The Sum of Shenanigans! (in a recap...)

Looking back on the past weeks and posts:

I never did talk to Jason. Evidently my trying to let the poor boy down gently didn't register in his mind as a "I don't ever want to talk to you again"...Should have been more adamant on that point. Eh. He's an idiot anyways. And now, after the whole Yosemite debacle, Heather much agrees with me. Julie is still sympathetic to the moron, but we're both sure it won't last long. Oh, and I could care less if I ever saw him again. He grates on the nerves. Hmmm, perhaps I should really explain our (heather's and my) disenchantment with the boy...

Okay, so I drove up to Yosemite on memorial day with Steven. Nice guy from AGO, singer, lovely person in general. We (monica and chris, other peepz in car) listened to "the Magician's Nephew" old british radio program and read the funny architectural descriptions in my Michelin Green Guide for spain and figured out what a blaustrade (like the banister on the stairs, keeps u from falling off the balcony) and escutcheons (shieldy-thingummies sculpted in stone on the front of a building..ba relief) were, to general laughter and amusement. Enjoyed myself immensely (and kind of felt guilty to burden them with "the boy" hereafter as jason shall be called on the way home, but that's another story...).

Arrived, Set up tents, mine was judged "dude, hard core!" as well as "pimp!" ha ha ha! ...My little orange pup tent, of course (weighs two pounds). Went to bed. Woke up next morning, a little after six, and proceeded to roust all the other sleepy people (didn't know they wanted to get up at six thirty, oh well) and quickly change into warmer clothes and pack all my stuff.

Did I mention that it was absolutely freezing? I didn't bring my stupid sleeping bag, just the liner, a polarfleece blanket, and a down blanket. Oh, and I wore multiple layers of socks and a sweatshirt and a HAT and GOD, was it cold that night. Really. Much colder than cedar brakes. At least there, I had jules to keep me warmer (by squishing me underneath her and her sleeping bag) in the pup tent. Ohhh, no, didn't have that. All the people (stupid ones) who slept out under the non-visible stars (clouds) had frost covering the bottoms of their sleeping bags. Damn! The ground was crackly with it. As it was, I had my tent all to myself. YAY! and BOO! at the same time.

Heather arrived at 1030 that night (half an hour after I went to sleep) and pitched tent with Phil (bf) and jason. Evidently, Jason was a pill on the way up, not wanting to talk on the car ride and Heather was still gamely at the "I'm going to be a good hostess, I'm GOING to be a good hostess" stage. (Ie: restraining herself from snarling at the idiot.)

Eh, got moving, and we all headed off to Camp Curry for breakfast. Stopped to take pictures here and there. Awesomeness. Breakfast was buffet, $9.80. Good deal, good food. Lots of GIGANTIC fresh strawberries, fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage...etc. yum. Now, for your future reference, I am going to blame the eggs for whatever flatulence resulted. And no, don't stop reading yet...though I'm sure you can begin to guess the depths of our pathos with "the boy".

Okay, fine. We all get ready to go, assemble our 6 (six, good god!) liters of water and hop on the shuttle to the trail head...for HALF DOME. That's an 18 mile hike. A LONG way, if you're not particularly in shape...eeyikes. So, Off we go, and get immediately passed up by all the enthusiastic AGO boys and co...leaving Heather, Phil, "the boy" and steven and I in the dust...only to have us take the longer, harder, "unnecessary elevation" trail---read: a mile longer---up to half dome and nevada falls. AIEEEE!

Wouldn't have been so bad, if "the boy" didn't have a major flatulence (that's FARTING, people) problem, and took great pleasure in talking about it. And, talking about all his bodily functions in great, disgusting detail. EWWWW. Even after Heather and I specifically stated that IT WAS NOT FUNNY AND HE SHOULD DISCONTINUE SUCH SUBJECTS AS OBJECTS OF CONVERSATION. Arrrrr. I think Heather snarled at him first, so he kept trying to hike near me (and he FARTED on me, LAUGHED, and kept walking...EW) and so then I growled at him, took one of Phil's walking sticks and stabbed his backpack in the back with it, and shoved him away from me. GRRRRR.

Eventually, both of us were so fed up with him, that we relegated him (in our complete ire) to the back of the group with the explicit statement that "since he was gassy and disgusting, he could bring up the rear!!" (Heather, I love you!) A brilliant, and life-saving idea. I cannot emphasize the true genious of this idea enough!

It gets better. At lunch time, he asked Heather what she thought she'd be doing the next day, and at the time, she spitefully replied that we'd be doing another hike (the plan was for me, "the boy" and phil and heather to return in heather's car and visit her home, etc). I didn't know she was trying to get rid of him, and was rather crestfallen, but gamely (with a distinct whimper in my voice) stated that whatever the activity, I'd still rather go home with Heather. (Phil was thrilled, the boy just LOVES hiking...or pain...something!)

When he complained that he didn't really want to go hiking again (we were all really tired and sweaty and gross by that time...and only halfway up the mountain) and Heather stated "Oh. Well, we could find a mall or something to leave you at for an hour or so." --this, in a rather, "you're being such an insensitive dick/nuisance" kind of voice, ha ha ha. Which perked/bolstered me up, because she knows that if a mall has a bookstore, I'll be happy for HOURS...no, DAYS, and Jason is the "needy" type who has to have someone constantly catering to his needs (as we discovered) and paying attention to him...and malls are just not fun for guys, ha ha ha.

Anyhow, he stated that he could go home with Steven, and Steven was okay with that, so we both (because I don't think I could stand him in the car for a car trip) were happy, heather and I. Fantastic. Got rid of him. Ha ha, Evidently steven got rid of him in fresno to his family, which was going to see some concert there. HA, even THEY couldn't stand him! BWA HA HA HA!

Aside from that, the trip was quite rewarding; my candies bolstered everyone's spirits (jolly ranchers and starbursts) and Phil's hiking sticks were invaluable in getting Heather up, and me down...especially when my knees and ankles went out...damn things! Oh, and there's funny stories about "bathroom breaks" as well.

The funniest part was that all of us were in some way afraid of heights. I was just scared because someone had the ill-grace to mention that "a few people were lost to the mountain every year"...which scared me shitless when I realized how slick the final 300ft of halfdome really WERE, and how I'd have to haul myself up them with steel cables stuck out of the mountain. Eeeeeee! And, how extremely HIGH UP we were (more than my usual 100 feet on a sailboat mast) and the lack of handholds like on any boat....EEEEEEE! So Heather and I were witless going up, and fine coming down, and Phil and "the boy" were scared coming down...as was Steven, but he handled it better. Sailing gloves were GREAT though--no chafing anywhere on my hands. The cables were nice-sized as well, just like thick lines on a boat. Everyone else had a little trouble with gloves and such giving their hands blisters or whatever. Oh, and singing "Do-re-mi" on the way down helped too, as well as only looking where I put my feet. YElargg!

It wasn't even the "holy shit, i've never had my heart beat that fast" kind of scared, it was the "Ohmigod, if I look down, I'm going to get vertigo, let go and die, or else be REALLY SICK" fear...so bad that I couldn't even look at the surrounding mountains in the distance, only my feet. We took lots of great pictures up on top and climbing up and down though. And going up, it was great that the Jr. High group that was coming down was very encouraging. Oooh, and there's a MARMOT on top!! Cool!

I was so proud of us, though. We all made it up, and finally down in one piece, respectively. Ha, on the way back though, it got dark (since I couldn't walk so well, damn ankles and knees) and we lost the trail, and ended up taking the dangerous "mist trail" by the waterfall back down. Yipes. Slippery, wet, and scary...even with the flashlights and headlamp flashlights. Eeeyiiiikes. Oh, and lots of poisonous centipedes on the trail at night (squished from hikers before us). Wonder what they were eating? Are they nocturnal predators? Hmmm. Things to ponder.

On the car ride out of the valley, Phil concluded (at Heather and my complaining) that "the boy" had the mentality of a six-year old, disguised somewhat, but evident if you spent longer periods of time with him. Shallow, no particular depth of interests besides "boobs" and "video games" and such things. Very juvenile. Uck. Glad Steven and Phil were not that way. Hurrah for mature men.

Ha ha, evidently I was so exhausted by all the hiking, that I kept nodding off in the car, in the middle of sentences...or even awakening enough to mumble nonsensical things. ha ha. Heather would ask me questions, and I'd answer: H:"Elaine, do you think we should stop for the night?" E with head on pillow:"No, I think we can keeep...meeamBoPOOOP...BEEP!" To which her reply would be "Elaine, that's not a word!!" We finally just crashed at a travelodge in Merced(my brilliant comment "see, there's this story about a turtle and a hare.... (falls asleep again)" right as we pulled in to the parking lot), and then had denny's and drove to Phil's families' home (and the POOL) the next day, sunday. Spent the day in the pool, not moving much...being weightless, with phil's father (charming man) seeing me as "fresh meat" and telling me all his stories. Just like my dad and his jokes, eh? Phil's mom was a lovely french lady...very hospitable. Loved staying and eating dinner with Heather's parents as well...lovely people. AND, they fed us breakfast....ohh, forgot to write them a thankyou note. Note to self!!

The car ride home with heather was a blast as well, few stops, but lots of candy and food and the backseat was totally trashed with all our crap on it...ha ha. And lots of swing music, lilo & stitch, and Lion king singing along. What fun! I enjoyed the "road trip" immensely. Thankyou heather, for making the weekend end on a lovely high note (after all that hiking.......)

The next week, of course, was HP week! WHOHOOOO! I went on thursday (instead of senior party, boohooo!) to see it with my big sis Bridget and all her crazy friends. Hope that I get to see some of the pictures from that, eventually. Just like the pictures from Yosemite. Suffice to say, it was my favorite movie by far, the most true to the spirit of the books, and how the wizarding world (I felt) should look. Ha! Take that! And, the acting, soundtrack, and overall effect was just better. Marv. Can't wait to see it for the third time (since I'm sure I will).

Then, this past weekend was Initiation (went well, Lil Sis did SO great, proud of her...soooo proud!)on friday...and then I did NO work on saturday when Julie woke me up at 12:30, went to brunch, went to see HP AGAIN at 330, went shopping, home to dorm, then to heathers for dinner...then realized that senior brunch was the next day and I HADN'T WRITTEN MY BIG SIS'S SENIOR IMPERSONATION YET...so raced around calling people (high on after-dinner caffeine at 11pm...bad heather and julie for letting me drink it, ha ha...but yum for earl grey!) and finally wrote it after staying up all night at 7:23 in the morning...took shower, got dressed, walked over to the house with girl I was doing the impersonation with... made it thru senior brunch until 12:00...fell asleep for an hour and a half on Julie's bed upstairs (missed senior wills, when they willed me a walk on cameo in an hp movie, ha ha ha), staggered back downstairs to do impersonation (which big sis loved!) and finally, was all finished! YAY, home at four, went to bed, slept until 8am the next day. Yikes.

Then, this last monday was sisterhood/staff appreciation dinner...when I got my
OHMIGOD,IT'SSOOOFREAKIN'GOSH-DARNEDCUTE,OMIGOD,OMIGOD!!!!!
Paddle from my little sis (and cherry gummy candies, which I'm eating now...) and a cute box, etch-a-sketch...bookie, coughdrops...breath thingummies, etc~! Aww, lil sis, you spoil me!

Went home, slept, tuesday, went to class, came home, read anime, danced around (like usual), bed at 1030pm...woke at 8, breakfast with gemily and linda in Rieber, then off to class...home, put away some of my clothes...and now, on my blog, typing this up~!

Posted today on lil one's blog. v. cool. am excited. though now, I really should quit procrastinating (only one more hour until dinner, yay) and do some studying...oh, and check my email, right, toes?