No Walk Today

This is my favorite Victorian Era painting.
you all have no idea how ecstatic I am
that I get to decorate my own room.
what a nice landlord, to let me paint

p.s.

I am also so excited for the movie
Coraline to come out!
Mom bought it when Carson was seven
and just decided it was too creepy, which for
a kid It kind of is...
anyways, since we're once again packing up the house
I found it while helping quin sort out his book boxes.
I dressed up as the Other Mother for scary story
day during spirit week at school, I made little
button monocle sort of thing, it kept falling out.
It was a funny easy costume.
I really want to see Milk, I heard Emile Hirsch was solid.
since this mini-blog is already all over the place:
on the character day at school I was Rosie the Riveter
I didn't dress up for pajama day, a lot of the guys wore night gowns
though which was..amusing
me and my friend Sarah dressed up as a married couple
on "happily ever after day." since this week was before the election
everyone thought we were making a statement about prop 8.
on another non-related note, I re-read Stargirl
by Jerry Spinelli recently and I think everyone should read it.
it is such a fantastic book.
I fervently hope the movie does the book justice.

The Elephant Man

ah man Lincoln High's production of The Elephant man was FANTASTIC
this was my third time seeing it but my first time seeing
the Sith cast perform and it was really good, even though I prefered the Jedi cast
(side note: typically a play has two casts, Cast A and Cast B, Lincoln High's drama dpt. decided they were much to original for said captions, and being slightly geeky they called their casts, Cast Jedi and Cast Sith)

Joseph Merrick, the main character of the play, and true person, was born in 1862 and later died in 1890 of natural causes, though the cause was unknown. Merrick had a bone and skin disorder that at the time, and still now, has not completely been identified. He was born normal and at a young age began growing abnormal masses of flesh, as well as bone growths in his head, legs, arms and abdomen. he was horribly disfigured by these skin and bone growths and was treated as a freak and could only find work as a freak show, loathed and feared. The nickname, "the elephant man" referred to his looks though he did not have elephantiasis. His facial features were obstructed by the large skin and bone mass in his face which made him incapable of expressing any emotion; however, he could cry.

I really don't want to give the whole story away but I strongly recommend the book. I have yet to see the movie but as soon as I have a working dvd or vhs I'm going to rent it and tell you how it is. the pictures from the play were just gruesome. Aw man I wish you couldve been there the opening night. Dennis Wells, who played Merrick was SPECTACULAR, and the guy who plays Treeves( the doctor from London, who rescues Merrick) is just a fantastic actor. The music for the play was sorted by Mr.Shary the director and my drama teacher. I'm trying to get the list because the music was so perfectly suited. It really was just an amazing play in every aspect.

sad is a three letter word

ugh
I hate leaving
even if it is leaving Stockton

I realized today
that my friend (I have friends!)
aleyn (eye.lean) doesn't know
that I'm moving back(she knows now)
oh and a little side note:
for those of you who don't know
I'm moving back to Aptos!
kind of a bittersweet thing actually

because ..
well Ive had barely anytime to fit in
at Lincoln High this school year
Ive only been here a few months
I was gone for almost a month of school
when I went to Aussie land and now
just as I'm starting to make friends
and become involved in the theatre dpt.
at this school (which is the best group Ive ever
seen, and sort of been in, by far. they are amazing)
my parents are like: "oh, hey, by the way were moving
back to Aptos! time to pack cats"
I mean really, I am SO excited its just hard
when Ive finally... breached the kind of
shallowness of the kids here.
ehh, I dunno
I'm excited to be with all my friends in Aptos again though
I miss you all terribly
I think its almost harder to say goodbye to someone
you barely know.
cause its knowingly abandoning someone
In all practicality, I will never see these people again.

Contented Sigh

aaaaahhhhhh
I just realized
this is the most relaxed Ive been in ages
I'm in this ridiculously comfy chair
looking at Threadless.com and listening
to Fleet Foxes and my body, soul, and mind
just feel utterly relaxed....
like almost a drunk sort of feeling
except for I'm alert and don't fancy vomiting
just thought I'd share

Unbelievable...

oh goodness
I just realized I have "followers"
thats an interesting concept
it makes me sound like a cult

I'm so sorry folks
I am the most neglectful blog mother EVER
they should punish me for blog neglect
tie me up on a wall by my ankles
and force me to read 'Structure, and 101 uses
for the Urtica dioica'
I'll never bad again!

granted that I'm getting a hang of this whole school
thing (just in time for me to move, mind you)
I should have loads more time to blog, not that
I have anything remotely interesting to say
but hey who says blogs are for entertainment...

here's a peculiar photo:













in haste,
Murph

p.s. I wish I had a pen name

I am ridiculously bad at this...

to anyone who actually reads this (haha):

Sorry I'm so slow lately
I'm EXTREMELY over stressed at the moment
life.school.socially.
I'm completely overwhelmed

So the blogs will be far and few between for the next several months
until I get a firm grasp on school, which escapes me at the moment
Anybody know an astronomy tutor?

Oh, but I do plan on Blogging the whole time
I'm in Australia,
Adventures are blog worthy
my pitiful, social, and academic life is not.

7 DAYS AND COUNTING!
see you down under =)

Support Your Local Lurker...

this saying is a lot less intimidating
when its on a tee shirt promoting a skate company
more intimidating when someones lurking at your window
around midnight

last night I had a bit of a scare:
around 11:41ish I'm sitting on my bed knitting and texting my
good friend Lincoln when I hear heavy breathing through my
wide open window. the shutters are closed so I cant see through it
but I hear it and after listening closely for 30 seconds
deciding it was definitely something breathing
I freaked out and ran into the other room,
retold the story to my dad who after a minute grabbed
a flash light and went out front to find... nothing
by now I was legitimately scared.
heart rate up, shaking hands, and frantic knitting
Everyone decides to go to bed
so I'm left alone in my room, cant sleep window locked.
Lincoln talked me through it, I prayed, worked on my knitting a
little more, turned off the light and leaped into bed so none
of the monsters could get me.

This morning we found a foot print outside my bedroom window.
Even in broad daylight Ive been anxious
night fall isn't going to be pretty.
pray for your local lurker

I can actually say I am excited for school
I got all of the classes I wanted and
I only have about eighteen days of school before we leave
for Aussie Land, and I'm so excited for that
I decided not to play Water Polo cause of the amount of
school work, and it just didn't feel right this year
so I'm going to do dance instead and then swimming in the spring
and Dive team around the same time.

never tried dive team but it looks fun
This girl Ali from my old school
was on the dive team and she was a total
natural and an amazing diver


My schedule:
1st Beginning Theater
2nd Italian
3rd Geometry
4th English
5th Astronomy
6th World History

In lieu of a phys ed class I'm looking for a high energy dance class to take
and I am also doing this thing called hot yoga at this tennis club my family
has a membership for. Its a yoga class taught in an overheated room that
causes excessive sweating which according to my aunt is where a lot of
extra pounds come from... I really juts want to try yoga but this sounded
more interesting.
Me and my mom and sister were at target the other day buying my little
brother a fishing pole(that broke within five minutes of him having it) and
getting detergent I think. I stood around in movie section for an hour give
or take writing down a bunch of movies I wanted to rent. OH! and I got Breaking Dawn
but I can't read it yet cause I made this deal with my mom.
ehm, if anything interesting happens today I'll update but for know this seems
informative enough.

6 days to school

Shmindapumpkioodaex Steamdanceka!

I have been chanting this all day
its become my mantra
those who understand understand
its an excessively long story
meant for another time

This is the completed baby scarf
err...not for babies necessarily
just a smaller version to keep your neck warm!





Me modeling said scarf
Completely impractical for the
valley in the summer
but totally warm and comfy in
the air conditioned house



Note: looks like the long over due SF trip pictures
are M.I.A. so don't hold your breath

Contemplative

I am knitting my first ever hat
with the help of esteemed knitter and recent blogger Rachel Hurley
I have learned the purl stitch
Its calming and time consuming

I wrote something thats pretty symbolic and abstract today:
"I always feel like Ive walked face first into an invisible spider web. I struggle & struggle and once Ive untangled myself from the gossamer fibers, it haunts me. I still feel it strangling me, or I think I do. And with that weighing on me, and my eyes on the floor I can't avoid the next web I'm about to walk straight into."

The fish flap in this lake
you'll hear it and look over and not see anything
I'm so ready for Australia and not at all ready for school
guess which comes first
I really hope this this ability to make friends kicks in soon
cause I don't know what to do at lunch by myself
maybe I'll eat early and go knit somewhere
"thatta girl Taylor, way to make 'em come a runnin"
weird knitter girl I can see that

Hahah it was fantastically awkward today at The Hurley residence
in the house alone with Matt, minimal conversation was key
we kind of mumbled
and we both talk to ourselves which was interesting
but I managed to over lap my voice on the podcast thing
(which I inadvertently called a pod-cat)
but I was unsatisfied so I deleted it
then recorded my song
same thing
then The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson
tooled around with it
liked my voice when its the pitch of a chipmunk
and saved and then left
very productive (or not)

I would really like to have gone on a walk at Wilder Ranch today
the weather was ideal for a hike or something
but church was fun and overwhelming with a whirlwind of hugs and
phone numbers and hello's and goodbye's
trying to make time for everyone
and reassure them we'd hang sometime before they had to leave
there was ice cream though
simple, reassuring
a breath of fresh air

There's alot of pressure riding on me this year from my parents
they're all "time to go college shopping!"
and "be responsible!"
I would really like to learn to drive and not worry so much about the future
which is difficult when your a hundred miles away from your friends
and planning is ultimately neccessary
hmmmm
can't wait for real fall weather, and how pretty Delta Colleges campus is going to be
all those leaves.
there are some nice parks around here, and ice skating!
This place itself isn't so terrible its mostly the loneliness
I have nothing against being alone, I enjoy it when its optional in fact
at least I have lots of time for one person activities now

your education bound friend
Taylor

Salutations!

Can you believe its spider season here?
not a huge fan
but they're interesting from far away
and the webs are spectacular, and everywhere

I haven't been able to sleep
even after a long day
an unexplained mystery
I'm listening to Rilo Kiley

I missed Conor Oberst at the Rio Theater
but October will come soon
and that will be my day
San Francisco and Conor Oberst the ultimate romance

"All nature is but art."
-Alexander Pope
I love quotes =)

my cousin and friends plan to take
me street performing and be the "fee enforcers"?
yeah, or my body guards
whatever you call it in Michigan
(Laura's from Michigan)

School starts on the twentieth.
This is too soon, but I go to my favorite land tomorrow!
you have no idea how... elated I am
there isn't even a proper adjective to describe it
(Rachel you put my all time favorite quote on your blog
awhile back, the one from Mr.Magorium's Wonder Emporium)

The Free Movies section on Comcast Digital Cable
is the only part of television that holds any interest for me
and maybe The Office..
hmm I want to see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants today
I think I'll go check out movie times
au revoir

Quick Update

Peter Pan & Wendy was really good
for the smallish group of kids who put it on
and very imaginative for a non-profit organization with
limited resources.

oh and pictures are a no go for now
the camera is MIA

p.s. my sister caught a cat fish in the 8 foot deep lake behind our house
too big for my taste I'm no longer down for swimming in that lake
maybe I'll get a kayak...

Good Form, Pan!

Ive been wounded by a knitting needle.
there I was knitting (not purling) away, minding my own business
and bam, puncture wound.
(haha, don't you love onomatopoeias?)

I'm going to the performance of Peter Pan & Wendy tonight.
At Jesse's Grove in Lodi, its being performed by a theater company
I was part of until we moved to Santa Cruz.
But now I'm back here so maybe I'll do one of their musicals again sometime soon.

I haven't really said anything worthwhile so I'll cut myself off here.
pictures soon I promise

Little High, Little Low

An observation i made the other morning: all the birds here sound like car alarms
which in the morning kind of pisses me off, instead of pretty bird sounds drifting through the blinds it sounds like someone broke into the honda car dealership
but the lake is beautiful, even if it is an unrealistic chemical teal color.

i still havent showered or put on real clothes
my morning has consisted of reading old messages on facebook, and watching pocahontas
it isn't even morning anymore!
I still haven't grasped time management, a weakness of mine
the camera is in the car, and the car is at my grandmas house
which means no pictures for another couple of hours
I need to go swimming but I can't find my goggles
yes I wear goggles and a swim cap, doing water polo and swim team will do that to you
It feels so much harder to be close to God here.
could be the camp high wearing off, and music connects me to him
I go to the new church this sunday, Quail Lakes.
I think I'm mostly worried about the people there, Twin Lakes was really receptive
and I made a lot of friends that I miss.
my cousin and all of her friends are catholic so now I don't even know what kind of people to expect, my dad says I'm a people person, I hope he's right

Oh, another thing:
This morning I discovered I have the same wave as pocahontas!
just a slow arch, and I thought it was original.
It must have seeped into my subconcious at one point or another
somebody asked me to explain subconcious the other day
I use a lot of metaphors, no text book definitions for me
oooh a heron just flew by my window
we might get a hammock for these two trees in my backyard that just shout
"lay between us!"
aw like a tree cuddle puddle, thats an interesting concept
It makes me think of the living trees in that old clay-mation christmas movie
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town"I believe its called.
I guess I should probably go do something about my appearance
pictures coming tonight!

au revoir

If you are going to San Francisco...

refrain from associating oneself with lost looking tourists.
i.e. my family

The bart system is slightly confusing and me and my family had to pay
some stranger to help us figure it out,
enlightening, actually I now know how to work the turnstiles
but not how to hail a cab
we unintentionally got food at a place called Taylors that was
a little west of Market Street.
We tried to make it to Pier 39 but everyone was too tired
I suggested we make use of one of the pedi-cabs (bicycles with a seat to carry passengers
not unlike a taxi), which my dad automatically assumed was a cab
driven by a pedifile.
We left late today to make a 12:45pm giants game which they won 1-0
spent most of the ninth inning getting food, and beating off timeshare sales reps.
Not to mention the parking deal was INSANE, but in the end was okay.
We stumbled upon a dock that was home to the Festival of Sail
which flaunted The U.S. coast guards Cutter Eagle, and The HMS Bounty, which according to
the informational sign had a starring role in Pirates of the Carribean
The whole thing was typical, hosted by some brewery with a rock climbing wall
and a trampoline with the harness that I classily embarassed myself on much to the delight
of onlookers, there were pictures
next time I will demand that all cell phones are to be turned off and please, no flash photography

There was a band: my dad started dancing so I left but I came back around and found out that
they are from San Jose, and they're called The Mumlers (like Mumblers but without the "b" as the lead singer informed everyone within hearing distance)
Suprisingly they were good with a large variety of instruments, and covering a wide range of genres. I distinctly remember a trumpet, a stand up classic bass, and some guy on a synth.

Some gross drunk guy at the lemonade stand tried to hook me up with his even more gross,
and undoubtedly more drunk friend.
I ordered a soy chai with no water! steamboat would be proud.
I plan on going back to get this tee shirt I saw from a store called West Coast Fungi
that said "got shrooms?"
the shirt at the Festival of Sail was apparently for volunteers only and the girl I talked to
was in no shape to sell me the shirt off her back
Amici's has really good thin crust pizza, REALLY good.

side note: Rachel we totally need to hang out in SF someday soon, like paint the town red
while my dad works at Mission City Outpost. I guess he wants to go back to do
some follow up work

the day was fun, and just makes me want to be in San Francisco even more
but I'll get over it and for my next birthday I'm definitely down for staying there a weekend
with some friends... who's up for it?

also,
I'm trying to think of covers to do, on account of I might try an open mic night thing
any suggestions?

Thats all folks

p.s. pictures coming soon..

How many trees are there in the forest?

Preface & Character Intro:
This post is a memoir of apostle 2. A two week camp at Camp Hammer in Boulder Creek, where we learned about the culture of the time that Jesus grew up in, the role of his disciples, and how to be one.

Apostle Campers:

Interpretive (Rachel)
Sockhop (Kelly)
Dance Dance Revolution (Jennifer)
Electric Slide (Nathaniel)
Charelston (Shamus)
Jitterbug (C.j.)
Foxtrot (Michaela)
Can-Can (Mikayla)
Salsa (Alicia)
Shopping Cart (Andrew)
Apostle Staff:
Ex (Daniel)
Oodalollie (Bree)
Trumpkin (Jessica)
Steamboat (Brad)
Indigo (Moorea)
Eureka (Rochelle)
Sundance (Sean)

Assuming its common knowledge among bloggers that
the first post is usually the roughest around the edges and, at least
for me so far, the hardest to get started.
So I apologize in advance for my babbling..
That is if you can babble over the internet

this is starting to sound like nonsense
but hey, its my thought process

After only five days, I am severely nostalgic for the fortnight ( thats two weeks, eureka)
I spent at camp hammer, making new friends, and tightening bonds with old ones.
er, as in friends Ive had for awhile, not literally old
(though some of them claim to be "old". What is considered old these days anyways..)

just a few side notes before I get all sentimental about the past two weeks:
1. I tend to overuse the ellipsis
2. The names I use are all going to be camp names. see preface (nicknames given to apostle campers, and staff to be used for two weeks or the whole summer)
3. I'll try to keep my use of ridiculously large words to a bare minimum
4. I'm very sorry in advance for the lack of background information, I guess I just don't expect anyone to read this who doesn't know what I'm talking about
4a. If any of my camp friends are reading this, I miss you all terribly, the valley is bearable

Okay,
the first week of camp was spent intermixing with the high school camp that was
going on at the same time as apostle 2. This meant we didn't get our camp names for
another week among other..."drawbacks". Which was no big deal whatsoever. Everyone
hung out, ate together, and laughed and cried together. (maybe the last part is a little over dramatized, but you get the idea)
The Purple Parrots were in it to win (it), closely followed by the blue barracudas. While the Red jaguars competed their fierce little hearts out, and Orange iguanas won spirit, and nailed fourth place! (my iguana..)
Sockhop and Boot Scoot found Waldo the last night, definitely a highlight of the week..
I just realized I sound like a school newspaper journalist, thats no good.

the second week was a TON of swimming for apostles and their beloved staff
I got a compliment on the green stripe through my bangs from the chlorine
(thank you, gov'na = ] )
I learned how to do a front flip off of the diving board... kind of
me and steamboat tread a lot of water and, unfortunately he didn't wear his
cowboy boots in the pool.

Indigo and I performed Falling Slowly from the movie Once in the week 1 cabaret
and It was so fun, and beautiful, and I was a little ridiculous, but at least the audience laughed
with us.
The second week cab was without a doubt one of the funnest things we did at camp
besides reliving it some thirty odd times, we got to dress up and danced probably a little over
6 miles by the time of our final performance. (a room with scattered individuals who hadn't been at the cab the night before)
we had a day to choreograph, teach, and practice, the entire thing and it was AMAZING
in the literal sense of the word.
The gauntlet was fun, and rewarding, pretty wet, but still fun.
Seminars with ex, oodalollie, and mossy, were challenging, informative, and intimidating at first.
After the first two though me and the eleven other apostles would find ourselves
sitting around the yurt talking about life experiences, questioning, and re-reading different parts of the bible. From were there dinosaurs, to what was happening in sodom and gohmorra?
As it was put by a close friend of mine, we doubted, so that we could believe.
we asked question, after question. Bringing up new topics out of nowhere, reading between the lines became an obvious explanation, and when in doubt, go ask mossy, or ex.
sometimes we'd just end up praying about it.

I had personal struggles, doubts, trust issues.
That was the base of a life changing experience, that to write down
would quench how spectacular it was, is, and I know me writing it down
would not do it justice. So I'll just let it flower in my mind.

Apostle is truly one of the most amazing things to ever happen to me
every day I'm reminded of it, and I miss the people, the messages, the games.
But its there still, fresh in my mind.

I'm thinking reliving, replaying it all is too much for one blog, this one is already excruciatingly long. There are plenty of things I left out, so I'll pepper them throughout my next several posts,
stay tuned.
I find it amusing that since this is sort of equivalent to a journal for me, I'm telling myself to stay tuned.. whatever

all my lovin