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atarashi517
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Name: Aly
Gender: Female
Interests: Acting, Singing, Baking, Reading, Walking on the beach, Having good conversations, Anime, Jpop, Alternative rock, Art, Youth Group, Church and Children's Ministries
Expertise: Multi-tasking
Occupation: Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  OPMAddict12
Member Since:
9/7/2004
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| Alas the last week of school has finally come! I have three finals on Monday and one on Tuesday and then I'm done. Woo hoo! It'll certainly be a busy Monday though. English, Japanese and Computer Assisted Research - all tomorrow. I'm not too worried about them. Tuesday is Texas politics which is somewhat worrisome. I would like to finish off the semester with just one B and I think I can swing it. It would have been straight A's had Speech not been so freaking lame!!! Anyway, this past week has been disappointing with the Mavs losing to the Warriors and all. That stunk!
Thursday night, I went to Amanda Gardner's for our small group party. We toured her new house and had taco salad and brownies. That was also the day Aaron and Tori got engaged. They are planning on getting married soon after graduation in two years. They have pics and everything too.
Friday night, I got to see "Spiderman 3." Unfortunately, the movie theater messed up and we didn't see the 3 hour movie until 12:40 p.m. Lame. The movie was very good though. I enjoyed it overall, but I did think the acting was not the greatest. Tobey and Kirsten need to learn how to express sorrowful emotions better. Randall, of course, had to dress up like Spiderman. The rest of us wore pirates or Curious George party hats for Ed's birthday. It was fun. Sixteen of us went.
The next day, Caity, Amanda and I, spent the majority of the day getting ready for the Band Formal. We got our hair done which was painful and took forever. Our hair turned out great despite the pain. Caity had some issues with her hair however. The formal was fun. Randall played his trombone along with his frat brothers for some big band entertainment. They gave out band awards, recognized the seniors, announced the new officers for the band fraternity and sorority and played a slideshow of the year. Caity and Randall are both officers, yay! They did forget to mention Randall's office though. The rest of the night was picture-taking and dancing. I have never heard such a horrible mix of rap music in my life. Each song had the same tempo with the most stupid lyrics ie "This is why I'm hot. You ain't cuz you not." Why people of my generation listen to this baloney is beyond me. They did put in some funk for Randall so he was happy for two songs. At the end of the night, Caity and I counted our bobby pins after we pulled them from hairsprayed curls. She had 97. I had 103. Crazy.
Saturday was Mayfest. We helped UBC with the spin art booth again. We rode the Scorpion ride, watched the Taiwanese puppet show and took pictures. Randall and I shared a funnel cake, turkey leg, Mentos and a sample Spam sandwich. All were good. It didn't even rain this time either. Then, we came back and studied and I baked decorated a cookie cake for Ed and we all sang. It turned out pretty good.
It's hard to believe the year is coming to a close. It went by so quickly. I am looking forward to going home for the summer. I'm getting visits too from Caity and Randall!
Here are the pics!
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| I still find it hard to believe that I've been dating Randall for six months. I've never been with anyone for a long period of time. I'm still getting used to the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing, not really my area of expertise. We celebrated by going to the botanical gardens to see their Japanese festival going on during the weekend. We got to walk around and see the scenery and feed the koi. Then, we went out to dinner at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant. I've never been to a hibachi style restaurant at home only in Texas and Nebraska. It's probably a haole thing. It's cool to see the chef do crazy tricks with his spatula, onion volcano, egg tossing and big flames. The food was really yummy. Randall got sukiyaki and I got shrimp and scallops. We shared frozen yogurt at TCBY for dessert and hung out in his room for the rest of the evening. He and his roommate were trying to explain chess to me but I was so tired I fell asleep during their game. It was a fun day despite having to work after church. Randall and I are doing well in spite of a weird start. My family really wants to meet him now but since they don't visit me, they'll never meet him. Unless, he visits me during the summer. I wonder how they'd feel about that.
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| Easter was far too short a break. It was a strange Easter because it was freezing and some parts of Texas actually had snow flurries and hail. Luckily, Houston didn't have any of that. Yes, I spend another holiday with the Bryants minus Peyton. He was on a band trip in New York City, lucky bum. We tried to do some Eastery things. We decorated eggs, watched little kids scramble for eggs in the blistering cold and rain (haha, scramble, get it?), watched "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown," went to church on Sunday and took pictures with a bunny, not the Easter Bunny, but Junction Jack - mascot to the Astros. We went to an Astros game on Saturday night and fortunately, we went to the one game they won in their series against the Cardinals. It was really cold though. It was just like the movies - we had peanuts, hot dogs and sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Oh and the two guys who do those current Budweiser radio commercials were there. They did one of those about Astros fans; it was pretty funny. The guy that does the singing in the commercials actually sang the anthem to start off the game. I had a really good time overall despite the cold. It wasn't the same as my Easter celebrations at home though. I missed dyeing eggs with my sister, sunrise service followed by breakfast and another service, cracking and eating our dyed eggs and the telling of the Easter story with plastic, colored eggs. I definitely celebrated a more guy-oriented Easter. They watched the Astros play all weekend long and Jeff even went to their game Sunday afternoon. The Bryants were wonderful; I was sad to have to go back to school. I had a paper due for every class and an article to write for the Skiff. Now, I have two papers left to finish and I've drafted one of them and the other draft is two pages away from completion. Tomorrow, I sign up for classes for next year. Whoopee! Enjoy the pics!
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| I think we should mark our growth by every summer we experience. It's a good time to relax and reflect over the year (especially for us students). The first summer I can recall was when was in elementary school and I had Summer Fun at Christian Academy. I have no recollection of the "fun" I was supposed to have. I have vague memories of picking flowers during recess and sitting on the cold, tile floor waiting for pizza. Next, I remember Vacation Bible School at Our Savior Lutheran where each grade got a different color bandana. I got black. I think the theme had to do with travel or the wild west. I was in the daily skits. I'm sure there was another VBS session I went to but it was so long ago. Then, came the harsh reality of summer school (thanks parents). Before 6th - Japanese, best class ever! 7th - study skills (hmm, I don't think I followed any of the skills I learned from that class), band (still can't hit a B or a C on the clarinet), and tennis. 8th - Drama at Mid Pac and probably some kind of math. I learned how to get out of my shell and talk to people and make friends. Theatre rocked! 9th - Ahh, yes, Algebra 2 with Mr. Halfman (creepy-sounding name, creepy-looking guy) 10th - Geometry at Mid Pac. 11th - {Pre-cal and SAT prep at Iolani (boo!). I learned that Punahou people are way nicer than Iolani people and people can surprise you. You think you want one thing but end up regreting the thing you didn't choose. 12th - OB changed my life. It brought to the best people on earth and stretched me on so many levels. Freshman year - grad parties, surprise grad parties, college acceptance and learning who your real friends are. It was also making new college friends and not being afraid of new things. Sophomore year - YMCA, 50th State Fair, Farm Fair, neighbor, driver's license. I learned how to drive on my own, get a job or three and to expect incompetence and not freak out when people don't know what they're doing.
Now I stand before the summer before junior year. Look how far I've come from summer fun to applying for internships at news stations and radio stations. I'm an adult now although at times I wish I wasn't. I'm working. I'm paying taxes. What happened to the shy girl who picked flowers during recess? I've grown so much. I've grown physically (look at my hair!), academically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally. We try so hard to forget our past, but it's impossible. Looking back, at the time, it may have been tough or unenjoyable, but I would do anything to relive those old memories. Oh nostalgia.
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| Josh Groban!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh man, he was amazing! So good live. We had some pretty sweet seats too on the floor and I was 3 feet away from him at one point! If only there wasn't a row of people in front of me. Had he kept walking straight down the aisle, I could have touched him! Tori and I were freaking out when he walked by us. He was so nice and personable and funny. He reminded me of Kyle Jones in the way he spoke and acted especially when he started playing the drums. I miss you Kyle and congrats to your big bro! I went with Megan, Jamella, Tori, Valerie and Emily. It was so fun. He ended with "You Raise Me Up" and I called my mom so she and my sister could hear. It was crazy being amidst all these middle-aged women who were screaming along with us crazy college kids. When I came to college, I was surprised to learn that hardly anyone had even heard of Josh Groban. My friends didn't know him and one girl thought he was a country singer (AHHHHH!!!!!). Yes, even Randall, Mr. Music Major had not heard of my beloved Josh Groban. Sigh. Oh, the uncultured youth of America.
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