On the Loose!!

We are not animal people in my house. Or I guess, more accurately, we are not people in favor of animals in the house. At least not my parents. 

We didn't do the whole "pet thing" when I was a kid - except for occasionally taking home a class pet over break, and an accidental beta fish, we've had a strict no-pets policy.

And then this happened:

My parents got Little J a hamster for her birthday. Which, at seven, would have sent me over the moon too. It's had a lot of names: Honey. Barbie. It's Princess for now, because it lives in a bright, plastic castle.

Good grief, Charlie Brown. (I'm not the only one who caught a bit of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" on ABC now, am I??)

Jackie started calling it "Artist," as in, "The Artist formerly known as Princess." Personally, I think that's hilarious. Only right now it might be a little dicey, with the whole "formerly" thing.

You see, Princess/Honey/Barbie/Artist is on the lam. Missing in action. AWOL. Apparently she broke out of her pink and blue palace on Wednesday night and she's been on the loose ever since!! And trust me, a little hamster in a pink palace sounds a lot more appealing than an AWOL one...

Tomorrow, I fly back home for the weekend, and I really hope I don't find a dead rodent anywhere. For Little J's sake. And for mine.

Mika Hit Hollywood! (And So Did We!)

So last Friday, I threw out a trivia question. About shoes.

Q: Who is the only man for whom Christian Louboutin has designed a custom line of shoes?

The ANSWER, almost a week later:

MIKA!

Apparently, he and Christian Louboutin are pretty tight. So tight, the master himself designed and handcrafted a line of shoes just for Mika, including the blue studded ones above and a pair of silver high tops, and of course Mika loves them. Mika and I have that in common. I don't think I (or any woman, for that matter) have seen a pair of shoes by Christian Louboutin I didn't like. 

You know what else Mika and I have in common? We were both at the Hollywood Palladium last week!! 

If you are unfamiliar with Mika, check out my right hand column. I've posted a clip of "Grace Kelly," one of my favorite Mika songs, and one of his most well-known.  Give it a listen while you scroll through the day's posts.

And okay. I PAID forty-some dollars to be there, and he EARNED thousands of dollars. But still. I saw Mika on the North American leg of his "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" tour!!

And of course I wasn't alone -- I went with Bridget, my roommate Hye Young, and our friend Taylor. 

The decision to wear the crazy stuff was made while I was in my Friday afternoon American Lit class (I really don't think I have anything neon anyway...). Hye Young literally made a drive-by pick-up by my building, and I jumped in the car and we were off!

We met Fletcher there. He may have been the only straight man there. He doesn't know that yet though. Poor Fletch. Just wait.

Speaking of waiting...

We got there super early to get a good number and get right up to the front of the stage when the show started. So we had a while to chill...

..which would've gotten REALLY boring.

  Except we were in Hollywood. 

On Sunset Blvd. 

So somehow we managed to pass the time.

And then the SHOW STARTED. 

We got RIGHT UP TO THE FRONT. We were super psyched. Except maybe Fletcher. He just realized he was the only straight male in the building, and he felt duped.

  (We're sorry, Fletcher. But we really needed another driver...Um, is 'thank you' enough for subjecting you to hours of waiting, and then hours of screaming girls and gay men?)

But then MIKA TOOK THE STAGE.

Did I mention we were WAY CLOSE?? 

Well, we were. And we only got CLOSER!

Hye Young ended up getting some pretty good shots, too. 

Mika. He's kind of a superstar. 

At least it's totally that kind of vibe, you know? And he's got real talent. Something like five octave range or whatever, and classically trained in opera before he started singing things he wrote himself. 

It was kind of an amazing show.

And kind of an amazing day.

Late with Kate!

[I wrote this last night, and forgot to post it before I konked OUT for the night. Enjoy!]

Tonight, I'm blogging for your entertainment. And maybe taking photo booth pics. The challenge: write two papers, study for a geology midterm, and maybe even get some sleep. The post? Done in two minute breaks: a quick update, corny pic, and a little commentary.

Readysetgo!

This is what I look like at 12:48 am.

I just finished making a study guide for that lovely practice midterm. I've also consolidated the in-class "clicker" review questions with the study guide based on the test.

"Summer Girls" by LFO is playing on my iTunes. Oh, '90s...

"New Kids on the Block had a bunch of hits/Chinese food makes me sick/And I think its fly when girls stop by for the summer/for the summer..."

1:21 am.

Catholicism in the US Research Paper?

HANDLED!!

Bringin' it to Fr. Heft tomorrow so he can give me his preliminary opinion on the paper. I personally think it's awesome as it is, but considering what happened with the last paper (don't even get me started) I'm not taking anything for granted this time around.

(And please ignore the utter disaster that is my personal appearance. It is late, I am stressed, and the pictures were taken with my webcam in terrible lighting. Thank you. Thus endeth my disclaimer.)

NOW PLAYING: "The Best Thing" by Reliant K. A recent favorite, straight from College Kate's work out mix (speaking of, College Kate should probably start working out to it, as opposed to just studying to it...)

Stayin' hydrated at 1:54 am. Just re-reviewed the geology study guide.

Here's to ROCKIN' that geology test! 

(I am a giant cornball. I really can't help myself sometimes...)

And that paper for "British Literature to 1800"? Done! It's an examination of Milton's treatment of free will in Paradise Lost, in case you were wondering.

NOW PLAYING on my iTunes?

"...G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S....Flyin' first class up in the sky/Poppin' champagne living my life in the fast lane/I won't change..."

I seriously have the most random assortment of music EVER.

What I Needed To Hear

Today, after nearly losing my mind last night about the impossible week that lies ahead, I went to my American Literature class and totally lost myself in Melville. It was heavenly. (Have I mentioned I am a complete literature nerd?)

That enjoyable "down time" would have been enough to get me back into gear for geology studying. But Professor Kemp does one better: He's graded our essays, the ones that are worth 25% of our semester grade.

I wrote mine on Franklin and Jefferson's contrasting opinions on Deism's practical and theoretical applications, and the impact their opinions had on the development of American philosophy and government.

On the last page, in green ink:

"Excellent! Superbly intelligent. A."

Go Time!

Some days you just know it's go-time. And you can wake up and get things done and not be tired and generally just own the whole day. Every moment is productive. You're never tempted to stop and just surf the web, or check your news filters just to see what's happened. You have a list of what you need to do, and you GET. IT. DONE.

Today was that day.

Woke up twelve minutes before my alarm -- that's bonus time, friend! Bonus time I desperately needed before this insanity:

8am - Met with my TA.
8:45 - Impromptu group review session with TA.
10 - Catholicism in the US. .
12noon - American Literature.
1:30pm - Phone interview.
Study. Study. Study.
Paper.
Study Group.
Blog for five seconds.
Study study study study study....

Wish me luck.

What I'm Doing Today

So no big post about yesterday's outting, or my mental breakdown about upcoming tests/papers because I just have so much work to do.

THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING ALL DAY, in preparation for Tuesday's geology midterm:


Note the lovely bars and metal grate covering my bedroom window. And the lovely view of the wall of the building right outside. How jealous are you right now?

THIS is what I WILL be doing all of TOMORROW:


More geology!!

AND MONDAY, starting at 8am, when I go to meet with my TA for a private review/tutoring session:



You get the idea.

Also, what is the worst view YOU have ever had out of a window some where you've lived?

BLOG-IT! Book Club: Moby Dick, Part II

So I know I said this would be short -- but it was a LONG book, okay? And now that you've been acquainted with all these crazies, I think we'll just pick up where we left off, with...

..MOBY DICK! The giant white sperm whale with a taste for human flesh!

Here's some stuff that's been said about M.Dizzle:


And here's my fave.

It starts out:

"ALL THAT MOST MADDENS AND TORMENTS; ALL THAT STIRS UP THE LEES OF THINGS; ALL WITH MALICE IN IT; ALL THAT CRACKS THE SINEWS AND CAKES THE BRAIN; ALL THE SUBTLE DEMONISMS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT --

[continues in Post-it]


I love that. Most of all I love the phrase "ALL THAT CRACKS THE SINEWS AND CAKES THE BRAIN." How great is that? Morbid, yes, but so vivid without getting all metaphorical or thematic (for once in the entire novel). It is a long, long book with many pages and countless words, but those eight words, in that order, are by far my favorite. Way better than "Call me Ishmael."

(I told you know one reads this book -- the only thing anyone remembers from it is the first line!! If they'd read farther or thought harder, people would be saying "CAKES THE BRAIN!" instead. You heard it hear first, since I'm the first person to finish the dang thing since Melville wrote it).

BACK TO THE BOOK. So it's long (have I mentioned it's long?) but extremely well written. All bajillion pages are packed with exactly the kind of stuff we English majors love ("CAKES THE BRAIN!").

But nothing really interesting happens - aside from Queequeg, in a fit of morbidity and possibly swine flu, carving all his tattoos into a coffin pre-made for him -- UNTIL THE LAST THREE CHAPTERS!!

So after you've waded through 129 chapters of Ahab's insanity, you get to this:


THE EPIC FIGHT SCENE, BABY!! IT'S (FINALLY) HERE!!!

In it, Moby Dick goes all Sissy-Spacek-in-CARRIE (just without the pigs blood. Or the suicide. But still. This probably WAS Melville's delusional dream) and kills several boatloads of people.

Ironically, Moby (CARRIE!) Dick doesn't kill Ahab. He's accidentally harpooned by his own boat. (He's there on the left - HARPOONED!!).

Ishmael floats away on Queequeg's coffin (Q's not in it, his body is at sea) and is later rescued.

Moby Dick swims away in victory.

As for the Pequod's crew, and all those other boats that came after Moby Dick...

...EVERYONE DIES.

And I am not even kidding. Even Queequeg dies, which really bummed me out.

The Inaugural BLOG-IT! Book Club: Moby Dick, Part I

SO I READ MOBY DICK. I really did. All 133 chapters and gazillion pages (I'm serious about all those chapters) and let me tell you -- nothing REALLY exciting happens 'til the VERY, VERY, END, but there are plenty of wackos to keep you entertained in the mean time.

Here are some of them now:


(You can click it to make it bigger and see my lovely artwork up close! And yes, these were doodled on a Post-It note. Hence the name "BLOG-it! Book Club" -- aren't I clever?)

That happy, regular old joe up to the left is ISHMAEL. He's the narrator, but he doesn't really do much. Notably, he started the book with the line "CALL ME ISHMAEL," which seems pretty regular, but a lot of people think it's a big deal. I don't, because the very next thing he says is, "SOME YEARS AGO...I THOUGHT I WOULD SAIL ABOUT A LITTLE," which is pretty random right after introducing yourself, and makes the start seem all choppy.

(Next time you are talking to someone who is faking they read Moby Dick - trust me, they didn't - and say something about the beginning, throw that little morsel out and feel intellectually superior. From College Kate to you, friends.)

ANYWAY, THAT HOMEBOY there next to our pal Ish is QUEEQUEG. He's inked. He's also from the South Pacific, which kinda freaked Ish out at first, but then they became BFFs.

They went off to become whalers and work for CAPTAIN AHAB, the yoo-hoo with the pirate hat. He has a peg-leg made out of a whale jaw because he's an obsessive egomaniac whose compulsions LITERALLY sink the ship. More than one actually.

STARBUCK is his first-mate. Starbuck considers killing Ahab at one point because he realizes Ahab is nuts and is going to kill them all, but doesn't. Other than that, he just has a really cool name. I gave him a striped shirt because he reminds me of an emo Mr. Smee from Peter Pan.

The fella with the mean stink-eye is Crazy Pip. Pip went bonkers when he was accidently left to die in the ocean for a few days. After they found him again, he had become a lunatic (hence the fun joker hat) but some of the stuff he said was oddly prophetic. He and Ahab got real tight there towards the end.

Those other little guys are FEDULLAH (in the crown) & FRIENDS. Ahab hired them on as mercenaries for the sole purpose of hunting down Moby Dick as vengeance for stealing Ahab's leg (and sanity). Told you he was whacked.

ANYWAY, ALL THESE PSYCHOS get on board the PEQUOD, which is decorated with bones and teeth from whales (which probably should have been a sign) Later they meet a bunch of OTHER BOATS FULL OF CRAZIES and they all sail off together to catch

MOBY DICK!!!! He's giant white sperm whale with a taste for human flesh. He's also a romantic symbol, which means he doesn't actually symbolize anything at all.

TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!!

Face Lift!!!

So I promised a fun and shallow post for today.

And because I love you, and I promised, I pulled through for you. See that up there?? At the top??

I MADE THAT. And I used my own Google-skills to figure out how, and then more Google-skills to figure out how to put it in my blog (it's actually way easier than I thought. Who knew?).

And I did it all because I love you. But mostly because I REALLY REALLY wanted a cool header, so I could be like All the Cool Kids out in the blogosphere. Did you know people PAY MONEY (a LOT of money, like up to $150) for custom headers like that?

They sell them in "packages" of blog-wear: buttons(see my DIY-version at the top of the right column - it's fabulously cheesy!), backgrounds, etc. For those of you unfamiliar with blogs, the idea is that if someone likes what they see, they put your button on THEIR profile, and then THEIR readers are exposed to your blog. But mostly, they're just fun to make!

Anyway. College Kate has a whole new makeover. Be sure to check in on holidays, etc. because I plan to make holiday-themed headers, just because it's fun, and that's what Google does.

Oh, and heads up -- tomorrow is going to be a little busy for me, but I'm going to try really hard to get that Moby Dick thing up. (Do you KNOW how long that book is? 133 chapters!!).

HINT AS TO WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON FOR ME TOMORROW: Who is the only man for whom Christian Louboutin has ever designed a custom line of shoes???

Midterms. And MISSION: MOBY DICK.

As an English major, I live in a constant "Oh-my-Shakespeare, I have two papers due next week!" kind of thrilling panic. Plus, you know, midterms for my other two classes. So a girl's gotta be pretty productive.

Today, for instance:

Woke up early to review the study guide I made for my Catholicism in the US class just ONE LAST TIME before the midterm. Coffee, apartment brewed. Took midterm. Kicked midterm's ass. (This I didn't love so much. It was after all a midterm).

BUT THEN I went to American Literature, where a strange guy I had never seen before came in and sat down in front of me. He was wearing a bright red Toys-R-Us button-up staff shirt at least three inches to short in the length. It was gross and weird and disturbing, and Kenton and I wondered why he just didn't go back to Toys-R-Us and let us block that image out of our retinas forever and ever.

We also talked about Moby Dick which, by the way is a really long book, just in case you were wondering. 'Cause I mean, do any of you actually know anyone who has read Melville's Moby Dick?? NO ONE reads that book. I don't think anyone in my CLASS is reading the whole thing, and it's assigned. But you know what??

I AM GOING TO READ MOBY DICK. ALL OF IT, BABY!! Maybe I'll do a little CollegeKate's Book Club, for the benefit of culture and the world. I mean, how do any of you feel complete without having read Melville's most noted achievement?

Okay. It's decided. I'm reading ALL OF MOBY DICK and then posting a fun little synopsis of it for you on Friday (it's long, even Friday's kind of ambitious, but get excited!!).

In between, to give us a rest from all this academic stuff, I'll think of something significantly more shallow to discuss for tomorrow. I'm also thinking I might need to organize this blog thing better, because I totally started this post planning to write about my hyper-productive and academic schedule today, with this being my first actual break while I scarf down a late dinner. Or my (surprise!) sort-of position in the College Republicans. But what can I say? Moby Dick just has that effect on people...

Sandra Bullock, Christian Louboutin, and Me

So the other day, after I finished my geology reading, Hye-Young, Taylor, and I settled in for a couple of movies and that delicious potato dish we like so much.

We watched The Proposal, which I love.


I also have a confession to make about this movie. Don't laugh. This will make me sound very, very shallow.

But when I first watched this movie over the summer, I had just decided that there was no way on this earth I could possibly be an accountant, and I needed a major switch. I'd picked English, since I'm good at it, but I was having a little crisis since obviously English is not quite as marketable as accounting straight out of undergrad.

Then I saw this movie. And Sandra Bullock played a character who, aside from being gorgeous - and having the EXACT hair I so desperately need in my life - had an AMAZING EDITING CAREER!!


And I thought, "I could DO that!" Okay, so not EVERY English major ends up being executive editor-in-chief or whatever and living at Central Park West.

But I did realize I wouldn't be broke and homeless. After all, Margaret wore Christian Louboutin shoes literally the entire movie.


And that kind of thing gives a girl hope.

It's 3am. This is Wrong.

I should be asleep right now. I should be. But I'm not.

Instead, I am freezing, because the fire alarm went off at 2am. Again.

So EVERYONE in the building had to get out. That's a lot of people.

We were outside for nearly an hour, freezing, and a little damp because of ridiculously thick mist. Not cool.

And now I'm not asleep because the alarms need to reset. We have the industrial-style alarms you see in schools and offices. This kind, with the bright, bright, clicky lights that continue to flash for up to an hour after we come back inside:



They say it was "burnt popcorn". This is probably a lie. Last I checked they didn't roll additional units for a smokey apartment, or keep 600-some college students outside in their PJs for over an hour (you've never SEEN so many shirtless men in one place at that hour!). According to my RA, it's usually something really dumb and avoidable, like someone made a stupid choice and decided to put rubber in the oven, or tried to smoke out their apartment (both of which have happened before) and they pick something relatively innocuous to tell the students so we don't go hunt down and bully the idiot who caused it.

But if you ask me, they totally deserve it.

You Are What You Eat

My friend Shany is foodie. She tries EVERYTHING, and loves eating out anywhere from a local fresh taco stand to the Michelin-rated restaurants her mom and stepdad take her to for her birthday. And while we've been known to put away a rung of Oreos and peanut butter, when it comes to what she picks to snack on, she definitely prefers the organic snacks from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, and (when she gets the opportunity) farmer's markets.

So this morning (morning meaning noon -- after a long week like this I just like to crash for about 16 hours), the two of us went to a farmer's market only about a mile from here. Though certainly not Brentwood, the neighborhood was vibrant, and the market full of all different kinds of people and families, dancing and eating and filling bags with fresh produce. I kinda loved it!

For the most part, I found the produce cheaper there than at even our local grocery store and - maybe it was the environment, or the knowledge that it was all in the ground practically the day before, and grown organically - absolutely delicious!!

I guess the neighborhood/city provides financial incentives for the vendors to come and sell fruits and veggies on the cheap - for instance, Gala apples, at a dollar a pound, are half the price of the Galas or Fujis at Superior, the grocery store closest to USC. Of course, there were thinks that were more expensive than you'd find in stores - like the bbq almonds or garlic pistachios that, while delicious, I was not going to buy in packages on 4oz for 4 bucks.

I did, however, come home with some lovely produce:



Now, generally Shany's all big on the "You are what you eat" thing. She laughs about my Cheez-It and Corn Nut habit - she eats those Cheddar Bunnies from Whole Foods and finds no need to track down an organic alternative to deep-fried corn kernels, or whatever those Corn Nuts are that makes them so crunchily delicious - but I don't know. I've been eating grocery-store produce and artificially-colored/preservative-packed snacks my whole life, and I'm totally fine. I think they're tasty.

And any child who has not consumed their fair share of Red 12 or Blue 6 and everything else that makes the gummy snacks pretty has just been deprived.

But I digress.

My point is, I felt so healthy eating the organic stuff for lunch that I figured it TOTALLY balanced this deliciousness I had for dinner:



If you are what you eat, I'm a Corn-Nut/Cheez-it munching, Velveeta-loving girl. And I'm okay with that.

Plus, it was easy. I had it for dinner on Thursday and saved the left overs. I swear, that Velveeta mac'n'cheese is the food of the gods. And it just gets better overnight, whether you heat it up again or eat it cold.

Usually I go for plain ol' Kraft since it's lower in fat, but some days you just have to crack out the good stuff.

And that organic produce totally means those extra calories don't count.

Right?

But I Survived It (Or, Geology Campout: Day II)

So when we left off, the buses were pulling out of the campsite (*) and headed towards QUAIL LAKE (6) on the map below. 

QUAIL LAKE (6) is a "sag pond," or a body of water created by two plates shifting apart, essentially creating a hole that dropped into the water table and filled up, creating a stable lake water formation. In this case, Quail Lake is located on San Andreas, and was created by a shift between the North American plate (which covers this continent and ends in the mid-Atlantic) and the Pacific plate (which extends from the edge of the west coast to the Japanese trench).

It was really breezy there, and with the wind blowing off the water like that so early in the morning, I was glad I had layered two crewnecks! Here's Quail Lake:

Next, we stopped at the SOFT ROCKS (7). I don't have a picture of the Soft Rocks, but they were pretty cool. Due to the intense pressure of the fault, the granite had shattered internally, so even though it looked fairly solid from the outside, even someone of my strength could break it apart with a hammer, or even break off chunks by hand in some places.

We stayed for about twenty minutes, as we watched Dr. A clamber up and down the slanted rock face and holler about "the PRESSURE!" and took turns breaking apart the granite.

Then we got back on the buses and headed for ELIZABETH LAKE (8), another sag pond that looked basically the same. There, Dr. A assembled us directly over the active fault (contrary to popular belief, a fault is not generally a visible crack in the ground, but sometimes you can see a difference in the striation of the rock) and told us that the fault experiences these cataclysmic, over-Richter-8 earthquakes that create huge, visible land shifts that have allowed for a combined change of several miles through spurts of 9 earthquakes over the last 1500 years. 

While we stood at the shore, Dr. A informed us that those big quakes occur every sixty to 225 years, averaging about 120 years, with the last one being in 1857. "WE'RE DUE!!" He crowed. The guy gets seriously excited at the prospect of imminent natural disaster.

Once he got over his excitement, we all got back on the buses and took off for Palmdale. We were pretty psyched to get the SAN ANDREAS OVERLOOK (9) out of the way since (a) we would all go to In-n-Out for lunch and (b) the end of the trip was in sight!

So we got to Palmdale, and the buses pulled off to the side of the road. Dr. A instructed us to get out, and then led us through the brush on the side of the road - in this vast, empty expanse of worthless land, littered with broken down sofas, shattered beer bottles, and other remnants of parties past - to a spot on a hill, then pointed out a slight, though, visible, rise in the land that crossed beneath Lake Palmdale, the freeway, and the rest of the city. The San Andreas Fault, yet again. Here's that lake:

After advising us not to purchase a home situated directly over a fault, Dr. A pointed out some pretty cool looking rocks:

See those squigglies in the rock? Well, they're technically "folds," and that's what big earthquakes can do to solid mineral. Cool, huh?

We checked it out, then went to In-n-Out!

Mmmmm. If you find something in this world better than a double-double with cheese, order of fries, and a chocolate shake so thick you need a spoon to eat it, please let me know. So far, this is sort of the highest form of perfection that exists in my life.

Thus satisfied, I stopped counting down the seconds until our return to USC as we drove towards VASQUEZ ROCKS (10!).

Now, I know I haven't come off as real big on geology/camping/etc, but this rock formation IS pretty cool. It's very "The Lion King," which happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time. Think Pride Rock, where Simba lived. Here's a bunch of people from my class on top of a Vasquez "hog's back":

Actually, if you're a Trekkie, you've probably already seen Vasquez. It's the site of the Worst Fight Scene of All Time:

You know, if you YouTube "Worst Fight Scene Ever," this scene legitimately pops up? HERE'S the link, if you want to laugh/jog your memory.

Anyway, eventually we did get back to USC. And I showered. And did some (okay, a LOT) of laundry. And now I'm actually kind of proud I survived a weekend in the wilderness with my geology class, being the non-hiker, non-camper that I am....

Not that I have any intentions to repeat the experience...

...Hardly a Camper (or, Geology Campout, the Overnight Edition)

So the buses dropped us off at Los Alamos Campground, near Pyramid Lake, at around 6pm. Then they drove back to LA, leaving most of us wishing we were going with them - it had already gotten pretty cold, and the prospect of staying the night out there was not looking good to anyone (except maybe Dr. A, who was way too excited to sleep on the ground). 

Dr. A rented two adjacent campsites - one for himself and the TAs, and another larger one next to it for the students. This photo was taken at the campground. Our lot was nearby where this picture was taken, but it was tucked farther back into the canyon wall (which was good, since it acted as a windbreak) and much less green.

 One girl in my group, Rebecca, brought a 6-person tent from home. Rebecca, Sophia, and I got our tent up surprisingly quickly while the other three girls got diner going. Sophia and I had definitely never done anything remotely similar before, and we were pretty proud of ourselves for setting up the shelter. It was a big tent!! Exactly this design, but in blue and gray.

Tents went up pretty quickly all around, with people hurrying to finish before dark. Soon, the whole area filled with dozens of tents of all shapes and colors, and with almost two hundred people milling about in between, we looked like a weird sort of modern shanty village. It was very surreal. I'll post a picture if someone posts one of Facebook - I wish I'd had my camera, but it's still in Seattle somewhere.

A big bummer - aside from the plummeting temperature, which prompted all of us Southern-California students into our warm clothes faster than you could imagine - was the burn ban, which prevented us from having a campfire. The eating s'mores had been almost as big a draw for me as the grade thing, so I was really bummed. Dr. A was even more upset, but he cooked his steaks just fine over a propane stove.

A girl in my tent group also brought a propane stove. We had all previously assigned different members of the group food items to bring, but of course we all brought extra, so we ended up having way too much food. We feasted on cheeseburgers with all the fixings and condiments, homemade veggie wontons, and bow tie pesto and had plenty to share (other groups were eating PB&J!). 

Although most of the groups didn't bother with bringing supplies for a hot meal, they all seemed to have plenty of alcohol (the one thing my group DIDN'T bring) so the party started pretty quickly. Dr. A even came and joined, after clearly having some wine at his own campsite.

Two of the girls in my tent group stayed out pretty late, but the rest of us - exhausted form the day and anticipating an early morning - went to bed early. We could hear Dr. A's voice ("WHOOP! WHOOP!!") late, late into the evening, pointing out planets and constellations (the stars were INCREDIBLE!) and joking around with his students, who thought a teacher joining them to party was just hilarious, great fun.

Actually, that night explained a lot. I wondered why we took a seemingly pointless hike that ate up several hours, when we otherwise could've hit all the stops in one day. I realized at the overnight that Dr. A intentionally did that just to have the overnight, so he could be a crazy, partying, pseudo-celebrity (EVERYBODY loves him, he's kind of a USC legend) with nearly two hundred college students. Sort of like borrowing his own youth back, I guess.

Anyway, the tent worked out great. Plenty of room for all six of us, and it was kind of cool sleeping in a shelter I helped build (though I don't want to do it again). It got really cold - around 40F - and I was super grateful to Christine, who lent me the most incredible sleeping bag ever created. I could dedicate the whole post to this sleeping bag - warm, but somehow well ventilated, cozy, cushy, light, easily packed, soft (there's a "comfort shell" on the inside so you don't feel like you're sleeping in a parachute), and you can remove the comfort shell and/or the hood to adjust the temperature rating if you're like my Dad and hate to be hot - but instead of going on FOREVER, I'll just post a picture:

Incredibly, this sleeping bag made me forget I was sleeping on the floor of a tent. When everyone was talking about how cold they were, and how they had to sleep in all these layers and parkas, I had been toasty warm all night, and slept surprisingly deeply in only leggings and a crew neck sweatshirt. So than you, Christine, for the use of your fantastic sleeping bag!

The next day, despite his previous revelry, Dr. A was back to his responsible - though wacky - self, waking the camp up with his "WHOOP! WHOOP!!" at 8am. My group (or at least those of us who didn't get crazy the night before) had gotten a head start getting cleaned up.

I became the most popular girl in camp when the other girls realized I had a whole roll of toilet paper (the gross "bathroom" was out). What can I say? I am my mother's daughter, and I think of these things. Anyway, that toilet paper was gone in about five seconds when word got around.

Shockingly, camp was packed and the buses were moving by 9:30am. I had totally expected to be waiting around forever for people to get up and going, but we were off to the remaining stops early!

But the trip wasn't over yet...

STAY TUNED FOR: Geology Campout, Day II

Not a Hiker (or, Day I of the Geology Trip)

So I'm back from my first (and probably last) camping trip. Since it was such an epic and unusual experience for me - not to mention a source of amusement for all you who know my family just doesn't camp -  I've decided to chronicle my journey in detail.

I've discussed the camping trip a couple of times recently - like HERE, for instance - but if you missed it, you should know that I'm really only doing this because it's worth about 10% of my semester grade for Crises of the Planet (Geo 108) which fulfills my lab science credit. Only 170 of us, or about half the class, came on the trip.

Professor Lawford Anderson teaches this class. He's an endearingly insane, impossibly loud, and ridiculously hilarious individual. He also tends to speak in the third person when he gets excited, which made for an interesting weekend. He's just a character.

The picture really does not do his personality justice. You have to meet the guy to get it.

Anyway, the night before the trip, he emailed us this map of the stops. Before this, none of us had any idea where we were going.

9 am Saturday morning we all piled on some charter buses and we were off...

Our first stop was HENNINGER FLATS (1), in Eaton Canyon above Altadena. We explored the bottom of the canyon first. Dr. A pointed out some rocks over two billion years old, and then informed us this is where we would be taking our "little jaunt up the hill" (let's just be clear, we're at the base of MT. Wilson). 

Of course, because of Dr. A's whole third-person-thing, it was more like "Come with Dr. A!! He'll show you the way up this LIVING, BREATHING, EARTH!! Just a little jaunt up the hill! WHOOP, WHOOP!" (You know those people who ALWAYS sound like they're yelling? Dr. A's one of them.)

Here is a terrain photo of the "little jaunt up the hill." We trekked all the way up the Old Wilson Trail (dotted line) from where it connects to the curve of Pinecrest Drive.

It was a hot, dusty, miserable march along 2.7 miles of a steep, shade-less trail. A ridiculously steep climb. Dr. A, in his short sleeve button down and jeans, just started forward at this brisk pace and didn't look back. He is marathoner, though, and no one should ever follow a marathoner anywhere remotely outdoorsy, because it only ends badly for us regular people.

It took me about an hour and forty minutes to make it to Henninger Flats, with the huge second wave of students. We arrived about a half an hour behind Dr. A and the first few students (who really shouldn't count, being athletes/marathoners/triathaloners themselves). Several dozen never made it all, and just dropped down on the hot, dusty, steep trail along the way. 

The photo makes the trail look wimpy, compared to reality. Refer back to the GoogleTerrain image to remind yourself of the ridiculousness of it. I honestly can't believe I made it, let alone in the time that I did. Check it out though -- no shade, and totally dusty. And of course, steep.

The Flats was kind of a bummer though. It wasn't of any geographical interest; Dr. A just thought it would be "fun" to hike up and eat lunch there. The worst thing was the view. Dr. A had really hyped it up, but it was disappointing and actually kind of gross due to the heavy smog cover of the day. 

I pulled this off the internet. Our view that day was about four times hazier, no joke. Not a rewarding sight after that hike. Oh, hey, did I mention how STEEP that trail was? :)

The next stops were relatively quick, after the 4-5 hours we spent at Eaton Canyon.

We checked out RUBIO CANYON (2), right nearby, and Dr. A gave us some background on it. Apparently there were some gorgeous water falls at the top of the canyon, as well as a resort, but all that got filled in by a crazy landslide in the 1920s. The whole area is prone to landslides like that. Those slides create "scree chutes" in the canyon. Here's one in Rubio Canyon:

Next we checked out the TILTED ROCKS (3) along the Templin Highway. Along one side of the road are ridges, and the other looks out into the scenic canyon. When the buses pulled up, there was a white Escalade parked at the look out, and the people inside were clearly enjoying much more than the view. Dr. A was sure to point that out (laughing, and at the top of his lungs) before he started explaining the significance of the silt.

Apparently, the different layers and composition of the sandstone and shale indicate that the whole area used to be in the shallows of the Pacific Ocean about 30,000 years ago. It just goes to show you that even those ordinary rock formations along the road have something remarkable to say about what happened to this planet.

The fourth stop was at some FAULTED SEDIMENTARY ROCKS (4) nearby, and those told a very similar story.

We had to cut the fifth stop, the RIDGE BASIN (5), because an stop at Ralph's (between 3 and 4) that was supposed to be 20 minutes went way too long (don't even get me started) and we needed to get to the campsite before dark to set up the tents.

But the weekend was hardly over...

NEXT POST: The Overnight