The Otter Files

They Pursued It With Forks and Hope

2007-04-18T18:45:00.000-04:00

So during a weak moment yesterday, Jon allowed me to drive us all home from Hermosillo.

We had gone up there to collect Rebecca from the airport and to check on getting Annie a passport. We had left around five in the morning and Jon had driven the whole way to Hermosillo in Mike’s car so it was understandable that he’d be tired from keeping track of all of us, waking up so early and being careful not to wreck Mike’s car. Because we’d have a lot to explain to Mike if we wrecked his car.

We had done everything we had gone to Hermosillo to do and were heading back home when we stopped at a gas station so Sarah could get a coconut with chamoy and Annie went and bought Jon some coffee. While Annie was inside, I told Jon I’d drive. He looked at me through the rearview mirror and said, “I just might let you do that.”

In order to make sure he didn’t change his mind I got out of the car and walked around to the driver’s side door and waited for Jon to get out. Annie came back outside during this time and I told her what was going on. In order to disguise the extreme fear showing on her face she said, “No fair!” Or something like that.

But Annie got in and Jon got in and Sarah got in the passenger’s side. Rebecca was already sitting in the back and didn’t appear to be scared or anything. I quickly figured out how to adjust the seat and then started to pull out when Jon reminded me to put my seatbelt on. We were just about to pull out onto the highway when Jon said again, “This is nothing against you, Liz, but would you mind if we had a word of prayer before we left?” I continued to drive but told them that no, that wouldn’t be a problem. So Jon prayed and then Annie said she wanted to pray but she said this in jest I suppose and ended up not praying.

For the first two minutes all things went very well. Then Jon told me that I should move into the right lane because apparently the left lane is reserved for people who are passing which was news to me. So I started to pull over and everyone started screaming. From out of nowhere this blue car was speeding past us on the right side and I almost ran into them. So I resisted the urge to change lanes for awhile and everyone encouraged me in this decision.

A few miles more down the road everyone apparently got tired of my exciting driving style which is that I’ll change the speed every other second or so, going fast or slow depending on what my attention is focused on at the moment. So Jon attempted to explain cruise control which I didn’t want to implement at the moment but Sarah forced the issue by reaching across and turning it on anyway. So then we were cruising at seventy miles an hour and I didn’t know how to get out of it. Jon said to just tap on the breaks so I did and we slowed way down and then sped up again. Later on in the drive I managed to figure out how to use cruise control to my advantage and for an extended period of time we were cruising at a good eighty-five miles an hour. But this would be several more miles down the road.

Things settled down a bit after the cruise control incident and Sarah put a CD in so everyone started calming down and things got quieter after everyone’s hearts stopped beating so hard. We stopped at a gas station during this peaceful interval and when I pulled back onto the highway there was a bit of stress because Jon had to direct me to go left and I had momentarily forgotten which direction left was but we managed to make the road we needed and so all was good. I was a bit panicked though. I managed to calm down and, during a long, straight, empty stretch of road I built up speed until we were going 100 miles an hour. Everyone expressed extreme distaste at this action though and so I slowed down again.

Everything went smoothly from there on out until we came into Obregón. There is a road before driving into the city that has seven or eight speed bumps so everyone has to slow way down and be accosted by random people selling bread and chairs and cows and such. We managed to not buy anything although Sarah said if there were any strawberries she would have bought some. Probably to go with the coconut she had bought at the gas station two stops ago. She hadn’t finished it, probably because she was getting extremely car sick. I can’t imagine why.

It was during this time that everyone says we almost got killed three times. Don’t believe them. The man on the bridge will live and he won’t be walking down highways again, that blue Lumina won’t be passing any other cars on the highway for a long time and I won’t go so fast next to semi-trucks around curves again. Don’t worry. It was a learning experience that will not be easily forgotten by all parties involved. Although I think my passengers learned a different lesson than I did.

The last thing that happened was truly unique and would only manage to happen to us at this time. We were twenty miles away from home and suddenly we were attacked by a herd of bees. We won in the end, but the bees were splattered all over the windshield. Little dots of bee guts all over the place. It was disgusting. Sarah screamed when it happened. In order to solve the problem I turned the windshield wipers on but the only thing this accomplished was to spread the dots of guts into streaks of guts all over the windshield. A search was made for the washer fluid but there was absolutely none. Mike was apparently out.

There was nothing we could do. I drove the rest of the way home with bee streaks all over the windshield. I could barely see. But we made it home. So it all worked out in the end, see? Though I highly doubt I’ll be driving home again any time soon.

~

I'm Baaaccckkk!

2007-04-10T18:30:00.000-04:00

You know you’re hungry when you start talking about how you’d eat the lure you’re fishing for bass with.

And you know you’re tired when you start actually contemplating eating it when nobody is looking.

Of course, anybody would be tired and hungry at three in the morning, especially while they’re sitting next to a river watching people fish.

Why was I sitting next to a river at three in the morning?

Because an article in Field & Stream said that three in the morning was the peak hour for bass fishing.

Well, they were wrong. And how do I know?

Because I tried it!

Peak hour for Bass fishing in Mexico is 5:05 A.M. And any time after that really. You get the same number of hits at five in the morning as you do at nine in the morning. But before five a.m. you don’t get anything.

It was peaceful though. I’ll give it that. Sitting next to a river and listening to the gentle whish of fishing line flying through the air and the sploosh as it lands in the water. Then the buzzing of the reel as the fisher reels it in. Then the fisher’s annoyed sigh as he once again fails to catch anything. Occasionally the silence was broken by a frustrated yell as someone ended up snagging their lure on something. Or tangling fifty yards of line around their ankle somehow.

I fished for a few minutes. Then got frustrated and quit. I don’t exactly enjoy throwing a lure in the water, reeling it in and doing it again over and over and over. My version of fishing involves a worm and a bobber. Throw it in, secure your pole somewhere and you’re done. I never catch anything anyway so I’m better of sitting next to a pole with a book and waiting until everyone is done throwing lures into the water. Then I just reel my dead worm in and go home. Simple as that.

My casting technique needs help anyway. More than once my lure has ended up behind me somewhere or on the rocks I’m standing next to, or in the bushes. Or sometimes I’ll go to cast and forget to flip the little bar over on the reel and so I just end up swinging the tip of my pole around. That’s always fun.

Mike and Jon did catch some fish though. So the trip was worth it. And I’d do it again if someone invited me. Not sure if we’ll leave at 2:45 in the morning again though. That was just killer.

Comic

2007-03-05T14:28:00.000-05:00

I got a tablet for my birthday! As such, I've been wrecking havoc on the art community. View my newest work:

Based on actual events. ^^

~

It was a joke...

2007-02-23T15:28:00.001-05:00

Annie told me a joke the other day.

She does this a lot and if I paid attention more I’m sure I’d start to get them. But as it is I overanalyze them and end up ruining the whole thing.

Take this instance for example.

Annie: “Hey! I’ve got a joke for you. Ready?”

She always asks if I’m ready just to make sure I’m paying attention. But see, the thing is, I could be paying attention right then and say I’m ready, only to have my attention diverted four seconds later.

Liz: “Yeah!”

A: “Okay. There’s this guy, right? And he’s in high school and his girlfriend is Laraine, the most popular girl in highschool, ever.”

L: “Ever? How?”

A: “Most popular girl in that highschool, ever. Okay. But the guy doesn’t really love Laraine, he’s just going out with her because she’s popular and beautiful and stuff. The most popular and beautiful. But then one day he sees this little skinny girl named Clearly and falls in love with her. But he keeps going out with Laraine, even though he doesn’t love her, because Laraine is beautiful and popular and rich.”

L: “I thought she was just popular.”

A: “Beautiful and popular and rich. But he doesn’t love Laraine, he loves Clearly. So one day he’s on a date with Laraine and they’re walking around a lake and suddenly Laraine falls in and dies. So the guy starts singing, ‘I can see Clearly now, Laraine is gone!’”

L: “Shouldn’t he have tried to save Laraine?”

A: “She died.”

L: “She couldn’t have died that quickly! He could have jumped in and saved her.”

A: “She was eaten by sharks.”

L: “Sharks.”

A: “Yes. Sharks in a lake.”

L: “Sharks in a lake.”

A: “You know, Liz, most people just take it as a joke and laugh.”

So I did. It really was pretty funny, when I went back and thought about it.

~

College Math 101

2007-02-16T16:00:00.000-05:00

I have discovered a new law.

It must have something to do with Physics because it is abnormal and hard to understand.

The basic equation is simple: x (amount of money) = amount of needed supplies (ns)

Whenever X gets lower, so do needed supplies. If X reaches zero, so do your needed supplies.

Things like TP, paper, shampoo and toothpaste count as needed supplies. (Fortunately, I’ve discovered a loophole. I’ve received at least two tubes of toothpaste in every single one of my care packages. At last check I’ll have enough toothpaste to last until 2066.)

Now here’s where things get tricky. If X has reached 0 (which means that your needed supplies have reached zero) but then X adds 1, your needed supplies still remain at zero. Thus the equation now goes as follows:

1 + X = NS - 1

And of course, if X loses one, NS goes back to normal.

I do not understand this anomaly. It must have something to do with supply and demand, algebra and quantum.

You would think that X got lower because I was spending it on needed supplies. But you would be wrong! No! As a college student I spend my money on classes and food. The equation for that is:

Y - Food Supplies (fs) - Classes (Cl) = X - 2,000,000

People with common sense would tell me to change the equation and add in something called a budget. Since this comes from people with common sense I can only assume that it is something worthwhile to do, but every time I add budget into the equation I end up with something like this:

BG - CL - FS = X

This equation is easy to solve. As a rule, X is always 0.

I’m going to call this ‘Liz’s Conundrum’ and offer a prize to anyone who can give me a satisfactory answer. Perhaps in 2066 some brilliant scientist will come up with an answer. But until then I’ll try to figure out how to add BG to the equation and come out even.
~

WOULD MY FAMILY PLEASE CALL ME? MY HEADPHONES HAVE STOPPED WORKING AND I WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO YOU.

Thank you.

Birthday-ness!!

2007-02-09T15:40:00.000-05:00

WEWT!!!

I'm nineteen!! 19! nIneteEn!!

And I have a CELL PHONE!

Everyone (the Dorr's and Jon and Markie and Christie) all chipped in and bought me a cell phone for my birthday.

ISN'T THAT SO AWESOME!!?

And I was totally surprised when it happened. I had no idea they would do that. And I almost missed my own party because I was leaving the dorm after dinner when Mrs. Dorr grabbed me and pushed me back into the room. Then they all sang and I was embarrassed and then I cut the cake and ate the cherry and opened presents (I got OREOS!!!).

So then, on the way home (for real this time) a cell phone rang and Annie passed it over to me because she said her mom wanted to talk to me. It went something like this:

Me: "Hello?"
Mrs. Dorr: "Hey, Liz! Happy birthday! I hope you like your present!" (Not her actual words but I was a bit stunned when she said it so I can't remember exactly what she said. The context, however, was that the phone I was talking into was mine.)
Me: "NO!! NO WAY!!" (And then I sorta turned around and grinned and couldn't stop saying 'No way' and must have sounded like an idiot but I was completely surprised and shocked and couldn't help it. Annie and Jon (who were with me at the time) were probably laughing their heads off at my reaction.)

And then, while I was sitting at the dining room table, discussing things, the phone rang and it was my mom! And Zach!! They can call me now and it doesn't cost me anything!!!

Isn't that incredible?! Definitely one of my best birthdays ever!!!!

---

Updates: I understand that Blogger has been banned from OCS computers but never fear because blogspot hasn't been! You can still view Otter Files but you can't leave comments. But that's alright because pretty much everyone who reads this knows my email address (or can call me). If you ever have problems with being redirected to http://blog.otterfiles.com that's my fault and you can view the blog at http://www.notatoy.blogspot.com.

The Weiss' are still in the States. Pray for them, they're supposed to do the operation on her dad's heart sometime this week.

The Harris' will be travelling for the next two weeks, pray for them.

Bro. Dorr is out until Wednesday next week, pray for safe travelling for him.

Thanks for the emails and e-cards everyone!! They were much appreciated. XD

~

Heremosillo

2007-02-07T16:14:00.000-05:00

Augh. I had a whole entry typed up about how we all went to Heremosillo on Monday and then blogger ate it.

Anyways. I guess all anyone needs to know is that we went to Heremosillo to get a passport but the consulate was closed due to some Mexican holiday and so we turned the trip into a tiny vacation and went to a mountain (which was gorgeous) and a park (with a fountain despite the water shortage) and a beach (which was hard to walk on but still gorgeous). We've decided to all pitch in together to buy an island and start a cliff diving company. At least that's what I've heard. I could be a little off on that idea.

It's getting warmer here and it's rather dry as we haven't had any rain the last few weeks. Classes are going alright although the English class is frustrating me rather much. I need it though. I'm starting to not be able to speak either English or Spanish. Forgive any blaring grammar mistakes.

Happy (early) Birthday, Zach!!

~

Otterfiles.com

2007-01-29T15:20:00.000-05:00

I suppose I should put this up here. I've been really lazy about it recently and it is time to announce it to the world.

Otterfiles.com

Maybe having people actually visit it will give me inspiration to get up there and update it. As you can see only two pages are actually finished and that's this blog and the home page. Rather pathetic really.

This is what I spent money on during Christmas break. XD

~

Updates...

2007-01-25T12:56:00.000-05:00

Hey!

Been awhile since I updated here. Sorry 'bout that. Not that anyone actually NOTICED because I didn't get any COMMENTS!

-waits-

Okay. Christy and Markie are down here now. It's good to see them again, they brought mail. ^^ They've moved into an apartment here in Navojoa so we see them a lot more these days.

There's a group from Ohio down now, they're leaving on Friday. They were kind enough to paint the outside of the orphanage, wash the cars and did the septic tank for the orphanage. Presumably they'll finish everything before they leave.

It's warmed up a bit down here. I'm starting to drive around a lot more on my own so I'm going to get a cell phone one of these days pretty soon hopefully. They're cheap down here. Forty bucks for everything. They're prepaid too so you don't have to worry about a monthly bill.

~

Freezing Cold.....

2007-01-17T17:49:00.000-05:00

It's absolutely freezing here in Navojoa right now. Cloudy too so we aren't getting any sun. We had a class outdoors today and I had my coat buttoned up and the collar up. It was really rather frigid.

Blew out my electricity in my trailer the other day. During the evening. I was blow drying my hair and running the heater at the same time and suddently everything went dark and there was a pop. So I sat there, helplessly, expecting the lights to come back on because usually they do when these sort of things happen.

They didn't.

I must have sat there for a half hour before I finally gave up and just decided to go to bed. Half my hair was still wet which disturbed me but really I couldn't do anything about it. So I slept, waking up ever few hours to see if the electricity was on and check the time. Finally, around five forty-five or so, I gave up and got out of bed.

Around six I showed up at the Dorr's front door and asked if I could go inside where it was warm and where I could finish doing my hair.

Later on that day Mike fixed it. I don't know exactly what I did but apparently something had to be replaced.

Anyways. Moral of the story is: Even in Mexico you can't take heat for granted.

Stay warm everyone!

~

Blarg...

2007-01-12T13:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, so they've translated the entire blogger administrator panel into Spanish. And now I can't understand what I'm doing anymore. I've managed to get to this page because I've done it a million times before but other than type up new entries, I can't do anything else, much less translate this thing back into English.

In other news:

Yes, I'm back in Mexico now. Yay! Today I was driving around in the big grey van because I have to learn how to pick the girls up for visitation. Haven't crashed yet.

We're having spaghetti for dinner. ^^

Luggage...

2007-01-08T17:29:00.000-05:00

I am so pathetic. I managed to get home with only two duffle bags, right? One (The big one) was full of gifts for people and the small one had just my clothes.

So how is it that, on my way back, I have to take two big suitcases, the bigger one of which is stuffed so full of clothes that when I unzip it my clothes appear to have turned into a brick because they're packed so tightly in there?

It's so bad that I have to pack a mini-suitcase and take it as a carryon. That has speakers, my camera and books in it. There's so much stuff that I can barely pack the peanut butter I bought!

Okay...

Maybe that's the problem.

~

Tying up the ends...

2007-01-06T22:57:00.000-05:00

As I'm about to go home soon, thought I'd bring a close to various posts I've had over the last few weeks.

Timothy has, unfortunately, stopped collecting shoeboxes as he claims people kept coming up to him in the hallways and asking him about his collection. I personally watched today as he threw most of them away. Thus ends a rather productive hobby.

I'm still sticking to my resolution to be more people friendly. Not sure if anyone has noticed this or not. ^^

I believe WCO has stopped the limited time book sale. I'm not sure, however, because I haven't been back since. However, don't let this stop you. The library always has books for sale and, if you aren't willing to dish out fifty cents, they've got them for free also.

-and-

Kids are still soft. ^^

Regards!
~

Kids these days...

2007-01-04T18:43:00.000-05:00

Kids these days are all soft! Why, when I was a kid back in grade school, we played on asphalt and cement all day. Now I work in a school where they've carpeted the gym floor!

Kids these days are all taught to be soft. Their parents won't allow them to run around and scream. They aren't allowed to run into each other and bump heads. They aren't allowed to accidentally kick one another. Kids these days can't do anything! They sit inside all day playing on GameBoys, DS's and PSP's. No wonder America has a problem!

It's pathetic.

Today I was supervising a group of 3rd, 4th and 6th graders (I'm sure we had 2nd graders at one point in time as well) and I was the lone teacher. Naturally, we lined up to play a supervised game because, well, with so many various aged kids in one area, letting them run loose would have been asking for a 911 call and I was told to by my boss.

So we played North America, South America, Central America, a game that consists of running back and forth on the gym floor between lines. In the middle of this game (the kids were having a blast) one of my 3rd graders came up to me and said, I QUOTE, "I think this game is too rough for us to play."

Soon afterwards, I disbanded the game because 1st graders joined us and mayhem ensued. I stand firm in my resolve not to let my pupils become wusses and so whenever someone came up to me complaining about someone kicking them, I replied, "Kick them back."

I'm kidding. I didn't. I'd be fired. But no, I wasn't at all sympathetic to them and, wonder of wonders, after about a half hour of this, the kids stopped coming up to me complaining about being hurt!

I love my job. XD

~

Disclaimer: I'm being highly sarcastic here. Although the 3rd grader's comment about the game being too rough actually did happen. And I was a bit unsympathetic the rest of the day. Kids these days are soft. Admit it.

Happy New Year!

2006-12-31T15:49:00.000-05:00

Happy new year, everyone!

I have no resolutions really. Except to get more involved with people. I'm way too much of a loner.

2006 was a good year for me. No, I'm not going to go off and overshare about what happened in the last twelve months but do understand that 2006 was probably the one year where I grew the most.

And now! 2007! I'll turn 19 this year! Kind of a depressing age. It's not glamorized like 18 and 21, and it's not a nice number like 20. It's just...there. In an awkward way.

Yep!

~

Dude...

2006-12-28T18:00:00.000-05:00

Dude, West County Library is having a book sale.

Yes, seriously, the library is selling books.

No, not all of the books, but whatever books I guess they feel like selling.

Anyways. Five hardbacks for $1 or ten paperbacks for $1. Best deal ever on books. I found one with the Borders sticker on the back of it. It originally cost $6.99 and I bought it for $.10. If you're in the area and short on reading materials, I suggest you stop by and grab some. I'm going to take a few back to Mexico with me and then my mother kindly offered to mail the rest down a few at a time so I'll always have something to read. Awesome, eh?

~

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T15:13:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone's enjoying their Christmasses. I've got three friends who are probably in the air right now, heading into Montana. Have a safe trip you guys, I'll see you in two weeks.

Everyone pretty much got what they asked for for Christmas around here. Zach got an iPod, something I asked for last year when the price was double what it is this year. I received a luggage set. (They bring me home and then give me luggage to go away again. What gives?) Tim got golf clubs. He's elated. (He also got all his shoe boxes back, never fear.)

It's raining outside and, as such, I'm going to go out and play around in it.

Merry Christmas!!

~

Happy Birthday, Otter Files!

2006-12-24T15:31:00.000-05:00

Actually, this is a late celebration. It didn't occur to me until today that I've been around for a year now. We officially started on December 12, 2005.

However, I wouldn't advise going back and looking at the original post. It's lost in the annuls of time and you'll probably get stuck somewhere in all 230 or so posts I've completed since then.

But thank you everyone for sticking around! Even though this place didn't really start doing anything worthwhile until about four months ago. Pleh.

Oh, hey!

Joke for ya, just to be happy.

Did you hear about Professor Backwards?

Yeah, he got mugged to death because passersby ignored his cries for, "Pleh! Pleh!"

And that's a wrap. Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

~

Presents....

2006-12-22T23:04:00.000-05:00

My brother, Tim, collects shoe boxes.

This really isn't a problem. And no one really knew about it until today.

My mother had to wrap Christmas presents for us, and of course, none of them are the correct width, length or height. So what does she do? She goes and raids people's closets. Lo and behold, Timothy has a wonderful selection of shoe boxes in his closet! How wonderful!

So she takes them.

Now everyone's presents are wrapped in Tim's shoe box collection. And Tim is now minus several prime shoe boxes.

We've all promised to give them back, intact, of course.

~

To sleep perchance to dream...

2006-12-21T02:18:00.000-05:00

Yes. So I'm home now, and still running strong on Mexico time. It's midnight, booger to all this it's two a.m. stuff.

In one day I travelled all the way across the country. The flights weren't so bad, the lady on the way from Phoenix to Atlanta smelled like beer, but the seat next to me from Atlanta to BWI wasn't taken so I just sorta enjoyed myself.

And now I'm home.

Home home home.

And tomorrow I'm going to buy goldfish. And then I'm going to eat them.

(Crackers, guys. Crackers.)

-sigh-

~

Pictures!

2006-12-07T15:13:00.000-05:00

Whoa Whoa Whoa!!

Somethin's happenin' over at the Dorr's Picture Page!!

Y'might wanna go check that thing out.

If ya feel like it.

Yeah.

PLEASE LOOK AT IT!! IT TOOK ME FIVE HOURS THIS MORNING JUST TO GET THE WHOLE THING WORKING!! IF YOU DON'T LOOK AT IT YOU WILL REALLY, REALLY SMELL!!

So there. XP

~

Update - Finally

2006-12-05T18:22:00.000-05:00

Sorry, this thing is in drastic need of an update. I haven't been ignoring it, I just...haven't updated. lol.

Going home in fourteen days. Can't wait for Christmas!! I've finally got everyone's presents together, now I just need to figure out how to pack them. Probably going to end up taking two duffle bags home. Not sure yet. Blah.

Someone behind me has a cheeseburger that smells really, really good. Really good. I'm going to order one next time I come here alone for several hours. Or just eat a whole bunch of them while I'm in the States so that I can get over my craving of them.

There are several things I want to do while I'm home on vacation:

1. Wander around the mall.
2. Go to the library.
3. Eat cheeseburgers.
4. Get a slushee from 7-eleven.
5. Stock up on goldfish crackers.
6. Sleep lots.
7. Read the newspaper.
8. Go to McDonalds.
9. Eat good chinese food.
10. Watch movies.

There's more, definitely more, but those 10 things are at the top of my list. Most of them have to do with eating. lol!

Ugh, I'm starving...

~

December the Firstest!

2006-12-01T21:12:00.000-05:00

Woot!!!

Yay! It's December!! I love December!! IT WAS SO FLIPPING COLD THIS MORNING I ALMOST DIED.

Well, not really. But it was really cold. Like..in the forties or something. I wore a jacket all day.

Speaking of all day, I went Christmas shopping and I finally got it done. Well..mostly. I know what I'm going to get my siblings but I haven't got it yet. Mwahaha. Monday.

Okay, calling people now. Yeppers.

~

Stuff

2006-11-30T13:11:00.000-05:00

A pessimist will say: "We're going to be late."

A optimist will say: "We won't be late!"

But a realist will say: "We might be late, but we might not be."

But I'm not feeling very philosophical right now. Here, enjoy this picture of a rose.

~

Skype

2006-11-28T19:33:00.000-05:00

Downloaded Skype the other day so now I can make phone calls from my computer right here in Los Alamos. Very, very nice. Seriously. And it's only .021 cents per minute. You buy credits in 10.00 increments and it'll last ages and ages.

I feel really guilty, I didn't buy anything to drink. I'm going to tip really big or something.

Took Squash in for her second to last set of shots today. She goes in again in December right before I leave for her last set and then she's done for two years, give or take. She got a rabies shot today and she'll get another one next time.

A lot of you got an email from me with a quiz thing in it. Please respond! lol! I'm looking forward to hearing everyones answers. XP

These People:

2006-11-23T12:57:00.000-05:00

Are Insane

Are Incredible

Are Weird

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! We're celebrating tomorrow and today is a work day. XD They're painting the roof. Yep.

Love y'all!

~

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

2006-11-22T18:08:00.000-05:00

Everyone in the states will get out of school today and gorge themselves tomorrow. I wish you all happiness in this endeavor.

We'll be doing it on Friday. ^^

As for things going on, nothing is going on. I'll be home in less than a month. Sent out massive amounts of emails today!!!

~

!@#$%^&*

2006-11-13T17:38:00.000-05:00

Couldn't think of a title. lol.

Today I was asked to be a witness for the registration of a little girl who was born to a family in our church here in Navojoa. Before you can get your birth certificate down here you have to have your kid registered and to do that you need two witnesses. So Annie and I went down, with the family, to the registration office where they put my full name, (my first name, second name, my dad's surname, my mom's surname. That's how they do it down here.), on the paper. Then I had to sign four pages of paper (I dunno, I might have sold my soul away. lol), and we were done!

Yesterday as we were running the return bus route through Buena Vista we came across the scene of a drowning. There are irrigation canals that run down from the mountain and they're spread out all over Buena Vista. Apparently some guy had fallen in and they were in the process of pulling him out when we got there. We didn't actually see the body but we think the guy was walking around drunk (as many people do down here) and fell in. That or he was pushed which is a possibility because no one from Buena Vista recognized him whatsoever which means he was a stranger. But saying that someone helped him fall in may be jumping a bit far to conclusions. lol.

I'm scheduled to come home in a month. Time has flown down here.

~

Ser o no ser, este es la pregunta....

2006-11-10T18:54:00.000-05:00

To be or not to be, that is the question...

Went to Hermosillo yesterday and shopped at Wal-Mart for a bit. Got new shoes which I desperately needed because the puppies had mostly chewed up my other pair and they were looking rather grungy.

Yesterday marked my two month anniversary here in Navojoa. Amazing how fast time has gone! I'll be back in a little over a month for Christmas vacation. If there's anything specific anyone wants me to bring home, email me or post it in a comment. Now is the time to do that because I'm going to have to use these next few weeks for Christmas shopping.

At any rate, things are cooling off down here. People are starting to need jackets in the evening, including myself. I'm going to freeze when I get back to Maryland. lol!

Annie taught me a new saying this morning. "Me vuelve poquito" or "I flew a little". Isn't that awesome?

~

Hardy-har-har

2006-11-07T19:42:00.000-05:00

Missing Child Notice:

Missing: Older teen child missing from Maryland.

Last Seen: In September, but was heard from several times by phone or email since that date.

Last Heard From: Too long ago

Description: Not too tall; not too short; medium weight and build. Medium to Long brownish blond hair. Likes animals. Dresses modestly and sometimes not as neatly as possible. May have gained a few pounds. (Did not!!) Plays piano. Partially fluent in Spanish. Likes computers.

Last Seen: North of Navojoa, Mexico.

Please, let me know if you've seen her. XD

Also, on Monday we made tortillas. They came out mighty fine. I also made fudge now that my propane tank is hooked up. And we chopped up vegetables for beef stew. All in all a good day and a victory for good tastes everywhere.

Squash went in for her second round of shots today. She's got two more rounds to go. She's getting fat!

~

W00T

2006-11-04T16:02:00.000-05:00

So yeah, I still exist! I passed all my midterms with flying colors, ahahaha. I only had to take three, but still, they were mostly in Spanish and required extensive translation before I could answer them. Plus verse memorization and such. But my teachers are great and I could answer everything in English. I just had to know what the questions said.

And hey look! It's November! For the last Missions and Issues class in October the guys did prayer letters (kinda, we also had a class) and so the Dorr's new prayer letter is up on their website now.

Speaking of which, the website is done. Except now I'm going to start working on a new layout, palm tree themed. -nods-

Dia de los Muertes (day of the dead) was last Wednesday and we drove by a cemetery. It was fascinating. There were people and candles and drunk people all over the place. Interesting to see, too dark to take pictures of unfortunately.

Updates:

Squash is going in for her second round of shots sometime this next week. Not sure when. Poor perrita! She absolutely hates the van rides. Whines the whole way through.

Probably going to Hermosillo this Thursday to drop Beck off at the airport. Might go to a Wal-Mart while I'm there. Yay!!

Brother Scott is coming back this Tuesday or Wednesday. Brenda is doing much better but as usual with head injuries it's going to take awhile for her to recover. Please keep her in your prayers!

Messages:

JJ! - You need to email me you moscos!!

Mom and Dad - Love you guys! Sorry that updates have been sporadic!

Garrison - Cheer up!

OBCYG - I'll start work on the website here any day now. I promise. XP

~

Daylight Savings Time

2006-10-29T23:40:00.000-05:00

You are all extrememly lucky that Garrison is a sharp cookie. XD (Figuratively. Not literally. If Garrison were really a sharp cookie, he'd be gone by now. Well maybe not. Who wants to eat sharp cookies? That could be dangerous.)

Anyways. So yesterday every single clock in my trailer had a different time on it. One because it has never worked (I swear, that thing ticks backwards), one because you can't tell what time it is on it anyway because it has no numbers, and my alarm clock because you have to set it by hand. My computer, however, was correct only I thought it was incorrect so I changed it and then put my alarm clock one hour forward, which was completely wrong.

So now, I have no idea what time it is. I think it's nine thirty but there's no way to be absolutely sure. They don't have time changes in Arizona so I think they've decided not to have them in Sonora either.

So yeah.

I'm totally lost.

But that's okay because I'm writing a paper and studying for midterms (yes, I'm studying. I may be writing this entry but in reality I'm studying). The paper was easy, got done with that in no time. (Accidentally had to write two though. Wrote the first one on the church at Laodicea. Was supposed to write on the church at Ephesus.)

So, uh, yeah. Midterms.

Midterms

Midterms

Midterms

Hey! I'm going to write a quick HTML tutorial for you all tonight! That's an excellent idea!!

Okay, I've done Tables, and simple tags, yes?

Oooh! I've got one! Marquee! (If it still works. I haven't done this for ages.)

Test, test, test, test, test...

Okay, simple thing here folkses. It's marquee and then, to close it, /marquee begun and ended, of course, by the nifty little <>'s. In between your marquee and /marquee, put whatever it is you want to say. Therefore:

marqueeeverything you want written here/marquee

And you're done! Yay!

Okay...yes..yes...studying...yes...yes...yes..

~

EDIT: I figure I should note that I'm at the Weiss' house tonight because they had their baby on Saturday and so they're spending the weekend at the hospital (say all that in one breath, yay!). So that's how I'm on the internet and studying at the same time. Ahahahaha.

Pictures!

2006-10-28T22:11:00.000-04:00

Whoa! Running out of battery so really fast update tonight but there's pictures! yay!

Okay, so it rained a whole ton on Tuesday. We painted Jon and Mike's living room yesterday and then played dominoes late into the night. It got rather crazy towards midnight. ^^

So yeah. Went to the swap meet again today and bought NINE nice blouses. (See picture!):

Also, while I was cleaning my trailer on Wednesday I found this little guy:

He died the next day. :(

Aaaannnddd...LOOOK AT ALL MY FOOD!!!!!:

It looks small because there's so much I couldn't get it all in the camera. XD

Battery is gone!

~

Road Trip

2006-10-25T18:25:00.000-04:00

Well,

Road trip is officially out of my blood.

When you spend almost 20 hours in a car with the same three people, you lose the desire to go anywhere pretty quick.

Really it wasn't that bad at all. We left Navojoa around 7:30 in the evening and arrived in Arizona around 3:00. Then we crashed until 6 in the morning, packed everything up and came back home. We didn't get back until 6:15 but that's quite alright.

But so yes, that's why I haven't been able to do much emailing recently. Haven't been here, you see.

But I got more care packages!! Some awesome stuff!! My trailer is stuffed with amazing amounts of food. Mostly chocolate and sugary stuff so I can't hole myself away and eat dinner (unless I decide to dine on gummy sandwhiches and chocolate oranges).

Hope everything is going well with you all! It's been almost a month and a half since I arrived here. It's amazing how fast time has gone. I'll be home in December but I really don't want to leave. lol.

Anyways, beyond that point.

It rained really bad here yesterday. We all got soaking wet and everything is green today again.

I need a new pair of shoes, a haircut and some shirts. But other than that I don't need anything. Online shopping is a wonderful thing. XD Waiting a month to receive what you purchased, however, is not.

Por mis amigos en Navojoa, estoy escribiendo en espanol! Weee!

~

Family

2006-10-20T20:07:00.000-04:00

Garr....my family is not answering the phone.

Why aren't they?

Where are they?

Are they not alive? I know Steph sent me her new cell number but I wrote it down and left it in my trailer so I can't call her and I don't have my dad's number memorized.

See, that's the freaky thing about living in another country. You don't know where you family is. I can't keep tabs on them and now I'm really worried.

I need like...GPS units to strap to their ankles or something.

Where are you guys!!?? Answer the phone!!!

~

Squash

2006-10-17T21:21:00.000-04:00

You can usually tell when I take the time to write my blog entry up before I actually post it. There aren’t as many typos and it’s a bit better organized because I’ve had an opportunity to think about what I’m going to say. Sometimes I get to think about it for an entire week before I actually post it so it’s really good. lol.

Things are going fairly well down here. Haven’t received much news from the Scotts in Colorado so I’m not sure how their daughter is doing but we do know that she is still unconscious. So please keep praying for her.

I officially have a dog now. Yep. Squash. I took her because they were about to give her away and that would have just been sad. I have to pay to get her fixed (in five months) which will cost about fifty bucks and then I have to get her shots (because she definitely has worms) which will only cost about fifteen bucks. (Just to clarify, down here when someone says ‘bucks’ they mean United States Dollars and when they say Pesos they mean Mexican Pesos. This threw me for a bit because I just took everything as Pesos so people would say five bucks and I’d be like, “Five Pesos? That’s awesome!” and they’d say, “No, Liz. Fifty Pesos.”)

Contrary to what I previously said Pastor Dorr doesn’t get back until MONDAY. So please pray for him! He’s coming back to Mexico on Thursday but only into Heremosillo where he’s going to preach and then he’s going back out.

Officially finished the Dorr’s Website!! But as with every website there’s bound to be typos and stuff here and there so if you see any, please email the webmaster (me!) and let me know! It’s not completely finished really, I still have to get content on a few of the pages (institute, clinic, front page XP) but all the pages are up there and the pictures page has TONS of new pictures for you all to look at. Now that this page is finished I can start work on mine again. And the youth group website. -le sigh-

~

Whoaa!!

2006-10-16T18:33:00.000-04:00

So, like, check that out! I'm still alive despite not having checked email for five days. Sorry about that everyone. But it was a very productive weekend! We went to the beach on Friday (yes, that was productive) and then on Saturday there was a youth rally. Sunday services went really well and I helped in the nursery.

The beach was fun. Nice weather and the water was warm, plus we were like the only people there so we did pretty much whatever we felt like. Once while I was out in the water a seal poked his head out of the water. He was really, really close. It was awesome.

So pretty much it's been a relaxing weekend. Once again, really sorry about not emailing people. And sorry this is such a short update. lol. Don't have much to say really despite being gone for so long.

Hope everyone is doing well! Pastor Dorr comes back into the country on Thursday and then I think he's going back out again. Keep him in your prayers this month. It's going to be very hectic for him.

Basic updates made on the Dorr's website, go check those out. Haven't done anything with my personal website recently but I'm thinking about totally redoing it. But I may not. So don't count on it. lol.

~

Quick Update

2006-10-11T19:24:00.000-04:00

Updates about the Scott's daughter. God has really done an amazing thing. She's going to live!! And it'll take time but she's going to be alright! They already performed a surgery on her and I think she needs a few more so pray about that. But she's going to live and she's going to be alright!!

~

Tuesday Quick Post

2006-10-10T21:03:00.000-04:00

Ha, so had a bit of a scare yesterday morning. I flipped my laptop open and it didn’t turn on. So I panicked. I pressed a bunch of buttons, turned my laptop over and pulled the battery out, put it back in, tried to turn it on again all to no avail. I was really scared. In my head I had already composed an email to my dad explaining why I needed a new laptop. When nothing worked I sat back, shaking, and ready to beat my laptop up. Then it occurred to me. What if it isn’t plugged in? Duh! That was exactly the problem. Overnight the battery had died and since it wasn’t plugged in it wasn’t charging. Hahaha. I’m such an idiot. But so yeah. My computer is working again. ^^

Everyone please pray for the Scott family. The Scotts are missionaries who are working in another village in Navojoa. Jon is working mostly with them. Their youngest daughter was in a horrible accident on Sunday. She was in Wyoming and from what we’ve heard (which isn’t much) she drove off a cliff. Right now she’s in a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado where they airlifted her after she had been stuck in the car for over an hour. They had to cut her out. She isn’t breathing on her own and she isn’t conscious. They’re not sure if she’ll live and if she does she’ll definitely have some brain damage. The Scotts left Mexico almost as soon as they heard and were planning on driving straight through. So pray that they’ll have a safe trip (it’s a very long drive), that they’ll have wisdom in any choices they might have to make and for their daughter’s health. Her name is Brenda.

Other than that it’s been a pretty uneventful weekend. Annie and I made pies and we had a load of shrimp for dinner last night. Pastor Dorr bought about nine pounds of shrimp and I’m sure we ate at least eight of those. Probably more. We had fried, spiced and boiled shrimp along with corn, rice and tomatoes. It was really, really good. They were big huge shrimp too. Not wimpy shrimp.

Pastor Dorr is going into the states this Thursday night! He’s supposed to bring down doors and windows for the orphanage I think. I’m not sending out any more mail until I start getting responses back so don’t be expecting anything.

~

Aww! I feel so loved! Everyone left comments!

2006-10-06T18:44:00.000-04:00

My mother sends the best care packages ever. I mean, seriously. I’m floating in food now. Good food too. Like Pringles and Vanilla Wafers and popcorn and pudding and Chex Mix (which has a tendency to disappear around Jon and Mike). Junk food!! It’s awesome!!! I had one of those rice things for a mid-afternoon snack thing and it was excellent.

Spare time goes by quick around here. Usually you only get an hour or so to yourself in the afternoon and you use it doing things like cleaning your trailer and taking showers. And eating. At any rate, my trailer is clean again. I put my clothes away and did my dishes. And put all that gorgeous, delicious food in strategic, decorative places around my trailer. Pretty much all I have to do now is reach from any given location and I’ve got something to eat. Plus it adds to the atmosphere. People are astounded when they walk in my trailer and see all my food. It’s great.

It is vitally important to drink water down here. Lots of it. And don’t worry, you’ll know if you aren’t drinking enough. I have never sweated more in my life than I am down here. It’s gotten to the point where there is a separate layer of water on my skin when I come indoors. You get in the habit of washing your face and taking showers multiple times daily. As well as changing clothes because it’s nasty to walk around in sweaty clothes. Not only do you stink to yourself but you stink to everyone else around you. And that’s just embarrassing.

How To Make Liz’s Infamous Limeade:

Ingredients:

Limes (The little ones, key limes they’re called in the states). At least fifteen of ‘em.
Sugar (A whole lot).
Water (Duh).

What to do:

Squeeze the limes directly into the pitcher. You’re going to need about fifteen limes. Note: You have to cut the limes in half in order to actually get juice from them.

Add the water until you have enough.

Sugar to taste.

This is my recipe because it’s so easy. I actually invented it and then Mrs. Dorr told me how to actually do it. You can modify it to make just a cupful. You have to be careful with the sugar. As soon as your jaw doesn’t clench from the sour flavor, you’ve added enough sugar. You don’t want it sickeningly sweet. You can add other types of citrus juice to get some odd flavors. Fresh orange juice is really good.

~

I'm feeling unloved here people.....

2006-10-02T18:44:00.000-04:00

So what's this? I don't merit comments anymore? C'mon! I know people read this thing, I can see how many people have visited, but nobody is saying anything! Awww! -sniff-

Anyways. Funny story for y'all. Was playing piano yesterday morning for Sunday school when I started smelling smoke from somewhere. So I turned around and realized that the outlet the piano was plugged into was smoking. Rather fervently too. See, the piano isn't the only thing plugged in there. We also have a rather large AC unit, two fans and the piano. All rather niftily plugged into an orange extension wire that is then plugged into the outlet. So I didn't know what to do and started acting frantic and Brother Weiss (who was leading singing) came over and unplugged everything. Since we were still holding a song service I played on the batteries until I was plugged in again (via another extension wire on another plug).

My trailer is a HUGE GIGANTIC MESS right now. And I admit it. Tomorrow is designated TRAILER CLEANING DAY. My list of things to do includes: Clean out the fridge (again), straighten my plethora of books, take out my trash, do my three dishes (a spoon and a cup that have been sitting in the sink since last Wednesday), and clean my mirror. Yeah. It's an easy life. Sometime this next week I need to wash my sheets too. But I need to buy soap first. Because I used up the last of my laundry soap Saturday.

So now that you know everything that's going on down here LEAVE A COMMENT!

PLEASE!

~

clothing-ness!!

2006-09-30T19:42:00.000-04:00

Ahahahaha. They've got quite the racket going on here in Sonora. Everyone goes up to Arizona, raids the Savers and other Thrift Stores and then comes back down and sells all the clothes in huge flea markets.

There are clothes everywhere. I got a whole ton of stuff and only spent like...fifteen bucks? That comes out to about 150 pesos. Give or take. One jean skirt, a bright orange hawaiian shirt (hahaha!) and some other random t-shirts and blouses. It was quite a haul. They have everything there. Everything from everywhere. We saw a shirt that said Holsum Credit Union and Annie asked if maybe there was an unwholesome credit union. (Lame joke. yeah.)

The weather has been really warm here recently. Not surprising of course. On Thursday it was 108 degrees while we were out on visitation. You seriously have to stay hydrated down here. I'm surprised no one has collapsed of heat exhaustion.

Only have two more weeks until my coke ban is lifted. Two more weeks mas or meno anyways. It stops the 14th of October. Annie is greatly looking forward to that. lol.

~

Pictures, finally

2006-09-29T17:39:00.000-04:00

Okay, since everyone was asking, here are pictures for you all. Only two of them though. They're the only good ones I could get.

That's Jon (far right), Micah (middle) and Annie (who wasn't cooperating with the camera). So now you've all seen them, you know who I'm talking about.

And those are the institute girls. Not all of them, unfortunately, they weren't all there yesterday. But that's Annie leaning over and Erica, Esmelda, Bernicia and someone else...can't remember her name. XP

~

Day Number 17 (I think)

2006-09-25T18:55:00.000-04:00

Went grocery shopping again today. Bought a whole lot of fruit. Oranges, bananas, tamarinds. And some bread which I accidentally dropped on the floor and bought anyway because it was rather awkward not to. Sugar. Two shirts (that aren't blue). Y'know, good stuff. Stuff I needed. Like a screwdriver.

Since I don't know the language, I can do whatever I want to in the aisles. Like run amok in the bread section dropping things. I actually only dropped one thing but still. It was rather frantic because I was looking for normal bread but could only find this decorative stuff like giant cookies and pan dulce. Stuff I didn't want. But eventually I found what I was looking for. So it was good.

Sugar was the hardest thing to find. I went up and down every isle five times until I ran into Mrs. Dorr and she told me it was in the next isle over. Uh-heh.

So today was good. Actual classes start tonight. -sigh-

I didn't email anyone because I didn't really have time. I'll take them to my trailer, write them up tonight, and send them off next time I get internet. Just so everyone knows.

Group pictures comin' up! And yeah, took the pictures for the website in the evening so they're kinda dark. But the most important thing is that they work!!

~

Pictures!

2006-09-23T20:06:00.000-04:00

Due to popular demand, pictures have been added to the Dorr's website! Actually, this is because the Dorr's asked me to do it. But it's there. Just the same.

Just had to update that because so many people were asking. Anyways, going to a teen thing tonight somewhere with Annie and Jon.

Annie was in a slight accident yesterday while pulling into the Los Alamos parking lot. No one was hurt (before everyone panicks) and the van is only slightly dented. It was the other guy's fault but Annie would have had to pay a fine because it is technically illegal in Mexico to turn from the right lane. A totally stupid law, I know, but both parties decided to let it go because it was the other guy's fault. lol.

~

Plah, plah, plah

2006-09-22T17:34:00.000-04:00

Heya everyone!

So it managed to rain here today. For about twenty seconds. I was in my trailer getting my stuff together to go into town when it started raining. So I grabbed my coat thinking I'd need it and walked over to the Dorr's house. As soon as I got there it stopped raining and it hasn't rained since. It's still rather cloudy though so the weather is pleasant. Slightly breezy too.

I'm here at Los Alamos, just finished some sort of Lemonada Mineral. Like..bubbly lemonade? Mineral Water Lemonade I think. Wasn't half bad. Kinda fizzy though.

For Anonymous' information, Erica is a girl who goes to the institute. Along with Esmelda, Lupita and a few other girls. I don't actually know everyone's names yet. XD

Updated my website a bit this afternoon, as well as changed a banner on the teen website so you all can go check out those minor changes. The picture page on the Dorr's website is giving me much grief so I'm going to go through and change things around there I think.

Nothing much else has gone on around here, JJ I emailed you, why haven't I gotten a response? Garrison, cheer up!! And everyone else seems to be doing fine, yeah?

Oh, and just for everyone's info, I got an email client so what I do is download all the new emails and send the ones I wrote in my trailer (usually responses to other emails). So if you aren't getting responses to your emails while other people are it's probably because I'm working on responding to yours and will email it to you next time I have internet.

Love you all!

~

As of today...

2006-09-20T22:48:00.000-04:00

Alright, so I'm not on my computer but I'm still on /a/ computer. It's good enough for me at any rate.

The last few days have been slightly hectic as we move in to yet another new schedule. We haven't really done any school yet, but I've met all the other students and my teachers.

Aaaannnddd.....Annie is doing weird things behind me with a picture of Micah...she just took a picture of me.

Ladies and gentlemen, what you might hear in the next few days may or may not be true. Please don't believe anything until you talk to me first...Thank you.

She's laughing...

Okay! On the up side, Annie, Erica and myself all rode to town on the bus today. It's 6 pesos up and 6 pesos back. We wandered around a bit, I bought a keyboard and some cute fabric for pillows, they looked at shoes, and then came back home.

I got to call home today! Yay!! The Weiss' have an American phone with extra minutes (sorta like they had in Monterrey) so I got to call my mom and dad! We talked about a lot of stuff like clothes and the weather and the military coup in Thailand. It was great!

Okay, be looking for more frequent updates from me as I get my schedule all sorted out. Things can only get better from here, yeah?

-

Yay!

2006-09-16T20:00:00.000-04:00

Yay!

So Annie and I are sitting in a hotel parking lot, mooching off their wireless internet because Los Alamos is closed.

For those of you at home wondering, no I have not found a boyfriend. For those of you who do not know what I'm talking about, that's even better.

Yes...I think there's a hurricane headed this direction? Lane? WHAT KIND OF DUMB NAME IS THAT FOR A HURRICANE?!

Dumb dumb dumb.

Anyways, sustained winds of 75 to 100 MPH are supuposed to get here sometime Monday lasting until Tuesday. It's actually already kinda breezy. Pleasant almost. It's cooler outside than it is in the van.

Pegajoso(pega-HO-so)is Spanish for sticky. Now you all know. XD

~

p.s. Garrison! I can't leave comments on your blog, man! What's up with that?

Monopoly

2006-09-14T18:15:00.000-04:00

Monopoly is pretty big here amongst us American students. Since we all just kind of hang out at the Dorr’s house all night, we play Monopoly until the insane hours of the morning and then drink coffee and play more. It’s all very complicated you know. The rules, loaning money, borrowing money, buying hotels, selling hotels back... The games go on for hours and hours and hours. Often we start up a mini economy where we’re all pretty equal with money and just go around and around the board collecting money and paying off debts. Tonight, however, Micah managed to stockpile every single $500, $200 and $50 bill. So Annie and I (Jon is in Arizona) were mostly trading money back and forth with each other until Annie finally sold Micah Marvin Gardens, giving him the last monopoly in the game. All I had was the Purple Monopoly, all the railroads and the utilities. Since I owed Micah something around $3000 I sold him my utilities in exchange for my debt being taken away and enough money to pay off my debt to Annie. Then I ended up selling him my Purple Monopoly in exchange for the same thing, and then just gave him my railroads to pay off another debt I racked up. Since I was out, I grabbed a magazine to read and watched Annie and Micah play. It all got rather crazy there for a bit. Someone said something and we all started laughing so I put my head down on the table so I could stop laughing (which...doesn’t make sense now) and when I sat back up one of my railroad deed cards was stuck on my forehead (yeah..). I couldn’t find it anywhere, nor could I feel it so I started looking around for it. All the while it was stuck on my forehead. I finally noticed it, but not before Annie did and she fell off her chair. It took us quite awhile to calm her down. And then I moved all my cards to the left so that I wouldn’t get them stuck on my forehead again.

And that's what we do here in college.

~

Updates...

2006-09-12T18:40:00.000-04:00

Saturday
So Saturday after leaving the restaurant Annie and I went to the grocery store. It reminded me a lot of the Tesco Lotus’ in Thailand. It was sort of a mish-mash of everything, focusing on groceries of course. Anyways, I was there for four things primarily. Hand soap, laundry detergent, lotion (as mine spilled on the way here) and windex. Managed to get all of that for less than 100 pesos which, if you convert it, is a little less than ten dollars. My problem is that I keep thinking Pesos in American terms. If I had gone to Wal-Mart and spent 100 dollars and two bars of hand soap, a gallon of laundry detergent, a small thing of lotion and a container of Windex, I would have been totally out of my mind. And everyone would have told me so. But handing the cashier a 200 peso bill was nothing. She handed back 100 peso bill, a few coins and a bag of stuff. While we were there, Annie told me about a preferred shoppers card they have and asked if I wanted one. Seeing we had tons of time to spare I replied in the affirmative and we went to this separate room to fill out the form. It was disastrous. I am totally inept at Mexican forms. I figured that hey, I’d fill it out like a normal form, right? Well, for one thing it was written in Spanish and half the questions were weird ones like “What is your mother’s maiden name?” Or, “Are you married or single?” And then something else that Annie ended up answering for me. I still don’t know what I wrote down or why. Once we were done with the form the poor lady gave me six of the little card things and waved me out the door. Probably wanted to get rid of me more than anything. Heh. So I have an extra supply of those preferred shoppers card things. In case I ever lose them.
After we went to the restaurant and the grocery store, we stopped back at the homes and dropped everything off and then went out visiting again. We went to the house of a lady who taught in the schools for 62 years. So she knows just about everyone and as we were sitting on her porch people drove by and waved or rode their bicycles by and waved or stopped and talked. They talked primarily in Spanish so I only caught a few words every now and then but there was one man there who spoke pretty good English. He had a bit of difficulty with my name “Liz” and Annie explained it to me on the way home. Apparently Elizabeth is shortened to ‘Ella’ down here and Elissa is shortened to ‘Liz’ pronounced ‘Lees’. So when Annie introduced me as ‘Elisabet’ and then referred to me as ‘Lees’ they got all confused about my name. But it was a pleasant way to spend half an hour and we got home around 5:45. With fifteen minutes until dinner I went to where my dad is staying and chatted with him for a bit. He was having problems with the washer they have in the trailer he’s in and we laughed about how it sounded like a jet engine getting ready to take off. After that, we left to go to dinner which was tacos at a small restaurant near the main plaza in Navojoa. It was delicious and after that we stopped for ice cream again. (Two nights in a row now. Apparently everyone is addicted. I’m not yet, but I must say, it is very, very good ice cream.) I had a yellow thing covered in chocolate and walnuts. Very good, very thick.

Sunday
Church was very good today. Didn’t understand Sunday School very well but my dad preached for the main service so I understood that. Afterwards we dished out ice cream for everyone only it was really, really hot outside so everything got all sticky. A small boy came up to me while I was standing in the field, waiting for the bus to leave and started speaking in Spanish. I didn’t know what to do really, so I just listened and shrugged. I caught the word ‘carro’ and he was pointing to the bus so I think he was trying to ask me if I rode the bus? Maybe. At any rate he walked off, possibly confused, and I went into the main pavilion and started dishing out ice cream. Tonight we’re going to another church for evening services as they don’t host them here.
The latest report on Simon’s eye is that the least worst possible scenario is surgery. There’s a good chance he could lose his vision in that eye. Please keep that in your prayers. He’s being medicated now and it’s looking as if the Harris family won’t be coming back down to Mexico until November.
Dad leaves tomorrow!

Monday
So what did I do my first evening without parental supervision? Stayed up until 12:30 and messed around of course. What else was there to do? Played Monopoly with Jon, Annie and Micah, won because I finally convinced Micah that there was no way for him to win. Jon and Annie just sort of gave up when Micah and I refused to quit. So we stopped that and switched to a game called Midnight Madness which is really fun. I had never played it before but it’s really easy. Everyone gets a sheet of paper but there’s only one pen and only one dice. The first person rolls the dice and the next person grabs it, rolls it, and then the next person grabs it, rolls it, and so on and so forth. Whoever rolls a one or a six first grabs the pen from the middle of the table and starts writing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc, on their paper. The idea is to be the first person to get to 100. But it’s hard because people keep grabbing the pen from you. Anybody who rolls a one or a six grabs the pen from whoever is currently holding it and starts writing 1, 2, 3, 4, etc, until someone else grabs the pen from them. It’s really hilarious.
In the hours before we started acting immature, the four of us were sitting around in the living room with two violins, a guitar and a keyboard just messing around. It sounded pretty good and Pastor Dorr asked if we’d do a special for church on Sunday. Unfortunately, Micah isn’t going to be here these next two Sundays so we had to postpone the special. I might record something someday for you guys to hear. Maybe. If it’s possible. Ahahahaha.

2006-09-09T18:24:00.000-04:00

Day two of living in Mexico and I’m fully moved into my trailer. The most awesome thing about it? It’s blue. Yep. Mrs. Dorr had the kindness to remodel my whole entire trailer and she painted it blue. I didn’t even tell her it’s my favorite color either! So the cabinets are blue, the rugs are blue, my clock is blue, my bedspreads are blue and my towels are blue! She even made new curtains for it because apparently the old ones shredded in the wash. There are four puppies who live under my trailer. They belong to the Harris family but they’re pretty much everyone’s dogs. They roam around the compound however they choose to and I’ve already accidentally stepped on two of them. Eh.

Went on visitation today with some of the youth group. I was the only one there who didn’t speak Spanish so I only had a slight idea of what was really happening. The man in charge (Brother Weiss) passed out fliers among the groups and sent us up the road. I was with three other girls who were apparently very new at this door to door thing. Heh. They pretty much just stuck the fliers in gates and towards the end I witnessed the liberal throwing of papers into someone’s cactus. At any rate, we got back in the bus and I was transferred to Annie’s van and got a popsicle in a bag for my efforts. It was very good. Pineapple flavored. I learned the word for sticky but alas, have forgotten it.

So in the end I’m entirely moved into my trailer now. Suitcases are stored under the bed and stuff is out everywhere. There’s two twin beds in the back so I can sleep in whichever one I choose. Someone is on my roof right now, patching the leaks. My dad leaves Monday evening (and I’m kinda concerned for him because he’s taking the bus and he’s going to be on his own) and school starts Tuesday the 19th. Yes, I’m here a week early but it’s looking like I’m going to need that week to get accustomed to everything that’s going on. I already almost missed lunch today. XP

I'm in a restaurant right now with free wi-fi. Was pleasantly surprised to get 12 new emails! Keep it up everyone! I miss you all and I love checking/responding. Here's the deal, if you send me an email, I'll respond. No mass emails!!

Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico

2006-09-08T15:23:00.000-04:00

I'm here now. Yep. And it's great. Really cloudy right now, my favorite type of weather so I'm pretty happy. The bus ride was long and hard, as I knew it would be. But we're here and I'm dead tired. We're probably staying in a hotel tonight and so I'll be moving into my trailer tomorrow hopefully.

Anyways, I have to go.

~

Last day!!

2006-09-06T21:56:00.000-04:00

OOogggrrr....

Alright, so people have been asking me if I'm nervous, anxious, excited, ready...you know, the normal plethora of questions.

So..here's the answer.

Yes, I am nervous. Why? Because the bus ride is 10 HOURS LONG! SO many things could go wrong in that period of time. Y'know? SO MANY THINGS! But I'm not a doomsdayist. XD

I'm a bit anxious. I don't know what's going to happen when I get there, if I'll like it, or even if I'll survive. So yeah...I'm anxious.

I'm excited. Absolutely! C'mon! Mexico! What's not to be excited about?

Ready? Mostly. Yeah, mostly. I'm going to get down there and be missing something like a toothbrush. I just know it. XP

Adios!!

~

2006-09-04T21:51:00.000-04:00

Frogs!

!!

2006-09-04T17:25:00.000-04:00

HOW COULD HE JUST DIE LIKE THAT?!?!

I was eating when I found out about this. Totally crushed me. Crud, I don't even know why. Devestating. And I didn't even really pay attention to the guy.

Crud.

~

2006-09-04T09:40:00.000-04:00

Baltimore, Maryland. We're going to the aquarium today.

Secret Nuclear Bunkers - Right Over There

2006-09-03T00:47:00.000-04:00

Aheee....went to Bowie Town Center today and got a book of stupid signs from Barnes and Noble. Then promptly came home and misplaced it. It's in here somewhere. In a green bag. I'll find it eventually. Anyways, to amuse you until I do find it, here's a link to the people who published the book. Rather interesting signs out there. Especially the one about the secret nuclear bunker. Who wasn't thinking on that one??

Anyways. Five days (technically four really) until I fly outta here. I'm ready to go. Mentally that is. I've still got stuff scattered all over my room. Everywhere. Clothing, tape, water, junk, junk, more junk. All over the place. Got to stuff it all in three duffle bags before Thursday. Yep.

In other news, went and did another recording for Pizza Bolis today. It went well. We stuck with the original script except for one part which we changed. So call in and hear me!! Yay!

~

2006-09-01T23:26:00.000-04:00

A few words of advice for everyone out there.

1. Don't drive on a rainy night without your contacts.
2. Avoid branches at all costs.

That's all you need to know and you will live a long, fruitful, happy life.

Oh, and try to stay away from people who don't like you. That's another good tip. ^^

Last things last, here's how to forget a long day (Screenames removed to protect the innocent ^^):

Me: We can run off and be pirates!
Sara: YEAH!!!
Me: I'LL GET THE BOAT!
Sara: I'LL GET THE HATS!!!
Me: YESYESYES!!!
Me: Those are MOST IMPORTANT!
Me: WITH FEATHERS!
Sara: OYAH!!!
Sara: WE'RE SCOUNDRELS AND HEATHENS, WE'RE REALLY BAD EGGS!!! DRINK UP ME HEARTIES, YO HO!!!

But no really, today was great. Went over to MG's house and watched a movie called October Sky. Great stuff, especially when you insert your own lines whenever the actors are speaking.

And we're being pummeled by good ol' Ernesto who decided to skimp over Florida and drown us instead. At least we're not North Carolina. They got some nice flooding down thataway. Yep. Who names a hurricane Ernesto anyway? That one that hit near Hawaii is much better. Ioke. How's that for a name? Much better than Ernesto. They need to fix their dang hurricane name list.

Anyways, only have...a few days left (I've lost count, ahehe). I've still got loads of boxes in my room (empty, of course) and I'm going to the aquarium on Monday! Yay!!!

Anyways, 'm out!

~! <--hehe!

2006-08-30T22:02:00.000-04:00

yay!! So...got the recording thing to work. Slightly. I have a messed up version of Linus and Lucy to show for my efforts but at least it works. Tomorrow I shall get better stuffs recorded. Yes.

~

2006-08-28T22:57:00.000-04:00

I'm dead tired. Why am I still awake? Because I know that as soon as I turn off the lights I won't be tired. Of course not. Who cares if I get ten hours of sleep tonight? I'll still be tired tomorrow anyway. Ugh...I hate this. It's not necessarily insomnia it's just...blah.

Blah, blah, blah.

Blah.

Tired. Bored. Blah.

~

Instant Messaging

2006-08-27T22:05:00.000-04:00

Mmm...It dawned on me this evening that I now have three instant messaging programs.

AIM, Yahoo, and MSN.

I use all three of them because various friends of mine will not go to other programs for various reasons. For instance, S only uses Yahoo whereas Garrison has recently switched over to MSN. AIM is used to talk with MGFS (don't ask).

So yeah. And I get all these emails, too. I really never, ever use my phone so I won't really miss it in Mexico. What I will miss, however, is my current ability to just log on whenever I feel like it. They don't have wireless where I'm going to be living in Mexico, but from what I understand there is a restaurant just down the road that has free wi-fi. So I'll probably be frequenting that place a lot. XD

Oh, and for those of you remotely interested, I haven't had any caffiene since WEDNESDAY! The only liquid I've been drinking has been WATER. And I have a horrid caffiene headache (and that may explain my absence in church this morning. XP).

Anyways, only a few more days left until I leave. Eleven, to be exact. I am now officially ready mentally (yes, I say that now, I probably won't be on the 7th) but not physically. My stuff is EVERYWHERE. There are clothes and boxes all over the room and it is truly a disaster area. Ughh...

I can't remember what else I was going to say. Whatever.

~

Fwee!

2006-08-26T13:15:00.000-04:00

Alright, folks. By far, the best best best best best best best thing about having a laptop is the ability to go work outside. I'm loving it out here. There's a monarch butterfly in a bunch of flowers nearby and the breeze is just awesome. Except for the fact that it just blew over a small tree.

Anyways, talk about reunions this week! Not only have I reconnected with S but my really good friend (and long time acquaintance) Doug has emailed me! It's been years since we last talked and then out of the blue he emailed me yesterday! He apparently got my email address of my graudation invitation that I sent him which is awesome because I've been wanting to talk to him. We met in first grade and he's one of the only people I ever really talked to on the phone when I was younger. lol. I still have his phone number memorized.

Ha! I say work as if I'm actually getting something done. XP I'm going to do the contact page for the Dorr's Website so check for that later on today (if you have a hankering for mailing stuff to Mexico).

~

2006-08-25T21:39:00.000-04:00

I seriously hate the mall. Not strongly dislike, I hate the mall.

I hate the people in the mall, mostly.

No, not people I know, just the fact that people are in the mall.

Yes, I realize that unless you are extraordinarily rich, you cannot have a mall to yourself. I'm not asking for that.

I just really hate being around people in the mall.

I have this nagging feeling that everyone is looking at me funny. Like, "Shh..look at that weird looking person over there!" Or, "Haha! Look at the clothes she's wearing! And those shoes!!"

Maybe it's just me. lol. Anyways, in the end I wound up going to wal-mart and buying Spaghetti-Oh's. I'll eat them tomorrow. Yepyep.

~

Moi!

2006-08-24T21:45:00.000-04:00

Look! It's me wif teh balloony!! Mah good friend JJ drawed this for me and now I'm posting it here coz I absolutely luff it!!

~

Tonight, tonight..

2006-08-24T00:30:00.000-04:00

Tonight was a good night. Garrison preached for church service (good message, by the way!) and then we all went to Applebees just for the fun of it. (By everyone I mean the Starr, Shafer and Howard crew.) I had coconut shrimp. Yum! ^^

But today was good. All combined it was one of my best days in a long time. I got a nifty huge paycheck (second to last one. Geeaak!) and then, the applebees thing, then came home and talked to a bunch of people on Yahoo.

Garrison, Justin J., and Sara! My good ol' friend, Sara was on! I hadn't seen her in a good long, long while. She's doing...alright. Gonna talk to her again Thursday hopefully.

Garrison is LEAVING!! LEAVING!! LEAVING!! (There's not much more to say!!)

Justin J. is getting ready to go to school as well, though he'll be staying here in good ol' MD. Hopefully I'll get to see him sometime next week when he comes through OCS. Hopefully, no promises though.

Anyways, so today was good. Hopefully tomorrow will be as well. I'm hoping to buy that USB MIDI cable sometime really soon. Which will be nice.

Yeppers!

~

2006-08-23T21:24:00.000-04:00

Whoa! Big eyed baby! lol. Bad picture though. We're at Applebees again. XD

2006-08-23T12:37:00.000-04:00

I have been maliciously attacked by raviolli three times in the last two days. I don't know for sure yet, but I think Chef Boyardee has something out for me. I got it all over a white shirt the first time and then dropped raviolli all over the floor the second time. And then today I got it all over my skirt. Ugh.

And I used to like the stuff!!

~

2006-08-22T13:26:00.000-04:00

Sawyer Nelson!! His picture is one of the scrolling images on my site but many people have requested it so here it is and it doesn't change when you refresh the page. Just right click it then choose the 'Save Picture As' option from the menu that pops up. Navigate to your desktop and save it under whatever name you want! You can keep it as image15 if that makes you happy.

lol.

~

Super Heros!

2006-08-21T18:32:00.000-04:00

Hey look! It's Garrison and me in superhero form! I'm OtterChild (wif wings. nyeh!) and he's Mr. IWUANAGTWAF. (I-wake-up-at-noon=and-go-to-work-at-five.) Anyways, I'm not normally an artist. In fact, all my pictures really stink, but this one turned out alright. Because I had three hours to work on it. lol. My wings are a bit wrong. They aren't facing the right direction but I like 'em. They're supposed to be folded so don't start complaining that there's no possible way I could fly with them. They're pretty big when they're stretched out. -nods-

Garrison's head is a bit malformed (hehe!) and my nose looks funny. And please click it to get a full view because it looks funny shrunk on this post.
~

Bus For Sale

2006-08-21T13:11:00.000-04:00

LOL!! Check this out and tell me why you recognize it: Bus for sale...

2006-08-20T21:08:00.000-04:00

Did a lot of updating on the OBCYG webpage today. Tomorrow is break/my webpage day and then Tuesday is the Dorr's website day.

School starts tomorrow! Ahahaha! I don't have to go-o, I don't have to go-o!

Well, still going to work but like, I'm mostly just going to be hanging around until three when I start to work extended hours again. Eheheh.

Anyways, battery is dying and Cold Case is on. Going!

~

2006-08-19T22:32:00.000-04:00

So we've had two bats in our house these last three evenings. Our cat seems to enjoy catch-and-release. She's been pretty bad about the wildlife this summer. We've had a whole menagerie of animals brought in. Moles, bats, birds, moths and chipmunks. She's been horrible this summer, our cat has.

Anyways, back home from King's Dominion (duh). It was great. Probably my last trip with my family for awhile (not counting my dad flying me out to Mexico) so it was kinda sad.

But yep.

~

2006-08-19T14:34:00.000-04:00

King's Dominion from the Eiffel tower.

2006-08-18T23:09:00.000-04:00

The English town of Westward Ho!, named after the novel by Charles Kingsley, is the only place name in the United Kingdom that officially contains an exclamation mark. There is a town in Quebec called Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, which officially contains two exclamation marks in its name.

Betcha didn't know that, didja? ^^

Source: Wikipedia

~

2006-08-18T18:29:00.000-04:00

I've noticed some people using the tutorial I posted down there. XD Glad to see it works. Though, there are some parts that I noticed were confusing while I was actually trying to do the steps myself.

Just a note, all you have to do is make a list. <*ul><*/ul>. Don't worry about putting in another part. And you can put the new list underneath or on top of the first list. Your choice.

Also, in an effort to keep things neat around here, I've made the picture of the tutoral smaller. All you have to do is click it. ^^

~

2006-08-18T10:13:00.000-04:00

Last day of summer school! The feather has nothing to do with it. I just liked it.

Friends Section Tutorial

2006-08-18T00:33:00.000-04:00

Woo! Two tutorials in one night! Aren't you all lucky! It's incredibly huge, alright? But very presise. If it doesn't work, complain. ^^

To add more friends just repeat the pattern, making sure you put only a single /ul at the end to close it all off.

-yawns-

G'night!

~

Table Tutorial

2006-08-17T21:14:00.000-04:00

Did massive work on the Dorr Webpage tonight. Made a layout that I actually like. lol. It's a workable one, too. Meaning it can be adjusted easily. And all I have to do is copy and paste the HTML.

Speaking of which, quick HTML lesson for everyone. Tables. Ahahaha.

Okay. To start a table you use this blatantly obvious command = <*table><*/table>

Minus the *'s of course.

Okay. So now your screen should look something like that. Let's do some fancy stuff so you can actually see your table. Hehe.

Okay. Within the <*table> tag, add border="2". So it'll look like this, <*table border="2"><*/table>

Yay! But, really, your table doesn't exist yet. At all. You've just told the browser that you're planning on making one. And that's about it. Which really isn't much help to a program that takes everything it sees and translates it literally.

So you're thinking, what do I do to make my table actually appear?! Easy! Add a <*tr> tag! 'TR' stands for 'Table Row'. Not exactly essential to know, but interesting just the same. ANYWAY. Alright, so you have your <*table border="2"><*tr><*/table> tags all setup, but there's something important you must, must, must always remember. Tags must be CLOSED. In order to do that, usually you repeat the tag, but this time put a / in front of the letter. That closes it so things don't get all weird on you.

SO, now you have: <*table border="2"><*tr><*/tr><*/table>

Huzzah! But..you still don't have a table. Ahahaha. Hold on! Don't hurt me, I'm working on that.

Okay, we're adding one more tag and after that you will have a table. Kay?

It's the <*td><*/td> tag set. So, all in all, you use this little code set. Ready? Kay:

<*table border="2">
<*tr>
<*td><*/td>
<*/tr>
<*/table>

Aannnddd....I can tell what you're thinking. Why does <*td><*/td> come in between <*tr> and <*/tr>?

Because you're closing that row. You use TR to make new rows. TD makes new cells. You can have infinite numbers of TD's, but make sure you close that row when you're done!

Now, there are different things you can do with tables. I'll write down a list of commans and what they can do for you. These go within the <*table> or <*tr> tags and you don't have to close them. You might also want to refer back to my last HTML tutorial post.

width = "numberhere" - Lets you tell the table exactly how wide it should be.
height = "numberhere" - Lets you tell the table exactly how tall it should be.
border = "numberhere" - Lets you tell the table how thick the border should be.
cellspacing = "numberhere" - Defines the space between cells.
cellpadding = "numberhere" - Defines more space between cells.
bgcolor = "HEXnumberhere" - Defines the background color of the cell or table.
valign = "top,bottom,OR,center" - Defines where the cell content is positioned vertically.

Tables can get much, much more complicated with colspan and rowspan and nesting tables and stuff. But I'll get into that later. Yep.

Hope this was beneficial for people who can use it. If you have questions, just post a comment and I'll answer. I'm thinking about doing a CSS tutorial next. Or maybe something else. If there's something you want to know, post and I'll make a tutorial about it. Because I love making these things. lol.

NOTE: BE SURE TO REMOVE THE *'S FROM ALL THE TAGS! THE HTML WILL NOT WORK IF YOU LEAVE THEM IN THE CODE!

~

Edit @ 11:06 p.m. - Instead of having everyone required to have a blog to post a comment, now you have to just do a simple word verification. Sorry folks, I'd leave it how it was if I could but I'm sick of deleting spam messages.

2006-08-15T22:38:00.000-04:00

So...it has recently come to my attention that two other members of my family have started blogs.

Am I a trend setter or what? ^^

And I'm sorry, y'all. But I've been getting a lot of spam on my comments recently so now only registered users can post comments. If that doesn't work, I'm going to do the little word verification option because I'm sick of deleting useless comments.

~

chat speak

2006-08-14T23:22:00.000-04:00

Dude, Ima do this whole p0st in chat speak. Coz I h8 it. Or mayb itz just my 0wn personalized verzhun of chat speak, becuz, h0nestly, I don't uze this junk. So I don't rely kno how 2 type in it. Is any of this makin sents? I h8 chat speak. It is for n00bs. UR a n00b? I'm sry.

-cleanses self of all that is chat speak evil-

Alright, bought school stuff at Wal-Mart today. Or at least, an abbreviated version of school stuff. Or...just basically pencils and pens. Uhh..yeh. And a messenger bag! YAY! I love those things! For my LAPTOP which I am currently collecting masses and masses of cables for. Ahahaha. 's greaattt....

~

p.s. 1337!! (Leet, you n00bs.)

2006-08-14T18:40:00.000-04:00

Check this out! It's got to be the funniest thing I've seen all week. Alright, so it's pathetically sad in it's subject topic, but seriously folks, c'mon. Photographers? Changing their pictures around to make things look worse than they really are?

Ha. Hahahaha.

It's despicable.

I got it from this article on Fox News which talks more about the subject.

Great stuff. Yeppers.

~

2006-08-13T17:10:00.000-04:00

Rather productive day today! (Afternoon. XP) Got stuff done for all three websites I'm working on.

Youth Group Page
Dorr Family
My Page

Yay!

Okay, quick request for everyone. I need your honest opinion about what you think of the Dorr's website. I'm not sure I really like the layout. In fact, I'm bordering on hatred of that one. So please, let me know. (In fact, let me know what you think about all of them. Feedback is always good. ^^)

Thanks everyone!
~

You have finally run out of scotch tape...

2006-08-12T21:49:00.000-04:00

Oh tragic.

So I was driving home tonight and I was stopped behind a red SUV at a stoplight and someone jumped out, ran around the front of the car and got in the other side.

Honestly, first time I've seen that. Except for the time I did it but that doesn't count.

Then, still going home and I'm behind this really ugly motorcycle with a purple light. I hate night driving. I can't see past the annoying bright lights that blind you coming the other direction. But I'm home safe so it's all good.

Didn't do much today. Watched "She's The Man" which, I must say, is absolutely positively hilarious. Awesome movie. Really, really awesome.

Anyways, I'm bored. Posted some pictures on Sheezy (which, if you know what that is, I give you kudos. If you don't, check out my page and find the links page) so yep.

That's that.

~

p.s. Jen (the one in the picture) - XD I give you full permission to blame that picture on the cruddiness of my phone. It's alright.

2006-08-11T19:35:00.000-04:00

Us (or, Jen) standing in line to go see something in D.C. Not sure what exactly.

2006-08-10T22:55:00.000-04:00

So...getting used to this thing and setting it up how I want it. It's much harder than you would imagine. The keyboard is different, not to mention the mouse, plus the fact that the rom drive is external, I love it. It's only got four songs on it though. XP For now, anyway. I've got to find a way to import the rest of my files. (Borrowed CDs, lost CDs, etc, pretty much everything on my computer isn't mine. XP)

I've got Adobe installed, AIM, Yahoo and ITunes. Still have to get WP installed and I'll be good.

Wanna hear the bestest bestest part?

It hasn't DCed once since I got on.

~

2006-08-10T16:57:00.000-04:00

Well folkses, guess what?

The Otter Files are now, officially, laptop powered.

Yessir, she came in Tuesday (when I wasn't here. XP I knew that would happen.) and she's already up and runnin'!! That's coz the NIC was niftily built in. So no need to go buy one.

The only thing I really have to complain about is that the CD drive is external. Which means I have to haul it around. Yeah...it's a pain but at least it's there. And this thing works which is the most important thing.

I'm so happy!!!

Just gotta install a bunch of stuff on et. Then it'll be all Lizified. Adobe, Word, y'know, all those good programz. (Ughh...I'm starting to spell all weird.)

Anyways. Gotta unpack still. Aahahaha!!!

~

2006-08-10T11:02:00.000-04:00

Sweet bug thing in the parking lot of this place we're at. We're on our way home! Yay! I can't wait. Tensions are high in the camp, lemmetellya.

Anyways. I hit my head on a doorframe and it hurts now.

2006-08-07T10:43:00.000-04:00

Isn't this the most creepiest house ever? Albeit, it's better at night.

2006-08-06T15:49:00.000-04:00

So it's absolutely gorgeous up here. I mean, positively beautiful. They have chickens! We're staying in a nice house about five minutes from the church and the guys and Mr. Nelson are at the pastor's house. I've already used at least four rolls of film and am currently working on my fifth.

Plans are set to go door to door tomorrow afternoon to invite kids out.

Not much internet service up here. If you need me call me.

2006-08-05T08:11:00.000-04:00

Awww! They're sleepin'! Tired little childrens.

I've got Dr. Pepper and Goldfish!

Woot!

2006-08-05T00:09:00.000-04:00

You must check this out!

This would be ahh...my personal website. Y'know, not the blog, but other..stuff. Ahem.

Anyways, go see it and tell me whatcha think. It's taken me a bit. (Since I have this habit of making something and then letting it rot until I decide to randomly update it again yay.) But it's pretty good. In my opinion, at least.

Anyways, here.

~

Patience

2006-08-04T07:44:00.000-04:00

Sweet!

Anyways, so, worked 98 or so hours these last two weeks, was in the office when Price counted 'em out.

Ahahahaha.

So, my dad says he can figure out how big my check is going to be when I get it next Friday and I say, "Sweet, alright." So, I go do my princess thing and all that, y'know, dress up, wave a sword around, wear a tiara and all and come back to change and after I've changed I go to the office (where I've been keeping the costume) and my dad's in there. Doing something. I knew it would be stupid to go bug him because he was studying or something but I was dying to know so I knocked on the door anyway. He motioned me in and I stuck my head in the door and asked if he knew yet.

He sorta...glared at me.

Then he motioned me all the way in and told me to shut the door. So...I did. Then he turned around and pulled out his huge Webster's Dictionary (you know, that huge brown one that's falling apart?) and looked up a word.

Patience.

He told me to read the definition and then memorize it. So I did. Alas, I only read it once so I wasn't able to memorize the definition but it has something to do with steadfastness, quietness and calm. Or something.

That's the first time he's ever, ever done that. lol. I was barefoot too and he hates that so he told me to leave and I did. XD

Laptop comes in on Tuesday!! I'm leaving for New York TOMORROW! I need to paaacckkk...

~

2006-08-02T22:29:00.000-04:00

Well...finally did it. Yep.

Bought a laptop.

Dunno when it's going to get here. Soon I hope.

YAY!!

~

Oh, and I renamed the blog. XD

2006-08-01T22:03:00.000-04:00

It's all lies, she thought muzzily. Some of them are just prettier than others, that's all. People see what they think is there. Even I'm a lie. But I'm getting away with it.

~Monstrous Regiment, Terry Pratchett

i HAte mY neTWorkCard! -sobs uncontrolably-

2006-08-01T13:32:00.000-04:00

No post yesterday. Was dead tired. Came home around four and just crashed. Didn't wake up until nine and was almost positive that I was late for work. So confused, so confused. The only thing that saved me was that it was pitch black outside and so I figured that either there was a terrible storm or it was night.

Fortunately, it was night.

Unfortunately, my parents had gone to Barnes & Noble without me so I missed out on buying some new books. That's alright though, I probably would have had to spend my own money. Money I do not have.

In other news, I got the Hing Scholarship. Money towards college, yay!

Going to buy a laptop sometime in the near future. Hopefully I have a nice paycheck coming to me in two Fridays so...laptop and money towards college. Yayness!

Eeeh.

~

Somewhere, somebody loves you.

2006-07-30T23:13:00.000-04:00

I guess that's true. Mmph. Never thought about it before. What if that someone who loves you is someone you've never, ever met? That's kinda creepy. I could just randomly say, "I love a random person in Albania" and they would never know, but at least someone loves them! But does that really count? Mmm...I don't think so. You can't really love someone you've never met. At least, in my experience anyway.

Anyways, I'm glad someone is reading my blogs. I think I know of at least three people who read, only ONE of which who comments.

...

Jerhks.

Thhbbt!

XD

~

2006-07-29T23:00:00.000-04:00

Yay! So..spent most of the day turning our gym into a castle/jousting area. It was enjoyable and it really turned out perfectly. The crests look awesome, the lion and the bird being the best ones, and the whole stage area is incredible. The kids are going to get a kick out of it. But not only did the gym area turn out awesome, so did my costume. At least, in my opinion it did. I'm not exactly thrilled to death about the fact that I'm merely wearing a white t-shirt over it all, but the skirt turned out awesomely. And the cloak goes well. (Even if the cloak is made of flannel and it's the middle of the summer.) So, after I got it all together I took my camera and Steph and I set up a little photo shoot. Here's the best (and I use that term lightly) ones. The first one is my favorite. XD It shows me in 'Shapeless Blob Mode', one of my best modes.

This next one came out pretty good. The lighting on the path behind the church was just awesome because the sun was right overhead and the trees were thick. So here's me...walking down the path.

This last one is the only one showing the costume that I actually almost like. The other ones are just..eegghh... It's the skirt. It makes me look fat. XP

In other news, learned I had a few new readers today! -waves- Here's a shoutout to CareBearSher (as I'm led to believe it's spelled? Not sure, correct me if I'm wrong.) I'll have the link to her blog up in a few days. XD

~

2006-07-28T22:15:00.000-04:00

Okay so um...-cough- I'm supposed to dress up like a princess next week for our church's VBS. I have a giant wound on my foot and I can't walk without limping but...princess. Yeh.

So...have some blue material now that I'm going to make into a 'dress'. Plus a tiara and a bunch of new 'princess jewelry'. So...I'm all set. To top it off I have a cloak that I'm going to wear to disguise the whole thing.

Look, I'm the girl who played Robin Hood when I was little. I didn't play princess. I played with rocks and dirt. Princess was brought up in a side conversation about who we could pretend to rescue.

Not that I mind, no. I find that now that I'm older I like to pretend to be other people more often. So...I need a name for my princess before I can fully move into character. I'm not usually bad at names but I'm thinking the names they want are things like Esmerelda or Anastasia. Neither of which are names that I'd ever admit to answering to. (Now, no offense if your name is Esmerelda or Anastasia. They're wonderful names, just not names that are very...me.) I'm thinking Princess Sable or Sybil. Or something like that. Yesh.

Um...see, the only scary part is that the theme has something to do with knights. So..anybody been to Medieval Times? Wweell..the story goes that there are four knights and they're all fighting for the hand of the princess, right? Well...eehh..the VBS is four knights and one princess. And...ugh. Well, not that I'd really have to get married if it all goes as planned, but still. UUggh!

Well anyways, we'll see.

We'll see.....

~

PIRATES!

2006-07-27T23:56:00.000-04:00

Ahahahahaha!! Every paycheck or so I treat myself to new music. And so tonight I downloaded the POTC2 soundtrack.

It's good. I must say. I can't wait to see the movie. Someone's gotta send it to me in Mexico. Or give it to me for Christmas.

Yes indeedly so. The music for POTC2 is definitely a bit less classical than POTC1 but it's still good. From what I've heard the movie is a bit less believable (and number one was?). But apparently according to the ending there has to be a number 3! YAY!

~

i HaTE the denTIst!

2006-07-27T17:08:00.000-04:00

I feel bad for my poor dentist. His name is Frush and he had three members of my family on the same day. My teeth are nice and clean now (I love that slimy feeling you get when you get your teeth cleaned. Ahaha!) and honestly, there isn't much I can complain about except for the fact that the toothpaste was gritty. I didn't have to get X-rays done and no flouride now that I'm eighteen, yay!

So...I guess the correct title for this post would be, "i HaTE denTIst aPpoINtmeNTs".

I need to clean my room on Saturday, and I can't forget about going down and decorating for VBS. Knights and stuff, right up my alley. (Not that I'll be able to do much. lol. I can't draw worth two beans.)

OoOOooohh!! Bought a circular polarizing lens for my camera! It lets me take pictures through water and glass! Yayness!! I should probably start posting pictures or something up here. Eh well.

~