My little family and I decided that we wanted to take on a little more challenging hike. Today was Okami's first hike, and second long journey away from home. She does so well in the car that it's actually really surprising to us. With the amount of energy that my Shiba has when she's let loose, she's totally down to snooze the entire way to wherever it is we're going. I'm very grateful for that, and I can only hope that when I have kids, they'll be just the same. Getting to Long Lake was a bit of a drive, and we were a little bummed when we got there. We always mess up and either forget the Discovery Pass, or we bring the Discovery Pass, but the park doesn't use it. Today, we brought our pass, but we ended up having to buy another pass. It's frustrating because we could have gotten the pass for free if we had just planned ahead. Lesson learned, hopefully. When we finally got started on the hike, it was a pretty clear trail. We did run into a few groups of people every now and then, but they were mostly headed down the mountain. The first half of the trail was pretty simple to climb. There were a lot of switchbacks, and a lot of areas where there was wood for reinforcement. It got steep in some areas, but it wasn't too bad. There were areas where we had to cross water, and Ami was not having it at all! She would walk through it like she was disgusted at the fact that it was there. I wish I had gotten a photo of her doing what she does when she steps in puddles. At about the last third of the trip, we hit a bunch of rock. The trail was just jagged rock all the way to the lake. It made it really difficult to keep Ami moving because she was not fond of trying to get over the bigger rocks. At this point, Ami was covered in dirt, but didn't care about getting wet anymore. So once she got back into her groove, we were moving along just fine. We moved at her pace because she wanted to be the leader. What was funny was when Haizel would try to pass her up, she would start darting to the front and dragging me along with her. When she was in the front, she would always pause momentarily to look back and see if all three of us were with her. Such considerate, much love. We made it to Lake 22 in about an hour, which was a lot faster than what it seemed. I thought we were on the trail for at least 2 hours at the longest. The fog cleared up when we got to the lake and it was AMAZING. The sun hit the water just at the right angle, and kept us warm enough to be comfortable near the glacier lake. The temperature was refreshing after hiking through all the trees. There weren't too many people there. There was a group of what looked like teenagers there, and they were loud and boisterous. Kind of annoying when we were trying to enjoy the serenity of the lake. We stayed awhile to rest, and made sure that our hike up was well worth it. We had brought a bunch of snacks like cheese sticks, apples, beef jerky, squid, and trail mix. Okami decided that she had enough of the hike, and that she no longer cared what she looked like, so she parked her entire right side into the mud and just chilled there. It was funny just watching her trying to stay out of the water. She was so tired, trying to stand up and keep from falling asleep. Her personality is something else. We packed up after about 45 minutes, and made our way down. After the hike, we decided to grab Poke at Greenlake in Seattle. We took another walk, and made stuffing our faces worth it. We got home pretty late at night, and stayed up to watch a movie. This was our last day spent with Okami's daddy before he left for work, and I'm glad it worked out so well. We miss and love you so much daddy, and we will see you soon!
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I have fought long and hard not to make comments on what has been going on in today's world, but it is heavy on my heart to see the human race in such a distraught state. As a nation, we have worked so hard to come together as the melting pot of all types of cultures, whether it be ethnicity, profession, or tradition. Yet here we are today, casting blame, pointing fingers, and building walls against each other to stand even further divided. It hurts my heart to see our society be so quick to use violence and anger as the fuel for their thoughts in violent protests and rallies. Only to have innocent lives taken or injured in the mess that has become "practicing our first amendment." The violent acts that have been committed to "avenge" those who have wrongfully had their lives taken by people who have overstepped their authority. An "eye for an eye" they say, makes the whole world blind. And I feel that this is what has happened in our society today.
Rather than uniting to fight against the real problem, we have labeled a profession made to protect us, as the enemy. We have lost focus on building ourselves as a united nation, but have caught attention to building divisions between an "us" and a "them". We have called out our friends and our family as being a part of the problem if they decide that they want to live a life where "All Lives Matter" rather than deciding to put focus on one specific race. Yes, it is okay to understand that there are races that are struggling more than others, as it is okay to continue to treat each race equally. We have destroyed friendships with our loved ones because we cannot take the time to understand each other. One side yells their story, while another denies their story, and another in the middle saying we should all come together, but all too stubborn to LISTEN to each other. It is okay to raise awareness, but remember to promote peace among it. It is okay to state your opinion, but violence is not a just act. Be veracious in what you say, do not turn solely to social media outlets for information and guidance. Know what you are fighting for, know the cause, know what has been done or what is being done. Know that the limit is far before someone is injured or killed. It is not an act of peace when harm comes to any person. Know that the fight you are fighting can be won through words of intellect and appropriate acts of justice, and not by the fist or the gun. It hurts me to know that we cannot come together and fight against the enemy. It hurts me to know that we have all of this going on in our country, and then have other foreign enemies attacking worldwide. The chaos that has come into this world cannot be defeated by one person, by one group, or by one country. I pray that one day, we see people for who they are inside, rather than the color of their skin or the country of origin from which they or their ancestors came. I pray that one day, we see the intent of the person in the uniform, rather than the profession labeled as a whole. I pray that one day, we can reunite to put our focus on the true enemy, rather than on each other. As someone who has decided to serve her country, I hope to stand firm in my beliefs that we as a nation can get through this. I will vow to make my positive contribution to this world by continuing to practice how I have been taught: to treat and care for each individual as a human being, regardless of their race, ethnicity, religious background, profession, or beliefs. I hope that my brothers and sisters in arms, and those who practice healthcare and law enforcement practice in the same way. We have taken an oath to protect and heal each other... We need to remember that. Such miserable fun this was. So Life in Color is this "rave" concert where they have paint being sprayed, swirled, and shot at you. You walk in like you're going to an all-white party, and you leave looking like you just got pooped on by unicorns. It was fun though. Michael and I were staying in Tacoma for the night so when it was over, we didn't have to drive all the way home freezing cold and covered in paint. I'm not sure he would have enjoyed cleaning Charizard out after a night like that. We ended up going about an hour late, but that was okay because no one really started showing up until that time. We took an uber so we didn't have to pay for parking and get the car dirty, but that quickly turned into a mistake when they told us we had to leave everything at security. This night was already a bad night for us. Michael lost one of his bags, they took away all my glow sticks and even my NEW chapstick. As in so new it still has the plastic on it. They even tried to tell me that I had to leave my GoPro. Even though we're allowed to bring in our cellphones, you want to tell me that I can't bring in my $400 camera because I'm going to take photos? What logic backs up what you're saying? None, none at all. I was beyond infuriated already and the night hadn't even started. The night went on. It was just Michael and I for the first 1.5 hours or so, and then we met up with our friends Ernie and Alex. We waited in line to get to the beer garden, and ended up just getting one drink. We drank two total that night. It was really fun though when we met up with everyone. The music was pretty good. It started out really mellow I guess because I guess they didn't utilize all of the sound system in the beginning, but once they turned everything up, that's when it got fun. We fought our way to the front where we were constantly getting sprayed with paint. We bought bottles of paint and were swirling them around. The paint was cold and it smelled awful though. I guess we didn't care enough at that time. Towards the end of the concert, we were finally "drying off" and they decided to just unleash pink paint on everyone. It wasn't sprayed, it was just a fire hose of paint. We. Were. Freezing. I couldn't imagine how cold some of the girls were who decided to wear just pasties and panties. I honestly would have hated to be them after that concert.
All in all, it was a fun time. It could have gone way better if we had done some planning too, but I guess half of that is on us, and half of that is on the event coordinator for not publicizing anything. I don't know if I would ever go to LIC again. I feel like that's just a one time thing for me. I'd rather cuddle up with Michael, drink wine, and be warm. Thanks though babe, it was fun. Getting to the Tulip Festival was actually a really difficult task for us to accomplish. We were supposed to get there yesterday, but we ended up going today because of all of the traffic that was happening on I-5. So we just decided that we would check in at Seattle last night. Today we started with brunch at a sushi restaurant in Bellevue. It was actually really good. We hit the road shortly after, and there wasn't too much traffic until we got close to the Tulip Festival. I started to get really nervous because when we got to the tulip fields, there were no tulips to be seen! We were following the signs that pointed to the tulip festivals, but all we could see were dirt fields. I was saddened with the thought that I was so close to going, but I just missed it. We would go during the last weekend of the Festival though, so that would be just my luck. Fortunately, we found a group of cars going to this brightly colored field, and luckily we had emergency cash on us because we totally spaced on bringing cash for parking. When we were finally in the fields, there were so many people on the trails! We originally came to the festival so I could take senior photos for announcing my graduation party. It was really hard to take photos though because there was a guy riding around on a four-wheeler telling people to get out of the fields. So when we would take my photo, I would run in, he'd snap the photo, and I'd run out. There was a guy in the middle of the field who would pop up every now and then until he got caught. He was so clever ducking from the guy riding around. It was entertaining to watch. We got some pretty good photos, but the one photo I really liked is the one below this paragraph. I love how we take photos like this when we go to nice places. We always forget, but when we remember to take them, they always turn out nice. Michael bought me an ice cream cone because we weren't able to get different colored tulips at this festival. There were only yellow tulips left, and I wanted pink tulips. So Michael bought us ice cream, and afterwards, we drove around to another festival. We were able to buy three bouquets of tulips in all different colors! I have the greatest man ever. Thank you love for taking me to the Tulip Festival! It's been on my bucket list since I moved to Washington. I miss it every year because of school. I'm so glad I was able to do this with you!
My aunt is a nut-so driver. I think I saw my life flash before my eyes at almost every turn she made. So on my trip, I told my grandparents that I would let them take me to Kamay Ni Hesus, which translates into the Hand of Jesus. It was a perfect way to end my week in the Philippines since it's Holy Week. I would have imagined there would be more people, but I guess they were there the day after I went. I won't complain. Having a lot of people in an area like that where it's already extremely hot wouldn't have been a fun day for me. To get to this area, we had to pass through the mountains. I took a lot of footage of the areas we passed through so I could show a bunch of my classmates what it looks like in a third world country. The drive up the mountain was beautiful. Everything was green and luscious. On the side of the road, there would be tinderas that sold food and drinks, but we never stopped at any of those places. I don't know if my stomach could take that kind of cooking. When you get there, you have to climb over 260 steps to get to the statue of Jesus. At each level, there are different scenes from the 12 Stations of the Cross. I passed a lot of prayer groups on the way up. Many of which were praying a different prayer at each station. It was interesting to see after being in America. I feel like a lot of the friends that I've made aren't very religious, or they don't show it like the typical Filipino families do. So seeing the strength in faith that these Filipinos have was astounding. I didn't stay at the top for very long. I felt like the sun was beaming down on me trying to melt me where I stood. I said a short prayer and left. I'm not one to pray for very long, or often. When I do pray, I pray for usually 4 things: my family, Michael & his family, my friends, and if I have any patients, I pray for them too. It's not a long ordeal, but enough to let Him know that those are my wishes. Claire and I made it down and were looking for the rest of my family. We ate Halo Halo from Laila's Canteen. Then we all grouped up to go to our next stop. We ended up waiting awhile because my Lolo (grandfather) had disappeared and we didn't know how to reach him. He ended up coming back 15 minutes later with an ice cream cone in his hand and was like, "Oh boy, I finally got my freaking ice cream!" For lunch we went to Isdaan Floating Restaurant. I remember coming here when I was younger with my cousins, and it was just as I remembered it. You walk on floating bamboo to a hut. They lay out giant banana leaves on the table, and that's where they put the food. You pretty much order a feast for your family, and it's kamayan (when you eat with your hands). We ordered so much food there! While we were eating, there was an act going on behind us. A group of dancers were performing, and then a group of what I could only call "acrobats" performed. I wouldn't really say they were acrobats, more like, poorly trained stuntmen (and woman). After them, there were two guys on stilts who came out to perform. One of the guys on the stilts actually fell because he got caught in the bamboo. No one was hurt, but that ended the show pretty quickly.
All in all, it was a pretty good trip. I wouldn't have gone to it if it weren't for my grandparents though. But it was worth it go see what my grandparent's lives are all about in the Philippines. I guess it was good to see something that could strengthen my faith as well, so definitely worth it. I've been blessed with the opportunity to be able to travel halfway across the world from America to the Philippines so I could visit my family. My grandparents and auntie made this trip even more exciting by planning a trip to visit Cebu, a southern area of the Philippines. It was beautiful to say the least. I've never been more awed by natural beauty than I was by the clear waters, palm trees, and white sands of Cebu and Bohol. Although my time was short here, I'd gotten to see and experience so much.
Exploring is something that is difficult in a person's life when they become busy. In just a short 1.5 months I'm going to be commissioning into the Army as a Nurse. Two goals that I have been working hard towards for the past four years. I have never dedicated myself so much to two goals, and to graduate with honors is something that I will definitely hold my head up high for. Day after day, night after night, I would spend countless hours studying and preparing myself for exams, reports, research, and clinical rotations. Countless cups of caffeine consumed, a worrisome amount of pizza and tacos eaten , and all the hours of sleep that I'd lost... all paid off. Well, they will. So I just decided to treat myself to something even bigger. A getaway. A getaway from anything that . could cause me any worry. Yes, I keep bringing it up like I haven't talked about it before, but it's just something that's really amazed me. I finally took time for myself. When I say myself, I really mean myself. I'm here with my grandparents, but they are more like the financers in the background just watching me go out and doing the exploring. Which I am extremely grateful for by the way. Even if my life gets busy in the next couple of months, and it's busy for the next couple of years whether it be more schooling, work, family life, or starting a family of my own... I hope that I continue to have the opportunity to explore this world to a greater extent. Who said that one quote? "The world is a book, and those who don't travel only read one page." Well, whoever said that, props to them. This book is probably the only book I want to continue to read. This vacation has been a long time coming. For the past few years, I'd been feeling like I'd been drowning in one thing or another. Whether it was emotions, school, family life, social life, or anything else that could possibly cause me to have an anxiety attack. Lately, I've been getting out doing things that I enjoy like hanging out with friends, spending weekends away from home, and now, traveling abroad. I came to the Philippines to hang out with my family, and I'm spending three days in Cebu with my grandparents. My grandparents are getting pretty old, and they don't really do the things that I'm here to do, so I'm going to be doing a lot of the exploring alone.
My Lola (grandmother) made a statement today that made me think, "Jakki is going to be lonely going out there." At first, that's kind of what I felt like. I felt a little lonely. I had wanted to be hanging with someone, anyone. Preferably Michael, lol. Then I just said "screw it." I went out to the lagoons and swam for a little bit. I laid out in the sun for a little bit. Then I went to the beach. I went to the beach and started feeding fish day old bread. There were three older adults at the beach who were kind of including me in their little hangout session with the fishies. When they left, I felt better about being alone. I spent a few more minutes at the beach, and then I went back to the lagoons. I let myself go. I let my self just float. Then this funny thought came to me head as I was in the lagoon floating. Back before I started teaching swimming, the one thing I couldn't do was relax enough to let myself float. Yet here I was, three years later, floating halfway across the world. Some metaphorical aspect hit me as I was staring at the sky. I was floating there, and the feeling of loneliness left me. I felt this peaceful feeling of being able to just be there with myself, detached from the world, alone with my thoughts, yet still feel loved by those in my life. My life is at a point where there is nothing that is weighing me down. I'm doing great with my academics, the problems that I've had with my family have finally been fixed, Michael and I are completely happy with each other's company, I have an amazing group of friends, and I'm about to embark on a career path that'll definitely offer more opportunities. Wave after wave of problems, I managed to stay afloat. Just like those lyrics from Kehlani's Be Alright song. "Someone once told me babe, when the tide gets high, you just get low. Hold your breath and take it slow. Yes I might get wet, I might get thrown, but I'll resurface on my own." During my stay in the Philippines, I went out with my mom's family. We rented this big van to go to Bato Springs. The drive took about 2.5 hours with traffic, even though we left "early" in the morning. It's located in the middle of what seemed to be a jungle. There were so many people there! It's never occurred to me how different the "cost" of something could be to two different people. I think it was either 75 or 100 pesos to enter the entire park. That's almost $3.00 here in the United States. That is a complete steal for us as Americans, but for most Filipinos, it's considered a luxury to be able to go to a place like this. When we got there, I wasn't anticipating on being the only Filipina in a bathing suit. In the United States, people will shoot you funny looks if you go to the lake in jean shorts and a t-shirt and jump in. In the Philippines, all eyes were in me because I seemed to be the only female there without a t-shirt on. I heard cat-calls, and saw people trying to deliberately take a selfie with me in the background. I felt very strange, but I tried to think nothing of it. I just made sure that I was very aware of who was around me, and that I was never walking alone. The springs were FREEZING. I felt like there was enough shade to be comfortable in the heat, so stepping into the water wasn't very relaxing. It actually hurt my body how cold the water was. I could only stay in the water for a short period of time. Me, my cousins, and my God son walked along the entire springs. My suggestion for coming here is to bring a pair of those slip-on shoes that you can wear in the water so you don't have to hassle with slippers. The sidewalk was really hot, and there were rocks everywhere. My God son Jakki had the time of his life splashing water all over us. There were waterfalls that we were able to sit and stand in. The water felt like a free aqua-massage! When we were tired from swimming and taking a bunch of videos, we sat down for lunch. My auntie cooked fish and packed rice. We also had a lot of snackies. Renting a table was about $10.00. This included securing the area, the tables, and the chairs. As you can see, there's a lot of us, so $10.00 went a long way with what we received for it. I wish my cousin Marsean wasn't so busy with schoolwork, but I'm glad he came out anyways. I also wish my older cousins were able to come out with us, but sadly they had to work. It was an overall fun time with my mom's side of the family. I'm glad we were all able to enjoy the day together.
So I have been non-stop on planning this trip for me and my friends. I have been going on this for a couple of weeks now, and I was so happy when details were finalized. My friend Madison and I wanted to take our boyfriends out snowboarding because the school was offering $20 tickets to Silver Mountain for College Daze. I love this deal, and I'm so happy that I was able to take advantage of it for the second time around. We left the house around 06:00 AM, and it's about a 45 minute drive from Spokane. When we got there, we convinced Ryan to rent a snowboard instead of skis, and we're glad he did, because he did so well on the mountain. Of course Michael wasn't going to let Ryan or any of us show him up, so he decided to snowboard in his hedgehog onesie. Leave it to my boyfriend to be the center of attention on the mountain. We were supposed to meet up with another group of people, but they ended up doing their own thing, and to be honest, I'm glad they did. It was hard enough to keep four of us together when we're all at different skill sets. I had improved so much this winter in my snowboarding. I think all it took was Michael to get me a board that was just for me. Fitted to my feet, set at my stance, and had my awesome doughnut on it. It was here at Silver Mountain that I was able to take on my first Black Diamond run. I forgot what it was called, but we somehow ended up there, and we wanted to go down because you could just see all of the fresh powder calling out to us. It wasn't the easiest boarding down it, but it was definitely fun falling in all of the powder. I think going down harder slopes like that really challenge you to pull yourself together and learn how to carve. The runs on Silver Mountain seemed shorter compared to the mountains I've been to before, but it could be due to the fact that I'm going down them faster. I really liked the runs on this mountain. They weren't too hard, and they weren't too easy. It was just right, and if you did want to step up your game like we did, there are always runs to do that. I would definitely go back if I had the chance. We got a lot of good footage on the GoPro, but I think I'll get around to editing that at another time. We ended our day and retreated to the hotel I booked. There were supposed to be more of us staying there, but like I said, I'm glad it ended up just being us four (Michael, Madison, and Ryan). We grabbed some liquor from the store, and we spent the rest of our night hanging out in the hot tub to relax, and going up to the room and playing Rotten Apples. It was actually really funny to play with everyone, and even though it's the "step down" from Cards Against Humanity, it was still fun to play.
It didn't take long for all of us to knock out after the game. We woke up the next morning and got free continental breakfast in the lobby, and we hung out until it was time for us to check out. I'm so happy that we found a winter hobby that everyone is into, and a way to relax during our stressful senior year. It's been a long time since I've posted, but I feel like I need to right now. There comes a point in someone's life where they have this grand realization of how lucky they are to have what they have. I'm extremely lucky to have met some of the greatest, kindest, most compassionate, and caring people in the nursing program. I've had the chance to make friends with people who have the same drive to help and serve people in a way that could ultimately change their lives. I'm surrounded by people who will disregard the color of your skin, the status of your home, the beliefs that you hold, or whatever other characteristic there is to you, just so they can save you. They will provide care no matter what. They will see beyond what the rest of society sees, and they will realize that they are helping a human.
Those are my friends. It's not always the funnest job. It's not always the easiest job. There are times where we have to tough it out during the moment, and then find a corner to cry in later. There are times where we cannot handle it, where we think we will break from the sheer heartache this job holds. But we remember that there are moments where good happens. There are moments where people's lives are reset, where first breaths are taken, where cure is found. Those are the moments my friends live for. My friends live their lives on the edge, to dance a fierce tango with life and death, doing whatever they can to achieve the best outcome for our patients. My friends are hard workers. My friends are selfless. My friends are compassionate. My friends are caring. My friends are some of the greatest people that I know. And when I sit back and think of how lucky I am to have a support system that consists of my friends, I kind of tear up, because I'm so happy to know that I am so blessed. |
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