Hey everyone. I wrote this on December 27th in 2005 and I thought I'd post it just to share what I've been up to. This is the first time I've posted a blog. I guess this is what they are here for. Enjoy!
I flew back to LA after that and decided to save by not taxiing to the Greyhound, but instead take the city bus downtown. It is quite a distance there and boy did I ever see some sights! It felt like I cruised through three or four different countries because of all the different people and cultures I passed through. Once I got to my stop downtown I had to roll my luggage through an ugly part of town with some really odd people staring at me most of the time. The poor Greyhound station in downtown LA was like a trip back to the 70s. It was in terrible condition and everyone there seemed bummed out. I was there because it is the only way to get to San Diego from LA without paying for the overpriced airfare. My bus ended up being the "Tijuana Express" which creeped me out a little considering that city has a bad reputation.
Once I got to San Diego I made my way to my car which was parked in student parking at San Diego State University for a month and a half. Luckily it went untouched. I had a Japanese exchange student friend check on it for me every once in a while. That poor dude spent most of the Christmas holiday alone and he told me that on Christmas he was hungry and went to McDonalds and realized it was closed so we went to the store to find it was closed as well so all he ate on Christmas was bread and butter!
I stayed with him for just 2 or 3 days before I found a house to rent from on Craigslist.com. I moved into a nice house on January 30th on New Jersey Street. It was a fully furnished house, including a fully stocked kitchen, washer and dryer, my own bedroom, and all utilities included for $600 a month. It was a pretty good deal. Unfortunately, I had some major problems with one roommate. She was a beautiful Russian-American model who suffered from severe bulimia. She would constantly eat large portions of my food when she was bingeing and then cough them up in the bathroom. It was really sad and eventually she was evicted.
The semester started the day after I moved into this place and it was a good one. I studied at Mesa College, taking Health Education, Japanese Conversation, Tennis, and English Writing, and I also took Japanese 3 at Grossmont College. I ended up pulling off decent grades and maintained my streak of not getting a grade less than a B since 7th grade.
What makes this slightly more impressive is that I was also working around 25 hours a week at Mann Theatres in Mission Valley. I worked for a mere 6.85 an hour selling at a concession stand, tearing tickets, and sweeping theatres. The ad for the position I applied for said "Competitive Wages" so when being interviewed I told the boss "With all due respect, I don't see how you can you call $6.85 a competitive wage." All he did was laugh. It was a worthless job, but it allowed me to save what I already had in the bank. One fun thing was our Theatre hosted the San Diego Latin Film Festival and we got to be a part of all that excitement. I am really not into movies a whole lot so this job didn't have any perks that interested me at all.
Just like thousands of other San Diegans, I saw a plastic surgeon in March. The reason was I had to get a large, unhealthy mole removed from my ear and also have its roots completely dug out. A Dermatologist, apparently, doesn't do stuff like this to ears so to the plastic surgeon I went! It was quite painful and bled a lot the first night. Luckily, it looks perfectly fine now and I no longer have to worry about it getting me sick so I am happy I did it.
Being pretty busy with work and school, I didn't venture out a lot in the Spring semester. A couple things I did do was go to the desert with a friend where we saw some really cool sights and went on some fun 4X4 roads. I also went with some people to LA where we saw the USA play Columbia in an international soccer match.
In late May, once I was back in Northern California, I went on a magnificent, overnight hike from Bear Harbor to Usal with my two older sisters and Jonah. It was very challenging, but breathtakingly beautiful, and a memory that I will never forget. I am still so proud of all of us taking on that challenge. We even got up close and personal with a huge whale at the beach we ate lunch at!
After just a little bit of yard work at my dad's house in early June, I got a serious case of poison oak. It was horrible. Just thinking about it makes me cringe.
Beginning on June 21, I did the smart thing and enrolled in summer school in Ukiah at Mendocino College. I took Biology and bio Lab. I studied with some of the best classmates I have ever had there in Ukiah, but that class got really difficult in the end. I got my first "C" ever, which was my grade in the Biology class. I got an A or B in the lab, I forget which one.
During that month I got to live with my sister and Jonah at their cool place. I didn't do a lot in Ukiah except for study, swim, and use the net. It was cool living with Rhea again though. We hadn't lived together for many years.
In early July some friends and I went to Seattle for a weekend to see some soccer games and go to some National Parks. I did a lot of driving on the way where and my knee became swollen and I couldn't walk right the whole time which seemed to amuse my friends. It was very unfortunate considering all the effort I put into organizing this trip and how much I looked forward to it. We got to see Mt Rainier, the Space Needle, Qwest field, and other cool sights. Max and I found a great sushi place too, that was a great meal! The way home was highlighted by my penniless pal Asha just being himself and giving us a crazy memory that we won't soon forget.
In late July we had a party for my mom at Benbow Lake to see her off to her new, awesome home in Truckee! That was a fun celebration!
Reggae on the River was defiantly an unforgettable one this year. I was really excited with the lineup and was especially excited for the Saturday lineup which I thought was the best one-day reggae lineup in the world this year. That day happened to be my birthday too. Who would have thought, though, that I'd spend my 20'th hooked up to an IV for the majority of the day! What happened was I got food poisoning on Friday night from the food I was fed for being on the film crew. When I woke up on Saturday I was very, very sick and after my body rid itself of all fluid and solid (in a variety of uncomfortable ways), my vital signs started going down. I was given 3 bags of IV at the first aid tent at the show, and since my vital signs continued to decline an ambulance was called for me. I was taken to the Garberville Emergency room for the first time in my life and it was my first time there since 20 years prior, to the day, when my mom gave birth to me there.
After Reggae on the River I was informed that I had been accepted to San Francisco State University with the condition that I take 5 more community college units so I quickly applied for 5 units of university transferable classes online through Mendocino College.
I struggled through those classes through the fall but I ended up doing well in the end.
Since I was going to be in Humboldt until school in January, I decided to job hunt and was hired at Branscomb Center for a very desirable wage to work fulltime. It all worked out really well, and soon after I moved in with my dad at his place that was being remodeled.
In September I got a cool job filming at the Earthdance Music festival in Laytonville. It was quite an experience. I had more responsibility there than I ever had on a film crew and had lots of fun too!
This year I dressed up for Halloween for the first time since I don't even know when! I was the "Burger King." It was great! I was stoked that I was able to get that mask and was able to make such a cool costume! I went to a couple parties and people were really into how I looked.
Nick LaRue died the week before Christmas, which has been really sad. It's the first time someone I've interacted with has died. It's been over a week, and I even just attended his wake, but I don't think I have accepted that he is dead. I feel so sorry for the many people who were close to him.
Christmas was really great this year. I got to see many relatives at my Aunt and Uncle's in Salmon Creek, and got to spend time with my immediate family at my dad's!
I will quit my job on Friday and prepare for San Francisco State University which will start in January. I will major in International Relations and Japanese language. Before school starts I hope to do lots of sleeping in and snowboarding.
This is most of what I did. I'd love to hear from all of you! See ya next year! Renn
