wrestling-literally and mentally

it was a cold, wet and stormy friday night up here atop the Westmont hill. the clock struck 12 midnight, therefore causing some unseen force to take hold of our better judgement provoking us to run out into the gushing waterfall, down the hill and attempt to wrestle each other to the ground in the mud. Amy and I took on Barrett and Kathryn, and let me just say that we totally dominated, although if you ask them, they might give you different answer. the entire action was so random, but so much fun. by the end of it, we were soaked and covered in mud and grass. oh, how i love college randomness.
on a more serious note, last thursday i decided to get out in the Santa Barbara community and go to bread of life (campus organization that helps with feeding of the homeless every thrusday night). we went down to a park near upper state and served the food we had brought and then were allowed to simply socialize with whomever for the remaining hour and a half or so. Tamara and i first began talking with one man named eddy about singing. when we told him that we were both in choir, it was the coolest thing to see his face just light up at the realization of a point of connection to us. he burst into song and kept changing between different folk tunes until we knew one and could sing along with him. it was pretty great-totally made me smile.
another man we talked to opened a conversation with us by commenting on my tennis sweatshirt i was wearing. "do you play tennis?"
"yes, i do"
"ah, so do you know what eternal life is?"
those didn't seem like related subjects, but boy was i wrong. :) after being asked if i could explain eternal life to him and explaining it, he told me i was wrong and that eternal life could be obtained through the sport of tennis. unique thought...
the conversation took many turns and routes. apparently he (ken is his name) is starting a revolution called the tennissance (catchy name, eh?). it's like the Renaissance through tennis. in this perfect world after the happening of the tennissance, there will be no competition and the only point in playing the game will be to be the best that one can be. another key principle to this reformation is that people should all become ambidextrous in order to balance the body and the mind. i learned all this and much more in the course of an hour.
at one point, ken asked me what i was studying in college. i replied English and art. the moment i said "art" he goes "do you know the artist Jackson Pollock?".
"yes, i do. i love his work", i replied.
he then went on to tell me that in his opinion Jackson Pollock had the right idea in life-don't come to the canvas planning what the painting is going to look like. come to the blank slate and simply let it be what it will be. interesting thought, especially from a guy trying to reform the world one person at a time.
he really was one of the most interesting people i've ever talked with. two things i also found fascinating was one, how much knowledge he actually had of the Bible. he kept quoting verses here and there and telling me how they applied to his ideal utopia. unfortunately i wasn't really able to get a sense of what his views on the Christian religion are, because i think that would have been pretty interesting as well. the second thing that intrigued me was how many ways this guy connected with me-art, tennis. i mean, don't worry, as much as i love those two things there is no way i'm jumping on board that they are a way to eternal life haha. i just found it refreshing to connect with someone not of my social group on things that i can't sometimes even connect with my peers and get a whole new perspective on something that would have never crossed my mind in a million years.
it truly was a good experience and very enriching. i think i'm going to try and go back as often as possible.
well, just thought i would share that with you all.

wow...it's been almost 10 days since my last update. funny. i remember the days when i posted daily. anyway, what have i been doing in my absence from the Internet world? quite a lot actually. last weekend was gary's big five zero, which meant i got the chance to go home for a quick visit. that was the main reason i didn't go home over four day, since i would be going home the next weekend. anyway, it was quite nice to spend some time with my family; betsy came down as well and i got to see justin for a bit too. great relaxing weekend.
then, i had to arrive back to complete chaos. i won't go into details, but lets just say my opinions on saidie hawkens (girls ask the guys to a dance) are very strong. it just feeds competition between girls...so stupid. barrett, amy, emilee and i are boycotting; we might go camping or something that night :)
other than drama i'm trying to avoid (i'm managing pretty well), my week has been going great. my mom, grandma and katie were up here tuesday night so that i could show my grandma westmont and santa barbara. it was nice to see them for a while. and two of my classes have been canceled this week, which actually worked out for the best, since i've been fighting something off. i was thankful for the extra rest.
anyway, with all this free time of no class, i've been trying to find a new project to work on, but something is yet to inspire me. i know i want to do a watercolor, i just don't know of what. any suggestions? :)

up till 7am! what?

what to do on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in gorgeous Santa Barbara? venture forth into the great unknown. for the first time we all went to the Santa Barbara zoo! it was really fun, but then again, i think we could make anything fun and pretty hilarious. since we had missed the shuttle back to campus (as we often do) we walked along the beach jumping through the waves. such a fun day! we decided to just walk up state street and find a place to eat since it was close to dinner time. we ended up eating at a Vietnamese place...delicious.
when we got back to campus, Clara, Barrett, Leif and I hung out and played apples to apples, then we got Shanan and Brent to join us for movie that we so intelligently started around midnight. so, when it was over (around 2) the three logical individuals (Clara, Shanan and Brent) went to bed. Barrett, Leif and I, at first, didn't really want to move, but then we stared talking and got on some pretty great subjects: our faith, what we wanted to do with our lives, prayer, how and why we think we ended up here, the differences between the way's guys and girls think and operate. pretty great stuff. we didn't realize what time it was until the sun started coming up over the hill. then Leif checked his phone to find that it was 6:30am. we talked for about another half and hour and then decided that it would be best if we all went to bed, since we saw several early-risers heading down to the shuttle stop for church. we seriously stayed up and talked all night. and actually it was one of the best experiences. i think all three of us came away from it with a lot more knowledge and understanding for one another. i know i did. i feel so blessed that God placed these two people in my life. they both bring me so much laughter and support.
Barrett and I decided that staying up all night wasn't enough and that we needed to be up for a bit longer, so we decided to go on a short walk around campus, since the morning was so peaceful. it really was relaxing. i finally fell into bed, exhausted around 7:30am and woke up around 1:00 to Shanan playing his guitar in the courtyard outside. not a bad way to wake up, i guess.
with the rest of the gorgeous Sunday afternoon, Clara, Emilee, Barrett, Brent, Shanan and I went down to the art walk by the beach. it was quite lovely. if you ever get the chance to be in Santa Barbara on a Sunday afternoon, I highly recommend this as an activity.
Monday, we again took advantage of the warm weather and went on a hike up to Tangerine Falls (definitely a favorite spot). a pretty large group of us went, so that was definitely a blast. Monday night was also great, as Emilee, Barrett, Amy, Clara, Allison, Leif and I went back down to the beach. Leif brought a guitar and we were able to have a worship session on the beach, underneath the stars and with the waves crashing on the shore next to us. what an awesome experience!
I feel like a lot of my four day weekend consisted of getting to know the friends I've made here on a deeper level, which is definitely a great thing. Last night we again had a worship session and this time were joined by Shanan. we just went down to the tennis courts and sat under the stars.
I am definitely having a fantastic time and loving life. i dearly hope you all are as well.

tide is high

whats a great way to start a four day weekend, you ask? by going down to the beach/harbor at night of course! after dinner a group of us (the ones who stayed for 4 day) were sitting around, hanging out and decided we wanted to do something active, instead of just being stationary (we'd been like that all day and needed to blow off some steam). someone suggested we go to the beach. the beach at night? i'm always up for that...unless it's terrifying, but we don't need to bring that up again, right august? :) anyway, Barrett, Clara, Emilee, Leif and I all got on the 8:45 and received some skeptical looks by the other shuttle riders when we got off at the beach stop, instead of the more popular evening stop of state st. but those looks also might have been because we were the loudest people on the shuttle at that time (but seeing how everyone else on board wasn't speaking at all, it wasn't' hard to be).
when we arrived at our destination, we were pleasantly surprised that the temperature was not nearly as chilly as we thought it would be. it really was a pleasant evening and the view of the stars was great. we walked along the beach and then down into the harbor, where we walked around for a while. then we decided it would be cool to walk out on the path where the breakwater is. great idea! the way out was quite nice, as we spent the walk contemplating what would happen if a whale flew out of the water and landed in front of us (courtesy of Leif's imagination) and then singing awful songs such as "my heart will go on" complete with some great interpretive dance moves (courtesy of Barrett and I). everyone that passed us probably thought we were quite obnoxious, but at least we have fun. that was another thing; not once did we see anyone walking the same direction as us out to the end of the look-out point. everyone was coming back the other way, which should have been our first clue to what was coming.
when we finally made it to the end, we walked out onto the rock barrier, where there was a long log thing that we walked along in the middle. that also was probably a brilliant move, since we couldn't see anything, the wood had holes in it from where the water had worn it away and the tide was getting higher. but, all standing on that log out on the water was so peaceful. there was a nice breeze blowing, the stars were bright and the sound of the ocean's waves were like music to the ears, not to mention the company was great. we made our way back across the board without any injuries or people falling into the rocks and then started our way back across the breakwater path. however, by this time, the tide had gotten higher (probably why all those other people were walking back when we were walking out there). this meant that when the waves crashed against the side of the cement break wall, they would splash up into the air, soaking the entire path we were walking along. and there was no escaping it; all we could do was walk back, hoping to avoid the waves and duck behind each other. every time a wave would come, i would pull Leif in front of me and duck down. he finally figured out that it was no coincidence that i was walking on the right side of him.
we arrived back at the beach a little wet, but laughing nonetheless. as we were making our way back to the shuttle stop, we saw it drive by. that meant we had to catch the other shuttle an hour later that was up state street a way. we began the trek up late night state street to the stop, keeping our eyes averted from any suspicious activity (there was sure a lot of it).
arriving back at school around 11:30, we were all exhausted and ended up just going to bed, but it was quite a fun night.
i'm loving life! hope you all are too!

stayin' alive!

friday night we all got out the psychedelic colors, headbands, flared pants and polyester for 70's disco skate night. after getting everyone ready and a quick necessary photo shoot, all of the Clark dorm piled into cars to drive down to a skating rink. group shot! back row l to r: David, Clara, Allison, me, Amy, Leif. front row l to r: Mark, Barrett, Shanan, Brent. I love these people! i love how into it we all got...especially the guys.

Leif is sinking! and Amy and I didn't even plan the bunny ears thing...we both just kept doing the same pose :)

Leah, Amy, Clara and then Leif and I trying to ruin the picture Disco Inferno!

all crammed in the van...the whole hour down we listened to oldies. songs from greece, everlasting love, play that funky music, etc. it was a blast with the whole car just driving down the coast, singing. it felt like we should have been on a road trip or something; it was even better because of our atire. out of this car of 14 people, only three of them were not wearing something that came out of Barrett's closet. :)

me with Tamara and Clara (different Clara). skating was also a great time! there were lots of people and music, so how could it not be? i managed not to fall the entire night, however, some of my friends were not so lucky *cough Barrett and Allison. we were a bit disappointed that they played modern music instead of 70's, but Barrett was quite happy when party in the USA came on. Leif and I were trying to find her the whole time and as we were doing so, I discovered that he now knows all the words to that song...he denies it, but we all know the truth :)

DJ, who looked awesome...perfect hair styleClara, who said i looked like a European Egyptian...Shanan, who was actually wearing Reggie's pants and Barrett's shirt. he isn't gonna live that down for a while. :)AllisonBrent, who is also wearing Barrett's shirt...great outfitLeif, who really got into it and wore Allison's jacket. so funny! i look like a total flower child Amy, Me, Candace, Allison, Clara and Barrett with her David Bowie makeup.

such a fun start to the weekend!

What is your Steryotype?

You Are a Hippie
You may not have long hair or a closet full of tie-dye, but you definitely dance to the beat of your own drum. (And you may even play the drum as well.)
You are a true free spirit. You don't let yourself be weighed down by rules and expectations.
You are creative, philosophical, and caring. You want everyone to have a better life.
For you, the worst thing in the world is being stuck in some rat race. You rather be broke than have to wear a suit every day.


Hmmm...accurate assessment of me? I'm fairly certain that I dance to the beat of my own drum :). As I was procrastinating on my reading, I stumbled across this quiz. Now, for some reason stereotypes and labels have always been a point of interest for me. I don't buy into them and I definitely don't form opinions or live by them, however, it can be fun to see what "catagory" you might fit into.
so, if you too have something that you would like to procrastinate on, here is the link. :)
http://blogthings.com/whatsyourstereotypequiz/

let me know what you are!

quick overview of my weekend

so, i'm setting an awful example right now and i'm writing this as i'm sitting in my Old Testament class. usually, i never bring my computer to class. for obvious reasons :). however, desperate times call for desperate measures; it is a two hour class and the last hour can get pretty long...and my professor loves to go on tangents, so i don't think the info being conveyed at this exact moment is important...something about Led Zepplin, whom, if i'm not mistaken was not a key part of Genesis. not that i'm trying to justify my distraction or anything.
anyway, i had a fantastic weekend; i was able to visit home. it was my grandpa's 80th birthday, so it was a pretty big event...didn't think i could miss it. friday night i got on the train and went back to good ol' Long Beach. the evening was simply relaxing and i got to hang out with my family for a bit.
saturday began with a trip out to Whittier in order to pick Justin up so he too could join in the festivities. after he finally answered the door (i called him 5 times and rang the doorbell 4 times...his music was too loud) we hung out at his house for a while as he got his stuff together. then we decided to go to Jamba Juice on the way back to my house, which then turned in to getting Indian food...don't ask how.
finally we arrived at my house, where people were beginning to arrive for our grandpa's birthday celebration. it was a pretty good time as i got to see some family i haven't seen in a while and even met some family i have never met before.
the wii was definitely the main event after the party was over (somewhat during the party as well for that matter). Justin also showed me some of his recent songs he has made and then we began writing a song. it's going to be a top seller; i can see it now. haha
at about 7:30pm gary then had the brilliant idea for us all to walk up to yogurt land even though none of us wanted anything to eat. oh well, it was nice walk and Katie got some frozen yogurt.
after that i took Justin back home and then watched a movie with my parents for a little while.
Sunday, we all (Gary, my mom, Betsy, Katie and i) went out to brunch, which was fun.
i came back Sunday night and now my week is back in full swing. it was a nice break though.
i hope you all are having a good start to your February's :)