Obviously, the start of the epic five days of awesomeness. I’m still uberly upset that I couldn’t go to Wrock Chicago, because it sounded amazing and I would have loved to get a whole entire day of wrock!!!! But, that can’t be changed now, so I’ll just get on to the first day of Terminus. It started with me waking up at 6:00 in the morning, getting ready/eating, and making sure I had everything packed….then the hour and fifteen minute drive to the Denver Airport (groan). Leslie almost lost her suitcase (!) but someone had just taken it off the shuttle and left it by the curb. Well…I’m sure most of y’all know the airport routine, so I won’t go into that. We left about 40 minutes late, though, and got in…pretty much on time. I met Mary Rose at the airport (squee!) and we all rode the el to the airport…
Ahem. Once at the hotel, we couldn’t get our room because the Bears had reserved rooms with late check-out and the rooms weren’t done being cleaned yet! Aaaaaargh!!!! It ended up taking us two and a half hours to get our room…but, we got a free fridge, free appetizers, free fitness room, and somehow got upgraded to two bathrooms. Mostly because Leslie is persuasive, but also because I think the Hilton Chicago now hates everyone who was at Terminus and just didn’t want to see us anymore. However, getting checked in for Terminus, then picking up my presentation and volunteer stuff, was really easy. And, volunteer training, while not super exciting, was fun because I met a few people there right off the bat.
I will fully admit that Thursday wasn’t exactly an epic day of awesome, but it was still pretty dang awesome. The arrival dinner was fantastic: amazing food, great people to talk to around me at the Kohilo table, funny speeches…and, of course, fangirling Sue!!!!!! =] I got a picture with her, and even though my eyes are half closed in the picture, I treasure it because it’s with Sue.
As I said in my “Immediately after the fact” post, Terminus felt amazing. Even on the first day, I was immediately touched by how friendly everyone was and how close the fandom was…You’d think Sue would be sick of pictures and people fangirling her, but she was a doll about it. And pretty much everyone I was with that first day talked to me, a genuine, heartfelt conversation. The joy and love and happiness that I felt that first night definitely started off the week on an awesome footing. =] It was so much fun: We did the wave (=]) and got yelled at for being too loud so did “spirit fingers” instead. Honestly, how can 1500 Harry Potter fans be quiet? And that’s what I love about this fandom. Our enthusiasm and love and joy.
13 August 2008
11 August 2008
Draco's Dad
We were having too much fun with this at the Departure Breakfast. =] All we came up with was the chorus, but we sang it to a "Lucius" and the woman loved it.
Lyrics:
Draco’s dad is really freaking rad
He’s all I want, even though he may be bad
Draco, can’t you see, you’re just not the boy for me
I know it may be mad, but
I’m in love with Draco’s dad
Squee!!!! =]
Lyrics:
Draco’s dad is really freaking rad
He’s all I want, even though he may be bad
Draco, can’t you see, you’re just not the boy for me
I know it may be mad, but
I’m in love with Draco’s dad
Squee!!!! =]
Terminus, part one: Immediately after the fact
So, it is currently 9:30 pm on Monday, August 11, 2008. And I can’t believe I’m still awake to be honest, because I’ve been getting an average of 4 hours of sleep a night, and I got much less than that last night. I haven’t even finished putting everything away and my bed is covered in clothes and souvenirs and I’m still organizing pictures. But as long as I’m this awake and willing, I really feel that I need to document my thoughts upon coming back from Terminus. And later I’ll probably go through each day if I don’t do it now.
I’m so upset that I’m home, to be honest. While I was at Terminus, suddenly, I was around people who understood me, who loved Harry Potter as much as I did, who enjoyed my eccentricities, who wanted to hug me and talk to me, who made plans to hang out with me, and who were just as sad as I was when it ended. These people, more than anyone else in my life, LOVE ME. The love in the Harry Potter fandom is the most freaking amazing thing you will ever feel. Almost every time I walked somewhere there was someone waving at me and saying “Hi!” and running to hug me. And unlike at home, these people love my eccentricities—we had so much fun doing just about everything. The Harry Potter fandom is a beautiful place—people I’d never talked to would just come up and hug me, and I was perfectly welcome to do the same to them. We’re a loving, accepting community, something I’ve honestly never felt anywhere else.
It’s pretty much impossible to pick my favorite thing that happened these past five days. I mean, these have been the most freaking awesome five days of my life. EVER. Although I definitely loved the Ball last night. It was the only dance I’ve been to where I felt absolutely like the people in the room wouldn’t judge me at all…and every single person I was dancing with made me feel welcome. We had the most amazing time!!! We made up a bunch of dance moves to look like Quidditch, and everyone else at the conference started catching on to it. We requested Muggle songs that had Wizard Rock parodies and all sang the Wrock parodies at the top of our lungs. My friends and I (only about 10 of us) started singing a new “Draco’s Mom” song during Stacy’s Mom and by the second verse, almost every person on the dance floor had caught on to the lyrics. I danced almost non-stop for 4 hours (with Alex Carpenter at one point!!!!) and when the music ended, we all kept singing: first The Leaky Song and then The Weapon we have is love. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world, to have such a gigantic group of people united over the love of one thing.
Other amazingly awesome things? Well, god, I have to be honest, there wasn’t anything that wasn’t awesome, really. Listening to Cheryl Klein talk about editing the books? AWESOME!!! Totally fangirling Sue, Melissa, and Lisa? AWESOME!!! Dancing and singing along to The Whomping Willows and Draco and the Malfoys Friday night at the North Star Live? AWESOME!!! The Squee Chat coffee with all of us on about 4 or 5 hours of sleep? AWESOME!!! My Luna and Neville Intersection with some pretty awesome close friends who loved me for who I am? AWESOME!!! Going to a bunch of roundtables and discussing Luna and the trio and Dumbledore’s Army and Wizard Rock and Neville? While having everyone in the room genuinely interested in what you’re saying? AWESOME!!! My first ever Live PotterCast? Definitely AWESOME. But even more awesome? Getting to participate in “Guess that Book” (hopefully it’ll be on the podcast!), getting the answer right (squee!!!), getting my PotterCast shirt signed by all four….Oh my geez, I love PotterCast, and they were all so amazingly friendly! More awesome that night? Definitely dancing to the Mudbloods. =] Listening to Melissa’s reading of her book and almost crying, and then talking to her for about an hour and a half afterwards about it. Then, having genuine discussion during my presentation Sunday and finding out that people actually liked what I did? FREAKING AMAZING!!!! And a definite favorite late night activity: making fun of the Harry Potter movies in ways only us HUGE Harry Potter fans understood and laughing hysterically.
There’s just so much stuff that I’ve done in the past few days that have changed my life. I never thought I’d make such close friends in the short period of five days…friends who love me more than people who’ve known me for 10 years. Suddenly knowing now that there are people who want to talk to me and enjoy being around me and understand the inside jokes I make…god, LIFE CHANGING, most definitely. I mean, if you don’t know the fandom, you can’t understand, but everyone in it is just so amazing about talking to you and being genuinely interested. Everyone at Terminus that I talked to was genuinely, honestly nice to me. And, can I just say that Melissa, Frak, John, and Sue are AMAZING?!?! They were so friendly to me after the live PotterCast. And, all the wizard rockers? SQUEE!!!! They adore their fans so much!!!
Honestly, I somehow managed to hold myself together during the Departure Breakfast and the goodbyes this morning, but once I got home…The tears started. This has been so awesome (I know I’ve used that word a lot…but we’re MADE OF AWESOME, okay?) And I’ve had so little sleep the past few nights that it really just feels like one really long day with a couple short naps in between…every once in a while I took a shower and maybe ate some food. (But to be honest I didn’t eat much at the con because there’s NO TIME!) I got about 3 hours of sleep last night and even though it’s almost 11:00 body time, somehow I’m still awake. The energy that is radiated by all my fandom friends is still with me.
I just can’t believe it’s over now. It just zipped past, and I won’t see any of these people for a long time. Most of them live in Jersey, though, so I’m going to try to go out there during Christmas and wrock out with them. =]
It’s just so different not being at Terminus. I’m somehow even lonelier than I was before Terminus because now I know the true feeling of NOT being lonely and having people around me all the time. And no one understands me nearly as well outside of the fandom….I mean, when I was walking through the airport in my PotterCast shirt and Ravenclaw tie and butterbeer cork necklace and wand and all, everyone gave me the weirdest looks, and it made me feel automatically sad to be away.
I suppose it’s like the Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls song, though, right? “I'll keep on smiling, From the times I had with them.” =]
To all of you who were at Terminus:
I love y'all so much I can't even really put it into words.
Thank you so much for all the fun times, the laughs, the inside jokes, the discussions, the staying up until 3:30 in the morning, the having coffee together and squeeing on 4 hours of sleep, the breaking chandeliers, the dancing, the wrock, the making fun of Harry Potter movies, the hugs, and the awesome LOVE.
So stay in touch, everyone. Our love is never-ending. And…Wizard rock: It’s chandelier-breaking awesome!!! =] I love y’all so much and I miss everyone so much already! *hugs*
I’m so upset that I’m home, to be honest. While I was at Terminus, suddenly, I was around people who understood me, who loved Harry Potter as much as I did, who enjoyed my eccentricities, who wanted to hug me and talk to me, who made plans to hang out with me, and who were just as sad as I was when it ended. These people, more than anyone else in my life, LOVE ME. The love in the Harry Potter fandom is the most freaking amazing thing you will ever feel. Almost every time I walked somewhere there was someone waving at me and saying “Hi!” and running to hug me. And unlike at home, these people love my eccentricities—we had so much fun doing just about everything. The Harry Potter fandom is a beautiful place—people I’d never talked to would just come up and hug me, and I was perfectly welcome to do the same to them. We’re a loving, accepting community, something I’ve honestly never felt anywhere else.
It’s pretty much impossible to pick my favorite thing that happened these past five days. I mean, these have been the most freaking awesome five days of my life. EVER. Although I definitely loved the Ball last night. It was the only dance I’ve been to where I felt absolutely like the people in the room wouldn’t judge me at all…and every single person I was dancing with made me feel welcome. We had the most amazing time!!! We made up a bunch of dance moves to look like Quidditch, and everyone else at the conference started catching on to it. We requested Muggle songs that had Wizard Rock parodies and all sang the Wrock parodies at the top of our lungs. My friends and I (only about 10 of us) started singing a new “Draco’s Mom” song during Stacy’s Mom and by the second verse, almost every person on the dance floor had caught on to the lyrics. I danced almost non-stop for 4 hours (with Alex Carpenter at one point!!!!) and when the music ended, we all kept singing: first The Leaky Song and then The Weapon we have is love. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world, to have such a gigantic group of people united over the love of one thing.
Other amazingly awesome things? Well, god, I have to be honest, there wasn’t anything that wasn’t awesome, really. Listening to Cheryl Klein talk about editing the books? AWESOME!!! Totally fangirling Sue, Melissa, and Lisa? AWESOME!!! Dancing and singing along to The Whomping Willows and Draco and the Malfoys Friday night at the North Star Live? AWESOME!!! The Squee Chat coffee with all of us on about 4 or 5 hours of sleep? AWESOME!!! My Luna and Neville Intersection with some pretty awesome close friends who loved me for who I am? AWESOME!!! Going to a bunch of roundtables and discussing Luna and the trio and Dumbledore’s Army and Wizard Rock and Neville? While having everyone in the room genuinely interested in what you’re saying? AWESOME!!! My first ever Live PotterCast? Definitely AWESOME. But even more awesome? Getting to participate in “Guess that Book” (hopefully it’ll be on the podcast!), getting the answer right (squee!!!), getting my PotterCast shirt signed by all four….Oh my geez, I love PotterCast, and they were all so amazingly friendly! More awesome that night? Definitely dancing to the Mudbloods. =] Listening to Melissa’s reading of her book and almost crying, and then talking to her for about an hour and a half afterwards about it. Then, having genuine discussion during my presentation Sunday and finding out that people actually liked what I did? FREAKING AMAZING!!!! And a definite favorite late night activity: making fun of the Harry Potter movies in ways only us HUGE Harry Potter fans understood and laughing hysterically.
There’s just so much stuff that I’ve done in the past few days that have changed my life. I never thought I’d make such close friends in the short period of five days…friends who love me more than people who’ve known me for 10 years. Suddenly knowing now that there are people who want to talk to me and enjoy being around me and understand the inside jokes I make…god, LIFE CHANGING, most definitely. I mean, if you don’t know the fandom, you can’t understand, but everyone in it is just so amazing about talking to you and being genuinely interested. Everyone at Terminus that I talked to was genuinely, honestly nice to me. And, can I just say that Melissa, Frak, John, and Sue are AMAZING?!?! They were so friendly to me after the live PotterCast. And, all the wizard rockers? SQUEE!!!! They adore their fans so much!!!
Honestly, I somehow managed to hold myself together during the Departure Breakfast and the goodbyes this morning, but once I got home…The tears started. This has been so awesome (I know I’ve used that word a lot…but we’re MADE OF AWESOME, okay?) And I’ve had so little sleep the past few nights that it really just feels like one really long day with a couple short naps in between…every once in a while I took a shower and maybe ate some food. (But to be honest I didn’t eat much at the con because there’s NO TIME!) I got about 3 hours of sleep last night and even though it’s almost 11:00 body time, somehow I’m still awake. The energy that is radiated by all my fandom friends is still with me.
I just can’t believe it’s over now. It just zipped past, and I won’t see any of these people for a long time. Most of them live in Jersey, though, so I’m going to try to go out there during Christmas and wrock out with them. =]
It’s just so different not being at Terminus. I’m somehow even lonelier than I was before Terminus because now I know the true feeling of NOT being lonely and having people around me all the time. And no one understands me nearly as well outside of the fandom….I mean, when I was walking through the airport in my PotterCast shirt and Ravenclaw tie and butterbeer cork necklace and wand and all, everyone gave me the weirdest looks, and it made me feel automatically sad to be away.
I suppose it’s like the Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls song, though, right? “I'll keep on smiling, From the times I had with them.” =]
To all of you who were at Terminus:
I love y'all so much I can't even really put it into words.
Thank you so much for all the fun times, the laughs, the inside jokes, the discussions, the staying up until 3:30 in the morning, the having coffee together and squeeing on 4 hours of sleep, the breaking chandeliers, the dancing, the wrock, the making fun of Harry Potter movies, the hugs, and the awesome LOVE.
So stay in touch, everyone. Our love is never-ending. And…Wizard rock: It’s chandelier-breaking awesome!!! =] I love y’all so much and I miss everyone so much already! *hugs*
06 August 2008
It's the monsoon season here in Colorado...
Seriously. Past two evenings, it has absolutely POURED rain. Today there was even a flood warning for El Paso County!!!
Yesterday some of the thunder was so loud (meaning the lightning was so close) that it was making the entire house shake! It was vaguely scary, and I made a point to stay off the computer during that storm. Today's rain started out as just that: rain. But, now it's 9:00 and there's quite a bit of lightning and thunder...I usually like thunderstorms. I don't like them in two cases: When I'm outside (especially in the middle of a parking lot/field) at camp and....at night. At night they're just a little bit creepier because I can actually really see the lightning flash and....well, I admit to being a bit frightened of lightning! I know people who've lost friends to it, and I don't like lightning. *sigh*
I do, however, adore the rain. So this rain has been making me very, very happy (as if I needed anymore happiness in my life right now) *winces as an especially bright lightning flash is right outside her window*
Let's hope I can sleep through this tonight....Cheers!
Yesterday some of the thunder was so loud (meaning the lightning was so close) that it was making the entire house shake! It was vaguely scary, and I made a point to stay off the computer during that storm. Today's rain started out as just that: rain. But, now it's 9:00 and there's quite a bit of lightning and thunder...I usually like thunderstorms. I don't like them in two cases: When I'm outside (especially in the middle of a parking lot/field) at camp and....at night. At night they're just a little bit creepier because I can actually really see the lightning flash and....well, I admit to being a bit frightened of lightning! I know people who've lost friends to it, and I don't like lightning. *sigh*
I do, however, adore the rain. So this rain has been making me very, very happy (as if I needed anymore happiness in my life right now) *winces as an especially bright lightning flash is right outside her window*
Let's hope I can sleep through this tonight....Cheers!
8/6: In which Kat reveals more of her geekiness and eccentricities
Okay....so......time for more random information on my life! =]
Yesterday I basically spent a lot of time reading and packing for Terminus. I've been reading A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man who Dreamed It by Stephen Kinzer. I know, not a normal book for a 15 and a half year old teenage girl to be reading. But I'm definitely NOT normal. It's mostly being used for reference for my novel about the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and it's definitely been really helpful with that--giving me a lot of new ideas for the novel as well as an awful lot of new insights on the genocide, what caused it, and the feelings coming from both the Hutu and Tutsi. But, more than that, I confess to finding the whole plight in Rwanda and Africa to be fascinating. Horrible, yes, but fascinating. I know it's strange (really, I do) but I can't help it. It's a beautifully written book, and I'm enjoying it very very much. Other time of the day was spent packing some stuff up for Terminus as well as doing a final edit of my paper (about time I did it, really). I also had an orthodontist appointment yesterday which was completely pointless: I waited in a chair for about 15 minutes and had a one minute check-up in which I was told to move on to just wearing my retainer at night. *rolls eyes* Oh, and it was also my half-birthday yesterday. Which is....not really exciting at all, but I just thought I'd share it with y'all!!!
Ahem, but now for the exciting news................I'M WRITING THIS JOURNAL ON MY BEAUTIFUL, NEW HP LAPTOP!!!!!!!!!!!! =] =] Squee!!!!!!!! Again, I can't thank Dad and Leslie enough for being willing to buy me a new laptop since my Thinkpad broke. I'm still insisting on paying a portion of it, but they were super nice about the whole thing, and....well, just THANK YOU. Because this laptop works so much better, has a bazillion features, and since it's new....will probably last me into college! I have finally finished transfering my documents and pictures and (Most importantly *wink*) PotterCasts over to the new laptop. It took forever, but I'm not complaining! Eeeeee...It's just so beautiful!!!! =] Again, so much thanks comes from me to Dad and Leslie for the laptop.
On to less exciting stuff. Today was school registration. Yay? I got my planner (which is absolutely hideous and will be worked on intently by me), bought my yearbook, got my school picture taken (and it isn't half-bad!). And, I'd thought I didn't have a locker partner. But, Michelle and Kelsey tried two lockers, both of which were broken. They got fed up, and now all three of us are in the same locker in senior hall!!! Squee!!!!!!! The best part about school registration was getting to see my friends: Joel, Michelle, Kelsey, Malia, Hannah, Emily, and Macy. I hadn't seen any of them all summer and I haven't seen any of my friends since camp ended on July 11th. It felt so amazingly good to have people to talk to, and to have these people excited to see and talk to me. =] I know that's probably normal for most of y'all, but remember that I'm a Luna and don't have many friends. So I really cherish every single time I get to be happy and crazy with my small group of friends!
(In other news, Leslie's friend Arnie came for dinner on Monday. It was nice to talk to him because he does stuff with energy conservation as well as in Africa.) Anyway, I should probably go do more packing for Terminus, actually PRINT out the final draft of my paper for Terminus, and....just because I'm geeky, I'm sure I'll read about 150 more pages of A Thousand Hills.
O my geez, Terminus is tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! =]
In case you didn't notice, I'm really happy today, and I'm sending y'all some very happy thoughts because of this. Be careful of bursting into Squee/Wrock songs and be warned that this happiness may be overpowering. ;) Cheers!
Yesterday I basically spent a lot of time reading and packing for Terminus. I've been reading A Thousand Hills: Rwanda's Rebirth and the Man who Dreamed It by Stephen Kinzer. I know, not a normal book for a 15 and a half year old teenage girl to be reading. But I'm definitely NOT normal. It's mostly being used for reference for my novel about the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and it's definitely been really helpful with that--giving me a lot of new ideas for the novel as well as an awful lot of new insights on the genocide, what caused it, and the feelings coming from both the Hutu and Tutsi. But, more than that, I confess to finding the whole plight in Rwanda and Africa to be fascinating. Horrible, yes, but fascinating. I know it's strange (really, I do) but I can't help it. It's a beautifully written book, and I'm enjoying it very very much. Other time of the day was spent packing some stuff up for Terminus as well as doing a final edit of my paper (about time I did it, really). I also had an orthodontist appointment yesterday which was completely pointless: I waited in a chair for about 15 minutes and had a one minute check-up in which I was told to move on to just wearing my retainer at night. *rolls eyes* Oh, and it was also my half-birthday yesterday. Which is....not really exciting at all, but I just thought I'd share it with y'all!!!
Ahem, but now for the exciting news................I'M WRITING THIS JOURNAL ON MY BEAUTIFUL, NEW HP LAPTOP!!!!!!!!!!!! =] =] Squee!!!!!!!! Again, I can't thank Dad and Leslie enough for being willing to buy me a new laptop since my Thinkpad broke. I'm still insisting on paying a portion of it, but they were super nice about the whole thing, and....well, just THANK YOU. Because this laptop works so much better, has a bazillion features, and since it's new....will probably last me into college! I have finally finished transfering my documents and pictures and (Most importantly *wink*) PotterCasts over to the new laptop. It took forever, but I'm not complaining! Eeeeee...It's just so beautiful!!!! =] Again, so much thanks comes from me to Dad and Leslie for the laptop.
On to less exciting stuff. Today was school registration. Yay? I got my planner (which is absolutely hideous and will be worked on intently by me), bought my yearbook, got my school picture taken (and it isn't half-bad!). And, I'd thought I didn't have a locker partner. But, Michelle and Kelsey tried two lockers, both of which were broken. They got fed up, and now all three of us are in the same locker in senior hall!!! Squee!!!!!!! The best part about school registration was getting to see my friends: Joel, Michelle, Kelsey, Malia, Hannah, Emily, and Macy. I hadn't seen any of them all summer and I haven't seen any of my friends since camp ended on July 11th. It felt so amazingly good to have people to talk to, and to have these people excited to see and talk to me. =] I know that's probably normal for most of y'all, but remember that I'm a Luna and don't have many friends. So I really cherish every single time I get to be happy and crazy with my small group of friends!
(In other news, Leslie's friend Arnie came for dinner on Monday. It was nice to talk to him because he does stuff with energy conservation as well as in Africa.) Anyway, I should probably go do more packing for Terminus, actually PRINT out the final draft of my paper for Terminus, and....just because I'm geeky, I'm sure I'll read about 150 more pages of A Thousand Hills.
O my geez, Terminus is tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! =]
In case you didn't notice, I'm really happy today, and I'm sending y'all some very happy thoughts because of this. Be careful of bursting into Squee/Wrock songs and be warned that this happiness may be overpowering. ;) Cheers!
04 August 2008
Hiking and random happy news
Okay, so as I mentioned, my family hiked a 14,196 foot mountain yesterday--Mt. Belford. We got up at 4:30 in the morning (and I'd only gotten about 5 hours of sleep), drank a lot of coffee, ate some small breakfast, were hiking by 6:15 am, on the summit at 10:15 and back down at 2:00. =] It was going to be two fourteeners, but by complete bad luck the clouds appeared around 10:15-10:30, and it was looked pretty bad. We weren't moving too fast, and getting caught in a thunderstorm above timberline where you're the highest things around...NOT a good idea. And we would've been pretty miserable walking that exposed in the rain--we ended up getting rained on while walking back down, and if we'd hiked the second one we would've been...well, about 1/8th of the way back down and really miserable. But it was so much fun, to be honest. It's an absolutely amazing feeling to be on the top of a mountain that high!!!! You just look all around you at the scenery and the valley below. What really put it in perspective for me was looking down from the top at this small river along the trail that seemed an awful lot bigger when walking next to it, but from the top is just a thin line of blue water. And, when you're looking up at the mountain from the 'bottom,' it seems so daunting. I mean, you stand there thinking, "wow, I'm going to climb that?!" But then there's the amazing feeling when you stand on the summit of a mountain and proceed to think, "Oh my god, I really did climb up that whole way!"
I was pretty exhausted when we got home yesterday, though--I pretty much unpacked stuff, took a shower, and collapsed on my bed!!! And boy did I sleep like a baby....There's a way to get a good night's sleep: Hike for about 8 hours! But it was so much fun, and such a great accomplishment--2 14ers down, only 52 more in Colorado to go!
Just for fun: Kat's hiking a fourteener survival tips
1. Get up early. Even if you don't want to...Believe me, you'd much rather wake up tired and drink coffee than get stuck in a big thunderstorm.
2. Don't go too fast!!! Seriously, you'll walk a lot slower than you probably do just hiking on mostly flat ground, but you're losing oxygen and going up the whole way, so it's okay. It's not a race, and if someone passes you, let them. You don't know them, and who cares if they're going faster?
3. Wear sunscreen. Up above timberline, at 14,000 feet, that sun's pretty dang strong. So reapply it and don't get sunburned!!!
4. Don't look too far ahead of you. If you do, you'll likely get somewhat discouraged about how far away the summit seems. It's probably not as far as your brain is making it seem anyway. But just to be safe, look more like 10 feet in front of you so you don't realize how much elevation you're gaining.
5. Don't think about how much less oxygen you have. If you don't think too much about it, you won't notice it as much.
6. DO NOT get fooled by false summits. And if you do, don't get discouraged by them. The real summit isn't far away either, and if you just climbed to the false summit, you are perfectly capable of making it to the real one.
7. Look around you, because then you'll be distracted by the beauty of the mountain you're climbing and the valley below. Just appreciate nature, and focus on it, not any amount of pain you may be in.
8. Talk to other hikers if you see them. They'll be friendly and may have good tips, especially if you're going up and they're going back down.
9. Allow yourself to have fun!!! =] Fun, after all, is what is important in life.
10. Know that you have accomplished something really big when you stand on that summit, and feel good about it. It's a powerful feeling and very energizing.
Yay! But, to be honest, I wasn't any pain at all hiking yesterday and I didn't have any problems with the lack of oxygen. My feet were a little sore on the way down and I got a small blister on my heel on the way down because my feet were slipping more. But I personally think I'm in much better shape than I was on Quandry...and it felt a lot better to reach that summit not in pain.
Pictures:
Mt. Belford--This is the mountain we climbed up. This picture was taken about halfway through the hike, too, so we'd already climbed a very considerable amount!!!
Us on the summit--Okay, so I've posted pictures of me on here before, but just to be sure, I'm the youngest one in the blue shirt on the far left.
The view--This is the view from the top. *sighs happily* Isn't it beautiful?
In other news...
It's Obama's birthday!!!!!!!!!!!................. *crickets* Well, it is, and I just wanted to wish him a very Happy Birthday and good luck in the elections!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand........2 days until Terminus! Squee!!!!!!!
Well, Cheers everyone! =]
I was pretty exhausted when we got home yesterday, though--I pretty much unpacked stuff, took a shower, and collapsed on my bed!!! And boy did I sleep like a baby....There's a way to get a good night's sleep: Hike for about 8 hours! But it was so much fun, and such a great accomplishment--2 14ers down, only 52 more in Colorado to go!
Just for fun: Kat's hiking a fourteener survival tips
1. Get up early. Even if you don't want to...Believe me, you'd much rather wake up tired and drink coffee than get stuck in a big thunderstorm.
2. Don't go too fast!!! Seriously, you'll walk a lot slower than you probably do just hiking on mostly flat ground, but you're losing oxygen and going up the whole way, so it's okay. It's not a race, and if someone passes you, let them. You don't know them, and who cares if they're going faster?
3. Wear sunscreen. Up above timberline, at 14,000 feet, that sun's pretty dang strong. So reapply it and don't get sunburned!!!
4. Don't look too far ahead of you. If you do, you'll likely get somewhat discouraged about how far away the summit seems. It's probably not as far as your brain is making it seem anyway. But just to be safe, look more like 10 feet in front of you so you don't realize how much elevation you're gaining.
5. Don't think about how much less oxygen you have. If you don't think too much about it, you won't notice it as much.
6. DO NOT get fooled by false summits. And if you do, don't get discouraged by them. The real summit isn't far away either, and if you just climbed to the false summit, you are perfectly capable of making it to the real one.
7. Look around you, because then you'll be distracted by the beauty of the mountain you're climbing and the valley below. Just appreciate nature, and focus on it, not any amount of pain you may be in.
8. Talk to other hikers if you see them. They'll be friendly and may have good tips, especially if you're going up and they're going back down.
9. Allow yourself to have fun!!! =] Fun, after all, is what is important in life.
10. Know that you have accomplished something really big when you stand on that summit, and feel good about it. It's a powerful feeling and very energizing.
Yay! But, to be honest, I wasn't any pain at all hiking yesterday and I didn't have any problems with the lack of oxygen. My feet were a little sore on the way down and I got a small blister on my heel on the way down because my feet were slipping more. But I personally think I'm in much better shape than I was on Quandry...and it felt a lot better to reach that summit not in pain.
Pictures:
Mt. Belford--This is the mountain we climbed up. This picture was taken about halfway through the hike, too, so we'd already climbed a very considerable amount!!!
Us on the summit--Okay, so I've posted pictures of me on here before, but just to be sure, I'm the youngest one in the blue shirt on the far left.
The view--This is the view from the top. *sighs happily* Isn't it beautiful?
In other news...
It's Obama's birthday!!!!!!!!!!!................. *crickets* Well, it is, and I just wanted to wish him a very Happy Birthday and good luck in the elections!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand........2 days until Terminus! Squee!!!!!!!
Well, Cheers everyone! =]
01 August 2008
Happy Lammas!!!!
Today is the first of August, which means today is Lammas!!!!!!!!!!!................(insert your confused stare here) Okay, yes, no one knows what that is. ;D So I'll explain! Well, it's one of the 8 Pagan/Wiccan holidays or "sabbats." And it...well, it celebrates/symbolizes two things: the first harvest of the year as well as the sacrifice of the Corn God (recognized as part of the Sun God). That probably doesn't make any sense, but it's my religion. Though, I haven't done a ritual for any of the holidays in the longest time, and it makes me feel somewhat bad. *sigh* However, I am making a point of starting my High Priestess training (a year and a day!!!) on Samhain (Halloween, our new year) this year. Okay. Er....I'm going to stop rambling about my religion that no one else understands and get on with stuff y'all possibly actually care about. Ahem.
So, the first of August also means that school is in 14 days. UGH!!!! I mean, I sort of like school because it's the only way I'd ever have friends and I really honestly kind of enjoy the stuff we learn, but I'm not looking forward to waking up at 5:45 every day and getting a bunch of homework and essays and basically having no free time. *sigh*
Er...well, I went to Target with my dad last night and got the last few things I'd need for Terminus: hair clips, razor replacement heads, and an iPod armband/case (not exclusively for Terminus). Yeah, random list. I couldn't find any blister block. =[ I very rarely get blisters, though, my feet are so callused that it's near impossible for me to get a blister! And today Leslie and I went and looked at some laptops at Office Depot--there was an HP one I really liked but I think it's too expensive and it doesn't come with Microsoft Office, which would be another 100 dollars or so. *sighs again*
We're hiking Oxford/Belford on Sunday! =] (Two fourteeners, just FYI) But I really want someone to go to Water World with on the 6th. Because I really want to go sometime this summer, but I don't want to go just with all the people Elyse works with because it would be rather...awkward, I think. *sighs yet again* (wow, I've been doing that A LOT today)
6 and a half days until Terminus!!!! =] Cheers!
So, the first of August also means that school is in 14 days. UGH!!!! I mean, I sort of like school because it's the only way I'd ever have friends and I really honestly kind of enjoy the stuff we learn, but I'm not looking forward to waking up at 5:45 every day and getting a bunch of homework and essays and basically having no free time. *sigh*
Er...well, I went to Target with my dad last night and got the last few things I'd need for Terminus: hair clips, razor replacement heads, and an iPod armband/case (not exclusively for Terminus). Yeah, random list. I couldn't find any blister block. =[ I very rarely get blisters, though, my feet are so callused that it's near impossible for me to get a blister! And today Leslie and I went and looked at some laptops at Office Depot--there was an HP one I really liked but I think it's too expensive and it doesn't come with Microsoft Office, which would be another 100 dollars or so. *sighs again*
We're hiking Oxford/Belford on Sunday! =] (Two fourteeners, just FYI) But I really want someone to go to Water World with on the 6th. Because I really want to go sometime this summer, but I don't want to go just with all the people Elyse works with because it would be rather...awkward, I think. *sighs yet again* (wow, I've been doing that A LOT today)
6 and a half days until Terminus!!!! =] Cheers!
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