Road Trip: California - Day 2

Did I say tomorrow? Here's the thing. When we reached a hotel, I entered the SS stage of exhaustion (Sleepy and Stupid) as you could tell from my previous post in which I said a lobster was 8200 years old. He was not. He was 80 to 100 years old. I have changed it, but really, what was I thinking?

At the wax museum, there was a figure on Johnny Depp.
Apparently people love touching his face. So control yourself...Anna. ;)

Anyway, I'm going to do the day by day breakdown as planned because there's too much for one blog post. I'd lose you. If I haven't already.


Day two was Newport, Oregon to Crescent City, California. This was mostly sightseeing. First thing to note about Newport is that there is a lot of fishing going on. I am not a fisher, so the smell of fish and ocean makes me want to gag. So the first step out of the car was pretty brutal for me. We got tickets to see three things: Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum, Wax Works Museum, and Undersea Gardens. All were cool, and pretty dark so not many pictures.
Undersea Gardens isn't all that interesting. And it's hard to capture fish in the dark.

Next, though, we went to the Sea Lion Caves in Florence, Oregon. Totally awesome. And I mean awesome as in I was practically in awe. It was miraculous! All these sea lions in their completely natural habitat. The cave was there naturally and people just built an elevator and little fence-thing so we could see the sea lions without slipping on the rocks or charging toward the Sea Lions, attempting to kill them all.

Double-Eyed Guy. Sounds like a superhero...or a tongue
twister.

Another cool thing about the Sea Lion Caves is that I saw my first whale. A whale. Now, I don't want to hear it from those people who see whales every day. Just let me gush. It wasn't even up close. We were up really high, walking to the elevator. Beside us was a majestic, vast ocean view. Then my mom, a fan of whales, looks out and sees a gush of air spew out of the ocean. She says, "Is that a whale??" And it was. True, all we could see was the spouting, and it never breached or anything like that, but it was breathtaking nonetheless. Keep your bragging to yourself. If you're reading this, I've probably heard it before anyway.

After the elevator ride, there were two things I noticed. One, it's almost chilly when you're this for underground. And two, sea lions are not a pleasant thing to smell. I'm not even sure what I was expecting to smell. Cool, brisk air I suppose. But no, I smelled sea lion manure. And a lot of it. But after that initial "yuck" the next thing that overtook me was the sound. Sea lions are quite loud. Not so loud that you can't hear yourself think, but loud enough. They were chatting, bickering, shouting, all that good stuff. Reminded me of high school. Only, not as smelly. But only slightly.

Here's what it sounded like:

That was pretty much all that happened that day. Oh, but while we strolled through the gift shop of the Ripley's Believe it Or Not/Wax Works gift shop, we stumbled upon Charlie (left). Charlie is a very cute stuffed sea lion. I'm sure he would have loved to sea his family members, but we had to leave him in the car. At least, I think he's a sea lion. That's what the tag said. But after visiting Ocean World (next post) I'm not positive. But let's just call him a sea lion and spare his feelings. Oh, and that's a Swedish Fish in his mouth. No, he did not come with it. Naming him Charlie was actually my brother, Finn's, idea. I don't normally name my many stuffed animals (anymore) but Finn looked at him and said, "He looks like a Charlie." And so he be named Charlie. Later I found out Finn actually named him Charlie after Charlie the Unicorn. Nice.

Road Trip: California - Day 1

One day of driving accomplished. We are settling in a hotel in Newport right now, listening to the ocean. But let me start from the beginning.

Ok, we were all up at 4:30 AM, left around 5:30 AM, ate breakfast at McDonald's and went on our way. The road trip has begun!

The funny thing is, is that road trips always result in me looking at the world differently for a short time. I always forget what Washington really looks like. I always forget about the pretty parts. Here are a few pictures of the drive before we reached Oregon.

That little white thing in the distance is Mt. Rainer.
My cell phone doesn't do it justice.

Then we reached the part of Washington that no one likes to talk about. The clear cut parts. The land that used to be beautiful, but was torn down to build more houses for people. All stumps and saplings. It's sad to look at really. I mean, sure the loggers plant new trees. But they aren't going to wait fifty years for the tree to get as tall as the original one was.

As we drove past all those cleared areas, I started to wonder how many animals were there originally, and where they are now. Probably roaming through people's yards, looking for a decent garbage can. Then everyone freaks out and shoots the animal, not understanding why it was there in the first place. Car conversations revolved around that for awhile.

But then we reached Oregon and forgot about all that.

At the border!

Seaside (kinda looks like 1st street, doesn't it? For my
Snohomishians.)

Since it was nice out, Seaside was very touristy. We stopped at Pig N' Pancake for some food, and then went to this little aquarium that was nearby. Seal pups were born just last month. And they filled my heart with adorableness.There was this gate around them and they wouldn't stop moving, so pictures were difficult, but I snapped a few. I'm not sure if it's pictures of the babies or not, but it's cute nonetheless.

The rest of the aquarium was interesting.

Wolf eel: The most depressed sea creature

"Mommy, I found a star fish!"

"Maybe if I remain perfectly still...they won't see me...."

This is (was) Victor the Lobster. Someone tried to kidnap
him, and when they tried to catch the guy he dropped Victor
and left. Victor died later. He was about 80 to 100 years old!!

More driving, and driving. This mostly consisted of passenger-sleeping and/or music listening. My music of choice was Basshunter (obviously), The White Stripes, Sara Bareilles, and then one song each from various other artists. This went one for a couple more hours. We got out occasionally to stretch and whatnot, but this part of the journey consisted mostly of space-out time.

Then we got to the ocean! I always forget how gorgeous the ocean is. Always.

This is the view from our hotel. U jelly ;)

Now, we're all just resting in Newport. That's all for today. Everyone's kinda zonked out right now. Although it'd be nice to go swimming, I don't want to be falling asleep in the pool. I think I'll just crash for now.

More tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Summer Boredom

You can't spell "summer" without "umm..." (you're saying "umm" because you're bored and are trying to decide what to do. Get it? Aren't I clever? -_-)

I suppose this is how life is. Either looking forward to what's in front of you or wishing you had what's behind you, and not enjoying what you already have. Take summer for instance. It's the subject that crosses the conversations of teens all over the school all throughout the school year (that, and relationships). Summer always seems just out of reach. It's especially hard after exams are over and there's really no reason to go in school in the first place. But now that it's here, I keep getting told from friends via phone (if they're cool like that) and text message (if they're stereotypical like that) that they're bored out of their mind. Even for seniors that seems to be the case. Although I love when my senior friends visited my school after graduation, they were really only there because they had nothing better to do.

School is something that is constantly dissed by kids (yes, that includes teens). But when it isn't there, you realize how much you needed it to keep a routine in your life. Extra free time means extra wasted time. I actually have summer plans this year. I'm going to California to go to an Arabic convention with my family. Quite soon actually. I'm taking an AP class next year so I actually have homework this summer, so I'll be doing that. Eventually. I also plan on practicing guitar more, and finishing some incomplete stories. Posting blog posts, maybe. But when I'm not doing those things, all I really end up doing is sitting in my room with my laptop on listening to Bassunter songs on loop for hours. School is stressful and time consuming, but as long as you a good time and stress manger (which I am not) you can make school quite effective.

Adults tell me to enjoy summer because you can only wish for it when you have a job (yes, I have a job, but it's not really a regular one). When I do decide to reach adulthood, I'm sure I'll look back on these times and wish for the sweet taste of summer vacation once again. I'll be wishing I had what's behind me. But in reality, if I did have summer vacation, I'm sure a lot of it would be wasted. When summer rolls around, it's almost treated like a second New Years. Everyone makes mental plans and goals ("resolutions" if you will), but rarely ever accomplishes those things. On the first day of school when I ask people how their summer went, most of them will probably say "good," and when I ask what they did, they'll probably say "nothing" with a big smile on their face. And I guess that's good for them. Another summer wasted. It's interesting how so many kids will sit around and not do anything interesting and consider a "good" summer.

So here's what summer boils down to: Two months of boredom, wishing there was something to do, followed by ten months of boredom, wishing summer would come back.

Let's just say, if summer was a relationship, it'd be an extremely unstable one that all the other seasons are jealous of. Sure, summer is really hot, but only fun and wild sometimes. Sometimes summer lingers on too long, and when you want summer to stay, she never does. And yet, everyone talks about her like she's the new season on the calender. But under the looks, it's all wasted dates and lost love.

Look Squidward, Money!

All I think about at a time like this is Spongebob. How sad is that?

This week I started my first real job. Minus the tax deduction. I still think it counts because it isn't for family or anything. It's for my parents' massage therapist. What I have to do is record financial information in a program called Quickbook...or Quicknote. Something like that. It's pretty simple, I only work a couple times a wekk for about an hour or so, and I get paid eight bucks an hour. And when you're my age without a car, that's a lot. I mean, I feel like I'll start bragging after awhile.

"No please, allow me to pay for your coffee."

On the first real day of the job, I had a pretty good day. Despite the fact people seem to never look for pedestrians anymore. It's really irritating. But, I walked down to this little coffee place that's connected to Snohomish Fitness and ordered an Italian Soda. If you've never had one, they are amazing. So I started talking to the cashier about my job. Hey, cut me some slack, I was bursting with excitement. It's like when you find out you're pregnant and you want to tell everyone you see that you're going to have a baby. Not that I've been pregnant before. I'm starting to regret this analogy. Anyway.

I'm going on about my job and when the cashier hands me my drink she says, "It's on me, congrats on your new job." Double score for that. I mean, first day on my first real job and I don't have to pay for my Italian Soda?? What's next? Raining chocolate?

"Chocolate is falling from the sky! It is getting in my eye! Time for some more chocolate pie! My oh my oh my oh...my...."

After a long week (not really, I started on Tuesday and only worked for five minutes on Thursday) I arrive at my job to get my paycheck. My paycheck. Paycheck. This is all new to me. I didn't think I'd be saying these things until I was at least eighteen. Actually, I thought I was going to get paid in cash, but then she prints a check and signs it.

"This is a real check? That I deposit? And I can spend? What do I do?!"

With the lovely features on the internet I was able to deposit it online.

"That's the total in my checking account? Really? What do I do now?!"

This means I have even more things to ramble on about. I can't ramble on about how much I hate work, but these things are, but are not limited to:

• Things I See Walking to Work
• How Much I HATE it When People Don't Look Before I Cross the Street
• Interesting Coffee Shop Experiences
• How Many Times I Almost Get Hit By a Car
• Paychecks
• How Stupid People Are for Not Looking for Pedestrians
• How Many Hours I Worked That Week
• People That Have to Slam on Their Breaks in the Middle of the Intersection Because They Didn't See Me and How Much I Hate That

And so it goes. You may see a recurring theme here. We all make mistakes, yes. But seriously, watch for people crossing the street.

Because how can I try to sound more important than I am by saying I have a job when you hit me with your car? Now, that would just ruin everyone's weekend.

Summer Time! ...Almost

I am having a hard time believing that the school year is coming to its end. Usually, this wouldn't be a big deal, but the fact that so many of my friends are seniors and that I'm graduating next year kind of makes it a deal of the big kind.

But first on the agenda of summer related activities is: Sun! Yes, the sun is out! The big yellow ball in the sky is paying Washington a visit. For how long? About four days. That's about as good as it gets over here. Lack of sun pretty much ruins any summer plans I have. True, many of my summer plans involve TV, the Internet, and talking on the phone, but it'd be much nicer to look out the window and comment on the gorgeous day outside while I'm browsing YouTube. Although, I wouldn't mind sitting outside reading once in awhile.

It's actually interesting to sit and remember how I viewed summer when I was still in elementary school. Back then, school lacked much homework, and I actually had fun there. Summer was always viewed with high hopes because it involved spending time with good friends of mine. A couple weeks before school ended, I'd be spending my free-time calling up these friends, making plans to spend the night at their house or something along those lines. I would think "How many sleepovers can I go to this year?" about every June.

Then things changed, as they always do, around middle school. My mindset didn't change, but my friends did. They became busier with life and didn't have time to have me over as much. I used to think that I was the one left behind, but I realize that I had become busy too. It was around this time I took up learning another language and had dedicated more and more time to that. There was still a desire to spend time with friends burning in my head, and I would sometimes. There may be one sleepover. That should have been enough. But I was disappointed, nonetheless.

High school is where my viewpoint on life changes the most. And even though this happened early in high school, I'll be lectured if I write in past tense, so I won't. These are the years that actually matter. These are the years that actually will help me acquire skills for future jobs. This means a lot of work. Hence, summer is always too far away. Even at the end of the year, when summer is less than a month away, all people can talk about is how it should start tomorrow. The end of the year is when all the final projects and exams are, so even though summer gets closer by the day, so does stress. Everyone (well, seniors mostly) are concerned about getting their grades up. I've even seen people concerned about grades when they have straight A's, because they're so worried they'll bomb the exam and no longer have their straight A's. Actually, the only students I've seen that aren't concerned about their final grades are the ones who are failing and don't care anymore. I've always found that funny. I'm not particularly pressured about constantly having all A's, but I still want to graduate. I still want good grades. I've never really been able to understand people who don't care about their grades at all. Like, they are literally failing every class and they act like that doesn't matter. But I digress.

Although summer is viewed with much happiness, there's always the sad part that people cling to as well. I know plenty of seniors this year, more than I've known any other year, so I'm going to be a little sad they're leaving. But, really, it's not like I have no way of contacting anyone I would want to keep in touch with. Despite this, I'll no doubt feel some sadness after the seniors are gone. It's going to be strangely quiet without the seven or so seniors in my Sno-Isle class. It's going to be even quieter on the bus since pretty much everyone I talk to there is a senior. Then, of course, I'll be going on and on with my friends about how quickly time passes and how excited we all are to be seniors next year. It all seems so silly now, but that's exactly what's going to happen.

I've never been a big fan of recollecting things, because it always makes me so sad. But summer seems to be known for just that. Even in elementary school, kids always say stuff like, "Remember that funny thing that happened at the beginning of the year?" or "Remember how shy I was the first day of school?" Then, in middle school, the buzz around the halls is things like, "Remember that super creepy guy that, like, was, like, obviously hitting on me on, like, the first day of school? Yeah, that was, like, so weird." or "OMG remember how long your hair was at the beginning of the year? It's, like, so weird now because I can't even picture you with it anymore!" Finally, in high school, it seems people are slightly more sentimental so they stay stuff such as, "I'm going to miss you so much! I remember when we met at lunch and you did that thing and I knew we were going to be friends forever!" or "Oh my gosh! Text me every day, ok? We totally need to hang out next month or whatever. I'll see you later! *hugs*"

This usually results in me becoming down at the start of summer. Not really down, because I'm still pumped by the fact I have no homework or anything. But in the back of my head I still miss all the friends I made. Then one of them calls me or texts me and I'm all right. Then, slowly, I get used to the summer routine. I start getting used to sleeping in, not having homework, and the sunshine (hopefully. I've stopped trusting Washington).

Then, right around that time, school starts again.

Those are my thoughts on summer. Even though summer has yet to come, I wanted to get this down now before my mind becomes nostalgic and sentimental. Then I'd just keep going. "And then in sixth grade...don't even get me started..." Yeah. I doubt anyone would read that. So, let's name this my summer post and call it good.