8/10-8/12 part 2

Day 2:

Clare and I woke the group up with massive telling of secrets, like-HAH. you thought I would actually tell you what the secrets are. no way jose. they are embarassing!! anyways. we set off on our second day. by now i had already developed blisters on my feet and the big toenail on my left foot had turned blue. like someone took blue nail polish and painted it blue. I dont really remember much of the second day, mainly because my feet were in so much pain. I remember how my brain was operating, though, on each mile-

miles 1 and 2: alright! i can do this! i dont even have any bug bites yet, and larry has a gajillion on the back of his neck. ew. hahah clare's secrets. etc etc etc

miles 3-4: oh eff. this kind of hurts. crapp. ouch. shoot.

miles 5-8: **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** (yep. it was pretty nasty. oh ashley. you need to wash your brain out with some SOAP!)

*oh by the way somewhere in here we stopped for lunch and almost caused a forest fire with the stoves that we had, but i think if we actually did cause a forest fire, i wouldnt have been able to move*

miles 9-10: AWWWW HECKKKK YES the CAMP!! SHOWERS! ACTUAL FOOD.

So we camped at the big basin headquarters, where the mosquitos roamed and showers cost 25 cents for 2 minutes of heaven. that night, i finally got to use a mirror, and i must admit, 2 days without a shower is pretty disgusting. That night, we slept under the stars again, except this time, Victor and I switched sleeping bags. but the problem was, it was HOT. like, so hot that i wore a tshirt and sweatpants only because i didnt have any shorts to sleep in. Although I didn't wake up as many times as the night before, i distinctly remember my face in clare's shoulder and john's face REALLY close to me. haha and all because of ONE person!! ;)

8/10-8/12 part 1

This blog post will come in 3 parts because i'm afraid my butt will flatten out if i keep sitting on my chair typing for this long of a post. if you put all 3 back to back it is prettyyy long.

I embarked on a journey that many dream of, but few accomplish: backpacking. I, along with 7 other people (Clare, John, Victor, Timmy, Sam, Larry, Andy-Larry's cousin) would go on a 3 day trip and hike 30 miles across the Santa Cruz mountains and through Big Basin to a beach whose pronounciation is still unclear (WAD-dell? wad-DELL? WA-d-D-el-L?) I would be showerless for approximately 2 days, and the only shower that i would be able to have would be where capitalism reigned supreme (the shampoo cost $3.50 and it was a travel size bottle). I would not have internet service. Hence, as I am writing this, my muscles are spazzing out and my toe is crying out in pain (more on that later). SO, here are my distinct memories of the things that we did.

Day 1:

So, in a fit of wanting to be fashionably late, I ended up arriving last (not the definition of fashionably late) to Victor's house. oops! embarassing. anyways I brought along my pack and everyone was like WTF ASHLEY WHY IS YOUR PACK SO SMALL AND SO LIGHT yadda yadda. We left for Saratoga gap, where we would begin hiking. We all arrived at a parking lot and set off on our trip. We took our first break after hiking a quarter of a mile. After hiking for about 4 hours, we realized that we were running incredibly short on water. Well, I guess it wasn't THAT big of a deal cause the highway was like, right next to our trail. AND there were houses. So anyways we decided to send Sam, Larry, Timmy, and i think John? to find us some water by knocking on people's door. I think Larry paid 3 bucks for a gallon of tap water. oh dear. So now we start to carefully ration our water because Victor didn't know if our campsite had running water, and the creek that ran through the trail was on private property. All of a sudden, we reached the end of our trail (and the end of the park). it turned out that we were going the WRONG WAY and in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION of our actual trail. we ended up walking along the highway (which was not highway 9 but something like 35) and knocked on this random house. This dude who looked like santa claus came out and basically said SURE use the hose for water and if you all can fit in my acura sedan i'll take you guys back to where you were supposed to start. haha i dont think i have ever felt that lucky. so with some hard thinking , we ended up fitting everyone in this TINY car and started over. we reached the actual camp (which had clean running tap) at like 7.

That night, half of the people were cold and the other half were hot. I was effin FREEZING. I remember i woke up multiple times to put on different articles of clothing (sweatshirt, hat, hood of the sweatshirt) and, in a fit of desperation, said to Victor (who actually, for the record, was like ashley are you awake first), "dude. i need you to put your legs on my feet. i am so cold." haha victor was so nice-he did. So nobody really got any sleep except maybe Andy, and we all just stared at the trees and wondered how some of the leaves bunched up to look like ninjas.

7/29/09

Curse you internet.

Okay honestly, I REALLLYYY should be doing actual productive stuff right now. oh gee. anyways well here is my excuse on why I am not doing what I am supposed to be doing: I got sidetracked by everyone else's blogs and said to myself, "hey, why don't I post too?" As I am writing this, I can definitely imaging the two figments of my imagination (angel and devil?) sitting on my shoulder while I am writing this. Here is how the conversation would go:

Angel: you know, if you're trying to be creative about this blog post, why don't you take that creativity and apply it to the grad night script, like you should be doing? Holds up my to-do list (ahh spoiler alert to all HOC5 seniors! well not really. but now you know, we have a video.)

Devil/demon/whatver. it's red and it has horns: oh puleeze. you were already so productive today! you wrote out an agenda for your internship and changed the food for the birds! that already crosses out 2 things on your to-do list! and who cares about SATs and college stuff?!

Angel: You know Ashley, while you are writing this, I can already sense that this conversation is getting nowhere. You should end it here before it gets worse and people have to burn their computer for your lack of blogging skill and horrible writing, not to mention a story line worthy of being a new show on abc family (HINT: THIS MEANS ITS BAD)

oh dear. that really was bad. you know, maybe our brains aren't at our heads. I think they're at our butts. Therefore, the more we sit on a chair for long periods of time, our brains get flatter and more 2D instead of 3D, squishing out the part of the brain that makes awesome. So what is in the head? Silly reader, where else would the angel and devil live?

Yeah i know, I bet you were like "dude. I totally called it." of course you would! What else would I write for abc family?

7/11/09

Please.

Do not watch Bruno.

Please.

6/28/09

Even after AP tests and finals are over, all of my summer goals have yet to be fulfilled. Well I'm sure you might be asking, what summer goals?!? aHA! That, my dear reader, is the point of this blog! HOORAY!! BLOGS HAVE THEMES AND POINTS!

-go workout: I think I got membership to the YMCA in like, the beginning of the year or something. At first, I was super excited-I thought, "I'm super busy during the school year, but after AP testing and finals are over, I am going to be SUPER LEAN and SUPER MEAN to the MACHINE. Well, summer is about 1/3rd gone, and have I gone to the Y? Not even once. I used to be scared that I would end up getting the old-lady butts from sitting in front of my computer for days, but now I sadly accept it.

-get a job: Well, it turns out that you have to start applying 1. before summer starts, and 2. when the economy is not in the crappers.

-have some nerf gun fun: So at all-nighter, we were ABOUT to do that, when I, in my fits of trying to be cool, decided to go Army-Ranger/Black Hawk Down status, and ended up bleeding on the church carpet. GREAT. Don't worry though, I learned my lesson: Army-Rangers never wear sandals. OORAH!

-clean!: you know that feeling you get when you haven't cleaned in a super long time and then you don't know what to do with all of the crap laying around? and then you decide to screw it all and make pancakes?

-fly a kite: if it was windy that would totally work, but I think the kite might burn if it gets too close to the sun.

-BLOG: hopefully this is a start of something (new! It feels so right, to be here with you, WOAHHH! yay hsm!!) and as long as I don't run into any bloggers block, I should be okay.

Sooooo

I hope everyone is having a SUPER SUMMER! Stay cool, freeze some grapes (no, really, you should try it), and get some F-U-N! Cliche, I know.

5/22/09

I think, today, when I thought of blogging, I knew what to say, but didn't really know how to start.  hm.

I used to wonder what my life would be like if I wasn't born into a Christian family.  I used to think that I would be, like, predestined for a conversion that ended with me converting a gajillion people or something relaated to that. 

Wrong. 

I think I might just end up being flippin turned off by Christianity.  I mean, so many other people are anyways.  They're sick and tired of us leading double lives-being a super thug at school while assuming a holier-than-thou idea by being role models and leaders at church.  And you know what? I am too.

I cannot help but feel utterly ashamed and disappointed at the people who are  role models at HOC5 (and other churches I guess but I don't really know since I haven't gone to other youth groups/churches in awhile) and talk about how God changed their week in these profound ways, lead worship like it's a recital or a concert, and, I don't know, but I think the picture is obvious-but at school and during the weekdays, they do things that would make you feel really surprised that they are regular church-goers. Now this applies to adults as well.  These kids have parents that serve at church, but it is just too obvious that they are only there to benefit for themselves. What happened to serving God as a unit? These people just piss me off so much that I'm not even surprised that HOC5 has such a low retention rate for people who graduate from high school. What a lack of genuinity.

I think it has gotten to the point where I am even too scared to invite people to my youth group or church because I am scared of them being so turned off by Christianity because of these people. I have not lost faith in my God, but I have definitely lost faith in my church. You know that statistic that say that half of all teens that regularly go to church/youth group don't even go during/after college? I wouldn't be surprised if, 10 years from now, I become part of that half.

I know that you're thinking, "Geez Ashley stop whining and DO something about it then." or "Oh, so you think you're perfect and therefore gets the right to judge us? Beezy pleez."

I would like to say I'm trying to find a solution or I'm trying to find the way between crazy zealot or total fake, but I can't.  The fact of the matter is, I'm probably as bad, if not worse, than all of those people I talked about above.  I know I'm a fatty hypocrite because, heck, I'm writing this huge rant about it right now! I don't do devotionals, I am really mean, and I swear when I'm super pissed.  I guess this whole thing stems from my own frustration and disgust at myself and my lack of motivation to change.

Crap. I don't even know how to end this. boo ramblings. now I really sound like a whiny blogger.

5/11/09

AP TESTS ARE DONE!! (for me)

Is this what being a second semester senior feels like? Because I certaintly feel like i can go party hearty.

My friend told me today that she would take another AP test to feel the relief that comes afterwards. I totally agree.

I saw on schoolloop that we're turning in our APUSH texts (bailey, degler, founding brothers, and APT) and I got really sad.  Is it bad if I get emotionally attatched to a class? Uh oh. Don't look at me during the last day of school in that class. Well, if you do, I suggest that you take a quick picture then blackmail me in 20 years.  I remember thinking, at the beginning of the year, that only nerds and asian freaks get attatched to classes.  I bought a pair of sunglasses at michaels and popped out the lenses to turn them into nerd glasses, and my last name is chen. HMM.

I realized that I haven't posted on this thingy for quite awhile now, and it's about time to get back into the groove of posting my nerd thoughts (of lack thereof).  But anyways, as an experiment, I want to try something new.  If you are reading this right now, leave a question in the comments section.  I'm pretty sure you don't have to have a blog to post at the bottom since it can be anonymous, so go post, reader!