Camping, Goo-Monsters, The Mess and Weird Summer Nostalgia

     First, Camping!  I happen to have a family and large "village" of people who camp, dirtbike, surf, skateboard, be musical, be strange and be there. I went camping for a week with said group of people.  This is where I finished Lamentaion (which I found to be a very worthy endeavor.)

     AG, what did you do on this trip you adventuresome and daring adventurer?

Well, since you asked so kindly...

Most of what I did was read and jump off of rocks.

But, I also
Caught a frog,
Called a river a lake,
Ate S'mores,
Geeked out with my cousin-person,
Took illegal(ish) river showers,
Celebrated my Aunt and Uncle's Anniversary,
Played 'Catchphrase' for the first time,
AND
Last, but definitely not least,
I got to spend time with some of my favorite people. Ever. *

     Something I think Hyperspace would want me to mention is that he has full permit and is close to being able to drive to were I am. This will be a big improvement from our current approxiamtely-once-every-three-months arrangement. I have a standing offer with Addyday for driving lessons in the college parking lot.   


     There is a new Goo Monster in my part of Cali. She is the daughter of the sister of Blondie. Which makes me sort of an Aunt, I guess. She is loud and smelly and has adorable toes. She also has the same largeish head that both of her parents had as Goo Monster/Very  VERY small people. 
     The Mess is nearly clean. Which is nothing short of miraculous. It only took me two months. (NOTE: the sarcasm)
     My summer is nearly over, but I hope to get my summer homework done and at LEAST 

spend at least one more day at the beach. 

*Ammamay is more for "outdoorsing". I don't mind tents.

Love You, Stranger,
AG

I have been busy...

...and so, I haven't had a chance to write as often as I like.  Finals came and went, along with several birthdays.  I have dabbled in vlogging a little bit, y'know, to test the waters.   I didn't do as well in school as I normally do, but I'd rather not go through the terrifying experience of reliving THAT.  Let's just say I'm retaking history this summer and I'll be glad when I'm done with that.  There's been some movies I'd like to review and books I'd like to recommend.  I'm not sure when I will update next, but I hope to do so soon.

-AG

The Fair

     Call me sentimental.
     Call me insane.
     The fair is magic.

     Yup.  Magic.

     OK, I'm not a stark-raving looney(kind of).  It's just that the fair is different from the rest of the year.  It doesn't take place in "normal-time", it takes place in the same weird, alternate-reality that houses Halloween.  That place where kids have freedom to just run around, junk food is not just allowed, but mandatory and enemies declare(temporary) truces.
     For one weekend of the year, every year, everyone is friends.  For the parents - there's nostalgia, for the kids - a world of light and wonder, the teens get a chance to live in a place of their own, a domain that is solely based on their decisions.  It's sort of like real-life, except someone else is paying your bills for you and there's no mortgage.  The really neat part is that the normal rules of engagement don't seem to apply in this other-world.
     Under the stars, gaudy lights and too-loud sounds of the music, games and crowds, everyone is equal.  You can be a kid.  You can run around, tell stupid jokes, and basically act four or six or eight as a middle-schooler or high-schooler.  Balloon-animals, "sword fights", ice cream, tag, hide-and-go-seek-tag*.  Parents lose a lot of the "serious, parental attitudes" and laughter is everywhere.  Seriously. 

I'm not making this up.

      We live in a fairly average sized city and that part which we inhabit is fairly small.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't some small-town, my high school has enough humans for the Census Bureau to gain us the title of "Small Town"






































 Anyway, when you're my age, the people at the fair are the people you've spent your whole life with(although you may not know them super-well).  You pass these people on your bike, that group you've known since pre-school, those guys are your buds and you've been saying, "Hey" to that person at the baseball field since before your brother stopped using a tee.
     So, in order to break grudges, break normalcy and basically break the whole fair down to one component, I have come to the conclusion that the fair is magic.  It's not perfect, but it's not perfect in the most perfect way possible.  You know Sandlot?  The fair is a lot like the Fourth of July in Sandlot, minus the fireworks.  It feels like something is going to happen, something unusual.  The anticipation and possibility mix with the sickly-sweet cotton-candy and adrenaline from the Gravitron**.
     I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting weekend.
 -AG

 *like tag, only hide-ier and seek-ier.  And cooler, that too.
**I'm still too chicken for this ride.  Oh so very chicken.

My Family is Made of Word Salad

So I was making a glass of lemonade.
Jax was passing through near the kitchen and so I sought a second opinion.
"Hey, Jax!  Tell me what you think of this!"
 "I don't think." is his genius reply.
"Ok, How about you tell me how it tastes?" I implore.
A shrug, "OK."
He takes the lemonade from me and proceeds to...
...suck on the chopstick I was using to stir it with....
?
"Jax, that's not...a...straw..."I manage through my laughter "...that's...that's a.....chopstick!"
 I double over, spewing laughter.

So, I walk into the room where Ammamay's sitting on the couch.
"Momma, Jax sucked on my chopstick."
I can barely stifle my giggles.
She looks up at me, completely straight-faced, and asks me, "What was it doing on the floor?"


It's moments like this that make life worth living, isn't it?

Yours,
AG

Top O' the Mornin'

     Well, as the flag hanging out in front of the porch of The Homestead so boldly pronounces to the world, I am "LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE IRISH".  That's right, folks! AG, the crazed Italian chick posting all over the interwebs, is also Irish. 
     So, St. Patty's Day has always been a bit of a big deal 'round these parts.  You go to bed in Green Clothing the night before, unless you'd like to be awakened(quite rudely, shall I add) by a pinch.  Green through the day and Green when you go to bed that night.
     I went to bed with a green shirt on and some red sock-monkey(think Nick&Nora*) PJ's(the monkeys have green scarves).   I stumble out of my room and slump onto the couch next to Emboo.  I'm still not quite awake yet.  She leans over** and pinches me. 

No joke.

She pinched me.  

      This.

               Means.

                          WAR.

     I pinch back.
....and get a very startled look from her "oh-so-innocent" face.  Her head whips back to shoot a questioning look at Jax.  "She's wearing green, Emboo."
"No, she's not," comes the "victim"
"Yes, she is," I return, holding out my shirt for inspection.   It turns out that it actually is green.
     Nami was even wearing a kelly green bow and bright green socks.***

Ok, enough of this.
To Business.
To FOOD.
To this.

      It is Shepherd's Pie and it is delicious.  We substituted corn for the peas(they were gonna make me go out and buy peas.  In the rain.  Besides, I secretly wanted to use the corn in it.  I love corn. MWAHAHAHAHAAA.)
     The irony of the situation is, we had to eat this as a substitute to Corned Beef and Cabbage due to corned beef and cabbage being too expensive.  You may not know this, but Corned Beef and Cabbage started out as a luxury, but Irish consumption in the USA shot through the roof.  Because it was cheaper here.  Psha!
       Also, to breakfast!  Ammamay made bacon and eggs and hashed-brown potatoes with onions.  YUM~!
     After a long, lovely day, we watched THOR.  *ADJUSTS GLASSES* I'm more of a DC girl, myself, but I can honestly say that I liked it, Marvel and all.****
Happy St. Patty's day and may the Luck of the Irish be with you and yours.

*It has a jacket, which I had worn over my green shirt(although, it had green in it and wasn't exactly blocking my solid-green t-shirt)

**She's all decked out, man.  She's got a Green necklace(with shamrocks on it), an "Irish"(think "Leprechaun and Pot O' Gold") pony-tailor, an all-green shirt and Green-and-Black "Got Luck?" socks.

*** Thanks to Emboo.

****Spiderman, Iron Man and X-Men are my secret, secret exceptions for Marvel.  Ssshhhh!

AAAAAND now, more on Radios!(Right after this quick* Commercial Break.)

      I guess I have a bit of an unnatural love for my radios.  They are my "babies".  I guess I have this thing about music(free music, all the moreso!).  I have grown up with a radio.  I have developed some weird music tastes/preferences due to this.

For Instance;

     I like the "crunch" that you hear in FM radio.  I think it makes some songs sound better than if the band were playing the song right in front of me. This is not normal.  

     So, basically, little things like that influence my taste in music, advertisements, basically anything auditory.  I LOVE my radio, it is my pride and joy.  You might even be able to say that is was my friend growing up.  Some of my fondest memories revolve around radios.

     To me, music is necessary.  I need it to calm down sometimes.

Being an Aspie** has a lot of ups and down,  Just like being an NT***.   My ups and downs are a little bit different, though.  When I am overwhelmed, thinking becomes a bit of a problem for me.  When I am like that-too sad/mad/over-stimulated/sensory-deeprived, music helps to sooth me and to make me feel better.

And so, my radios are very prized possessions for me.

I have two radios.
One is a clock-radio that I keep nex to my bed.  The face of it glows, it glows so brightly that it would keep me awake if I didn't face it down every night, although there is a downside to doing that.  It is scratched, a mega-super-number-marring-scratch is on the face and lots of little scratches make it look almost like it's dirty!

     My other radio is portable and from the '70's.  My Gramma**** bought it from Radio Shack for around $7.⁰⁰ and if it wasn't used it would be worth about five times that much***** on popular auction sites, but
I don't plan on selling it any time soon.  It is red and is supposed to be for emergencies. 
Like when the power goes out.******
Or I am DEAD BORED after class gets let out.
Or...or....or...
...well, I think you get the picture.
     I take very good care of them both(except when I'm sleeping, unfortunately).  I know most of my generation are all hopped up on iPods and stuff, but I'd take a good book and a good music station and be happy for about an eternity or two.

Love,
AG








*LIES!(those breaks feel like they take hours, ugh)
**Aspie=person with Asperger's
***NT=neurotypical/relatively normal person
****Gramma=Ammamay's Mom
*****last time I checked, it was 36 or 37 dollars.
******There will one day be a post about this.  I swear it!

Salutations!

Salutations!

I *sniff* spent *sniff* Valentine's Day...alone.  Well, relatively alone.  You see - it was a school day, but I meant "alone" as in "sans Lol-y Boy", capisci?


     That is one of the unfortunate consequences in a long-distance relationship of neither involved party being able to get a ride or  get a license*.  I haven't even begun learning how to drive.  Can you say "stupid AG, what are you thinking?"
      Not that it's stupid to spend Valentine's Day alone, or that it's stupid to not know how to drive.  It's stupid for me  to not know how to drive because-
          a)I have younger siblings
          b)It's a long way to where my lover-boy lives
          c)I have to get to school early(very very early)in the morning
          d)It would help my parents like air helps paint dry. It can be done by other gasses, but it is much more convenient with air.


     See, only one of those was excessively selfish!


     I have started to pull my grades up(Thank goo'ness for the second semester!) so I will probably pick back up on my posting(yay!).  Since I mysteriously disappeared I have rearranged my room, caught up in school**, had a date, had a sleepover***, saw a play(that may have been before, actually), and had several brilliant ideas and exciting(ish) adventures(sort of).
More soon,
AG
*.....yet. <cue evil laughter>
**Yay! YAYYAYYAYYAYYAYYAYYAYYAYYAYYAYYAAYYYYYY!
***With Blondie.  HEADS. OUT. OF. THA. GUTTER. PEOPLE.
PS-Several of my brilliant ideas were ideas for posts.  Which I wrote down. So that I would remember. *pats self on back*

Why Must They Grow So Quickly?

Emboo is officially twelve. <insert insanity here>
     Ok...not insanity, more like "insane older sister sentimentality", but "sentimentality" is such a long  word.

     Her birthday was Saturday.  Her party Started on Friday and Ended on Saturday and The Homestead became Occupied Territory.  The Rebel Leader(AKA Emboo) and her Accomplices(AKA her friends)took over Base(AKA The Homestead) where it became Occupied Territory(AKA Party Central(sort of)).  


     There was giggles and laughter and running around in general.  There was also ice cream.

Please remind me whose idea it was to give these girls sugar?

     They played Sardines* and people kept getting lost.

    Also I got flan!  Yum!

     Jurassic Park 3 was on the television, so that was fun, but we had to change it because it was deemed "frightening".  

      I was the girl who was the Resident Make-Up Artist.  Ammamay and  one of Emboo's friends did hairdos. 

(I actually had a good hair day the next day!  I know, I'm shocked, too!)

*Sardines is a type of tag where one person hides and the group has to go find them, instead of the group hiding and one person finding everyone.


     A side note about Hair-

Specifically-  My Hair.

My Hair hates me.

It is an abhorent frizzy mess.

Usually.

Do any of you know anything about children's detangler?

IT FLIPPING WORKS.

     Humidity makes my problem worse and today it rained.  My hair is shockingly not shocking people.  This is due to my detangler.

/end side note.

     What am I going to do‽ I mean, in only one year there will be three(I repeat three) teenagers running around here, me being the oldest of them.  Not to mention how by the end of this year TRex will be in double digits.
Can't we just slow down?  


Man, I feel old.