Spring Break Wrap-up: Six Days in Disneyland

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. Oops. I have several excuses.

First, I was on vacation.
Second, I had no internet while I was on vacation.
Third, my grandpa passed away while I was on vacation.
Fourth, school started and I was thrown into a full-time schedule as a grad student.

I suppose I ought to inform ya’ll about what went on during vacation, the good stuff, the fun stuff.

On the Friday before spring break, I boarded a train headed south. During the 28-hour ride, I ate trail mix, fruit snacks, rice crispy treats and drank a can of flat Diet Pepsi I bought on the train.

We had to get off the train in LA. It was my first time there. The train station was pretty nice. It was enormous, a lot like the train stations I traveled through when I was in Europe. The bathrooms were sketch, though. I think people in LA are a little crazy. Some girl actually tore out a part of the bathroom stall wall. What? Who does that?

From LA, we took another train to Anaheim. It had been five years since my last trip there. My parents took me to Disneyland the month before I left to Ukraine. It had been our goodbye to childhood kind of trip. (None of us knew that two years in the Peace Corps still wouldn’t force me to grow up.)

Disneyland was a hoot. I had forgotten how great people are when they’re traveling to the happiest place on earth. I loved being treated like a person, treated nicely. People in the “real world” just aren’t as nice as people in Disneyland. I would change this if I could.

We spent six days in Disneyland. I don’t want to bore you with too many details so instead, I will give you a few short lists to tell the story.

My favorite rides/attractions at the park were…
1. Peter Pan’s flight- this is always a treat. You get to fly over London, fight evil Pirates listen to a groovy tune.
2. Pirates of the Caribbean- I was a Dayton Pirate. Of course, I love all things Pirates. The additions to the ride are awesome, especially all the places Captain Jack Sparrow shows up.
3. Indiana Jones’ adventure- by far the most thrilling. The ride made me want to jump in a time machine and go back ten years so I could watch all the movies with my oldest brother at my parents’ house.
4. It’s A Small World- probably the only ride I remember from when I was one-and-a-half –years-old (if those are in fact REAL memories). It’s so fun and friendly and I LOVE the parts with England and Ireland.
5. Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland- I had never been on this road before. It was amazing. I am especially attached to the story now, since the new movie came out and all.
6. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride- I rode through hell claiming, “Hi, friends. It’s nice to see you again.” My travel buddies made me ride it alone, I HAD to entertain myself.
7. The Carousel- always a safe bet with Rece. I have ridden on just about every carousel I’ve seen and had money to ride.
8. Dumbo- my mom and I rode it together to replay the picture from when I was a baby girl and we rode together.
9. Toy Story- this attraction at California Adventure was FABULOUS! I had SO much fun. It didn’t matter that I was the fifth wheel and had to go alone. I was so impressed. It almost made me want to start playing video games full-time!
10. Buzz Lightyear’s Ride- I had to ride this one alone at least three times. I learned how to use both guns to score a bunch of points. It was entertaining.
11. Splash Mountain- water, fun, friends, cute music. LOVE IT!

Here are a few crazy highlights from the magical kingdom…
1. Ma Bunn fell asleep when we rode Pirates of the Caribbean on Thursday night. HOW can anyone fall asleep on a ride? SERIOUSLY?
2. Spencer had “an accident” when riding WITH TIA RECE on the Matterhorn. I am Tia Rece. Yep. We had to go get him new shorts. It was funny, strange, and uncomfortable.
3. My dad added to his pin collection. I bet the money he spent on the pins could have covered a whole month’s rent down here in Eugene.
4. Spencer bought a dinosaur with his spending money. I learned what dinosaurs sounded like for the rest of the week.
5. I got to meet Peter Pan and Wendy. Wahoo!

Well, there are a few highlights. Oh, did I mention WHO was with me on the trip? It was Ma Bunn, Pa Bunn, Sister Shanna and Spencer (Shelli’s son). None of the rest of the “BBJ clan” showed up. It was a little sad, but okay. We had a lot of fun anyway.

Well, tootle-oo, folks. By the way, if anyone knows the proper way to spell, tootle-oo, please leave me a comment. It’d sure be nice!

XOXO

Note: The pictures aren't necessarily in the greatest order or design on this page. My sincere apologies. I'll work on this in my design class SOON!
The pix are of the crew in Disneyland (without me, though), my parents with Spencer, me with the Neverland folks, and Spence all by himself. Spence was quite a character. Remind me to take better notes next time I go on vaca with an eight year old!

RIDIN' ON AMTRAK

My mom just asked my dad, “did you see all the cows on the hills?” Followed by, “there were a couple of wild turkeys.”

Something is seriously wrong here.

You see, my mom was never into the cows and things before. I think it’s been a recent thing, since I went to college or so that she’s decided to take an interest in the farm things in life.

Well, the above conversation is the sort of thing that is talked about as we travel the rough tracks from the Willamette Valley to Anaheim. Thus far, we’ve been on the train for a total of 18.5 hours. Well, I should say I’VE been on the train for that long. The other folks got on the train an hour and a half before me up in Salem.

There are five of us: me, my mom, my dad, my sister Shanna, and my nephew Spencer. This is Spencer’s first train. When the four of them first hopped on the train in Salem, my dad asked Spence if he’d been on a train before. Spencer responded, “Never in my whole entire life.” He’s eight!

At this point, we’re in Salinas, California. We’ll be here for a few minutes. My dad’s eating all his train goodies, the bag of nuts, fruit snacks, and whatever else he can get his hands on. My mom is about to get him the egg salad sandwiches I made with my brother’s eggs I’ve had in my fridge for a week or two.

Note: The Coastal Starlight has a food car. You can either dine for about $12-$19 a plate or buy packaged sandwiches or chips for $2-$3 MORE than you’d pay in a store. I bought a can of Diet Pepsi this morning for $1.75. First, a CAN of PEPSI should NEVER cost that much. Second, the can of soda was FLAT! It was FLAT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Well, I’m about to much on some delicious egg salad sandwich with spicy brown mustard. Tootle-oo!

WRITTEN 11:39 AM on March 20, 2010 while on the Amtrak train

SPRING BREAK STARTS NOW

Classes are REALLY over for the quarter. It's thrilling. I even survived portfolio presentations (with neither scars or awards).

Thoughts on PhotoJ

This quarter, I took a class in photojournalism. After a stressful fall quarter, I wanted to invest some time in something I feel passionate about, photography. It has been a tough class. I've had to learn new things such as how to use a flash and heavy duty lighting equipment. I've had to reinvest time in composition, as my lines and eye-level things are often an issue. But in general, it's been a great class.

I decided to show this picture for your viewing pleasure. It's of my friend Sarah. She was the subject of basically ALL of my flash photos. She's a gem. She lent her time to me and let me take stupid photos of her eating a muffin, working on her computer, or acting out things like this (hear no evil,speak no evil, see no evil... only in a different order.

I love photography. I'm excited for the prospect of taking pictures for fun again, no pressure to meet a deadline or get a certain shot. I think photography will always be a passionate HOBBY for me...

Weekend at Home

I went home to chill with my parents this weekend. The original plan was to check out the fabulous wineries in the area. That didn't last very long. I ended up going home to a sick mother, an overworked farmer-of-a-father and a bed with the same wrinkly sheets I stayed in a month ago. My poor parents have been working so hard that one of them got sick and the other has had to put aside some of his house duties to help out my other siblings.

Although we ditched the plan to go wine tasting, we still went out for a bit. We spent Saturday night at the movies. We saw Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton's newest hit film.

Weekends at home are an odd thing. I'm always so tired that I end up sleeping a bunch. And I end up helping out with the dishes, taking pictures of my gnomes on the front lawn, and watching DVDS of old TV shows or movies I haven't seen in a while.

Home on the farm is relaxing. My life in Eugene isn't always the same.

It's good though. I like a change in scenery every now and again.

ALMOST DONE!!! ALMOST DONE!!!

If you can't tell from my title, I'm almost done with winter quarter. It's been a fun, long, interesting, and challenging ten weeks.

It's still going... I still have two projects for my photojournalism class. But by Wednesday of next week, I'll be set and ready to roll.

The cool bit is that things are still progressing for me. I'm still at KLCC, the public radio station here in Eugene. Tomorrow, I get to go to the courts to cover the UO football players who have been getting in trouble. LaMichael James is changing his plea. I have to do a little checking up before heading in.

I should be going to see my fam and bff this weekend. It should be cool. I like spending time with those amazing peeps.

But to get things rolling... I really should go to bed. There's always more to do tomorrow. We might as well sleep today!

Oscar night

I really had intended to do some serious homework tonight. But then I realized that the Oscars were on TV. I’m watching them now.

It’s been years since I’ve been able to watch the Oscars on TV. The last time I saw them was probably back in high school. In college, I was always working Sunday nights. And in Ukraine, well, Ukers just don’t watch the Oscars. And then the rents didn’t have TV.

The tribute to horror movies made me realize how little I know about the genre. Sure, I finally watched Saw. And I’ve seen all versions of Scream and I know What You Did Last Summer. I still haven’t seen Psycho. Oh man, I’ve gotta get going! So many movies to see, so much other work to do in the meantime.

Quentin Tarantino looked pretty happy with the horror bit.

My eyes were glued to the screen when it came to the sound effects. How cool would it be to do that? I work in sound... at the radio station. Could I have a future at the Oscars? Um… it might be a long shot, but it’s still a pretty awesome idea.

Here are some of the things I have learned thus far during this night at home with the Oscars:
1. I need to finish school so I can have more time to go to the movies.
2. It would be beneficial for me to watch a bunch of John Hughes films.

Here are some of the movies I added to my “to see” mini journal I take with me everywhere:
1. Crazy Heart
2. The Hurt Locker
3. A Serious Man
4. Avatar
5. The Young Victoria
6. An Education’
7. Precious
8. Imaginarium by Doctor Parnassus

I agree about the ingenuity of Inglorious Basterds. I’ve been talking about it since I first went to see it. Oh man, I hope it gets its due.

Commercials during the Oscars can be pretty rockin’ too. There’s a new show coming to ABC. Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. Hmm… sounds pretty great.

Note: Movies are powerful. There have been at least five times in the past hour and forty minutes watching this awards ceremony when I’ve started to cry or tear up. What can I say? I’m passionate about movies.

The dancing to the movie scores is pretty amazing. I’m really glad we humans are such fabulous and innovative people. I’m definitely a fan!

Happy Oscar watching to all!