Reminder to friends who are graduating--

Don't forget to save reciepts for art supplies and certain tools and furniture (starting January 1st) since you'll likely be filing as an independent on tax returns next year! Hooray! I had DA re-training today but we got out super-early, so I'll be unpacking and getting together a couple bags for goodwill of clothes that I'm no longer wearing. Cleaning, etc. I got a new iron for Christmas so I'm kind of excited about that. It's very dry in my apartment building because of the type of furnace, and as soon as I left my parents' place I started getting this respiratory thing so hopefully I can get some hot water up in my shower and unclog. Also planning on heading out to the studio today, and maybe getting my tire fixed down in Fell's Point.

Happy new year!

Rachel was my wing-girl at the House That Greed Bought down in Reseda. There was a fire pit. Costume party--the host of the party wore his Tick costume, I wore my camp counselor gear. Serenity late at night on huge bean bag chairs. Dude, who bogarted our Love Sac, Rachel? As guests left or laid themselves to rest, there was a naked man asleep on the kitchen floor. Later I saw him sleeping on the dog bed, and then at the foot of the bed in the host's bedroom. Witness to lots and lots of debauchery, with really very little involvement therein. I mean, I do love to be a fly on the wall. Always surreal in the Mad Scientist House. Sushi on a unique platter. When we woke up the hot-tub was about 1 1/2 feet short of where it was supposed to be. Fat Tire! Huzzah for Ft. Collins beer! Very very surreal. Rachel & I tag-teamed to make sure everyone got new year's kisses. Yesterday my new nunchuck arrived and I'm gonna spend all morning playing a few levels of LEGO Star Wars. There are few things that could not be improved by being played by animated LEGO guys, who explode comically in a set of painful-to-step-on bright-colored plastic pieces. I have no new year's resolutions of my own, though I do have a counter-resolution, that I not at any point let my twin sister become lighter in weight than myself (her resolution is to keep getting more fit, which is awesome, but seriously? Now I will actually have to work to stay ahead. Darn it.) By the way, making pita pizzas with baba ghanoush in place of pizza sauce and a little kefir and mint on top after baking is super duper delicious.

Few greater are the joys

There are very few things better than yesterday. I have a firmly held belief that I can have everything I want, with little exception. I went bra shopping with my sister (in this case joy comes from NOT being the one buying bras), got 8 pair new underwear from VS (I blame the twin), met up at the Getty Center with my friend Kate, grabbed awesome falafel and hummus next door to the Lammle where we caught Persepolis (who knew that Encino had a downtown?) for free care of movie passes, and had sassy repartee with Starbucks employees afterwards. For the record, everyone in Encino smokes, and I find that refreshing, though I do miss the smell of menthol and Baltimore (Newports, anyone?). The twin is leaving today for going back to school, and I really do have to send of my MacBook since the camera doesn't work and there's actually a sharp part of the case due to some plastic cracking then chipping.

Vacation cut just a little short

I'll be leaving Los Angeles the morning of the 17th in order to be back at school the night before Desk Assistant re-training. Which means I will be in Baltimore the night of January 17th--slumber party and dinner, Sima?

Happy birthdays, sad lips

I would update more but my schedule here at home is really stressful and there's just no time in my day. What is L's day like in Southern California, you may ask? 5-6 AM: Get woken up by puppy (possibly more than once) to get let out. 6-7 AM: First breakfast, dozing. 7-8 AM: Take dogs for walk to the park, second breakfast. 8-2PM: LEGO Star Wars, watching Home Improvement, reading my blogs, and if the day is even-numbered a shower. 2-4 PM: Run errands-see if Circuit City has nunchucks for the Wii (they don't, ever), either spend some Starbucks gift money or spend other money I can't afford to while meeting up with friends from high school as works in with their own vacation schedules. More TiVoed Home Improvement, some IMing, listening to KT Tunstall. At some point I will eat again and 4-8 PM: Make dinner, hang out with parents, play more Wii, play weboggle with my sister in the next room over (teamStillInPJs FTW). 8-9:30 PM: Get ready for and go to bed. So you can see how your demands for more frequent updates would be met with my busy Angelino lifestyle. Seriously, though, happy birthday to fellow blogger Good times, noodle salad, who turns 21 and is spending the evening watching other people drink. As for sad lips, I ate ONE bite of papaya and my lips, two hours later, are red, numb, tingly, and itchy. NOW they (mom and sister) tell me it is related to the mango. Some starlets would kill for a cosmetic containing a compound that puffs up and reddens their lips for a protracted period of time (2-3 days). Me? Please, enzymes in enjoyable tropical fruits, stop ruining my week. So, if you're looking for me, I'm driving my parents' Prius, playing Wii, asleep on the couch, slowly ressurecting my OKCupid profile, and asleep by 9. New heights of cool, I know.

A lovely evening.

I love being able to run errands and help out at home. Taking morning walks with my dad and the dogs, going on shopping trips and to the surgeon's office with my mom, putting dinner on the table for my mom and dad when they get home. This week, one of the first things I did was to look up the local rock climbing gym and check it out. My dad went with me last night and I showed him bouldering, taught him how to put on a harness and do the figure 8 with follow-through and back-up knot, and he did two climbs, I was SO impressed! It's very different belaying something that much heavier. He didn't think he could do it and he did! And I got to be cheerleader to my father instead of 8 year old girls. I wonder if I can get him to take the belay class and we can be climbing buddies when I'm home? I had a great time with the old man, and I'll remember last night for a long time coming, if only for the fact that Dad put his life in my hands and never questioned me once.

I call it "Twinshop"

Yay for new garments care of teh twin! Also, hooray for trips up the central coast, pina coladas care of the parents, and sage straight out of Wyoming for spiritually cleansing the new dorm room. Now, to fit clothes and neccessities in just one bag. I think I can, I think I can. Tomorrow I fly to Baltimore, and I couldn't be more thrilled. One more academic year in Maryland, my graduation is less than 22 hours from my twin sisters'. Good job, CSUF and MICA. Good job. Certainly this New Belgium Mothership Wit will aid my packing?

Vacations

What is up with people who go on vacation only to fall asleep watching tv the same way they do at home? People who do the tours, spend the money, stay in their comfort zones? I hate it. I don't want to be near other tourists, I want to be near those I love doing something different than usual. That doesn't mean abandoning all I love, like internet in my hotel room, but it does mean actually taking a break. For me, that's catching up on blogging, thinking about thesis. I don't want to putter away vacation times in vacation towns, I want to take vacations centered around things I actually want to accomplish or experience before I die, and I feel really strongly about that.

Give me a break.

I'm spending this break with a friend from Fort Collins from camp, and thus far her house is so much like mine and I feel so at home that being here is a real luxury. I'm catching up on sleep and junk food, showering almost daily with glorious water pressure, got some conceptual art theory books from the library (none of the books I looked up were in the system, which was a bummer.) Finished Shopgirl by Steve Martin, which was a little too wan and ironic for me, but enjoyable nonetheless (I wonder if the movie is any worse?). It's amazing how wonderful telephone reception and internet is. Also the ability to eat when I want. I got a hydration bladder for less than $10 at WalMart which adds another 2 litres carrying capacity for hikes, which is really really neccessary. I did laundry, and am washing my sisters' sleeping bag, got to do a little ironing too, which is always a pleasure. Hope for next week is that I get Girls ROCK! camp, which is all Girl Scout Juniors, 9 through eleven, and will include an awful lot of rock climbing and hiking , and will be a less gruesome 6 day camp, as opposed to ten days. Now if you excuse me, I've got books to read and feet to put up.

Birthday Hike

Calypso Falls (2 days ago) Copeland Falls (today after Wild Basin) me at Copeland falls Copeland Falls Copeland falls I'm pretty bushed but I will say I had an amazing time allready today, on my birthday. Not sure whether I'm getting packages/mail or not today, as mail hasn't gone out from camp in a few days (always frustrating, but that's what we get from being tucked away so). Anyway, here's some photo documentation. Props go out to my mates Bly and Queenie who trekked it up and up and up and down and down and down with me, it was absolutely lovely. Now, I need a shower.

Tomorrow, Wild Basin.

Tuesday night was the end of the first three-day (which is about 48-hours) camp session, and it was INSANE trying to get all the girls able to do everything they wanted in every camp, every unit, every session. We still didn’t wash our dirty dishes through the sanitizer from our cook-out, so we’ve got to do that. Any way, the next five days I have off, and I am thrilled. It’s exciting because it’s for my birthday weekend, and I can just chillax, which is something also not really associated with being a trip leader, outdoor specialist, and unit leader. Another kicker was I’ve got three whole weeks with Buddy, my Aussie tabin-mate with a sunny disposition. Yesterday, my first full day off since this crazy Colorado experience began, I hiked with my friend Tumbleweed (I go by “Magpie,” in case you were wondering) about 6.1 miles. Our goal on the outset (after appropriately raiding the kitchen) was to climb Meadow Mountain, the mountain after which our camp is named, however when we got to the Allenspark trailhead, which begins Rocky Mountain National Park, we couldn’t find the trailhead to Meadow Mountain (we followed the border to the park, which would have taken us there, but it was too hard-going considering last Wednesdays winds and all the debris they caused.) Instead of hiking to the top of Meadow Mountain, which is an 11 (meaning 11,000 feet above sea level at the peak), we hiked 3.1 miles each way to Calypso Cascades and back, which was one beautiful journey, truly. I think it’s probably a mile or two up to the Allenspark trailhead from our back 40 acres, which we share with Rocky Mountain National Park, so in theory it’d be about 8 hours instead of 6, but you could do it straight from camp and you’d pass “Hercules,” a 15-foot-circumference Douglas fir. The hike was rough going at first, considering the asthma and altitude, but by the end it was smooth sailing, and I got the added bonus of getting to wear a tank top, shorts, and my Keens without socks. I also realize that I need to either replace the waist-clip on my Jansport backpack or get a new daypack, maybe even with a camelback. Have to deposit my paycheck first. So, as a staff we’ve been raiding the kitchen, doing a lot of sitting around watching movies, and keeping one another company in our scary, scary tabins. This morning I went riding, fell off slash got bounced off of a horse, and got right back on after a hard bounce to the rump. My thighs are killing me. But, as far as having an active and relaxing vacation on-camp for the next few days, I am well on my way. Stand by for photos, and the interweb at camp is dial-up. Sincerely, LindsayMagpie Also, don't forget to check my mobile photo blog for updates when I get into Estes or Lyons or wherever I get reception.