My most unforgettable summer, EVER
Summer vacation's ending in exactly a week, and I've been holding off my summer blog until now. I didn't wanna have to do that, but everytime I wanna update, something good happens again. So here's my longest blog ever with all the details.
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JUNE
My summer basically started the second after my last final was over...June 7! I was so relieved to get the finals over with; they were pretty easy in a way. I don't really remember that week, but yeah, I was so happy to finally get of the school. The last official day was the 12th, but I decided not to go for the last 3 days cause there was totally no point in going if we're just gonna sit there and do nothing. Last year, we wandered the halls, but it was kinda boring.
My sister's ms graduation was on the 13th. It was weird thinking that she's out of ms and entering hs. But yeah, it was pretty boring, way too much unnecessary speeches and stuff. It was kinda funny though, everyone was saying "Party like a rockstar!" or "Rock on!" and sticking up their rock signs. Haha. After the ceremony, there was lots of picture taking. She went to a house party after and my mom, dad, and I went back home. The graduation dinner was the night after. Yeah and that weekend I watched Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (It was wah wah wah...boring & lame.) and went out to dinner with my Mom's side for my grandmother's 70th birthday.
The day after that, the family and I left for Orlando. We had to stop in Salt Lake City, and then a non-stop flight to Orlando. It was Father's Day that day, but it was sucky. We woke up at 4am, everyone had little sleep, and the ride was dreadfully boring. But when we got there, settled in and stuff, everything was better. We went to hang out and Disney Quest (virtual arcade) and took Dad out to Bongo's in Downtown Disney for dinner. I'll spare the details of each day at the Disney parks, but I remember everything that happened within those days. We went to Epcot, Typhoon Lagoon, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, MGM Studios, and Blizzard Beach.
The day that stood out to me the most was at MGM. It was Star Wars weekend the time we were there! Good timing...it was freaking awesome. We got there at what we thought was early (8am) and we see that there's 3 lines. There was one for Jay La'gaia (Captain Typho), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), and Warwick Davis (E-Wok). I thought we would be able to meet all 3 of them, but the Disney people said that we had to choose who we wanted to meet. At a certain time, they would give out fast passes for the meet & greet, where you come back at a certain time to meet them. We were originally in the line to see Anthony Daniels, but since we were so far in the back, we were on stand by and not guaranteed a pass. My sister and I were so pissed. Dad was in the line for Jay La'gaia. That line was much much shorter and he got a pass. I was like, screw this, I rather just meet Jay and be guaranteed a chance to meet him instead of waiting in a super long line in the screeching heat. So I told my Dad to wait in line with me, and we got 2 passes...one for my sister too. We got out of the other line. The pass said return by 4:55 or something like that. It was only 9 something at the time, so we had lots of time to kill. We watched a Star Wars 'behind the scenes' show, Star Wars parade (It was awesome cause we got pretty good seats and I got great pictures!), and a talk show, where Jay interviewed Anthony & Warwick. It was absolutely hilarious. Then we got into a kinda long line to meet Jedi Mickey. The line led into a small theater, where Mickey is standing in front of a background drop of a Star Wars scene. We managed to get a couple pictures each and some video footage. Finally it was 4 something and we waited in the shade a little while until they would let us start lining up with our passes. My God, I think it was like the hottest day or something. We were waiting in line with the sun directly on us. I had to turn around cause I just couldn't stand it, and because of that I got a heat rash on both shoulders. It was icky. Yeah! So my sister and I waited in line, and it was finally our turn! She went first cause she was in front of me. Jay signed a picture and her Star Wars pamphlet, and both Dad and Mom had a camera (Thank you), and they managed to snap a few pictures and short videos. Jay laughed cause my Dad had to change batteries really quickly before taking another picture. =P Then it was my turn! I walked up to him, shook his hand, and said Hi. He said 'Nice to meet you.' and then asked me what my name was, cause he likes to personalize his autographs. I said "Dana" and he said "Is it D-A-N-A?" and I said, "Yep" and smiled cause oddly people usually ask me how to spell that... Then I asked him if he could sign my pamphlet, and he said sure. His autographs were in pretty silver and purple sharpie...not the typical black. He said, "Okay, time for pictures." or something like that. Dad took a couple, Mom took a couple. It turned out well. Then he said, "Nice meeting you guys." and we said our goodbyes. The whole thing was awesome, even though it was one of the hottest days and I didn't get to meet Anthony Daniels. But I'm kinda happy I didn't, cause Jay was really nice, and Anthony, well, he wasn't. I didn't care to meet him anymore. I rather meet someone who actually cares about fans, then someone who's just snobby, no matter how famous they are.
We came back home on the 27th. I was kinda happy to be back in comfortable, cool weather. But at the same time, I missed being at the amusement parks. I will never forget that trip. I've been to Disney World before, but nothing could compare to this one. I did plenty of more shopping too, so that was a plus.
JULY
July 1 - Warped Tour!!! Mom drove my sister and I to Mountain View for the Warped Tour. It was our first time going, so didn't really know what to expect. I met up with Diana and she met up with her friends. The line was all the way down the block, it was crazy. We finally found her friends and then we waited for a little while. Then 2 guys from 'My American Heart' came up to us. I didn't know who they were at the time. They were promoting themselves, giving stickers and info to everyone in line. The lead singer, Larry and I think it was Dustin came and asked "Do you guys want stickers?" and then he started saying they are from 'My American Heart' and some other stuff, but I don't really remember. Then Dustin suddenly asked me "Did you get your shirt from H&M?" and I said "No..." I think Larry repeated what I said then sorta laughed. Then he noticed my gold razr and asked me "Did you get that limited edition off eBay?" That caught me off guard a little, and I said, "No, it's actually from the Cingular site." Haha, then they said "Hope you guys come watch us perform!" and then said byes. The line started moving cause it was 11, and we got in. Diana texted me saying that Amber Pacific was peforming, so we quickly went to find it. They were singing a song I didn't know at the time. I couldn't find Diana, so we stood in the back for a few minutes. These two girls came up to me and asked me "IS THIS ANBERLIN?" They sounded all excited and stuff, and I yelled back "NO, IT'S AMBER PACIFIC!" It was loud, but they still couldn't hear me. Then they screamed to each other "IT'S ANBERLIN!" And I said again "IT'S AMBER PACIFIC!" And in my mind I said forget it, you 2 are deaf and annoying me. I looked to my left and I found Diana! She was pretty close to the front. Megan went to get her friends and we were now in the same area. I don't really remember the song order, but they sang all the good songs, and some off their new cd. I unfortunately only knew a few at the time, but I now know more than before! The crowd was the smallest crowd I've ever seen, but it was fun. Matt told us to jump up and down during 'Gone So Young' and wave our hands during 'Always You' I think it was. When the performance was over, they headed over to their merch booth and stood there to meet fans. We were kinda near the front of the line. I had nothing to sign, but good thing I took a free Vans water bottle before that. Megan, her friends, and I went up at the same time to take a picture. They signed my bottle, but somehow I lost it somewhere. But thankfully, Megan gave me her's. =D I so happened to be next to WillNutterButter and he did this really cute face with his lips all pouty and stuff, making him look all innocent. His face was all in my hair, but who cares! Diana took the picture with my camera, and then with Megan's friend's camera. The guys thought we were done, but I was like, "Come back, one more!" Diana took it, and then it was her turn to meet them. She had tons of stuff for them to sign and she talked to Will, cause the other guys were signing stuff and doing their own thing. Diana kept passing me her autographed stuff, and Will asked "Oh, so you're holding everything? Here you go." He seemed nice. =) Then we went off looking at other booths. Jeffree Star was there at the Myspace tent. There was a lot of freebies and stuff everywhere, but I didn't get anything. My parents would probably just make me throw out the 'junk' anyway, so I didn't bother. We went our own ways, but found each other and went to the amphitheater to watch Meg & Dia. It felt so good to be in the shade and sit down. It was boring, so we left after a few songs. Diana wanted to meet 'Escape the Fate', so we waited in line. It wasn't a very long line, but we were in crunch time to see RJA in 15 minutes. I was checking the time frequently, cause I never like to be late. But, I was like, okay, it's okay to miss a couple of songs. Now, when it was our turn, a guy came up and said "Those guys (the ones in front of us) are the last ones." Something about them eating and crap. It was really rude, seriously. And next time, tell us ahead of time while we were in the back of the line, so we wouldn't have to waste our time! We missed most of RJA for that. So then we quickly went over to the main stages area and there was a huge crowd. They were singing 'Damn Regret' at the moment and well we tried to get in a little closer, but all these freaking tall people were in front of us, so we managed to get an okay spot in the back. They sang 'Face Down' and everyone went crazy. Okay yeah, then we headed over to see Boys Like Girls back at the amphitheater. I lost Diana, so I just went to sit with Megan and them. We were first in the higher level, but we moved in the lower levels. Yeah, when they came on everyone stood up and screamed. It was pretty good. I was so tired and stuff though. I bought a reversible tote, cause it was nice and for memories. I regret not buying any t-shirts and what not. Parents came to pick us up at 5 ish. Didn't get to see many bands, but all in all, it was fun, and an interesting experience. Hands down, Amber Pacific was the best. Not a big, crazy crowd and they were nice dudes.
I'll make the rest of July brief. Started SAT tutoring class. Started volunteering at UCSF hospital. Other days spent time with grandparents and cousins. Watched Harry Potter in theaters! It was good. Went to a wedding for some relative I've never met in my life. Cousin's birthday party, finished reading Harry Potter within 4 days, met Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett in the IV, V, VI trilogy)...he was really nice too, The Fray concert, watched Hairspray (love it), and got tickets to the Cartel concert.
AUGUST
Started getting into the Jonas Brothers, so I got tickets to their concert, which is in about a week and a half! I took my Senior portraits at school...and I recently got them in the mail. It turned out pretty good, despite my hair being poofy and all. I hung out with Diana 3 weekends in a row. One for a Vans thing at the mall, one for The Scene where the guy who plays 'Esteban' on the Suite Life of Zack & Cody was there, and just last week where we went 'bargain shopping'. Yeah, got new stuffs for back to school. Then cousin's birthday dinner and watched Harry Potter in IMAX 3D!!! Dad wanted to come with us, and he offered to pay, so why not? Last Friday, Megan went to Wash for an orientation, she got her classes, I got mine's in the mail. I'm kinda ehh about which teachers I got, but whatever, I'll get through it. I hope I do well for the ap/hon class I have. I hear its pretty hard crap. Yeah, then just yesterday I went back to school shopping again with money offered from grandparents. I didn't spend all of it though...Later yesterday night, they took Mom out for her early birthday dinner. This Friday's my mom's birthday, so we're celebrating with dinnner. Unfortunately for her she has to work on her birthday...sucks. Also going to visit ILM that day with uncle and maybe cousin. Dad's supposed to be going, but now he says he can't? Blah...I hope it's fun like last time. Yeah, I basically summed everything all up. I know this week's gonna go by so quickly again, so I'm planning to enjoy every last minute of it while it lasts. The only good thing about next week is the Jonas Brothers concert. I guess I'm officially a Senior now. Gosh, that sounds so weird to say...
* I leave you with a video from Boys Like Girls - The Great Escape ... good video to end the summer with.
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