Nights I will always remember, people I will never forget

I have lived in Isla Vista for almost three years. THREE YEARS. It feels like time has really flown by, and yet, this feels so much like home already. I have met sooo many people that I will never forget, and days and nights that will seriously go down in my history books forever. I have highlighted some of those times (only the positive ones), featuring some of those people here.

1. I'll set the scene. Kimi and Andrew decide to visit Santa Barbara. Ashley, Robert, Kimi, Andrew, Julie, and Me=sleepover. First we went out to dinner at Longboards. Some crazy valet man takes a blury picture for us, then we hung out back in 207B. Best Trop night for sure. Legendary.

2. The Swede takes us out on the town. Black dress night. Nathalie screaming her head off, parading around IV together. Jamie's house, boys house, our house, Courtney's house, Marley House, some other house on DP, repeat. Thus starting the Trigo glory.

3. Downtown at Q's. Getting Julie's ID (sketchy), dancing all night (some creepers involved), losing Trent, finding Trent, taking pictures in the middle of State Street, again, the swede :-). Who's ready to turn 21?... You're LeBron! Smile with your lady friend!

4. ASVT. Bill's Bus I love you. You are the most fun thing ever to exist. Please take me for free everywhere always. The babies visiting made it pretty fun too.

5. My 20th Birthday. Pretty much enough said, but I'll elaborate. The stick. Ok, done. Jk. Jamie being crazy for another night, wearing a pretty dress, paparazzi pictures with strangers. The next night, Bill, again, thank you so much for your hospitality, dancing for hours and hours and hours. Just Julio, Antonio, and Emilio like old times.

6. 4th of July. The first best time on Sueno. Irish dancing and chanting USA. Ribs, cheesy bread, Trigo roof, being sad, fireworks from all directions, hopping fences.

7. West Beach Music Festival. Music on the beach, getting lost with Julie, being found with Julie, seeing Max, seeing the twins, seeing Ashley and Kurt and Scott, seeing everyone we knew and more, dancing, blow up slide, waiting for the shuttle, waiting for a taxi, walking all the way back to Florida's, turtles on the way, phone booth on the way.

8. Ashley's 20th Birthday- The blow up waterslide, Marcella, tangerines and lemonade, the weather breaking at 4:30 pm, Max popping balloons in the hallway, Julie going in with her clothes on, Marcella napping.

9. New Years week 2010- Kimi visiting, bowling, babies visiting, Julie surprising me, running to Freebird's barefooted and blasting music, running home from Freebirds blasting music.


I can't wait for the list to grow. The key: no expectations and you will never be dissapointed. Fact.

Graduation? What?

Graduation is 5 and a half months away. Echk. I never ever ever want to leave UCSB. Grace, the six year old I babysit for, had gymnastics on campus yesterday. We parked at the Rec Cen, and walked, swinging hands in synchrony, talking about UCSB. She asked me if I knew any of the kids that were by the bike racks. I didn't, and explained that there are 20,000 students at UCSB, which is much more than at Mountain View Elementary, and so it's impossible to know everyone. Just then, I see some one that I knew. It made me realize how connected I am at UCSB. No, I don't know even a tenth of the 20,000, but I do know a whole heck of a lot of people. We're all different, but in some way we are all alike as well. We all worked hard enough at some point in our lives to make it here. We all also chose to forgo the opportunities to study at more prestigious universities such as UCLA or Stanford because we valued something else more. Be it student life, the ocean, or the party scene. We are all students. We're sponges soaking up the knowledge of those smarter than us with some hope of someday being that smart.

I'm staying in Santa Barbara after graduation. I am no where near ready to leave yet. So I won't miss the ocean, I'll still be living blocks away. I won't miss the student life, I'll still go to soccer games and have connections (Ashley and Julie) in. Heck, I might even be able to go to classes with them. I'll turn 21, and won't be missing out on any opportunities for the party scene.

I will miss sitting in class. I'll miss listening to the smartest people in the world talk about their passion. I'll miss biking from Sueno to Phelps, and back. I'll miss taking notes and doodling in the margin. I'll miss finding out what friends I have in classes, and what people I'll debate all quarter if I should sit next to or not, only to have the quarter pass me by. I'll miss Dr. Baldwin's box with a post it smiley face that represents an infant. I'll miss Dr. Klein's cynicism and sarcastic jokes. I'll miss Dr. Koegel's geeky laugh and kind nature. I'll miss Dr. Revlin's comb over and demos. I'll miss sitting on the lawn or walking to the beach in between classes. I'll miss teachers taking class outside because it's just too nice to be inside. I'll miss the kids showing up to class in a wetsuit with a surfboard because they were running a little late. I'll miss never seeing a kid fall asleep in class.

What do I do until then? I appreciate it. What else can you do?

When it rains, it pours

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right

We got a hike in before the rain. That was a week ago, it feels like a month ago. Being a psychology major, I have learned about mood disorders, some of which come from a change, often in the weather. This week I began to really understand it. It's so easy to get moody, sad, or irritated when it's raining. Some people totally love the rain. I am, however, not one of these people.

Little darling, it's been a long cold winter. Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here. Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right.

When I moved to Santa Barbara I knew it was going to be pretty. I didn't know that it would be gorgeous. My oldest sister was moving away from Santa Barbara one month after I arrived. She had lived here for I think six years and really her only piece of advice for me was to swim in the ocean. She hadn't been fully submerged in the ocean in the past couple of years and really regretted it. I thought that was silly. Of course I'd be going to the beach all the time, and of course I'd be in the ocean.

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces. Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here. Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right.

I'd say I've done a pretty good job appreciating my surroundings in the past 2.5 years. When I drive, walk, or bike past the ocean, it still takes my breath away. Yes, I have swam in the waves quite a few times and I've even surfed. Last year, during winter quarter I successfully touched the ocean every single day. We've had BBQ's, parties, hang outs, and even night adventures all at the beach.

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

The weather man says the sun's coming back tomorrow. He better be right. Our winter's been really long (it's been raining for a whole week and a half!), and I'm ready for it to be spring. I'm ready to wear dresses and take naps in our back yard and swim in the ocean with the dolphins. I'm ready to leave all the doors and windows open in our house and listen to music and study in the sun. I'm ready to bike to school in shorts and a tank top and not have to worry about bringing a jacket anywhere. I'm ready for it to be Santa Barbara again.

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting. Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear. Here comes the sun, here comes the sun and I say it's all right. It's all right.

I'm ready for it to be home again. I'm ready to show it off again.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

On Christmas Eve my roommate and best friend, Ashley delivered the second half of my Christmas present to my front door at home. When we are in the bay area we have this weird habit of always hanging out together. Turns out we literally (LITERALLY) can't live without each other. It was pretty normal that she was over on this night and the present was pretty standard (she has this habit of creating adorable and sentimental presents). She delivered a red velvet cupcake and a letter. I wasn't supposed to open it until Christmas, but yeah right. I lost patience two hours after she left and I opened it. I was alone in my room, and as lame as it is, as I was reading the letter I started bawling. It was easily one of the top three best letters I have ever received.





The reason I tell you this story is because I was recently cleaning up and I found this letter I speak of. I am not a huge advocate of new years resolutions. I think we should resolve to always be better and the new year seems like sort of a silly time to randomly decide to start. However, this letter made me re-evaluate what I need to work on. So here are my non-new years resolutions for life at this moment and forever:





1. Have more fun





2. Be less stressed out, even when there is more stress to worry about





3. Stop getting mad at friends, totally not worth it





4. Never ever get old

I think I'll add more soon.

Mexican Food...Yum!

So, I know I said this wasn't going to be a blog about my 101 list, but sometimes that's the most exciting thing happening (especially when I'm sick), so I must let you know about it. I don't really like letting other people do things for me. It makes me feel helpless and like a stupid girl, and believe me, no one wants to be a stupid girl. Many of the things on my list of 101 things to complete are items that will make me do something I would normally do the exact opposite of. For example: number 87. Let someone else (other than my parents) make me dinner and clean up. Last night, I let Ashley make me enchilladas and clean up. No help at all from me. Was it difficult? No, not so much. Did I feel a little guilty? Yes. That's okay, baby steps. The food was so yummy and not having to work for it at all felt pretty nice. Perhaps this will become a regular occurance. :-)

Going Public

If you're reading this, chances are you are either in my family, one of my roommates, a very close friend, or just an extremely bored acquaintance. Of course, no matter what you are, you are welcome to read my random thoughts. There may be a lot of questions that you have about this blog, which I aim to answer in this post.

1. WHY? This blog is a part of a list of things to do (101 things, to be exact), that I have created in response to a challenge (called the day zero project) proposed by my wonderful roommate Marcella. She's pretty great and I like her a lot, so I try and be like her. One of the items on my list was to create a blog. I have always been intrigued by bloggers because I have been journaling almost my entire life and have been quite sneaky and private about it. Turns out, not all bloggers are crying for attention or dark and twisty, so it's okay for me to start blogging and being public with some of my thoughts on the world.

2. WHAT? I do not intend on writing about all of the things on my 101 things to do list. Instead, I hope to write periodically about different things going on in my life. I am currently six months away from graduation and my life is pretty exciting, but uncertain. There are a lot of things going on in my head that are acceptable to release to the world, so I intend on doing so.

3. THE NAME? When I was in junior high I wanted to create a new address (I was too cool for the dixiechick1989 user name my step-brother had created for me a few years prior). At the time, the new Disney Channel original movie was called Tru Confessions. Tru was a girl and she seemed like an admirable character, so my e-mail address became emconfessions. Then, in my first year in Santa Barbara, my friends Ashley and Robert saw on my computer emconfessions, but misinterpreted it as emoconfessions. Of course, I have not lived it down and emo confessions seems like an appropriate description of a blog.

4. THE PICTURE? All credits to Ashley Antoon Algieri. She took it for an art class and I can't help but giggle every time I see it. Also, the only picture I have on my computer of me by my self.

I think that's all you really need to know. I'll just start writing and if you have questions, you may ask me as we come to them.