I don't want this to be too long, so I'll condense everything as best I can. K, feel free to keep reading...

Tuesday, June 17'03 to Thursday, June 19'03: My last 3 days in Jerzey were spent going to the mall, having some general bonding time with the East Coast familia, and kicking it with Dreamer...which included playing typist while she im'-ed people. If handling a whole bunch of chat convo's with a whole bunch of people (a few of which would be hot-and-heavily dramatic convo's) isn't stressful enough, I had to type exactly what she said, and Dreamer isn't the concise kind of conversationalist. Not to say that she's inarticulate; far from it. It's just that she has to use her frustratingly whip-smart humor when she talks, and that means typing some longass sentences. I think by the end of the week I was suffering some minor carpal tunnel, but it was fun.

We also took a couple good walks around the neighborhood, and had some real interesting conversations ourselves about...eh, it doesn't matter. There was a lot of venting re: Lyric from her end, I can tell you that much.

Friday, June 20'03: I was rather mellow on the drive to Long Island...I felt like I hadn't spent as much time as I would've wanted with the cousins, and the prospect of the flight back to CA on Sunday didn't look too promising. Also, the weather started getting funny, it was raining. My auntie who was driving wasn't too pleased, but I'm a fan of rainy walks/drives/anything. Especially in times when there isn't supposed to be any rain at all--like then. "It's June! It should be summery! What gives?"

Anyway, it was only early afternoon when we got to LI, so we (me + 3 aunties + my mother) spent it going around downtown Huntington. Huntington...the first word that jumps to mind when I think of that is quaint. Cause that's really what it is. All the shops had that old small-town flavor. Maybe because all the shops we went to were those little stores that sell all sorts of miscellaney things--cheap souvenir jewelry, gardening tools, magnets, stupid books about things to see in LI, freaking tacky kites, etc. We must've gone to about 6 of those in one afternoon because the aunties were hunting for certain souvenirs and gifts for friends....I was soooo bored.

Oh yeah, while we were there Hillary Clinton was doinga book signing at the local bookshop...there was a line going around the block and crowding the sidewalk and at one point preventing us from crossing the street. Auntie G was interested in getting in line when it wasn't so long, just to see what was what, but my mom shot that idea down quick. "Hillary Clinton? WHO CARES?!?" I was laughing my ass off when she said that. It's not that funny when I write it, but you would've have to had been there.

Saturday, June 21'03: Saturday was a lot like Friday in that we did a lot of little-shop exploring, but funner. We went to Port Jefferson, where there's this great place called Harry's Custard, where they make the best (best!) coffee ice cream I've ever had. We went around the stores there some more, and then drove to Northport, and did more of the same. After that, we headed for this nice mall for a while. Banana Republic was having some form of sale, so I picked up a new pair of sandals while Mom got Dad a shirt.

We couldn't stay at the mall for long because church was at 5:30, and it was while we drove to the church that the rain really picked up. The church (forgot the name) reminded me of this time I was at another church in San Diego, when a bum started yelling at the priest in the middle of the homily and had to be dragged out by security...but the mass itself wasn't that eventful.

When it was over, it was pouring outside, and we'd parked rather far away because we'd arrived late. So we had to run across the parking lot in the rain. Or at least, mom and Auntie G ran across, while Aunties A and C and I stumbled across. Auntie A and I were wearing our nice, high-heeled, summery sandals as opposed to regular shoes, and Auntie C was being all nice and supporting her so she wouldn't slip and fall or something, but I was just going slow on purpose. I was having a real fun time getting well and fully drenched and having the raindrops fall on my face...it was really nice. I was soaked to my skin by the time we got into the car, and I was worried about my cd player in my purse getting wet, but it luckily didn't.

And then we went to a deli to pick up sandwiches for our flight home the next day (JetBlue doesn't serve meals, you have to bring your own). We stopped back at Auntie G's house to pick up Uncle D, and then headed to a Japanese restaurant in Northport for dinner.

This Japanese restaurant is called Sho Win. It's located pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and it's run by Malaysians.

Sho Win is the best Japanese restaurant I've been to since moving to the US.

I tell no lie. It is. If anyone is in the tri-state area, get your ass over to that restaurant real quick and find out what I'm talking about. Of course it's not Nobu, but since that's wasn't what we were looking for, Sho Win did the job. No, that's not right. Sho Win kicked ass. Sho Win rolled it up and smoked it. Maybe this is kind of odd, being that I live on the West Coast, which is ever so much closer to Japan and Asia and should have so much better access to fresher supplies, but seriously. In terms of ambience, creativity, taste, flavor, texture, menu selection...it's better than any place I've been on this coast. That's it.

Sunday, June 22'03: After unfortunately feeling extremely restless the night before and barely getting any sleep, I was awakened at 4:30 in the morning for the drive to JFK. The drive was long and didn't help my restless-tired mood, and the goodbyes were sad. Boarding time was 6:40, we barely made it because of long baggage check-ins and slow security, but I wasn't jumping up and down to get on the plane at all. I hate flying in planes. I hate the smell of jet fuel and the recycled air and the pressure making your ears pop and the stupid, stupid impossibility to get comfortable. Anyway, the flight was long and boring, and I slept through most of it but didn't get any rest, if that makes any sense. Finally, at 10:20, we landed in Oakland.

That was probably the best part of the morning. Dad, R, and Grandma met us near the baggage carousels and me and Dad had a happy moment of hugging and I got flowers. That was nice.

After loading up all the luggage, we had catch-up chat time in the car and drove to SFO for lunch at the Stinking Rose. Then we went home and I vegged and got ready for Monday.

Monday June 23'03-Friday June 27'03: This week was the first week of summer school. I showed up on Monday morning feeling like crap from an extra-long insomnia party the night before, and also feeling a lot like a pathetic loner chick because almost none of my friends went, except for Schoolboy and Basic Idiot, who weren't even taking the same class as me.

Things started looking up when I found that the stuf we'd be doing would be nice and conducive to helping the cause of the n.y.g project. Over the course of the rest of the week, I made friends and acquaintances with a bunch of the people in my class...the majority of which happen to be incoming freshies.

The minority of people my same grade are actually people I'd seen around this year--the girlfriend of a guy from the good old anime club, and some girl who used to be in the same period PE as me.

They suck. (Oh, sorry, is that mean? I should say they blow.) That guy's girlfriend is a stupid selfish ice bitch who, when she talks to someone she doesn't deem "worthy" of her attention, looks like she's got something smelly under her nose. How can I say all this? I can tell. I'm a people watcher, ma dear. I saw her make like your typical "antisocial indie-loner-chick", and I heard her and that other girl say some stupid, stupid things. It was all I could do not to call them stupid bitches out loud. Anytime they were around I was swearing "'tangina buwiset gaga ka talaga" and such under my breath...feeling malicious much?

Yeah, kinda.

I think it was the searing heat that did it. I'm not really pissed at them, though...this is how I am when I'm annoyed or exasperated. When I get really pissed, I get really stupid. But they didn't do anything to me, so there was never any reason for me to show that I disliked them. (But if they do...*ka-chak ka-chak!*)

Tonight: As you can see, I loaded up stk/n.y.g, and changed the layout for this place. I did the dishes. I'm trying to recover from a week's worth of knee, leg, and shoulder stress. Considering the amazing amount of nothing important I'm doing, I think that's going good. And now I'm more than just a little worried about the amount of time I've spent online because the godfather mentioned something about long distance charges for mooching off his connection. God, that would suck. Like, really suck. If there are long distance charges, I'm gonna get my ass kicked off the computer for at least a month for sure, and a good amount of yelling, and they're probably gonna make me pay for it. So I'm really hoping that that doesn't happen. (Pleasepleaseplease...) Cross your fingers...