I had much more fun at the Playgrounds overnighter at Ardenwood farm than I thought I would. So how do I classify fun? Like this...

- Wandering around the spooky, dark Patterson mansion at 4am. Getting creeped out by freaky looking dolls. Sitting in the attic telling ghost stories.

- Stuffing apricots into volunteer shoes at 1am.

- Dressing up as Wyclef Jean and lip syncing to "Hips Don't Lie" alongside the sexiest Shakira ever, Samir.

- Burning spicy cheetos in the campfire.

- Scaring people with stories about little girls in the haystacks.

- Campfire songs! CHIQUITA BANANAS UNITE! Peel banana, peel peel banana...

- Glow sticks...and attempting to learn from Stephen how to rave

- All the guys "going Brokeback"

- Piggyback rides through cornfields

- Applying scary movie stories to real life

- And of course having fun with the kids!

I've really come to love my job. When I first started, I wasn't that excited about it. It was just a summer job I needed for money. But as the weeks pass, I've come to enjoy it a lot. Sure, kids don't always listen, and there are a couple that are constantly acting up, but despite that I love it all. I've learned how to be more patient and understanding. Whenever I feel myself getting annoyed or frustrated with them, I put myself in their shoes; I remember what I felt and I what I thought about when I was in elementary school and it just washes away. (Blessing from God, no?). I don't think we get paid enough for what we do because it really is more than just playing games with the kids. Working with kids isn't easy, and it would be so easy for me to come home every day and just bitch and whine about how much I hate my job...but I don't. And I can't exactly explain it. But I've come to the point where I become so happy and proud when a kid who hasn't been able to make lanyards all summer finally gets it right and wants to keep working on it.

David always used to talk to me about his job. He would always tell me stories about his kids, but it's one of those things where if you're not there and you're not part of it the stories aren't as fun. They're really great for the people telling them but the people receiving the story just don't delight in it as much. But now I wonder if I'm not boring people to death because these days I'm always talking about my kids.

And I'm having great fun with the staff also. Never a dull moment with Playgrounds people =]. I slept a total of one hour last night, but it was well worth it. We all got really loopy in the morning. One of my volunteers brought SAT stuff to study, and she fell asleep with her binder open in front of her. So Samir and I put it on a tree stump next to her and spelled out DEATH with grass and weeds. Wtheck, I don't know why we did that. But anyways, it got blown away by the time she woke up.

Oh I also love the movie High School Musical. It's kinda crazy how obsessive I'm becoming about that.

We're all in this together
Once we know
That we are
We're all stars
And we see that
We're all in this together
And it shows
When we stand
Hand in hand
Make our dreams come true

What a happy song. Swim time!

My upper back is sunburned from watching an outdoor concert. And what crazy concert is this you might ask? The San Francisco symphony of course =]

Today, for the second time in my entire life, my parents turned on the air conditioning. WOW.

I've heard the song "Promiscuous girl" about five times in the past three hours on one radio station. I just looked up the lyrics online, and it says that Nelly Furtado sings it with Timberland. NELLY FURTADO!? Wtheck. When did she start singing songs like this. I liked it better when she sang "Turn off the Lights."

RYLA beach reunion was fun. Kinda sad I missed the huge Amazing Race style scavenger hunt with Playgrounds staff, but I had buckets of fun with Ryla people. Yeah, '04 is still the best. I learned what a "thizz face" is from Rahul. Oh, the hyphy movement never fails to surprise and amuse me.

Roar. I haven't had a my-dad's-so-dumb-entry for quite a long time on account that I've been far far away from him for a year. So I think it's high time for one.

My dad's so dumb. So my mom has back problems and tonight she decided to sleep on the floor. Rather than get a cord extension and drag her alarm clock all the way from her bedside to her bed area on the floor she wanted to set an alarm on her cell phone instead. My dad being the brilliant Einstein that he is, immediately said "NO! That wastes batteries! Don't do that to the phone!" And my mom, rather than argue with him just said forget it and dragged her alarm from her bedside to the floor. After hearing this, I thought "Wtf. That's dumb." So I took my mom's cell phone and proceeded to show her how to set an alarm on her cell (since she doesn't know how). And the following conversation ensues between me and my dad....

Dad: What are you doing?
Me: Showing mama how to set an alarm on her cell phone.
Dad: NO! DON'T DO THAT! *eyes get really big*
Me: Why. I do it with my cell phone every night.
Dad: It wastes batteries!
Me: ....That's why you charge it.
Dad: Well that's why your phone's almost broken now.
Me: No...my phone is almost broken now because I drop it all the time.
Dad: *voice gets louder* Don't! Don't argue with me!
Me: uhhhh. My phone battery is also really old. I've had it for two years.
Dad: NO, NO...two years is a very short time! It doesn't burn out after two years. Our old cell phone battery lasted four years! Don't waste my cell phone battery and don't waste my money!

(Allow me to interrupt here. Their last cell phone was a piece of shit. Like crap. I think it came out in the 1800's. At this time I was also thinking, "Shit man, it's not your money. It's mama's money." But I thought that wouldn't be appropriate so I didn't say it.)

Me: (I open my mouth about to say something but my dad immediately points a finger at me and says...)
Dad: I TOLD YOU! DON'T ARGUE WITH ME! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS!
(I realize this is hopeless and drop it)


Once my dad leaves the room, I tell my mom: "Leaving your phone on overnight is the same thing as leaving it on during the day. You use more batteries, but it's a cell phone. That's what it does. It uses batteries. You're supposed to replace your cell phone battery anyways once it starts getting run down. I should've replaced mine a year ago." And my mom says to me, "Bie ting ta de. Ni lao ting ta, ni jiu bu huo le," which translated to English is, "Don't listen to him. If you're always listening to what he says you might as well not live." HAHA. My mom's cool.

My dad frustrates me. I hate his outbursts that make a big deal over nothing. What a pain.

On another note, while I was being really productive and looking at Facebook pictures, I stumbled upon this....



Clockwise from top: Kate, Eric, Mary, Jen, Numa, and Jessie
This was our area on Founders Green during Haverfest. Good times. I miss my Haverpeople.

France lost :-(

I lost a bet. Double :-(

Next week's fieldtrip with Playgrounds is a carnival, and since France lost, Samir gets to pick my costume. Oh man....

At Wendy's today I ordered a kid's meal and got a tiny stuffed turtle from the movie Over the Hedge. I named him Albert Zinedine Melvin Schweinsteiger.

Good day to you all.

Fourth of July was fun. I went down to Cupertino for the fireworks. We sat across the street from the high school, which was where they were setting them off, so they were literally right above us. It was amazing =]. Some were so loud, I could feel it in my chest. Cool. My hearing is definitely more worse now than it was two days ago. It's ok, no complaints...the fireworks were well worth it.

I also had a very exciting conversation with JoeChai on July 4th and found out that he's going to be a SUPERSTAR! Yeah, suckas. JoeChai, I'm going to be first in line to buy your guys' CD, and your song better make me cry.

Field trip to Quarry Lakes tomorrow! Should be fun, but oh man, with around 30 kids coming from six sites, that's 180 kids in the water and on the sand. Dang, someone's gonna drown.

Oh and VIVE LA FRANCE!!!!!! I hope they beat out Italy in the final.

How do I love DC+2? Oh let me count the ways...


I love how we take forever to decide what to do, so we're never on time to anything....








I love how we grab photo opportunities anywhere and everywhere...








I love how we bring RYLA with us wherever we go and serenade each other ...





I love how we're so gangsta (or should I say hyphy?)....





And I love how at the same time we can also be so suave...




Watching Superman at the drive-in theatres was fun. Even though we were missing some people it was still great being with everyone again where half the fun in hanging out is in deciding what to do. Example: Last night we spent about 45 minutes in the parking lot at Valleyfair deciding where to go next, which ended up being nowhere. haha. We just went home, but I had tons of fun in the parking lot =].

Next time let's ghost ride the whip guys! (but not on a hill like Sophia)