CALIFORNIADVENTURE Part One: Channel Islands National Park! [Day One]

So, I'll be honest. I had originally intended to simply split this trip into three sections (Channel Islands, Disneyland, and our grandparents' house), but then I realized there are just WAY too many photos and I don't want to overload anyone! We'll see about Disneyland, and there honestly aren't many photos from our grandparents' house, but Channel Islands at least will be daily posts! So without further ado, I give you... Channel Islands, day one!

After spending an undisclosed number of hours cleaning and getting our house ready for my friend Sara to stay with our critters (and a sad amount of sleep), we left our house at about 430am to head to the airport. I was admittedly kind of shocked at how busy it was, and my stomach kind of dropped when I saw all of the people waiting in line at the Alaska Airlines counter. But I just went straight to a kiosk to check in and check our bag and got that done fast, so I'm actually not sure why all of those people were standing in line...
Anyway, we went and got in line for security and it moved pretty fast, until I got to the front and was asked if I had another form of ID (I had just BARELY changed my name because the ticket was booked under Groves, so I had the paper ID from the DLD)... of course I don't, lady, this is a government issued ID with my new name. So then she had to call her supervisor and I had to pull out our marriage certificate and be like, I just changed it... I'm married to this person and this is my new legal name and this is all I have. I ended up having to have my bag EXTRA searched and a full patdown, which, whatever. It kind of blows my mind that TSA agents in Utah, where there are more weddings than we know what to do with, wouldn't recognize that as a government issued identification. Oh well.
We got on the plane, flew to LA, and picked up our rental car (with a few snafus there that aren't even worth mentioning, but let's just say I'm really glad I turned 25 two days into our trip!) and headed up to the port to catch our ferry to the islands! After a quick stop at REI to grab some fuel for our camp stove (because you can't fly with it) we had arrived at the harbor. We checked in for our ferry, re-sorted all of our camping gear into the right bags, and headed to the visitor center.

The Chacos-in-sign-pic streak continues...

Got our stamps! Our first Centennial stamp (I know... I don't want to talk about it) and our first green stamp (also sad)!

Loaded for bear! Backpack on top, camera bag on bottom.

Obligatory photo of working on my Chaco tan.

I have to take a quick little aside here to brag about my awesome sneaky husband. He signed up for a really cool rewards program through his work and secretly bought me a new camera using nothing but his points (Amazon gift cards)! Gotta love Amazon and their good deals. He surprised me the night before we left and I was freaking out. I've been really pining to get another SLR and he got me a great one! So needless to say, I took over a thousand photos. Hehehe.

Anacapa, another Channel Island which is next on the list!

While we were crossing the channel, our ship captain slowed and came to a stop. We looked over the edge of the boat to see one of the most magical things I have ever seen in my entire life- a MASSIVE pod of dolphins! Our captain said he had never seen that many dolphins in one place, and estimated there were well over 400 dolphins. I was running around trying to take pictures and videos and simultaneously trying to just enjoy the wonder of it all. It was genuinely awe-inspiring. I took a couple of videos that I spliced together (they're pretty bad, but I'd never done video with an SLR before, I'm still learning!) to try and capture just how many dolphins there were, but even the videos simply are not sufficient. It was SO INCREDIBLE I could gush about it for hours. Our captain eventually got the boat going to get the dolphins to play in the wake, and I got a couple of shots that I'm really happy with. It was hard! Those dolphins swim so fast and it's tough to guess where they might surface, especially when all you can see is through your tiny viewfinder. It was still a seriously magical and wondrous experience, and one I will not soon forget.

This is the closest I came to capturing in a photo how many dolphins there were, and it's not even close.

Those dolphins can really rip! They swim SO FAST!!

I'll be honest. I cried a little when I was going through my photos and saw this one.

I really liked how you could see the bubbles from the blowhole of the dolphin closest to the camera. In the very next frame he's underwater, and I was shooting super fast. They're just that quick!

After we left the dolphins to whatever fun they were having, it was pretty quick to get to the island and skiff to shore (since the pier has been condemned). The crew at Island Packers were so great and efficient and friendly, I was really impressed. (And our captain had a cute accent. So that helped. ;)) Once we had arrived on the island, it was about three quarters of a mile to our campsite (yes I mapped it with my watch, yes I am a nerd). As per usual, I had done my research and reserved a super awesome site, pretty secluded and right under two giant eucalyptus trees! We set up our tent, ate lunch, and moseyed back down to the beach.

If you've never been to or heard of the Channel Islands, especially Santa Cruz, you've probably never heard of the island foxes. I'd heard a lot about them, and I REALLY wanted to see them. I was worried I wouldn't, and man was I wrong. At the campground they were EVERYWHERE!! There were a few on the beach as well. They're tiny, and fluffy, and adorable. Foxes are one of my all-time favorite animals, so it was really fun to watch these little guys trotting around the island. And I won't even apologize for the shameless number of fox photos I took that I'll be posting in the next couple of posts. Hehehehe.

I like this camera. A lot.

It's pretty common to find fox and bird poo on the tables... so next time I'll probably take some bleach wipes, haha.

You can see Anacapa there in the middle of the shot. It's pretty close!

After a while at the beach we decided to go take a nap... which accidentally turned into us sleeping until 7am the next morning. Ooooops. Well. 14 hours of sleep after a week of cleaning like crazy and getting like 6 hours of sleep a night, AND only getting about an hour of sleep before leaving on our trip, was nice, and got our biological clocks reset. And to be fair, I did get up at 8 for about an hour to eat dinner. Haha. Oh well. It was quiet and peaceful and restful and got us all ready to go for fun hiking the next day!

Currently Untitled Work of Fiction, Chapter One

Okay, so before we launch into 'Chapter One' I just want to remind you all of two things -
1. This is a first draft. If, heaven help me, this actually happens, what gets published will be crazy different from what you see here. Try to keep it in mind while you read.
2. This is my intellectual property. Due to some unfortunate instances in the past, I am pretty familiar with intellectual property laws and I won't be stoked if some low-life tries to steal my work and pass it off as theirs. Don't steal my stuff, people. Seriously.
Anyway, with that out of the way, here's chapter one... and an image of Nil, who is actually a photographer whose portrait I randomly found and it was too perfect for what I've pictured Nil looking like, so. Image Credit Joel Bedford.

CHAPTER ONE

Elldrin Tannivh pulled his furs tighter around himself and shuddered. The Eiramer seated next to him turned and chuckled softly. “Patience, young thin-skin,” the snow elf teased lightly. “Our prey will come upon us soon enough, and before you know it you’ll be safe in your vaeki in front of a raging fire.”

Elldrin scoffed. “That would require someone to light it, Vorgen.” The pale elf cocked his head at his companion. “No? I thought Axila had been tending your fires… in more ways than one,” he winked.

“I sent her away,” Elldrin sighed. “She made her intentions clear, and I do not reciprocate her feelings.” The elf’s eyes narrowed. “Is my cousin not good enough for you, human?” he retorted.

Elldrin shook his head. “Vorgen, you know it’s not that. I hold a great love and gratitude for your people… but I’ve no interest in your women.”

Vorgen’s face softened, and he nodded gently. “I understand,” as he continued, a wicked gleam crept into his eyes. “Bedding beautiful women can be terribly difficult.”

Elldrin laughed softly before reaching out to touch his companion on the shoulder. He lifted his chin towards the creature approaching through the muted light. Vorgen turned, and the wicked gleam of amusement in his eyes turned raptorial. “Speaking of beautiful women…”

Elldrin had to agree. The hôdwyrm stalking slowly past them was very beautiful, her blue-gray scales bunching and stretching over her muscled frame. Pale blue wings stayed neatly folded against her body as her head, low to the ground, snaked back and forth as she scented for her quarry. He certainly had to admire her careful, silent, predatory movements, as well as her keen eyes and deadly claws.

But aside from her beauty, she had done nothing but torment their small outpost and kill their livestock- including a few of their priceless Iaënnaunen stallions, one of the few beasts of burden that could endure the frozen wastelands of Laervinne. And with deep winter quickly approaching, loss of livestock could not be afforded. Her elusiveness had led to the two warriors tracking her for nearly a fortnight before finally succeeding in leading her here, where they could finally confront her.

Elldrin glanced at Vorgen, who had silently drawn his twin swords and had already dropped into a hunter’s crouch. The elf, sensing his gaze, turned and briefly signalled his intentions- provide a deadly distraction for the wyrm while Elldrin targeted her weak spots with flaming arrows. Elldrin nodded his assent, and took a deep breath, readying himself to set his first arrow alight. There was a brief pause as the wyrm moved ever closer, and then Vorgen launched himself at the beast.

She noticed him just before his swords left two deep slices in her chest. With a roar and a burst of frozen flame she reared up on her hind legs, slashing out at the pale creature who had spilled her blood on the tundra. Elldrin took a moment to admire, as always, his friend’s skill with his blades before drawing his arrow. Loosing a breath along the shaft that ingnited it in brilliant white flames, Elldrin whistled at the wyrm to draw her attention. Bellowing her anger, she turned towards the source of the sound. Her gaze locked on Elldrin just as he fired his first arrow- directly into her eye.

Guttural cries of anguish and pain erupted from her throat as she clawed at the arrow. The shaft snapped and the flames extinguished as the broken half tumbled to the ground. Spreading her vast wings, she beat them frantically in an attempt to escape her assailants. But her efforts were in vain, as Vorgen scored two long cuts through one of her wings. She wheeled around to look at Elldrin with her one remaining eye.

Just do it! a cold, anguished female voice erupted in Elldrin’s mind. Finish it! He stumbled a step backward, half lowering his bow. Had she just… spoken to him? He shook his head. No, it couldn’t have been.

“Elldrin!” cried Vorgen, who continued to slice at her wing, though she now stood fixed upon Elldrin, her single eye filled with pain and anger.

DO IT! the voice cried. Shocked, Elldrin raised his hand toward her, a bolt of white flames racing from his hand to her chest, left unguarded as she stared at him. They struck their mark and quickly spread, engulfing her body in a white blaze. She closed her eye and lifted her head to the sky, and with a heavy roaring exhale extinguished herself. A blinding flash erupted from her body, and the next moment there was nothing left of her but bones, intricately laid out as though she had been in flight and simply plummeted to her death.

Vorgen let out a low whistle. “I must say, my friend,” he said, sheathing his swords, “I could witness that a thousand times and never cease to be astounded.” Elldrin nodded blankly, still mulling over what he’d just heard, or felt. That wyrm had spoken to him; he was certain of it. But why? And more importantly, how? “Come, let us return to Mharen, and boast of our victory at last! No one needs to know that she was an easy kill, only that she was difficult to track.” He winked at Elldrin, who had descended the embankment to stand beside his friend above the hôdwyrm’s skeletal remains. Vorgen clapped him on the shoulder. “I will be sure to mention your excellent shooting to everyone, even the women you’re so disinterested in.”

Elldrin, breaking out of his reverie, laughed, “I’ve no doubt you will! It is good to be rid of her at last. Let’s go get some uninteresting women, shall we?” They turned and headed north to the outpost, Elldrin sparing only a glance at the bones before they vanished from sight in the distance.

Nil stood atop the fortification beside the Master of Ethen Shrall, gazing down at the young woman who had arrived at the gate only moments before. Though garbed only in light traveling armor bearing the Sevahndian crest and a heavy gray cloak, even from here Nil could see she was armed to the teeth. She stood ten paces from the gate, blue and evergreen flames blazing in her palms, chin raised in defiance as she stared directly at the Master. She carried herself like a warrior, though Nil could see the magic had drained her.

He glanced at the Master, who stood gazing at her with his mouth slightly open, hands gripping the stone in front of him. “It cannot be,” the Master murmured, shaking his head. “It is too soon.”

“For what, sir?” Nil inquired, returning his attention to the maiden below. The Master shook his head more forcefully. “Let her in,” he commanded quietly. “Sir?” Nil responded, not taking his eyes off the girl.

“You heard me,” the Master said, with more conviction this time. “Let her in.” “Yes, sir; at once.” Nil turned and hurried to the small bastion that protected the gate’s controls. Mustering what little magic he could, he turned his closed fist upwards and slowly opened his fingers.

As the magic seeped out of him, the gate groaned open. He could see the young woman close her hands, releasing the flames, and turn towards her horse. “Leave it,” the Master’s voice echoed across the courtyard. “Someone else will tend to your horse.” The messenger opened her mouth as if to protest, but then shook her head and swept inside. A stable boy scampered out to the enormous steed outside the gates, and hurriedly brought the animal inside, past the young woman and deeper into the courtyard, out of sight.

Nil released his hold on the magic that had opened the gates, which scraped to a halt. He turned to see the young woman shrugging her cloak around her to ward off the chill of the harsh sea winds. She twisted to look up at the parapet, her eyes landing on Nil. He could tell from here that despite sharp features she was quite beautiful, but as he watched she raised her hand he heard the gates shudder to life beneath him and slowly swing shut. So she was powerful. Dangerously powerful, and smart. Smart enough to discern the gate controls, and powerful enough to control them from much farther away than anyone else could, even after so much magic.

The Master hurried past him to the steps, exchanging a brief glance with Nil that confirmed he too had noticed her capability- and looked as concerned as Nil felt. He inclined his head slightly to indicate that Nil should accompany him down the stairs. He felt a certain sense of dread as they reached the bottom of the stairs and could still feel power radiating off the young woman, who was much taller than she looked- taller than the Master, and almost taller than Nil himself. The men would not be pleased.

“Welcome, Messenger,” the Master greeted the young woman, placing his right hand on his left shoulder and inclining his head. The young woman returned the gesture, responding, “thank you. I am terribly sorry to arrive so suddenly, but my journey had…” her nose wrinkled, “unforeseen complications.”

“Not to worry, Miss…”
“Vestel Helewis,” the woman responded. Stiffening slightly, she added, “Captain Vestel Helewis, of Her Imperial Majesty’s Royal Defense.” Of course, Nil thought irritably. She technically outranked him. “I have a most urgent message that I must deliver to you immediately… in private.”

“Of course, Captain,” the Master replied smoothly. “However, it is standard practice here for the captain of my guard, Nil Bouran,” he inclined his hand toward Nil, “to accompany me for the delivery and dispatching of any messages, even those from the Empress herself.”

“My message today is not from the Empress, Master. My message is from Record Keeper Eleirya. The time has come at last for the Warden to return.”

Nostalgia?

So randomly out of the blue I decided to go back and read some of my OLD blog posts... like, from when I blogged obsessively my sophomore and junior years of college. I won't link it here because it's vaguely embarrassing, but man, I blogged SO MUCH! Where did all of those emotions go?? (Oh yeah, they sort of disappeared when I assimilated with the Vulcan.) It's been really interesting to read those posts and see what I was focused on (boys... shocker) and what I thought about.
I blogged a lot, literally almost daily, but that was back before I had a smart phone so my blog was how I shared all of my thoughts from the day rather than constantly being on Facebook. Plus now Brady is basically my blog, because instead of blogging about my feelings I just talk to him about them. It also has made me a little sad to see myself back when I still worked at a barn (I got to be with horses almost every day, it was heaven) and how not-so-secretly determined I was to not be single anymore.
It's made me glad that I've become less focused on myself and more focused on the world and other people around me (and I actually have like, REAL political opinions now... though they probably make my mother want to die of embarrassment on the daily, hahaha. Love you mom! Thanks for still loving me even though I'm a crazy flaming liberal!), and that I'm forging my own path for myself. It's made me really glad that I've finally been able to conquer (though admittedly not completely) my depression- it's been kind of rough and sad to see what an underlying current of it there is in so many of my posts.
And, I'll admit, it has made me glad that I snagged such a great husband, even if nowadays I wish I would've appreciated being single a little more fully. And I kind of wish I HAD done that riding working vacation in South Africa... That's honestly my biggest regret, and reading through my blog is just reminding me of it. I really regret that I was SO FOCUSED on college that I didn't realize that it was killing me until it was too late.
I often wonder, especially seeing some of the opportunities that I let pass me by, how things would have been different if I'd taken any of the numerous breaks I thought about taken. Especially when I got suspended. (Yeah. That happened. I don't lie when I say college was REALLY HARD for me. I had two choices, to either take a year off or take one semester to get my grades back up and THEN be forced to take a year off... I should've taken the year off and gone to South Africa to ride horses. But I'd already met Brady at that point and was worried he'd ditch me for someone hotter if I'd left him.) Oh well, It's been really good to remember all of those things, and it's really shown me how important it is to journal.
I'm going to see if there's a way I can export all of my posts from that blog into a physical journal. Even though by the time I have children old enough to feel any sense of relevancy to the content it will be crazy out of date, I want them to be able to read it and believe me when I tell them that I wish I could've done things differently. Just say, "you may not believe me that I ever experienced anything like what you are, and it's true that many years have colored my remembrance of that time in my life, but these are unaltered, directly from me, unfiltered. I've been there, love." And maybe, just maybe, I can help them forge a better path for themselves than I did.

Writer Writes Writings

So, once upon a time, as a wee young lass of 7, I wrote a story about 'Axy the Puppy.' Why I thought Axy was a good name for a puppy, I'm honestly not sure. But anyway, my story about Axy (which was also illustrated by me) included a few ridiculous things like hunting in Yellowstone, yeah right, and puppies being born totally able to run around and walk and stuff. Which is weird, because I've seen 101 Dalmatians about a thousand times. It was my 'Frozen.' (Sorry mom. At least there wasn't singing.) It was pretty silly, but it started me along the path of writing. I wrote a lot. I wrote several stories about my teddy bear Cuddles and her best friend Simba (who belonged to MY best friend Kacee), and eventually started writing about Paul Ivan, the Keeper of the Unicorns.
Nowadays when I look back on Paul Ivan I just shake my head. It was pretty ridiculous. I think it had started out as kind of Harry Potter fan fiction, but really was more of 'Into the Land of the Unicorns' fan fiction. I entered it into our valley's 'Young Writer's Festival' and got some reasonable praise, but they were probably just going easy on me considering I was 11. But throughout my life, the world I created with Paul Ivan (the world of Sevahndia and its surrounding lands) has never really left my consciousness. It's my Arda, my Nirn, my Narnia. It just won't go away.
So, after over a decade of pretending like Paul Ivan never happened, I've decided to revisit Sevahndia. It's a totally different story, and Paul Ivan doesn't really exist. The analog for Paul is now a character named Elldrin Tannivh, and he's definitely not the Keeper of the Unicorns (though there are unicorns, and they're badass).
Every budding 'novelist' (okay, I refuse to call myself that, I write things... so I'm a writer?) has a different way of managing their work in its early stages. Some people like to put their work on things like Fictionpress and let strangers all over the world critique it. Some people won't let a soul read their work until they feel like it's finished. I personally fall somewhere in the middle-ish. I like feedback, but initially I prefer to receive it from people who know me and won't be SUPER harsh.
And so, since I know there are maybe three people on the entire planet who read this blog... I'll give you the introduction to [CURRENTLY UNTITLED SEVAHNDIA NOVEL]. I'd like your feedback (try to be sort of nice, at least), and if you want to read more, well, let me know. There's plenty of it.

_

INTRODUCTION

A thick fog drifted lazily across the cliffs overlooking the ocean, blanketing the sounds of the waves crashing on the rocks below. Even the gulls seemed silent, as if they held their breath, waiting.

All at once, thundering of hooves crashed through the muffled air, exploding through the mist as if they had appeared out of nowhere.

Vestel Helewis was not accustomed to being followed.

She turned in her saddle, reaching her open left hand towards the shimmering portal behind her, and snapped her fingers closed into a tight fist. The portal zapped shut, and Vestel’s horse skidded to a stop near the edge of the bluffs. Sweating and breathing heavily from the effort of not only closing the portal, but opening it at all, she leaned down to pat her black mare. The horse, also breathing heavily, shook her head, exhaling deeply from her nose.

“Well done, love,” Vestel cooed softly. “We’re nearly there.” She turned her gaze southward, to 'there'- a slender watchtower that snaked upward from the cliffs, surrounded by a small wall. Ethen Shrall, it was called, and it was one of the few places in Sevahndia from which other lands- other worlds- could be contacted.

It was here that the scroll Vestel carried was to be delivered.

Nil Bouran sat atop the wall overlooking the ocean, head against the stone behind him and eyes glazed over with boredom. This has to be the worst assignment I could have ever imagined… bird duty, he thought, clenching his teeth and sighing. Then he felt the faint ripple of magic to his left, and stood, his stool clattering over in his haste. Rushing to the wall and staring in the direction of the ripple, he saw it- there, atop the bluff, a large black warhorse burst through a gleaming portal at full speed.

Shit, he thought. This cannot be good. He shook his head, attempting to clear the grogginess from his eyes, but when he refocused his attention on the bluff, the portal was gone and only the horse remained. Its rider sat tall and alert- an even worse sign. For a person to be anything but slumped in the saddle after magic that taxing could only mean that their visitor was a mage powerful beyond any but the Master of Ethen Shrall, and it was unlikely this visitor was friendly. Inhaling heavily, Nil turned on his heel and ran towards the thick stone door separating the wall from the tower itself. This was something the Master would need to be informed of immediately.

Vestel’s eyes narrowed as she watched the guard hurry towards the tower. Opening the portal was bound to draw attention to her, but she hadn’t expected her arrival to be met with the reaction she appeared to have received from the guard, if his body language was any indication. She wheeled her horse to the south and began picking her way along the bluff towards the tower, mustering her inner strength. Opening and closing the portal had sapped her energy, and might make it difficult to summon the magic she needed to give the sign to the Master of Ethen Shrall.

Walk to the gate and stop ten paces away with open palms filled with flames. One blue for the Sign of the Record Keeper, the other green for the Sigil of Sevahndia. Speak freely only to the Master. The instructions had seemed simple enough when they were given to her, but the unforeseen matter of the Raisch had greatly complicated things.

The Raisch. What an incredible nightmare. Vestel was still reeling from dread at their appearance, and shock that she had managed to elude them. The hillmen had never come so far out of their territory before, that she knew of, and these four had been unnaturally fast. She had heard rumors that they had made pacts with the Dark Elves to breed offspring swifter than steeds, but she had dismissed them- until now. The Lord Commander would not be pleased to hear of this, especially when Vestel’s route had been so carefully planned to avoid their territory by a great distance. A knot of foreboding formed in Vestel’s stomach. What if these offspring had gained other traits from their progenitors, like magic? What if they could follow her, here of all places?

Vestel shook her head. She couldn’t think such things, now of all times, as Ethen Shrall loomed ever nearer. Now, when her people so desperately needed her to deliver this message to worlds throughout the Connection. The message that it was finally time for the Warden to return to Sevahndia, and reclaim his homeland.

Friday Musings

Man. Another ski season comes to a close and I'm sitting here feeling simultaneously incredibly sad and incredibly stoked. I love summer. I love everything about summer (yes, even being so hot I want to die). I've been trying to convince Brady to let me get a membership to the pool at Liberty Park so I can just lay around like a slug and get super tan all summer. (But seriously, he usually works two hours earlier than I do so I'm like, 'hey, I'll drive you to work, then go to the pool for an hour, then park at CenturyLink and walk to Salomon' I mean, they have showers at the pool. Then I could be like, fresh and clean every day at work and sell way more stuff... right?)

Anyway. I'm super sad because I do love Alta. Even though I've kind of grown weary of the commute 4 times a week (as I always do at the end of the season) and I've absolutely grown weary of waking up early, I love this canyon and I love these mountains and it feels weird to imagine going back to my life without Alta. And I'll admittedly miss the money, though I'll be working more at Salomon to make up for it.

But I'm super stoked for summer and I'm obviously super stoked for my birthday trip. I've been spending most of my free time lately planning all of the best things to do and the best ways to save money at Disneyland (which... guh. Those tickets are more than our freaking airfare. Absurd) but not starve to death. You know, the important things in life. I've also been planning my outfits (yeah, I am secretly one of those girls) and trying to figure out what to pack and trying to decide if I want to bring my wetsuit (probably yes because it's not freaking Hawaii and I want to play in the ocean for hours on end).
Mostly, though, I'm just getting absurdly excited for CHANNEL ISLANDS, BABY. I guess it's not really my first time going to a new park, I mean, since Brady and I started dating we've actually almost been to more 'new' parks than not. We've been to 12 together, and 6 of them were parks I'd never been to! But I'm pretty excited about this park, because the whole "get on a ferry that takes you to an island in the ocean and you have no cars and everything you have you brought in on your back" thing is pretty exciting for me. I've been planning like a fiend and deciding which hikes we should do and how we should spend our days. And, come on, THIS IS OUR CAMPSITE.

I'm excited for Disneyland too, but I'm significantly less excited because of the ridiculous price tag. Oh well. It will be worth it in the end!

In Defense of Emojis

Okay, maybe this is a really dumb post and one I'll completely roll my eyes at in ten years, but this is something I've been mulling over for a while and I feel like it's something I need to express.

The other day (a few weeks ago, really) a friend posted the results of his "ISideWith" quiz. Several older members of his family wrote scoffing comments along the lines of "bah, millenials" (which is another thing entirely that I won't even get into today). One of the comments following a comment about how 'millenials are going to destroy this country' was saying, "At least they have their [sic] emogies!"

At the time I was too irritated by their attitudes about millenials and politics that I mostly ignored that comment, but the more I thought about it later, the more it bothered me. What's wrong with emojis? Why have they been met with such seeming vitriol by older generations that they use it as fodder for mockery?

While I will certainly admit that many members of Generations Y and Z may not be the best at communication, especially of the face to face variety, I do not think emojis are inherently bad. In fact, I think they can be a great boon to us in the age of digital communication, where tone of voice and facial expressions are stripped away. They are the younger generations' way of injecting emotion into an emotionless situation.

Take, for example, the following sentence. "Haha, that's hilarious." If I include a :) or even a 😂, my meaning of sincerity is more clear- I do in fact find this hilarious. But let's say I want to be sarcastic (a common occurrence for me, which should be shocking to no one). I could say, "Haha, that's hilarious. 😐" That simple little 'face' completely changes the tone of my sentence! In some cases, an emoji on its own even expresses my feelings more accurately than words really can- like the heart emoji, or the 😍 emoji, or even 😢.

So yeah, go ahead and mock my generation for using emojis/emoticons/whatever you want to call them. But at least we know when we're serious. ;)

Lamentation for Spring

First of all, I have a confession. I'm tired of winter. Yes, I know. Your mind just exploded.

Maybe it's just because my ski pants went missing/were stolen pretty close to the beginning of the season (I have no idea what else could have happened to them, I am distinctly certain they were in my locker), but I just don't feel that jazzed about skiing this season. I have other ski pants that I can wear when I have to ski for work, but they're too small which makes them really uncomfortable. It's just been a major bummer for me, because I REALLY loved those pants, and finding ski pants that are long enough for me is next to impossible, especially once the season has already started. And I had finally built the perfect ski outfit (yes, extreme vanity) and I got to wear it skiing all of 5 times before the pants disappeared. I dunno, it just kind of got things going on a bad note. I know I shouldn't let something as silly as a pair of ski pants affect me that deeply, but I'm really bummed, and skiing with an atomic wedgie is just not that fun.

I think I also kind of burned myself out working so much over the holidays. At one point I worked 13 out of 14 days (and my only day off was Christmas, which I'm sorry was not very emotionally relaxing), which was great for my bank account but rough for my emotional health. Generally around this time every year I get REALLY sick of waking up early. I'm sure there's some sort of correlation between the sun rise time and whatever, but the last two seasons it's happened at roughly the same time. It's like I only have so much "early waking willpower" and it has run out. In the summer I get to sleep on a schedule that works a lot better for me, and the fact that we're only two months away from that is killing me.

Plus, second confession, I can't ski powder. I don't know if I've just never been taught properly or what, but I just don't think it's that fun. People at Alta are generally shocked to learn this, and look at me as if I'm some sort of alien for working at Alta when I don't even like to ski powder. Whatever. More for the rest of you.

I'm also tired of wearing a lot of clothing. It shouldn't be particularly surprising to anyone that I actually like shorts and t shirts better than just about anything.

I'm sure that once the end of April rolls around I'll be sad to see the ski season go, as usual, and come September I'll be champing at the bit again (I know, LIVE IN THE NOW), but right now I need some more free time, and some warm sunshine. I need to be able to open my windows and clean my freakin' house. (It's really bad right now. I don't want to talk about it.)

So, to forget that it's winter (and definitely to forget the giant storm headed our way, which I have very mixed feelings about), I've been focusing a lot more on trailer renovation. We bought our flooring (I'm pretty sure it was the very last flooring of that kind in the entire state, hahaha) and picked out our laminate. We'll order it once I figure out how much we need, which will come later. I'm getting pretty bummed about this storm, because it means more snow to melt that I have to wait for, and I've been really chomping at the bit to get moving on this renovation. But I suppose another hurdle we have to deal with is waiting until "bulk pickup day" when my neighbors can finally get rid of this gazebo thing that they bought last summer and then didn't properly care for (so now it's been completely destroyed and is just trash). Oh well, I guess it just gives me more time to start collecting all of the things I need for renovation, like actually purchasing the laminate, getting the fabric for the seating (and also possibly the custom camp chairs I'm considering making to match the trailer? I dunno. Perhaps that's just too ambitious), and a SEWING MACHINE. (Any recommendations?)

In the meantime, please enjoy the laminate we picked! Hahaha.

It's really light and subtle, which I dig, but it still has enough aqua to look really nice with the curtains. It's a surprisingly "chameleon" color- with blue things it looks more blue, and with green things it looks more green.