College App

So, today I applied for the Disney College Program in Anaheim. I'm hoping I get a spot. If I don't, then oh well, it wasn't meant to be. But with that said, it's another step forward to trying to move down south and start the life I've always wanted. I'll hear back in a few days if I get accepted for a phone interview, and you can bet that I'll be hoping for that e-mail. We'll see how this one plays out!

Topical Essay For School

I like sharing what I write, mainly because I like to hear what people think, no matter if it's good or bad. This past week I had to write another topical essay for my English class, and I present it to you to read. Hope you enjoy it, and if you don't, then still leave a comment of your own opinion on what you think I could improve on.

I know first hand the struggles that Elizabeth Wong wrote of in her essay  “The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl”. For me, it was the smell of the locker room still gets to me. Sweat, grass and mud, mixed with dirty laundry, and covered with what seemed like an atom bomb of about 18 different colognes from the teammates trying to cover their stench up after a game, it still gets to me. FOOTBALL CAN HAVE ITS GREAT MOMENTS, BUT FOR A PLAYER LIKE ME WHO RODE THE BENCH, IT CAN BE A VERY LONG SEASON. 

Dad wanted me to play. I wanted to play. However, I never realized how much pain and work I’d have to throw into ‘playing’, which seemed ironic to me. You need work in order to be the ones that could play. After the excitement of the first few practices wore off, I started to get lazy about showing up on time. The coaches never took notice of my rep-work when I snaked my way through the line of wide receivers going out for a post pass, or a stop-and-go run. As much as Wong wanted to be in her Chinese language class was about as much as I wanted to be on the field when I realized no one was paying attention to me, yet paying attention their already star players. Even as Wong says “I had better things to learn than ideographs copied painstakingly in lines that ran right to left from the tip of a moc but”  (24), I felt like I had better things to be doing than running mindless plays, if I wasn’t going to be coached on catching the football wrong or stepping the wrong way.

As Wong states that she sat in a auditorium room with chairs and bad smelling Oriental odors and dreamed of ‘better’ countries and what they had to offer, I sat in a old and smoke filled room with my team mates and coaches watching films from previous games. I couldn’t stand the smell of the defensive coaches’ cigarettes. Waving his hand around in front of the projector screen, I worried he’d eventually burn a hole through it with as close as he got to it. He’d yell out a player’s name, and complain about things like a teammate dropping passes, or not tackling correctly. These guys were twice our age, and ten times more competitive than we were. I suppose that’s because they couldn’t play, and wanted to live through our own glory.

As I started my own season, I had to finish it, per an agreement made with my father. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t hate it all the way through as much as Wong hated her Chinese class and talking to locals in Chinatown.  As my own season ended in November, I rode the bench and got a handful of plays in when we would be up on an opponent by thirty plus points. Yet at the last game of the season, coach started me. He said that he watched me be patient and wait my turn, and decided that I deserved to play. Finally, I was someone who could be counted on for the team. 

Life in the Fast Lane

Man life has been insane lately. After D23 Last weekend, I got home, did stuff around the house Sunday, and then once Monday landed, I hit the ground running and haven't stopped much, if at all since. So here's a re-cap of the week for me:

Monday: Woke up, drove to Taft, picked up my books, drove to work, had work from 9-2, then back out to Taft for the first college classes of the semester. Had classes from 3-8, drove home, worked on homework until 12:30, and crashed around 1am.

Tuesday: Worked a long shift, scared one of my co-workers by standing in front of a door with a small window. All I did was crouch at the window so all she saw was from my nose to the top of my head, and as she rounded the corner to walk through the door, she totally freaked out. Had the rest of my co-workers in stitches from the little prank.

Wednesday - Work and School. nothing really exciting.

Thursday - Was supposed to have the day off from work, but ended up covering a shift for someone. Didn't really mind, because it means more money for me.

Friday - Great day! Worked from 12-5, and then had Karaoke with my co-workers later that night. After I got off my shift, I ran over and killed two hours before the work party, and saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Thought it was good, but a bit slow. Granted, it's understandable, considering it has to explain how the apes become intelligent. Overall, it was just 'alright' for me. Not a movie I'd pay to see again at the Box Office, but would consider renting a few times.

And now for the high light of the week.

After the movie I ran over to Starbucks, grabbed an iced coffee and drove over to the restaurant. I pull up to the restaurant, grab my button up shirt from the backseat, and let my car run so I can still listen to music as I button up my shirt standing outside my car. WELL, this is literally something you can't write. As I get my arms through the shirt, I happen to RE-LOCK my car door. You also must know that my car door is really stupid and closes on its own. as I get my shirt buttoned up...the door shuts.

I turn around to open my door again, assuming its still unlocked.


I now realize that it's locked.


And running.

With my stereo blasting my friday night party playlist.


So, I run inside the restaurant, ask my manager for her phone, call my parents (who were cross-town at a fantasy football draft), and tell them. My mom just starts laughing on the other end of the line.

Well, everyone inside at this point knows what is going on, and Megan and Destin, two of my co-workers who I'm good friends with come out and wait with me. (major thanks to them for waiting outside with me. It was still a good 85-90 degrees outside at 8:30pm)

My parents come over, we get AAA to unlock the car, and I proceed with my night. But geez, it was definitely one of the dumbest things I've ever done, and I'm humbly posting this, because there was a lot of text messages I was getting friday night asking if it really happened.

And now on Sunday, I'm polishing up my first week of college homework, and trying to figure out what to do for dinner. My life is never a dull moment, and I love every minute of it. 

New House Project

Ok, some of you were wondering what I meant by my facebook status and tweet earlier. Well, to explain:

I've lived at the same location my entire life, but we bought a new house two doors down from the house I grew up in. The house between my current house, and old house is being fixed up, and since I know everyone around here, they're letting me live in it, so I can "further my independence" or something like that. Living a house a way from my parents isn't really that independent, but hey, I get a house all to myself, I'll take it.

So, since no one's lived in it for like, ever, and considering it's been used as a storage house for some years now, we have A LOT to clean up and fix, but I'm excited about this project. So, this is what it looks like now:

 The front.

 the back. The roof was recently re-done.

 bedroom.

 living room. currently the gym.

 laundry 'room'.

kitchen area.


It looks terrible right now, and I can almost understand if you think this is a demo for the upcoming season of Hoarders, but its not. Now I've got a new project to take under my wing. This is going to be a lot of fun to turn into the super rad bachelor pad that I'm imagining it to be.

And a final note:
this is why I'm not at Disneyland a lot this year. Have to work on projects like this before I can really kick it at the parks with everyone like I did last year. I WILL be there Late July/ Early August, but after that, it's unknown. 

College

Family tradition. First day of school, take a photo in front of this tree. Why, I don't know, but it's fun. 

Whoo! 

hehe, first day on campus and I'm the mayor on Formspring.

Seriously. I-5 sucks going southbound. One lane, and trucks that drive slow.

First day of college, I get home, and my high school diploma was in my mailbox. 

I've been meaning to write about this since Tuesday. I started my first college class Tuesday out at Taft College, and I like it so far! I mean, it's not full blown college yet, but it's a start. I'm just stoked to be out of high school. First thing my teacher said in class was: "Everything is on you. I'm here to get paid, and tell you what to study. Not when to study, or how much to study. This is all you." I really loved hearing that. I liked the guidance the teachers gave in high school, but I also love the free independence of study with college. As long as I get it done before the date, it's fine.

I'm really excited about this next step in life. It's going to be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to see how the rest of this year goes with all of it.

Having it all, and losing it.

DISCLAIMER: This is a very lengthy post. Read if you wish. 

Ever have those moments you just want to scream? Where you had things that you loved and wanted to keep working at, but get it yanked out from underneath you, and forces you to work with a lot less? I do, and still do.

I’m homeschooled. Not by choice. I went to Bakersfield Christian High. Basically the best school in town. Tuition costs more (now) than Cal State Bakersfield. It’s insane, but the education is worth it. Mac desktops with programs that give you wonderful amounts of access to information, teachers that take time before, during lunch, and after school to sit down with you and talk you through a problem, thesis, or even just to chat about the school sports. I was never top of my class, but I was a good student. I got relatively good grades, and some bad grades (almost didn’t pass Spanish ), but I did ok. I played baseball and football. I helped out with theater when they needed it. I loved it. I loved being at a school where I could be my average self in a crowd of kids that have been raised with silver spoons in their mouths. I had a lot of friends from various 'cliques', and was pretty well rounded overall. I was doing great until December of 2010.

Last year I was signed out of BCHS halfway through my Junior year. It sucked. It hurt like none other to have to take that final walk out of the parking lot, leaving behind numerous good friends, and teachers I really loved spending time with inside and out of the classroom. I had to leave because the economy fell flat and my dad’s company went bankrupt. I can remember pretty clearly that the school handed me a box full of Christmas dinner items. A turkey, stuffing, canned cranberry sauce, etc., And not but an hour earlier I was in a conversation with friends hearing how one was flying to Paris for break, and another was going to New York to see a few Broadway shows. Question came around to me. Not 'what are you going to do on break?' but 'WHERE are you going on break?' I had no answer. I wasn't going anywhere but back to my house thirty minutes from campus. This was one of the lowest points I've had in my life. My family has never been rich, but we've been stable. Enough to live comfortable, but never extravagantly. But walking away from the school, holding that box of Christmas dinner items, I felt worlds away from those kids. I felt defeated, and severely hurt. I was on financial aid trying to stay at the school, but we couldn't even afford it then. I lost.

I’m now home every day. Some say that’s awesome, and at times it is nice to be able to go do whatever you want whenever you want. But that’s not me. I hate not having the 45 minute class periods where I know that I only have 45 minutes of class time to learn what I need to learn. Where I have to get in, listen and study, get out and move on. It may be crazy to some, maybe even most, but I don’t like having the leisure time to learn. It can be great, because you can go in depth with topics for as long as you want, but I miss the tight schedule. I miss it, because I get too loose. If I know I have a lot of time to work on things, I procrastinate. I check Facebook continuously, tweet frequently, text excessively. It’s undeniably hard to focus when I’m here, because I know I’ve got time. I want to have no time, and I want the ‘crunch time’ back.

It hurts. I miss that school like none other, and I’m cringing at the thought that I won’t be up there with my friends this year on stage graduating with them. I’ll be in the audience, and cheering along with everyone else when their names get called and their diplomas handed to them. But it’s going to hurt.

 A big thing with my family is Disney. I've grown up with watching their movies, going to the parks, reading the stories, and playing with the toys. Ever since the second grade, I've wanted to work for them, creating magic, and more importantly, memories for families to remember for years. It's been a part of me for as long as I can remember. As I've gotten older I've learned more, and started to talk more with people in the company. I've had lunch with Dave Smith, the then head archivist for the company. I spent two hours chatting with Steve Davison, the VP of parades and spectaculars about World of Color, how he started with the company, and just life in general at the public premier of World of Color.

I know many cast members, and enjoy talking to them on a frequent basis. I'm starting to find ways to start a career there in the near future. But with all those times talking to the cast members, I try to frequent the parks as often as possible. My family loves going down there to spend a day, or even just a night at the parks riding a few rides, getting dinner, and just enjoying the time together. Some say I go too much, but my answer to that is 'well, you go to the dunes on the weekend to ride quads right? (or whatever frequent activity they do) That's the same thing for me, only with Disney.'

But this year, We're probably not going to renew our annual passes. Why? Because money is tight, and people love to watch and complain about what we do. It may seem a juvenile reason with the family, but it is really hard when you get brow beaten about everything you do. Not even with Disney, but literally EVERYTHING.

The biggest reason I'm posting this, is that I've been struggling on how to cope with some things. First thing is manipulation. I can't stand it when people tweak things to their advantage. If someone gets lucky, and gets something cool handed their way, that's awesome. Good stroke of luck. But to demand the uses of others to force your own 'success' and well being is flat out wrong. I feel like I've been cheated out of things because people close (not emotionally, but unfortunately literally) put a strain on things and drains everything from us. I lost BCHS, and I'm going to probably lose my pass to one of the few earthly things I live for, all because of the manipulation of others.

 Another thing is prying into other people's business. See, I'm a pretty transparent man. I feel that I will let others know the majority of things on my own time. But when people start to poke and prod at me for info, I turn into a snail. If you poke me, I will hide in my shell until you leave, and you won't get anything out of me. It's like my family and I have no privacy anymore. I know we have our family blog, and I have this site, but at least we can moderate what we want readers to know about us.

It's incredibly frustrating when you live in a bubble, and you're forced to put a smile on and deal with other people's stupidity that surrounds you. I wish I could tell these people off in person, but it won't work. All that will happen is they'll think I'm attacking them. Hopefully they see through this post, in simple black and white letters that I won't take their crap anymore.

Things will get better though, I'm sure.  College is this fall, and I’ll be able to do things on my own a bit more freely, and create my schedule that works for me. I'm going to be so busy that I won't have to be around the people that bring us down as much, and if they want to be nosy, well they can see what I do. AFTER I do it, and AFTER I post it online. Otherwise, they'll have no clue, and that's going to feel so great. Knowing they know nothing about me, and have no room to complain and nit pick at my life.

Now its time to count down the days to when I can spread these cramped wings and fly.

Dating The Arkansasians

I went to a small high school. Not small like 30 kids in the total graduating class, but a school with a full roster of maybe 600 students. In fact, my freshman class was the biggest Bakersfield Christian High ever received (125 students).

With such a small school, it naturally happens. Everyone knowing your business. I'm not talking like, it just floats around and eventually gets to people in a day or two. I'm talking it happens fast (For example, I asked my ex-girlfriend out before first period. By third period everyone knew, and that was the trending topic of the day).

But what I find so incredibly funny is that people there are a lot like people from Arkansas. Yes, Arkansas I'm picking on you, but hey, it's true at some points. People date, but people sometimes wind up dating, breaking up, then dating your ex's best friend, and your ex starts dating your best friend.

Checking Facebook tonight I see a friend is in a relationship, and I type my congratulations, then check back an hour or so later to see the comments and find out that she's dating this guy for the third time. But what's funny is that this guy dated my best friend's ex, who broke up with him because she felt she needed to sow some wild oats and date a dairy boy who rides Motocross and quads on the weekend.

I love high school, I really do. But my gosh people enough is enough. Maybe it's just me, but I really think after you break up with someone, you end it for good. It didn't work. Now move on. Do these kids not realize there's other high schools in town with equally 'cool', 'beautiful', and 'popular' kids? Or is it like Romeo and Juliet? No one's allowed to date a Capulet or Montague.

Thankfully I'm graduating in a few months and moving up to college. Hopefully the campuses are a bit bigger than the fishbowl I used to swim in.

Catch and Release

 Surfing Magazine's new back-magazine section. 

Girl in just a shirt. Heather Rose is nothing short of amazing. 

Have you ever had those girls walk into your life that you know that they're nothing short of amazing? I'm talking the ones who's presence walks into the room well before they do? The ones that as soon as you gaze at them, your entire insides completely drop out, and you're left looking like a fish gasping for air. Yea, those girls.

I've had a few of those walk into my life.

I've dated a few of those girls.

And what happened? I messed things up.

I never cheated on them, but I got bored. Maybe it was just high school and learning how to deal with girls, but after 2 or 3 months, it was just blah. I wanted to start new and move onto a new girl. So I was a gentleman, or as much as I could be, backed out of the so-called relationship, and moved onto the next girl, or decided to fly solo and chill with my bros. Actually, some of the best memories I had of high school was ditching a bi-monthly 5th period photography class to run over to the gas station, buy some Arizona teas, and kick it in the back alley of the gas station playing card games with my friends or just standing around talking about surfing, movies, and girls.

Thing is, looking back at some of those girls, I wish I didn't let some of them go. There's one in particular that's a total beach babe. Sandy blond/red hair, Irish background. Cute smile, and an even more adorable laugh. One that makes you believe butterflies are born from that laugh. What happened? She got tired of me bouncing around the subject of being in a relationship with her. Tired of me playing the game. 

What am I going to do about this? What can I finally do about the glory girls of high school? I'm a senior, with less than five months left before I move onto college. Now that's a new story. College. That's the pro's, right? No more minor leaguing with high school. College Girls. These girls are no longer really girls, but women. And women that know how to get a man's attention. 

I guess I can fly solo until I get drafted to the pro's this fall.

College and All That Stuff

So applying for college is pretty interesting. I drove up to the local college here in town and started applying to be a new student on campus, and had to already jump through hoops and start rounding all the bases to get ready for summer and the future fall classes. It's a new world. College. It can be four years of hard parties, cram sessions, and running around late to classes, or as I plan for it to be: low key, on time, full of studying, but enough time for a decent social life the way I want it (screw the parties, I'll have my fun just chilling with friends in the backyard by the fire pit with my coffee. On top of that, time to still blog and do some video/photography work on the side.

It's going to be a great four-plus years. I'm looking forward to getting my basics out of the way here in Hillbilly Hell, saving my money, getting a car and some new gadgets, and then transferring to a four-year school down in what I consider my personal glory land: Southern California. Despite the traffic, and apparent bad air (people give me a break. Bakersfield is ranked higher on the list of 'bad air' cities.), I love SoCal. It has some of the most diverse people, from all walks of life, and it's spread out. No one's on top of each other like Chicago or New York. The weather's great, food's amazing, and there's the Pacific Ocean.

Life's finally starting. As scary as it may be to start out on my own, it's starting.