Day: March 20, 2012

Raining in Southern California

thehungryrunnergirl1 Comment

It rained this weekend!

It rarely rains in California, but this weekend it was just a downpour. I woke up to the sound of rain and clouds that were very gloomy.

According to the National Weather Service, it dropped 0.59 inches of rain in Los Angeles. Santa Ana and Orange County lost power and in L.A County, the winds blew the Paco’s Tacos sign on Manchester Avenue. In the mountain areas, they got a few inches of snow where Mammoth mountain got 18-22 inches of snow.

On Saturday, both boys and girls lacrosse game got cancelled, which I wanted to go watch, so I had nothing to do. I couldn’t sit still so I started to play lacrosse in the rain with my friends.

I was wearing shorts but I forgot about how cold it was and I enjoyed playing in the rain. It was so much fun.

I wish it rained more in Southern California.

The Dailey Method

yrreskrap1 Comment

With summer (and graduation) just around the corner, I have been trying to get fit. My goal is to lose about 5 pounds and get muscle tone.

Well, this weekend was a good step towards achieving my goal.

This morning, I went to the Dailey Method in Santa Barbara with my friend Emmy for the first time. I thought this class would be a breeze but boy was I wrong.

The Dailey Method kicked my butt (or, if i wanted to use proper Dailey Method terminology, it had kicked my seat).

The Dailey Method is a system that combines barre, core, yoga, and orthopedic exercises. There are multiple Dailey Method locations all around America, although many are concentrated in California.

What drew me to the Dailey Method was the way it toned your body to keep it in alignment. I have scoliosis in my upper and lower back that often makes me very tense. The end result of this tough workout was, surprisingly, a more relaxed body. My back feels great and I am not sore at all.

I only wish that they had a location in Boston, where I hope to go to college. For now, I will try to go to as many classes as I can!

Please check out the website: http://www.thedaileymethod.com/index.html

And the video:

The Snow

venturatrekerLeave a comment


Today it snowed. One of the great things about living in Ventura is that I can bet at the beach and then less than an hour later I can be in the snow.  After just one storm the upper Ojai area above the 33 highway was blanketed in snow.

We drove to Pine Mountain and went hiking through the winter wonderland.  Although there was only about an inch of snow on the ground it was still wonderful.

After messing around for a while we went down to Rose Valley and did the Boney Beaner cave.  I have been doing that hike since kindergarten but doing it in the snow is just such a different experience. Going under that waterfall and feeling the biting cold is crazy!

The Pint sized builder.

frog3Leave a comment

Body Building is considered an extreme sport where one must train for hundreds of hours to achieve a muscular physique. For those body builders that can rise to the top there is one event that they must compete in, the Mr. Universe competition.

There is one who was able to conquer his overwhelming poverty and his puny size to rise to the top. His name is Manohar Aich, although to some he is known as “ Pocket Hercules “. Standing at 4’11 , Manohar was born in Bangladesh a region known for its poverty.

These obstacles did not stop Manohar Aich. Around the age of 12 Manohar came under attack from black fever. To regain his health he began exercising doing thousand of repetitions for a single exercise.

His efforts did not stop their and by his early 30s people were commenting on his muscular physique. By age 37 the puny Manohar Aich was able to win the Mr. Universe competition. No one his size has since been able to replicate his feat.

The first time for everything

venturatreker1 Comment


This week we played our first game, we lost.  Now that that’s out of the way I can talk about all the good things that happened.

Firstly we showed up at Viewpoint School and were directed where to park by PARKING ATTENDANTS.  We finally get to the field to be greeted by 30 lacrosse players and a beautiful turf field.  For the 12 OVS spuds it was quite intimidating.

One person said to me as we were walking up, “oh wow they have enough players to sub every five seconds!!!”

Yet we went out there and played, and for more than half our team it was the very first lacrosse game they have ever played in.  Talk about shell shock, your either going at 110% or standing still.  It is incredibly fast paced and very intimidating to people who have never played before.

Sometimes I think we should be the stubborn spuds and not just the spuds.  Down by almost ten in the first half, we had nothing to lose.  Exhausted and on edge we squared our shoulders and started the second half zero to zero in our heads.  By the end of the third quarter we were up 3-0.

Although we lost we came together as a team learned a lot, and definitely left them some bruises to think about.

College, College, College

rangerthecat1 Comment

Remember back in December/January when I posted a nice little blog about waiting for colleges to respond back to applications?

Well, finally, the waiting is over! (Most of it, at least).

Last Wednesday, I was sitting with a few friends when I looked to see I had a text message on my phone. It was from my Mom, so I wasn’t expecting anything super mind-blowing.

But instead, I open it and immediately start freaking out. She told me that Cal Lutheran had sent a letter to my house addressed to “Accepted Student” and asked if she could open it. Of course I said yes, called her, and she read me the letter. It said I had been accepted and that they were offering me a $15 thousand scholarship. I was so excited I even asked her to send me a picture of the letter.

Cal Lutheran wasn’t a school I was absolutely dying to go to, but getting that acceptance made me feel just that much more secure. I felt like I didn’t have to worry as much, and that I could relax for the rest of my college admissions (or rejections).

When I returned to school from the honors ski trip, I checked my mail box, and surprisingly there were two more letters waiting for me from Sonoma State and San Jose State. Accepted!!! I then checked online at Cal Poly, and unfortunately I wasn’t accepted like I was hoping… But to be honest, I wasn’t as disappointed as I had thought I would be. About a week later, I logged onto UC Merced‘s website and had another acceptance waiting for me!!!

I’m still waiting to hear from 2 colleges, Chapman and UC Santa Barbara. I really hope I get accepted, of course, but at this point I’m just too excited that I got into 4 colleges that if I don’t get in, it won’t be the end of the world.

Now comes the time to choose which one I want to go to. It’s going to be a really tough decision. Most of them are good schools and I feel like I’d have a great time at all of them. At this point, I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do, but it feels AMAZING to know I have options and that I don’t have to worry anymore.
I finally did it! There’s only 82 days until I graduate from high school and then just a few more months until I will be onto the next 4 years of my life in a new place.


The Eden House

kirbyfullyloadedLeave a comment

I have lived in eight different houses.  But I like to call this one, the one on the edge of a canyon, the Eden House. It has been almost nine years since I last entered Eden.  But I still remember everything, perfectly.

The hillside was green and covered in ice plant, dotted with the purple and yellow of bright, spiky blossoms.  When I was five, my father built me a playground with blue swings and a small trapeze.  There was a slide and a low climbing wall near the chicken-wire house, furnished with mildewing green futons.

A deck made of glass, wreathed in poisonous orange trumpet flowers, overlooked the canyon, a bird feeder hung from its rafters.  If I stood near the windows, I could smell the sea breeze from the wide windows while watching the sun turn the sky to fire at dusk.

Our house had a pool with a tiny waterfall that trickled out of the rose-colored flagstones.  The bottom of the pool, painted sky blue, appeared so vibrant in summer that I needed sunglasses while swimming.  Jade plants and sour grass bloomed around the black mesh pool fence.  A little river ran through a papyrus grove just below my window, leading to a tall macadamia nut tree in the yard.

In spring I would pick the nuts and put them in a red plastic bucket.  Then I would take a hammer from the tool shed and crack them on the driveway.  I can still taste them, buttery and earthy, their meat so savory, slightly crunchy and simultaneously smooth.

Wooden steps made a trail from the deck to a blossoming purple jacaranda tree, heavy with flowers and bright emerald leaves.  The bark was thick and knotted, dark brown and russet red.  I used to climb into its highest branches and sing with the birds nested there.  In March I wrapped ribbons around its trunk and hung a hammock to sleep in during summer.

A pepper tree grew outside our front door and when it rained the smell of fresh ground pepper wafted through the sitting room.  The house was painted teal and white, but the paint was cheap and cracking.  It flaked off after every storm, every strong wind.  The diamond-shaped windows were dusty and yellowing, but that house was beautiful.

Honors Ski Trip

rangerthecat1 Comment

Last week, I had one of the best weeks I’ve had so far this year. I took a trip with 18 of my classmates and close friends along with 4 faculty members to Yosemite for the Honors Ski Trip.

Now, I’ve been to Yosemite before when I was younger and I do remember parts of it. But it was so different than I had remembered and so amazing. It was a completely different experience and a really great one at that.

Day #1:
After arriving the night before when there was hardly any snow, we woke up unsure if there would be good skiing conditions. Nevertheless, we went up to Badger pass, rented our skis, and set off on our first cross country skiing journey. The skiing itself was extremely difficult for me, and I fell over at least every 3 minutes. It was so frustrating and I wasn’t really having the best time. about 20 or 30 minutes in, it started snowing lightly. It got colder, then began to snow harder and harder until I could hardly feel my hands or see very far ahead of me. We stopped for lunch at a campground, which was about 3 miles from where we started, and took a break in the cold snow storm for about 20 minutes. Then, we headed back the way we came to make a 6 mile trip. It wasn’t that far, really, but it seemed like it to be because I was terrible at the skiing, but being surrounded by beautiful scenery definitely enhanced the experience.

Day #2:
It wasn’t as hard for me the 2nd day because I had gotten used to the hang of the skiing, but I was still really slow. We went the same way as we did the 1st day, but part way through, we cut off the main path and went a few miles out on a side trail. It was so beautiful, with many less people, and it was sunny and warm (well, compared to the first day). At our stopping spot, we went up a really steep hill onto a flat area where some of us (including myself) stopped and ate lunch as a small group continued on to another destination. We stayed at this spot for an hour or a little bit more, making snow forts, having a snowball fight, building a snowman, and sleeping in the snow with the warm sun beating down on us. It was a very peaceful and beautiful experience. When we got back and were loading up the vans, a group of us saw a coyote that was so close to us we could almost touch it. Its eyes were extremely greenish-yellow and vibrant, and he was so much more calm than I would expect.

Day #3:
This was by far my favorite day. We split into two groups, one that went on another ski trip and one that went on a hike by half dome and the huge waterfall. We walked a while through the trees until we spotted a beautiful bobcat that was only about 20 feet away from us. It wasn’t scared or nervous, and just went about doing whatever it wanted to. I had never seen one before and it was probably the best part of the day – it’s not very often people see bobcats roaming around, even in Yosemite. We took a very nice hike about 4 more miles out to a location called Mirror lake. It wasn’t a very full lake when we were there, it was a bit more dried up than I imagined, but it was still beautiful. We stopped and ate lunch here and did some rock-climbing, if you could call it that… it was more of a sad attempt.
At the end of the day, we went back to where the hike started and took an interesting journey into what are called the “spider caves”. It’s pitch black, cold, rocky, and the spaces to fit through are extremely small. We weren’t allowed to use lamps, so we were all helping the person behind us through. I only made it through the first half of the cave; I chickened out and found a way to get out. The rest of the group, however, crawled through more small spaces for about 20 minutes until they made it out at the other end.

Overall, I would say it was an extremely valuable experience. I saw so many things that I hadn’t ever seen before, and we had SO much fun in our cabins at night playing charades, twister, and cooking dinner together.

To be honest, I was extremely sad for this trip to end and I wish I could do it at least one more time. All I can say is, I’m thankful for the time I spent with those people and that I had the opportunity to experience these new things. It was truly great.

The stress truly never ends.

Yourcupatea1 Comment

Stress !!

My college letters are due any time in the next few weeks. Yes this is very exciting, yes this is nerve racking and although my applications are in and basically completed the stress continues.

Two days ago I was told that I needed to submit additional material, my GCSE grades. This material must come from the official exam boards in an extensive, expensive process.

No my official certificates cannot simply be sent by me, instead they have to take 28days processing in England with postage, processing and other projects paid by me. This is truly ridiculous.

It’s not that the whole process that annoys me; it’s the fact that no one told me. Now I’m up late at night stressing out with no sleep filling out forms and wondering how on earth am I going to get into college.

The stress truly never ends.

Falling to New heights!!!

frog31 Comment

Sky Diving has long been considered an extreme sport, even though in reality it is quite safe. Most people think of sky diving as reckless and perhaps even stupid, Felix Baumgartner plans to take this reputation to new heights.

Currently the record for the worlds highest free fall is 19.5 miles. The jump was made in 1960 from a height of 102,800 ft by retired astronaut Joe Kittinger. Kittinger is currently one of the advisors for Felix as Felix attempts to do what very few people have done before. Other safety officials include Dr. Clark whose wife Laurel died in the Columbia space shuttle crash in 2003. Dr.Clark has since become an expert in Spacecraft emergency escape.

Hopefully Felix’s achievement allow humanity to soar to new heights, and push the limits of what is possible and what is not.