Back to Blogging!

Aaaaahhhhh it's been so long since I've posted anything here! I didn't drop off the face of the earth though, I promise. SO MUCH has been happening in the past few weeks and I just haven't made myself sit down and write about it until now. Sigh.

Big news of my life as of now: I graduated college yesterday! YES! I battled my way through finals, papers, presentations and some rough days before graduation finally came. I was lucky enough to have several members of my extended family, and of course my mom, see me graduate yesterday morning and then had a little get together at my mom's house afterward. I graduated in the Coors Events Center on campus which is actually the same place I graduated from high school four and a half years ago! The winter ceremony is fairly small which is actually kind of nice, not having to deal with as many people. Last night I continued my celebrations with some friends downtown on Pearl St. which was so much fun!
Today, after recovering from last night's festivities, I did lots of driving around town (and a couple other towns too) trying to find the rest of the Christmas presents on my list. I walked around Pearl Street for a while this evening and it's so pretty and festive right now! And speaking of pretty and festive, Heidi and I had such a Christmassy adventure last weekend in Denver. We walked around Cherry Creek mall for a little while but by the time we were surrounded by people who brought their dogs to visit Santa we decided it was definitely time to go. Haha. So then we went over to the Denver Botanic Gardens because they have a REALLY COOL light show set up there for the holidays! You can walk all around the gardens and they have so many lights up on the trees and stuff and a couple of ice sculptures and there's a whole lot of hot chocolate to be had as well :-) Every time we get together it seems to turn into a really fun and extremely ridiculous photo shoot so that night was definitely no exception. So much fun!










Now that I've graduated I have a lot of things on my list of "to do's" which is good because my fear is that when I don't have to go to school or do homework and when I'm not at work I will just get bored very quickly. So I have a long list of books to read and possible hobbies to keep me occupied, plus right now I've got Christmas shopping and such to take up a lot of time but I'm also hoping to catch up with friends I haven't seen or talked to in a long time. This semester I very much failed at staying in touch with people or having a social life in general. So if you haven't heard from me in a while please accept my deepest apologies and also please call me up because I miss so many people right now! On my list of possible hobbies I have:

*try out slacklining
*ride my longboard more often
*catch up with old friends
*read tons of books for FUN
*start playing my violin again
*go running more often
*hiking
*taking pictures all over the place of all kinds of things
*start writing my Semester at Sea stories down so that I don't forget them as time goes on
*learn to use my new matboard cutter to frame my photos
*go on short, and long, road trips
*making hemp jewelry and tie dye

Hopefully these things will keep me busy for a few months at least! Hah. And as far as my future goes, which is of course the question I am asked most lately, I'm going to be taking it small chunks at a time. The first chunk is to work here in Boulder from now until May. The next chunk will be to pack up my car full of things I want with me for the next 4+ months and drive around the country for a week or two and end up in Wells, Maine where I will (hopefully) have a job and stay in some friends' garage and just enjoy the east coast for the summer. After that....I don't know! Haven't gotten things figured out yet beyond this summer but I'm okay with that. I'll find something great that will make me happy! In fact, I've recently gotten a lesson in being careful how far ahead you plan because often times things don't turn out how you were planning or hoping, so for now I'm taking my life a little bit at a time and trying not to have too many expectations (not to be confused with hopes, dreams, and goals which I definitely DO have!) so as to try to avoid too much disappointment. Disappointments and let-downs will inevitably come along, but when I can be open to surprises and changes of plans I think I might be happier in the long run.

I've also decided that I've got some pretty amazing friends. I got to celebrate my college graduation with some friends who I've known as far back as middle school. One of the fun things about doing college in the same city where I grew up! I'm so lucky to have friends that have stuck by me that many years and we can still not only stand to be around each other but we can still have a great time, tell our stories to one another and remember stories from our past. I also deeply appreciate my friends and family who have sent congratulations and encouragement as I finish this chapter of my life and move on to whatever it is I'll be moving on to now that college is over!

The Road

One of the few movies which does its' book justice! I highly recommend the book and the movie

What a morning

I had to work at 8 this morning so I woke up at 6 and actually saw a sunrise for the first time in months! Haha. It was gorgeous! I saw what I was missing out on by waking up after the sun's already up. My body is in shock from getting up so early but I think it's also in shock because I've had 3 cups of coffee already...not a good decision! I'm shaking and WAY too awake right now. Yikes! It's going to be an interesting day, but I'm glad it started with a pretty sunrise. It made me think about how I should do things out of my normal routine more often, like wake up early and watch the sun come up! I must work on that.

Ha!

On a lighter note, I just saw this movie. And it made me laugh. Thought it was great!

We Can Do Better Than This, America!

In all honesty I'm a little infuriated right now. I'm reading Jonathan Kozol's book Savage Inequalities for my School and Society class and although the book was written in 1990 and some pretty outdated numbers and statistics, the underlying problem Kozol talks about is so unbelievably, tragically, relevant today that it makes me sad. Kozol writes about his visits to some of the country's crappiest schools. What I get from his book is that this country should be humiliated at how we treat our poorest citizens. I also recently watched the movie Sicko. All feelings toward Michael Moore aside, the movie makes you think. While other countries allow their citizens to enjoy free health care we let the rich buy the best their money can buy and let the poor suffer and die. The school system is the same. One difference is that the education system is, in theory, free for every citizen. The problem is that just like health care the rich go around buying their ridiculously high-quality medical care and education while the poor have to suffer with the lowest of the low "leftovers" and the elite say to them "well hey you ARE getting it for free...don't you love your freedom?" What good is a free education if it leaves you worlds behind academically, financially, and in every other way?

I can't imagine the education or health care system will ever fall into a utopian "free and good quality for all" because there seems to be a mindset among those who have the wealth that they have lots of money and that ought to buy them something better than those who don't have as much money. Otherwise what's the point in having all this money if it doesn't do something good for you? From a structural functional point of view this is true. In order for some people to have cushy fanciful lives, someone else has to suffer through a life of mediocrity. If we all received the same health care, education, life chances no one would be motivated to do better, right? Maybe, but in the meantime the difference in quality of life in this wonderful country full of freedom and opportunity between the rich and the poor is literally as big as it has ever been. Even if some people get a better education than others (this seems inevitable) shouldn't those getting the short end of the stick at the very least get an adequate education? Shouldn't a sick person at least get immediate medical attention before we ask how or if they can pay for it?





" 'You can have more crayons; or you can be given a real teacher; or you can have a bunsen burner someday in a high school science laboratory. But you cannot have all three. You'll have to choose.' One would never have thought that children in America would ever have to choose between a teacher or a playground or sufficient toilet paper. Like grain in a time of famine, the immense resources which the nation does in fact possess go not to the child in the greatest need but to the child of the highest bidder" -Jonathan Kozol

Things to come

Just bought my graduation cap and tassel!

I'm graduating soon!!! The end of college is upon me, and I'm ready! 45 days until graduation and counting...

Hard to believe it's already November. I LOVE the holiday season so I'm excited for all that, plus my graduation. Lots of exciting things are coming up :-)

Heidi and I went to Elitches for Halloween, I was princess Jasmine and I made Heidi dress up as Minnie Mouse. She was reluctant at first, but I convinced her that it was more fun that way and she eventually decided I was right! Haha. I also made her go on the free-fall bungee jump-type ride which was awesome! So much fun. A great Halloween.

Heidi and I at Elitches on Halloween

Twister II with sunset in the background

Oh, Snow!

The alley behind my apartment

It seems to be winter now...we're having quite the blizzard today! CU even closed down for the day, which almost never happens! All other schools in Boulder were closed all day long but it took CU until 2pm to figure out that the weather is NOT GOOD. It's good news for me because I get to skip work today! Yay snow! So far I don't mind the snow, I'm sure I'll get tired of it eventually but so far it's ok.

There's One In All of Us :-)

SUCH a cute movie!!!

Fall meets Winter

We got a few inches of snow last night and today! It was such a beautiful day that I had to go around Boulder taking pictures, like a good photography nerd. I went up to Chautauqua, the cemetery nearby, and drove a little ways into Boulder Canyon. The contrast between the colorful leaves suggesting fall, and the snow suggesting winter was great!

The cemetery I visited to take a few pictures is so pretty and it's got some great old trees. I used to play in the leaves there when I was a kid. Is it weird to have great childhood memories of playing in a cemetery? I find cemeteries kind of peaceful actually. I don't visit them too often but when I do, especially when they're in a really pretty setting, it's kind of nice. I remember playing in the trees and jumping into piles of leaves, and I'm not sure I've been back to that cemetery since I was a kid so it definitely reminded of of those days. I was also reminded of how beautiful Colorado is! Sometimes I get so busy in my life that I forget to look up at the mountains that are right in front of me and just stare at them for a minute. I was glad I took some time to do that today!

More pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2437595&id=10220358&l=9c76d2bc1e

Welcome to Colorado!

We had our first real snow of the season today. It's pretty early for snow but this was legit, big, fat snowflakes coming down hard and accumulating on the ground! There was maybe half an inch of snow on my car which I had to clean off!

The first snow in Boulder always makes me laugh because I am usually on campus and this year was no exception for viewing the hilarity of the out-of-state freshmen (and some of the out-of-state nonfreshmen who seem to have memories which fail them this time of year) walking around campus in their shorts, mini skirts, flip flops, and every long-sleeved item of clothing they own and donning a look of shock, cold, and confusion on their faces as to why this crazy state of Colorado has snow in early October! They'll all show up to school next week wearing their new winter coats and boots they will buy this weekend once they realize they're in Colorado, which can have snow at nearly any time of year.

Highlights

Highlights of my life lately:
-last weekend Kira and I went for an awesome drive into the mountains with our cameras. We drove on Highway 7 through Allenspark and stopped at St. Malo church to take picture because it's such a pretty area and a very cool looking building. Then we kept going toward Estes Park and right before we got into town we found a herd of elk! 1 male and 30 females, and then 3 other males off to the side which I guess the other male had run off. It's just about mating season so they were bugling which was cool to hear! It was a fun adventure of a day and made for some great pictures!

-Apparently the guy who lived in Katie and my apartment before us did not pay his energy bills so the power company shut off our electricity :-( sad day. So Katie got to deal with all that yesterday while I was at school and then today I called them back since we still had no power this morning...eventually about 24 hours after they shut it off, we finally got our power back on. You kind of don't think about how much relies on electricity until it's gone! I kept flipping the light switch out of habit, forgetting it would do nothing. Sigh. But we got it all worked out fortunately! Ah the joys of renting an apartment.

-The first round of papers and tests have been going on this week and last week so that's keeping me awesomely busy. Haha. I'm just about finished with all that for now though, until the next round which will probably be in early November. I want to graduate already!!!! aaaahhh.

-I've been trying to come up with some "hobbies" I could have after I graduate because it occurred to me that my life won't be filled with reading textbooks and writing papers and studying for tests anymore!! Wow! So I hope I don't get too bored, after all I've been going to school for the last 18 years of my life...it's pretty much all I know myself as: "student". But because of this realization it's led to me thinking "what am I good at?!" and I decided that I should start playing my violin again. I started playing when I was 6 years old but I haven't played much at all since I started college. So...I've started playing every once in a while which turns out is a little tricky after not playing for 4 years but I do surprisingly remember quite a lot of songs. I guess it's sort of like riding a bike! I've lost a lot of my ability to read notes though so I'm hoping to find someone to take lessons from after I graduate so I can get better! What I'd really love to do eventually is join some kind of group because I love playing with other people, I love the sound of me playing my violin surrounded by others playing violins around me. Good stuff. I miss that! I also want to start taking tons more pictures, read books FOR FUN, and go hiking and running more. Hopefully that, and work, will keep me occupied most of the time leaving time for having a social life as well.

Current Songs I love: All My Days by Alexi Murdoch, Opportunity by Pete Murray

Last movie I saw: got Away We Go on netflix the other day, it was SO good and so cute and funny! I highly recommend it.

Book I've been trying to finish reading for over a month: Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer


Inside St. Malo


St. Malo - what a beautiful place for a church!


Elk near Estes Park

Too Much Technology!!!

I work in a parking garage as a work-study job while I'm in school. Not the most glamorous job but I get paid to do very little work which is great for college. I can do my homework, watch movies, and there's wireless internet in the garage so it's nice. As customers leave the parking garage they pay me for parking, so I see a lot of people every day. Most are nice, some are mean (then again, parking is shockingly expensive so I guess I'd be mad too but still...it's not MY fault! haha) but I've noticed that increasingly there are so many people on their cell phones as they leave. Some people don't even acknowledge me they just shove money at me and drive away. Today an SUV drove up and there was a woman who had headphones on and she was talking on the phone and the guy in the passenger's seat was listening to his ipod with headphones in. The two sitting there in their SUV with no acknowledgment of me or of each other struck me as a little funny and very sad. Scary how cut off from each other we all are. Sometimes I notice the same thing when I'm riding the bus. Almost everyone, or at least the ones under 30, have headphones in or they're on their cell phone. No one talks to each other anymore. You can't just strike up a conversation with a stranger, they'll look at you like you're crazy. How strange society has become. Also, the other day I was in a coffee shop and there was a man sitting in the corner, talking to himself. Whenever someone would walk by he'd say "hello what's your name?" Not one person told him their name. One woman awkwardly turned around, looked at him, said "oh, uh, hi..." and walked away. He came up to me and asked me my name. I told him, then I asked his name. His name was Charlie. He smiled at me and then walked away. He wasn't doing any harm, didn't ask for money or anything, just being friendly. Maybe he had some kind of mental disorder going on but hey, there's no reason to be ignoring him. I had that simple little interaction with a random stranger and it was nice. I met someone new. How often do we meet someone new just on the street or on the bus or in a coffee shop anymore? We just cut ourselves off from everyone around us. I do it too. Sometimes I have my headphones in when riding the bus home or walking to class on campus. Sometimes I will consciously leave my ipod at home just to leave myself open to any random conversations or interactions that might happen along my way.

Well anyways that's my random thought for the day. Last weekend was a fun one. Friday night I met Kira at a place near my apartment that has all kinds of awesome tea and I tried bubble tea for the first time - quite an experience! It's not your average tea but it was pretty good once I got used to the tapioca balls at the bottom of the cup, haha! Saturday I drove up to Fort Collins for a "sustainable living fair" which was pretty cool, and then Sunday I went to the Journey of Hope concert/benefit thing at Red Rocks, also very fun. Greg Mortenson, the author of Three Cups of Tea spoke at the event, as well as a bunch of other people, and there was music, and tea...all kinds of good stuff. It was cool, and definitely made me want to go out and help people around the world! Hopefully someday I can get to the point where I can do some traveling and helping of others.

This week I've started to feel kind of sick so that's unfortunate...and the weather is getting much cooler (it snowed a tiny bit yesterday...what?! It's September!) so it definitely feels like fall. I'm ok with that though. The summer was too hot...I'm ready for cooler weather.

The Next Steps

Unfortunately the reason I haven't posted a blog in a while is that there really isn't that much going on in my life right now. Well, there are always things going on but I couldn't think of things to write about.

I'm going on my fourth week of school for this last semester of college. The time's flying by! And good thing because I'm starting to get restless with being in college. My classes, though, I love. My School and Society class is my favorite. It's really interesting and I find myself being able to speak in class during discussions which I don't normally do in class. I actually have an intense dislike for speaking in class and have never found a way to remedy it. I've had professors assume that if you're not speaking during class discussions, you must not be engaged and you are therefore not learning. On the contrary! I enjoy sitting back and listening to what people say. Plus, just because I'm not saying anything doesn't mean I don't have opinions. I'm not a generally outspoken person but I'm fairly strongly opinionated, at least with things I am passionate about. When it comes to education I feel knowledgeable enough to participate in discussions and I feel like I have something to add to the discussion. I mean really, shouldn't we all have opinions about education? We all went to school. Seems like education should be something everyone can discuss, and it is indeed something everyone SHOULD discuss if we are going to help each new generation of children become educated, intelligent, thoughtful, and caring adults.

Anyways, although I'm enjoying my classes, the overall atmosphere of college seems to be fading away from the image I have of myself. I'm ready to graduate, but never ready to stop learning!! :-) I know certain family members of mine that would be proud to hear me say that.

What comes after graduation? I've decided to work for a while to try and pay off some student loans before I pursue other things like travel, grad school, or anything else that comes along. After graduation I will work in Boulder for a few months to save up some money and enjoy the awesomeness that is Boulder in the spring, then the tentative plan is to try out a new place and new people for a while and see how I like it! The place of choice is Portland, Maine. I hope to move sometime late spring. It's not a set plan yet but the way I figure it, it doesn't really matter where I live as long as I can make some money, have some adventures, and live my life and enjoy it! Maine is a beautiful place, I have some great friends there, and the East Coast has always captured my interest with the friendly people, beautiful landscape and the closeness of so many exciting places! Hopefully it will work out to try out Maine for a while and see how it fits for me! It seems like things in my life have been coming along at just the right time. Part of it is just a matter of having dreams and goals but knowing when to pursue them. I knew I couldn't leave Boulder for college because not only could I not afford to go out of state but I also wasn't ready to leave Boulder yet. I took my time through college and I am graduating a semester "late" because I could tell I wasn't quite ready to be done with college last May when most of my friends graduated, and now I can tell that I'm ready to move on to the next stage of my life and put the college experience to rest along with all the other awesome experiences my life has brought already.

I Have Exceptionally Cool Friends

For example, this friend dresses like she's going to her 1985 prom!

So I went to a murder mystery in Gold Hill last night. So much fun! You're supposed to get dressed up and get really into it and Kira wasted no time finding the most amazing turquoise dress and matching boots! Everyone there had awesome outfits. Mine wasn't QUITE as exciting because I had to work yesterday and didn't have time to go thrift-store shopping but I still had a great time. We got a delicious dinner and solved a double murder. My team won so we got Gold Hill Inn T shirts! So overall a very successful night :-)

I also got a postcard from a friend who was recently in Thailand! I LOVE getting postcards from exciting (or even boring) places! Thailand definitely sounds SO exciting! And I am lucky enough to have amazing friends all over the place. I'm particularly missing the ones in Maine lately, but EVERY ONE of my friends is exceptionally cool and I love them all!

Today I have the day off from everything (work, school, internshipping...) and I'm very excited about it! I think I'm going to bake cookies this afternoon.

Sending you all lots of love!!!

Support in Figuring Out my Life

Best conversation of the week:
I was talking to my mom last night about my graduating in December and I said "I hope you're not disappointed but I'm not going to be one of those people who graduates college with 5 job offers, picks one and gets dressed up and carries a briefcase to work and makes lots of money..."
...and my mom said "I'd be disappointed if you were one of those people "
:-) I love my mommy!

Also this week:
Went for a hike/adventure on Sunday at Chautauqua with Paras. We got a little lost but decided to explore. We found a great view of Boulder from one of the flatirons and then re-found the trail. It threatened to rain but mostly didn't so it was a successful and fun hike!

Me above Boulder at Chautauqua on Sunday

SUCH a pretty sunset last night. The sun was red!! Possibly due to the fires in California. Boulder has been a little hazy today.

One Year Ago Today...

Me at the airport, on my way to see the world, one year ago!

A year ago today I began my journey around the world with Semester at Sea! I can't believe it's been a year. What an amazing experience that was, and I'm still in a bit of disbelief that it all happened. I am so lucky and eternally grateful to have had that opportunity.

My blog that I wrote as I was traveling: http://jturcios.blogspot.com/


Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa

Me and the SAS ship in Yokohama, Japan

Catching up

Me on the La Luz trail in the Sandias!


My very long, boring journey from Boulder to Albuquerque

I've failed at typing out the happenings of my life this past week and a half or so! Let's see if we can get caught up:

I took a little road trip to Albuquerque on the 19th to visit friends out there. Got to see Michael (how strange to discover that I would miss him after not seeing him all summer!) and a bunch of other awesome people from Sonlight!! The drive to and from was quite boring with the exception of getting to talk to Scott on the phone for a few minutes while I was in the midst of a detour off the interstate! Haha. But actually despite the boring scenery of southern CO and northern NM I enjoyed just having some time to myself to drive with good music playing, it's kind of relaxing in a weird way. Would have been a little more enjoyable though if the air conditioning in my car worked better! Oh well.

Things accomplished while in New Mexico:
-hiked La Luz trail in the Sandia mountains
-visited the very silly little town of Socorro and New Mexico Tech
-met a lot of NMT nerds!
-saw (500) Days of Summer and Inglorious Basterds
-had sushi with Michael and Lindsay and Michael's friends
-visited UNM and Nob Hill and ate at Frontier
-went to the Albuquerque zoo
-enjoyed the awesome New Mexico sunsets
-discovered that New Mexico is too hot and dry in August

So I drove home from Abq on the 23rd and then started school the next day! Woooo. So summer has come to an end and I have begun my very last semester of college! I am taking Abnormal Psychology, School and Society, and Primate Behavior plus an internship at Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice. In addition to all that I've got work and homework and trying to have a social life as well! So it will be a busy semester. I started my internship on Wednesday and I'm not sure how it's going to be yet. I have a hard time figuring out what it is they really do there at this point. They worked on shutting down Rocky Flatts back in the 1980s, and they have a lot of events and fundraisers now but it seems like the same people are coming to all their events so in a way it's a kind of "preaching to the choir" situation in which they bring up issues and discuss them but are not bringing in new people or tackling any new projects. The organization seems a little outdated but they've got their hearts in the right place as far as aiming for nonviolent social change, I just hope it's something I can apply to the classroom aspect of my internship because I need to write papers about issues relating to my internship and I'm not sure what those would bet yet. I am also worried that the whole internship and class experience for credit is going to be difficult to pull off because the goal seems to be to set me up for a career in a field relating to my internship or in sociology. It's not that I don't want to work for peace and justice or something relating to my degree in sociology after I graduate, but I'm not sure this internship is exactly something I want to use as a foot in the door for anything at this point in my life.

As you can see my future is taking over my thoughts lately. That's to be expected I suppose at the end of my college career but with the pressure of constantly being asked what I plan to do with my Sociology degree, and my continual uncertainty about the answer to that it's hard not to let it stress me out. I am pretty confident in who I am and knowing that I am not meant to hold an average, steady, well-paying job sitting in a cubicle or anything like that and I have many hopes and ambitions for my life but most of them include things like "maybe someday going to grad school" "living in a different country" "traveling" "taking photos" and "doing something to help people" and those are not things that you need an internship to be prepared for. I'd like to let life take me where it will and enjoy things in the meantime but it seems that everyone around me is choosing the more conventional path and it makes me worried that I won't be motivated enough to make things happen for me the way I want them to or that I won't be able to fund my vague ambitions of travel and such. I will also have a pile of student loans to pay off after I graduate so that will be another adventure to figure out. BUT at the same time, I'm pretty happy with my life at the moment and I try not to worry too much about what's going to happen in the future because whatever it is I'm sure it's going to be great!

Birthdays and Thank-Yous

Yesterday the family had a birthday party of my cousin's daughter who will be turning 6 soon. We had homemade ice cream and cake and presents and bubbles!

I was reminded today of the importance of expressing appreciation for people who make a difference in your life. With the recent death of someone who touched my life in a very positive way, I thought back and wished I had thanked him more for what he has done for me. I hope he knows! Don't forget to tell people how much they mean to you and thank them all the time for making a positive impact on your life, no matter how small a thing they have done for you!

Concert videos!

Kings of Leon

It's way too hot in Boulder. Today is supposed to be 94. Bleh. Yesterday I went to Elitches and it was really fun but so so ridiculously hot. Sigh. I think I'm ready for fall. Not so much winter yet...but fall will be ok :-) I'm pretty much ready for school to start back up as well. I'm enjoying not needing to do much but sometimes I get bored.

I finally got my furniture for my room last week! So I'm completely moved in now. Whew. Katie and I even got/made some chairs to match our kitchen, so it looks awesome and we've even been using our pink oven! Last night we had some people over and we baked a cake in it pretty successfully.

Sunday was the Kings of Leon concert at Red Rocks. Amazing!! So much fun. It was raining in Denver during the concert and we could see the lightening all night in the background, very cool. Red Rocks is definitely my favorite place to see a concert. I've seen KOL, Iron & Wine, Flight of the Conchords, and Dave Matthews perform there. It's just beautiful up there.

Tonight Kira is coming over for a dinner party!

We drank wine on the hood of my car outside before the concert, because we're very classy :-)

Rain storm moving toward Denver. Our seats weren't that great but it was a TON of fun!

Red Rocks lit up during the concert

50s theme

Fully furnished living room complete with James Dean and some flamingos!

New kitchen table!

New kitchen table with checkered legs! I LOVE IT!!!! I've decided our apartment is developing a 50s theme, the checkered table legs, the retro pink stove, plus we've got James Dean in the living room! It was a great decade. Well not that I was there, but I hear it was a great decade. Lots of cool things came out of the 1950s! Tomorrow my furniture arrives (and when I say arrives, I mean I'll be moving it in with a U Haul van in the 100 degree heat) which means our apartment will finally be complete! (minus some chairs to go with our awesome table but oh well who needs chairs anyways)

So I went to Water World today which was perfect because it was ridiculously hot today. Eeek! That was very fun. Lots of children everywhere of course and people with silly tan lines and unfortunate bathing suits, but hey, that's ok! I hadn't been there since I was probably 14 years old. I had a great time.

*peace and love*

New Apartment

Scarcely furnished living room...we have a little more furniture now though

Our new kitchen, with PINK stove!!! :-)

Katie and I moved into our new apartment yesterday! I couldn't get a truck though so I don't have any of my furniture, just everything else. My furniture comes on Wednesday...so I'm sleeping on the couch tonight, since I have no bed! Haha. That's ok though. We went around to thrift stores and Target in search of shelves and furniture and anything else we could find. We got some good stuff. We're still looking for a kitchen table and chairs...if anyone knows of a good table and chair set let me know!

Sooo we put together lots of shelves and stuff this afternoon and now we're enjoying pizza and Benny & Joon! :-)
*peace and love*

Saw a moose today!!!

Yeah, the highlight of my day was seeing a MOOSE! I'd never seen one before and I've always wanted to! It was SO COOL. My mom and I were up in Rocky Mountain National Park near Grand Lake and there was a big crowd of people on the side of the road...well they were all over the road really, blocking traffic and such so we knew it must be something good. And there it was, as if someone had paid it to stand there and pose, a moose! So naturally we pulled over and acted like all the other obnoxious tourists, blocking traffic and taking pictures. Fortunately none of the really stupid tourists were there to wander too close to it or make loud noises and scare it off. We all just kind of stood there in silence in the middle of the road watching it. Today we also saw lots of deer, elk, and an Osprey sitting in its nest. It was a good day for wildlife viewing!

Tomorrow I'm moving into my new apartment!!!! SO excited!

Also, my new favorite song is Eddie Vedder's version of "Hard Sun". It's from the Into The Wild soundtrack. It just makes me think of some epic journey... here's a link to listen to the song if you're interested! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvYLZ-aLSXE

*peace and love*

Travel!

I found "The 50 Most Inspiring Travel Quotes of All Time" compiled by Tim Patterson. Here are a few that I found particularly awesome:

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” -Jack Kerouac

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” -Mark Twain

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” -Lin Yutang

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” -Henry Miller

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” -Martin Buber

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” -Jawaharial Nehru

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” -Bill Bryson

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” -Mark Twain

“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” -Maya Angelou

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” -Mark Jenkins

Back in Boulder

My three weeks at Sonlight went by so fast! I'm back home in Boulder now, I drove home through many rain storms on Sunday afternoon. It seems to be rainy season in Colorado right now. We had a really intense thunderstorm yesterday evening, complete with an impressive rainbow afterward!

So I was on staff for the first two weeks that I was at camp and then last week I was a counselor for high school kids. SUCH a fun week!! Those kids are amazing. The weekend before last the whole staff went to the movie theater in Pagosa to see the new Harry Potter movie! I thought it was pretty good. It's been a while since I've read the book so I had forgotten what happened in this one. Some people who had just read the book were disappointed by the movie but I say it was good. Hah. Who knows. That was fun though! And for the past couple weekends I've been taking my longboard into town and learning to ride it! I've had it for a year now and I'm just now getting the hang of it. Last weekend we also convinced Nate to buy one so he and Dani and I all rode around Durango on our longboards, it was such a nice relaxing day off. I loved it!

So now I'm back in Boulder, trying to earn some money until I start back to work regularly at the end of August. I'm just working every once in a while at the parking garage when someone needs a day off and it's not getting me much money so it will be good when the semester starts to have regular paychecks again. At the end of this week Katie and I will be moving into our new apartment which I'm super excited about!! It's going to be awesome to have a home again after a summer of nomadic wandering and living out of suitcases, haha.

My last semester of college begins August 24. I can't believe it's almost over. Weird! I'm going to be taking three classes: Primate Behavior, School and Society, and Abnormal Psychology, and I've got an internship with Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice. Hopefully it won't be too stressful of a semester, I've only got 3 classes and they're only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'll be working a lot, trying to save up some money and pay bills, but I'm hoping to also have some relaxing time!!

"What are you doing after you graduate?" I am hearing this a lot lately, and the answer is "I have no idea!" I think I'll be a bum for a couple months, hopefully traveling if I can save up some money this fall, I'm hoping to go to Spain and visit some friends who will be studying abroad there sometime in the spring, maybe see more of Europe as well since I haven't been there at all yet, or maybe travel around North America for a little while, maybe keep working at the parking garage until I can find a better paying job. I don't intend to make cashiering my post-college career :-) I've thought about grad school in another country, just for the heck of it, to have an adventure! Or maybe just living and working in another country for a while...endless possibilities, really, which is kind of exciting to be at that point in my life where I can go and do literally anything I want without any responsibilities. I'll have college loans to start paying off next year but for now...I plan to embrace my freedom to have no plan! Who knows what the future holds. I'd like to do something involving photography, saving the world, traveling...any combination of those things. If anyone's got suggestions please send them my way!

As I've said before I'm hoping to take a little drive out to Albuquerque next month if I can get enough money scraped together. I've got lots of friends out there and I'd love to visit them for a few days!

Well that's all for now. I'm back in Boulder, like I said, so if you're in the area let me know and we'll hang out because I've got a lot of time and nothing to do until school starts back up! Or if you know a way for me to earn a little money, also let me know.

*Peace*

Me, and high school campers on their first day!

Messy games with high schoolers: getting attacked with water balloons! :-) Luckily I had a hard hat, haha

Me learning to ride my longboard in the Malt Shop parking lot, with Nate and Lindsey watching

Nate riding my longboard, with his short shorts and sombrero...haha

Rainbow yesterday evening after a huge thunder/rain storm!

Tractor!

Highlight of my day: I got to learn how to drive a tractor!!! :-)

Siesta time

Currently at camp:
-it is very hot!
-I am listening to: Love Song of the Buzzard by Iron & Wine
-I am drinking: a Cherry Coke
-I am in: the staff room
-I just: took a shower for the first time in several days, yay!!!

It's Monday afternoon, the kids are doing teams' course right now and since I'm on staff, and worked my ass off all morning and part of the afternoon, Brett has rewarded me and the other (like 3) staff members with a little siesta time! :-) I'm working on staff this week which is a really great chance to see all the kids but have some time to relax in the evenings and prepare for next week when I'll be a counselor for high school kids! On staff I've been washing tons of dishes, doing camp laundry, building campfires (with the help of Lindsey and Todd, because I'm not much of a fire builder on my own BUT I'm learning!) and all sorts of random other things. It's pretty much nonstop work all day and then a few hours in the evening to relax/play games with kids.

Last Saturday was our day off from camp so a bunch of us headed to Durango and had a great time! We went shopping, wandered around town, and hung out in the park longboarding and playing frisbee and such, and then went out for dinner, buying Andrew a birthday drink, as he just turned 21! It was a really fun day off and I also got to catch up on my sleep. This week we have 7th and 8th graders at camp and they're awesome! And I can't wait for high schoolers next week!

Tonight we're having a burger cookout with the campers, which means veggie burgers for me! Yum!

Amber and I enjoying our chai at the Steaming Bean in Durango!

Liesl, Lindsey, Andrea, Natalie, Amber at Steaming Bean!

Lindsey, Andrew, Andrea having a "gangsta" moment in the park hahaha

Busy!!!!

A view along my drive from Boulder to Pagosa!

WHAT a busy week!! I drove up to Sonlight on Sunday morning to get here by 2 and be ready to help out when the rental group gets here. So I'm here at camp now, working on support staff which means lots of dishes, cleaning, cutting and hauling wood for the winter, helping out in the kitchen and other exciting things! I've also acquired a cough and cold in addition to my seasonal allergies so I've been sort of a useless bum for a couple days while trying to survive that. Today I'm starting to feel better though so I got to do some hard work this morning before breakfast. I helped move wood and bales of hay. I just had the best shower of my life after all that dirty and dusty work! Hah.

I've also really gotten to know more people on the staff here. What an amazing group of people. I was afraid it would be hard to come and go this summer instead of being here the whole time, both for my to fit in as well as a fear that I would disturb pre-existing community already built among the staff but they make me feel like part of the family and I'm so grateful! I'm having a great time being behind the scenes this week with our rental group, who is from Texas so that's been pretty hilarious :-) Ohhhh Texas. Lots of accents, "yall"s and country music. But they're really fun so it's great. Next week I think I'll be on staff again which will be a great opportunity to rest up and get myself ready to be a counselor for high school kids the week after that! Then I head home for the rest of the summer.

I can't believe how fast this summer has gone by. Aaagh! Ridiculous. It's been full of super fun things though!

Well I've kind of failed at taking pictures and posting blogs this week so hopefully I can get better at that and keep up. I really want to be taking more photos.

More to come soon!
*Peace and Love*

Some Random Thoughts and Poetry for the Day:

I was reminded this morning of the awesomeness of the poetry by Robert Service (thanks Scott!)

My grandpa used to recite Service's poems all the time when I was growing up. His favorite was "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and it always made me laugh. Here's a little portion of Sam McGee:

...I do not know how long in the snow
I wrestled with grisly fear;
But the stars came out and they danced about
Ere again I ventured near;
I was sick with dread, but I bravely said:
"I'll just take a peep inside.
I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked"; . . .
Then the door I opened wide.

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm,
In the heart of the furnace roar;
And he wore a smile you could see a mile,
And he said: "Please close that door.
It's fine in here, but I greatly fear
You'll let in the cold and storm --
Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee,
It's the first time I've been warm."

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

I'm not normally much for poetry, but I revisited some of Service's poems and not only did it bring back great memories of my grandpa but it also led me to the conclusion that Service has really good descriptions of nature and slightly "quirky" people, both of which reminds me of some places and people I know! My grandpa's favorite was probably The Cremation of Sam McGee, but I love "Men of the High North" because I always figured it was written about my grandpa! :-)

...Men of the High North, fierce mountains love you;
Proud rivers leap when you ride on their breast.
See, the austere sky, pensive above you,
Dons all her jewels to smile on your rest.
Children of Freedom, scornful of frontiers,
We who are weaklings honor your worth.
Lords of the wilderness, Princes of Pioneers,
Let's have a rouse that will ring round the earth.

My Grandpa, on a mountain above Sitka, Alaska