what happens to a dream deferred?

does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
or fester like a sore --
and then run?
does it stink like rotten meat?
or crust and sugar over --
like a syrupy sweet?

maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

or does it explode?

-langston hughes

a picnic & a boat

this past weekend the boyfriend came for a visit to the land of loma! few things make me happier than when nathan stops by for a day or two. i love spending time with him, and i love the adventures we have. on this particular visit we picnicked at the park, watching airplanes and kites fly over head, and ventured to the u.s.s. midway, an aircraft carrier museum in the san diego harbor. we had tons of fun and learned lots of things throughout the day:

1. snuggies make great picnic blankets

2. north park is a perfect place for a date.
it's not too crowded & not too empty. it's a great place to fly
a kite or take a nap. and it has military gadgets on the ground
& airplanes in the sky to entertain and amuse any boy of any age.
3. i can eat a whole chipotle burrito in one sitting.
nathan cannot.

4. the uss midway is huge!
in the three hours we were there we only saw 2/3 of the ship.
5. wax figures are frightening.
to give tourists an idea of what life was life on the uss midway, there are wax figures throughout, meant to represent different people in different roles on the aircraft carrier. they were very scary looking.

6. i will never live on an aircraft carrier.
first of all, i would get lost all the time. i've never been in a more confusing mess of hallways, levels, and ladders. second of all, i would get extremely claustrophobic. there are practically no windows and the rooms and passageways are compact and constricting.
7. how to tie fancy navy knots, 8. how to ring a giant navy bell,
9. how to captain an aircraft carrier, and 10. how to fly airplanes (kind of)

have you ever eaten funfetti cake with chopsticks? i have.

march seventeenth

according to legend, saint patrick used the shamrock (you know, those three-leafed plants we call clovers) to explain the holy trinity to the pre-christian irish people. and while i think that is a super neat use for a clover, this saint patrick's day i'm just using them to add a bit of color and life to my dorm room. happy st. patty's day! i hope it was full of green things and luck.

pajaros. oiseaux. uccelli.

if you know spanish, french, or italian you know what this blog is about. but for those of you who are monolingual, i'll just tell you in english: this blog is about birds. today we took our third and final field trip for my ecology and conservation lab course. and what did we do? we went bird watching at the famosa slough. i had never actually been bird watching before, and i don't think i'll be doing it again any time soon. it's not so much that it wasn't interesting. i think animals are really interesting. really. i think its amazing how many different types of birds there are, and how many of those different types we saw in just one marsh. we saw tall birds, colorful birds, fluffy birds, all sorts of birds. i don't remember the names of all the species we identified or the exact amount, but i think the total came in around 25. and i could go on and on about how interesting the birds were. but i won't. because that's not the point i was trying to make. the reason why i don't plan on bird watching in the future is not the birds, but the binoculars that we watched them with. they should come with a warning label: "using binoculars may result in dizziness, nausea, and severe headaches." i'd rather view close-ups of nature through the television screen, planet earth style. that way i get the cool brittish-accent-narration without the binocular-induced-discombobulation. the birds and binoculars weren't the only interesting part of the field trip, though. while we were hiking along the trail, my professor (who, staying true to tradition, sported his field trip outfit once more) brought us to a sudden hault, and with excitment he shouted, "look! a veracious predator!" in unison, we gasped, without even knowing what this "veracious predator" was. "where?!" "a coyote!?" "a bobcat?!" "oh...a cat." apparently house cats are considered veracious predators at the famosa slough. and there were lots of them. we even saw one on a leash. we also encountered some obnoxious children whose mothers would have been ashamed at the things they said to us. i wont repeat the profanities and insults. i will just say that i hope that my future children will not 1) know those words and 2) harass strangers (or anyone, for that matter). as we continued on the trail, the boys eventually stopped following us and shouting profanities and we came across a woman, crying and crouching over something. it turns out that that something was a bird, and that bird had been attacked by her dogs and was dying. poor lady. poor bird. but at least i got to see a bird close up without looking through those darned binoculars. rest in peace little guy. and r.i.p. to you too, field trips. it was nice knowing you. thanks for the opportunity to get out of the class room and into the tide pools, trails, and sloughs. from here on out its back to the laboratory...

goodbye spring break, hello blog

this week has been wonderful. full of r & r...with two capital R's. lots of rest and tons of relaxation. it's all because this week has been spring break. and let me tell you, i really broke (breaked?). ...i mean, i really took a break. from everything. and as you might have guessed from the lack of recent posts, "everything" included blogging. but now it's sunday night, and spring break is officially over, which means i'll be back to blogging, well...now!

bang bangs

for years now i've wanted to get bangs. i mean, i've had side bangs for quite a while. but i'm talking about real bangs. bang bangs. ya know? well anyways, i've always found excuses not to get them, or chickened out at the last minute when the hair-cutter asked, "what do you want?" but today when the hair-cutter popped the question, i answered boldly, "bangs." and i'm so glad i did. not because i think they look great (i actually haven't decided whether i like them or not), but because i finally did it.

fortuneless cookie

tonight i had chinese food for dinner. and like any asian restaurant they served fortune cookies for dessert. so i picked a one, peeled the wrapper, and cracked the cookie open to discover what my future held. apparently my future holds, well...nothing. at least nothing fortunate. my cookie was empty and fortune-less. how sad.

the GIVE in give-a-day

have you heard about disney's "give a day, get a day"? this year, if you give a day of service, volunteering around your community, disneyland will give you a free ticket into one of their parks. i don't know about you, but i think that is the best deal i've ever heard of! not only do you get to lend a helping hand, but you get to spend a day at the happiest place on earth too? it doesn't get much better than that. the moment i heard about it i knew i had to do it. but going to disneyland by yourself is no fun, so i recruited some of my favorite friends and fellow second-southers claudia, jess, and tori to join in on the giving & getting and signed us all up. this weekend we put the give in give-a-day, and prepped, primed, and painted a house as part of san diego's "community serve day." we were just four of the fifteen-hundred people that volunteered around the county.

here's the house before
(i forgot to take an after)

we scraped...we caulked..and we painted...
and they gave us some super cute xxl tshirts for
all our hard work. ...best suvineers ever?
no, probably not.

we are now the proud owners of four tickets to disneyland. so be sure to stay tuned for the "GET in get-a-day" blog that will be posted in the somewhat near future. and if you're interested in participating in the "give a day, get a day" campaign (what am i saying? of course you're interested), just click here. even if you already have a pass, you can still take part. volunteer and donate your tickets to the boys and girls club, or get a day worth of fast passes or some mickey mouse ears. all the details are online. so what are you waiting for? go sign up!

pancakes and waffles, waffles and pancakes

here at nease second south (the dorm that i live in) we have the greatest RA ever. this morning she made us chocolate chip pancakes and mickey mouse waffles for breakfast. thanks, megalicious, for a yummy start to the day! you're the best!