Ohlone Day

Well, today I officially become an old lady. It's my 25th birthday. I plan to spend the day hiking and horseback riding and swimming and enjoying being alive. And old.

Yesterday, however, was Ohlone Day!

Here are some shots of Patrick Orozco & the Amah KaTura Dancers performing:

Many generations

The women pretending to gamble for a gambling song

Gambling song

Bear song

Thanks to the Creator for the deer, and to the deer for giving his life

One of my favorite shots of the day

Thanking the ocean for all it provides

Ocean Song

There were many activities to take part in:

A tule boat

Simulation of an archeological dig site

Acorn tops

A gentleman learns how to make fire

Tule crafts

Beautiful buckskin shirts

Beautiful, watertight baskets

Learning how to use the atlatl

For grinding acorn flour

The brush is made out of a root, the crumbs swept off the basket and placed into the bowl

Fry bread with strawberries!

Abalone decorations

Fallen leaves

Autumn is here!

Thank you to both Mackenzie's Momma (*big hugs back*) and Mo for your sympathy and support. And Mo -- I'm so sorry for your loss, as well!

This is actually the second boy I know from high school who has passed on. The first was when we were about 21... and I was a lot closer to him. He lived down the street from me and we were a week apart. We grew up together. He committed suicide, which made it all the more difficult to accept. May we all learn from those we have lost that life is such a precious gift, never to be wasted or taken for granted!

I'll Be Your Friend, Chris

Laura, Chris, and Tony

I'm writing this entry for Chris Maness, a vibrant, colorful light that was exstinguished too soon.

You always brought such laughter and playful cheer to everything, Chris, whether it was when we were sitting on the bleachers in 8th grade PE while Hoovdawg (what we called our PE teacher) tried to convince me that I was Indian based on the fact that I wore my hair in braids and that he knew an Indian who shared my last name or... the incident in our English class. It was sophomore year, wasn't it? World Literature. We had a sub that I later described to our teacher as "evil personified" and he looked cheery and said, "Really? Wow, I wish I could've met her!"

That Umbridge made us all sit down and write an in-class essay about something controversial. I remember trying to decide if I should write about the controversy surrounding archaeology in Egypt -- disturbing the dead to raid their tombs for knowledge -- or the illegal bushmeat trade in Africa. You were usually doodling X-Rated cartoons or the like, so when you said that you didn't know what to write about, I suggested that you should write about how unfair it is that we can't walk around naked if we want to. So you did.

About fifteen minutes later I heard snickering so I looked around. That's when I noticed that you had stripped down to your boxers. I laughed. Audrey was guffawing, as well, and whispered "You just noticed?"

Around then is when the Umbridge also noticed and her eyes bugged out. "Young man, put your clothes back on!"

"What?" you said, feigning innocence. "I'm just getting into the mood for my essay."

"Young man, you will put your clothes back on or I'm sending you to the principal!"

It was a bit of a distraction...

In the end you sighed and pulled your pants and shirt back on, but dude... what a great story! I could claim that I got one of the hot water polo guys to strip in class.

The last time I saw you was at a party about three years ago. I was leaving and you were one of the last people I talked to, sitting out on the porch. "Hey, I saw you on MySpace," you said and I smiled. "Bone Rice Films or something like that. Can I be your friend on MySpace?"

"Of course," I laughed. You were totally stoned but maybe you'd remember later.

"Really?" You sounded like a hopeful child. "You'll be my friend?"

I was still laughing. "Yeah, Chris, I'll be your friend."

I'll always be your friend.

I didn't really want to know any of the details after I found out that you died in a car crash, but I've heard some anyway, and they're nothing short of horrific. I am so sorry, my friend. I wish you didn't have to go through that. And though I wish that you did not leave us, I hope that you died quickly.

Your sudden passing is still so hard to understand, and though you certainly were not a constant presence in my life, I will miss you. My heart goes out to you and your family in this most difficult and painful of times.
May you be at peace, my friend.

The End of Summer

This has to be one of the best decorations I've ever seen! A thing of beauty...

Now that school has started, the dog days of summer are so sorely missed. Here are some of the highlights from August:

1. Life as Longinus: The Mysterious Stranger

Longinus is back with an all-new adventure! Queen Diana doesn't like his cooking so she hires a passerby to be her new cook with... interesting consequences. Check out these stills!

The new chef

Connie and Batilda, the chick

In-between takes it's all fun... and not in-between!

Connie never was good at looking the proper direction...

A cast photo. Look at Connie. Is that not horrifying?

And in case you missed it, here's the movie:

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3

Enjoy!

2. Driveway Day

Sometime in April or May my sister and I were walking on the driveway when I had an epiphany and said "You know, we don't really appreciate our driveway much." And thus Driveway Day was born. Last summer we had a party to celebrate Crevasses, George Lucas and Bear Grilles, and this summer it was the many wonders of the driveway. Check out some of the decorations and festivities!

Things started off with the ceremonial kiwi roll, where the kiwi was forced to roll all the way down the driveway.

I don't know who the people are in the picture but it looked something like this

The kiwi itself

This was followed by several other events such as:

The Limbo
The Batman and The Joker Chase
Laying in the Land
Smelling Your Armpit then Describing it to the Others
Eating a Tasty
Violently Cracking an Egg, Running About Like a Savage, Then Sprinting off Randomly
Being Blessed By The Communist by Him Rubbing on You Then Blowing at his Butthole
Calling Orlando Bloom

Even Legolas was excited!

The banner

Need I say more?

Michael Jackson isn't allowed

Self-explanatory

A pretty good likeness

George wishes he were invited!

The Limbo, Calling Orlando, and Blowing on the Commie's Butthole



Our tasties. Mine on the... tilted top is The Joker, then I believe the surprised one is Daniel Radcliffe

Alex's Alfred



Waiting for the Communist's blessing

The Driveway in all its glory!

Here's one of the clips of the festivities: The Violent Egg Ceremony

Alas... now with school in full swing again, I have limited time for fun activities. Like the dolt that I am, I volunteered to be the first one to do a big project/presentation, thinking that it would be like pulling off a bandaid -- best to to it as quick as possible. I did it on Richard Henry Dana, Jr. and also signed up to bring a snack on the same day, so I brought pita chips, spinach dip, grapes and brownies... and napkins. So at break, before my presentation, I tried to seem smart. "In prelude to my presentation about a sailor," I said, "you should know that we get the phrase 'three square meals a day' because on ships, plates were square and made of wood. We're going to be replicating that today with our snack by eating it on square napkins." As an afterthought I added, "actually, it's because I forgot to bring plates." I was scolded by my professor -- apparently she'd believed me up until that point!

Though it did feel like summer again today when there was another fire very nearby and planes were bombing over and circling like mad. Someone's house burned up. :( My Legolas senses tell me that this will be an early autumn... the trees are all already fully turning, even the ones that get sprinkler water. I hope that means rains soon, and many more in the spring!

But yes, I miss the days of no homework, where we had time to sit around and do things like this:

Easy Payments

And this:

Bush, McCain and Obama's Sleepover

I guess I'll stop there, but there certainly are more. Horrifying as that knowledge may be. You should see some of the clips from years past when we were into Harry Potter...

Mo -- Wow, you were raised by a nanny till you were seven? And yes, SGA's cancellation is still hard to accept. :( But Moe Jacuzzi has no plans of quitting his series any time soon, at least. ;) And yes, let's hope for LOTS of SGA movies! :D How's school going?

Tracie -- Hey, thanks for the tips and the links! And believe it or not... I still have the headache. Of course, I'm thinking "brain tumor" but here's to hoping it's just differed pain from sinus pressure from allergies. In fact, I'd welcome that if that's the case and not something serious! Isn't Teyla adorable? :) She's a purebred Australian Shepherd and her coloring is called a blue muerle. :)