I must apologize for my slacking in terms of my journal. I've always taken pride in the fact that I actually update this thing, and people who come here can find something new, unlike the majority of the slackers out there. Of course, most of my content revolves around people I see and meet during my social life, which is basically my life at school. When I'm at home I lead a substantially different lifestyle, and my ideas for this thing seem to decrease when I adopt that lifestyle. Nevertheless, before I go out to the desert for a week, I got some pictures and other fun things for you guys.

I spent all of yesterday shopping at Fry's, where I got a CD player for my car, and installing that CD player at home. Come to think of it, it wouldnt have taken so long if my car was a little more on spec in terms of audio systems. I had to rewire all the audio components in my car to new couplings yesterday and pretty much bend an aluminum rod that my dad got for me so I could make a mount for the damn CD player, and it still doesnt sit completely flesh with the car. But enough with the complaining, pictures from Christmas/presents:

Me and my brother opened our presents to each other first way before we opened anything else, on terms with family tradition. Interestingly enough, we both got each other RC cars. Coincidence? I think not. Even more interesting is that last year we both gave each other RC cars just like this year. Even more interesting is that my parents dont seem to catch onto these things =D

Somehow my mom managed to put Trouble in front of the Christmas tree as I sat and watched and she stayed and posed for almost 30 seconds. For those of you who dont have cats, this is somewhat of a miracle, because cats are pretty restless creatures during the day. You probably cant see it, but she has a black collar/ribbon on for the season.

My mom stuck some ribbon on my older cat, Reno, and as you can see, she hated it. Of course, she always looks a little forboding, because she's a mean creature.

My mom took pictures of both me and my brother opening our biggest presents, for me it was this iRiver.

My aunt and uncle brought over their hyperactive dog and me and my brother used our RC cars to drain every ounce of energy out of her. It should be mentioned that it wasnt easy, though.

So here is my loot, after shopping yesterday:

The CD Player that took for freakin ever to install. I dont really mind working on my car, though, so it's all cool.

20gigs, color screen, and more options/capabilities than you can shake a stick at. By far the most valuable/my favorite gift.

My grandparents got me a really compact, nice leather wallet. It's amazing because I cant feel it in my ass pocket anymore, even when it's full of money. If that's a good thing I do not know. (For those of you wondering, the gigantic paperclip is a personal fashion statement..hehe..)

Of course, lots of candy (alot of which isnt pictured here because I'm too lazy to make a collage of it all)
And some other stuff, like "Futures" by JEW and "Tell All Your Friends" by TBS; which are both cds, some clothes, a car safety kit, a blanket, gift certificates, and money.

So all in all, I wasnt entirely spoiled this Christmas (at least, not by my standards), but I dont really mind because I didnt have alot of expectations, and I'm coming away just a little more wealthy.

My parents told me yesterday about the tsunami in Southeast Asia and I didnt really think much of it, until this morning when I was sitting on the couch reading the article about it and saw "Thailand" and was caught in one of those trances of realization where your heart suddenly hits your feet. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Krista is over there right now. I really hope she's OK.


Although the weather says it was supposed to rain all day, only now, at 5:00, do we see the ominous storm clouds surrounding East Yorba Linda. It's amazing because there are the sunny summer clouds above me, but we're literally in the eye of a storm.
See you all when it stops raining and school starts (rain is good.)