Hello old friends

Just over two weeks ago I went home to California for spring break. It really was a wonderful week. I got to go to the beach with my dad (where we picked out a home site for once we win the lotto), eat at all my favorite restaurants, visit the San Diego Wild Animal Park, and take the train up to Santa Barbara to visit my sister and her friends.

At the animal park, one of the exciting things we saw was a 3 day old African elephant. It was already walking, but it was still wobbly. At one point, the baby was walking right behind its mom, but his mom stopped suddenly. The baby didn't see this coming and crashed into his mom's legs. It was was very cute. Can we keep it??



One of the less exciting things we saw at the animal park was their new Africa show. Its theme of celebrating Africa's wonderful and diverse cultures was appreciated, but its cheesyness factor was not. Maybe I had a problem with it because it was geared toward the age of 8, and that was not what I was expecting. Or, maybe it didn't impress me cause it was an "interactive" show. I just wanted to sit back and enjoy the show; no need for interaction. In the end, when the one zoo worker came out dressed in a Lion King-esque elephant costume, I wondered if the real live elephants 50 feet away thought human-kind's feeble attempt to create their species was utterly laughable. They just kept eating their hay, however. No comment.

The trip to Santa Barbara was lots of fun. On the way up to Santa Barbara, I enjoyed an awesome conversation with my former roommate. It's always wonderful when you can talk with a person who you haven't spoken with in what seems like far too long, but your conversation is as if you were never apart. It's pretty awesome to have friends like that. Back to Santa Barbara. It was so much fun to hang out with Amy and to meet her roommate and other Bren School friends. I think we weirded out some of her friends, especially the ones that gave me very confused looks before asking "Are you Amy's sister?" Although it was a short trip, I'm glad I went because now I can put faces with all the names I've been hearing about. Plus, it was good to hear "Are you two twins?" again from a random stranger. :)

I also loved the random hanging out times at home. Whether it was working on the crossword puzzle, watching the Office, or just in general catching up with one another, they were truly priceless times.

Lastly, I officially survived my first tornado warning here in Texas. I admit that since the whole concept of tornados is so new to me, it was a bit unnerving. I was all set to go hide in the downstairs closet, but fortunately the storm died down before inflicting lots of damage. It was definitely surreal to watch images on TV of funnel clouds that were video-taped from Tech's campus. Spring has definitely arrived.

Paz.