Thursday, August 28, 2008

summer is coming to a close

hello everyone! well, the tennis team has been made! many (6 actually) new people, so exactly half are new players and there were 6 of us returners. the new players consist of one senior, one junior two sophomores and two freshman, i believe...don't quote me on that.
things sure will be a lot different from last year, but i'm still really looking forward to all the happenings! we have our first match on september 8, which will be nice that it is during the second week of school instead of the first. last year i remember our first match was on the first day of school and i actually missed my first day of 7th period. haha.
so, i might try and play singles this season, but still not too sure. i'm kinda lacking the confidence at this point, since i'm mainly a doubles player and the two games are completely different. doubles is much more strategy and singles relies a little more on skill, i think. but, i've been talking to ms. admiraal about it and we're going to try some stuff out and see what happens. whatever i end up doing though i'll be totally happy with, so i'll kinda leave it up to her. i'm just thankful to be out there playing everyday again! :)
and now that tennis season is off, that means school is just around the corner. senior year! it still really hasn't hit me that this is my last year...i'm sure it will though. i hope a lot of things change this year because right now i feel no where ready to move on from high school! but, all i can do is try and enjoy this year as much as possible and learn as much as i possibly can in order to fulfill what God has in store for me. the enjoyment part shouldn't be too hard...i've got a pretty awesome schedule...compared to last year, that is.

Spanish 4........Langton
AP English Lit & Comp......Terhorst
Reformed Doctrine.........Admiraal (good thing i'm her TA 2nd semester or else that would have been bible, tennis and TA everyday....love her, but that's a lot of admiraal and i'm sure she feels the same way haha)
Land, Culture, Book........Becksvoort
Psychology...............Bras (i'm so glad i get to have mr. bras again! he is awesome!)
Government.........Rhodes
Study Hall..........Felando (originally i didn't sign up for a study hall and just got put in this one, but there was nothing else i wanted to take that period and since i miss 7th period at least 2 times a week, i figured it would be a good class to miss.)

so, government and english will be like my only hard classes! i decided to not stress myself out my senior year, so i could enjoy it to the fullest.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

good to be back out

tennis season is officially starting! well, we see who all is on the team tomorrow. there are 20 people trying out this year! how crazy, since only 12 make it. i'm not worried...should i be? haha
no, but even with my legs being SO SORE from these sprint drills, it feels SO GOOD to be back out there and hitting again. seriously i've been waiting for this since season ended last year. haha. a lot of freshman and a lot of seniors are trying out, so we'll see how things go tomorrow.

i also did some high jumping today. some rather bad high jumping, but i did go right after tennis practice, so i wasn't expecting anything too good. it was still fun to see rebekah, hannah and coach jim!

oh, and what do ya'll think of the new look? i needed a change...

well, sorry this wasn't a great update...i'm tired; i'll have more for you all later!

night!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

i'm so excited...i just can't hide it

it's been a fun couple of days. yesterday i went kayaking with august. i think i may have scared her driving over there. we were looking for parking and i was in the left lane. she then points to a space along the curb on the right side and goes "there's one!". so, i did what any person looking for parking in a limited parking area would do...checked my mirror and saw that no one was in the right lane and then swerved into the spot. haha...august thinks i didn't look well enough. but honest no on was coming! at all! anyways, we went over to spinnaker bay (by the naples canals) and saw the moon jellies that gather there. pretty cool stuff! and they don't sting, so you can hold them. haha...i was scared at first, but when i did hold one it felt much more substantial than i'd thought and very slimy. we also jumped in the water (well, i didn't exactly jump) i was standing on the kayak close to the wall and then it started moving away from the wall, leaving me hanging on the edge and screaming that there was a jelly fish under me...very graceful if you ask me :). so, we swam with the jellies, but screamed each time we accidentally touched one haha.

after kayaking we went and got pizza on second street, where the people working told us that it was happy hour and if you buy two pieces of pizza you get a free thing of beer. we were just like "oh, okay" and weren't going to say anything, but they all started talking in low voices and then one of them goes "wait, how old are you guys?" i replied "im 17 and she is 16". they all thought we looked over 21. i'm not sure if that is a compliment...hummm? haha. to say the least it was a slightly awkward experience.

i then got to see august's new room and we looked at her pictures...some quite...ummm interesting? haha but funny!



tennis starts tomorrow!!! i'm SUPER EXCITED!!!
well, best be off to bed...night, night!

Friday, August 22, 2008

summer fun

gosh, it's been a busy week back from vacation!
monday i played some tennis with amy so, she'll be all ready for tryouts next week! :) but, about an hour into that, it failed. we hadn't seen each other in over a month...so, we had lots to catch up on and ended up sitting at a bench under a tree, which was so nice and relaxing. we then decided to get subway, where i was (actually my sandwich) was attacked by a giant beetle. i grabbed my turkey sub and ran, as amy and the people behind us laughed at me and the beetle flopped around on the paper wrapping my delicious sandwich had just been on! save the sub! haha.

anyways, tuesday was much crazier. i played tennis the morning (again with amy), then i had an eye doctor appointment, during which i got contacts, so now i can see all the time instead of just in class! haha always a good thing. after, i had high jump practice and then after that, tennis again! that was a lot of activity in one day. oh, funny story about when we were leaving tennis (i played with scott). we played down at naples, where the streets, as many of you will know, are very small and narrow. so, i'm parked on one side and scott on the other, but facing eachother, so scott goes to get in his car and there is a giant moth flying around it. he starts screaming and trying to wave it out, as i'm laughing at him. then all of the sudden around the corner of this small narrow street this huge double decker purple bus comes around the corner, drives past my car and then parks on the wrong side of the street, about 4 inches from scott's front bumper. if you think i'm making this up, i'm not. we both stopped and stared at it, then watched as some guy gets out and walks across the street and goes into the house. we both look at each other, the moth forgotten, and scott says exactly what im thinking, which was "what the heck is this? Harry Potter?" i completely lost it! it was one of the funniest and most random things i've ever experienced. you had to be there, but seriously it was so out of no where.

wednesday and thursday, i played tennis again and got my books for school! i also go my locker...finally a top locker! and i'm pretty excited about my schedule.

today was also fun, i hung out with julie for a while, since she is going to college on tuesday. i helped her pick out pictures and then we went to chipotle and played nintendo! haha...it was fun! i also saw three people i know...it never fails when i'm in the cerritos area. i saw kelly plouger at chipotle, amiela menzel at yogurt land, and then as i'm driving down PCH on my way home i saw matt's mom driving the other way. i always see at least one person, but three in one day i think, is a record. lol

well, here are a few last pictures of hawaii for ya all!








in the process of climbing Diamond Head, which is the crater/volcano on the Honolulu side of the island. oh, and that's' what i did the whole way...carried her! it was a work out! i felt like i gained 30 extra pounds. haha, no it wasn't too bad, just the 300 and some odd stairs hurt pretty bad.







looking down from the top...i like the little lighthouse. this is not the Waikiki/Honolulu side of Oahu.













here is the other side, looking out at Waikiki beach and Honolulu.












me and katie...she wouldn't look at the camera. :( oh well, two year old's will be two year old's. oh, and if you look on the wall next to katie it says "go turtles!". i didn't notice this till after i took the picture, but i think it's funny.








someone drew a face on the trail sign...i liked it! :)

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Pearl Harbor



i think our trip to pearl harbor had to be one of my favorite things. it was just so powerful being there and looking out on the harbor, thinking and knowing that almost 70 years ago that was the very place all the people of Oahu saw the planes coming into bomb them. it's just so hard to grasp.








the Arizona is just below the surface, so some parts stick out, like this pipe and ladder...spooky to think that average people like you and me used to climb up and down that ladder just as an everyday part of their job.












katie just being a goof...a cute one though. (sorry that was a random picture)











all the names of so many people that lost their lives. a lady my grandma knows, her first husband's name is on this wall (i found it and took a picture to show her). it felt strange to feel a slight connection to all these men.










the small wall which displays the survivors names of this tragedy. they add their names to the wall as they pass away though.








being out above the ship on the memorial (you take a boat out there) was even more emotional. it was just so hard to imagine at this very spot, a bomb hit the ship and with it took so many lives and all of that is just beneath the surface of the water here. and although sorrow hangs over the sunken ship, peace is also present. it truly renews a sense of patriotism in you.































view of Oahu













you can still see the oil come up from the ship, which adds to the feeling of how real it all is.















the buoy at the end marks the end of the Arizona






























family picture, oh joy...they never seem to turn out too good. haha















view of Pearl Harbor


































the actual size of the anchor of ships the size of the USS Arizona...i believe this is just a replica thought, but i'm not positive.


all in all it was a great experience. if any of you haven't been and every get the chance, i would highly recommend visiting, even if you don't like historical things all that much, it really does feel more than just a historical event...it's hard to describe, i guess.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

aloha!


well, i'm back from oahu, so here are some pictures. oahu is not my favorite island (so far)...it's way too populated! seriously people everywhere, but it was still nice to go and see what it was like.

mimes are cool!





awesome looking tree!










































i thought this was a neat looking fountain






































see what i mean? there was no room even to go to the beach. i've heard that the north shore is supposed to be better, but we were a Waikiki

















another cool tree! it has been there since the hotel behind it was built in 1901! how awesome is that?
















my mom and i













































awww, katie sleeping













a picture from inside the Moana Surfrider (the hotel that was built in 1901)













you may have to click on it to see it better, but this is what Waikiki beach used to look like! it's crazy how much has changed and how many high-rises there are now.















the porch of the Moana...i love the rocking chairs!





















stay tuned for more pictures, including my hike up Diamond Head and visit to Pearl Harbor! :)

Monday, August 11, 2008

2 years running...

so, i'm off to hawaii tomorrow, which is actually today. i've been having trouble sleeping the past couple of nights, so that is why i'm posting at 12:30.

anyways, something else i forgot to mention, last week my high jumper friends and i got together for the 2nd annual laser tag night!!! whoooo hoooo! we're pretty cool. it was amazing between getting chased down by a mob of little kids and some pretty hysterical conversations we had sitting outside starbucks. yeah so, at the laser tag place it was basically me, hannah, rebekah, laura and amy and then a whole bunch of little kids, who may have been about 8 or 9 (most of them boys). well, somehow i got separated from everyone else for the entire time and got chased by the little boys with them yelling at me. no, just picture this, you have me with a laser tag pack on my shoulders all alone and then like 10 little boys running after me screaming things like "get her! take her down! get the teenage girl!!!" and then (as i'm running) i'm yelling things like "i'm already dead! where are my friends? you just killed me, little kid! stop chasing me! seriously i'm surprised the others didn't hear me. haha funnnnnnn times! to make it even better, when we got out of the room to look at our score sheets they all were yelling things at us like "i got you! you're really bad at this!" it was funny. oh and then rebekah's head almost got taken off by a flying air hocky puck...SO GREAT! :) sorry, rebekah, the look on your face was hilarious!

after our laser tag experience, we all decided to get some golden spoon. yum! we sat outside starbucks and talked about random things such as what man capris are called, what the proper name for a cross between a pony and a horse is, and then eventually texting matt (he couldn't come) to see if he was in his room alone playing his guitar in his shorts (that was all amy and laura...don't even ask...it's hard to explain). as random as we sound, these were all relative things well, at least the guy in the man capris was...the other topics came out of no where. there was a guy wearing capris...we decided he was a wanna be European or his pants were European wanna be's or something like that). we never did find out what they were called though, even when i yelled the question at him when he came outside. :) seriously...i love spending time with them. never a dull moment!

i have so much other stuff to post about, but i'm afraid it will have to wait till i come back. give you lots of stuff to look forward to.
good night!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

a shocking week indeed!

what a week this has been! monday was pretty good...i got most of my summer homework done. i finished "Jane Eyre" and "1984" and did the projects for both...now i just have one more book to read and it's pretty short. sweet!

tuesday, was when things started getting crazy. work was crazy enough in itself...as it always is. that reminds me of something that happened a couple weeks ago. i had to walk up to the elementary school and get some of the kids from summer school back to the club. well, as we were walking in line some girls start being mean to another girl and saying stuff like "raise your hand if you don't like so and so" i was getting ready to give them a talking to, when all of the sudden the girl, that it was being directed at, starts cussing them out with words i'm not going to type on my blog. it was something along the lines of "if you say another [darn] [bleeping] word i'll come over there and kick your [bleep] you [bleeping] [bleeps]". i was at a loss for words...i don't ever think i've heard that much language at one time in one sentence. and this was like an 9 year old kid! pretty sad what this world is coming to.
anyways, back to tuesday, i happened to be working in the office that day, so i got all the first hand accounts of everything that was going on...wooohoo. lets see, i watched some lady yell at the other lady working in the office, i got preached at about the pluses and minuses of Catholicism, i was told (by some little kid) of an object i will not name, that needed to be swept out from under the bleachers...i don't even want to know how it got there or even how little 8yr. old kids knew what it was (you may be able to guess, but if not, that's just as well), and as i was leaving some little girl had an asthma attack and we had to call her mom for her inhaler. twas an eventful day. i did feel really bad for the little girl though...it was scary.

after work was just even better. i say that sarcastically as well as genuinely. i went to hang out with terisha and julie for a bit. we decided to go do karaoke (yes again haha), but the place didn't open till 4. so, we went to get boba (i know, how much more asian can i get :). after that it was only like 3:00 and we still had an hour to kill; i wanted to go to the park and run some of my energy off. well, they begin telling me about how great Heritage park is and that i had to see it. we pull up and get out of the car and as i'm walking i see someone that looks like my mom. julie goes "hey that looks like your mom" and i'm like "that is my mom!" weird that of all parks to run into my mom and katie at, it was one in cerritos. so, that was fun, except for one incident that i will not go into detail about...i don't wish to make any of you suffer and i don't wish to think about it. haha. lets just say katie is a very stubborn little kid and does not like this whole potty training thing. well, too bad i was holding her...it resulted in me running to the bathroom to go wash my arm and pretty much gagging the whole way. i can handle many things to do with little kids and babies, but an exploding pull-up with the contents all over my arm is just not one of them. gross!

anyways, more stories of my week to come later! now i'm going to try and get a good night's rest for my last day of work! i'm glad! :)

Sunday, August 3, 2008

livin' the summer life

alright friends! i still have to take the pictures, but my room is done!!! for the most part. i still want to get a few things here and there, but the painting process and most of the decorating and arranging is complete! wooohoooo! all i have to say is that i will not want to move out of it when i have to go to college. haha. i'll post pics up soon.

last week i went kayaking down at Naples...it was only $15!!! so, i will definitely be going back there before the summer is over. i love kayaking! and tipping kayaks haha! it all started with throwing my flip flop a ways and then paddling over to get it, you know to test our accuracy...totally a necessary practice to gain complete kayaking control skills haha. well, one time i didn't quite manage to get it as we passed by, so good thing i had no problem jumping in the water. i swam back to go get it and then decided it would be fun to tip the kayak. haha! i'm so good at it! fun stuff. so, if anyone would like to go kayaking with me in the near future, just let me know, cause i would love to go again. and if you really do not want me to tip it, i won't...intentionally haha.

well, this is what the next few weeks look like. this week is my last week of work and then the next week i'm off to Oahu with my family for a volleyball tournament that betsy is playing in. i'm so excited to see Pearl Harbor! yeah, normally i guess when people say Oahu you are supposed to think of a beach paradise or surfing or something like that, but i think of Peal Harbor. what can i say, it was one of the few things in history that interested me. haha no, actually i like history...i'm bad at it, but i like it. anyways i'm straying from the point now. i'm in Hawaii for a week and then when i return i have one week of nothing before i start tennis the next week!!! ahhh!!!! EXCITEMENT OVER LOAD! so, there is my life if you would like to contact me and make plans haha...or just in case you were wondering.

okay i'm in one of those moods where everything that pops into my head, i just type...i guess you'd call that a "stream of consciousness" mood, but at least i'm using punctuation. seriously though...i'm wonder how i went from the subject of my room to kayaking and then to my schedule...hummm... i think i need to go to bed now in order to get up at 6am and go deal with screaming children.

hope life is treating you all well, readers! :)