If I Could, I Would Shrink Myself...And Remove Whatever Makes You Hurt But I am to Weak to be Your Cure

Last Thursday Mom and I got up bright and early and hit the road down to Orange County. I posted on my Facebook that I was going to be in town and got a few well wishes from friends to have fun while I was there and a teasingly angry email from my best guy friend from high asking why he hadn't been informed that I would be around and that we should head out and get a drink together. I hadn't made any solid plans to see friends, though, because the reason we were in town was not a fun one (it never seems to be these days!)- we were there because my Grandma recently found a large lump in her breast that turned out to be cancerous and she was being rushed in to surgery. She had had breast cancer about 8 years ago and on the other side, but this cancer is completely different.

Friday morning we got up and were at the hospital by 7am. Grandma seemed in good spirits considering and went in for surgery at 10:30. The doctor came out when it was done and Mom went over to see him. I thought he would just give her a general debriefing like I had seen other doctors come out and do with other patients' families so I opted to stay with our stuff and hold on to our seats. When Mom got over to the doctor, he directed her in to a small office and closed the door-"Ah, shit" I thought, this can't be good news. And it wasn't. Grandma had made it out of the surgery fine, that was one hurdle, but the bad news was that the cancer had spread in to both lymph nodes they had checked so they had had to remove the other ones and were going to process those to see if the cancer had spread.

Friday afternoon Grandma was pretty groggy, but not in a lot of pain because they had her on the good drugs. When we returned on Saturday morning, Grandma didn't remember that we had been there before and after her surgery the day before and she didn't think she had had the surgery yet, either. She told us that she was very unhappy because if she had had the surgery, she had heard it wasn't her doctor who had performed it, but an associate (which wasn't obviously the case) and she told the case worker who came in to the room to check on her just that (which we then had to correct). She was released Saturday afternoon and went from being in a lot pain and bitchy to being nice, happy Grandma who snuggled on the couch with me (a first in about 10 years since I am not the favorite granddaughter I once was since I am not skinny and Grandma has extreme disdain for anyone who is overweight) when she had taken some vicodin!

We left on Sunday afternoon to head to Cambria where we stayed the night to decompress after such a stressful weekend and Mom and I drove in two separate cars because Grandma decided she didn't want her car anymore and we took it so that Dad could sell it and make sure she got a fair price for it. It's a good thing she decided she didn't "want" to drive anymore because legally she can't. After getting in to two accidents in two consecutive Tuesday nights and taking out a total of 5 parked cars, her license has been revoked and her insurance is dropping her. We were just really fortunate that Grandma didn't hurt herself or anyone else.

If you ask me, this getting old thing doesn't sound like too much fun! I am feeling really badly for my Mom,too, because she is getting all of my Grandma's drama dumped on her. I don't mean to make it sound like we are cold, heartless people-the cancer stuff is a not drama at all and we are concerned for her about that, there is just a TON of other stuff that is drama, plain and simple, and, thus, avoidable that I'm choosing not to air on here that my Mom has to deal with in regards to Grandma all the time and it is definitely taking a toll and wearing Mom down.

We don't know the results of the other lymph nodes they removed yet, but we should know by the weekend so I'm sending some positive energy in to the universe that the cancer hasn't spread and I'd appreciate any positive energy or prayers you could send up for her, too.

I Told You I Didn't Want My Picture Taken, You Snapped It Anyway

We're back from the wildlife rehabilitation center (there are a few pictures from it at the end of this set) and Boyfriend is napping so I've had some time to watch the river go by and to look through all the pictures I've snapped on the trip so far. We'll be leaving here in the morning and it looks like we might run in to some rain and snow on our trip back down to San Francisco, fingers crossed that we don't need chains because we don't have any! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

A cold and rainy day in Fort Bragg, CA

The view from our hotel room in the morning...a gorgeous day and a gorgeous view!

One of the locally brewed beers that Boyfriend really likes.

I had no idea we had elk anywhere in California!

Where we got out for a 2nd time to look at this river (the Smith) and where when we got back in to the car, I backed over a rock that punctured my oil pan. Had we not pulled over immediately we could've seized the engine on our car, but we were smart enough to pull over. We had to wait an hour and a half for a tow truck (in the dark dark as we were up a ways in to the mountains) and then got stuck in Crescent City, CA for the night at a really sketchy motel, but at least they were able to fix my car quickly and cheaply and we're not still in Crescent City awaiting a new part!

The nicest thing we found in Crescent City: their lighthouse.

What's a girl to do when stuck in a place like Crescent City waiting for her car to get fixed??

Back on the road. Back to pulling over (put this time in paved lots) to check out the Smith River.

I'm really only about a 2 minute walk from my car, but the trees and mountains seem to dwarf it.

One of the grey wolves at the Wildlife Images Rehabilitation Center after her walk.

Eurasian lynx

Oregon, My Oregon

There has been a 36 hour lull in the rain and yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day. This morning is cold, dull, and grey and the next storm is supposed to hit in the next few hours.

Boyfriend and I are taking off on our road trip tomorrow morning. We will be stopping in Mendocino/Fort Bragg for the night, which is way up in Northern California. On Tuesday, we will head up in to Grants Pass, Oregon, where we will be staying at this funky looking motel on the Rogue River. We plan on cruising through and finding out what Grants Pass has to do and see. There's a wildlife rehabilitation center there that I would like to see and we will be right near Crater Lake, which I think is the deepest lake in the world, so if it's not too snowy we might try and see it. On Thursday we will be taking the mountain route back down to San Francisco and will hopefully see some snow as we go. On Friday morning, we are hoping to get up early and walk the Golden Gate Bridge since we were unable to when we met Bun and Markie in the city last and then we will be home that afternoon. I'm excited to see new sites and for the adventure that always ensues when Boyfriend and I take off to a place we are unfamiliar with.

My sister, Nae, and her friend the Camp Counselor are going to be moving in to the pool house on Saturday so we are going to have a really full house until Boyfriend and I leave! Nae is bringing with her her 2 cats and 2 Australian tree frogs, as well. This should be interesting...

The reason Nae and C.C. are moving in is because one of their roommates decided to move out so they can't afford the rent where they are living now and rather than find a new place to move in to right now, they are going to move in here for a few months, which makes sense for Nae because she just found out she got in to a great white shark research program in South Africa!! I believe she will be there from April-June. I'm very excited for her. Working with great white sharks is her dream and now it seems after some stops and starts and bumps along the way, her dream is coming true! I don't know if any of you guys have been to South Africa or are from there, but if you have any hints/tips/advice about going there, please email me (lilddownunder at gmail dot com) or leave a comment on here with them.

Anyway, I'm bringing my camera and my laptop with me so more than likely I'll be updating the blog from the road. If I find any fun souvenirs along the way, I might even hold a giveaway when I get back!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Image via http://travelcuts.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/mickey_minnie_disneyland.jpg

Sorry I've been M.I.A. again for a few days, but I've been visiting the happiest place on Earth! Boyfriend and I traveled down to Orange County to meet up with some of his friends from Australia who have been staying in Park City, Utah and the husband has been working as a ski instructor. It was a big three days as we drove for 7 hours Monday, saw my Grandpa who had just been admitted to the hospital, then took Boyfriend's friends to dinner at this Mexican food place in Santa Ana that my family has been going to since my parents were teenagers. Tuesday we got up and did Disneyland and California Adventures all day and then hung out with Bun's family that night. It was so nice to be with them all again because I used to spend a lot of time at their houses and it felt like old times and really comforting to just be hanging with them and listening to their funny stories again. Wednesday we got up and the friends met us in Huntington Beach, where we had breakfast at the best local place, Sugar Shack. We then walked down to Jack's, where I used to work, and I actually saw someone who worked there when I did and had been good friends with and we had a good chat and gossip session and I also got to chat with one of the owners and congratulate him on how well the business was doing (they have opened 2 new stores since I've left and there is another one opening later this year). We then walked out on the pier and saw schools of fish, some dolphins, and a sealion. The weather was incredible the whole time we were there: it's the middle of winter and it was about 74 degrees! Watching the surfers and how clean the water looked (for once), I got the biggest urge to be out there surfing with my sister again. I would love to be there for a week in summer to do just that with her...maybe someday. We then took PCH up to Crystal Cove State Beach and Boyfriend and the friends got shakes from the Shake Shack (we seem to have lots of "shacks" around, don't we?) and then it was time for us to take off. Boyfriend had picked out a skateboard earlier in the day so we rushed back to Huntington to pick that up and then we got driving. It took us about 7 hours to get home and we were exhausted when we pulled in at about 10:20 last night. Since then, I've heard the coyotes run past our house late last night and we had a 4.1 earthquake rattle the house this morning. I'm just about to head out with Dad and Boyfriend to the campground to do some "treasure hunting", my first time this whole trip!

E.T.A.: Does anybody else find it creepy when couples take their honeymoon at Disneyland? If while planning our wedding my fiance suggested Disneyland/world/a Disney cruise a big red flag would go off in my head. Honeymoons are for laying on the beach and making sweet, sweet love not walking around in silly mouse ears and getting autographs from Chip and Dale and Princess Jasmine!

Who Says You Can't Go Back, Been All Around the World and As a Matter of Fact There's Only One Place Left I Want To Go, Who Says You Can't Go Home

Friday, Mom and I spent the day hitting the shops on Market St. in San Francisco. I got a new shirt at Old Navy and a really cute beanie for $7 at H&M, it's one of those beret beanies that sit on the back of your head and I've been wanting one for about 3 years now. We also hit some expensive market and got supplies so that I could make the "Nicole Richie Chicken" for my parents. They both thought it was really good, too.

Saturday morning we got up and cleaned the apartment before making our way down south in to Santa Cruz. My Dad drives the 17 (a really winding highway that goes up over a mountain from San Jose in to Santa Cruz) like a maniac now that he has his fancy TT. We met up with Nae at Costco and ate a quick and ridiculously cheap lunch there. Nae then dragged me all over downtown Santa Cruz looking for pieces for her Old Greg Halloween costume. They had closed off the street and all these little kids were out trick-or-treating at the shops and there were some super cute costumes, like this one little boy who could barely walk who was dressed as a little chick and he toddled around and had the perfect body proportions so that he really did look like a 2 foot tall chick walking down the street!

If you haven't seen Old Greg and have no idea what I'm talking about, here is the video. It is a little rude and quite bizarre!

After we had all the pieces, we went back to her place where her roommate, the Camp Counselor, was out back drinking her favorite beverage of all time, Coors Light, and who gave me a big welcome back hug. I'm still trying to get her to come out and meet and marry Boyfriend's brother Bob because I think they are made for each other. We then headed out to Mom and Dad's house. It was as beautiful as I had remembered it and there were some new additions to the place that made it even nicer. The parents and Nae all had Halloween plans so I stayed in and had a mellow night of watching the World Series Game and Tool Academy 2.

Yesterday, Mom woke me up way too early and we went down to the beach with Dad and I made them do some bootcamp workout moves on the park benches. Mom wanted us to go down because she had seen a sick sealion on the shore and wanted to see if the rescue service she had called had come down to pick it up yet. As we walked up to it, there were these two tourist ladies circling it and taking its picture and nearly touching it. The poor thing was really agitated so Mom yelled at them to back off and finally they did. (Mom and Dad just got back from another walk down to the beach and said that the sea lion was gone so it either swam away or was picked up by the service, which is good because lots of times they just come up on shore and aren't rescued and die there.) After that, Mom was nice enough to take me to Target, where we got lots of bathroom/beauty supplies for me and some tacky Christmas earrings and brooches from the $1 section for all my friends back home for our Christmas in July party next year. Then we went to Trader Joe's and did the grocery shopping for the week. I was in heaven, but I tried not to go too overboard and kept in mind that I'm still on a diet until Boyfriend gets here. When we got home, Dad was gearing up to paint one of their patios and as it was gorgeous weather, I offered to help him.

Today I spent my morning applying to jobs in the area and figuring out how I get on to substitute teaching lists. I was told by one office that the list of subs is pretty long right now and it's near impossible to get work unless you know teachers who can recommend you. When I phoned another school district's offices they told me I might be able to get some work, but first I'd need to go get a TB test so I spent part of my afternoon down at the County Health Office getting the test done and I have to go back on Wednesday so they can look at it and tell me whether or not I am in the clear.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another gorgeous day around here- sunny and temps of about 80 so I think I will do my online job applications out by the pool and help Dad put another coat of paint on the patio. Life is good!

Little Dune Buggy In the Sand

As we were coming out of the dune area, this little guy was waiting in the road for us. He's a bearded dragon. Neat, huh? Croc spotted him just before we were about to run him over and jumped out of the car and picked him up and threw him in the bushes (check out how dirty his hands are!). It's the first time I've seen one.

The day at the Stockton dune's was fun and pretty warm. All the little watering holes (aka baby water) had dried up because of the lack of rains this winter. We saw two huge schools of salmon right off the beach and someone caught one as we were standing there and it was a good sized fish- probably about a foot and a half long. We also might have seen a shark near where the salmon were schooling! Most of the day we drove along looking for good hills to sandboard down and I had a go at the littlest hill possible while the boys were away to pick up Boyfriend from the airport. Croc's two young nephews joined us on our trip and they have a tendency to run down the huge hills as someone rides down on the board and then want to be carried back up. I got suckered in by the youngest one and carried him piggyback up half of one of the hills and he repaid me by pinching me on the fat underside of my arm and his little fingers really dug in and left me with a bruise! On the way home his nearly 4 year old self had had enough of our adventure for the day and he fell asleep on me in the most awkward way so we moved him over and his hot and sweaty little head rested against me for an hour and a half on the way home. It was the perfect day spent with friends and I can't wait to go back next year once the warm weather has passed again.

It's Gettin Hot in Here

It's Saturday about noon here. I've been up since about 7am since Boyfriend had to be ready for Bob to pick him up at 7:30 for their one night trip to Queensland. I've been very productive and have called my Mom for our weekly chat, done laundry, and laid out for about 10 minutes. I couldn't stay out there any longer, it was too hot and I was sweating already! Boyfriend sat out for about 30 on Thursday and he got burnt enough so that it is still red two days later.

It has been beautiful summer weather through the day here, but at night it gets cold and it gets cold fast. On Thursday night I went out back to try and see a huge possum that had just jumped between the roof of our house and our laundry room roof and I could see my breath and it was only 6:30!

Tomorrow I've been invited to go 4 Wheel Driving at Stockton (or as we all call it now thanks to Croc's nephew: The Big Sand) with Croc, the Teacher, the Soccer Player and the Hairdresser. We are leaving here before 8 and then will pick Boyfriend up at around 12:30 from one of the parking lots because he is flying in to the Newcastle airport and it is only about a 10 minute drive from there out to the sand dunes. It should be another fun day, but it's supposed to maybe get in to the 80s tomorrow so that sand is going to be hot, hot, hot! I'm bringing hats, sunscreen, and plenty of water. Hopefully going tomorrow will motivate Boyfriend to finally upload those pictures from our last trip there so that I can finally post them for you guys here.

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

As a sidenote: I didn't hear one mention of Sept. 11 here yesterday which seems kind of sad, like the whole world has forgotten already, but I guess life goes on and if it's not your own country that was effected maybe it's easy to forget? Do we, as Americans, do anything to remember the Boxing Day Tsunami? Or China's Earthquake? Or the anniversary of the start of the Genocide in Rwanda? When put in that context, I understand why yesterday was just another day here; there are enough tragedies that have happened in our world that we would probably have to have a rememberance day for some event every day of the year. But as an American yesterday/today home time is one of those days out of the year where I was personally effected in some way by the event so I take time out to remember and reflect on that tragedy. On the anniversary of the tsunami, earthquake, and start of the genocide people in other countries are remembering how they were effected then, and in a sense, even if it's not on the same day, we are all connected by our loss and by our hope for peace.

I am the Fire Starter

Last night we went over to Croc's parent's property for a big bonfire. I never realized how far back their land stretches. When we arrived, Croc and the Teacher loaded us in to an open topped trailer and pulled us behind their quad down to the back of the property where the bonfire was. It was huge! There was a10 foot tree that was still standing in the ground, but was dead as termites had built a huge nest inside that we could see, and that was the centerpiece of the bonfire. All around it were other huge chunks of wood that were alight, too. Beside Croc and the Teacher, it was all of Croc's family-his parents (who are super nice and super funny people) and his brother and sister (who are great as well) and their boyfriends and girlfriends, and then the Soccer Player and the Hairdresser.

Croc and Boyfriend were little fire bugs. Boyfriend had brought over some old fireworks and firecrackers he had lying around in his closet and he and Croc lit them off and shot them at Croc's brother. Croc surprised his brother and chased him so far across the backyard and even hit him with one shot from the firework! The other amusing thing the boys got their hands on last night was a cattle prod. The Soccer Player jolted Boyfriend twice with it and Croc's brother snuck up on him and gave him the biggest shock with it in retaliation for the fireworks. Boyfriend luckily had layers on so he said it didn't hurt super bad but Croc got prodded on his arm and it burnt him! The Teacher had a big night and had to head to bed early with Croc's help. After she went to bed Croc brought out the "goon sack" which is the bladder inside a box of wine. This boxed wine was port and we all took sips off the pouch. It was pretty white trash but was a lot of fun and even Croc's Mom had a few gulps off of it (but only after she had seen me do it)! Then as we were getting ready to leave, all the quads were being used up at the house so Croc had us hop in to his 4 wheel drive and gave us a tour of the back part of the property. We slammed through little trees and it was just like off roading. His brother came up on a quad with his girlfriend on his back and two friends in the open trailer and they ran in to the back of the car we were in. Then Croc put his foot to the floor and we were doing burn outs and racing through the backyard and seemed like we would crash in to one of the old dirt bike jumps or old dead cars they had back there, but we made it safe and sound to the house. It was just like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland and I was squealing and screaming and laughing the whole time!

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.