Weeks in Review

Ok so its been a while...about two weeks I guess since I last updated this. Well I had two weeks off of school, the first week I just hung out here in Ventura and kicked back and relaxed a bit. Not to much exciting happening around here. I hung out with some friends and waited until Sara and Jason came back to this coast so I could go up and visit them for my send week off. On Sunday the 3rd, went to church, had a cook out, went swimming at a friends place, then Mandy and I came back to my place and I cleaned and took out my trash before I left the next day to Monterey. We went and ate at the Hungry Hunter, where Brian works. Oh my it was so good, and I ate way to much food, so we went for a walk on the beach after to walk some of it off. We ended up meeting up with Raymundo and started a fire on the beach and watched the fireworks going off (some random people setting them off on the beach), there were tons of fires going that night. After that we ended up at Denny's just sitting outside and talking for a couple more hours and as we were getting ready to leave to more friends showed up and they were actually going to get food so we joined them. Denny's was crazy that night...The Warp Tour was down the road earlier in the day and a bunch of people were hanging out there, and they were under staffed...it took us about 20 minutes to get water. I think I got home around 3:30 and started packing for my trip the next day.

I had to be to the Santa Barbara train station around 12:00 so we went a little early so I could go to the camera shop and get my equipment for this next session...they ended up being closed. I had been trying to call them for about four days with no answer...now I know why. So as we (Mandy, Raymundo and I) are sitting on the benches (there is an over hang where the benches are) something flies on my head and decides to stay there...so everyone is laughing and I'm smacking this poor thing on my head thinking its a bat or something, ends up being a little bird learning how to fly...I'm surprised I didn't kill the thing. So I finally get it off and try to get it to fly back where it came from.

The train ride was interesting to say the least. I felt like I was at a taping for a soap opera. There was this one couple and her daughter in front of me that was just going at it the whole time. I mean full force cussing, wedding rings being thrown back and forth, crying, drinking, promising to get off the train at the next stop (they always got back on!!), it was a sight to see let me tell you. I had to get up and walk around quite a bit, I just couldn't take it any more. The guy kept yelling "Security" "Security"...nothing ever came of that. Becky called me from Boston (thanks so much for calling! I was so bummed that I was going to miss that this year). The train was 2 1/2 hours late but I got to Monterey just in time for the fireworks to begin. The just started going off when I got dropped off so I ran to Mike and Alicia's dropped my bags off, and ran down to the beach where everyone was. Ok so the fireworks out here don't even compare to the ones back East! These lasted for maybe 10 minutes, but I was happy to see some.

Sara and I got to hang out for most of the week, but Jason had started school again so didn't get to spend tons of time with him. Sara and I stripped a table and started to mosaic it with broken pieces of pottery from my bowls I shipped out and pieces she had donated to her. It looks really good so far. I got to babysit Jonathan! I was so excited to do that, and it gave me a chance to take some more pictures of him, which I put together a DVD for Mike and Alicia of pictures I had taken during my last couple of times there. Jenny, Sara and I went to Bubba Gumps restaurant, pretty good stuff. Went to their College and Career group on Thursday night and got to see more of their friends. I'll be up there again in a couple of weeks for Ryan and Jenny's wedding! Sara, Jana and I went beading one day. And I feel like I am forgetting so much, so if/when I remember it, I'll update this.


Jonathan ©Jenny S Manseau 2005

I came home on Saturday and the train was running about 1-1 1/2 hours late to begin with, then they got a call saying that someone had jumped a fence north of San Jose and got hit by the train, so it could be delayed another 3 or so hours. If we were going to Santa Barbara, which I was, we had the option of taking the bus. Best decision ever. I think I would much rather take the bus both ways next time. Granted there is no food or much room to walk around in but it go there so much faster than the train did. Even with running 1 1/2 late I still arrived in Santa Barbara at my correct time.

I started my second session on Tuesday of this week. I'm only taking one course which is Understanding Light. So far so good. Its really technical but I really enjoy this instructor so far. His name is Brent Winebrenner ( www.brentwinebrenner.com )(shoots a lot for the Lonely Planet) and we have Rick Rickman sitting in on our class ( www.rickmanphoto.com ) (he has shot for Time, National Geo and more). I have three assignments due by next Tuesday at noon, so I'm waiting for the clouds to go away so I can start shooting some of them today. Class is on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:00 am - 9:45 am, its killing having this class so early because last session my earliest class was at 11:45 am and my other class was 6:00 at night.

Anyway going to catch some Z's...like I said I'm sure I'm forgetting tons of stuff from the past two weeks so if/when I remember I'll let you know and I'll upload some pictures soon.