A new bike and plants

Yesterday my mom went to one of her neighborhood women's breakfasts. All the ladies there are really nice, some of them are moms -- no, actually I think they're all moms. At any rate, she told them I was home and telling them my plans and that I wanted to get a bike and stuff and one of the neighbors, Ing (short for Ingrid) said she had a bike I could have. My mom said (to me) that it was probably a good brand because Ing tends to buy only brand name things and said that Ing had said it was something that started with a B. "Is it a Bianchi?" No, she didn't think so. Well, I certainly couldn't think of any other bicycle brands that started with B so I was just hoping.

Turned out it WAS a Bianchi. Its a Bianchi Ocelot from, what seems to be 2003 I think. Its a mountain bike which is probably the best thing to start on out here. Bikes out here also have an enemy that most places don't. They're called goats' heads. I think they're a seed pod for some plant out here. I'm going to put a picture up here of one and the puncture it left. The spike went all the way through to the tubes on both tires, and both are as flat as pancakes. I definitely need tubes but other than that the bike is in fantastic shape.






I'm also going to put up pictures of my plants that I'm growing in my bedroom. My potato plant is growing particularly well. Its just a little red potato its looking rather lovely. The other two plants I got at Ikea because they're the only store around that carries house plants (or any for the fact of winter) right now. I have no idea what they are other than that one is a succulent (a desert plant that retains water for long periods of time -- like aloe!) but the other one is beyond me. A bush, a tree, a grass -- I have NO idea.

Trip 3

Today my mom and I went down to Orange County again because I left my purse at the cafe we went to last night with my brother. That would make it trip #3 this week down to Chapman. And yes, I am that forgetful. It happens more times than I like to think about. This was, however, possibly the most costly time, considering it takes two hours to get down to Chapman. But I figured I would just use this as an excuse to bring my camera along. I got some fun shots and we happened upon a sheep herding lessons ranch too. Well worth the trip.

These first ones are of my home in the Antelope Valley:



We have a problem with flooding and this last week has been particularly stormy, here's what happens:




These are pictures from Bouquet Canyon, its a road that connects my valley with Valencia, Santa Clarita and Stevenson Ranch (home to Weeds, its the REAL Agrestic):







And these are the lambies that we saw, they were at the sheep herding lessons ranch. Notice the lamb jumping into the air, he looks so happy!:





And this is when we're cresting the hills over which you can see the Antelope Valley:




All in all it was a good day, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and I got along with my mom. We went to three grocery stores (weird!) and got some yummy cheeses, yoghurt, blood oranges and barley (for soups).

Visit to Chapman University

Today my family went down to drop my little brother, Isaac, off at school at Chapman University in Orange county. Yes, the OC. Yuck. Anyways, I'm going to add some pictures of their Interfaith Chapel on campus. It was a bit too sterile for my taste. But it definitely coincides with the rest of Orange, so if you're into that, its a good thing. But as for me, I'll take rats and cracked out homeless men over skinny blond girls with loads of make up on. But thats just me. I never thought I would miss the Dirty City. But I really do.




I also started writing a story. We'll see if it gets anywhere. Its a distopian anarcho-punk tale about wrongful imprisonment and governments that are afraid of their people. If I feel like its at all worth sharing I may post. I'm going to try to post more often on here. (Not that I post anywhere else...)

Tomorrow I'm going to go to Antelope Valley College to take some assessment tests for Math and English placement. AVC is my interim between MICA and Humboldt (or whomever accepts me). I'm not looking forward to it too terribly but I also need to get out of my parents house. So I'm also going to look for a job as well as take classes. I just need to get out of the house. Its so hard to go back to living under the parental realm after having lived in my own realm for the last two and a half years. Its going to have to get some getting use to and some compromise between my mom and I. Its really really hard.



This is Rat Bastard Root Beer, it "tastes like a son of a bitch." It says it on the label. Very yummy.