PICTURES!!!!

As promised, here are some of my vacation pictures. I took a lot, so this is not everything.



We start with setting up Amie for the road trip. We strapped him on top of our shoe rack, and we thought it would stay. But it slipped through the bumps. He wasn't that frazzled, but I definitely was getting worried. It was either I take him out and risk having him hurting himself on the bumps or have him in the cage and deal with the bumps. I went with the latter. He wasn't that mad at me because...



Yeah. He got over it. He's a brave man.



Outside our motor home at night in Newport Beach. I haven't mastered taking pictures at night, sorry...



In the day time. Pretty...



We had a long day....



Disneyland! Blurry...



This is before they collapsed from my running around for Fastpass.





Balboa Island



Views from my bike ride around the RV resort






Disneyland again! This time with the sis and her boyfriend.



He likes Tigger though. He got a little jealous by this...



Blue Bayou Restaurant!



And I couldn't finish Disneyland without this...



Not me...but whatever. :)

And that's it! Enjoy!

I promise, photos will come of the many scenes that I saw in Orange County. I'm just lazy and will eventually put them up.

I BOUGHT A BIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One thing that came out of my vacation was the fact that I absolutely loved biking around the RV resort and the beach. I hadn't biked since I was a kid, and I could never find a bike that fit my small stature. But my sister had this very small bike designed for a woman, and she let me borrow it for a week. I fell absolutely in love with it! So, I knew that I would have to buy myself a bike so I can continue enjoying the wonderful feeling of biking.

So, I did. It was actually at a great cost for a bike, and I already did a run to Trader Joe's with it. Although I didn't buy anything, and realized that it would have been hard to carry anything in it. But it was still fun. :)

Yeah!

The soft tinkle of the waves hitting the sand bar.

I sit. Just enjoying the small silence punctured with joyous cries of international children. Innovative. Making aquaduct-like tunnels to the water from the sidwalk. Children meeting across the waves. Adults as well. Motor homes and trailers exude that air of peace and tranquility to make friends. Only the few arrogant people hinder that.

The water is blue, and keeps blue as you continue to the edge. Seaweed and baby sharks hide amongst the surface. I just let my toes break the surface.

A soft breeze comes over the area, making my sun hat threaten to break loose and be part of the free world. A stern hand keeps it in place. It does not disturb my reading frenzy.

This is where thoughts emerge. And I think of what has happened in the past year. I don't think I could ask for anything more or less. I did what I needed to do, and am extremely happy.

What needs to change? The living situation. But that will come in due time. For right now, I am counting my blessings and just happy that my choices led to a fulfilling end. When I ride my bike down the path, I can only think of what will come. School. A more soul fulfilling career. Continuing friendships. Possibilities? Maybe. But I won't put my money on it. My blessings are in other things.

In a way, just looking out onto the ocean, the waves that continue to hit the sand bar is erasing all those fears that I had. The bitterness of what did happen to me. The water is an eraser at the end of its big pencil. It feels nice.

Now I am going to go back in. My brown skin is turning into a burnt red/orange. With eraser/ocean comes burning sun. Better put on more sun block!

It is supposed to be near the hundreds, but I don't feel it as the wind continues to drive through my hair. I ride through the roads, paths, narrow areas to get to no destination at all.

Newport beach mornings are fabulous. It has a distinct smell that Northern California doesn't have. Flowers blooming. The salt mingled with sand.

It is an experience like no other.

I am looking out through the motor home's window. A beautiful scene is outside. Someone has started a beach bonfire near their beach front property. The sun has gone down, but light is still reflecting onto the water.

It is all absolutely beautiful.

Amie is on the laptop screen right now. He is just chillaxin', telling me all his fun stories.

And I am sitting here, excited to start another day with a bike run and then...absolutely nothing planned. I even turned down plans because I just didn't want to do a thing.

This is the life.

I don't come into work for two days, and apparently the world falls down at the ears...whatever. I just don't care anymore.

Four more days until my Southern California trip. I am already planning outfits, events, and what to bring knitting-wise. It helps the days go by faster.

Amie is getting excited too! He is planning his outfits as well (a nice cool turquoise feathered swimsuit will just have to do), and his new temporary digs. We plan to pick that up tomorrow.

After staying away from my gray cabled socks, I finally found the strength and inspiration to finish the first sock and be half way through the second sock. It is actually getting me back into the sock knitting. For awhile, I have been very dampened in my sock knitting. Now I am starting to love it again. I blame the podcasts I have been listening: she is a sock knitter.

We now have a hole in our family room ceiling...when will the demolishing end?

On to the Windmills!

*sigh*

I told myself I would NOT do this. That I would not post another Craigslist post. That I would NOT look on OkCupid.com. That I would not try again.

But I have. Although I doubt I will get emails because it was a half-hearted attempt at a charming post. I basically said I want THIS type of woman (and I meant woman) and I want her to have these certain qualities. It was very stand-offish. But whatever. I am just so tired of getting emails that say "One night only!" or "Hey, let's talk forever and a day but NEVER MEET".

Anyway.

I was just getting lonely and realizing that I had a choice of living like this and getting more sad, or attempting to do something about it. I really doubt I will find someone, and I really think this is a foolish thing to do. But whatever. Might as well try. But I want perfection. And I doubt anyone out there fills that description for me.

So, yeah.

I haven't been able to think of witty titles lately, so I have been leaving them blank.

I have had a very hectic month! Working every day, helping friends out with lovely wedding stuff, and other miscellaneous things has kept me very busy. It's nice to finally relax and just think of nothing. Of course, my body made me do that when it decided to give me a slight fever, a hacking cough, mucous filling my lungs and nose i.e. a cold. I slept. I read. I cleaned/vacuumed/washed my room. I watched TV. It was fabulous. It was also slightly boring, but it beat getting more sick at work. I was also banned from work, so that helped as well. I am much better because of that.

I have quit the Weight Watchers site, but I am still trying to live the life of a WWer. In the beginning it was hard because I just wanted to go willy-nilly and just not care. But then I remembered how much I enjoyed eating right and losing weight. And I remembered the reason why I quit was because I felt that I could beat this plateau better then a money-hungry site could. It kept saying I wasn't inputting my activity points right and that is why I reached my plateau. Forget the fact that my body got used to eating right and is now wondering what is next. Also, you have to do different physical activities in order to shock the body. They didn't even mention that. So, after much struggle (and apparently a co-workers want for me to gain weight as her revenge with cupcakes), I kept going. And I lost three more pounds! So, hah! And I am wearing smaller clothes! Hah! My friend and I went shopping one day to get a dress for the wedding, and she forced me to try Junior department clothes. I said, "No! I have never fit in those!" But, she made me and now I own clothes from the Junior department. And they fit me. They actually fit me. I am now determined to keep this up because it feels so fucking good to actually feel/see the progress of it all.

During the month of work work work, I found a new way to relax at the end of the day: listening to podcasts. Now, I used to think it weird that I would have to sit down and listen to something. I'm the type of person that has to do something while listening. I don't listen to music just sitting there. That's why I have been to maybe two concerts in my life. I am running around the room. Cleaning. Working on homework. On the computer. I like to do things. Well, someone kept telling me that I should listen to some knitting podcasts. Since I needed to find some sort of entertainment for Amie to listen to while I'm away, I figured podcasts could work for me. So, I downloaded the Knit Picks podcast while I was at it. Let me tell you, I love listening to that podcast! And I am determined to listen to all the other ones that my friends were telling me. I just love to listen to the podcast while I knit. I don't have to worry about looking up from my knitting if I am missing a scene, or have to worry about truly concentrating on plot. I was able to finish a complicated shawl pattern because of listening to the podcast. And I don't feel drained or feel stoned after listening because I am using my mind, ears, and fingers! I am also learning a lot about new knitting techniques and fiber information. So, I am determined to do this every afternoon after work. I feel more relaxed and probably will live much longer. :)

I have been enveloping myself in Michael Ondaatje. I blame my friend from knitting group. One day, I decided to go to the used bookstore next door from L'amyx Tea Bar (Spectator Bookshop). They had, on sale, Michael Ondaatje's new book "Divisadero". I fell in love with him when I read his very famous novel "The English Patient". I read it because I kept hearing about the movie. I am always the type of person that has to read the book before the movie because Hollywood always disappoints me when they try to adapt literature. I like to keep being disappointed, apparently. But, anyway. So I came into the tea bar with my prizes, and the ladies definitely had to see it. My friend and I started talking about how much we love Ondaatje. She then asked me, "Have you read his poetry?" Now, I am not the type that likes to read poetry. I prefer hearing it, but not reading it. She kept telling me that I have to read it. So, a couple of weeks ago, she gave me a humongous volume of Michael Ondaatje's works and said, "Read it. You will love it." Well, I was very much surprised to find that I DID love his poetry. I also loved his prose (always did), but I found his poetry to be surprisingly wonderful as well. Usually a huge volume like what I was given takes me longer to read, but I just kept reading and reading and reading. I was sad when I finished it today. So, after contemplating the possible Ondaatje burn-out, I decided to start reading another Michael Ondaatje book called "Anil's Ghost". I just have to be immersed a little bit more.

One more week, and I am off on vacation! Yeeaaahhhh!!! We are motorhoming down to Newport Beach, and just relaxing. The only set plans that we have is going to Disneyland for two days. Other then that...it is all up in the air. Which is nice. I have been the type of person that had to plan everything, but lately I have been wanting to just...do...nothing. No planning. No making sure we make it to a certain place at a certain time. Just...nothing. It sounds nice. I am looking forward to it.