I always thought that it would be really cool to change high schools halfway through. New friends, new experiences, and a new image would be very exciting to create. I found myself experiencing just this when I transfered to Newport Harbor my Senior year. That first day at school I wandered the halls looking for my first period class, not realizing that they had a "home room." I eventually figured it out and found the Kim and Ber were in my home room, which was so choice! I walk up to them and sit down, happy to be among friends, when I hear Kim relating a story to Ber. She finishes by dropping an F-bomb and both Ber and I look at each other surprised, chuckling nervously. We were saved by the bell and just dropped it, leaving without a comment.
We went out into the parking lot by my car and I changed for swimming. I put on a black sheer Euro-thong because I thought it would make me swim faster. Berley walked by and stopped when she saw my new speedo, commenting that if I wanted to start out my year at a new school on a good note, I had better get changed out of this banana hammock. I think she is very wise.
Showing posts with label berley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label berley. Show all posts
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
i love technology
I have moved to many different houses in Newport Beach growing up, but my parents and family made each one of those a home. Other than the home in Corona del Mar on Jasmine Avenue that I was born and raised in, my favorite home was the one on Vista Grande. I had so many memories there and spent much of high school, college, and the time before my mission in that home. So, as you may deduce, I was very excited to be able to go back and visit recently. The home is located on a hill, so you walk in the front door on the second floor and can walk downstairs to the first floor, which has a door to our backyard (wow; that was a mouthful.)
During my last visit, I walked in the front door and heard music coming from downstairs. I went down to the first floor and noticed that there had been some remodeling and the living room now extended to the left into Malia’s old room. There stood a beautiful grand piano where Malia was playing and my mom was singing. I sat listening, not realizing that Malia could play the piano and watched as my mom sang herself to sleep. I thought this was odd that one could actually sing themselves to sleep, not to mention the fact that Malia was playing piano beautifully, and was getting a little weirded-out, so I stepped into my own bedroom to the right.
As I walked into my room, I noticed that there were now mirrors on every wall and I could see forever in every direction, like a county fair’s funhouse. I also saw that there was a new side door leading out of the room. As this house shared a wall with the neighbor, I can only imagine that it lead into their house. I was greeted by Berley and Lauren Jarvie who were exercising. Kim was just sitting on the floor doing Yoga while checking herself out in the mirror and Lauren was standing by the other door in streamline position. Lauren started cavorting about in what looked like some sort of tribal dance. She started by jumping up and down whilst kicking her legs. Then the jumping stopped and she broke out into a river dance, all the while holding her streamline position. I watched, quite entertained, for a bit when all of a sudden, Lauren let out a gasp and ran out the side door saying that she needed desperately to change her outfit because it, "just wasn’t working."
did you read my first post?
Berley said she needed to leave and walked out of my room. I followed and stopped in the living room to wake my mom up and let her know that I’d be back soon. I tried to wake my mom, but she wouldn’t budge, so I left and went upstairs. I walked upstairs and out the front door, but could not find Berley to say goodbye, so I ambled across the street to where my car was parked in a carport. My Mini Cooper was parked next to my parents flame-painted minivan, both had their windows down. I grabbed my cell phone in its old school Nintendo controller case and my new iPhone. I wanted to send Berley a text goodbye, but as I stood there contemplating which one I should use to text her, I was distracted by an old Chinese man walking toward me yelling in Chinese. I placed the Nintendo phone in my Mini and the iPhone in the van and walked over to him. He started going off at me and I just stared at him with a blank look on my face. I had no idea what he was trying to communicate and was getting more confused by the second. It did not help any when his even older mother came out of the house behind him and joined in on the yelling. I thought a single person screaming at me in Chinese was hard to understand and bear, but the addition of a second had me thoroughly confused. In the confusion my dad slipped into my Mini and drove away. I saw him leave and was a bit distraught, never having let anyone drive my car before, so I left the yelling Chinese people and jumped into the van giving chase.
I never did catch up to him (obviously on account of the Mini Cooper S’ speed), so gave up and drove to my office instead. Gavan was waiting for me there and someone else that I didn’t recognize. I sat down on my couch and pulled out my iPhone to send Berley a text message, when I realized that I did not have her number on my new phone yet. In fact, I did not have anyone’s phone number on my phone. As I was messing around with the functionality of my new toy, I discovered that it had a preloaded flight simulator on it. I clicked on the icon to open the game up, the projector above my head turned on, and the wall lit up showing what was on the screen of my iPhone. It must have detected the signal from my gadget and started up automatically. Isn’t technology wonderful? As I scrolled on the touch screen of my phone, I shifted my gaze up to the screen and saw some of the most awesome graphics ever.
The opening screen of the flight simulator was a bird’s eye view of my plane sitting on the runway. There was a message on the screen that said "Refuel." I clicked the message and immediately, was zooming down to view my plane. It was a dog-fighting video game and as I got closer and closer I saw other planes flying past my view, leaving trails of smoke behind them. By the looks of the planes, this was obviously set in the future. As the view approached my plane, I saw myself accelerating down the runway, and the camera angle was directly behind my plane, getting closer. My cockpit looked like a fighter ship straight out of a Star Wars Movie, but the back portion was completely hinged and looked like the back half of an El Camino with mini wings. It was painted yellow and brown in a camouflaged pattern. As my plane hurled down the runway and lifted off, the camera angle entered into the cockpit and I found myself actually in the game, holding the stick in my own hands, looking around at the controls, climbing into the sky. The sky was darkened to a red, yellow, and brownish hue from the thick smoke and clouds surrounding me. As I followed what I think is my squadron up into the smoke and clouds, there are other jets darting in and out of the sky, passing within a couple of meters of my plane all leaving twisted smoky trails. There are thousands of them, like swarming bees and I cannot tell who is friendly and who is the enemy. We are climbing higher and higher into the darkened sky toward a ceiling of clouds and upon entering the cloud, I distinctly remember thinking that fly Mach Five with only a few meters visibility would be a wonderful way to die.
We break free of the clouds and I am temporarily blinded by the bright sun. I see those around me begin to slow and I likewise ease off the throttle. The camera angle changes again and I am outside of my plane watching as the squadron decelerates. As I get to the crest of my accent, I notice that my jet hinges and halfway doubles up on itself like an Olympic diver in the pike position. Apparently, my plane can do this in order to corner and turn tighter. After the turn, it stretches back out and begins to dive down through the clouds once again. I see my plane turn into an electric blue color and it hurtles faster and faster toward the surface and I reenter my cockpit. I see missiles whizzing past me as I expertly maneuver to avoid them and recognize the enemy because they are the ones trying to shoot me down. I engage, darting and weaving between jets and explosions. Taking many enemy fighters down, I feel like Maverick and invincible. Then I see a wall of what must be a dozen missiles headed straight at me. I weave through three or four of them, but the fifth clips my wing and time seemingly slows down as the sixth barrels directly into my nose. I manage to eject in time to see my plane explode beneath me and as I hurtle away, I pull my ripcord. The string breaks and my reserve shoot does not open. As I fall with my back toward the Earth, I see the fight above me getting further away. I see explosions all around me, then get smaller as I fall and fall. I take in all the red and brown smoke, the beautiful, bright, fiery blasts; floating in the beauty of it all and then, blackness.
During my last visit, I walked in the front door and heard music coming from downstairs. I went down to the first floor and noticed that there had been some remodeling and the living room now extended to the left into Malia’s old room. There stood a beautiful grand piano where Malia was playing and my mom was singing. I sat listening, not realizing that Malia could play the piano and watched as my mom sang herself to sleep. I thought this was odd that one could actually sing themselves to sleep, not to mention the fact that Malia was playing piano beautifully, and was getting a little weirded-out, so I stepped into my own bedroom to the right.
As I walked into my room, I noticed that there were now mirrors on every wall and I could see forever in every direction, like a county fair’s funhouse. I also saw that there was a new side door leading out of the room. As this house shared a wall with the neighbor, I can only imagine that it lead into their house. I was greeted by Berley and Lauren Jarvie who were exercising. Kim was just sitting on the floor doing Yoga while checking herself out in the mirror and Lauren was standing by the other door in streamline position. Lauren started cavorting about in what looked like some sort of tribal dance. She started by jumping up and down whilst kicking her legs. Then the jumping stopped and she broke out into a river dance, all the while holding her streamline position. I watched, quite entertained, for a bit when all of a sudden, Lauren let out a gasp and ran out the side door saying that she needed desperately to change her outfit because it, "just wasn’t working."
did you read my first post?
Berley said she needed to leave and walked out of my room. I followed and stopped in the living room to wake my mom up and let her know that I’d be back soon. I tried to wake my mom, but she wouldn’t budge, so I left and went upstairs. I walked upstairs and out the front door, but could not find Berley to say goodbye, so I ambled across the street to where my car was parked in a carport. My Mini Cooper was parked next to my parents flame-painted minivan, both had their windows down. I grabbed my cell phone in its old school Nintendo controller case and my new iPhone. I wanted to send Berley a text goodbye, but as I stood there contemplating which one I should use to text her, I was distracted by an old Chinese man walking toward me yelling in Chinese. I placed the Nintendo phone in my Mini and the iPhone in the van and walked over to him. He started going off at me and I just stared at him with a blank look on my face. I had no idea what he was trying to communicate and was getting more confused by the second. It did not help any when his even older mother came out of the house behind him and joined in on the yelling. I thought a single person screaming at me in Chinese was hard to understand and bear, but the addition of a second had me thoroughly confused. In the confusion my dad slipped into my Mini and drove away. I saw him leave and was a bit distraught, never having let anyone drive my car before, so I left the yelling Chinese people and jumped into the van giving chase.
I never did catch up to him (obviously on account of the Mini Cooper S’ speed), so gave up and drove to my office instead. Gavan was waiting for me there and someone else that I didn’t recognize. I sat down on my couch and pulled out my iPhone to send Berley a text message, when I realized that I did not have her number on my new phone yet. In fact, I did not have anyone’s phone number on my phone. As I was messing around with the functionality of my new toy, I discovered that it had a preloaded flight simulator on it. I clicked on the icon to open the game up, the projector above my head turned on, and the wall lit up showing what was on the screen of my iPhone. It must have detected the signal from my gadget and started up automatically. Isn’t technology wonderful? As I scrolled on the touch screen of my phone, I shifted my gaze up to the screen and saw some of the most awesome graphics ever.
The opening screen of the flight simulator was a bird’s eye view of my plane sitting on the runway. There was a message on the screen that said "Refuel." I clicked the message and immediately, was zooming down to view my plane. It was a dog-fighting video game and as I got closer and closer I saw other planes flying past my view, leaving trails of smoke behind them. By the looks of the planes, this was obviously set in the future. As the view approached my plane, I saw myself accelerating down the runway, and the camera angle was directly behind my plane, getting closer. My cockpit looked like a fighter ship straight out of a Star Wars Movie, but the back portion was completely hinged and looked like the back half of an El Camino with mini wings. It was painted yellow and brown in a camouflaged pattern. As my plane hurled down the runway and lifted off, the camera angle entered into the cockpit and I found myself actually in the game, holding the stick in my own hands, looking around at the controls, climbing into the sky. The sky was darkened to a red, yellow, and brownish hue from the thick smoke and clouds surrounding me. As I followed what I think is my squadron up into the smoke and clouds, there are other jets darting in and out of the sky, passing within a couple of meters of my plane all leaving twisted smoky trails. There are thousands of them, like swarming bees and I cannot tell who is friendly and who is the enemy. We are climbing higher and higher into the darkened sky toward a ceiling of clouds and upon entering the cloud, I distinctly remember thinking that fly Mach Five with only a few meters visibility would be a wonderful way to die.
We break free of the clouds and I am temporarily blinded by the bright sun. I see those around me begin to slow and I likewise ease off the throttle. The camera angle changes again and I am outside of my plane watching as the squadron decelerates. As I get to the crest of my accent, I notice that my jet hinges and halfway doubles up on itself like an Olympic diver in the pike position. Apparently, my plane can do this in order to corner and turn tighter. After the turn, it stretches back out and begins to dive down through the clouds once again. I see my plane turn into an electric blue color and it hurtles faster and faster toward the surface and I reenter my cockpit. I see missiles whizzing past me as I expertly maneuver to avoid them and recognize the enemy because they are the ones trying to shoot me down. I engage, darting and weaving between jets and explosions. Taking many enemy fighters down, I feel like Maverick and invincible. Then I see a wall of what must be a dozen missiles headed straight at me. I weave through three or four of them, but the fifth clips my wing and time seemingly slows down as the sixth barrels directly into my nose. I manage to eject in time to see my plane explode beneath me and as I hurtle away, I pull my ripcord. The string breaks and my reserve shoot does not open. As I fall with my back toward the Earth, I see the fight above me getting further away. I see explosions all around me, then get smaller as I fall and fall. I take in all the red and brown smoke, the beautiful, bright, fiery blasts; floating in the beauty of it all and then, blackness.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
mission reunion
This past weekend I was so excited to be able to attend another mission reunion because I could see all of my old mission buddies. We love to talk about members and investigators that we taught, share humorous stories, and catch up on each others’ lives. This reunion was no different. Usually the reunions are held at a church building, but this year we all met at a fast food joint located in a mall. It was a little bit nicer than a Del Taco or McDonald’s and was a little like Chuck E. Cheese’s because there were video games, bowling, and Ski Ball behind the seating area.
Wally Doi and I were sitting catching up when we were ushered over to the Ski Ball area to play some video games. The seating area behind the Ski Ball lanes were staggered much like a bowling alley. Wally sat at the game console for our lane and I took the seat behind him. Each lane had its own console that looked like the front end of a Harley motorcycle, but the handle bars were much wider. Apparently whatever game we were to be playing (I assumed that it would be a racing game) used the handle bars for steering. There was also a laser pointer attached to the console via a curly plastic cord that would be used in the game for something. The cord was very tight and using it looked awkward. It reminded me of the wrist cords that you use when riding jet skis so that the ski stops when you fall off. The console in the lane next to us was out of order and the side panel was open, so I could see inside. All I saw was a standard, white-box PC that was used to drive the video game.
As I was taking in my surroundings, Kimberley Kettley came and sat on the ground by my feet facing me. As she was tapping my foot with her shoe, her mother came over and yelled at her, “You are not allowed to touch him! You cannot sit like that Kim. Here, turn around and slide over.” With that Sheri pulled Berley across the floor so that we were not in close proximity and walked away.
Next, a funny little man jumped up onto the Ski Ball lanes in front of us and told us to get ready for the greatest virtual reality video game on the market. A screen lowered behind him and he explained that we would be playing a first person shooter game that was more realistic than any we have ever seen. The handle bars of the "motorcycle" would steer our character and the laser pointer is what we could use to shoot. With that little introduction, he started the game. At first it looked like the movement of the character was difficult and the laser pointer on such a tight cord made it hard to aim and actually kill the enemies. I could see the screen in front of Wally and it looked like we were on one side of a wall with an opening directly in front of us. The two walls to our sides funneled toward the opening. Through the gap in the wall you could see an open field with men in the distance running toward us. They had little blue triangles floating above their heads much like any first person shooter to identify the team. Far to our right we could see the green team, but our main objective was to defend against the blue team, so we focused back on them. Wally walked right to the middle of the opening and started shooting the blue opponent. As he took a few indirect hits from the enemy, I told him that he needed to hide behind the wall on the right side for protection, peer around the corner, and pick enemies off one by one. As he was walking over there, he got hit with a head shot and blood oozed down our screen.
I could tell that Wally was going to need some help, so I sat in the open lane next to him. I rebooted that console and it began to work. I waited for the next round to begin and we started playing on the same team. I discovered the cord on my laser to be too tight, so I ripped it out of the console and found that it still worked for game play, but as I did this I felt myself being sucked into the video game. I was a character in the game and had a little laser pointer to wield against the enemy. As I saw the enemy approaching in the distance I dove behind the wall to the right. I peaked around the corner and started shooting the approaching blue team. I also found that I had grenades on my belt, so when they were within range I threw one killing half a dozen.
We exchanged gun fire for five minutes with men falling on both sides. Then there was a malfunction in the game and the digital world that was being projected ceased rendering. Everyone stopped and looked around as the lights came on in this world. All that was left of the walls were their frames and I could see that to my right past two walls was a large group of the yellow team hiding ready to ambush the greens. Then the game started up again, all projection returned and the gunfire resumed in full force. Because I knew where the yellow team was now located, I lobbed two grenades over the walls to where they were hiding and saw my kill count instantly increase by a baker’s dozen. Pleased with my cunning plan, I turned my attention back to the blue team as they drew closer. As I shot around the corner, two men climbed over the wall directly above me and luckily I got them before they got me.
As these two men fell from the wall, I stepped aside and another jumped over the wall and tackled me. It was Bridgette Briggs and she wrestled me to the ground trying to knock the laser out of my hand. As she reached for my weapon, I was able to grab her laser from her holster and shine it into her eyes. This stunned her and she stopped fighting me. Then, another female wearing a cat woman suit leapt over the wall. Lunging at me, I was able to grab my laser and shine it in her eyes just before she took me out. It seemed these lasers would not only stun, but also made the victim begin to go delirious. Their eyes grew large like a Japanese anime characters and they started to look loopy. They both began to plead for their lives and say that all they really wanted was a cigarette. They both said that if they could only have one smoke they would not try to kill me anymore and we would all be free to leave and to please just spare their lives.
did you read my first post?
As we were conversating, the world morphed back into reality and we all agreed that honestly was the most realistic video game that we had ever played.
Wally Doi and I were sitting catching up when we were ushered over to the Ski Ball area to play some video games. The seating area behind the Ski Ball lanes were staggered much like a bowling alley. Wally sat at the game console for our lane and I took the seat behind him. Each lane had its own console that looked like the front end of a Harley motorcycle, but the handle bars were much wider. Apparently whatever game we were to be playing (I assumed that it would be a racing game) used the handle bars for steering. There was also a laser pointer attached to the console via a curly plastic cord that would be used in the game for something. The cord was very tight and using it looked awkward. It reminded me of the wrist cords that you use when riding jet skis so that the ski stops when you fall off. The console in the lane next to us was out of order and the side panel was open, so I could see inside. All I saw was a standard, white-box PC that was used to drive the video game.
As I was taking in my surroundings, Kimberley Kettley came and sat on the ground by my feet facing me. As she was tapping my foot with her shoe, her mother came over and yelled at her, “You are not allowed to touch him! You cannot sit like that Kim. Here, turn around and slide over.” With that Sheri pulled Berley across the floor so that we were not in close proximity and walked away.
Next, a funny little man jumped up onto the Ski Ball lanes in front of us and told us to get ready for the greatest virtual reality video game on the market. A screen lowered behind him and he explained that we would be playing a first person shooter game that was more realistic than any we have ever seen. The handle bars of the "motorcycle" would steer our character and the laser pointer is what we could use to shoot. With that little introduction, he started the game. At first it looked like the movement of the character was difficult and the laser pointer on such a tight cord made it hard to aim and actually kill the enemies. I could see the screen in front of Wally and it looked like we were on one side of a wall with an opening directly in front of us. The two walls to our sides funneled toward the opening. Through the gap in the wall you could see an open field with men in the distance running toward us. They had little blue triangles floating above their heads much like any first person shooter to identify the team. Far to our right we could see the green team, but our main objective was to defend against the blue team, so we focused back on them. Wally walked right to the middle of the opening and started shooting the blue opponent. As he took a few indirect hits from the enemy, I told him that he needed to hide behind the wall on the right side for protection, peer around the corner, and pick enemies off one by one. As he was walking over there, he got hit with a head shot and blood oozed down our screen.
I could tell that Wally was going to need some help, so I sat in the open lane next to him. I rebooted that console and it began to work. I waited for the next round to begin and we started playing on the same team. I discovered the cord on my laser to be too tight, so I ripped it out of the console and found that it still worked for game play, but as I did this I felt myself being sucked into the video game. I was a character in the game and had a little laser pointer to wield against the enemy. As I saw the enemy approaching in the distance I dove behind the wall to the right. I peaked around the corner and started shooting the approaching blue team. I also found that I had grenades on my belt, so when they were within range I threw one killing half a dozen.
We exchanged gun fire for five minutes with men falling on both sides. Then there was a malfunction in the game and the digital world that was being projected ceased rendering. Everyone stopped and looked around as the lights came on in this world. All that was left of the walls were their frames and I could see that to my right past two walls was a large group of the yellow team hiding ready to ambush the greens. Then the game started up again, all projection returned and the gunfire resumed in full force. Because I knew where the yellow team was now located, I lobbed two grenades over the walls to where they were hiding and saw my kill count instantly increase by a baker’s dozen. Pleased with my cunning plan, I turned my attention back to the blue team as they drew closer. As I shot around the corner, two men climbed over the wall directly above me and luckily I got them before they got me.
As these two men fell from the wall, I stepped aside and another jumped over the wall and tackled me. It was Bridgette Briggs and she wrestled me to the ground trying to knock the laser out of my hand. As she reached for my weapon, I was able to grab her laser from her holster and shine it into her eyes. This stunned her and she stopped fighting me. Then, another female wearing a cat woman suit leapt over the wall. Lunging at me, I was able to grab my laser and shine it in her eyes just before she took me out. It seemed these lasers would not only stun, but also made the victim begin to go delirious. Their eyes grew large like a Japanese anime characters and they started to look loopy. They both began to plead for their lives and say that all they really wanted was a cigarette. They both said that if they could only have one smoke they would not try to kill me anymore and we would all be free to leave and to please just spare their lives.
did you read my first post?
As we were conversating, the world morphed back into reality and we all agreed that honestly was the most realistic video game that we had ever played.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
