You Could Try and Be Way Off

Have you guys ever played this game? We went over to the Soccer Player and the Hairdresser's house last Saturday night and along with playing Pictionary (yay!) we were up til 3:30 in the morning singing along to this game.

I was shy at first and didn't want to have a try...you'd never find me in a karaoke bar to save my life unless I was smashed and I wasn't drinking on Saturday night. I hate looking like an idiot, even in good fun and even just around good friends (party pooper, I know I know) so I really, really didn't want to participate. And I didn't for awhile, especially when the disc we had on could've been called "Aussie Anthems" and I didn't know half the songs they were singing to.

I laughed as the Teacher, Croc, the Soccer Player, and the Hairdresser battled it out for glory. Then Boyfriend jumped in and surprised me with his high scores. After listening to Croc and the Soccer Player mangle "No Woman, No Cry" I knew I could do better. Just as the Teacher and Croc decided to leave, I hopped on to challenge the Soccer Player to some Bob Marley. I can't remember if I won that round or not, but I can tell you that the Soccer Player and I were both pretty awful and pretty evenly matched in our awfulness! I sang a few more songs and sucked at every one, but I ended up having a lot of fun doing it. It's good to try new things every now and again and it's good to let yourself look like an idiot, too. Now I've just got to find a disc with songs that I listen to and know all the words to so I can kill it at our next Sing Star gathering!

(Oh, P.S., I thought I should add that we looked only half as douchey as the guy in the picture while doing it)

Edit It's now 5 months later and Soccer Player is very angry about this blog (in a joking way) and wants the record set straight and the world to know that he kicked my ass and is a way better singer than I am, so there you go.

Last Night I Dreamt You Called Part 3

Ok, so I think last time we left off on the Costa Rica story Overindulged Asshole, Bran, and his random friend had told Dick, Doug, and the Nice Guy that they were bailing on the trip set up the next day to Witch's Rock...

I don't know how or why I got involved; probably because I've got a big mouth and a bad attitude and was just sick of how O.A. constantly acted like an asshole who's every whim had always been indulged but I did get involved. I decided that I would go on the boat trip, but I thought it was fair that the 3 boys make up for the other 2 unpaid spots left on the boat between the 3 of them. So I walked over to their room and asked them for the money. We said that it was fine that they didn't want to go, but they had said they would so they needed to fulfill their monetary responsibility. They basically told us to F* Off that they weren't paying for it. Things started to get pretty heated as we argued back and forth about the money. It finally came out that the boys had been sneaking off each night to drink and get high in Tamarindo and had basically spent most of their money. I don't think I knew about it up until them and it really pissed me off and I yelled and O.A. about how could he be so sheisty and pull that shit after Mr. G had been so great to him (tutored his dumb ass, wrote him a letter of recommendation to UC Santa Cruz, and really just treated him like a good friend). Mr. G was a young teacher and could've lost everything had one of those dumb boys gotten hurt or arrested while in Tamarindo, unbeknownst to him. O.A. yelled out "Fuck Mr. G" Nice Guy, Dick and I gave up at this point and walked back to the bar and decided that we'd still go the next day, even though it was shitty that we'd all have to pay more.

When we got back to the bar, Mom told us we needed to go back to our room and stay there for the rest of the night. Mr. G had gone to his room to get something and was walking back to the bar and had overheard our whole conversation with the 3 boys...the talk about sneaking out of camp, doing drugs and drinking, and the part where O.A. said "Fuck Mr. G" The male chaperones were now going to go confront them and search their room for drugs. On top of that all, then the Mass Murderer started acting really creepy and aggravated and I think he was talking about knives he had brought or something like that.

The chaperones went up to the room and the boys were very adamant that their room not be searched. I think that we had signed a behavioural contract though, granting permission to let our rooms be searched. The boys started arguing with Photo Larry, Doug, and Mr. G and said they were packing up their stuff and leaving. I think a pipe was found and tiny bit of pot in a baggie or something, but true to their word, the boys took off into the night. When we got up to go on the boat trip in the morning, they weren't there.

We tried to put it out of our head and started the long drive to where we would meet the boat. It was an overcast day and it was fun to get out and see more of the Costa Rican countryside. We got on the boat and set out on our trip. First, we went to Ollie's Point (named after a guy in a drug bust or something that had taken place there a few years back or something) and I can't remember if the boys got out for a surf there or not. Then we chugged over to Witch's Rock. The waves were alright, but it was creepy because there was no one else there, there was a river mouth which meant you had to be on the lookout for crocs, and because it was overcast the water was really dark and you couldn't see through it. To top it all off, as we were about to jump off the boat, the boat driver's assistant said that whale sharks are found in the area and they've had people chased back to the boat by them!! That was not what I wanted to hear but I sucked it up and jumped into the water. I think I lasted about 15-20 minutes tops out in the water there. I'm not sure I even caught any waves before I had psyched myself up so much that I had to get out. The only problem was that the boys were still down to surf and the boat was probably at least 100 yards further out then the surf line so I had to get back out there some how. Dick, being Nice Guy's younger brother and a nice guy in his own right, paddled me back out to the boat then paddled back in for a surf. I sat on the boat, content to watch the guys and take pictures of them and the Rock, which had incredible texture to it up close.

After the boys were finished surfing, we had a long ride back to the car. The wind was up a bit and causing little ripples on the water's surface and so it was a bumpy ride back and my butt was so sore when it was all over. From there, we drove back to the surf camp and had to pack, as we were leaving the next day.

The 3 boys still weren't back the next morning as we got ready to leave. We drove all day to get back to the airport and they weren't at the airport either. Mr. G had gotten in touch with O.A. and Bran's families and I think Bran's Dad had talked to Bran and told Mr. G that the boys weren't going home with us, but would catch a flight a few days later. He also said he wanted to see Mr. G very soon to discuss the situation.

We got on to the plane and were basically the only people on it so we went a bit nuts at first...the boys adorned most surfaces with our team's sponsor's stickers. Right after or right before we hit Mexico City we hit really bad open air turbulence. I've never been in it so bad and Bren had never flown before this trip and was wide awake and nervous about it, too, so I went back and sat with him for a few minutes, just to distract the both of us from what was going on. We survived it, but I think that flight is one of the reasons that I hate to fly now. We got home and made it through Customs and then Dick shows me how he has managed to bring back Cuban cigars without getting caught...these boys-scandalous! But oh well, at least those would've just been confiscated, I don't think he would've really gotten in to any trouble and at least it would've been an American holding cell he would've been placed in if it was serious and not a Costa Rican one!

The next week or two weeks later and Mom went with Mr. G to meet Bran's Dad to discuss the trip. Mr. G had already been copping crap from O.A.'s family, including his fat, disgusting uncle(think of Humpty Dumpty, the egg, complete with the rosy red cheeks and all, that's what this man looked like) who was the head basketball coach at our high school and who happened to have a bit of sway in the school, threatening to get Mr. G fired because of the stupid choices the boys had made. Bran's Dad was a little more reasonable and was mad at the choices his son made, but was also angry that the boys had been able to sneak away. Mom stood up for Mr. G and said he had done everything he could to keep us all safe and that we had signed behaviour contracts so all us kids knew what was expected of us. In the end because the boys' had graduated and because we weren't a school-sponsored group (the school never wanted the liability of a surf team, so we were technically a boy scout troop who's members just happened to all come from the one school), there was nothing the school could do to punish Mr. G, nor do I think they should have, even if we had been a school-sponsored group.

The aftermath of the situation was that I felt like Mr. G wasn't as stoked on the surf team. He still did it and he eventually got over it, but I think he was very let down by those boys. I'm not sure he ever spoke to any of them again and the little bitches that they were, I'm sure they never tried to apologize for their actions; I get the feeling like they felt they were in the right the whole time. Mr. G took another group to Costa Rica the next summer, this time with a whole lot less drama (though a whole lot less waves too as there was no swell for the whole trip) and he continues to take his surf team from his new school on twice yearly surf trips.

You Be ill'in

Ummmm so I don't know if it was something I did or if it was just all the sugar in the recipe or what but my tummy was totally janked up last night. Just thought I'd let everyone know in case you were planning on making it for yourself sometime....Proceed with Caution! But I'm sure it was probably just me as my tummy gets upset pretty easily.

Chickity China the Chinese Chicken

Did anyone else find that Barenaked Ladies song obnoxious or the Barenaked Ladies in general?

I found this recipe for Mandarin Chicken on a new blog I started reading today: Real Mom Kitchen (http://realmomkitchen.blogspot.com) and I had most of the ingredients around and the picture made it look pretty fabulous so I decided to make it for dinner. It was pretty good, although waaaaay too sweet-like eating a candy bar for dinner, but it definitely is pretty good and is the first time I've had Mandarin Chicken in ages as I don't think I've seen it on Chinese menus here and our stores aren't as cool as Trader Joe's to just carry it in the freezer section.

Anyway, here is the recipe, and my changes will be in parenthesis:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used about a pound of chicken tenderloins I had in the freezer)
½ tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon of garlic powder


Mandarin Sauce-
2/3 cup sugar (I would use half of this)
¼ cup soy sauce (I did this plus a few generous splashes into the wok once it was all cooking)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (I just squeezed half a lemon in to the bowl)
1 teaspoon fresh garlic [minced] (I doubled this)
1 teaspoon fresh ginger [minced] (I used ground ginger, but fresh would probably be better, I'd use double this)
¼ cup water
4 teaspoons cornstarch (didn't have this, would've been very helpful as my sauce was pretty soupy)
(A dash of red chili flakes might give this some heat and make it less candy-like)

Pound chicken breasts with a mallet to an even thickness (I didn't do this) and season both sides with sugar, salt, and garlic powder. Grill chicken 4-6 minutes on each side or until no longer pink inside. Remove from grill and cut into bit sized strips. Set aside. (The browner bits were the tastier bits, so cook your chicken well on the outside)
In a bowl combine sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic and ginger. Pour into a wok or sauce pan. Heat the mixture until almost at a boil. Combine cornstarch and water. Once the sauce starts to boil add the cornstarch mixture and stir until thickened.
Add grilled chicken to the wok and coat with the sauce. Simmer until heated thoroughly. I served it over cooked rice. (I tossed in some fresh rice noodles and it was good like a stirfry)

Sad Story

I know that I still need to finish the Costa Rica adventure, but I thought I'd give everyone an update on what's going on around here these days...

I still don't have a job, though I put in resumes for two jobs in schools last week so I hope I get a call for interviews for them soon.

My Mom officially got a job offer from where she has been doing consulting work and so she and Dad are bidding on condos in San Francisco.

My Dad went out and got himself a new Audi TT a few weekends ago. Talk about living the good life!

He and Mom are on an Alaskan cruise this week and I talked to Mom for a minute today and she was so excited because they had been to a glacier and had seen a porcupine up in a tree!

Nae is trying to work out an internship on a shark cage diving boat at the Farallone Islands for September.

Boyfriend and I had a relaxed weekend: we went and saw Angels and Demons on Saturday and grocery shopped and bought something for Junior's 1st Birthday, which is coming up in a few weekends. I was craving those Animal Style Fries from In-N-Out so we made our own In-N-Out at home-the fries, chicken burgers with cheese, and Oreo shakes. Sunday LC came over for a hang out and then Boyfriend and I went for a walk to the lake to feed the ducks and fish. We are a little bit worried about what they put in Jatz (like American Ritz) crackers because neither the fish nor the ducks would touch them!

When we got back from the walk, Boyfriend had gotten a text from his Mom about his Nan (grandma). She had been in the hospital for awhile and had just been recently moved to a nursing home. Boyfriend's Mom got the terrible news while on vacation in Queensland that it looked like Nan might not make it much longer. Boyfriend, understandably, was pretty upset. Bob called and asked if Boyfriend would like to go visit her and so they did and Boyfriend said it was a pretty sad time, but nice because a lot of the family was there with her visiting.

Boyfriend got the call yesterday morning that his Nan had passed away so I am really glad they all got that one last chance to go visit her. Everyone is pretty broken up about it. She was a really nice lady- from the moment I started dating Boyfriend I became a part of her family...she sent me Christmas cards in California and made me birthday presents. From the stories I've heard she was also a pretty feisty lady in her time, too. She was a big partier, loved the pokies (slot machines) and was a true country girl...Boyfriend said she was pretty handy on a ride-on mower and used to mow her whole huge property back in the day. She won't soon be forgotten by anyone who knew her.

Boyfriend and I have often talked about this and my Mom and I have also talked about it, too...his Nan and my Grandma on my Dad's side were like the same person...They were both partiers, they both had lost a child, they both took in "stray" children and made them part of their families, they both could meet a person once and become life long friends with that person, and they both smoked and died from complications due to their smoking. It is really incredible to us how much they had in common.

Boyfriend said the other day that he is glad that we got together when we did because he had the opportunity to meet my Grandma once before she passed away and because I got to know his Nan pretty well and my parents got to meet her and know her on their last trip out here, too. Our grandmothers will never just be people in stories to each other; we both knew and loved them and it just feels like an extra bond that we now share between us.

The world lost a good person yesterday...

Love Story

Did someone forget to tell me that I'm ovulating right now? I thought I had another week and a half until then...but I guess not because how else can I explain the fact that I've been listening to and dancing along to Taylor Swift's "Love Story" tonight...and not just once or twice- I've got it playing on a continuous loop on Itunes right now and I think I'm totally swooning over it...Oh God, who am I? Haha

Last Night I Dreamt You Called...Part 2

Upon waking up, we looked out to a beautiful rainforest area.  We had heard some scratching on our roof and looked up to see iguanas!  We also heard the gorilla noises and went to investigate...turns out there were howler monkeys in the trees- they have one of the loudest calls in the world I think I have read.  We had eggs and toast and fresh juice for breakfast everyday included with the price of the room and a revolving assortment of dinners was also part of the price...I think it was something like $35 a person per day...maybe $45 (http://www.amerisol.com/costarica/lasolas/index.html).  

So after breakfast we went walking through the mangrove forest down to the beach.  It was beautiful and white sand beaches stretching to the left and right of us.  We got out in the water for a surf and it was some of the warmest water I had ever been in.  After paddling for a bit, you'd be sweating.  I made sure to always have sunscreen on and I kept chapstick with sunscreen in my boardie pockets because I've got a big Bubba lower lip that tends to burn and get nasty really easily.  The water was clear, the waves were good, and the only crowd was us. We would surf, then explore, then eat, then surf, then rest, then surf, then have dinner and pretty early to bed.  Some of the boys weren't keeping up with their sunscreen applications and B. King loved the tan he was getting, every night he would come in and ask if I could put aloe on his back so the tan would last longer.

The second night we were there Mr. G said that if we wanted to, for extra money, we could sign up for a boat trip out to Witch's Rock (in the picture), but there could only be about 5 people per trip and it'd be about $50-$60 U.S. to go.  I didn't want to go as I hadn't liked jumping off a boat to surf the year before when we had gone to the Channel Islands, plus I thought the surf was fun enough for free where we were.

Everyday was perfect...weather wise and surf wise.  Photo Larry was getting some great shots of the boys and I was doing a lot of taping for our annual surf team video.  When I wasn't surfing or filming, I was hanging in the hammock or collecting shells on the beach, or bodysurfing, or hanging out with Mom and Sally, or laying out.  One day, as I was sitting in the shade between surfs a huge iguana came and stood on Nae's surf board and we had a bit of a shell near us and it dove towards the shell and we screamed thinking it was coming for us.  It didn't like the shell and ran away after I got some cool photos of it on the board.  The boys decided to have a play with the wildlife...one kept a gecko as his pet for the whole time we were there and there was one day where they caught a tarantula and a scorpion and made them fight to the death...I'm pretty sure the scorpion won after stinging the tarantula repeatedly.  The tarantula wasn't the only thing to be stung repeatedly.  Not once, but twice, B. King got stung in his room, his tongue even went numb for awhile (not a good sign) and one morning while we were out surfing Mom got stung on the bum as she got out of the shower and dried herself off (the scorpion had crawled on to the towel).  Our room was adjoined to B. King's and they found a scorpion nest in their bathroom or something so no wonder people from both rooms were getting stung.  I'm glad I didn't!

One day we did a drive in to the local town called Tamarindo I think it was just me, Mom and Sally or me, Mom, and Nae (+ Sally?  I'm amazed out how awful my memory is) and we got stuck behind guys on horses herding cattle.  It was cool to have them come out of nowhere and surround the car.  The town, I thought, was pretty jankity and for being such a famous surf spot, it was pretty flat while our beach was still pumping out some decent surf.  But we did get an ice cream and a few souvenirs and got to explore for awhile so it was worth it.

Halfway through the trip John Wayne's Grandson was painfully sunburned-the worst I had ever seen and have ever seen to this day.  His face was red and the worst of it was just at the top of his butt crack.  I'm pretty sure he wore a rash guard each day and of course board shorts, but there must have been a gap between the two.  It was so bad it bubbled.  Then the older boys got the brilliant idea to harass the younger boys; they must have been hanging around their rooms or something.  We all had duck tape with us to bubble wrap our boards for the journey home. They decided to duck tape J.W.'s Grandson to a tree!  He was a tough kid so I don't remember him crying as he tried to pry himself loose, but it must have been excruciating.

One or two groups had already been out to Witch's Rock and to another famous spot, Ollie's Point, without a lot of luck.  The next day, the final group would go out:  Bran, his random friend, Dick, the Nice Guy, Overindulged Asshole, and Doug as chaperone and driver.  That night after dinner Bran, friend, and O.A. tell the rest of the group that they don't feel like going anymore, bad luck to the guys who still wanted to go, and that's when the drama started!!

Last Night I Dreamt You Called From Costa Rica

School had just let out for the summer and it looked like it would be an awesome one:  I could drive, I was going on two great surf trips-one to Costa Rica and one to Hawaii, and it was the summer before my Senior year of high school.  We basically finished finals and then that weekend went to LAX to fly out to Costa Rica.  We were on some random airline I had never heard of, Laksa Air I think it was called, and it was a red eye flight. I remember it was a pretty long flight and that we had a stopover in Mexico City.  We arrived in San Jose in the morning and took a shuttle over to the car rental place.  Luckily my Mom had decided to be a chaperone on the trip as her credit card was the only one with a high enough limit on it to cover the deposits for all the cars we had...there was a bus that fit about 10 of us and 3 pick up trucks if I remember correctly.  We should have all had an inkling to the drama that awaited us when Bran's random friend joined us in Costa Rica and when I overheard the Overindulged Asshole talk about how he had smuggled pot in with him (Which by the way, WTF, how dumb can you get?  Obviously O.A. hadn't considered how horrible a Costa Rican jail might have been before deciding to become a novice smuggler!)

We get out on the road and drive for hours and hours through gorgeous countryside.  I got in the car with all the older boys and Mr. G and it was pretty funny just listening to them joke around.  Mom and Nae were in a car with K.C., D. Mini, and B. King (another really cool and nice guy from my class, that I forgot to mention in the earlier post) and they had the majority of the bodyboards in the back of their truck.  Photo Larry, his girlfriend Sally, Dick and Cabeza (one of my favorite kids ever, from Nae's year, had that nickname from everyone because of his massive head, and could be a real asshole but was also hilarious, too) were in one of the other pick up trucks and Doug and 2 other chaperones who's names I can't even remember, but were basically just there to surf and hang out with each other, were in the final pick up truck. The roads were pretty sketchy.  They were one or two lanes the whole way and some of our trek was over some pretty windy hillsides and you had to share the road with big 18 wheeler trucks as well who were notorious for having bad brake systems...not a fun experience for the drivers!

This was the era before cellphones regularly had international calling capability.  About 4 hours in to our drive we realize that Mom's car isn't in the caravan anymore.  We have no idea how long it's been since they were out of sight either.  All the boys start telling me how it's pretty common in C.R. that if you piss off the truck drivers they'll just run you off the road and you end up dead in a ditch and all this other stuff...nice guys, right?  We wait around for like an hour and they still don't drive past.  The boys are itching to get to the surf spot and so is Mr. G.  Photo Larry instantly earned friend for life status in my book when he said I could hop in their pickup and we'd drive back and look for where Mom's car was.  

After driving for awhile, we found them broken down in a random spot in the road.  They had asked at the place they broke down in front of if they could use the phone to call the rental company to come bring them a new car.  It was going to be a few hours wait.  The people at the place were super nice and even brought us out some cut up melon to snack on while we waited. It started getting closer to sunset and closer to mosquito feasting time.  The boys from Mom's car, on hearing how all the older boys didn't want to help look for them and wanted to get in for a surf instead, decided to take some of the bodyboards from the back of the car and "surf" them down the hill across the road from where the car had broken down.  The older boys would've been so pissed to learn their boards had been used in this way, but whatever, they deserved it. I've got the best pictures of K.C. standing on one bodyboard and riding it down this rocky, viney hill.  We ended up having fun, even though it was a crappy situation.  Out of nowhere this huge, pure white stallion came galloping down the road and I didn't have my camera out at that point and was so bummed to have missed it.  Finally a replacement car arrived and we were able to continue our journey (with still about two hours ahead of driving) in the dark.

Every so often, Photo Larry would call to the boys to roll up their windows and if you weren't quick enough you ended up with a bit of his chew juice on you...the boys learned after the first or second time that he wouldn't wait long!  Costa Rica isn't the best place in the world for big road signs or street signs so we were kindof driving blind and had a general idea from a map of where we were going.  We stopped once or twice and asked in broken Spanish if we were on the right track and we were, thank goodness.  At some point, Nae and Mom saw us hit a cat- I guess it kindof bounced off our tire and rolled to the side of the road, I don't even remember feeling it! We finally ended up on a dirt road and drove for what seemed like forever on it.  Sporadically along the road would be these red glowing eyes and it was super spooky as the only lights around were from the moon and our headlights.  We found out later on the trip, that they were some kind of bird (I'm guessing plovers) that liked to live next to the road.  We finally pulled up to the surf camp and everyone was just finishing dinner at the bar.  The Lakers were on the satellite TV as they were just about to win the NBA playoffs.  As we got out of the car, we heard the scariest sound...it sounded like gorillas were in the trees around us just waiting for us to walk under them so they could jump on us...What had we gotten ourselves in to??  We had some leftovers from the night's dinner then were shown to our rooms...there were no TVs in the room or phones, just beds, a dresser, a decent enough bathroom, and a really cool patio with a hammock out the front that looked down out on to the rest of the surf camp and forest around us.

I think I'll leave the rest (or maybe the next part) of the story until tomorrow so this one doesn't end up being 3 pages long.  Yes, that is me bodyboarding.  Yes, I know I look like a boy because of my short hair and because of my long board shorts, but I was totally cute when I was dried off with that hair and there was no way I was going to chance losing my bikini bottoms while surfing so I always wore boardies when I wasn't in a wetsuit.

All I Want Is You

If you're from California you'll probably recognize the delicousness in that picture above....Animal Style Fries from In N Out. That and some of their pink lemonade would really hit the spot right about now...

Setting the Scene

It's 1am, Saturday morning and I can't get to sleep...Boyfriend is up in Queensland now for his cousin's wedding and I was too poor to go. Tomorrow I'm taking Boyfriend's Mom out to dinner and a movie for Mother's Day since she didn't go to the wedding either. Happy Friday to everyone back home!

I thought that before I could tell the Costa Rica story I'd better introduce some of the characters from it.

Mr. G: Our faithful surf coach...always the first in the water, no matter what the conditions. At 6 am on a freezing and windy Saturday with little to no swell this guy would try and get us pumped on the surf conditions...a bunch of too cool 16 and 17 year olds are generally "blah" about the world to begin with and throw in someone with a passion for something and there is going to be some snickering/not appreciating of the stoked attitude of that person. He is an amazing surfer and all around good guy. He moved up to Santa Cruz right around the time Nae did, as he had also gone to school there previously, and he reconnected with an old friend and they fell in love and she is now his wife and she is gorgeous and an awesome person and they've got a cute little toddler now (who ran around our house with no pants on at Christmas and who fell in love with my Dad for letting him eat cupcakes before dinner and who was freaked out by Madagascar cause he doesn't have a tv out his house to watch...and who can already speak and understand both German and English and point out Venus in the sky....can you tell that I love this kid?!) and another baby on the way. He's grown on me over the years...I think he mellowed out a bit and I grew to appreciate his positive outlook way more and now we are friends rather than teacher/student and I am very glad that we have kept in contact with him and just wished I would've appreciated that stoked attitude back in the day, too.

Me and Nae: The only two girls on the surf team. I didn't compete, though Nae did...I hate competition plus there's not a girl's bodyboarding division so I just free surfed. Not only were we the only girls on the team, we were some of the youngest people on the team and when we first joined I couldn't drive so we became dependent on various people to give us rides to and from the beach. We weren't there for the boys at all; we both genuinely enjoyed surfing and getting to go on trips for cheap, but it was an awesome perk as I mentioned in another post to be surrounded by all the cutest boys from school. Even though I wasn't a fantastic bodyboarder and Nae wasn't as good of a surfer then as she is now, it gave us some credit with people at school...the boys, although maybe they didn't like us for the most part as friends or otherwise I think appreciated the fact that we were out there trying and were there to surf and not to flirt with them.

John Wayne's Grandson: A really nice kid and a really good bodyboarder. He wasn't "cool" and he was the youngest person on the team so he got picked on a bit by the older boys, but handled it well.

The Artist: I didn't know him very well, he seemed nice enough and he seemed pretty quiet. I think basically he was just a big hippie. He had a painting of a duck on his surfboard that he called quacklepuss...this duck would eventually become our team mascot and the name of our surf team....Team Quacklepuss!

The Mass Murderer: I can't even remember this guy's real name or if he was a good surfer or not. I don't remember him really being on the team or doing much with us, other than being on the trip. He was cute in a whitetrash sort of way. I mention him just because he comes up in the C.R. story at some point.

Bren: Good bodyboarder, hottest guy at school in my opinion. I don't remember seeing him at all in my freshmen/his sophmore year but I spotted him and the "custom x" writing on his bag probably in the first week of my sophmore/his junior year. He was a nice guy, again, another quiet one. He liked to do some stuff by himself and I don't think he tried that hard to be cool...I think it was him, though it might have been the artist, that was given the nickname "the Lone Wolf" on the trip, no idea what happened to him

Bran: he was a surfer, Nae was in love with him, he was really short, he played football for awhile too before he gave up cause I just don't think he was motivated about life in general. He is a key player to some of the drama in the C.R. story so remember him. Also, the one thing I remember about him is that he had a really pretty and popular girlfriend his senior year and she asked him to prom or some dance or something wearing a whipped cream "bikini" ala Varsity Blues! I'm sure it was hot for him, but I'd be straight up embarassed if I was that chick, knowing that the whole school knew you liked to get naked and cover yourself in food for your boyfriend. I sometimes wonder if they are still together...I wonder how many times he's cheated on her if they are...he just seems like the type looking back, although at the time he seemed nice enough

Overindulged Asshole: was my carpool for awhile, but wasn't too great of a carpool. I remember one afternoon it was raining but we decided to hit up the beach after school anyway. It was a bust and nothing was surfable so we decided not to paddle out. Well Asshole has me, Nae, Bren, and Bran with him and Bran lives right near him and Bren, Nae and I all lived fairly near each other and not that far out of his way...we were out of luck anyway. Asshole dropped us at some random Carl's Jr and said "good luck getting home" basically. I don't think we had a cell phone and my mom was out of town and dad was still working nights and sleeping during the day at this point so we couldn't get a hold of anyone. Finally, Dad came and got us (but not before having dinner at Carl's Jr, cause really how we he miss an opportunity for that, haha). This guy was kinda cute, I had a crush on him for about .5 seconds, but then would be grossed out hearing him talk about all these (younger) girls he dated and how all he wanted to do was put it in their butts. Keep him in mind, too, you know with a name like Overindulged Asshole he's going to bring the dramz...

The Nice Guy: best smile ever, seriously just a nice, fun guy, was the only one who really wanted to be friends, although one day we did get in a fight because I had hit a dog right outside of school before starting the day and he came up and teased me about it at lunch and made me cry, but he apologized. Anyway, yeah, a great guy I'd say. He works for/helped start a surf company that is getting big in Orange County and apparently sells at a shop in Costa Rica now, too (http://www.tavik.com/)

Dick: not named because he was one, that was just what he was called...before the Team Quacklepuss name got finalized, we were nearly going to be called "Dick and his boys", before Mr. G said it wouldn't be cool to Nae and I because we weren't boys, we didn't mind we thought it was funny, he was a nice kid, too, younger-in Nae's class, and he was fun to be around, as well

K.C.: I had met in Spanish class the year before and became fast friends with. He was nice and fun and made Spanish class fly by. He's still seems to be a really nice guy and goes on mission trips to build houses (and surf) and stuff. My mom had him in her car in C.R. and really liked him, too. He was nice to everyone and the type of kid who could get on with grown ups.

D.Mini: Also in my class and good friends with the guy Bun liked at the time. He was a super stoner and always getting in to trouble at home. His family situation seemed a bit weird and he came and lived with us for a few days (maybe it was only 1, I can't remember now) one summer because things were going on at home. He longboarded and was just a random, fun guy.

Photo Larry: Professional Photographer, looks like the main guy from the movie Powder, but is so cool and could totally kick your ass if he wanted to, funny guy, good guy, takes great photos and has/had an awesome girlfriend that came along on the trip, too, and kept Mom company

Doug: Friend of Mr. G, chaperone on the trip, friend of Bun's older brother I think, didn't see him again after C.R. but would've liked to as he was pretty cool

The trip story might have to wait til Monday, we'll see what happens with the rest of my weekend, but now that you know the characters, it'll be easier to write the story.

Happy Mother's Day Mom...I know you'll eventually read this one :) I miss you and love you heaps!

Song of the Shrimp

Sorry that the picture is a bit blurry...I've got crappy lighting in my kitchen and only have my crappy camera on my phone to take photos with, but I just wanted to show you guys what I made for dinner tonight. I love pasta and I love shrimp, so what better way to pair two of my favorites then by making some spicy shrimp pasta?

Here's what you need (I get about 3 big size portions out of this):

Half a pack of organic spaghetti (I go to my cheap grocery store and splurge on their organic line of pasta and canned tomatoes and salsa and I find that the organic stuff really does taste a bit better)

1 Can of organic diced tomatoes

3/4 of a cup of white wine, I used some random cheap Chardonnay from in my fridge and just eyeballed the amount and it turned out fine

1/2 cup of fresh basil (caterpillars have gotten in to my bush so there wasn't a lot to pick tonight and you could tell this would taste better with more fresh basil)

Shrimp (I like it a lot so I think I used about quarter pound for this and that would be a good amount once it cooks down for two people, just throw in as many as you want)

2 tablespoons of garlic

1-2 tablespoon of olive oil

Sprinkles of Oregano and and other Italian dry herbs you have in your cupboard

3 tablespoons of medium organic salsa

pinch of black pepper

About a tablespoon of sugar

pinch of hot chili flakes

Directions:

Add olive oil to pan and heat up. Add garlic and let garlic fry for about 8 minutes....it should get golden but not too brown.

Add water and a lot of salt to a pot of water and bring it to a boil. I like my pasta to be salty and I didn't add any salt to the sauce itself, the saltiness will come from the pasta and it is important to ALWAYS salt your pasta water because it causes the water to boil at a higher temperature and pasta needs to be boiled at that higher temperature. It's also important to not overcook your pasta. It shouldn't be too soft and like slimy and wanting to fall apart-it should have a slight amount of resistance when you bite through it. Once the water is boiling, add your spaghetti to it and stir it around. Check at about 8 minutes to see how done it is.

To your garlic and olive oil add the herbs, pepper, chili, tomatoes, wine, sugar, herbs, and salsa. Bring to boil and let simmer. Simmering times can vary...If you want a thicker sauce than you need to simmer the sauce for about 20-25 minutes or tonight I was lazy and hungry and only simmered the sauce for about 5 minutes before adding the shrimp to it and it turned out fine but it was a bit watery at the bottom of my bowl.

Throw your shrimp in to the sauce and bring up the heat slightly. The shrimp should start turning pink after only a few minutes and once they are not see through your sauce and the shrimp are done.

After draining the water from the pasta, pour it in to a big bowl and pour the sauce and shrimp over it and toss the sauce through the pasta. You can add more basil and some parmesan cheese on it now if you'd like, I didn't. BEWARE: This pasta is pretty spicy because of the salsa and chili flakes!! I like it and I hope if you try it, you will, too.

I'm Dying Tomorrow/Time to Talk

I got two emails on Friday morning, one from Bun and one from Mom, alerting me to the fact that my beloved HydroxyCut has been pulled in the U.S. and that someone has died from taking it. I appreciate their concern but I love how I am never hungry when I am taking it and really, who needs a liver anyway?? I think mine's already damaged from this illness I got when I was little. I told Bun I was going to continue to take it until my bottle runs out and she just laughed and said me and her boyfriend are crazy because he's going to continue to take it too! My Mom was like "NOOOO!!! Throw that stuff away right now." I told her Dad spent good money on it so I'm finishing the bottle unless she wants me to go out and buy new diet pills on her credit card at a GNC here. She didn't say go for it so I guess I'm finishing the bottle! If I stop writing on here, I guess you'll know it's because I'm dead or in the hospital awaiting my liver transplant! (I say this jokingly, but please God don't let me die cause I want to be skinny!)

Also, remember way back in the very first blog where I question whether or not chat rooms still exist? Well, I found out they do, they've just taken on a slightly different form....this new form is Omegle.com. Basically you get thrown in to a chat room with a stranger and you know nothing about them and can tell nothing about them because they don't have a catchy screen name to tell you anything about them and there are no profiles to look at. You basically talk about whatever...names or not, ages or not, where you're at or not. I've had random conversations...some where we just name animals in ABC order, some about ghosts, some about music, some are just normal conversations you'd have with friends, and there are of course tons of people on there looking to have cyber sex. When I can get one of these guys in to a conversation I ask..."how do you want to have cyber sex with me, you know nothing about me....I could be a 500 pound bear of a woman for all you know." They say it doesn't matter for the most part and proceed to try and get down to sexy times! Haha, gross. Anyway, it's totally entertaining if you are bored and looking for randomness. I actually talked to a (normal) girl one night who has started a blog (http://ohmagah.blogspot.com/)about all the random conversations she has with people on Omegle. It's pretty funny stuff. Check that out before you go on if you want to see what kind of conversations you can expect to have on there. I submitted one of my conversations to her and she posted it...some random asian dude who said asians are people of color so they can call each other the N word...so I said Chinese Nigga.....Chigga? And he didn't like it too much.

That's all from here for now. The baby shower went well and LC got tons of stuff. My cupcakes were so pretty and bright, bright pink (I'll have to get a picture from her of them) and took forever to make, but they were worth it because LC appreciated them and plus they turned out pretty tasty, too! I still have to do a blog about my Costa Rica trip and about working at the surf shop and my friends from there sometime soon so be on the look out for those some time this week, I think/I hope.