Kaiizen is for kids!

This weekend I had the chance to volunteer at an orphanage in Mexico. My friend, (Josh Budinger--he's kind of famous), is one of the founders of a charity group called Kaiizen. I took five of my former students from the great Canyon Springs along on the trip. Avette/Evette/Ivette, Regg Mac, Boo Baby, Niesha Dorito, and Tsitorius.




My students and I spent most of the morning painting a clinic that's used as a doctor's/ dentist office. We made friends with a little boy named Nacho and a tagger named Abel who kept telling us he was 2000 years old. The kids were a lot of fun and definitely enjoyed the attention. Ivette made bracelets for all of the kids at the orphanage. We drew pictures, decorated sock puppets.


Saturday afternoon Josh and Luke told the story of the monsters. Reggie was one of the best little seahorses I've ever seen. He received numerous compliments on his performance and is now thinking about becoming a professional actor.

We wandered around Ensenada a little bit, testing out our bargaining skills, then headed back to the beach to camp again.
After J-Dogs and a little wrap-up meeting, we were ready for the much anticipated dance party. I'm sure you can understand how watching white people try to "Walk It Out" can be the highlight of any weekend.

We left camp at 5:00 am, which was a little rough after such a crazy dance party the night before. (Again, the kids are right. White people really can't dance.) It took a little while to get through the border and of course we got stopped on the way.
We stayed in San Diego Sunday night. My friend Trent was gracious enough to let us crash his place. (What are best friends for?) We were just happy to shower. We wandered about Balboa park, listened to a Christian Reggae band who's best song was "Wat ju tink about Jezzus?", and later enjoyed a thrilling ride on my favorite roller coaster at Mission Beach.



The kids and I went to Sea World on Monday. As Reggie said, "Shamu needs to get put into a retirement home with that lazy polar bear." Otherwise, we had a good time.
Maybe a little too much time in the car, but a great trip. If anyone's interested in going sometime, check out the Kaiizen website. www.kaiizen.org

Neon Boneyard

Some friends and I visitied the Neon Boneyard here in beautiful Viva Las Vegas. It was really kind of sad to see all of these figures that have been completely forgotten about. I'm not a photographer, as you'll soon see, but here are some of my favorite pics.

If you need more info or want to see BETTER pics, look here:

Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?! I dooooooo!!!!

You'd think I'd be a little embarrassed to admit this was the second time I've drive all the way out there, but I'm not. The first time, I only bought a Diet Coke. This time I bought 4 copies of Radioactive Man. (I'm only keeping one! The other three are gifts.)





Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?
(Sung by: Apu)
Whether igloo, hut, or lean-to
or a geodesic dome.
There's no structure I have been to
which I'd rather call my home...

When I first arrived you were all such jerks,
But now I've come to loooove your quirks.
Maggie with her eyes so bright.
Marge with hair by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Lisa can philosophize,
Bart's adept at spinning lies.
Homer's a delightful fella,
Sorry 'bout the salmonella.

Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?
Now here's the tricky part.
Oh won't you rhyme with me?
Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart...
(Marge) The floors are sticky-mart!
(Lisa) They make Dad sicky-mart!
(Bart) Let's hurl a bricky-mart!
(Homer) That Kwik-E-Mart is really... DOH!!

Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart?
I dooooooo.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the actual audio, but the sheet music is nearly as good.
http://www.musicnotes.com/features/promo/simpsons/

Sorry.

I just created my blog this week and I'm already bad at it. My sincere apologizes to any and all (i.e. Christy) who had high hopes that my new and improved blog would be in any way exciting. Please keep your expectations realistic. Thanks.

The beginning...

I don't know why I won't ever write in a journal, but it's so easy for me to blog. I've been using Myspace forever, but in an effort to appear more grown up, I'm trying out this. Please don't be surprised or offended if you are featured in this blog. I will try to include only the most flattering pics.
It's summer! I have free time for, what seems, the first time in years. When friends have asked about my summer plans, my first response has been, "I'm going to catch up on sleep." I figure that in about 5 weeks I'll be all caught up, just in time for school to start.
So if this was a real journal, my entry would be this simple.
I slept until 10:15 this morning. Nice. Got out of bed. Checked my email. Did some laundry. Watched a movie...
Wow. I love summer. Too bad it's too hot to go outside.