens though.

Right now it is summer and I need to seriously chillax!

Back In the Land of Rocks, California

Well I'm home now, pretty much the first time I have been here all summer. It's a pretty good feeling. You would never think that coming back to a place like Rocklin, a place that we are all seemingly trying to find our way out of someday, could feel so good. Life picked right back up essentially where it left off, busy. Being the frozen yogurt enthusiast that I am I did go to Big Spoon the first night I was home :) The day after I got home I got my senior yearbook picture taken. It's hard to believe that this is our final grade school yearbook picture we will ever take, and somewhat ironically we aren't even taking them at our beautiful school. The fact that senior year is rapidly approaching continues to hit me over and over every day. IM SO PUMPED/A LITTLE NERVOUS AT THE SAME TIME!!! Usually when I get home from PA I only have a week left before school starts, but not this time! I have plenty of time left to enjoy a nice and hot Cali summer :)

Florida is wet

We are now into our second week in Florida (we came last Tuesday) and it feels like forever.
Let me just share highlights: I get time with my two best friends (my wife and John) and we are going non-stop. However, it rains. And it rains. And then the air is so thick you can drink it. Beyond friendship and work I can see no good reason for coming to Florida in the summer.
But, they do. Everywhere we go families and large groups from outside the U.S. If this is their first impression of US, help us.
More importantly, Carson's highlights.
She got to spend time with her Great Grandparents who are amazing people. At 93 and 83 they are such characters and rich with love. She entertained them (as she has everyone) with songs, dance, stories, etc.
We all attended Jostens Adviser Univeristy held at Disneyworld. Great fun with advisers from 38 states and three foreign countries. It was powerful learning, and powerful fun. The "Disney way" in action when you are attending a conference is amazing, too. One night I kidded a bartender at a reception that Carson wanted milk, after I'd ask for water, and he went and found her some milk.
Carson again entertained the 188 advisers non-stop. But I'm proudest that she remains, the grounded, grace-filled and joyous. I didn't like that every "cast member" called her "Princess", but I'll live with it.
The real highlight to date is the Magic Kingdom yesterday. It was hot, but Carson is now a full-on Disney phone. She got pictures with Pluto and Pooh, and we saw all the other important characters. She LOVES Minnie. She rodes It's a Small World and Dumbo.
That was really nice for the Mrs., because she grew up coming to Disneyworld, where I was a Disneyland guy (and we've done that one).
Today we start a two-day workshop here in Orlando, then it's home late Friday. I turn around and head for MN on Sunday.
My head still swirls with ideas for next year's immprovements... or let's just call them growth. But right now I'm wet, tired and having fun
cn

The sun was bright today.

It was a very hot day today.
It was so hot that leaves crippled.
I was outside for a while today and it was very unpleasant. T__T

Well, so far I have had a fun summer. I went on vacation in June and now I am being a counselor at a nature camp for young kids which is why I was outside today. It is supposed to teach kids about how to respect the wilderness and also about the different varieties of wildlife. I am volunteering there for some serious community service hours so that I can be distinguished.

I am only doing this camp through next week so after that I plan on starting my homework for AP World. Yay, homework! I am so excited for school to start again.

I miss sitting under the big shady tree by the L building and eating lunch with my friends.
I miss my math class with Ms. McCullough. I can not believe I will not be in her class again until senior year.
I also miss sitting in my journalism pod and arguing with Shilpa.
...
Anyway, I have only outlined about four paragraphs for APW, but I am going to do more in late July and August. Nearly everyone I know have already completed theirs, but I feel that I work best under pressure.

That is about it for today. I hope you are all having a great summer and are thinking about our shirt color(s). :o

Bitter Sweet Summer

Hey peeps, it's Dominique writing her first blog ever!!! So, summer vacation is continuing to become even more sweet. LA was awesome because of the beach! Going shopping there is also like a dream come true for me! The thing, though that I did not want to experience was Michael Jackson passing away. HE WAS ONLY 50 PEOPLE!!! He is my idol and he is the reason why I started to sing, dance, and perform! He is the one that helped me get through things with his awe-inspiring music. I was in LA when he passed and it was the most shocking thing I have ever discovered. It's still hard to think of it. May he rest in Peace!
So, besides that happening, AP homework is still on my mind everyday. I just need to start doing it before summer is over. Procrastination is what summer is all about! Anyways, The thing I've been also thinking about is being a SENIOR!!! Dude! I can not wait till I graduate! It'll be the best thing ever!
So, summer is ok so far, but there are still 38 days left I need to enjoy! I hope you guys do too!

Loving Summer

I'm pretty sure this has been my favorite summer yet. I have nearly no free time, but that's alright I can't stand being bored. At all. Highlights so far include

1. Lifeguarding. My first actual job. Sure it's a lot of sun, but it's really fun and I've met new friends from it and get to see old friends from middle school.

2. Swim team. It means no sleeping in like everyone else, but it's worth it (even if it kills me) ha. It's a LONG story, but the first week of summer, me and Neil Brinckerhoff and 2 other friends decided to ditch practice. We ended up climbing fences and learned a lesson through an intense workout...let's just say we won't do that again. On a happier note,we had an inspirational speech from Randall Bal, the swimmer with the world record in the 50 m backstroke. And I swam my mile a lot faster than I thought I would so there's a good surprise.

3. Polo camp. I'm improving so much (at the cost of 6 am practice and super sore muscles)

4. Hanging out with my best friend, Safa Casim, while her little cousins were visiting from Pakistan. It's so interesting to see how they are so enthralled with everything HERE. I thought this could be a great feature story. (wow I'm a nerd haha)

5. Hanging out in general, particularly my visit to Folsom Lake. A friend from work's family took me on the wave-runner for the first time and I cannot even begin to describe how fun it was!! Psh forget Sunsplash ha.

6. Teaching private swim lessons on my own. (Trying to save up for a car, but need a license, too!)

7. Oh and I certainly cannot forget my internship for The Placer Herald! I am so lucky to have this right now. My first story was a preview on the show "Bye Bye Birdie." Although the paper was released yesterday, I have yet to see it in PRINT. Neil's going to save me a copy ha. That kid is practically my partner in crime. (in a GOOD way!)

I hope everyone is having a fabulous summer! I can't wait to hear about everyone's adventures :)

Less now, more then.

College applications are out... and now it's time to start trekking up senior year. It seems like everyone is really starting to feel it now. Isabel has to get a bunch of essays turned in for a Naval Academy scholarship by the beginning of August... yikes.
I can still remember some of the summers from past years. Doubtless, I spent about half of my summers in Louisiana but a lot of them were just spent in Vacaville, hanging out on trampolines and having lemonade stands. One time, we had too many kids in the neighborhood manning the lemonade stand so I told my friend we didn't have enough chairs or some other reason (so we could hoard the dimes for ourselves, we knew how math worked). She proceeded to go inside her house, grab a chair for herself, and set up a competing business two doors down from us--selling milk.
There were a lot of good memories there, especially when they had the best community pool since Waterworld (remember that, anyone? Anyone?). There are some places, kind of like Disneyland, where it's not quite as unreal and magical as it was when you were 5 and believed anything, but simply the fact that you can remember the feeling keeps you in awe for the rest of your life. I want to go back to that pool sometime this summer, and see if that basic formula can be applied there.

OH MY GOSH

Well a few days have passed but I'm soooooo excited because I actually passed my AP US test!! And with a 4!!! Ahhhhhh I thought I'd get a 2 haha, but I'm so excited :):) And Justin, congrats! Of course we all knew you would get a 5 on AP US, but all the same I'm happy for ya! But my main point is we still need more ideas for next year! Thank you Emily for always reading the blogs and helping out :) But whoever is reading this, encourage your friends to contact us on Facebook because I'll guarantee I'm on a few times a week, and I'm sure Amanda is on even more, our Facebook queen :) haha, but that would be the best way for them to get their opinions heard, thus getting a more enjoyable paper! Thank you thank you! Hope everyone is doing well and relaxing.

Some of What Ive Done This Summer

So far, it has been a really nice summer break for me. I definitely am relieved that the school year is finally over and I can focus on other things besides the stress of school. Near the beginning of the summer, I volunteered at my church in a VBS week-long summer camp titled "Breakaway to the Great Frontier." With the western theme, kids from preschool to 6th grade participated in activites with their small group, including rally(fun worship songs and a play), recreation, arts and crafts, and other activites with their small group. I helped out in arts and crafts and it was an unforgettable experience. It was my first year helping out, and I probably help out as a small group leader next year. Other than that, I have been enjoying my summer sleeping in, hanging out with friends, some homework(unfortunately), shopping, more time with family, and the nice weather. I can't believe summer break is already half over!

Finally!!!!

First off, I hope everyone's doing well, my summer has been pretty good so far. Pretty much been hanging out, doing absolutely nothing with my time besides watching the Star Wars marathon thing on Spike. It's so much better in high def. I gotta say, there is definitely something to be said for a total lack of productivity, I mean, for the first time in a long time, I have enough time to get more than 8 hours of sleep a night, it feels REALLY GOOD! I have just started my community service for the summer and that requires that I get up at 6:45 in the morning =( , and that cuts down on that sleep I was talking about, but I guess I'll be OK.
At any rate, on to the main topic. AP scores are here!! YAY. I was really worried for there for a long time, there was some iffiness on all three of my tests, some essays that did not go as well as planned, but it turned out alright. I passed them all, and that's always good news. Got a 5 on my APUS test, and that feels very, very nice. Well, hope you all did well on whatever tests you may have taken. Keep on having an awesome summer.

ohhh blogging

i love it. i love to read them more though. thanks to victoria's posts and the muffinman's i am highly entertained. what am i doing right now? you might be asking yourself. well, im getting lost in the world of a MAC computer. im in love with it! they're so much more fun than everything else.

while im not in pennsylvania, or even outside of rocklin, i must say im also having a great summer...well, 95% of it is.

fourth of july was the best so far, but just having so much time to meet a bunch of new people, to relax or keep myself busy with friends and get out of the house has been nice. getting two paychecks every two weeks doesnt hurt either :).

i havent done any homework yet besides this and thats because i dont have any of the books i need checked out from the school library xD. ill have to borrow from a friend but that probably wont happen til august anyways.

my faaaaavorite thing that i've done so far is completely decorating my room with the help of my mom. it was all white

walls, white desk, a wooden nightstand. now, we've painted the remaining wall around my closet a super dark brown,

and switched out my 3 sliding closet doors for blue curtains, bought a new bed set, stenciled paisley pattern on the other

wall and a dark brown wooden entertainment center.

yay :)

Why I love the summer.

Even though summer is not so wonderful as far as the volume of work you have to get done (it's not so much a vacation as much as an extended school night), it does offer me many, many hours in which I can finally catch up on my Oscar-winning movie list. I can remember growing up and watching the Academy Awards ceremony every single year with my mom and dad, but secretly loathing the fact that I'd only seen one or two movies per category. The sad truth is that 75% of those movies that the Academy deems to be Oscar-worthy all seem to fall under the "age 17+" domain. And now, as a 17 year old, there is suddenly a bevy of new movies to watch... and conquer (haha?).
Some of my findings include Pretty Woman (it was entertaining, but not AMAZING), Schindler's List (incredible), The Shawshank Redemption, Jerry Maguire, American Beauty (creepy), Quills (!), Erin Brockovich, Capote, and Babel (wonderful).
There are still a few on my list. Even though my parents would let me watch R-rated movies before, there's something to be said for the sense of entitlement you feel being able to watch them as a 17-year-old.

Long time no blog!

Well well well, it's been too long! I can't believe how fast summer has already gone by, and I have to say, I'm starting to miss RHS already. Not to mention M5. I've updated the facebook a few times about ideas for next year, and of course Amanda has as well. But I would love to know from all of you staffers, who I am assuming will blog soon, what you think about this coming year's issues and things about the paper and web week that we can improve right from the start! A very talked about issue: What about post secret? Maybe we should do a version of FML stories, or like Nichols said MLS (my life sucks)! Anyone feel free to comment. Oh and I almost forgot! I've actually been working on different designs for The Flash staff t-shirts, and always get to a certain point and get caught. Does anyone have any ideas? And what color do you guys think they should be? Pllllleassseee let me know, because I'd love to have an idea once crazy school starts and want everyone to love them :) I've pretty much been hanging out, going to Fresno to visit family, and going to Santa Barbara to check out schools, so not much excitement here. I'll probably visit Cal Poly in a few weeks and go back to Fresno, but besides that I'm just enjoying the break! Can't wait to read all of the blogs from the new and returning staffers, and don't be shy to comment about what you envision for next year! Talk to you all soon :)