Ah, summertime. I know it's not officially here but it fucking feels like it! Oi! Right now I know it's hot without having to go outside, but my room is dark and cool with the fan on. It reminds me of old summers, I know you're thinking, dude, you've only seen 22 of them!!! But nostalgia is nostalgia.

Back when I was in elementry school, we didn't have a pool yet, so my mom put me and my brother is swimming classes. I'd get up early on my own, drench myself in sun block (even then I was very conscience of what the sun could do to a body), get in my swimsuit and wait till it was time to go. I remember watching cartoons most of the time that early in the morning but I also loved watching The Golden Girls, even though I had no idea what the adult innuendos where, I just knew Estelle Getty was hilarious. :p

Mom used to take us walking to our elementary school to eat the free lunch. I usually would run into friends, especially Tonzy, in the playground. I remember once he asked me why I wasn't in summer school cos they'd call my name and I told him mom said I didn't have to go. He told me, much later in high school, that he had a crush on me when we were younger and that's why he wanted me to go to summer school with him. Awe. :p

Despite the fact that I would get very sick in the heat and the sun, the family vacation trip was to Bullhead, Arizona where my grandparents have a house less than a mile from the river. The water was cold and the current was strong but not too strong. Very fun times! Once my grandfather found an ear of corn and swam after it and I learned how to swim in that river.

At night we'd go to Laughlin via the boats across the river. My cousins, bro and I knew to get the orange life jackets right away. The casinos always smelled like smoke and the buffets had a SMOKING and NONSMOKING section!!! I remember sitting once two rows away from the smoking section, it did little good. Thank GOD I didn't have asthma then. There was the first time I tried (and found I HATED) horseradish. Ikkkkkkkkk!!!! The Golden Nugget had singing animatronic birds in a giant cage that would entertain us for a long time. And there was a little Disneyland type train that would take you around the area.

And we saw London Bridge once, my dad fell down the hill over there and me and my brother rolled down after him. :p

Usually we'd go to Hoover Dam and take the tour around and in the compound. I got really bad heat stroke once next to the Nevada tower. I don't remember anything except not being able to talk and then my dad putting me in the gift shop that seemed a million miles away but I was glad to have that air conditioning hitting every bead of sweat on my brow. They gave me water and my parents said I turned really red. We'd also see the Grand Canyon caverns that made my mom claustrophobic and scared and once we saw the Grand Canyon. It was there that I had some funny tasting 'water' from my aunts thermos only to find out later it was beer. >.<

We'd also go to Ghost towns, Chloride and Calico. Old school western towns with really neat gift shops, sights to see and staged western show-downs. We saw a grand mural painted on a giant rock once where there were rattlesnake holes. My grandfather scared the shit out of my grandmother once by pretending there was a snake next to him. I think my brother gets his humour from him sometimes. :p The most memorable trip was the time we were petting a donkey and it straight-out sneezed on my brother! hahah! We bring it up sometimes and laugh.

Once we went to Rosarito, Mexico to watch my uncle in a bike race. On the way there we ran into a Mexican orphanage and my cousin Tina joked about looking for one. :p My grandfather bought me and my brother ice cream early in the morning and my dad got mad at us for getting it and made us throw it away. :( Mom says she still remembers that and feels bad. My family, my cousins and some family friends stood on the road watching all the bike riders waiting for my uncle. It was fun to see some of the funny helmets they wore. We stood at a campsite where my cousin Sabrina and I tried to sneak on lipstick but it got everywhere instead, teehee! There was a giant hole that the boys were throwing dirt into for some reason and one of the boys fell in the hole. Jer swears he pushed him in.

4th of July is always fun for me, it's my favourite holiday second to Halloween. The high school puts on a farmer's market type of event with booths of food and merch. On the outer lawn they have rides and a rock wall for the kids. They construct a big stage where they have impersonators rocking out, last year it was a very bad Madonna. My family used to run a Shakey's pizza booth with my dad's Boy Scout Troop and sell pizzas and sodas. Then I'd get a blanket, find a place amongst the hundreds of bodies on the football field grass and watch the fireworks. There's something magical about watching explosions like that. I got over my fear of loud noises on that lawn.

When me and my brother got older, we got enrolled in the Day Camp at Morgan park. We got in a lot of trouble in there and made a lot of good friends. Mike Salas, the head of the park, knew me and my brother all too well. His daughters were usually in one of our groups. My favourite substitute teacher, Ms. Roessler, ended up being one of my group leaders for a year. We were pen pals for a few years after that.

Summer also meant a week at Saint Vincent de Paul Circle V Ranch Camp. A religious camp based in LA that took us to the mountains of Santa Monica. I absolutely love it there, those were the best weeks of my life. Sleeping in tents on bunk beds, mosquito bites, pool time, a hike to the lake where we'd have a big bbq. The craft shack was my favourite place to go! Even if it was on top of a horribly big hill. The food was excellent and the nights where always fun and entertaining. My nickname there was Webly. :p When I got old enough, I was a CILT (councilor in leadership training) where I stood 2 weeks instead of one. First week me and a gal helped out two groups and the second week we had more girls and our own cabin. It was great fun! The ending ceremony was always hard for me, I'd cry cos I loved it there so much. But we'd all get a little round of leather branded with the Circle V and it'd have our name and group on the back. I have all of mine still.

Good times in the summer, it's truly freedom to me, I love that feeling. Now that I'm older and summer entails working instead of bumming around and doing whatever, I'm really thankful that I got to do all that stuff when I was younger. But I have a car now so...anything can happen I suppose! :D

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summer breeze, makes me feel fine
floating like the jasmine in my mind