"Surfing on a rocket..."

Some days I feel like this, full of joy, usually on sunny warm days. Not surprising. Wonderful feeling.






This is my new hat, and I love it. I should buy more hats.








This is the boy I am currently crushing on. He just happens to be Nic's roommate. Awesome guy. Awkward?



Besides that... Things are good. The warm weather here is really helping me stay on top with school and everything else. I think if I was in Seattle-type weather, I'd be having a much harder time dealing with all the things that occasionally get me down.

Eating at the commons makes it really difficult for me to make smart choices about where my meat is coming from. I have no idea where Bon Appetit gets their meat. Most of their food is either organic, or from local farmers, which I like, so I am just hoping the meat is carefully selected. I am not ready to give up meat. I may avoid it more than I have in the past, but I cannot cut it out. I highly recommend the book "My Year of Meats."

It amazes me how much I knew about myself at such a young age, and it also amazes me how much I continue to learn in regard to my well-being, my habits, and my style.

This school is good for me. I only wish I could find someone to be a best friend for me. I want someone I can depend on who isn't many miles away.

Final.

The first picture encompasses several ideas- one is of me brushing away the debris to discover the light within myself. I feel like college and the many challenges and changes I have been presented with have helped me to discover more about myself and who I truly am. The other idea is my inspiration. I took this picture myself, and I'm proud of it- I was very inspired when taking it, and was so excited about editing it. Inspiration, I have come to realize, is one of the best feelings one can have. I rarely feel better about myself than when I'm envisioning something in my head that I can create and be proud of.




The second picture means a lot to me, partly because this boy is now my boyfriend. He wasn't at the time this was taken, but we spent an excellent night, as friends, taking night pictures. Just recently we entered into a relationship, and he has made me so happy. I haven't been in such a healthy relationship for so long. The pose, him holding the moon, is also significant- I feel like I have defied the properties of the world and reached for the moon- in everything I have done. I'm away from home, living independently, and I am still happy and confident.

Stupid Computer...

My computer wouldn't let me listen to the link you put up, somehow, but I have other songs by Ladysmith Black Mombazo, from that same album too. Listening to them makes me think of old, african traditions, and I love hearing the harmonies, the call and response style- it sounds old, and rich. When I get the chance to use another computer, I'll listen to it, and finish the assignment.

Day of the Dead

Our altar.

Smiley Library

If only I could upload more pictures to one post.
These ones I chose to demostrate the beauty of Smiley Library and also the people I saw represented there.
There was a lack of black culture, I thought. I saw signs, a carpet, and other spanish oriented aspects, as well as examples of asian culture. But there were very few books or pictures representing black culture.

Leaf Dishes.

Today we went to Redlands High to do and art project with the mentally disabled kids there. I didn't get what Gary was alluding to, apparently, because I had no clue what we were going to be doing until right before we left. I was a little apprehensive at first, as I'm sure all the other girls were too, but we had fun. I helped a girl named Casey, who was 15. We made leaf-print candy dish style things with clay. Fun, and they turned out pretty cool! The girl I was helping was so funny, she kept talking about boys, and she didn't want to get her hands dirty.

I noticed the rest of the school walking past the place we were working, and realized that that's where I would be if I were still in high school, with the rest of the "normal" kids- who just glance over, and glance away.

The character that teaching special education requires is so admirable. All the teachers were very upbeat and talkative, probably realizing that we were a little unsure about what was required of us, and how much guidance vs. help we were supposed to be giving... But we all took it on with a good amount of enthusiasm, which I was happy to see.

Many of us got hugs as we were leaving.

The program there is widely recognized, Gary told us, and they have a beautiful garden that the kids work on. How cool. We'll be going back next week to glaze the leaves we made today.

My Menu

Sizzling Fajitas
(Your choice of pork, chicken or beef)
Juicy meat and cooked onions and peppers served with a dish of rice and beans, cheese, salsa, and guacamole. Comes with 3 flour tortillas.
$10.99

Cheesy Nachos
A big plate of tortilla chips smothered in 3 melted cheeses, sprinkled with green onions, ground beef, sour cream and guacamole.
$7.99

Fruit Bowl
Fresh slices of your favorite fruit, including honeydew, watermelon, cantelope, pineapple, papaya, and strawberries.
$5.99

Two Hard Tacos
(Add your choice of pork, chicken or beef for $1.35)
Two hard taco shells overflowing with beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and guacamole.
$8.99

Jumbo Burrito
Extra-large flour tortilla stuffed with beans, rice, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and guacamole.
$8.99

-or-

Burrito Del Mar
Add fish for $1.49

BBQ Back Ribs
Tasty ribs marinated in our specialty spicy BBQ sauce, served with a side of rice and beans and cornbread.
$10.99


Drinks
Beer: $2.99
Miller Light
Corona Extra
Heineken


Soda: $1.99
Coke
Sprite
Dr. Pepper
Jarritos Soda
Pineapple
Mandarin
Tutifruti


Desserts
Flan $3.99
Ice Cream $2.99
Chocolate Brownie with fudge topping $3.99





Prices from the Ranch Market:

BBQ back ribs- 2.99 lb
marinated pork steak- 1.99 lb
marinated chicken leg- 2.29 lb
sour cream- 1.99 lb
longhorn cheddar cheese- 2.99 lb
monteray jack cheese- 3.29 lb
flour tortillas- 3.59 for 30
Santitas white corn chips- 3.98
salsa, hot and mild- 3.50 lb
refried beans- 1.19 for 30 oz
rice- 9.13 for 20 lb bag
onions- 39¢/lb
green onions- 79¢/lb
pineapple- 69¢/lb
papaya- 79¢/lb
watermelon- 29¢/lb
honey dew- 59¢/lb
cantelope- 59¢/lb
lettuce- 99¢/2 lb

The Ranch Market

I felt like some kind of insensitive and ignorant biologist taking data- sitting in a lab coat, peering down at the specimen, taking detailed notes, fascinated with the life before my eyes. But I was in a grocery store, with people shopping for their dinner. I felt rude. It eased slightly when I bought some cookies and felt like I was actually contributing, instead of just documenting. It was cool though, for there to be a grocery store focused toward Spanish speaking people. The pinatas, the carnes and the quesos. Good practice for me too, seeing as how I'm taking first year Spanish.

Those cookies were absolutely amazing too.