yay for cool friends and numero uno

4:48 am

jenny, wake up... it's time to get up...
so despite me actually encouraging her to stay home, jenny wanted to wake up while the sun don't shine and come with me to the used gear sale at rei... una amiga verdad!
we got our warm clothes on and trudged to the car and drove out to manhattan beach.

5:20 am

are you serious? we're going to be first in line!!!! this is so awesome... one of my life long dreams will be fulfilled... we parked and i ran and put our chairs in front of the store, first in line!!! then i ran back to the warmth of the car where we decided to stay until people started coming.

5:30 am

no people

5:45 am

no people, and people are always here by now... did it get cancelled? no, there's a sign right on the door.

6:00 am

still no people... wait, there's a guy walking, he's looking at our chairs... he's leaving and going around the corner towards the back of the store...

6:05 am

i go investigate and see what this guy is up to (while jenny sleeps in the car). i see him sitting in his chair near the back of the store "hi there, are you here for the used bear sale?" i asked.
"no, i just got out of jail and am looking to kidnap the first two people who are here for the sale."
don't be stupid, duh he didn't say that.
"ya, i am." he replied (i know, not as exciting as the other version)
"um, the line actually starts by the front of the store because that's where they have the sale now," i informed him.
"oh, not the back anymore, because whenever i came to these, they were back here."
"nope, they've had the last at least 4 in the front... but i do remeber when they had it in the back."
"oh"
"so, ya, i just wanted to let you know before people started coming and getting in line ahead of you since you are here now."
"did you just get here?"
"no, we've been here since 5:20"
"oh, okay i'll move my stuff over. thanks"

6:15 am

i'm sitting in my chair, first in a line of two. jenny is still in the car, and the guy is sitting there reading a paper. "you can go in your car until people start to come, i'll watch your chairs." he tells me. i was so grateful, and went to my car. as i opened the door to my car i looked back and saw the guy running off with my chairs!
again, not really what happened. he just sat there.

6:30 am

Still no other people!!!!!! (except for jail bird) now, you non UGS (used gear sale-ers) you have to understand that the line is usually up to at least 20 people by 6:00 am... always. so if there are no other people by this time, it's insanity!!! i could have had an extra hour of sleep and been second in line (but i wouldn't get to fulfill my life long dream... however i could dream an extra hour!)

7:00 am

finally more people!!! actually, by this time it was now a line of about 8 people. by this time jenny and i were both sitting in our chairs, freezing cold. i then left to make a bagel/tea/hot chocolate run.

7:15 am - 8:45 am

a blur of music, reading, and frozen toes. i also located the one item that i came to this sale for... a warm jacket for calvin!!! when they wheeled out the clothing racks, i saw it immediately, and it was love at first sight... it was green, and it looked warm!!! it was the only jacket on the rack that didn't have fur around the hood or on the sleeves, plus there were only 5 jackets. so i could only pray that it was my size, and that it was in-tact and not hanging together by a thread. we had a lot of people coming up to us, "so, how early were the first-in-liners here?"

my response: too early.

8:45 am

we put our chairs away and got the blood flowing (we were frozen). i played "eye of the tiger" on my ipod to get pumpd up... you've got to be ready for this stuff. i had a goal, and i was going to accomplish it. the game plan: power walk straight to the green jacket, and grab. no distractions... nothing else on my list... go green.

9:00 am

go! first in line, first in, first to the green jacket... i snagged it off the rack, and 30 seconds later 3 other women were at the rack going through the jackets, only to find a bunch of fur.
i hurried off to a corner with jenny and looked at the green. medium... good, my size. price... perfect, nice and low. damage? i looked and looked, all over the jacket... couldn't find anything. i read what the tag said "torn lining". i looked in side the jacket (found a cool feature by the way, it has a lining jacket on the inside that is removable... sweet stuff!) anyway, i find the mesh lining on the inside of main jacket, only to find a small tear in the mesh, affecting the jacket in no way what-so-ever.
victory!!!
i felt like pumping my fists in the air, "yo adrian, i did it!"
actually, i called my dad and said something more like, "yo daddy, i found it!"

9:20 am

we walked through the warms store for a bit, jenny checked the snowboarding stuff. an employee came up to us, "so, first-in-liners, find anything."and with a big smile, i shook my head yes. i paid for la jaqueta and we were off on our way home.

9:45 am

home. jenny immediately fell asleep on the couch, and i put on my jacket

can you tell who the morning person is??? jenny is such a trooper!

ponies and pigs

i know i just posted like an hour ago... but i'm posting again.


i just got my haircut, and i went shorter than i have ever gone before. i told my haircutting lady, like i told you guys, that i was feeling daring, and that i wanted to go short. so, 20 minutes and 7 inches later, i have super short hair. i'll put a pic, but for some reason my hair doesn't look that short in the pic. (and that's while it is still wet!)

here's the deal. i'm happy with it's shortness, and i hope that happiness doesn't wear away because, well, i can't put it in to a pony tail. actually, it is nowhere near being able to be put in a pony tail. i know, everybody probably has a face similar to :O

but i am okay with it... at least i am right now :) i can , however, put my hair in pig tails! that'll be fun.

you know what will be fun... going to bed after i take a shower, and then the next morning i will wake up with a curly afro :)


ta ta

any early birds???

i have just been busy lately... it's a good thing, though. better than sitting aroud doing nothing, right!
yesterday jenny and i went to third street promenade because we had lunch before that with my aunt in beverly hills. two words to describe how i feel walking around these cities... native foreigner. i know i am native to california, but boy do i feel like a foreigner in beverly hills! i mean, the stores are so nice! and the doors to the stores... they are so fancy that i am afraid to even open the door! i did find a north face store in beverly hills though, and it was pretty cool.
the promenade was fun to walk around. there are some really cool things to look at there, and the weather was really good. and! i had no idea that there was an rei at the promenade!!!! it is HUGE!
and speaking of rei, i stopped by the manhattan beach one yesterday to return something and saw that there is a used gear sale tomorrow morning!!! i love these things. however, it will be my first solo mission, so if anyone wants to come, let me know... my pops is enjoying the warmth of palm desert right now, and i'm not sure my neighbored even knows that it is possible to wake up while it is still dark outside. but be warned, it is a very early morning thing. it is fun though!!!!

well, i am off to my bi-annual haircut! actually, i think this is my third one this year... wow, new record! i'm feeling a little daring... that could be bad...

tales of the gym

so i've been going to the gym more regularly lately (no, it is not my new year's resolution... it can't be because i started before the new year) and i have noticed that there are quite a few characters at the gym... not in a bad way, it's just everyone is unique. i bet people think the same about me... i guess i could be a character... but how would you define character? i dunno, anyway.
gym's are interesting... a lot of people say it can be a social thing, or they join a gym because of the social aspect. yet, everybody has thin wires hanging from their ears (and due to the ipod craze, about 99% of them are white wires) blasting music to their own little beat. even i have the wires hanging, but i'm not there to socialize... i find it uncomfortable and akward when people try to strike conversation with me and i am in some kind of weight contraption working my gluteous (that's "butt" for those who don't know)... that's not a good time to introduce yourself. and i am surely not going to walk up to some guy and start a converstion while he's bench pressing... what am i going to say, "hey there, nice pecs, they're, uh, very big." my ipod helps me to avoid such situations.
then there's the treadmills... treadmills and i have a love-hate relationship. we've had our run-ins and we've had some good times. i'm sure you can imagine some of the things i got in to... today, for example, i was running, and i looked up at the tv above me and was trying to read the subtitles, but then i ran to much forward and my hand hit the emergency stop button, but i kept running and the panel went right into my gut... ouch.
another bad thing about the tread mill... you stay put and can't move. why is this bad, you ask? some guy gets on the stepmaster right in front of you and starts stepping away... after not many steps, he's got an unattractive wedgie going on... right in front of you!!! don't think that i am staring, but it's just there! i can't look up at the tvs because, well, you heard that last story, and i can't look down because it makes me dizzy to see the treadmill going... so straight ahead is all i've got.
everybody has stories from the gym... it's just a fun place to observe people... but don't observe one person for too long at a time, because if they see you doing that, they either get angry or get the wrong idea and mix "observing" with "checking."

my forehead itches!

what a christmas day!!!
fun stories, fun pics!

so i've been pretty much wearing my santa hat all day, and these things get itchy after a few hours... but i love santa hats.

so santa didn't make it to the christmas tree last night. tippy attacked him and chased him away, stealing the santa hat while he was at it! tippy loves christmas becuase he loves to shred paper, especially wrapping paper. he got so hyper this morning!

so our christmas was smaller this year... my mum and steven both gone, so the morning was smaller and really low key. same with dinner at my grampa's house... same amount of food, less people, more leftovers! i say that's a nice equation.



in addition to the santa hat, i also wore jenny's christmas sweater that i wore in the christmas video... i guess you could call me santa cristina :) i wore it because first, i love it, and second because i thought it would be funny because of the video... which i did show to my family by the way... and they loved it. (by the way, if you have a youtube acount, it would be great if you could rate it for me... maybe we can get it seen by some people :)


so i got to say grace for tonight's meal, and that was really cool. especially since that is what my great-grandfather used to do... unfortunately, i was a little to young at the time, so i don't remember much detail, but i do remember that it was the exact same prayer every time, no matter the holiday or location... everybody in the family knows exactly how it goes. he had a prayer written down mad lib style... i actually just watched a video we had of it so i could write it down here.

"Deeeaaar Lord. Bless this meal on this glorious day of (enter holiday here). (brief history of holiday). I thank my (enter host name here), to reunite us in his home. God be with us all, I hope we all can be together for all the holidays. Amen."

Food was good... lots of appetizers, lots of dinner, and lots of desserts (i made dessert... do you have a guess at what i made? hint: i made it two days ago :)

and the kids table was fun! granted not all of us who sit there are kids, but for the most part :) everybody kept on making comments to me on the accound of everyone just seeing the video before dinner :)

it's funny how a family raised in california knows exactly what to get for christmas for a gal headed to michigan... lets just say i will be nice and warm! i love it, thanks guys!

here are a few last pics!



blessings to the resto of your holidays!

any doubts about me loving tennis?

it's christmas eve, and it is a beautiful day outside. what better to do than go out and hit on the ball machine for an hour?
but wait, there is something better!
i had the ball machine reserved at noon, so i got there a little early so i could get a couple extra minutes. when i got there, a guy that i sometimes play tennis was there and asked if i wanted to play some doubles after the ball machine... why not!
so i hit on the ball machine for a half hour and then went and played mixed doubles with this guy, and another guy and gal that work there. we ended up playing FOUR sets!!! it was so much fun. the tennis center actually closed at 2, so when people came and saw us still playing, we actually had to tell them that we were just finishing up our last set and the courts were closed (even though we played like two sets after that). so we had the courts to ourselves, and I played for well over 3 hours!!!
i could play tennis all day!
i am going to be SO SO sore tomorrow, it's going to be ridiculus! haha , i'm going to go take a nap!

Christmas Videos!!!!

Alright! I have both this year's and last year's video up on youtube, and I will put it on my website. I just ask that if you are a Stavro or Favilli and will be attending our christmas get together that you will not watch the christmas video because I will be showing it at grampa's on christmas day! (better quality on a tv)
enjoy!
Turn up the volume!!!

2006

2005

Par-tay!

just got back from a christmas party that i had with the lunch bunch!!! tons of fun! here are some pics... we exchanged gifts, played games (like "fact or crap" and "apples to apples") and just hung out. oh, and kristen and i rocked up the piano with some good "heart and soul!"




I also had tennis today in manhattan beach! it was sooo much fun! seriously, i was playing agaisnt steve, and it was like we were pulling practical jokes while playing tennis... does that make sense? he would randomly pull out this massive kick serve and I would completely swing and miss, or I would pull out a nasty drop shot from the baseline, and we would just laugh. ahh, good stuff. oh, and this is kind of funny, and slightly scary. i was serving to my grampa, and had he not put his racket up, the ball would have gone straight over his head... my flat serve could have bounced over his head... there was some serious pop on that thing!!!

I got good reviews from my brother in japan... he watched my christmas video, and he gave me a call to tell me his thoughts. lets just say he liked it a lot, and i cherish his opinion because he is quite the film buff :) thanks steven

i hope your breaks are fine and dandy!!!

whoops

stupid moment of the day... and quite possibly this week.
we had a praise team christmas party tonight at one of the member's house. (by the way, i made my favorite dessert in the world... ecclair dessert... and only two people had some... me, and the gramma.. oh well, more leftovers for me!)
anyway, when i first got to the house, i walked in and saw that the guy's little brother was holding a kitty in his arms and walking around... and here's how it went:
i say, "awww, so cute, the kitty just sleeps in your arms while you walk around with it?"
then he says, "he's not sleeping."
"he's not???"
he turns the cat so i can see the other side, revealing a wide open eye... "he was born without an eye and so the eyelid is stitched shut on that side."
: o
ok, go ahead... laugh. hey, i am laughing right now :)

merry christmas everybody... i hope your holidays are sweel and your new year is dandy.

ps: again, it rained at night, and stopped by the time school started... that bashful rain!

oh where, is my camera?

so i was in the process of making some cards tonight (as i have been for a few nights now), and i thought, hmm, it would be neat to take a picture right now. you know, to show where the card making magic happens. so i reached for my camera, and to my surprise, it wasn't there. i checked the family room where i last saw it... not there. run up to my room. not there. checked by the computer. not there. i ran out to my car... (i bet you can guess this one) not there!

i began to become a bit frantic. how in the world will i find it? i can't call it to make it ring (which i actually did with my phone a few hours earlier, only to no prevail because the battery had died and it went straight to voice mail). ahhh, i have an idea.

you know that old nursery rhyme of some sort where a little boy starts playing his pipe or flute while walking in the streets to make all the mice come out and follow him? i forget what it is called... anywho. for some strange reason, all i could think of was that story, so i went in to my room and grabbed my guitar and started walking around the house while playing it. i don't know if i actually believed it would work, but i walked around my house playing those minor chords and singing out loud (very loud, may i add) "ohhhhhhh where, is my camera... oh where is my camera... i left it here on yester night, and now it's gone and out of sight..." and so on... really, i had lyrics... and they were pretty good. however, next time i think i'll get ricky martin to sing.

so after walking and serenading, checking my entire house 4 times, my camera din't come crawling out like the little mice following the flute music. (i did find my cell phone though :)

i put the guitar down and went to my car for a 4th time. this time i checked under my seat, and whaddya know. it all came back to me... i stuck it under the seat when i was going to the store because i didn't want to leave it on the seat and get stolen. so, by hiding it from a thief, i also sucessfully hid it from myself.

and where does this story take us? after over an hour of singing and searching, i finally got to take the ONE non-extravagant photo i wanted to take:

yay for surprises

today was a good day. i don't really know why, because there was opportunity for my day to be ruined by Ap Calc death test: the sequal, but i got over it :)
so in 4th period i checked the calvin site to see if maybe they opened enrollment up today even though it said tomorrow, and they hadn't.
7th period rolls around, and i checked again... AAAAHHH! enrollment was available!!! yay :)
so this is what enrollment is:
houing application, health information, orientation registration, and an enrollment deposit. filling all this out is me saying, "yes, i choose calvin as my school." fun stuff!
so here's some REALLY cool news. they have an alternative orientation option (passport is the usual orientation program) call Wilderness Orientation Program. it is what it's name says... for those of you who know wilderness challenge, it's basically an extended version of it. you have to apply for it and be accepted for it because only a small amount can go. so (with permission from my parents) i applied for it! the two locations/choices this coming summer are either a 12 day trip in wyoming or a 7 day trip in ontario (canada, NOT california). way cool...
anyway, thought i would just share my further and way exciting development in my calvin experience!
funny how all this stuff isn't due until may, yet i am doing it all now. given my history, you'd think i would procrastinate!

date change

all day, i have been checking my calvin site to see if the e-enroll opened up (because the site said dec 20th), and it kept on saying "e-enroll, available dec 20." i checked my watch multiple times... it is december 20th.
i just checked the site again...now it says "e-enroll, available dec 22"
arg

:)

we sang this song in chapel today, and i wanted to put the lyrics up. chapel was about the real christmas story, and over half of it was stuff i had never known before. great chapel today.
anyway. here are the lyrics... 1.5 days till christmas break!

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt of life, no fear of death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
‘Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

almost there

so, what's worse than having a math test tomorrow?
i'll tell you... having a math test tomorrow AND thursday. that's right, a two-day test. actually, that's how all of our tests will be from here on out.
so, i best be getting back to the books.

funny story i forgot to mention yesterday.
well, our school is known for having slippery sidewalks, so i tend to walk on the grass so i have no chance of slipping (due to the fact that my flip flops have absolutely no traction what so ever). well, when i was walking to the bus after second period to go to olvera st, i walked on the grass to avoid slipping. i got to the entrance of hall b and found that the floor was wet and my feet started to slip and slide. i threw my arms out for balance and caught myself. i stood for a second to regain my composure and looked to see if anyone saw... no one was really around. so after i was stabilized (still had my arms out for balance) i took one step and woop... slipped and landed straight on my rear end. a few underclassman looked at me, and to be honest, i usually never turn red from embarassment, but i felt my face get really hot, so i knew i was red. life certainly does give you mashed potatoes, eh? i'll tell you, i really wish i had some to throw at that point :)
i thought i would make it through all four years of high school without slipping on our infamous sidewalks, but that's okay. we all have to fall sometimes, right?
maybe that's a good excuse for tomorrow... i've fallen and i can't get up or take my ap calc test!
ya, sounds good to me :)

have an awesome opossum day

oooohhhhh olvera

today was field trip day!
the spanish 4 class got to go to Olvera St in Los Angeles. for those of you who don't know (don't worry, i was the same way until today), it's this little street lined with a bunch of shops and carts selling really cool spanish/mexican stuff. right now the mexican holiday los posados is going on, so it was decorated all cool. anyway, i got this neat purse for $5, and i bought my brother a little accordion (it is soooo awesome, and it really works!!!).
we were all in groups of 4 or 5, and each group had to have a video camera, and we had to film us talking in spanish (at least 5 min of footage). so i had my video camera with me for my group.
we ate some mexican food at a little cantina, and it was really good. we also went to this cool place called Mr. Churro, and let me say that they have incredible churros there... mmm mmm. fun stuff.

in other news, i have some exciting stuff about calvin!
i got my user name for KnightVision (calvin's ecommunity for students and what not) and my calvin email!!!! and, on december 20, E-enroll begins, and that is when i officially say "yes, i am going to calvin" and when i get to start filling out housing applications and all that super D dooper stuff. exciting!

and speaking of calvin... i was thinking about how i will be in michigan next year when i make my next christmas video, and i realized that i will have the resource of snow!!! oh the possibilities with snow!!!!

that's all for now

ta ta

laughter, the cure-all

so i woke up with determination this morning... first to finish the movie, and second, to make the cards the movies come in.
i wasn't feeling very confident about my movie. i was feeling a bit down in spirit, and i felt it was missing something. my endind was clever and would produce a chuckle, but it wasn't great... it wasn't strong. so today, i learned flexibility. often times in the film industry, changes need to be made, and flexibility is a must. so, in my pretend film industry this morning, i made a change to the ending. i couldn't quite point out what my other ending was lacking, but then i figured it out... a happy ending. the other ending wasn't happy, or fun. my new idea, however, was both.
even after i finished editing and put it on the dvds, i wasn't too proud of it. i chuckled, but otherwise, it was okay.
then at house church, i waited till the very end to hand out the dvd cards, hoping i could just slip out right after. however, they managed to keep me there so everyone could watch it at once. honestly, i wasn't in the mood. but when i saw the first shot come up (which is my personal favorite shot) i started busting up, and so did everyone else. you know what, it's easier to laugh with people. i don't know why, but when i watched it at house church with everyone, i found it 10 times funnier (maybe it was because the embarassing factor came in to play, i dunno :)
anywho, good hard laughter felt good. i definitely needed the laughter, and God knew that. even though i kind of wasn't wanting to laugh, it was like God knew where i was ticklish and then just started poking... you know that feeling? like as a kid, where the kid tries to be really mad and say they won't ever smile again, but then the parents or siblings start to make faces and silly noises, and the kid tries so hard not to laugh or smile, but they can't help it... ya, that's what it was like.
feels good :)
quick shout out to my neighbor yenny, my papito, my mamita, my bro... thanks for giving me "a hand" :)
i'll see if i can somehow get the movie on to youtube sometime this week... might take a while.

alright, i am off to bed...
ready to start the last week of school before christmas... i think i can, i think i can, i think i can, i think i can...

i have got mashed potatos in my ears

turns out, i managed to film almost the entire movie today. it was good, only a few things weren't absolutely peachy, but otherwise all was well.
i also edited everything that i filmed today... i only have to more scenes to film tomorrow.
unfortunately, i am not very happy with the turnout. i know, i am my toughest critic, and that is why i am not going to list stuff. but i will say one thing.
i have to admit that i was really really proud of last year's christmas video, and it is my personal favorite of all that i have made... good mix of cleverness, physical humor (the wrapping paper scene... golden), and a story everyone could relate to more or less.
maybe i am being tough because it's late... well past midnight...i need sleep
i'll try it out on my parents tomorrow (guaranteed good review)

first post from dave

looks like there's been some change with the production plan.
my entire cast/crew has bailed except one. so i am going to have to figure something out.
i remember when i used to play school when i was a little kid (what a thought, play school for fun). i remember whenever i got to be the teacher, and i would get so in to it and assign homework and give tests... but then the the other kids realized, hey, she's the same age as us, why do we have to listen? and then we wouldn't play anymore. of course i would be upset even though it was just pretend, and i knew that when the others were the teacher, i was always a well behaved student... it just wasn't fair. of course i would then offer them cookies if they stayed and played... it usually worked.
i kind of feel like with this whole christmas video thing i am just playing pretend video production, pretend director. it's kind of funny to think of it that way. cause you know that i have gotten so into it, writing a script, list of props, getting the help of a "crew"... it's all fun and pretend when you compare it to the real stuff. and just like my"students" when i was younger, my crew doesn't really wanna play anymore (actually, they're just busy, which is totally fine). maybe if i paid them.... hahaha, do you think cookies still work?

well, i am off, i have FINALLY got a tennis lesson today with steve!!! it has been multiple months since i have last seen him... something like in october.
i hope things haven't gone sour too bad in my tennis game.

hooroo
and have a great weekend (hopefully with some rain like the forcast says)

o, one quick statement dealing with rain...
have you guys noticed that it ONLY rains at night? seriously, it's over by the time i wake up, and sometimes i wake up and i'm like, it rained? man, i missed it!
why is the rain so shy that it won't come out during the day when we can enjoy it?!

and exactly six months from yesterday i graduate!

ode to my [old] laptop

so for the past years (since 7th grade) i have been using a laptop that my dad brought home from work. this thing has been so good to me, and boy, this laptop is well traveled... it's been to japan, hawaii, michigan, mammoth... can we say memories?
however, lately the memories haven't been so good. i've dubbed the laptop "dino" (as in dinosaur) because it is definitely ancient compared to the more recent laptops (they've come a long way since 7th grade). not only is it incredibly slow, but it likes to make really weird humming and clicking noises that i would say is equivalent to a laptop hyperventalating from all the hard work and then exploding.... ya that's about right. not only that, but it has had it's fair share of homework assignments... eating them, that is. already two this semester. my laptop requires 15 minutes to get settled in before i can even touch a button after i turn it on, kind of like a senior citizen needing some recovery time after a laboring task.
so yes, he's old and lately i have been more angry than pleased with him, but i still have a fondness towrds him, and that is why i write this trinute...
because today, he has retired and been replaced!
a newer better toshiba laptop has stepped in to replace ol' dino. my dad got a hold of a special offer available to toshiba employees only (my dad is a toshiba employee) that got him a great deal on a new laptop! so today i got the package from ups, and today marks my first "for college" gift.
i've already scrubbed in and begun the surgery requiring a skilled surgeon (that's me) to perform a transplant of dino's heart to david (um, i'll explain the choice of this name in a sec) so that my files can be transfered onto the new laptop.
okay, david explanation. when i first started the computer, i had to go through a few steps for windows first, and the first step was "name your computer". i read the instructions, and it said to name the computer and then describe it. it then said, "Example: David"
i thought, oh that's a good name, i will name him david.
so i did.

okay, so this wasn't an ode, but close enough.

i'll miss you dino!

have a great fantastic weekend! i know i will!

it wasn't so bad after all

okay, so i have been ragging on this book "traveling mercies" for quite a while now, and last night i finished the book.
well, after reading the last few chapters, i found myself saying, "good book" as i turned the last page and finished. i was a little shocked at what i said, but then i realized that i meant it.
okay, so the beginning was depressing, and the lack of emotion in the beginning bugged me. and througout the book, there were parts where i was just not happy with what i was reading.
but you know what? her writing style grew on me and i actually started to like it as the book went on (except for the occasional f bomb here and there).
her stories were actually good, and it's crazy how her lessons she learned connect so well with the story.
the book was basically filled with many stories of life, lessons of life, and thoughts on life.
so yes, in the end, it wasn't so bad after all.
here are two good quotes:

"But then when i grew up i found that life handed you these rusty bent old tools--friendships, prayer, conscience, honesty--and said, Do the best you can with these, they will have to do. And mostly, against all odds, they're enough."

"I started to feel like a tired, wired little kid at a birthday party who has had too much sugar, who is in all ways on overload, but still finds herself blind-folded and spun around for a game of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, and then pushed more or less in the direction of the wall with the donkey on it."

kind of makes me want to write my own book.

BOULBOUS BOUFANT

this is a song/dialogue that shows true enjoyment of fun sounding words. pictures have been put to it to make it more enjoyable!

very random, but enjoy it anyway!

can things moving slowly be blurry?

today was definitely a blur.
i woke up this morning and told myself, "the sooner it starts, the sooner it's over, and then it's friday."
next thing i remember is the bell ringing for school to get out. it wasn't going by fast, but all my thought throughout the day just never stuck to my brain. you know those suction cup balls that you can win for like 5 tickets at an arcade that you throw at a window and only stick for about 15 seconds before they fall? that's what everything that i thought of or was said to me today was like.
those suction cups work better if you lick them first.
um, but please don't lick me.
so the book i am reading (traveling mercies) was on the verge of actually getting good. however, the last 4 chapters have been all about her insecurities. now maybe i am different than most people, but reading about other people's insecurities just make me think if my own, ya know? and she hasn't even talked about how she got over them yet. hmm. well, i am almost done.

so this weekend is the filming and the premier of my next christmas movie titled:
...Of a White Christmas
i can't wait to get started. tomorrow is my prep day to get everything together, and then saturday is filming/editing/burning. sunday will be the big premier. i hope i am not building this up too much, but you know what, even a complete disaster would be hilarious, so full steam ahead.

have a most wonderful day!

HOOROO

what a strappin' story

well, i just got back from playing tennis against my ol' pal the ball machine... it's been a while, but he's still as good as he was before. it felt good to be out there hitting some more. i haven't "oy ve'd" in a while. i sure do miss it (both tennis and the oy ve-ing)
FUNNY: i got stuck to a locker at school today. i was leaning against some locker while talking to my friends, andi had my backpack on. i went to lean forward, and somehow a loose strap had gotten in the vent of the locker and i was stuck. after a quick panic, my friend let me out. no one understood why i was freaking out, so my friend stuck the strap in the locker again to show what happened, and then when we went to take it out, it wouldn't come out. i was stuck. then the bell to end break rang and i was like, ok, i gotta get out of this now, and i can't just leave my back pack hanging to some random person's locker! everybody was yanking on the strap and it wasn't coming loose. i was going through a bunch of different ways i could explain to my teacher why i was late for class, but all of them made me look incredibly stupid... "i got stuck to a locker." after a final really hard pull at the strap, it came loose.

anyway, i remembered something about the triathlon that i wanted to tell about.
it was very very cold that morning, and there is one thing about triathlons in the cold that get me everytime. after i got done with my run and got on my bike, i realized that part of me was still running... my nose. when my nose gets cold and when the wind (which was really strong) blows in my face constantly, my nose runs constantly. i kept on sniffling, but it got really annoying. so after the 2nd mile i gave in. it was running faster than i could sniffle. lets just say that i didn't shake anybody's hands before i had a chance to take a shower that day.
in other news, Peter Boyle (who has played Young Frankenstein/Frank Barone (from Everybody Loves Raymond, ray's dad) passed away today. it was kind of weird because i heard about it while i was watching everybody loves raymond. he was kind of young too, 71.
i've been listening to the band "bleach" lately (they have some really good songs, but they are an older band and aren't together anymore. here's a good song called "December"

Oh it's a great day in december
I'll write it down
so i don't forget
and what You said
i will remember
it came right on time
when I needed it
yeah I needed it

hey hey it was so great to see You
the winter months have taken their toll
i can't, i can't relay
how much Your perfect words
have melted this cold
I'm not alone
Sometimes I think You believe in me more than i do myself
and that is just another reason
I have survived and I'm still alive
I was meant to fly

make the cut

true story...
you know how the cool kids would always line up us lesser kids at recess for the picking of kickball teams? or maybe you were one of the cool kids, i dunno. anyway, i remember being in the line up as a little 3rd grader, only girl in the line. i'd stand up straight like one of the Von Trapp children (sound of music) and hope that the 4th graders would pick me.
they would begin their walk down the line...
"too short, too skinny, too eager, not fast, can't catch..."
okay, maybe they didn't say this out loud, but we all knew it was going on in their minds.
i was never a top pick, but gladly i was never the shameful last pick. i remember telling myself that if i were ever team captain, i would pick the lesser first.
now, you may be wondering (do you find yourself "wondering" a lot while reading my stories?) what in the world does this story have to do with anything, and... why?
i will tell you.
christmas.
christmas (the hallmark version) is all one big kickball game as far as picking teams goes.
my prime example: the christmas tree.
we went to the lot today, and i heard the people around me state the flaws of each tree: "too thin, too short, big hole here, crooked, dried out..."
i began to have sympathy for the lesser trees, and that was when i remembered the kickball days. sadly, some of these trees wouldn't be picked because they just weren't good enough for most standards. i began to look for the slightly flawed trees. i found one, a little shorter than our usual, a little crooked, and bare in the back... indeed a lesser. my little third grade vow came to mind and i told my mum that that tree was it.
and that tree is sitting in our family room right now :)

that top picture is of my triathlon ornament hanging on my cool orange ikea tree. that brings me to my next topic: triathlon.
i'm too lazy to go into detail, and to be honest, much of it was a blur (that'll tell you something). the hardest part: the swim. when i got in to the pool, i was like, okay, now what? oh ya, swim... how do you do that?
it was definitely tiring. but i finished and i got my [complimentary] medal after i got out of the pool. good stuff ...

like my ikea tree? what else should i put on it?

Leonardo StaVinci?

i wrote this on another blog i have with my friends, but i think you all should have a chance to ponder one of life's greatest questions with me... beware, it's a noggin scratcher!

everything has a smell, right?
yes, often people say that they don't smell anything, but what about our nose?
does the inside of our nose have a smell? don't you think it would? so would it be when we don't smell anything, we really just smell the inside of our nose?

i think so.

i woke up and thought it was sunday... i was about to go back to sleep.
POP
then the sound of my bubble bursting woke me up

make of it what you may :)

utterly creepy, yet in a twisted way, hilarious... don't judge me

time to catsup...

that is, time to "catch up" for those of you who can't make the simple connection.
THURSDAY
we (the senior class) went to see the play Othello at Vangaurd. now, i am not a professional play critic, but the play was rather... um, amusing and scary at the same time. seeing how the play is supposed to be a romantic tragedy (keyword tragedy), amusing should not be one of the descriptions. lets just say Rodrigo's mustache kept on falling off and he had a nice trip on his way up the stairs. Due to Othello's perfect pronunciation, the front row got more wet than a group of kids sitting in the spash zone watching shamoo. there were dancing... well, they were women in full body leotards, painted one color, and they danced around the characters whenever the characters were contemplating an evil act. i think they were supposed to be symbolic of temptation and evil, but all they did was distract and scare me.
that night we (wilderness challenge) left for j-tree. i slept the whole bus ride out there. after getting stuck in a culdesac and after a quick stop at a rest area, we made it to j-tree and put up our tents... then slept.
FRIDAY
it wasn't too cold in joshua tree. it was actually my taco tent's maiden voyage... or trip, whatever. but ya, first time it has been used outside the comfort of my room. i had fun layering up. i had a nice warm hat, you know, the kind with ear flaps. i also had my home-cut fleece scarf, and lots of layers. somehow i managed to pack all black and green clothes--kind of weird.
usual stuff for a friday on a wilderness challenge trip: taught systems, put together a collection at short wall, belayed, fell asleep in the sun (not while on belay of course)... good stuff.
after dinner, i went to sleep nice and early. i woke up in the middle of the night to hear somtehing really cool: nothing. not a car, not a cricket, not radio... nothing. the sound of silence is pretty crazy, and pretty rare when you live where i do. even right now, i hear a plane flying by. the silence didn't last long, though, because a pretty gnarly snore started up. after checking out the stars one more time, i dozed off.
SATURDAY
for the big MIGZ challenge, i was in charge of the pup-tent relay station. basically, each team member (about 4 members on each team, and 3 teams... ya, small group) had one minute to work alone on setting up a tent, and then after the minute would go and tag their team mate to go. after going through two rotations of one person at a time, they could start going two at a time, still for one minute. after putting it up, it had to be taken down and put back in the bag.
you've got to understand something though... this was the fielshouses' tent, and this thing is no ordinary tent. poles are crossing in funky ways, and there is no picture to help them out. there are instructions, only words, on the tent bag, but it took each team more than 20 minutes to realize that they were ther. however, the instructions weren't too helpful.
after seeing how long it was taking the first time, i had to add a change to their challenge and told them that they could have me help them for any two minutes they wanted (this is after about 30 minutes has gone by).
so in short, it took every team OVER 40 minutes to put up the tent and take it down. it was a lot of fun to watch, especially since i knew how to put it up :)
on the bus ride home that night, i got to talk with the bus driver a lot and hear some pretty crazy stories. from the stories i heard, all i could think was, "how in the world have i not seen this guy on the channel 5 news yet?" not in a bad way, just he's been a part of some interesting things, and pretty much been the heroe of a few things... could totally picture him on the news.
when we got caught in some pretty crazy traffic, i heard my friend brandon call my name with a rather urgent request... "stavro, will there be a, um, rest stop anytime soon... i kinda gotta go." there were others who had to go as well (myself included) but not as bad as brandon. we finally creeped up to an exit (the traffic was horrid) that we thought was good, but as we got driving down the streets, nothing was coming up. brandon frequently expressed the urgency to me, and i had to keep telling him to hold on (by the way, there weren't teachers on the bus... i was kind of in charge, so that is why i kind of was the one dealing with this). ok, continuing. i kept on telling brandon to hold on, telling him that there would be something at the next light. but after 15 minutes of driving up and down streets, we weren't finding anything. i looked down the street and saw that the next light was a little ways down and told brandon that if there wasn't anything at that light, he could jump out of the bus and, well, you know. i was serious, and he was serious. we got to the light... nothing. so we turned and slowed, i warned the bus driver that he was going to bolt off the bus, and as soon as the bus stopped brandon was off the bus. the bus pulled down the street a little to give him privacy, and as we did so, we saw that there was a Walgreens and a gas station 50 feet down the road. everyone busted up at the irony, and after brandon got back on, we drove 50 feet down the road to let the rest of the bus go.
oh the adventures life takes us on.

i am going to stop there and post about my triathlon later. pics will be later too.

i can sleep soundly now the rain has come

i promise i will post soon about jtree and what not... it's just i should be sleeping cause i have a triathlon to do tomorrow... and my only training i have really done is run that 10k on thanksgiving, and the only training i had for that was my 3 mile run the week before that.
i haven't biked since the summer with the tennis team.
and swim? i think the last time i did that was in hawaii.
hmmm.
prepared? i think not.
maybe a costume is a good idea...

oh, and as far as got milk... i don't got milk.
don't get me started.

make like a monkey and hang

howdy
stuff's been happening, but i am going to leave you all hanging. i'm not going to post anything... well, actually, i am not going to post about anything.
but i will leave you with this:
got milk?

the world is against me as far as tennis goes

beep beep mm beep beep yaaaaaa!

pic has nothing to do with what follows.
okay... this might just be one long sentence, so take a deep breath and...
so i wanted to play tennis today (as you already know), so i called el dorado to reserve the ball machine and the guy said "sorry, we're closed because the lights aren't working and will be out until 3am" and so i figured i could go to billy jean tennis center and reserve an hour there for the ball machine then play with a friend of mine afterward since she had a lesson there but after calling there the guy said that all their courts were booked because all the el doradoians were flocking to billy. (breathe) so now i am thinking of just going to liberty with a bucket of balls and hitting serves, which i love to do, but i would just love to hit... i just wanna hit!!! my neighbor pal is sleeping so she doesn't want to hit....
tennis tennis tennis...
tennis!!!!

yay for youtube

there have been a few speculations that i was "different" than most children... sorry, no audio on the first one. the second video is of an attempt i made to run away on my big red shoe in my big hat :) look at those little legs go... if i can go that fast in my triathlon on sunday, i will be very happy.

BE PREPARED FOR A SHOCK OF A LIFETIME

i, cristina nicole stavro, have not played tennis or touched my racket since my tournament which took place over an entire lifetime (aka: week) ago. :O i know... second time i have shocked you guys this week. i'm getting good at this.... ooh, and a bit unpredictable... what will she do next?
i am going to go play right now though, because if i don't today, i won't have another chance to play until monday... and there is no way that i can get through two lifetimes without some tennis... i need a fix

okay, ciao mi amigos

hmm

funny how no one mentioned the randomness of the last post title... is that title something that is just considered to be normal for me? hmm.
i wore my hair down today, i know :O what a shock... and it wasn't even because i just got a hair cut. honestly, i was bored. i even wore a nice jacket to throw people off even more. no you guys, the world is not ending today and chaos has not broken out. again, i was just bored and decided to change things up this monday.
you know you really don't do something enough when a substitute notices a change... a substitute! i don't even know their name! and they didn't even know mine, just a "hey, your hair looks different today." from a sub! sorry, it still blows my mind.... am i really always the same?
well, i've met my quota... three times a year :) just kidding, i don't know.

an ear of corn is worth more than a thousand walnuts

either you do, or you don't in this case. for me, i do. and usually if you don't, you're really against it.
at the bookstore, you're looking for a new book to read, nothing particular in mind... just looking. are you one to sit on the ground and browse the lower shelfs or even read chapter 1 to see if it's any good? for me, i have no shame in just hunkering down right there in the middle of the aisle and looking at every book on the shelf. if someone comes, of course i move and make room, but otherwise i just sit there and look.
i know, the ground is dirty, but i get so tired of bending down or just standing there, cause when i look for a new book to read, it takes me a LONG time to be satisfied.
so i am just curious, do you sit, or do you stand? and if you are a stander, how do you feel toward us sitters? angry? annoyed? jealous of our ability to sit without a care in the world?

put your sunglasses on....

i've just spent the day looking at the brighter side. okay, a little cheesy, but it's a good thing, right? i won't spend time elaborating on this though, because i want to get to the fun stuff.
(this is a pic of our fireplace we lit up the other night, fyi :)
maybe you guys have detected a pattern with me, but when i need a day to collect myself, i usually end up in manhattan beach. today was no different :)
it almost started out really bad though. when i got out here, i was going to go to lunch, but then when i went into my wallet, my credit card was gone (don't worry, i know exactly where it is... at home, next to my laptop because of an itunes purchase last night). so i didn't have any money on me, and i was hungry! so i walked down to the pier and read my book for a little bit (getting through it, slowly but surely) and decided to go to my grampas and see if he wanted to go to lunch. wasn't home, so i went to the mall. i found a coupon to coffee bean in my car (because they messed up my order one time) so i got a drink to hold me off for a while (funny thing is, they gave me a totally different drink than i ordered, but i didn't say anything because the same thing happened to the lady right before me, and i didn't want to make a big deal of it).
i went to william sanoma in the mall and sampled some free chocolate (which was delicious) and found that i was doing well with finding ways to get food in my belly :)
a lot of people were complimenting my home-made christmas necklace (it's a christmas light) so that made me smile :)
anyway, i went back to the beach, and this time i brought my camera along. i put my ipod on and walked down to the water with my camera to have fun taking some pictures. after, i went up and walked around downtown MB to take some other pics.
this seagull was hanging out for bit on this pile of sand... i sat there, he sat there... you could almost say we sat together. my friend, the seagull :)

i saw this kind of thing when i went running two weeks ago, and was bummed i didn't have my camera... i made up for it ... doesn't it look cool how the water creates that pattern?

i went under the pier for the first time... i spend so much time on top of it, i figured i should check it out down below :)

seagulls are always on top of the volley ball posts... doesn't seem like much fun to me.

one of the best thing about december in manhattan beach: FREE PARKING!

some people have issues with accepting "charity" though and just HAVE to pay for their parking.

i don't know if yall saw it on the news, but there was a big fire in MB last weekend, and it burned down 5 stores... one of them an art gallery that i go in all the time... all the stores were privately owned, and the locals have been really affected by it.

i just wanted to show you guys the parking spot that i had a hard time parallel parking in... you know where i got applauded after i finally got in... the spot happened to be open, so i took a quick pic... i almost tried parking there again to redeem myself, but decided against it.

i went back to my grampa's and he was home. they had brought a BUNCH of grapefruits from their tree in the desert, and look at what i helped myself to :) it was the best!

you'll have to click for this one... but this is a squirrel in a tree. it was sitting on the fence, and my grampa made a squirrel noise at it, and the thing jumped up into the tree and started making loud squirrel noises like it was yelling at my grampa. it carried on, yelling at my grampa for like 15 minutes without stopping. it just sat in the tree, going on and on and on, upset that my grampa scared it (the fact that it kept going on and on was my grampas basis for it being a female... i said that it's pride was hurt for being scared of my grampa, therefore it was proving itself to be macho to make up for it's embarassing moment--hence it is a male) it's still barking now!

hope you enjoyed the pics!

shake your booty

just gonna let you know now... the title has absolutely nothing to do with this post... just felt like typing that.
so i had a wedding gig today, and i was reminded yet again why i don't dream of being a famous wedding videographer... here's a quick list.
1) WAY too many things can go wrong... and even one of them going wrong is too much, adding much pressure.
2) no fun... all work no play, and that stinks when you are doing a friend's wedding
3) it's the work that keeps on working... i may be done with filming, but thanks to a second camera, the filming of the reception, and a bystander, i've got six... let me repeat that... SIX FULL tapes to import and edit through... that's over 6 hours of tape... 6 hours of my time working on this gig and i am not even editing it yet.
4) it's tough. photographers have it easy... they capture moments and can run around. videographers have to catch consecutive moments and have to stay still while filming or later viewers will barf from all that shakiness (ooh, shake connection).
5) embarassing... especially with my dinky camera. filming a wedding with the camera i have is like playing the us open with an old beat up wooden racket... it doesn't look good and the quality stinks.
6) embarassing in other ways. i hit the wall today with my tripod while moving from one spot to another at the beginning of the ceremnoy... it was loud. not good.
7)weddings become too familiar... i actually noticed that the pastor forgot a part... he forgot to have the bride say "with this ring i thee wed." the groom said it though.

okay, i've just noticed something. i've been complaining on my blog a lot lately, so i am first of all going to stop. second of all, i am going to make it up to yall by puting a funny picture up.
okay, it's
not hilarious, but it's good :)

this film is not yet titled

well, it's about that time! christmas is coming, decorations are going up, the time is jolly, christmas cards are going out and being recieved...
speaking of christmas cards...
i just spent an hour putting my my idea for my christmas "card" on paper. for those of you who don't know, i don't actually do christmas cards... more like christmas videos. yup, my idea finally came to me and i put it all into a script just now... a little over two pages long... sounds long, but it won't be a long video because, as usual, no dialogue.
so, i am announcing that the 2006 christmas video is now in production!
i'm really excited for this, because if it turns out half as good as it looks in my head (which i think i am actually visualizing very realistically), i will be very very happy. so i had to take it from my head and put it on paper. and what's cool about this video is that this one is kind of like making a real movie... i am going to need a crew, props, and a budget. normally my movies are low-budget (actually, no-budget), but this might require a couple of bucks on my behalf. i also need to set filming dates for when i can just pump out this film and get it done (as of right now, i am thinking the weekend of the 16th).
so i have already put a list of stuff/people needed together, and i am super excited...
(can you tell that i get really in to this stuff?)
so, i am going to get some directing/producing/acting/filming/editing experience with this one... i am most worried about the directing part... but we'll see.
if anyone is interested, i am looking for some hands... literally :)

ciao

night fever, night fever

yup... i caught it. i am sick. i've got a fever, a runny nose, and tiredness and no appetite. you know how when you have a fever your eyes feel hot? ya, i've got that, and it's irritating.
the bummer part is that i am pretty much confined to the house except for the wedding that i am filming tomorrow. i actually made a list (haven't checked it twice yet) of stuff to do this weekend, and i was excited. however, i think plans are changing a bit because i don't think playing tennis or going for a run would be the smartest thing to do in this condition.
lets just pray that i am feeling better for the wedding tomorrow because this will be the second time i've had a video gig to do while sick. not fun at all.
some other fun news. the gals i eat lunch with and i decided to start a group blog! we figured it would be fun to have something we all could post on, and it would be cool to have when we go off to college that way we could all post on it and keep in touch :)

hooroo

oh, and happy december

freeze frosty!

back up again

um, so, ya. yup.
today was mas mejor (better).
found a ping pong table on the street in front of the house across from us.
rolled it in to our garage.
sweet.
yup.
so, ya.
not much going on except our spider ran away. we're kind of sad.
i am catching a cold. i can't breath through my nose, and i am sneezing.
good night.
sleep tight.

(this is kind of how the author of a book i am reading now writes... it is driving me nuts... no emotion, short sentences, all over the place. it better get better)

up then down

day started well (and early). we played in chapel today, and the songs came together great. plus, i had something to look forward to today.
my uncle is producing and acting in this short film, and he gets to be present when the editing is going on. the guy they are using for the editing has all this awesome equipment, top of the line. i was drooling while my uncle was telling me about it, and i asked if it would be possible for me to sit-in on one of the editing sessions, and he worked it out so i could!
so i was going to leave school during lunch so that i could beat the traffic (because this place was kinda far), so i would only have to have a morning of school. plus, i could pick up some lunch on the way, so i didn't need to pack my lunch this morning. all day, i just thought... after 4th period, you're gone!
so after lunch (i stuck around for bible study) i went to my car, showed the security guard my pass and cheerfully told her "have a nice day!" i got to my car and went to throw my backpack in the back of the car and saw that my phone was ringing. so i answered it and it was my pop.
he was calling to tell me that they had to cancel because my uncle had gotten a call-back from an audition he had earlier in the day, and they were postponing till tomorrow.
my mood went from up to down faster than, well, i can't think of anything clever to put here, so just really fast.
first, i was upset because i was sitting in the school parking lot, thinking i was free, yet i had to go back in. two, i couldn't go tomorrow because i have a wedding rehearsal to go to, and three... well, that's just a mean thing to do to my head. those kind of mood swings are terrible.
so after hanging up i sat in the back of my car and threw myself a two minute pitty party before going back in to school. the security looked at me kind of funny as i walked back in to school (obviously in a worse mood than i was before) and i just pretended i had never even walked out and said "have a nice day" again. i get to class and of course everyone is asking me, why are you still here? ugh, it stunk.
on top of that, i totally wasn't prepared for my last three classes because i wasn't supposed to be there!
okay, vent is over... i'm better now.

have a nice day

yay for la zoo!!

i know exactly where to begin with this day.
okay, so the three environmental science classes got to go to the LA zoo today for a field trip, and we were excited because not only were we going to the zoo, but we didn't have to do anything while we were there. we got to just go off on our own and wander the zoo.
you know how i have been having a hard time holding on to things lately? i just keep losing things, and i don't know why. anyway, my mum made me a lunch this morning, and i threw it in a plastic bag and went to school (i packed a lunch to save money... you know amusment parks and their overpriced food). anywho, we got to the zoo, and when we entered, i realized i din't want to hold on to my lunch the whole time, so i tied it to my purse. we stopped to take a picture of something and then moved on. i looked down 2 seconds later, and my lunch was gone!!!! can you believe it? 5 minutes in to the trip, and i lost my lunch. we quickly back tracked because we didn't go far, but it was gone! it was a good lunch too.
another weird thing... i think there should be an age requirement for the zoo, because there were like three different animals that were in their mating season. gross.
there was this really weird and dainty looking animal, almost like a really skinny deer with a super long and skinny neck. we sat and watched this thing chew on some grass that it tore up, swallow it (you could see the lump of grass go down, that's how long and skinny the neck was), stop for 10 seconds, and then see that same lump go up the throat and it would start chewing again... it did this like 5 times, and we were so grossed out we had to leave.
anyway, now for the pics... which are extra special because i forgot (i know, another thing i forgot) my memory card for the camera, so i only had the internal memory which could hold 18 pics... no more... enjoy!

sorry to say, the la zoo hasn't been making much money, so they had to get rid of all the real animals and place big animal cut-outs in their place!

davinci had his drawing all wrong... it's supposed to look more like this:

look at the roo!!!

i am in awe at how perfect and clean their stripes are... it's like God sat and hand painted each one.

the giraffe was making mean faces at me!!

now that is what i call a bear nap!

hippos... need i say more?

really want to insult someone? call them a rhino butt.

this is the golden aura monkey... it always has a natural glow around it.... yup yup

i can see clearly now (but not because the rain is gone)

what a day...
first day back after thanksgiving break. you know, the teachers start out nice, but then it's back to routine. it went kind of like this: "hey, how was your break, how was your thanksgi... SMACK! homework! test! report! presentation! take that!" okay, maybe not that bad, but seeing how my day started, it was pretty much how i felt.
in the middle of the night last night, i woke up and heard a faint pitter patter of rain on the roof... could it be? rain? nah, i'm dreaming. when i woke up (unnecessarily early i might add) i looked outside and sure enough, it was drizzling. maybe things'll be ok after all :)
well, i jumped back in bed to see if i could catch a few more zz's, but i found that catching z's was harder than catching a leprachaun riding away on a unicorn. so, i sucked it up... i closed my eyes, took note of the warmth and comfort i had laying there in bed, and thought to myself, "remember this feeling, because this will be a long day and you need somehthing to look forward to."
speaking of something to look forward to, i was excited to go jump in a nice hot shower since it was nice and chilly outside. little did i know that both of my parents had just taken their showers, and after jumping in, i had a nice cold shower to wake me... please note that there is sarcasm in that last phrase... it was not nice at all.
i put it behind me and just remembered that it was raining. however, that lasted about as long as the hot water in my house did. after 2nd period, "here comes the sun." i guess that's california.
school went on, and eventually after about a gazillion hours of waiting ever so patiently, the school day ended. i had an errand to run.
i lost my reading glasses a while back during that packing process when our house was under construction. so i quickly ran home to pick up my prescription from my mom and then run off to the mall and get another pair of glasses. don't ask me how, but somehow, between me leaving the front door after i got my prescription and me parking in the parking lot at the mall, i lost my prescription. i searched my car inside and out. i couldn't believe it... am i really that bad at keeping track of things? it wasn't even in my pockets... i tried to forget about it, and went out for a bit. i couldn't help but feel annoyed at the day, but things started to change. after leaving my friend's house, i notcied on my way to my car that the sun had started to set behind this massive cloud... it looked amazing!! (the pic doesn't do justice...but you get the idea) i couldn't help but smile and think, okay, today wasn't so bad... how could a bad day look so beautiful right now?
after i eventually got home, i searched high and low only to find nothing. but, after a call to the lens place, it turns out that they keep my prescription on file and don't need to have one with me!
so i drive to the mall (for the 2nd time) and grab the frames that most resemble my last ones and they tell me that they will be ready to pick up in a little less than an hour! more good news!
i did go home because i wasn't going to stay and risk my life in the chirstmas-time shopping maul, i mean, shopping mall.
so after returning to the mall a third time, i picked up my reading glasses and now i sit here in front of the computer screen reading nice and clear without any tired eyes!
one thing i forgot to mention. in the midst of all my running around, i never changed my clothes, so i sit here also wearing my uniform, which is no where near cozy attire.
plus, i just heard news that the rain might pick up again...
i guess this day was okay after all :)

i've gotta say, blogger makes me :)

so, recently, i have discovered some friends that have a blog, and it's been fun to read their blogs. i have also recently brought a friend of mine into the blogging family. not only is blogging fun (and addicting), but it is so much fun now that i have multiple friends that have blogs because i love reading and commenting. it's just fun :) thought i would mention that.

now for the actual blog part:
this is an exerpt from a book i am currently reading called Mind Games. as soon as i read this, i felt this HUGE relief that i wasn't the only one... i related to this instantly (except for the singing parts in the beginning, cause i don't know how to sing). so i feel the need to share this... it's about distraction, and you can pretty much change the scenario to whatever you'd like, but the point is still made. you could change "worship" to "prayer" or to "listening" or whatever you want.
this takes place during the worship service at a church, and this is the thought process of the gal, rachel... keep in mind, all of this is while she's worshiping. it's long, but i think it's worth it. (after all, i did sit here and type it all out... no cut and paste here)

I wonder if I should be singing in my chest voice or my head voice. Ooh, i can catch this harmony! I wonder if that's distracting to the person next to me.
Oops, he sang the wrong lyrics. He does that a lot. I wonder if he's self-conscious about that.
Is she really worshipping, or does she do that because it looks good? I'll bet she's not thinking that. I should pay attention. Focus, rachel, focus!
I love music. I love singing. Worst of all, i love performing.
Why worst of all? Because my head will just not shut up when i am trying to participate in worship of a musical nature. There's so much going on--the music, the video or lyrics up on the screen, the worship band ripping into the traditional worship songs. plus, i'm concerned with how i sound, and i challenge myself to try harmonies and sing out.
What drives me crazy is that, in the middle of all this distraction and vanity, a little voice always says, "Focus, rachel! Worship!" My heart digs into the worship experience for all of ten seconds before there's a new disruption to take my train of thought off the tracks.
I've prayed about this (probably not enough). I've gone to retreats that have renewed my spirit and seemingly "fixed" my group worship issues, only to lose focus a few weeks later and end up frustrated and angry with myself for letting superficial things get between me and God.
I'd like to blame this on my short attention span... concentrating on worship may just be too much to ask.
The falut could lie in the excitement of worship. How can i be expected to focus when worship has become a light show, a multimedia experience, and a concert all in one? Surely this is not my fault!
However, i have to say that years of focusing on myself--how i sound, how i look, my perception of others, me, me, me--is a part of my former life that i have yet to give over to God. It's difficult to admit, but it's true.
Of all the elements of Christianity that define the lifestyle, worship is the one thing that cannot be about me. Elements like my sin and my lifestyle changes and my attitude are about me. Worship is about God--just God. It's just about who God is. He's wonderful, glorious, powerful, sovereign. He's all of those things completely seperate from me. If i didn't exhist, he'd still be all of those things. And knowing that makes my distractions, my selfishness, and my excuses pretty lame.
The solution? If singing distracts me, I can't sing--i just focus on the words and say them to God in my heart. If the light show distracts me, I can't look--i'll just close my eyes and pretend it's just me and God in an empty room.
And if none of that works, i'll just be grateful that i can praise and worship God in what i do all hours of the day, not just the twenty minutes i spend in worship at church, Mercifully, two of His best qualities are patience and forgiveness.

some people just rock

okay, so i was in the parking lot today after lunch, and i saw this lady walking, and all i could do was smile. she was wearing normal jeans, a light-purple t-shirt, you know, normal. except, upon the top of her head rested a bright red wide brimmed hat! how awesome. didn't match her outfit at all, but she wore that thing with confidence. ya, she was a little bit older, and i just couldn't help but smile when i saw her and her hat.
thanks lady with the red hat for making my day!

yay for being different!

i had a tennis tournament today... now, i haven't been finding the best tournaments lately... a total of four people signed up in my age bracket. i figured they would just cancel our bracket, but they decided to have us play anyway. you could look at our draw in one of two ways: 1) it was a full draw starting with the round of 32, and we all had bye's through to the semifinals or 2) we started with the semifinals and only had two rounds (which was how it really was, but i prefer to think of option 1 :)
so i had my first match, and while warming up, i was like, wow, this feels weird, how come this feels weird? then i realized it had been an entire week since i had played! while warming up my serve, i didn't get a single one in... all i could think was, ok, this is trouble. i served first and in the first service game, some funny stuff happened. on the third point, i served and the girl stuck her racket to block it back and snap! her string broke. that felt good. and as if there wasn't enough string breakage going on, two points later, i think at deuce or something, i broke my string on my serve.
here's a funny side story. i have been hoping for my strings to break in the middle of a match. when my new racket came, it came in a plastic bag that the pros always have when they have multiple rackets in their bag because they're sponsored and have rackets at their disposal. so i kept it in the bag so i could pull it out in a match and look all pro. so when my string broke, i trotted to my bag and pulled out my new racket with plastic on it, grinning. however, silly me forgot to take the plastic wrap that was on the grip before i got to the match... so i spent an extra minute trying to get it off, turning my pro moment into a humbling and embarassing moment :)
anyway, i ended up losing my serve and all i could think was, man, this is going to be ugly.
however, after changing sides and my racket, something must have kicked in, because i won 12 games in a row after that (two sets). so i advanced to the finals later that day.
in between matches, my dad and i went to grab lunch and went back to the courts. i saw a row of minivans parked all next to eachother, about 7 of them. they all had their trunks opened up and people were sitting in them, watching the matches (the courts are right next to the parking). i was parked beside one of the last ones, and i laughed at how everybody matched. so i, wanting to be different, opened up the back of my car (which opens sideways, not up) and sat for a minute or two, chuckling at what the sight might look like... opened up, opened up, opened up, opened to the side :)
i quickly closed the door and left though because since mine opened out and to the side, i had a greater chance of a car driving by and hitting it.
i played the final match at 1pm, and it went well. i ended up winning, so i got a neat trophy. it was kind of funny that the tournament was only two rounds, but it was good to be playing again.

well, that's all for now... i am off!

thanksgiving in pictures

food! so much good food! (how come 'good' doesn't rhyme with 'food'? english is weird).
thanksgiving dinner was delicious... i ate mucho mashed potatoes and ham... mucho!!! i gained back everything i lost from the 10k :) okay, it's just a pillow, but that's pretty much what i felt like.
oh, and pumpkin pie... mmmm mmmm, gotta love that pumpkin pie! that crazy look on my face is why my parents don't let me use knifes that big anymore :)
i got to hang with my little cousins last night too. they're just a load of fun (as you can see)

hope you guys had a great thanksgiving.

i sure hope none of you are going out on this black friday... seriously, people are crazy on this day, tackling eachother, trampling over eachother, fighting over meaningless objects like an overpriced vessel for a wallet and lipstick...

they're crazy i tell you!

celebrate it ebay way... national sleep-in day!

hot to (turkey) trot

it's nice to know that i can still run... not necessarily fast, but i can keep going, and that was my goal. i only stopped and walked at the two water stations (because after running through the first stop and leaving the stop drenched, i realized that i don't know how to run and drink at the same time) and then again at a water fountain. but otherwise, i was going at a decent pace... i just wanted to run a lot, lets just say that :) my time ended up being 1 hour 7 minutes, which i think is close to what i got last year at the same race.
i got to the place at 7:15 this morning because i still had to pick up my packet. the race didn't start until 8:30, so after i got my packet (which didn't take as long as i thought it would) i went back to my car and went to sleep in the back :)
i woke up about 10 minutes before the race started and ran quickly to the bathrooms so i wouldn't have to make any pitstops during the race. it seemed that everybody else had the same idea. the line for the women's bathroom was out the building! it was crazy. so when we finally got in to the bathroom, we saw that the line was actually winding in the bathroom... you know, like when you stand in line for a ride at disneyland or something... except this "ride" didn't have a fast-pass. i finally got to go right at 8:30, so i ran from the bathroom straight through the starting line without stoppping :) i was still a bit sore from my beach run on sunday, but i quickly loosened up (only to tighten way up right after the race and barely be able to get out of my car and into the house where i quickly jumped in a hot shower and then slathered on some icy hot afterwards)
anywho
while running the race, there was this gal who was running in front of me for about a quarter mile... she had littl pig-tails and a fanny pack on, and all were bouncing merrilly to the beat of her stride. i was kind of getting annoyed by all the bouncing going on in front of me, so i eventually passed her up. after i passed her up, i was running next to a guy who had his car keys and loose change in his pockets, so i could her the jingle every time he took a stride. that has got to be my biggest pet-peeve of running. people, please empty your pockets before you go for a run. i mean, i was wearing my ipod and i could still hear it!
anyway, the run was fun, and they were even passing out pies after the race!
so, 10k down, tinsel triathlon to go!!!

happy turkey day!!!
enjoy your meals!

you'd never thunk it

okay you guys, a lot of stuff went down the last few days, so here i go!
it's been fun telling more people that i got my acceptance letter... i'm still grinning. haha, at house church on sunday, people wore calvin shirts to celebrate :) so that's been fun.
i went to ikea yesterday with some amigas. our primary focus of the trip was eating swedish meatballs at the cafe, but we ended up finding some really cool stuff that you'll hear about in a sec. i was so exhausted after we got back... shopping at ikea is tiring!
no news on the job hunt yet, but i am expecting to hear some news after thanksgiving.
today was fun. i worked on a video project today for some friends who are going to indonesia for missions work. i love doing those kind of videos, you know, the kind with a purpose. and, speaking of videos, i am proud to announce the beginning of Red Button! what's Red Button you say? well, why don't you head over to http://redbuttonfilms.blogspot.com to find out!!! yay :)

so, we discovered we had a ping pong table today. funny thing is that we've had it for as long as i've been alive, we just never knew it. it took a $7 set from ikea to figure it out. confused? i would be too. so i bought this thing at ikea that comes with two ping pong paddles, three ping pong balls, and one net that is adjustable and attaches to any table!!! this thing is awesome... you can play ping pong anywhere!!! we set up on our dining room table and played. it was so much fun! it's just like playing real ping pong (except the net is like 8 inches high... but that's just good practice :) jenny and i got really into it, and we were having so much fun that we got a little loony.... lets just say i ended up singing christmas carols in a mobster voice and was calling jenny "tony." i won't explain.

i ate supper with the woo family tonight... delicious.

now it's time for the surprise. i was watching our vacation video from when we went to the grand tetons as a family in a motor home (yes, we drove from ca to wyoming) in 2001. okay, so this video was over 15 minutes long, and i was in it multiple times. when i was watching it, i was expecting to see me ham it up in front of the video camera and say some things that would embarass me in the future. however, you'd be shocked to know that every time the camera was pointed at me, i stopped what i was doing, smiled, and ran off/looked away... not a single word... not a single word came out of my mouth in the entire video!!! not a single goofy act in the entire video!! i, cristina stavro, was camera shy!!! i was shocked. all i did was smile and hide. what a strange little child.

you'd never thunk it :)