Halloween Weekend Recap

Halloween Weekend started on Thursday night for me with Orctoberfest! Nekrogoblikon & a Band of Orcs played a show in Santa Cruz at the Vet's Hall. It was super awesome because I have not seen them since May of 2008, and Tim&Ash stayed at my apartment. They put on an amazing show! Their setlist (which I managed to score. Sooo difficult :P) was They Came from Space, Goblins are Better than Trolls, Bears, Army of Goblins, Nekropolis, In the Hall of the Goblin King, Return to the Sky, the Bog, Goblins Ahoy!, and Invasion. Lots of stuff off their new album to be out soon? It was super cool. I was up front the entire time, headbanging, growling & singing my butt off. A Band of Orcs were pretty cool. I missed most of their set because I was outside with Nekrogoblikon, but I did manage to catch two songs, including a cover of Amon Amarth's "Pursuit of Vikings"! I was standing on the side and watching, but when the opening riffs of the song nabbed my attention, naturally, I had to jump in the front and be METAL! The other three bands were alright. The best of the three was Falling to Pieces who were calling themselves a Band of Dorks that night. I don't really remember much about their set, except that they had clean vocals randomly (disliked that) and the vocalist kept talking about her cock and how big it was and how people should suck it. I thought that was very unbecoming. Also, I managed to snag her fake glasses from the show. After the show, Tim, Ash, Nicky, Alex L. from MV, and I went back to my place for some snacks and beers. It was coolz.
Friday night was incredibly epic. My friend, Ian, and I adventured to Oakland, subsequently getting lost because Oakland sucks, to see another one of my most favorite bands, ever, Ghoul! It was my second time seeing them, and boy, it was awesome despite nearly getting crushed by a stage diver, and getting kicked in the head by a stage diver. It was well worth it. And did I mention I also got the set list? Ghoul always puts on a great show, even with technical difficulties. Ross Sewage, excuse me, Cremator's bass pedal decided to not work. Killbot somehow unplugged Digestor's guitar? Regardless, the show was AMAZING. They played As Your Casket Closes, Merde!, Numbskull, Mutant Mutilator, Roadkill, Maniaxe, Graveyard Mosh, Off With Their Heads (new song!), Rise Killbot Rise, Gutbucket Blues, Kids in America, and Splatterthrash as an encore. Also, I had the privilege of seeing Cannabis Corpse, a marijuana-y parody of Cannibal Corpse. They put on a fun show as well, and had a giant bud running around on stage. It was also Brainoil's comeback show, however, they are not really up my alley, therefore I have nothing to say. They weren't too bad. And there were two other bands; the first was pretty terrible, but the second wasn't too bad. They were fun, even though they only had a guitarist & drummer. The guitarist/vocalist cracked a lot of jokes and talked about weed a lot. It was interesting.
Saturday was Halloween! I woke up at about 4 in the afternoon. In my defense, I haven't been sleeping well at all lately and it wasn't like I actually slept until 4. It was a more of a dozing on and off type slumber that ended at 4PM, so I'm not that lazy. I sat around doing nothing for a few hours, waiting to leave for my friend's party until I found out they left at five so that nullified those plans. I was getting ready to bus it to the party when I got wind that they were leaving? That made me mad because it was like I got ready for nothing! Then another one of my friends called me and said she was coming to pick me up to take me to the party so I was like cool! The party was pretty chill. I didn't really eat anything all day so it didn't take much for me to get drunk. I played some drunken foosball and dominated (naturally). Then a bunch of us took a drunktrekadventure to Taco Bell that was about a mile? away. I somehow found myself at Safeway with one of my metal buddies buying bacon and bread so we could make bacon sandwiches. We went back to his house where we made bacon sandwiches! and listened to metal while he tried to smoke me out. (I declined because marijuana & alcohol do not mix for me.) Finally around 2 in the morning I made him walk me back to my other friend's party up a giant hill. It was horrible. And by the time I got back, everyone was asleep somehow. I managed to talk someone into giving me a ride back up to campus and all was well.

To Run or Not to Run?

Weather in Santa Cruz has taken a turn for the worse. Gone are the days of flip flops and shorts, well, for me at least. I can hardly stand below 75 degree weather without tossing on a giant, fluffy jacket of some sort. As sunny and hot skies bow out to cold, cloudy fall weather, a dilemma weighs heavily on my mind: the first rain, AKA the Naked Rain Run.
To run or not to run? A part of me feels like I should participate at least once in this tradition during my four years here as a story to tell my future kids or to say that I did it or something. The more practical part of me says that I will probably kill myself running around scantily clad (because I would actually run naked, right? Swimsuit or sports bra + spandex, ftw), and this heinous cold that keeps me bundled up in my room does not help either. I really want to, but I kind of don't at the same time.
Why couldn't it rain when it wasn't abysmally cold to prevent this sleep-depriving (not really) dilemma!? What would you do? Run, or say fuck it and wait until next year? Help/advice is greatly appreciated :)

A WTF Moment, in a Bad Way

Today, my friends (Indian Alex and Mexican Tim) and I went to the gym after our calculus class. We are a cool group of people filled with retardedness and weirdness. It rocks. We walked through the core of campus and popped out by the bookstore. As we neared our destination, this other Indian guy--let's call him Indian Douche--popped out of nowhere and greeted Alex because somehow all Indian people know each other. I was falling behind because I had been pulling my spandex down, spacing out, talking to people except not because nobody was listening, so I ran down a hill to catch up to them. I noticed Indian Douche, and not wanting to be rude, I said hi, and continued doing what I was doing.
A thought struck my mind: there was a party tonight and I wasn't sure if Mexican Tim was going with us. So I asked him. He inquired about whose party it was, and I told him that it was my friend's friend's 21st birthday party. He said he didn't want to go to a 21st birthday party. I was slightly bewildered. Why wouldn't anyone want to go? Copious amounts of (free) alcohol! So I stated that obvious fact like this: "But there will be copious amounts of alcohol!" Then from behind me, I heard Indian Douche say, "Wow, that's a big word for you."
Excuse me, but what the fuck. I flipped out because I do not appreciate being called stupid. And I definitely do not appreciate a complete stranger insulting my intelligence. In the five minutes (or less) that I have known him, there was no indication of my intelligence level whatsoever outside of the conversation that he was listening to, which was little. Maybe it would be okay if one of my friends had said, haha, big word for Paulina, but not really. That is beside the point. How can someone who doesn't even know me call me stupid? Does talking about going to a party equate to idiocy and stupidity? Because if that's true, then everyone must be goddamn retarded. I could understand why he said that if I was talking about going to a party, getting absolutely hammered, and trying to find a guy to fuck. I could understand why he said that if I used the word, "copious", in the wrong context. I could understand why he said that if I were participating in a really retarded conversation (I can't think of one right now but just imagine a conversation that you hear dumb bitches talk about and pretend I'm talking with someone about that). But nowhere in our less than five minutes of interaction did I even have a chance to prove my stupidity (or lack thereof) to warrant said comment.
I was really mad at my friends because they were laughing at his comment so I called them out on it. They tried to play it off like it was a big word in relation to my size/height. First of all, my size/height and diction have no correlation whatsoever. If your thought process connects big word to big person, you should probably jump off the nearest cliff or bridge. You're stupid. Second of all, do they really think I am that stupid? Okay, this is not the best judge of intelligence, but if you compare our grades and test scores, mine are better by a long shot. And I am not stupid, because why would they be friends with me if copious was such a huge word for my usual vocabulary? And third of all, do they REALLY think I am that stupid to not spot their fucking bullshit from goddamn Pluto? Like I said before, size and diction have no relevancy whatsoever, and if you think that I'm going to believe that pathetic excuse, you better think again or brace yourself for a kick in the nuts.
So Indian Douche, you're fucking stupid for trying to talk shit to/about me. I don't know you, and I really don't care to, but if five minutes of walking next to someone is enough to warrant the idiot title, I have to say, you're a goddamn idiot. PS - I don't know what your vocabulary consists of but "copious" is not that big of a word.

Wow, You're an Idiot

This year at UCSC, we have new washing machines & dryers because people kept flicking pennies in through the quarter slot to save money on washing clothes. Although it is convenient for them, it is inconvenient for everyone else because it causes the machines to break and is a hassle when 700 students need to wash their clothes but only two or three out of six washing machines/dryers are functioning. The new washing machines & dryers are operated by a card that you have to load with money on the internet and then through a verification machine in the laundry room. This ensures that nobody breaks the machines by flicking pennies into it, and that the university gets their money from people doing their laundry.
Anyway, today, I went to retrieve my clothes from the dryer so I could head off to class. Inside the Kresge East laundry room was a boy. This boy asked me to help him get the washing machine to start because he couldn't figure out what he was doing wrong. Clothes in the washing machine? Yup. Laundry detergent in? I assumed so. Card inserted? Wait, what card!? said the bewilderment on his face. This idiot had inserted quarters into a designated card slot on the two washing machines he was using.
First of all, are you an idiot? Second of all, are you an idiot? And third, I don't know what type of places you've been to, but nowhere in my nineteen and a half years and eleven days of existence have I ever seen a place where you could insert coins into card slots. Maybe it would be okay if there was a coin slot in addition to a card slot and he absentmindedly stuck it in the card slot. Unfortunately for him, there are only card slots on all washing machines and dryers.
How did someone like that get into college is what I'm wondering. Because if you're sticking coins into card slots and wondering why a machine isn't working, you should probably go back to kindergarten.

First Day Back

I really missed being in Santa Cruz! I've been back for pretty much a full day now, and it's been great, for the most part. I got a job with the College 8 dining hall, and doing so gave me the option of moving in early without paying the $100 early move in fee (providing I complete 11 weeks of employment). I wanted to get out of my house ASAP, so that's what I did.
I arrived yesterday with most of my stuff. I signed up for payroll. Then I had a student orientation. Afterwards, I was pretty tired so I spent the night organizing my boxes of stuff. Also, one of my housemates moved in last night as well. He's pretty cool and his name is Alexis.
This morning I woke up and went to training until about 2. Then I ran around doing a few errands here and there. Then the beach beckoned and I answered! I missed being able to go to the beach pretty much whenever I wanted. I met up with a few of my friends for a few hours of volleyball fun against this random Russian (?) couple. After that, my friend, Dave, took me to his new house to check it out. We ended up going out to dinner with some of his housemates and then back to his house to hang out for a bit. He dropped me off at my apartment and I took a nice, long, hot shower and got all the sand off my body.
Alexis asked me if I wanted to watch "Matilda" with him and his girlfriend, so being the cool and social person I am, I did. They both ended up going to bed before the movie was over, so I finished it by myself. Now I am here and ready for bed.
I am going back to Cupertino tomorrow because I have work at CVS on Saturday which will suck and an In-N-Out date with Asa. I think I will be heading back to Santa Cruz Saturday night though with the rest of my things. Crossing my fingers that it's not Sunday. It almost feels like I never left. I love this place.

Tryouts & Other Volleyball Shenanigans

Lately, volleyball tryouts have been haunting my dreams. Seriously. I dream that I make the team. I dream that I don't make the team. I dream that Selene hates me. I dream that she loves me. Tryouts start next Wednesday at either 8 or 9 in the morning with double days... At this point, I'm not sure if I'm trying out, but I'm leaning towards a no. Assuming that I miraculously make it, I'm not sure if I want to play that competitively and I'm not sure if I want to have volleyball suck that much time out of my life (again). I'm okay with just playing on the beach, open gyms, and intramurals with my friends. I don't know. Decisions, decisions.
Today was pretty rad. I went to the AVP Crocs tour in San Francisco. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty jealous that all these people get to play volleyball as a career. I wish I had a fraction of the skill to do that. Anyway, I summed most of it up with Facebook photos, so I'll keep it brief here.
- I saw Phil Dalhausser outside the gate, but I wasn't sure if it was him and I didn't want to look stupid so I didn't ask for a picture. Normal people clothes can be awfully deceiving.
- I creeped on Phil Dalhausser & Todd Rogers warming up in the players area. It was awesome!
- I met Kerri Walsh after getting rejected by her before her game.
- I got a free cooler from KFC, a free backpack from Malibu Rum, and a free totebag from Barefoot wine.
- I got a flipflop tan.
- I am partially in love with Sean Scott.
- Oh and the matches I saw: Brazao/Prosser vs. Carlucci/Witt, Dalhausser/Rogers vs. Acosta/Baxter, DeNecochea/Dodd vs. Burdine/Mason, Walsh/Wacholder vs. Stonebarger/Lowe, and Scott/Hyden vs. Placek/Moran.
It was super fun. I'm going again next year and I'm going to try and volunteer!

This Weekend

In three words: wow interesting drunk/delicious steak YUM

On Friday, Fusty, Sean, Lauren and I, plus two drunk fat bitch friends of Fusty's (ew), went to Fusty's friends' house, aptly named the Bro House, way out in BFE. Nobody was there yet, including Bodhi and Eliot, the guys who live there, so we waited and we waited. The party was supposed to start around 8, and it was 9. Finally, the two guys showed up with alcohol, and Chris needed to go pick up his friend. We left the two drunk fat bitch friends and pile into Chris's POS Ford Focus and went to BFE Soquel to pick up Aaron. Aaron appears at his door with moustaches for all. The drive to BFE Soquel was forgiven. We pile back into the car and drive back to BFE. Drinks, dance, and conversation were had by all, except Chris, who was DD. Occasionally the drunk fat bitches appear out of nowhere to annoy everyone and have one hang on Chris, until he finally took them back up to campus. Then an hour later he showed up to pick the rest of us. But that was after a cop showed up at the party and was like WTF IDIOT NEIGHBOR FOR CALLING IN THIS CHILL AND MELLOW PARTY WTF. And that was my Friday night.
On Saturday night, Dave & Ben threw an end-of-the-year/this-is-our-last-weekend-together/douchefag-is-gone party. It was spent very drunk with varying degrees of annoyed/anger. It also resulted in me getting punched in the eye and scratched. Might I add, I did nothing to provoke it. Puke nights suck. Also people making me angry while I'm drunk thus causing me to drink more suck too. But Jager and tequila rock.
Tonight, I went home with Tim, Fusty, Lauren, and Sean and my parents made us steak. It was righteous, thick, juicy, and manly: everything a steak should be. We had ourselves a feast, and we played foosball.
Now I am here. Now I am going to bed.

Things That Make Me Excited

- making friends in college
- dance music
- dance party on Saturday with drank (drink 'n' my 2-step, anybody?)
- love/boyfriend
- going to bed NOW

Another List of Things I Love

- steak
- Costco hot dogs
- Costco samples
- beach
- beach volleyball
- kicking ass at beach volleyball
- friends' awesome parents
- unexpectedly beautiful weather
- love
- candy
- bacon
- DEMONS & FUCKING WIZARDS<3

Nasty

A while ago, there was a bit of a plumbing issue underneath the sink in the bathroom. It leaked or something and got a roll of toilet paper wet. Well, eventually, that toilet paper got moldy, but it somehow remained in the bathroom. After we used up a bunch of toilet paper, that was the only one left. I was using my nice toilet paper that I purchased because I got tired of people not paying for toilet paper. Then my mom brought up some even nicer toilet paper, so I put all of my previous toilet paper in the bathroom for usage and horded the nice ones. Those ran out super magically quick as well. Now, the only toilet paper left in the bathroom is the moldy one. It's been sitting on the floor being moldy. IT IS STARTING TO GET USED. How nasty is that!!! Good thing I have my toilet paper for bringing in and out of the bathroom like a little Jew.
Anyway, I'm hitting that end of the school year slump. I don't really want to do school, but my grades are definitely that great so I can't slack off :( I don't have work this weekend so I'm going to be at the beach! I'm so excited. Also, Nick Rubin is coming to visit me tomorrow and he's taking me out to dinner. Woo! Good food :)

Who Woulda Thought?

I've really come to love it here at Santa Cruz. I don't know what it is: the weather, the beach, the forest, the people, or maybe a combination of all four. Regardless, it rocks. And I've officially spent all weekend at the beach. Sweet!
Also, I really love sitting around naked. In my room, of course. There's nothing like a cold shower and nudity, consecutively, of course.

Day From Hell

That is what today was supposed to be, except it wasn't too bad. I was mildly prepared for my midterms. My goal is simply to pass these classes now, and by passing, I mean some sort of B. I had chem first, and then calculus. After calc, my friends and I who are also in these classes went to the beach! We played some fun beach volleyball for two hours. Then I had to go back to meet my mom and my brother for dinner. My friends were going to drop me off at the restaurant, but then asked me if they could eat with us! I called my mom and asked and she said yes. Anyway, my friends like my mom, and my mom likes my friends. Then I went back to my apartment and showered. I took some NyQuil to knock me out because I am sick and tired and I have work tomorrow that I might call in sick for depending on how sick I feel. Bad sentence, bad sentence, bad sentence. Then I said oh, what the hell, you are done with midterms and you are tired. So I smoked a bowl, and here I am, typing a blog high as fuck. Now I will go to bed. NyQuil + marijuana, WOO!
Also, for those of you who are curious, it is 11:21PM right now. In 39 minutes, it will be my two year anniversary with Brad! Yay!

Things I Love

- See's candies (Scotchmallow!)
- free See's candies samples
- beach
- perfect weather
- cold water feeling good in the sun
- sunshine
- volleyball
- tide pools
- cool friends
- sea anemones
- today

Today feels perfect for rolling over in my grave and dying. It is deathly hot outside. I am tired. I am sweaty. I am behind on all my schoolwork. I am trying to get myself together after Brad left and it's not working.
This is going to be an insanely long week.

The Stone Ages

That's what I was in today! Or at least that's what it felt like. Last night I was on the internet & on my cellphone when they both cut out around 2:30AM. I thought my phone was being retarded and my internet was being retarded because they have both had retard moments. I flipped out and ran around my residential college looking for reception, and I also ran around my apartment trying different ethernet hubs looking for internet. Finally, I went to bed.
I woke up this morning and I heard from my apartmentmate that the storm took out some towers or something that took all internet, all cellphone service, and all landlines down from Santa Cruz to the Bay. So I went about my day sans cellphone and sans internet. It was somewhat difficult. It's incredible how dependent we have all become on these two things. Seriously.
Anyway, cellphone reception was restored around 3:30PM today, but it was sketchy until about 9PM. I got internet back around 11:30PM today, but I could only access Facebook and MySpace. Around 1AM, I was able to fully access all internet, like Gmail, and Blogspot!
I San Jose Mercury News-ed the incident and they think that someone cut through the cables that transmit these signals. I don't really know how to explain it, but you can read about it here. Also, here is a cool story about something that happened in Santa Cruz during the mini-Stone Age.
It was kind of cool not checking my email or my cellphone constantly throughout the day. It was nice not having my phone go off all the time. It was nice being able to hang out with people and do stuff without someone having their cellphone out. I dunno.
I also realized that I'm hardly ever at my laptop anymore, unless it's at night or in between class. I've gotten really busy lately, which is nice. Lots and lots of volleyball (Tuesday, 12-1:10, then open gym/IM from 8-10, and Thursday, 12-1:10 and open gym 7-10, sometimes Saturday or Sunday, at the beach) is just the way I like it. Plus three classes, one seventy minute discussion, and two one hour & forty five minute discussions, and a three hour lab leaves not much time for sitting on the computer. COOL.
Also, I really need a dance party. Everytime I drive around with my friend, Dave, and some of my other friends, we always blast retarded music and it's fun, and we dance around in the back seat. I need DANCE. Haha.
Today was kind of cool. Dave and Ron picked Tim and I up from campus today for open gym at Twin Lakes Church and we were blasting random rap, hip-hop and techno and we were all laughing and going dumb and being idiots. It was fun! Then after open gym, we went to Jack in the Box, still blasting random music. Then we went to Marianne's, which is down the street from Jack in the Box, playing that one song that goes "I'm blue, da ba dee da ba di..." yeah and being retarded. LOVE it. And I miss it.
And that's pretty much it.

Beautiful Days!

That's what yesterday and today has been! It's been nice, sunny and fairly warm, but not too warm. I still wear a jacket outside, but after enough running around, I start sweating. (I started typing this blog yesterday, but I never got around to finishing it so it will be a combination of today & yesterday.)

YESTERDAY
I had class all day, but in between class it was nice walking around and doing my skippy step around campus. Also, Morgan and I made two epic trips to the bookstore to get scantrons and matching green UCSC sweatshirts (on sale for $22.99!). It was cool.
Then I went to the volleyball game after and skipped my last class. That was fun, but we lost so that was not fun. The guys definitely had an off day, which really sucked. This was the game that counted the most for them. Also the other team was really scrappy/solid and were picking EVERYTHING up. So yeah.
Then Tim and I went to go eat (OMG, I eat so much. Seriously like 4 meals a day! It's ridiculous! 7 day meal plan FTW) and most of the freshmen on the team, Thomas Davidson (middle), Darren Tsai (DS/libero), Bryce Dalheimer (outside), & Austin Kress (outside?), and the junior outside hitter, Brad Sullivan, came and ate with us because they know Tim. I ended up talking to Thomas, his girlfriend, and his friend who I sort of know from Kresge for a bit. I HOPE WE CAN BECOME FRIENDS. Also quoting Ms. Tyson I am "not a creeper, not a creeper". Really.

TODAY
I woke up & talked to Brad before going to volleyball. AND THEN I PROCEEDED TO KICK MAJOR ASS AT VOLLEYBALL. I also talked to the coach about sending me info about tryouts and getting me into the class next quarter to (hopefully? maybe?) do drills with the team. She seemed fairly enthused by the fact that I was interested in trying out. I think she likes me??? I hope so! Anyway, volleyball went SO WELL today. I'm so sad that it's the last class of the quarter, BUT I scheduled my classes around volleyball next quarter so I will be doing this class and playing (and hopefully drilling with the team. Omgomgomg, that would be my dream come true).
Then after that I ate with all my volleyball friends, Chris, Tim, Dave, Cat, and Lauren, and it was great fun! We all made fun of Tim for sucking at volleyball. Many LOLZ ensued. Then I went to go get my mail! I HAD MAIL! :) I got TWO sample pads (one Poise & one Always), and a coupon for the Always. I got a Cosmopolitan in the mail. I got two letters from my bff, Josh, down at UCSB. So awesome. After that, I went back to my apartment, showered and headed to Longs to pick up some things and now I am here! :)
Also a sidestory about my great love of mail. I needed to mail two letters today (one for you, Ms. Tyson! Keep a lookout!) so I went to Longs to do that and to pick up some stuff. As I was getting there, I saw the mailman leaving, so I started sprinting, and then I almost twisted my ankle!!! I kept running through the slight, annoying pain and as he started the car, I banged on the window and was able to drop off my letters. That, my friends, is how devoted I am to mail.
Okay, so back to my day... so now I am about to power through my precalc homework, and then I am going to go eat. And then I am going to play volleyball for three hours with my volleyball friends at some open gym by Cabrillo College or something. I am stoked.
I love volleyball. A lot.
OH, and last night, I had a dream about trying out for the team and making it. And that was my SECOND dream about playing for the team. So yes, it really is my dream. And I'm going to make my dream come true. I am determined. Very determined. I love volleyball! Yay!

This has been a spastic Paulina post.

Weekend Shenanigans

This weekend was pretty ballin'.
Friday night, Ryan and I went to this dance party that my coworker threw. At first it was pretty awkward, but we were drunk so it was okay. Then we drank some more and it got better. Then everyone was drunk and dancing and it was cool. Some guy slapped my butt. It was awkward. Then one of my Longs managers showed up to party. That was fun so we were just chillin'. He's nice. The cops showed up eventually and broke it up though, so Ryan and I walked to the bus stop just as a bus was coming. And we went back. Good night.
Last night, Nolan and I decided to go get food. Then we went to Jackson's apartment to get him so we could get food. Jackson said that he was waiting for Morgan, so they could go get food and we could join them. Then we somehow ended up waiting for Paul so the five of us could go get food. The guys bickered about going downtown for about 2 hours and then we ended up going downtown as we were walking to Tacos Morenos because a bus showed up. We went to Woodstock's and got two extra large pizzas, All Meat Orgy & Hawaiian, for $25! LOVE sweet deals because we got an awesome meal for $5 each! Then we wandered to Trader Joe's to get some groceries, and then to Longs to get some more groceries. It was cool. I love these guys.
I guess that wasn't that interesting. Haha. We had three slices of the Orgy left over and half the Hawaiian and someone nigged most of the Hawaiian when we were sleeping. Probably someone from the lame party my roommates threw. But oh well.

Anyway, with regards to the finger crossing ordeal two posts ago, hopefully I shall have news tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed still. Yay!

No news today. The person I was supposed to meet with was sick. More news in the near future? Hopefully.

Oh, the Grind

I suppose it's time for a much needed update. In a way, I'm hoping that by not updating, everything will cease to end, but alas, it is not true. Things are back to the way they used to be, maybe even a little bit more deteriorated. Brad is home in Washington; I am here, trying not to be sad. And outside, the world moves on.

Thursday, February 12th
I rented a Zipcar, quite a nifty little thing, really. You pay a flat membership fee (for me, $35) and you have wheels at your pleasure, provided that they haven't been reserved. Depending on the car, the rates are $8+/hr and $65+/day. Also, they have a Toyota Matrix ($8/hr) and a Toyota Prius ($10/hr) right outside the intersection of Heller and McLaughlin where the bus stop is, just a stone's throw away from my apartment. Anyway, I rented a Zipcar and drove at 7 in the morning down Highway 1 & 17 to pick Brad up from the airport.
I love that first moment of seeing him standing there, then running into his arms, and the first kiss after beeing apart for months. It makes the endless distance and waiting so worth it.
We drove back and grabbed food at Kresge College's Owl's Nest Cafe, and then cuddled for a bit until I had to go to volleyball. He came with me to class and watched me play. It was his first time seeing me do anything volleyball related! Sadly, I didn't have a really good day/I didn't touch the ball very much because people suck. However, I did get some badass hits, a PANCAKE (omg, so gloriously beautiful. Also that was two pancakes in one week), a few digs, and some aces, which was kinda cool.

That's a pancake! Except mine was even more legit. It bounced off my palm perfectly.

Then we went back to my apartment, and took a nap. I woke up after about an hour and studied for my chem midterm the next day. We went to Tacos Moreno up at Crown/Merrill which has pretty awesome burritos and nachos and stuff. After that, I took him wandering down Merrill where we encountered some guy completely thizzed out of his mind who talked to us for about 30 minutes about metal. We, then, wandered over to Stevenson and met up with my friend, Thomas, for a little bit and hung out. Brad and I got tired and walked back to my apartment, and climbed into my bed and cuddled and watched "Rush Hour 3". It was cool.

Friday, February 13th
I woke up and took my chem midterm, headed over to the Porter/Kresge dining hall to grab a meal-to-go filled with breakfast shenanigans, and went back to my room where Brad was sleeping. Then we slept on and off, periodically getting woken up by my roommates coming in and out of the room, until about 1:30PM where we finally got out of be. We ate breakfast/lunch and listened to all the people going to Tahoe bicker, argue, bitch, and whine about going to Tahoe until they finally left. Then Brad and I went wandering around campus again and I dropped off my math homework at Jack Baskin Engineering. We hiked over around the library and stomped around the mud a bit till we got to the ARC. There is a huge meadow next to the ARC where we stomped around some more and filled in those little ground squirrel holes. It was fun!

I love torturing little animals. Kinda. Then we headed back to my apartment and dicked around for a bit before going downtown to see "Friday the Thirteenth".

It was cool. Really brutal, and gore-y-ish, and terror inducing. Also the soundtrack was composed by Steve Jablonsky who did "Transformers", but I will admit that I did not pay much attention to the background music. If anything, there were a lot of dark, and ominous tones. I'm not going to spoil the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it! Maybe I will blog about this later. I have to say, I enjoyed the original "Friday the Thirteenth" a lot more. Probably because it was ridiculously cheesy and silly. Post-movie, Brad and I went to Longs to stock up on alcohol (a HANDLE of Jagermeister<3, a handle of Svedka for Nolan and Jackson, and a fifth of Bailey's for Tim), milk and white-out. Then we went to Woodstock's for pizza! After much deliberation, we decided on the BBQ chicken over the all meat orgy. Now that I think about it, we probably should have gotten the all meat orgy, but the BBQ chicken was pretty excellent as well. Brad thinks Jake's BBQ chicken pizza is better than Woodstock's though. Oh well.

Saturday, February 14th
This was my first Valentine's Day actually with Brad. In fact, it was my first Valentine's Day with any boyfriend, for realsies! We woke up around 2PM, ate some clam chowder and went downtown to explore, and eventually back to eat for Valentine's Day dinner. We got caught up with a bunch of things, and ended up staying later than we'd thought, so we nixed the going back to campus to change and then go back downtown. We switched around some of our plans. We cleaned the kitchen because I'm pretty sure it has AIDS. And then, he made me dinner while I made awesome Reese's Peanut Butter Cup brownies! It was really cool :) We had pasta, and he made the sauce, not from a jar! Inside there were mushrooms, sausage and basil. It was yummy. I wish I had more, and I wish I took a picture! It was quite the odd Valentine's Day dinner. We were headbanging to Hate Eternal. Brad was drinking Widmer Hefeweizen and I was drinking Arbor Mist.

This picture doesn't quite do the metal justice. Namely because when you make the horns, YOU DO NOT STICK YOUR THUMB OUT. Anyway, I guess that if we ever get married and have kids or nieces and nephews or whatever, it'll be one of many stories we have to share. After the Hate Eternal, I decided that in light of Valentine's Day, it was time to listen to my arsenal of cheesy music! So we listened to our song (Carlos Santana's "Love of my Life", in case you were wondering), and we danced around the kitchen. Then I played "Can I Have This Dance" from "High School Musical 3" which I absolutely LOOOVE, and we danced the kitchen some more. Then we both decided that it was enough cheesy music, and we put on Bloodbath's "Nightmares Made Flesh" and stomped around the room. I love Bloodbath. I can't wait until they tour. Brad says they'll probably end up touring after Opeth is done touring, and I AM SO EXCITED. I am such a fangirl to the MAX. Yes.
After that, Brad helped me rearrange my desk and drawers so I have more space-ish. I like it a lot better because my back is to everyone who comes in the door, so I can just ignore everyone. Awesome.

Sunday, February 15
Brad and I woke up late and he made me breakfast! It was ballin'. Sausage and scrambled eggs. We did our laundry for like four hours since three of the six washing machines were broken, and some girl did like fifty loads of laundry. While we waited, we played some intense bad ping pong, and later, we went to the Kresge Rec Room and played some miserable pool; miserable meaning I lost badly to my boyfriend, the pool champion. We came back after finishing laundry to find out that Nicole and Jeremy came home from Tahoe a bit early. Jeremy had a midterm to study for and Nicole somehow hurt herself while sledding.

I googled sledding accident and that's what came up. Um. Yeah.

Then Brad and I dressed up sort of and went to dinner at Sabieng, AKA the best Thai food in Santa Cruz, but not as good as Layang Layang or Krungthai. Afterwards, we walked to Longs in the pouring rain to purchase one of those big Sterilite drawers for the top of my dresser so I can organize things more nicely. They were on sale for 25% off, but the BIGGEST ONES were on Last Chance for $10.50! SCORE!!! :) So we went back to my apartment with that and we gave it a bath because it was kind of dirty and put all my things in it. Then we drank with Paul, Nolan, Jackson, John and Jeremy. It was John's first time drinking too! Crazy! Also, I fucking love Jagermeister.

Yes, that is a Jagermeister E30 M3. Two fucking awesome things in one.

And that was pretty much the night + John puking and me puking after drinking Jager and a screwdriver and not smoking like a pussy and then falling asleep on the couch watching South Park. Also, I had this intense craving for bacon and Paul made some bacon before Brad and I went to bed and he gave me a piece because I made brownies and gave him pizza.

Monday, February 16
We woke up kind of late again and went to eat breakfast at 9/10 which goes until 3PM. BUT THERE WAS NO MORE BREAKFAST. It was semi-saddening. Instead, we resorted to eating the never changing food that 9/10 has: pizza, tacos/burritos/quesadillas, soups, salads, sandwiches, drinks, fruits and desserts. :( Gross. It started raining again, and we wandered around 9/10 for a bit and then headed back to my apartment. After that we went downtown and sort of wandered around some more. I found out that the Pacific Trading Co. sells the True Religion Stella skinny jeans that I want so I must stalk that place until they go on sale or something! After a while, it started getting dark, and cold and the stores closed, so we took the 16 back up to Bay/Mission so we could eat at the Greek place, Vasili's. When we got there it was CLOSED. Because for some reason, the store is CLOSED on Mondays. It was so lame. We ended up walking down Mission until it turned into Highway 1 again, to find food, but there was NONE. So we went to this restaurant that was semi-high end called HAWGS Seafood Bar. The food was pretty good, and we were both really hungry! AND I SATISFIED MY CREME BRULEE CRAVING. It was amazing. Then we went back to my apartment where everyone was back. Brad and I then watched "Gothika" which really isn't that scary anymore. I don't know why it used to scare me so much. But it's not that scary.
Also, Monday was our one year and nine month anniversary. COOL.

Tuesday, February 17
Originally we were going to wake up at 9 and go to breakfast, but that kind of didn't work out, and we ended up waking up at 11 so I could go to volleyball. Volleyball was kind of dumb, again. It made me sad. I wanted Brad to see me play well. We ate and we went back to my apartment and showered. I started to get really sad, and we climbed into my bed, locked the door, and cuddled. Then it gets awesome, except that's being really sarcastic.
Lisa tried to get in the room but she couldn't because it was locked. Then she said she was going to get her key, so she got her key and tried to unlock the door, but she couldn't? I don't understand how difficult it is to open a door with a key because it really isn't. Then she went back and got Eli and started screaming and swearing and flipping out. They both began banging on the door really annoyingly hoping to annoy us into opening the door, or something I guess when they had a key! Lisa started swearing at us and that made Brad mad because he was dealing with me being upset about him leaving so he called her a stupid bitch, and she flipped out even more and went crazy. Finally, he got fed up and opened the door and started yelling at them for not being able to open the door even though she had her key. Then she started screaming about him staying here and not being considerate or disrespectful or whatever and about how she lives here. Then he retorted with if she lived here then maybe she should carry a key on her because that is logical and the best solution. It was obvious that she got owned because then she started screaming about irrelevant shit, like being called a stupid bitch. She was shrieking about him not even knowing her and calling her a stupid bitch. And it was kind of like duh, he doesn't know you, but he knows enough from me and from encounters with her to deduct that she's a stupid bitch. It was GG x2 because then she resorted to screaming about him sitting on her bed. Not even kidding. She was like "Well, then get off my bed!". Eli and Jay got all up in Brad's face, and made him even more mad too. It was the stupidest and most pointless thing ever. But it was kind of funny because they were getting owned so hardcore. Brad was like "Sorry, I have more important things to deal with than you not being able to manipulate a key properly." And looking for an excuse to escape, Eli was like ZOMG, he said sorry, let's go Lisa. Then Lisa was like *shriekscream* "Fuck you" to Brad and they both flounced out.
That kind of ruined the cuddling that went on prior to the dumbness because Brad was pissed off. We hung out for a bit and then Brad came up with the best idea ever. He took down the signs that Nicole and Lisa put up for me and on the back of Lisa's he wrote a message: "Don't be a lock nazi... seriously. <3 Bradley" Then he drew a picture of a swastika in a circle with a slash through it. It made me laugh. And before we left for the airport, he put it up on the door and locked it and we left through the side door.
I wish I got a picture of it before they took it down, because when I got back it was gone. :(
The drive to the airport was fairly uneventful. When we got there, Brad's flight was delayed by like half an hour which made me a bit happier because that meant thirty more minutes with him. I was a mess by the time we got there, which kind of sucked. I hate it, but I can't help it. Then he had to go through security and it sucked even more. I had to pull myself together to drive back.
When I got onto 880, there was massive amounts of traffic 'cause there was an accident, so I didn't really get onto 17 until about 8PM. While stuck in traffic, I called Zipcar and extended my reservation from 8:30PM until 9PM so I didn't get charged late fees. Then it started raining, so it took me about an hour to navigate through 17 and back up to campus. I made it back at 8:50 and I missed my intramural volleyball game.
Santa Cruz sucks without Brad :( and this apartment sucks even more. Also it's kind of awkward and lonely again. I miss him a lot.
And that's basically it.
I miss having him here so much. It was such a nice break from the usual college boredom, semi-loneliness, and schoolwork. :( I can't wait until I see him again. So for now, it's back to what I've been doing for the past five months. Lots of joy and fun. Sigh.

Assasins

I'm playing at Santa Cruz right now. And I've killed two people. I'm not quite sure who my third target is, but I know that some of my roommates know her. So hopefully I will be able to eliminate her. That will be awesome. My first two kills were pretty awesome. I caught them both completely unawares. I will not disclose names for the time being in case I get snooped on by other people. I don't want any data to leak that could potentially jeopardize me killing someone. And I am very determined to kill as many people as possible. This is the best game for me. Nobody knows who I am. But I am a very good creeper and I can and will find everyone.

Side rant--I think it's funny when I mention Brad and I see people's faces change immediately. Then they ask me to ask him to do something for them. Idiots. I know you guys don't like him, but don't be a fucking dick about it. That's all I ask. I don't care if you think he's ugly, not good enough for me, whatever, but tell me once and keep it to yourself, because more than that is not cool. He's someone who makes me happy, so accept that and dislodge the tree trunk out your ass. Thanks.

Side note--I also think it's funny that Nicole tries to unite people against people she doesn't like, and they basically end up uniting against her. Awesome.

Thank God it's Almost Friday!

This week has been fairly strange. I haven't been able to keep track of what day it is, and all days seem to blend together/feel the same.

Monday, I had a midterm in chem and I was very sure I kicked ass! Yesterday, I got my midterm back, and I did kick ass. 97! I'm so mad though, I'm pretty sure I could have gotten a 100, but oh well. My Asian side is coming out.
Tuesday, volleyball class was canceled because Selene (women's volleyball coach) was sick. I was going to just go back to my apartment and study/do homework, but then I decided fuck it and I went with some people to go play on the sand courts down at OPERS. The level of play wasn't very high because none of us are used to sand, but it was very fun, and it was sort of a bonding activity. I love this class!
Wednesday, I just had class.
Today, volleyball went really well and it was awesome. My serving was ballin'. My passing was awesome, and my hits were KILLER. Ha ha ha. I've been conditioning and doing a lot of rope/footwork, and I can definitely see it helping. I'm jumping a lot higher and getting on top of the ball. It's awesome. I'm so determined to make the team.

UCSC Women's Volleyball 2009!

Also, today, I got my Asian stationery in the mail. You know those ones from Asia that say nonsensical things and are super cute and stuff. I love it!!! I was inspired by my cousin, Jessica, to get some because she sent me a cute letter in a cute envelope and I didn't want to just send back some ugly binder paper. I found this Etsy store, 3.5 Dollars, that sells this stuff for $3.50! What a steal! So I ordered two little cute sets. Yay! I love mail.

This is one of the things I ordered!

I was fairly bored one night and I researched how the post office works. It is such an amazing phenomenon! They have these machines that read handwriting and see the zipcode and where to send it to and stuff. And if you have the address wrong, the machines will correct it for you to what it thinks the location is! And they have dead mail centers where letters go that they can't read and they get scrutinized by people to be sent off. And then if they can't figure it out, the mail either gets destroyed or auctioned off! It's so cool! Wikipedia it!
Despite the semi-blandness of this week, last weekend, Brad and I decided that he is going to come down for Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend, and I am SO SUPERDUPERLY EXCITED. The majority of my apartment is going to be in Tahoe Friday-Monday (I think), so we'll have this room to ourselves and I won't have to deal with the awkwardness of sexiling them the entire weekend. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about the Thursday and Tuesday that they will be here, but I hope they understand. If not, um, it sucks to be them, I guess. They're not usually in here anyway since they do all their work in the living room, so maybe if the door is closed and stuff they will get the idea. That was probably too much info, but it is a bit of a dilemma and I'm not sure about what to do. I mean, from what I've gathered from various other people about significant others visiting, the general consensus is that the roommates go elsewhere for that duration to courteously give couples time to themselves, so I hope they do the same! I'm not quite sure about what we're going to be doing, but it will definitely involve going to the beach and seeing "Friday the 13th" and exploring downtown/campus and drinking and possibly smoking and whatnot. It should be fun. I'm excited!
Also, I googled sexiled images and this is what I got:

LOL, at this one.


Is this what my roommates will look like?