Realizations Of Cross-Country Camping Trip (EE)
I'm finally back from my cross-country camping trip. It's truly amazing how much things can change in just four days. I feel like I've come home to an entirely different environment. Whenever I come back home from a long trip and go onto my computer, it's so foreign to me: the typeface of various Internet sites, the actual way to type with my laptop's keyboard, and of course the way things work with it in general. It happened after my P&L trip (6-2005) and going to summer camp (7-2005). Now, it's happened after my cross-country trip (10-2005).
To give you an idea of how the trip was, it just overall was so much fun and away from most civilization. I strengthened friendships and found out some new things about the world; ran through downtown Santa Cruz and hung out at Seabright Beach; slept for four nights in a forest where it was 45-50 degrees and every morning did a three-mile run. Interval work happened in the afternoons on Tuesday and Thursday, and every evening we had a splendid dinner: ranging from spaghetti and pasta to fettuccine Alfredo, all the way to Mexican burritos. I felt like I was eating at Olive Garden or La Costa Taqueria.
I was at a peak of happiness right as we were about to leave for the trip, when I checked my new digital camera and there was no memory stick in it. I asked my driver if we could swing by my house and he said he didn't have control over that privilege. I asked the coach's wife Betsy what I should do and she said, "I can pick it up at your house tomorrow morning before I leave." That was pretty dang awesome in theory, and even more awesome when she presented me with the memory stick Tuesday morning.
Throughout the time of Tuesday around noon through Friday (today) right when we got back around 2 o'clock, I took a total of 530 pictures with my new Canon PowerShot Pro 1. These pictures aren't just 'whatever/sucky' pictures either--I actually spent the time to think of a good shot. I have everything from candids, to shots of and on the beach, ones taken around the campfire, special events that happened like skit night and going to "Foster's Freeze", even the burning of a Teletubbie (Po, to be exact). Searching on Google and seeing just how obscure Teletubbies really are, makes me glad that he was burned about a flaming inferno.
The reason I said it feels like I've come home to an "entirely different environment" is because Brentwood itself has changed a lot, too. The work on the new McDonald's is coming along really fast, the houses off of Central Ave have broken ground, and the new shopping center on Balfour is seeming to be completed soon. Right as I left on the trip, I realized that I wouldn't be able to play piano at all for three days straight (Tuesday - Thursday), unlike the P&L tour where I played during the performances and summer camp where I played the piano there for 2-3 hours a day. I came home this afternoon and I really enjoyed improvising the tunes in my head. I'm going to write a few songs in the near future, but I need to achieve the fixation of my digital piano's two broken keys.
LiveJournal news has been updated for October and is coming along well. I also noticed that Derek has updated for you about his Leah story and his "
How does that kid write so much per day" monologue. As fun as it may have been to have Derek update for me in these past few days, I'm back into town for the next ten days before I leave for Minnesota, so I'll make them good days of necessary relaxation. Now it's time to unpack, have a snack, and take a nap. My temporary presence has now been announced.
~Chris
To give you an idea of how the trip was, it just overall was so much fun and away from most civilization. I strengthened friendships and found out some new things about the world; ran through downtown Santa Cruz and hung out at Seabright Beach; slept for four nights in a forest where it was 45-50 degrees and every morning did a three-mile run. Interval work happened in the afternoons on Tuesday and Thursday, and every evening we had a splendid dinner: ranging from spaghetti and pasta to fettuccine Alfredo, all the way to Mexican burritos. I felt like I was eating at Olive Garden or La Costa Taqueria.
I was at a peak of happiness right as we were about to leave for the trip, when I checked my new digital camera and there was no memory stick in it. I asked my driver if we could swing by my house and he said he didn't have control over that privilege. I asked the coach's wife Betsy what I should do and she said, "I can pick it up at your house tomorrow morning before I leave." That was pretty dang awesome in theory, and even more awesome when she presented me with the memory stick Tuesday morning.
Throughout the time of Tuesday around noon through Friday (today) right when we got back around 2 o'clock, I took a total of 530 pictures with my new Canon PowerShot Pro 1. These pictures aren't just 'whatever/sucky' pictures either--I actually spent the time to think of a good shot. I have everything from candids, to shots of and on the beach, ones taken around the campfire, special events that happened like skit night and going to "Foster's Freeze", even the burning of a Teletubbie (Po, to be exact). Searching on Google and seeing just how obscure Teletubbies really are, makes me glad that he was burned about a flaming inferno.
The reason I said it feels like I've come home to an "entirely different environment" is because Brentwood itself has changed a lot, too. The work on the new McDonald's is coming along really fast, the houses off of Central Ave have broken ground, and the new shopping center on Balfour is seeming to be completed soon. Right as I left on the trip, I realized that I wouldn't be able to play piano at all for three days straight (Tuesday - Thursday), unlike the P&L tour where I played during the performances and summer camp where I played the piano there for 2-3 hours a day. I came home this afternoon and I really enjoyed improvising the tunes in my head. I'm going to write a few songs in the near future, but I need to achieve the fixation of my digital piano's two broken keys.
LiveJournal news has been updated for October and is coming along well. I also noticed that Derek has updated for you about his Leah story and his "
How does that kid write so much per day" monologue. As fun as it may have been to have Derek update for me in these past few days, I'm back into town for the next ten days before I leave for Minnesota, so I'll make them good days of necessary relaxation. Now it's time to unpack, have a snack, and take a nap. My temporary presence has now been announced.
~Chris