The warm afternoon sun beating down on my face, the soft hum of the train tracks beneath me, I open my eyes and see the beautiful glimmering water and distant mountains outside my window. It’s at this point that I know, I’ve fallen in love with California.
More specifically, northern California. Sure, southern California is enjoyable with the constant hustle and bustle of the city, but it’s the calmness and serenity of the north that seems to be calling my name. In the past two days, I’ve experienced almost every form of public transportation, minus the ferry which we were very close to taking. Today alone, we’ve taken a car ride, to an Amtrak train, to a city bus, to the BART (subway system), and finally to another car. It was on the train that California took hold of my heart.
I’d never ridden on a train before (at least not to my recollection) but today’s ride was an amazing experience for me. Whether it was with my eyes closed and the sun on my face, or my eyes open soaking in the gorgeous scenery, I just didn’t want it to end. Even on the bus, surrounded by water, something about it all just said… home.
Overall, this trip has been an amazing experience. I’ve seen all the amazing sights San Francisco has to offer, eaten more food than I could have ever imagined, strengthened the ties with my Californian cousins whom always seemed so far away, and made new friends and met new family whom I already look forward to visiting again. With all of this in place, I could definitely see it easy to be able to make a home here. However, in time, with two quarters of school left, I need to finish my swimming lessons before I try to dive into the deep end of the pool. I gotta admit though, this warm weather really makes me anxious to go for a swim.
One year ago I was enjoying my time on a cruise to the Caribbean. The joy was momentarily broken by new of the passing of a musical icon. Three hundred and sixty-five days later, it may not always be in the first thought on my mind, but for those moments when I actually stop to think, the musical world is still not the same without him.
Rest In Peace Michael Jackson on the one year anniversary of your death.
Well, after confessing to the world that I don’t know how to ride a bicycle -_-;; I thought of a few other interesting things about me, maybe I’ll make this my numbered list thing that everyone seems to be doing, if I occasionally think of something odd or interesting about me, I’ll throw it down on here. So for the first, here’s a buy one get one free deal =)…
- When it comes to the TV/radio/etc. volume, I need to have it at a multiple of 5 or even number not adjacent to a multiple of 5. For example:
20, acceptable
25, acceptable
22, acceptable
24 or 26, unacceptable because they are adjacent to 25
Yeah…
- My family going on a major summer vacation always seems to cause a celebrity death while we’re gone. For example:
1999, Philippines and cruise #1, John F. Kennedy Jr. dies
2004, Philippines and Hawaii, Marlon Brando Dies
2005, California and cruise #2, Luther Vandross dies
2009, Florida and cruise #3, Ed McMahon (NOT to be confused with WWE/WWF’s VINCE McMahon -_-;;), Farrah Fawcett, & Michael Jackson die along with a rumor of Jeff Goldblum’s death
Coincidence? I think not…
Well, finishing out the first day of the trip and all I can say is that I hope the rest of the two weeks (approximately) will be much better than today… which was full of fail, let me count the ways…
1) Phone/music player straight up dies, so I had to borrow my cousin’s CD player
2) I remember no liquids allowed in carry-ons so I remove my shaving cream and aftershave and put them into my cousin’s check in, but I apparently forget about my face lotion so I get stopped in the security check and that gets tossed
3) Relieved that I wasn’t the only one to get stopped for liquids because I see my cousin got stopped as well, I then realize he got stopped for what I thought was his check in… my shaving cream also gets tossed
4) I get excited when I see the McDonald’s that I used to go to when I was little for breakfast… but I get there at 10:40, ten minutes too late
5) I decide to get food anyway, but realize that the prices are nearly a dollar more
6) I order a small sweet tea (which is odd because at most McDonald’s there’s only one size) expecting a cup that is practically a medium size, but actually get a very small cup
7) 95% of my CDs skip in the CD player on the flight, so I end up listening to one CD with 4 songs for the entire flight
8) We go to get our rental car only to realize we got dropped off at the wrong building and end up having to wait outside in the 100 degree humidity for about an hour for our cars
9) We don’t find any original place to eat dinner, so we end up at Wendy’s where I order a Toffee Coffee Twisted Frosty… I get something ENTIRELY different
10) It turns out there’s no Target or anything anywhere nearby, so now I have to shaving cream, I may have to use my sister’s or female cousin’s shaving cream… yeah…
I really hope things get better…
