Whew! I’m tired from today’s jog:

OMG FEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So my relaxing vacation didn’t really end up that way. On a whim this last Friday night, I decided to go on a quick snowboarding trip down near LA at this resort called Mountain High. This trip was a solo trip, because I snowboard solo usually at my own pace, plus I didn’t give anyone timely notice (planned Friday night, booked hotel Friday night, left for LA 8 hours later). Plus I wanted to give my Jeep a trial run at going up mountains, for possible future snowboarding trips.

From the get-go, this trip had bad omens. I wanted to go boarding at Mountain High late morning on Saturday. Based off my Mapquest maps – each planned stop had directions: from the house to the resort, then from resort to hotel, then from hotel to downtown LA, and hotel to house – I had to wake up at 5AM to be able to start boarding around 10AM. When I woke up, the first wrench was thrown: it was POURING. Nothing worse than driving in the rain to an unfamiliar place. I also checked the weather for Wrightwood, and it was raining there too. Assuming rain was rain, and snow was snow, I thought the slopes would end up being all slushy and icy that day. I decided to go back to sleep for a bit and check the resort’s cameras later. Three hours later, I wake up to see people on the ski lifts and everything looking okay there. So if I originally left and followed my original plan, I could have gone snowboarding on Saturday with no rush.

But NO, I had to think my plan had to be changed. So instead of going to the resort first thing on Saturday, I decided to drive straight to the hotel (which was at Redondo Beach). Things looked brighter for my trip after the first setback. The rain stopped midway to Redondo Beach, so I made a stopover at Carpenteria. There I got to do something I haven’t done in a while: take pictures with my real camera instead of my camera-phone (which takes 2MP pictures, not too bad). My parents called at this time. Not wanting to make them worry, as they always do when I do something random and crazy, I told them half-truths about where I was and what I was doing. They asked me where I was. I told them I was down south taking pictures. That was true at the time of their call. So I avoided the worry problem for the time being.

After feeling good at the pictures taken, my trip continued. Somewhere along the Santa Barbara/Ventura border, there was a definite change in the atmosphere. Cars starting zooming past, weaving without signaling. The cars themselves began to appear more expensive. The women driving these cars looked incredibly hot. Then it hit me: I’m not in NorCal or the Central Coast anymore. I entered the foreign territory known as SoCal. It’s such a funny thing to notice, me being mainly a NorCal native. I realized the word “hella” has no meaning over there. If you’re ugly and/or poor, you’re no one there. So I was practically invisible.

Another slight annoyance with my trip. My hotel was kinda crappy. It was the Day’s Inn at Redondo Beach. Priceline got me a cheap price. But I guess you get what you pay for. First thing, the door to my hotel room was pretty hard to close from the outside. Second thing, the bathroom door couldn’t close! It can’t even fit in the door frame! How ghetto is that?!? Third, when I got back at night to go sleep (had to wake up early to go snowboarding), some kids were having a hotel party on the floor above me. I wanted to scream “Take off the stiletto heels, you underage whores!” but eventually it died down and I fell sleep.

Sunday was the day that added lemon juice to my eye. First off, my lazy ass couldn’t get out of bed at 7AM like I originally wanted to (it only takes about 1.5 hours to get to Wrightwood from Redondo Beach). I ended up checking out and leaving towards Mountain High at around 9AM. So much for an 8-hour boarding session. Second, I got VERY lost, both before and after the trip. Somehow, going up San Bernadino mountain (San Dimas, rock on!), I missed the highway 138 exit. So I ended up going through the mountain. Worse, just as I began to wonder if I missed the exit, I saw an exit for “highway 18″ towards Palmdale. Mapquest said to take highway 138 towards Palmdale, so I assumed maybe highway 18 was an alternate highway number. Well, 20 minutes down highway 18, I realized that there were no fscking mountains anywhere close to me. So I eventually turn around, head partway down the 15 again, and realized I did miss the exit. Third on my list was the way Mountain High is organized. Going up highway 2, I noticed a little shopping area (very tiny) that said Mountain High. I pass it not realizing it was one of their ski rental/ticket places. A few minutes later, I see another Mountain High sign. It looked like the resort, but the parking lot was tiny, and the lifts weren’t working. I couldn’t stop (it was a one lane highway and cars were behind me) so I had to trek on. More minutes pass, and I see another Mountain High thing. Thinking it was the right one to go to, I try to go past the gate. WRONG! You need a pass. Go to East. So I drive over to East Mountain High and try to park there. WRONG! You need a pass. The staff working the gate didn’t help me out much. So I decided to get some info over at that first place I saw. Turned out I just needed a ticket to get in, which the first place sold. After renting boots (forgot mine at home home) and buying my express pass, I was in!

The boarding was fun and annoying. I had major technical issues with these foreign boots on my board. The straps for some reason barely could reach to the ratcheting buckle. So I had to adjust the back support on the bindings to allow more space for the straps. As a result of the back lumbar change and the unfamiliar boots, I was really off on my boarding. Carving, which I got pretty good at last time I went snowboarding, became a difficult task. I constantly lost control going from backside to frontside. Eventually, I kinda got the hang of my new setup. Enough to try something crazy (in my mind): rails. I don’t know why I wanted to try it; guess I wanted a challenge (apart from getting used to my board setup). So I found the easiest rail, or what looked like the easiest one. It was wavy, but had base wide enough for a snowboard to glide across straight on. The kids doing it made it seem so easy. You just get your board on, and you glide through it. Or so I thought. Control while on the rail is pretty tough, as I learned. On my first attempt, I sorta came in on an angle. I got past the first hump, but my board slid off, and my ass fell on the rail (thank God for all the padding I have down there). Nothing hurt but pride. A dude watching me said nice try, so I got enough courage to try it one more time. Did a little better the second time around; I got on the rail at a straighter angle, but as I started to slow down, I had to dismount. I sorta hopped, and my board landed on the ground, but I was off balance when landing, so I sorta fell. Again, nothing hurt. I’ll get you next time, wavy rail, next time!

Like usual, after the fun and jolly stuff happens, something sour has to ruin my day. So after my last run (finished around 5PM), I was really hungry, since breakfast was the only thing I had. So I park my snowboard along a wall that had other snowboards there too, and go inside. Not even ten minutes later, I bring my food outside to eat where I can watch my snowboard. There was a problem though: my snowboard was GONE. I stared at the empty spot for 10 seconds before the “OH HELL NO” blurted out my mouth. I pace around the patio area, looking at each snowboard out there. None of the matched mine. I doubt a snowboarder/skiier would take my board; it’s proper etiquette not to handle another person’s equipment. I figured either some crooks waiting for dupes like me or some punk kids too broke to beg their rich mama or papa to buy them a board took my board. I’m not sure why mines was targeted. There were many nicer boards all around mine at the time. Perhaps it was taken by accident. Anyway, I filed a missing snowboard report with security, though I’m just assuming it’s long gone. ULTRA MEGA LAME. $150 gone in less than 10 minutes.

To put the icing on the negatory cake, I realized after snowboarding that I forgot to print and bring directions on how to get from the resort back to SLO. So much of the beginning part of my journey back home was comprised of stopping at gas stations asking if they knew how to get to the 101. Luckilly a friend online was able to do a mapquest of my current location (Palmdale) and give me directions from there.

All in all, this trip was interesting. I’ve never made a solo roadtrip, never went snowboarding on my own, never went to a foreign city on my own, never had an expensive item stolen, never travelled through so many highways. But this trip has taught me a number of lessons:

1) DON’T TRUST LA PEOPLE WITH YOUR BELONGINGS

2) Make sure you Mapquest EVERYTHING

3) Plan a good, believable story for mom & dad so they don’t freak out

4) Plan a list of places/things you want to do when immersed in a city

5) LA drivers are even crazier than SF drivers

6) Hookers like to hang out at the porno video stores

7) Don’t drive in LA unless you know where EVERY freeway goes

The grill/bars in The Grove are nice places to meet people

9) Remember ALL your snowboard equipment next time you leave from home home in a rush and expect to snowboard

10) SoCal teens are soooo annoying!!!

Phew! With all that aside, I now present some pictures I took during my stop at Carpenteria:

I spent the week of July 4 back at home home. Gave the parents the usual surprise arrival, getting back Sunday instead of Monday. For some reason, boss #2 gave me Sunday off as well as Wednesday (the only day I requested). So I took advantage of it and floored the Jeep to SF.

Our 4th of July BBQ at Cherry Park went so much more better this year than last. After 3 years of doing the BBQ, we’ve finally got the event down to a science. No more waking up at 4AM to reserve the picnic area! Plus no more major cleanup work at the end! And my chicken legs were devoured as fast as they were put into the tray! Good times that day had, such as the first pic at the bottom of this entry.

Apart from that, I didn’t do much else during that week. After all the moving, starting work again at work #1, doing lab work, and work #2, I just wanted to sit my arse down for a long while. But all this drama at home kept making me go out.

Got something important and happy that’s going to happen later this month, but I got to keep it under wraps so the secret won’t get out. Now if I can only get another Sunday off.

My new room is starting to look good. After hanging my sushi cat picture up on the green wall, I realized that I can’t hang bare posters/pictures anymore. The house/room looks way too nice to do such a thing. So I decided to get picture frames for everything now. Once I can get batteries for the stupid stud finder, I’ll be able to hang the picture frames up and complete my super sweet room. Until then, the walls are still pretty bare, but the room is looking organized at last (but you can’t tell that from this old image of the room):

First day on the floor. I make such a horrible cashier.

What a weird day I had today. I had to get up early to drag my butt over to the library for a group meeting. I left early because I also didn’t want to deal with the landlord giving a tour of our house (which I cleaned like crazy) to some couple.

So I go on Highland to get to the library. As I pass building 3, I noticed there was a white plane in the sports field. I had to slow my car to make sure I wasn’t going crazy. But there was a plane there, and it looked like it crashed! Being the curious cat I am, I parked near the aero hangar (how ironic does that sound?) and took a peek. I was right; a small Cessna crashed into a power pole on the field. The place was already yellow-taped, so I couldn’t get too close to the scene. No dead bodies either, or blood, which kinda sucked. I was lucky I had my camera, so I took the best snapshots I could. So I goto the library and do my thing for about 5 hours. On my way back, I noticed that the plane STILL was there, but a towing truck was starting to haul it away. KCOY News 12 was there covering the story too, it seemed. It’ll probably make the Sunday news.

Later, Chris and I went to the Lantern Festival. First time going to it. Guess I needed to make up for not going to PCN last weekend. Some Filipino I am. But yeah, the event was pretty good. I got my fix of boba, plus I got Chris to try some halo halo (for those unfamiliar with Filipino foods, halo halo is a really sweet dessert made from sweet beans, coconut, jackfruit, dried rice, yam, cream, plantain, ice, and topped with ice cream). Chris didn’t like it much though. The guys over at the PCE table sorta skimped on the non-ice ingredients for his halo halo, which I think sucks. But at least he tried it. Saw Aaron and Nicole there too, about the only other asians I could recognize (which shows how little I participated in cultural clubs/events here). The shows were pretty mixed. There was a lot of simple hip hop dance performances, which got me questioning how that was cultural. But there were some traditional presentations. The Bhangara, performed by a few guys from ISA, really kicked ass. Best event of the night, in my opinion.

I know from now on I’m going to go to that event every year I’m still here. It was refreshing to see so many asians in a small area. Made me feel right at home.

I probably should goto sleep before I’m 100% sober again.

Before I go, here’s those pics of the crashed plane I took (click to view larger image):

Well, Saturday was a definite day of firsts.

First first was a nice speedy hike up Bishop’s Peak. Learned a few lessons.
1) Never hike up there with jeans
2) It’s not good to hike with an empty stomach
3) Bring water

Second first was a nice trip to The Grad. Learned a few lessons
1) I can’t dance sober (at least I notice it sober)
2) It’s fun trying to pick up random women when you have no game
3) It sucks being short when all the women are taller
4) It’s hard to dance if your legs kill you from hiking Bishop’s Peak
5) Go with friends that are in your age range (aka no one under 21 since I’m 20)

Maybe I’ll try this again in 6 months when I’m fully legal. It’s no fun chilling outside while everyone else gets to drink.

Yeah…

Answer: me.

I got sorta sunburned from fishing last Sunday. Didn’t catch a damn fish, again. Neither did Larry (hah!). The big winner was Liza though, with two trout! In the end two fisherman gave us another couple of trout. Pity fish. How sad is that?

I finally saw my old roomate Sam around campus. I hadn’t seen that fool all year! Lucky bastard is going to study abroad next fall in Spain. Mad props to him.

Went to first day of classes. Statics looks like it’ll be challenging, but I’m down for it since there are a bunchload of girls in the class for motivation (an all guys class is just too depressing for me). I can tell that astronomy is going to be a breeze, but I’m gonna like it. The teacher is British, so that’s fun in itself! The only class I’m worried about is CHEM 125. I haven’t done ANY chemistry for about two years now, so I have a feeling I will be anal probed to the max in that class. I’m planning to switch down to 124 if I fail miserably at the diagnostic quiz coming up.

Tomorrow I have a class with only eight people total (including me) enrolled! Talk about small class size! It’ll be hard to hide in that class…

studying…

well after I post this I will. Woke up at 6 today to condition myself for tomorrow’s 7AM final. Now on to a full day of physics studying.

Days until my birthday: 1