So let's just talk about how bored I've been lately. Of course, there's the occasional time that I spend with friends, but other than that I am at home watching TV, reading, on the computer... I need a new hobby.

I have never watched so much TLC in my life... "John and Kate Plus Eight", "What Not to Wear", "A Baby Story", "10 Years Younger"....

AGGHHH!

I need a job so bad. In the past I was always so self-motivated! Whenever I was like this I would do something about it and actually WORK. BLEEEEHH. I guess I need to stop feeling so apathetic, eh?

Well on the plus side, I finally found out who exactly the Jabbawockeez are. lol Thank goodness for "America's Best Dance Crew" marathons.

Let's see...
I have decided to TRY being a vegetarian. For those of you who know me well, you know I LOVE to eat, especially sushi and ribs and all of that good stuff. But I was disturbed by some of the ways that we GET our meat, and it kind of grossed me out. I'm not saying that this is totally permanent. Part of me doing it is out of concern for animals and part of me just wants to test myself... so if you see me with a chicken bone in my hand it just means I am too weak for this vegetarian thing!! It's only been about a week but I'm pretty darn proud of myself for showing some self control... cuz Lord knows I'm greedy!

OH yeah. Summer school starts on the 16th. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
B-b-but Summer just started :(

Last thing- I went to my dad's house yesterday and he showed us a Japanese film called "Death Note" (aka "Desu Noto" lol) and it was soooo cool! I recommend it. Fo sho.
Love, peace and chicken grease.

I am finally back in Oceanside!

*sigh* It feels so good to be back here. Most everything has gone just as I hoped it would:

1) Jai, Maddie, Brittany, Keisha and Cece picked me up from the Airport, which was TOTALLY unexpected. I have to admit, I shed a few tears when I saw them. On and off during my plane ride I would randomly start crying when I thought about all of the amazing people who I met at school and would probably never see again, and it seriously ate me up inside. But when I saw so many of my friends there at the airport, it made me realize that I have so many OTHER great people in my life. I may have lost a lot of friends but at the same time, reuniting with my old ones makes me that much more appreciative of what I have now.

2) I got some In-N-Out for the first time in a looonnng time. It's not like I go there all the time when I AM in the states, but it just reminded me that I was back in SoCal again.

3) The next day, I got some delicious sushi from Loveboat. The guys making sushi there are cRaZy! They were taking shots of sake every 10 minutes! lol It was hilarious, and the sushi was amazing, of course.

4) I got my eyebrows waxed...not really a big deal, but it was nice.

5) I saw Ironman. Maybe this sounds crazy to everyone else, but I had never even HEARD of Ironman. This was the very first time I have ever walked into the movie theater without ANY expectations about the movie. haha But it was reaalllly good.

6) I ate Panda Express. It has ALSO been a really long time since I've eaten there! I've been such a fatty for the past few days, but I really think I deserve to get my fix of all of these food

 I think I was talking to LQ about this, but a lot has also changed since I've been here:

1) GAS PRICES- since when were we past $4.00? WOW. I'm taking the sprinter everywhere I go

2) Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey? Really??

3) New $5.00 bill, much??

4) American Gladiator? Come on.

5) I already missed TWO seasons of America's Next Top Model? And they went to CHINA?

6) Hmmm. A new fire station in Oceanside... a new resort/hotel thing by the Regal..."no parking fire zones" in my neighborhood... something being built near lowes... a bunch of new structures near the beach... Oceanside is changing right before my eyes! This place is becoming more and more commercial. It was so weird seeing signs welcoming people to Oceanside and letting them know which places to go and what to do.

But as much as things have changed, so many things have stayed the same. My broken, dusty car is still sitting in  the driveway waiting to be "fixed," my little sister is still exactly the same as she was when I left, my older sister is still moody, my mom is still working her butt off and is still an amazing cook, my stepdad is still loud, my stepbrothers are still annoying, my friends are still crazy, the weather is still amazing, driving down the coast highway still puts me at ease with everything...
Some people would be disappointed to come back to a place where everything is more or less the same as it was when they left it, but I love my city just the way it is... and that's why I'm glad to be back in Oceanside again

Life is good.
I really have nothing to complain about right now. I'm almost done with this semester (home in less than 4 weeks!), I'm happy that Jason Castro and David Archuleta are still on American Idol (YES- I still watch American Idol via Youtube every week!), I am eating healthier (which is hard when all the fatty food in the cafeteria looks SO good), I found an apartment for next semester that's cheap, close to school and with my friends (<-----I AM SO HAPPY about this!), and I just had an AMAZING trip to a city in northern Spain called Santender!!

Okay, so some girls from my church and I went up to Santender last weekend to volunteer at this place where illegal Moroccan minors are living. Here's the thing- Spain is pretty much the "Promiseland" for these boys. They can see it from across the water, but it is so unattainable to them. So a lot of the ones who are under 18 sneak into trucks that are delivering goods to Spain through boats because once they get into Spain, they are officially property of the Spanish government. So they end up in these homes where they get a home, food and they get to go to school until their paperwork gets processed and they can legally live here for good. (All paid for by the Spanish govt. Amazing, eh? The states would NEVER do that)

Well the girls and I went and helped cook in the kitchen, fold clothes and such, but to tell you the truth, it didn't feel like I was helping at all (even though the guy in charge of everything, Juan Ma, told us we made a big difference). Instead, it seriously felt like we were just having a good time with the guys. They were hilarious! They taught us to breakdance, we went to the beach with them and played soccer, and we watched them fight and simply be boys. It's amazing how much fun they could have without any technology (besides music). I was wondering why some of them were so buff, but I realized it was probably because all they do is dance and play sports all day long. Makes me feel horrible for spending so much time on my laptop all day

Funny story- we wanted to do something nice for them the last night we were there, so that morning we went to the grocery store and bought ingredients to make pancakes for 40 people (for their dessert). We made chocolate chip pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. It was pretty sweet, if you ask me. And we had to flip pancakes for a good 2 hours and everything...and after we served them they ALL threw them away! I guess the Moroccan palate is a lot different from the American one, because I thought they tasted good!

So it was actually kind of sad and hard to leave because I feel like I bonded with so many of them over the weekend, and I can tell that they really enjoyed our company. The funny thing is that the Sunday before I left I went to a Brazilian church with this girl Lucy (it was SO cool- Imagine a southern Baptist church- in Portuguese) and the theme of the day was pretty much that we were put on Earth the be servants for the Lord. The preacher said that we can't always just receive, receive, and receive without giving anything back and expect to be rewarded in the end. It really struck me, and I realized that I haven't been doing much of anything to give back, and my excuse was that I don't speak Spanish and I can't just go out and find service projects. Well I guess I have to challenge myself more often because deep inside, I honestly don't think wasn't really trying.

Well then, toodles! I am going to sleep and get ready for a wonderful, rainy day tomorrow :/