| I had one of the best Summers ever! And I can only hope at this point that they get better and better. It really did feel like I actually LIVED this Summer. Instead of resorting myself to another Summer of sitting at my desk surrounded by people as equally bitter as me about the monotony of their lives,I actually went out and changed my life because it’s what I wanted to do. Unfortunately,money runs out and I have to fall back on going back to the same environment I initially left. What can I do? It is unfortunately necessary to make money and since I went to school for what my job requires,I might as well make the most of it and save like crazy! I truly am not happy with this new gig. I’m not sure if some part of me that wasn’t there before my hike has busted out of me and made me have such an aversion to authority,buildings without windows,and unnecessary responsibility. I know I sound like a little kid,but it’s a blog,I’m okay to say what I think,yes? Now that I’ve had a quick life update,on to the fun stuff! I liked the idea of putting together a music list and writing it down so that whenever I feel at a low point,I can go back and revisit the memories that accompany my songs. Here goes: Pre-Trip Planning “Into the Wild”soundtrack:I watched this movie before I left on my trip and Eddie Vedder’s songs just followed me and made me so inspired for my hike. “The Long Trails”album by Walking’Jim Stoltz:You can’t get much better than a fellow long distance hiker who has created music inspired by the very ground he walked on. ‘Nuff said. It’s an amazing album. “Amateur Traveler Theme Song”by Geoff Smith:It sounds silly,but this song comes from one of my favorite travel podcasts and it just struck a chord with me. I’ll have to post the lyrics one day. Hiking on the PCT “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”by the Proclaimers:This is the only song of my hiking since I never listened to music on the trail. This one deserves credit to Turtle and Magellan who sang it for me after we had succeeded walking our 500 miles and to help them out,once we got to Tehachapi,my sister played it for us in the car and we had such an amazing time singing along in the van. Post-Hike “Crossfire”by Brandon Flowers:My sister,Christina was such an angel to me this Summer and was always there whenever possibly. On the days she would stay the night or when we were on our road trip,this song was the song that played as the alarm to wake up. It’s such a beautiful song and while it is a love song,it still is probably my number 1 song of the summer due to how much it takes me to all of the images from my time on trail or on the road. “Starlight”by Muse:To be honest,I don’t have too much to say about this song,Christina played it a lot in the car while traveling and it stays embedded in my head. “The Violet Hour”by Sea Wolf:This is my Yosemite song! I really paid attention to this song when Christina and I were going to and from Yosemite for her and her friends’annual trip. I also constantly wanted to hear it while visiting! “Somewhere Only We Know”by Keane:I initially heard this song on Glee being sung by Darren Criss and the Warblers. Thanks to my absence of regular television programming while hiking,I caught up on Glee when I finally got home and this was the song that stuck with me. After all as cheesy as it sounds I do want to go “somewhere only we know”. I want to be back out being a vagabond whichever way possible. “Home”by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros:I had heard bits and pieces of this song and truly heard it at the club celebrating my friend Liz’s bachelorette party. I listed this song last since Ben and Liz’s wedding in Ensenada,Mexico was my ending point of the summer. the song is so enjoyable and I have a huge desire to find more music like this. That’s it! There are other songs,but these are the top ones. I sort of cheated in saying that my summer included going from March to October,but I live in California and the weather might as well have tricked me. Be warned,this is image heavy! I love Halloween. The creepiness of the decorations all around the house,the chance to make ghoulish goodies,and especially all of the outings I get to do with my family and friends such as Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights,Knott’s Scary Farm:Halloween Haunt,impromtu Oktoberfest at Billye’s,Disneyland Resort:Mickey’s Little Monsters,midnight showing of “Paranormal Activity 3″,my cousin’s Halloween Bash, being a scare actor at my old high school’s,St. Paul,Haunted House,Coffin Creek in Corona,and a wrap-up of the season by celebrating the Mexican favorite holiday,Dia de los Muertos. Now forgive me for the poor quality of the photos,but I want to be able to document and share this past season,so here goes!! 
Halloween Horror Nights 2011 group! (Jeff,Cindy,myself,Stini,Cynthia,&Maki) Ah joy! Enjoyed another Sunday Swing dance at Memories! This time I had a chance to play DJ and to play the birthday dance for my lovely instructor,Lee! And just because I feel like it,here was the playlist for my DJ-set. Mind you,it was only a half hour: “Big Fine Daddy”-Lavay Smith &Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers “Totally”-BadaBing BadaBoom “Born to Love Her”-Stompy Jones “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”-The Proclaimers “Rock and Roll Music”-The Beatles “Sh-Boom”-The Chords “Why Can’t You Dance (With Me Like That)?”-Eight to the Bar “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”-Queen “Don’t Be Cruel”-Elvis Presley “That Thing You Do!”-The Wonders I have to admit,my biggest pride and glory of the evening was playing “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”. I wasn’t 100% sure if it was a danceable song,and I was completely nervous to see no one dancing at first,but luckily as the song kicked into full gear,it seemed that people were having fun! I’m going to say that the song was for my dear friends Turtle and Magellan for giving me some amazing memories and my plastic cup of wine to celebrate our own 500 miles! One thing that I do want to say is that I truly do love to dance. Starting Lindy Hop classes opened up so many doors for me and just the act of dancing makes me so estatic. Every time I dance or every time I am able to watch dancing,whether it be in person or on some youtube clips,there is that little fire in me that tends to keep growing. I truly do want to get better. I know practicing will get me there,but I should just enjoy the ride for now. Aaaaaand just to add as a plug,December 5th at 8:00PM! Memories Open House! Fun,Raffle,and a couple of group performances that I get to take part in! I neglect this blog waaaay too much. But I guess I shouldn’t since there will be things in the future that I may want to document. But I’m just going to start making this a bit more of a priority to post here. To start,my dear friend,Angela,created this blog for me to use on my 2011 Pacific Crest Trail hike to help document my happenings,unfortunately,I got waaaaay too lazy and it was always just a pain to use an actual computer on the trail. But it’s time for me to change things up! I don’t know for a fact if it will happen,but I would like to try and start prepping for my future attempt at the Pacific Crest Trail. I will say this,it was probably my least proudest moment in my life when I left the PCT after becoming incredibly homesick and also having to face my fears of being in the snow after never really dealing with snow before with the exception of a failed skiing attempt in Big Bear back in 2008. I now know exactly what I’m getting myself into which is why I want to change my preparations for this trip. -First,as soon as I can get a fairly stable job,I am going to start saving money. It might be a small amount,but if if keeps going over a period of time,it will grow. -Second,I’m trying to train to get in the best possible shape for this hike. I was in okay shape for this trip,but I do know that there was so much potential to do better. I am continuing my Lindy Hoppin’and Zumba,I will be getting more involved with yoga,preferably hot yoga to help prep myself to be doing activity in extreme temperatures,and now Robert and I are pushing each other to run and hike multiple times a week,if not,everyday. -Third,there are other little things to change,but most of all,I want to take a snow skills class and get comfortable with hiking in the snow. I developed such a wierd anxiety and fear of snow,I would say it’s probably due to my inexperience,but the last thing I want is for that to hinder my hiking,instead,I want to conquer it!! If you are wondering why I want to attempt this again,I will admit that I almost everyday,except for town days,I wanted to leave. It really sucked dealing with blisters,poison oak,chafing,setting up camp on cow-pies,holes that would magically appear on my sleeping pad,etc. But I am going to say that it was the best summer of my life. The people I met on trail:Turtle &Magellan,Good Karma,Skywalker,Acorn,Murphy &Dumptruck,Post-Op &Homemade,Mouse-Trap,Hiker &Biker,Iguana &K-Cop,and so many other people,and I haven’t even covered my dear trail angels such as Virgo,the Andersons,the Saufleys,and so many other trail angels. These people are ones that will always stay dear to my heart since they are all my family and if I ever feel like I am having a bad day,I just need to remember them and know that they are just the tip of the iceberg of why the trip was amazing. And I haven’t even covered how amazing I felt physically and spiritually while out there! Not to mention the incredibly views I encountered everyday. Now …I do not know for sure when I plan to attempt the PCT for sure again,but whether it’s next year or 10 years for now,I want to try and change my life to make it wholesome! Plus,it’s always fun to have goals to work towards! So in reality,it was pretty tough to actually post while on trail. The computer access was limited and even when there was a computer,I felt under the pressure of time limits. Plus …I just wanted to veg out in town! So now that I’m home …it’s time to document everything,so expect for future updates! This is Angelica’s new blog! Whee! | |
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