ick... i'm sick

well, i didn't get to play tennis today because of an unwelcome situation... i've caught one of those eye-nose-ear-sinus-throat thingys... i should be a doctor, i am so good at diagnosing.
anyway, so tonight i will be finding a way to rid of this, and i have already started with my idea of a good cure...
wear green pants (that's to keep the smile going), longsleeves (that's for, well, we can guess what that's for when your nose is involved...haha), eat in'n'out (that's for a satisfied tummy), and my favorite part, golden spoon (the common cure for just about any disease).

we'll see if it works!

hooroo!!!

don't forget!

okay, so let me just start that today was a complete opposite of what i thought it would be.

yesterday night, when i was coming home, all i could think about was how tired i was and how tired i was going to be the next day (today, thursday). and while waking up this morning at 6:00, that's pretty much the idea that i still had in my head... 'today is going to be long." however, it almost immediately changed.
I got to school at 7 and we started setting up and practicing for praise band/chapel, and i just started getting all this energy, started getting all pumped up. then we played in chapel this morning, and it was awesome... just totally awesome. that totally got me up an in a good mood, totally ready for the day. (i've just used the word "totally" a lot in a little time... totally weird).
anywho, i wasn't tired in 5th period like i usually am (cause it's right after lunch and in a time where a siesta is preferred), and we left for tennis at the very beginning of 6th period. today was our first match with the new uniforms, and they are awesome.
so today was our first league match, and it was against connoly (sp?). i played at 2 singles today, and i have to say, this set is one that just completely caught me by surprise... but not in a way you would think.
let me just set the stage a bit... i am totally not a social tennis player... i don't like to talk with my opponents. i dunno, to me it would just make the situation awkward and more complicated. my opponent, however, is what i would call a tennis social butterfly. she got the conversation started before we even started to warm-up. at first, i was trying to find a way to avoid being social, but then as the warm-up went on, i couldn't help but join in the social fun.
it threw me off, however, when she would talk to me in the middle of a game... like at 30 all in the first game, she asked me where i wanted to go to college. it kind of caught me off guard, but between games, conversation would continue, and she would make some comments during games as well. i found myself just laughing and smiling throughout the whole set... anyway, there are more details, but the main thing is that this set was so fun, it helps that i won, but still, it was a fun and funny situation that i would normally hate. we talked about careers, corn bread, and oh ya, the set was started off with a suggestion by my opponent: "lets have fun!"
fun we did have, and that's pretty much the story for my last two sets... except there was no social-ness in my last set against the #1 singles girl... it was all business :) the team won today and we still hold our undefeated record!

this got way too long, so i will quickly turn to the reason for my stories of the day's happenings.
there is a verse in deuteronomy that is called "the don't forget!" verse... and today is a day that made me think of the verse... "Make sure you don't forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don't become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God.."
basically, don't forget God when things are going good. so, that reminds me to thank God when things are good, and it brings me to say, Praise God for today, a great day!

i hope you all have a pleasant friday! i know i will... more tennis!

you've gotta love this... i did :)

This is an excerpt from one of my favorite books that i have read lately... it is called "Killer Tennis," and it is based off of the drawings by Gary Patterson (he has done a ton of tennis comics that are hilarious..) anywho, anybody who knows tennis will find this to be quite amusing... just imagine really doing this--i've thought about giving this a try for my next tennis match :) This one is titled "The Warm-Up"

"The best way to become a Killer Tennis Player is to commit many little murders in the warm-up. Properly done, you will finish the warm-up "warm" and "up," while your opponent will remain dead cold. The moment you get on the court, throw yourself on the ground and begin doing push-ups. It's impressive if you use only one arm. It's even more impressive if you use none. Continue doing push-ups until your opponent finishes opening the can of balls.
When your opponent is ready to warm up, spin your racket in your hand a few times and study it closely. Tap the strings and casually mention that your new racket is experimental, cost over $5,000, was developed by the Pentagon, and that you are legally required to register it with the police.
As you begin hitting the ball with your opponent, find out what he or she doesn't like and do it. If she likes to hit hard, hit soft. If she wants to practice coming to net, lob. Whenever your opponent's balls hit the white line or crawl over the net, remind her she's using up all her luck. Look bored. Never give him your full attention. Carry on a conversation with other tennis players--who are four courts down--read a book, go shopping.
At the end of the warm-up, mention to your opponent, 'I'm really glad we're playing today. I'm coming back from an injury, and you know how important it is to start back slowly.'"

Don't you just love it?

This is a really random jump in topics, but this is a reall really cool rock climbing picture, so enjoy this too :)

lots has happened

i have officially finished my application to calvin! i submitted my completed applcation on monday, and everythng is sent in... so i will keep yall updated on any news that i get.
well, now that i think of it, my post title is wrong... not that much has actually been happening. the calvin app was big, so maybe that's what made me think a lot has happened. tennis is happening, but that's a given by now. the season is going well, and lets just say it can only get better.
so i saw on the news that there has been a sudden increase in the population of spiders around here... like a huge increase. you know what that means for me... keep the bug spray and benedryl close at hand.
hmmm, what else... oooo, i brushed up on my stick-shift skills and drove my grampas porsche again this past weekemd... here's a pic:
now that's a pretty sweet ride :) but not as sweet as the ride that you can see the tail end of on the left side of the picture :)

i've got a quick tennis story, but it might not be that interesting... i think it's one of those things where you just had to be there to fully appreciate the story.
we had a match at village christian yesterday, and we got out of school at 1:15 because this place is far... you could say that it is 'just past pasadena' and then some. anyway, we get ready and go outside to get on the bus, but the problem is, is there isn't a bus. turns out no one scheduled a bus for us, so after much figuring out, we ended up having to take the school van, which is an 8-passenger van.. you do the math: 12 people does not equal 8 passengers. so, eventually we came to the plan that i would take 4 other people with me in my car, and we would follow coach who drove the van. long story short, it was a fun, long, interesting ride out there.
o the adventures of tennis!

speaking of tennis, i am off to play!

hooroo

to the masses...

well, i just saw that my mum sent out some kind of mass email (i don't know what size mass) telling people to go to my sight for "fun, laughs, and wholesome teenager insight." well, none of that is guarenteed, but i thought i would just welcome those of you who actually came to my site-- and thanks to my mum for the advertising... i think.

enjoy

strap on your helmets... it's time to go bowling!!!

disclaimer: we are trained professionals and know what we are doing... do not attempt this on your own...

ok, so it's friday, we just got done with our first week of school, and our minds aren't in the most intelligent state. wanting to do something more than just stay inside and watch tv, we came up with an idea. now, what do you get when you put a helmet, skateboard, and ten empty arrowhead water jugs together in the hands of jenny and me?

i'll tell you: you get a potentially dangerous, completely hilarious, and really awesome round of bowling.
yes, we are 17 years old, yes we are seniors in highschool, and no, we aren't "on" anything. we're just... well, we're jenny and cristina... do i need to say much more?

here you see me preparing to go down the lane (jenny's driveway). it was nice to be able to push off the garage door for more speed. this was an earlier run where we started off with a bike helmet.
eventually, we changed to my rock climbing helmet because it had better "feel" and looked better in the pictures. this is me making an attempt at a strike... i think i left two standing on this attempt.
jenny was actually the first to try it, and she did very well, although she too failed to get a strike down the driveway lane... check out that form though!
there is nothing more fun than the plow into the bottles... the noise, the randomness, and the imagining of the thoughts people are having as they drive by and see someone plowing through a bunch of water bottles... every bowl provides complete satisfaction and unstoppable sore-stomach laughter...
after about 5 tries each down the driveway lane and no strikes, we decided to take a more traditional approach... actually bowling the person into the bottles... in other words, grab the feet, push and run fast, let go, and watch them plow through and knock 'em all down!
every time we did it this way we got a strike... we were actually pushing really fast, and it was kind of scary, but in the end it was just plain hilarious!

jenny was transporting some of the bottles from my garage in a very unusual fashion... but then again, everything we did was unusual. we actually spent an hour of just going down the driveway and plowing through, and then setting it up again and then doing it all over... then bowling eachother at the bottles, and then setting up again. we had so many people that drove by and slowed down to see what we were doing... it was so much fun... what a day!

but remember, the only thing that made the fun possible was the fact that we were safe and wore our helmets!

lets celebrate some "firsts"

All right, so labor day has passed and we all know that the first day of school has come and gone. my first day was yesterday, and let me tell you... we jumped right back in to the swing of things so it feels like we have been back in school for a while. i've got a great schedule filled with things like AP calculus, economics, environmental science... these classes are actually fun. environmental science makes me want to chain myself to a tree and keep the forrest from being chopped down. anywho, i'm also taking photography, and that'll be fun as well.
okay, next few firsts: we had our first praise team practice yesterday before school... it was so awesome, and i am looking forward to our next practices. we had our first tennis match on tuesday, and we had our first victory today! today also held my first bagel this season :)
another exciting first: i wrote my first college essay yesterday! i've been working on my application to Calvin (i'm doing early apps) and i have completed one of the two essays... yup, definitly exciting!
well, what a week! that's all for now though... i've got some homework to do!!!!

hooroo :)

no title

i was too lazy to think of a title, so this post doesn't have a title.

so today was a pretty fun day. the day started out with a bike ride to the beach with the entire tennis team! although we didn't very fast, it was still a lot of fun to be riding with a bunch of people, and i'm sure that people passing by on their bikes thought we were a funny looking bunch... we were a mixture of road bikes, mountain bikes, and beach cruisers. after making it to the beach, we ate at 'river's end cafe (it's right at the end of the riverbed, hence the name, 'river's end')
and speaking of tennis, our first match is on tuesday at home. it'll be a scrimmage, but i've been waiting for tennis season to start ever since i lost my cif match last year... seriously, it's all i have been talking about all year. this season will be fun, and hopefully the ol' saying "time flies when you're having fun" won't be true for tennis season. i don't want it to go quickly.
in other news, school starts on wednesday... wow. that ol' saying was definitly true for this summer. SO MUCH happened this summer... starting with dunamis (amazing), to palm desert, to my friends leaving for guyana, to hawai'i (awesome), to mammoth (fishy... in a good way :), and then to ending the summer with tennis season starting. plus all the stuff in between, like our house finally being finished and my sweet super-awesome room being completedas well! mucho tennis, some bike rides, mas tennis, oh, and guitar stuff along with a little golf, and some filming jobs... but, take note!!! are the words, "summer homework" anywhere in the lists above? NO! and no, it's not because i had summer homework and i have just been puting it off until the day before school starts like most of you would guess... it's because it was my first summer in the past 3 years without it.
so, now i can look back on my summer and finish it by saying that i have been blessed with a filled summer and that this summer deserves the rating of an especially big smiley face
:)
hooroo

golf pics from mammoth and a surprise

these are the last pics from mammoth... jenny and i went and hit a few golf balls at the driving range in mammoth... what a view, eh? it was amazing hitting golf balls into the mountains... ok, maybe not that far, but in the direction of the mountains.
now for the surprise: i found a new home for my bunny (we've been trying to find a place for her where she can get lots of love and attention). i have been dreading the task, but when i heard that friends of mine from house church where going to get a bunny for their kids, i knew that it was meant to be. oreo (the coolest bunny in the whole entire world... and the cutest) went to a new home today, and she absolutley loved it. the boys loved her too, and oreo was really chill... she totally let the boys hold her and pet her. i was soooo happy that it worked out, because i still get to see her every now and then :) the last pic is a pic of the boys and oreo together.
hooroo

sweet moves and yummy fish

so we ate the fish we caught in mammoth... they were delicious... yum yum. but before we ate, me and jenny (i mean, jenny and i... school is starting soon!) tore up the street with our sweet moves. nobody can shred like we can... check out the air i got! and look how low jenny can go! ya, we're amazing.
on another note, after filming a... well, lets just call it long... wedding last night, i started to see that this could be a side job for me. so far, i've been getting the weddings through the referals of friends, and it's been working good... i have one more to do for sure in december. but, as i was talking to irene (the gal that uses scissors to change the length of my hair) she was saying how it was hard for her in the real estate industry because she can only get referrals or people she knows. i told her i about my wedding videography, and she told me i should make business cards. i laughed at first, but today, i laugh no more. i have decided to make business cards, and after much speculation, i have created a company name along with a clever design. my company name: well, i can't ruin it for you... you have to recieve an official business card from me... i will be making them tonight. i have also come up with the idea of having assistance while i do my job... yes, i have created my aid, Techy Jenny. she'll hold the camera bag or something. i have also decided to save all my earnings from the weddings to go towards a new video camera. the one i have and use now has "used for family vacations and baby's first steps" written all over... you know, the kind that people uses when they catch "america's funniest home videos" moments. well, my next one will be a bit more professional, hopefully. so, hopefully this wedding thing will become a little more serious.
yup yup, the company is growing. lots of decisions...
check out the sweet pics below!

gone fishin' (for the first time)

ok, so lets tell this story from beginning to end.
today was my first time going fishing, and by golly i started fishing in style. we were out on the lake, finished eating our lunch that we packed, and prepared for a day of fishing. we rented a pontoon (what a weird word) for half day, so we got out on convict lake at about noon. so, after eating, i cast out for the first time... i waited, i was bored. cast again, waited, bored again. after ten minutes of this cycle, i cast out again, but this time, different result. all of the sudden, i felt a really strong pull. at first i thought my line was stuck, but then the fish started running away (or swimming i guess). i can't even find a way to acurately put into words what the next 10 minutes were like... i'll have to act it out for some of you guys when i get home, but for now i will try to describe it. the fish (which i later neamed 'spike') was going hard and fast away from me. i was reeling him in but he was pulling line out faster than i could reel him in... my pole was bent into a complete semi-circle (is that an oxymoron?). i thought my pole was going to snap, and my arms were hurting like crazy. i was putting the fishing pole in my stomach so that i could have some stability and extra strength. however, all my reeling, pulling, and holding on proved to be useless... he was going too far, too fast, and too strong. next thing i know, SNAP! i ran out of fishing line and the last piece of line snapped of the reel. spike had gotten away. we concluded that spike was at least 10 pounds, no joke. look at the pic of my pole bent, and i think that'll support our guess. i know fishing stories tend to be exagerated, but this one is so not. and to prove that i don't exagerate fishing stories, i have one more, and it's not as exciting.
below are two pics of me holding my first fish... unfortunatly, he wasn't spike (i was so mad he got away), but that didn't take away the feeling of catching my first fish. he was about a foot long, and the fight to get him was pretty good. he jumped out of the water a few times, but otherwise, it was a good catch. it was also my first time ever holding a fish, hence the weird look on my face.
so, since the showdown with spike, i have been addicted to the routine of casting, waiting, and reeling in. i never really understood fishing before, but now that i have seen that there is a challenge, and a possible fight to be had, i have been hooked (wow, i have just been doing well with these puns these last few days :) my competetivness with slimy things that swim has brought me to add another hobby to my list.
jenny caught a fish as well... it was funny, cause i looked over at jenny and her slightly bent fishing pole, and all she said was, "uh, i think i caught something." everybody caught one fish today. it was fun.
right now, after spending 8 hours on a pontoon, i am really feeling like i am still on a boat and it is making me sick.. so i need to stop typing...




this is the pic of the spike showdown!

more pics

gull lake... beautiful

by the way, i changed the post with the tree pictures (it was two days ago i think).. i added some words of explanation/clarification :)

yay for kayaking!

ok, so i love kayaking.... i absolutely LOVE TO KAYAK. when we come to mammoth is the only time i get to kayak... once a year. i make sure to enjoiy it as much as i can. by the way, did you know kayak is a palindrome? well, it is.
every year we go to gull lake because we have made it a necessary part of our trip. we have to go kayaking at gull lake, and meanwhile the rest fish in a little motor fishing boat (psh, forget the motor, it's all about manual labor).
so yesterday was gull lake day; jenny and i kayaked and paddle boated. normally we have a two seater kayak, but that one was broken so we each rented a one seater. it was a bit of a bummer because the two seater helps with teamwork. however, the seperat kayaks proved to be VERY fun. we kayaked for two hours and paddle boated for one hour. what a work out! that paddle boat was impossible to get moving, it was crazy! i have never felt that kind of burn in my legs before. the paddle boat was red and glittery... it looked like an oversized version of dorothy's red slippers. : ) in the kayaks we had a lot of fun... we even went backwards for a while. we crashed into eachother quite a few times, and the wind was SO strong. kayaking (an paddle boating) was so hard going into the wind. the water was super choppy and we got soaked. i made the mistake (twice) of turning my kayak sideways so that the waves in the water nearly tipped me over. one time, a little water got in when i almost tipped... anyway, towards the end of our kayaking sessions, we just laid back and floated around in the kayak (that's what the pic of me laying in the kayak is from). and of course, being on a lake for multiple hours means multiple tan lines, including the sunglass tan. jenny got some good shorts tan lines, as did i (mine was on purpose though, you know, with tennis season coming up). after we got back from dinner, we looked for a few shooting stars. i found that the best spot to search from was from atop my car, even though i didn't see any.
so today, we will be going to convict lake where i will be fishing for my first time ever... yup, never even held a pole.

dress-up and climbing

i see things, and i want to climb them. i saw a tree with a branch that was extending over and across the path about 15 feet above the ground, and i wanted to climb it. so i did :) the very bottom picture (haha, no pun intended) was when i first got on the branch. i was stuck for a bit just hanging there on my stomach, but i eventually made it into the sitting position, and then the laying position which was most comfortable. it was so much fun!
the pics from the post before this are from me and jenny dressing up in this one store. don't we look awesome? speaking of stores, on of my favorite things about the stores out here at this time of year is that everything, EVERYTHING, is on sale. i got some shoes that were on clearance for $25, and they are normally $60. all clothes and jackets are on sale too, it's crazy!
so ya, that's it for now! enjoy the pics!

i'm growing

this is totally unrelated to mammoth, but i figured i would just say it anyway... i am totally growing taller. i'm having growing pains like crazy... it doesn't really hurt, it's just an ache. anyway, i am growing.
we just got back from dinner. we ate at this place that's on a ranch where they have a petting zoo and what-not. we didn't pet any animals this time, but jenny and i will definitly go back and pet a few goats. while we were eating, i happened to turn and look out the window only to see a guy 20 yards away relieving himself in a bush. not exactly what i wanted to see while eating dinner. it was really embarassing. otherwise, the food was great, and the atmosphere was fun. unfortunatly, i didn't have my camera at dinner tonight.
here are some pictures from earlier today... we got to ride a trolley for free!!! isn't it great when things are free? especially things like trolley rides.
Jenny thinks the sky is falling.