a commentary on camping

so last night i was making some reservations for a campsite for the weekend. amazingly enough, there was still plenty of space for us. or maybe it's not amazing if you consider that we are going to camp in a desert-y place in august. hmmm. oh well, that's not the point. another thing that is not the point is that the lady that i talked to wasn't very happy about being on the phone at all. having spent a number of months in her shoes, i felt her pain and was just nice, despite the chill in the air, and made it as quick and painless as possible for her.

now for the real point. so this campgroud that we're staying at is right inside mesa verde national park. it's only 6 hours away for us, but i was concerned that if we got a late start that there would be no one to check us into our campsite and help us get to where we are going. i expressed my concerns to the less-than-thrilled phone lady and she said to me that if we get there after the store closes (that's where you check in) we should just pick a campsite that works for us and then check in in the morning. in all of my many years of camping experience, this is a first! it's like 100% honor system after dark. and there's free (yes, free) showers at this place, which makes it even cooler.

so this gets me to the point i actually want to make. i often marvel at the concept of camping. it's not so much the sleeping on the ground, which is rarely very comfortable, or sleeping outdoors with only a little enclosure of fabric to keep you from getting eaten by a bear. it's the fact that your tent and all of your belongings are STILL THERE when you come back every night. i mean if someone wanted to make a killing on some outdoor gear, a campground is the first place to start, really. if i look at my camping gear, i've easily spent $400 on my tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad over the years. it's true, i go for quality. but what's stopping some less-than-honest joe schmoe from coming over and just packing up like all of that stuff was his. and with this thought in mind, i'm always just a little surprised to come back to camp and see that i still have a place to sleep. i've just decided that people who camp are a different breed altogether. it's like we've joined a secret society with unspoken rules about not stealing and striking up conversations just because you've chosen to forego the luxury of sleeping in a real bed or remaining in your car for your entire vacation. it's really an odd community in the world we live in where honesty is the only policy and it's not creepy (mostly) when the strangers the next tent down come over and strike up a conversation, just for the sake of conversation.

i love being a camper.

i have a lot of things to say today

if you read this tomorrow, you shouldn't complain that i have nothing else to say. maybe you should have only savored one post at a time. your fault. anyway, what i want to say this time is that my spanish class if full of little boys!! which is unfortunate, because i had high hopes for that class. but no. it's full of guys who have been home from their missions for about two seconds. or maybe three. yep, i'm the old lady of the bunch. and the only graduate student, of course. and this class has a lot of what sounds like busy work. now i'm really glad i quit my job because really, between this class and my job, that would have been a double overload of busy work. and i'm beyond the point of getting any joy out of busy work. much as i had feared, despite the potential this semester held for being an easy (or maybe just easier) semester, it appears that that will not be the case after all. too bad for me. is it december yet??

little miss smarty pants

or so i'm told. just a little bit of news for those who haven't heard yet. back in july i took the foreign service officer test, which is a lovely 3 hour test for those who want to be employed by the state department in the foreign service (that's me!). it's the first step to getting an interview for a job in the foreign service. i just received word last weekend that i passed the test!! yay! i'm one step closer. now they have to look at the applications for all those who passed the test and then decide which of those they want to interview. that process takes until about mid november, and then they'll let me know in early december if i sound cool enough on paper that they want to talk to me in person. keep your fingers crossed for me!!

christmas is cancelled

okay, so maybe not christmas, but mexico is cancelled, so it might as well be christmas. the problem with people of my age in general is that they lack the ability to firmly commit to anything, even if it's just a little road trip. and no, i do not exclude myself from that group. so mexico is not happening, but new mexico is. we're going to go to mesa verde national park, which is actually in colorado, but we're taking a day trip down to farmington, nm because it's there. it could very well be that there is nothing at all to do in farmington, but we never know until we try. with the right company, there will always be something to do that has some entertainment value. anyway, we'll be stopping at 4 corners, just because it's there and it's close. then we'll drive home going up through colorado and then back to salt lake. this is much closer, cheaper, safer, you get the idea. we are still road tripping, which was really the main point to begin with. plus, mesa verde is on the list of 1000 place to see before you die. and i have the national park pass, so i just saved my co-travelers a few bucks. well, some of them.

one last fling

i know that school starts on monday, but labor day is the first weekend after school starts, which means that it's my last chance to do something fun for the summer. and since labor day is on the 1st, the rest of the weekend is still in august, thus still summer. are you ready to know what i'm doing yet? no? ok. i'll wait. here's some pictures from my last fling to yellowstone.






so what can top this yellowstone adventure? a mexico adventure!! that's right, i'm going to mexico with some friends for labor day weekend. we're going to a little place called puerto penasco, which is about 4 hours southwest of phoenix on the gulf of california. so yeah, that's that plan. i'd add some pictures of the place, but it won't let me, and since i'll probably not post more pictures from yellowstone, you'll just have to wait or look for yourself (www.puerto-penasco.com). we're leaving next friday at 1pm, driving to phoenix to spend the night, and then going the rest of the way on saturday. we'll probably spend the other two nights camping in a secured location at an rv park. there are 5-6 comping so far, so it'll be a good time, i'm sure.

stay tuned for some great beach stories and pictures.

i don't know why i think i should continue to do these things, but i do.

What are your initials? emw

What is your favorite thing to wear? clothes

Last thing you drank? water

I say "shotgun," you say? ok

Last person you hugged? evan

How many US states have you been to? 23 last time i counted

How many of the US states have you lived in? 4

Does anyone you know wanna date you? i sure hope so!!

Name something you like physically about yourself? my skin tone

Why are you still up? no idea. should have gone to bed an hour ago. i actually have stuff to do tomorrow. wait, i have stuff to do today.

Who/What made you angry today? the fact that i couldn't get the stupid david archuleta song out of my head, especially after listening to the barenaked ladies all day long.

Favorite food? depends

Favorite holiday(s)? any one that i have completely off from everything.

Do you download music? nope

Do you care if your socks are dirty? it depends on where the dirty socks have been

Name one of your bad habits. repeatedly ignoring my alarm clock every single day of my life.

What are you wearing? it's 130 am. do you really want to know?

Has anyone ever sang or played for you personally? yes

Do you love anyone? sure

Have you ever bungee jumped? not yet. . . or ever, probably.

Have you ever gone white-water rafting? no, because i'm lame.

How is the weather right now? dark and moony

What are you listening to right now? crickets

What was the last movie you watched? the incredibles. finally, 4 years later

Do you wear contacts? not anymore

Where was the last place you went besides your house? Julia's house

How many piercings have you had? one in each ear.

How many pets do you have? none, thank goodness! i have a hard enough time remembering to feed myself.

What's one thing you've learned today? the stories i tell are often a letdown

What do you usually order from Starbucks? depends on my mood.

Are you currently missing someone? if i am, i am still unaware that he/she is missing.

Favorite TV shows? the office and 30 rock and ghost hunters and my boys

Do you have an ipod? yes

Who would you like to see right now? no one. it's way too late.

Have you ever been caught doing something you weren't supposed to? who hasn't?

Have you ever ridden in a limo? no.

Do you like Michael Jackson? i like to sing like michael jackson from the jackson 5 days. not really. i made that up.

What's your favorite smell? my perfume (clinique happy in bloom)

Favorite baseball team? boston red sox

Favorite cereal? right now it's reese's puffs because it's the box of cereal that is open.

Whats the longest you've gone without sleep? 30 hours or so.

Last time you went bowling? fortunately, i don't remember.

Where is the weirdest place you have slept? on the floor of the las vegas airport.

Who was your last phone call? julia

What's the closest orange object next to you? colored pencil

Kissed anyone in the past two weeks? no *sigh*

me, throwing a tantrum

i want, I Want, I WANT!!!!

i was checking out the website of the most fabulous barenaked ladies, only to find that they are doing ships and dip v, which is in fact their third caribbean cruise (http://www.shipsanddip.com/). they do a cruise with their favorite band friends and the entertainment every night is a barenaked ladies concert. it's like my dream vacation. it's for the first week of february, but it's about $850 for the cruise in the very cheapest quad occupancy cabin. and that doesn't include getting to miami for the cruise departure. i'm so sad. it's not even that i'd miss a week of school, because it wouldn't even matter that much at that point in the semester. i don't have money to go. i'd almost be willing to give up my europe trip to go on ships and dip v. but only almost. but still. i want to go!!!! (big disappointed sigh)