Italy Video

While in Italy I shot some random video clips on my smaller digital camera.

This video is essentially those clips streamed together.

Also there are a few of my pictures from the trip at the end.

The video is relatively shaky so be warned.

Unfortunately, there is no video in Cinque Terra because my camera fell out of my camera bag and buried itself in my backpack. Thus I did not notice its absence until we were already out and about. 

The older people you may continually notice in the edge of the clips would be my lovely grandparents. 

Alright, well enjoy!

My Dog is Socially Awkward

Today I took my dog, Bear, to a dog park. I never knew these things existed in San Antonio, much less where to find one. Well, my mom found one so we decided to take Bear there since he is lonely. As he jumped out the car he seemed pretty excited to be in a new place. I walked him on the leash into the fenced in area that made up the "park." Once we got into the park where there were dogs of every kind running free he suddenly stopped being excited. He got nervous. He started shaking and drooling. I decided to take a risk and take him off the leash. I thought he might sprint away and start making friends. But, of course, he didn't. He stayed frozen at my side. "Go on," I urged him. He just looked at me. "Go play!" I insisted, gesturing out into the air. He seemed to understand that a little better but he still didn't move. I started walking. "Make some friends..." I tried suggesting only halfheartedly. To my surprise he trotted away... straight to the nearest person. Wrong kind of friend.

The whole time we were there he maintained contact with my body, refusing to even acknowledge that the other dogs even existed. The only time he ever tried to be friendly was to passing people. My dog is socially awkward and does not know how to interact with other dogs. Even when other dogs would come up to him and get right in his face or sniff him he acted as if they weren't there. It was pretty strange. I can't pretend to understand.

Loneliness

"The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved."

"Loneliness is part of being human. It reminds us that we are not complete in ourselves."

"The body is a house of many windows: there we all sit, showing ourselves and crying on the passer-by to come and love us."

"Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other only in passing, only a signal shown, and a distance voice in the darkness. So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, and then darkness and a silence."

You Never What!?

Today it was raining. Normally, I'm all for the rain. I love the big claps of thunder and the fact that water is falling from the sky. I like that rain is a free form of watering plants. I love rain, as long as I don't have to drive in it.

So, today it was raining as I was walking to my third period class. You should know that my third period class is way out in a portable. Of course I was soaked by the time I got there. But, this story isn't about rain. When I got into the portable I was slightly grumpy because the rain wasn't showing signs of letting up and I did not want to have to drive home in in later. 

My friend, Anastasia, saw me and exclaimed, "I have never seen you wear earrings in my life!!!" I couldn't help but give her the "you're an idiot" glare. I told her she had never seen me wear earrings because before yesterday I never had holes in my ears in which to put earrings. 

"You never what!? You've never had your ears pierced!?" I restrained myself from making a mean, sarcastic retorts. I simply nodded and let her happily examine my ears as if they were a precious treasure. I mean after all, she was the only person who had noticed. 

So, that's the story of the day. After 17 years of life, I finally got my ears pierced. I may be an oddity but at least its finally done. I will say it hurt, a lot. Now I just have to keep them from getting infected. Woo.

Checking Here I Come

I was recently "promoted" at work. I work at HEB as a bagger or as a CSA as they like to say to try and jazz it up. CSA means check stand assistant. I officially am getting moved up to be a checker now. I say promoted sarcastically because I should have started at checking from day one. Unfortunately that did not happen because somebody *cough* my sister *cough* told me that you could not apply to HEB as a checker. You HAD to apply as a bagger then get promoted to checker.

Well my sister, having had limited job experience at the time, was not aware that because I had previous experience handling money, I COULD apply as a checker. So, I wasted 8 long months of my time bagging until I could finally pin down one of my managers and get them to schedule me for checker training. But, it has finally happened! I completed my 16 hours of checker training and will get to start ringing people up on Thursday. 

I'm sure I learned lots of useful stuff by bagging for 8 LONG months but being a kid, I care

 more about the money! I get a $1.40 pay raise and I am excited. I could have been earning checker wages this whole time. I hardly plan to stay at HEB my whole life so for now I want to make as much money as possible doing a job that is less than desirable. I have to pay for college somehow, right? 

Photos III

Some more of my photos:

(Taken in Salem, Massachusetts)

(Taken in Surry, Maine)

(Taken in Saint Martin)

(Taken in Acadia National Park, Maine)

(Taken in Texas)

Italy Photos

Simply put, Italy was amazing. Upon landing I was a bit unsure of what to think. The airport looked like any other airport. But, the second we hit the road, I knew we were no longer in the U.S. This place was simply gorgeous. Everything was so green and clean! I have to admit, there are so many differences its stunning. I'm glad to be home but I'm sure going to miss it. I'll probably have some little stories to share over the next few days. But, for now, enjoy a few of the pictures from the trip.

Some of my Italy Photos

(Cinque Terra)

(Cinque Terra)

(Venice)

(Venice)

Home at Last

I'm finally back from my amazing vacation. Unfortunately, I've got a ton of stuff to do now that I'm back in the "real world." I may take a day or two to get any real posts up but I promise to include pictures. Thanks for your patience! 

Temporary Goodbye

To all FOUR of my followers, I must bid thee a temporary goodbye. As of tomorrow at 2:30 PM I shall be on a plane on my way to ITALY!!! I know y'all are all very jealous and will miss me oh-so-much (hint the heavy sarcasm on that last part), but I'll be back on the 17th and post lots of lovely Italian pictures (hopefully). Since I have no funny little stories from my boring day I'll leave some more of my old pictures for your enjoyment. Hope your next week will be as great as mine.

Some more of my photos:

(Taken in Salem, Massachusetts)

(Taken in Surry, Maine)

(Taken in Saint Martin)

(Taken in Acadia National Park, Maine)

(Taken in Texas)

Tragedy Strikes

This afternoon I came home from school like I do everyday. I looked out back and both the dogs were sleeping on the back porch. I went for my run, like I always do. I showered afterwards, like I always do. Then I headed outside to get the dogs so that they could get the mail with me, like we always do. Bear jumped up right away when he saw me. Hazel was still sleeping. I called her name. Once. Twice. Three times. I started to get worried. I bent down to shake her awake, but she was stiff and cold. "Hazel!" I heard myself yelling her name over and over but she wouldn't get up. I felt the awful truth fall over me. I ran inside sobbing. I called my dad, trying to tell him this tragedy but my words were incomprehensible through my crying. He confirmed Hazel's death when he got home. I could only sit there in shock, the tears dried on my face. He took her body to the vet for them to cremate her. 

I couldn't believe that she was just gone. No warning signs. She was barely six years old. No known health problems. Nothing. We have no idea how it happened. She was just taken from us. 

I distracted myself with homework in an attempt to fight back my despair. But, when I tried to go to sleep I couldn't stop all the thoughts from bombarding me. I'll never take her on another walk. I'll never see her chase the deer. I'll never watch her play and wrestle with Bear. I'll never get to see her fall asleep, her chew toy still in her mouth. I'll never get to do a lot of things with her and I hate that.

She was technically my sister's dog but that didn't stop me from loving her. I considered her my dog after my sister went off to college. I've never been an emotional person but right now I can't stop crying. She may have only been a pet, but at my age she may as well have been my version of a child. I helped raise her, train her, teach her to fetch and swim and shake.  I feel like a part of me died along with her. I know this will all get easier with time but every time I look at Bear now, I'm reminded of her. They were inseparable. Two peas in a pod. Its hard to look at Bear and know Hazel isn't right behind him. As tough as it is, its made me love Bear that much more. Knowing what could happen makes me want to give him all the love I can whenever I can. 

So, this is in memory of Hazel... I know she'll be sorely missed by my whole family.

OCD Much?

I tend to be a bit crazy when it comes to details pertaining to anything. I keep my room spotless and always need to be on time. If I'm ever feeling stressed out or bored, I clean. I recently took on a major dusting project. I dusted my fan, the tops of the doors, my desk, my books, and my movies. I generally contain my cleaning frenzies to my room because thats the only room I really make a mess in. My little cleaning adventure only took two hours and I still felt my work was unfinished. Unfortunately, my room was spotless. Although most teenagers run in fright from anything close to work or cleaning, I love it. It's like a little Disney World vacation for me. 

I mention my OCD cleaning problem because I'm going on a little trip. On March 5th I will be on my way to Italy!!! I'm super excited and to help vent some of that need to jump up and down in pure joy, I plan every last detail. I made myself a list of what to pack and where it would go. I have a what-to-do-list for Tuesday morning, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, and Thursday morning. With all this micro-managing I keep finding more things to add or more things to hammer out in a little more detail. 

I'm a freak. I admit it. But, I like to think that in some ways I'm every parents' dream child. The really ironic part is how my parents are always telling me, "I can't wait until you live in your own house and drown in the pigsty you create!" Ah, if only they knew...