From awkward to comfortable.

The kids around the house probably thought that sleeping in till close to 12 pm was different if not strange. Then again, I was awake until 2:30 last night. I heard the stirrings of Julia as she exited the house early this morning to drive back to Crown, and also Laura who went off to her morning shift at Walmart.

Getting out of bed and walking to the living room, I was greeted happily by Uncle Jim and Aunt Judy. They look older, naturally. It was good to see them again, though it was a bit awkward being welcomed around noon when I've been in the house for a solid ten hours. After a few minutes of small talk, they told me to make myself at home. I did.

Breakfast consisted of Weaties, and lunch was an hour after since it was already midday. Seeing the younger kids was astonishing. They have really grown. At first it took me a bit to remember the names of the three youngest, and then it took me another bit to get the names right with the certain person. Jenna, Karen, and Angela...from oldest to youngest in that order. Or was it Karen, Jenna, and Angela? I caught on after a while when talking with them. Brad has grown incredibly. He's got an inch or two on me now, and I remember him being a little runt back in the Davao days.

Laura told me last night that the girls will take a while to warm up to me, but once they do, they'll get really comfortable with me being around. I guess she was right, for not too long after lunch did Karen and Angela give me a tour of the whole farm that they live on. It was a lot of fun; I think the girls enjoyed it more than I did, but it was great to see the whole place including every room in the house. I appreciate the high plant life that's around here. Much more green and trees than a lot of places in So Cal that I hang out in. I had no problem getting over the concrete landscape of LA while I've been gone. Moreover, seeing the sky in a strong blue is refreshing.

I also took a bike ride "around the block" with Brad and Angela. That may not sound like a lot...but this is farm country where the Olson's live, so a block is about four miles long. It started out pretty rough with one of their dogs Levi chasing a passing truck and getting run over. God was taking care of him, though, and he came out with only a sprained leg and a scratched face. The hit looked really bad, but he seemed quite fine. He's limping right now, but there seems to be hardly any pain. The rest of the ride was a nice scenic trip. I miss isolated areas where you don't see a lot of people around.

Later that afternoon, Amber Larson drove by to hang out with me. She was only available today, so she drove from St. Paul just to hang out. That was cool. So we caught dinner at Applebee's, and we took silly pictures at Target. It was a great time hanging with Amber. We can talk about anything and be really crazy; we're tight like that.


Don't ask me why we took these pictures...I can't really say. 


Um, yeah. 

I came back to the Olson's later that evening. Laura was back from work, where she worked a double shift. She looked exhausted. I chilled with the kids and we all looked at pictures from our trip in Ohio. The girls seem to love pictures and stayed up past ten looking at all the pictures that Laura took.

All in all, the day was more eventful than I expected. The family is much more welcoming and fun than I remember, but then again, I only really knew Julia and Laura back in the Philippines. It's good to have an opportunity to see how everyone else in the family live out their individual lives.

Upbound.

Aaron's wedding over. Next stop: Cambridge, Minnesota. While planning my trip out to Indiana, I talked with Julia and Laura about the possibility of visiting them at their home in Minnesota. They highly encouraged me to follow through on the idea, so after a bit of thinking about it all, I decided that it would be a fun trip out to the Northern U.S.

So here I am sitting in bed at the Olson's house at 2:15 am. The day was pretty long considering all the traveling I had to do. Not so much hours of traveling per se, but more waiting around. Once the goodbyes were in place and we parted ways with Aaron and Jessica and the Stucky family, Oli, Dave, Nate, and I drove back to Fort Wayne then to Indiana to catch our flights.

The flight was fine and dandy, and nothing dramatic happened. I flew in to Minneapolis two hours earlier than Julia and Laura did, so I waited for them to come. They were my ride back to the Olsons. Of course, their flight was delayed so the wait was much longer. I explored the airport some, which is quite a comfy place. Looks like a mini-mall inside; most likely one of the nicest airports I've been to.

The most entertaining thing that happened during my stay at the airport was a few people missed their flight, and they went nuts seeing their plane getting ready to fly out and them not being able to board. They banged on the window, yelled out to the pilot, cried, and whined. One of the airport workers tried to calm them down with no real success. I felt terrible for them. Really, I did. But the way they handled the situation was quite foolish. Banging on the window and causing a commotion won't get the pilot's attention. Crap happens sometimes, you can't throw a hissy fit when they come around. You just got to let it roll because you can't help it any other way.

Once Julia and Laura arrived, they got their bags and we were off. Stacy Mader and Katrinka Kongsjord, two of Julia's roommates, were the ones to pick us up. They are two fun girls from what I could tell on our 30 minute drive to Michelle's apartment. I'll probably see them more when I visit Julia at Crown, but for now, they're pretty hyper laides in my eyes...maybe a little too hyper.

Because Julia and Laura didn't arrive until 11:30, and it was a 20 minute drive to Michelle's apartment (Julia's car was there), and it was a good hour to the Olson's house, we didn't arrive at the house until a little after 1 am. We stayed up for about another hour talking and looking at pictures and whatnot, but it was fun. I have nothing to wake up for tomorrow morning, but I feel terrible for both Julia and Laura, who have to wake up for school (Julia) and work (Laura).

This was a pretty informational entry, and I apologize for it. Nothing real amazing to write about, but I wanted to write this down to set the next scene for the upcoming week.

Congrats to Aaron and Jessica Stucky.

There is something very beautiful about weddings. I will sound incredibly dorky saying this, but it seems like everything is magical in the ceremony. Every bride looks amazing, every groom looks dumbfounded seeing his bride walks the aisle, music sounds like they're coming from the heavens, ya da ya da ya da...every wedding feels like the greatest wedding.


Jessica walks to her groom. 

Nothing was notably unusual about Aaron and Jessica's wedding, and nothing was short of extraordinary either. Weddings have a certain touch to a day that nothing else can reach, even though hundreds of weddings happen everyday I'm sure. I find the forming unity of a man and woman into one flesh one of the greatest covenants humans can make with each other.


Smiling at his son and soon to be daughter-in-law, Rod Stucky exhorts Aaron and Jessica. 

Things I must note about the ceremony: Dave and Adam are awesome soloists; I never knew they were music majors until I saw them this weekend, I guess bride's maids wearing black is the new thing these days, and I wasn't impressed by the kiss. Sorry Aaron and Jessica, but I gave it like a six.


Aaron and Jessica prepare to say their vows. 

The reception was pretty fun. I felt very relaxed not having the burden of "wedding photographer" slapped on my back. I did take a picture here and there, but I ultimately kept the camera on the table. In fact, I made a point to myself to keep it on the table when I had a strong urge to walk around and photograph. The difference between photographer and guest was greatly appreciated by the evening's end.

Oh, an exciting thing happened; I danced at this wedding. First time I danced ever. Amazing, ain't it? Not that I really knew what I was doing on the floor anyhow. I just stepped lightly and slowly in slight rotations. All of us buddies got up there and danced mainly to the slow dancing songs. I don't think any of us were into the fast paced, "shake your booty" type of dancing. Even Julia and Laura got up and danced, which was quite amusing simply because they stated flat out they weren't going to dance at the beginning of the reception. Suckers. Another thing that was funny was that Oli was really reserved about dancing with other people. I guess him having a girlfriend turned him off, but he did get up there a couple times. I don't see what the big deal is. If you're wondering, I danced with Joanna, Ginga, and Laura. Laura was a bit of work to get onto the dance floor, but she broke after a while. Mwah hah hah.

A group of us went back to the hotel and hung out in Julia and Laura's room until the wee hours of the night. I'm exhausted to write about it, but it consisted of a movie, some self-defense training, and lots of food. Nate kicked my butt.

Reuniting with things past.

5:30 am. You think I am writing before I begin my day, but in actuality, I am writing before I enter my restful slumber.

Fifteen minutes after I got my duffel from baggage claim at Fort Wayne Airport, I was picked up by Dave and Oli. I expected Aaron. Later I found out that Aaron pulled a night shift for his Campus Safety job, so he told Dave to pick me up. I'm happy that he decided to inform me about the whole thing. Regardless, I was still picked up fifteen minutes late. I felt unwanted.

Stepping through the door to Aaron's apartment, I looked left to see Nate stirring on the couch from the noise of us. I just now realize I can't remember his last name. Nate is one of those guys that clicks very well with our sort of group...which is the kind of group that bashes Aaron consistently throughout the day. We all bonded on this common ground, and what bonding time we had!

The rest of the day was spent traveling to Ohio where the wedding will be held, going to the rehearsal, and attending the rehearsal dinner. We took a mad detour on our way to Ohio because of a major road accident, which I thought was quite amusing. Aaron handled it well.


(Left to right) Jessica, Nate, and Aaron look at a map to review how to get to Ohio where the wedding will take place. 


Jessica Mason directs where the groomsmen should stand during the ceremony tomorrow. (Yes, Oli was a groomsman as well!) 


The set up for the bridesmaids...minus one because she got caught in traffic on the way to the rehearsal. 

Our planned bachelor party consisted of just Dave, Aaron, Nate, Oli, and I. It was more of a time to chill with Aaron before his big day rather than a party, which I think is more effective. We stopped by Julia and Laura's hotel room first to say hello. My phone rang with them on the other side earlier that day informing me they flew in. A couple of us felt terrible (Oli and I) knowing they were around all day without seeing any of us.

Of course, I was the only one who knew their room number, and I was foolish enough not to write it down. Memory was all I depended on when we knocked on their door. 220? I'm pretty sure, but "pretty sure" doesn't cut it when you knock at 10:30 at night. Thus we all acted like middle schoolers and knocked on door 220, which was followed by all of us hiding around the corner to see who answered the door. Very childish, I know. Me being me, I thought it funny.

After a few moments of silence, the door cracked open, and the guys sent me to go out to see who it was. Freakers. I turned the corner to see two girls in a "I just woke up" mess scanning for the visitors. Upon seeing me, Laura rushed to give me a wonderful hug as if she hadn't seen a friend in three years. Julia followed and the four other guys came out when it was all good to greet the ladies as well. We talked for a good half hour before parting with them to do our guy thing.

The guy thing didn't work out so well, and it ended with Aaron and Nate playing pool at the bar, David going to bed, and Oli and I heading back up to Julia and Laura's room to catch up with them on things. We did start out with some miniature golf, and that was a lot of fun. We all sucked, and I lost one of the balls; but that's fine. What's one ball?

My night did end leaving Julia and Laura's place at around 5 am. Nate came up sometime during the night as well and got to know the girls better. Julia and Laura have been incredible friends to Oli and I, and the connection the four of us share resulted in long hours talking and informing one another how lives have been the past three years.

The night is about to end...literally, and the wedding begins this afternoon. I need rest.

Transition

Greg Cooper wasn't incredibly impressed with my work on Chris, which I was very surprised to see. I thought it was a wonderful story to photograph, but he didn't think so much of it. The critique was good, and he made some points that were not brought up when I looked at them or when my friends looked at them. That was educational. He handed back our grades: C. It's quite the frustrating thing when you work four days straight on a project only to get a C. I honestly cannot complain, for this project was meant to be worked on for at least a month. It's not in the criteria, but I believe that is why Greg was harsher on me than it deserved. Such little time spent on an assignment meant to take so much time would cause a little frustration on the teacher. That's my take on the lot.

The drive home relieved me of my worries. I feel as if some large burden has lifted from my back. PHO 208 has been a real troublesome class for me, and it has been in more ways than one. I lost motivation to shoot for this class early in the session, which really killed me. I deserve to fail this class. No worries, though. I'll pass. The grades show it, but my dedication and commitment didn't.

After writing a couple papers for English, I drove back to Brooks to turn them in and then headed for Long Beach. I met my parents at an old family friend's house down there we knew over ten years ago when we lived in the Bay Area. I walked into Mirna's house recognizing her within a half second, and we had a fun time catching up and talking. Mom and Dad mostly. I felt right at home hearing all the jabbers said in Tagalog. I miss the Filipino immersion I had as a child.

I now sit in LAX waiting for my flight to board. My parents drove me to the airport from Long Beach, where I left my car so I didn't have to pay for airport parking. My destination: Fort Wayne, Indiana. Well, I actually stop over in Chicago, but my final destination is Fort Wayne. The purpose of this trip will be to attend Aaron Stucky's wedding, who I have not seen in just about three years. Oli is already over there; he flew out yesterday. There's a lot of trips this summer for me.

I like it.

Parting ways.

I exhausted this project to the core. After arriving back to Ventura today, I spent the entire evening editing through the 600+ pictures I made with Chris. I believe the final edit is a fine one. My pictures aren't the most exciting, and I think I could have done better; but for what I got, the final edit is well put together.

Yesterday wasn't much of a day. Photography-wise, at least. Chris spent most of it organizing and planning for his crossover into Mexico. "Besides," he says, "It's Sunday." I guess going out onto the town and shoving events into your day isn't what should be done on a Sunday. I find that very interesting. Even a person with no religious beliefs considers a Sunday a day of rest. I wonder if the whole idea of working six days - okay, okay...what Chris is doing isn't really "working," but you get what I mean - and resting on the seventh is fused into everyone's head. It's a terrible thing to see Sunday slowly being fazed out as a resting day. I remember as a child not going out and shopping and eating out because everything was closed. Sunday indeed felt like a day of rest.


Chris plans his route through Mexico. 

The evening did kick up a little, for Ed invited Adam to come over and look at pictures of the Denali climb. Chris, Ed, and Adam had a fun time socializing and looking through the pictures of incredible mountain peaks and beautiful lakes and valleys. God has really done a work of art creating this world. Before the night's end, Chris and I went out to an Irish pub and shared a few drinks just to hang out one last time before I leave tomorrow.


On the way to pick up some KFC for typical American fast food...so nutritious. 


Chris, Ed (middle), and Adam (right) look at some pictures taken on the top of Mt. McKinley on Denali peak. 

I like to learn through observation of other people. Direct mentoring and advisory isn't my cup of tea. Unless you are a close friend of mine, I won't seek advise from you. But getting life lessons from how people go about their own lives can be very effective. It is for me. What have I learned from Chris? Chris's way of living is to make the most of what you do. I think he went on this expedition around the world because he wants to appreciate this world as a whole and do it first hand. He also knows that time ultimately does not matter, and a rushed life is a stressful one. I think Chris has affected me in this way. I don't see much hurry in life anymore. Of course, there is the urgency that presents itself every once in a while, but they are rare. Kick back and relax. There is a lot to do, yes, but there is a lot of time to do it in too. I think God only demands so much of us that we can handle. He understands how we deal with things, and He won't overload us to the point of unrecoverable breakdown.

God's cool.

Breathe easy. It's all good.

I write from San Diego now about two miles from the 15. Chris has a friend down here, who was a climbing companion when he climbed Mt. McKinley. Chris's first attempt at one of the Seven Summits was up in Alaska, but he didn't accomplish the goal and get to the top. Knowing Chris, he wasn't phased by his failure and will try the summit again later down the road. His friend, Ed Earl, did make it to the top.

Yesterday proved itself to be a day of uniqueness. Traveling with Chris is a wonderful experience not only for its events, but also for the personality and life experience that Chris possesses. I have learned much about Chris today as we traveled down the 1 on our way to San Diego.


Chris and Vaughn organize some drugs that will be used to prevent Chris from getting any foreign illnesses or diseases while in South America. 

One thing about Chris: He's incredibly laid back. He is taking his groovy time with his world-wide expedition; there is no hurry for this man. Before actually setting out on his route, Chris made a few stops to various places: AAA (Triple A, if people didn't understand AAA - I mean, I could have been talking about batteries, ya know!), a gas station, and Adventure 16, which was an outdoor store full of crazy cool adventurey outdoor gadgets and gizmos. After about an hour and a half of errand-type activities, we set out for Venice Beach.


Chris shows Roman his Land Rover. Roman works at Adventure 16 in LA. 

When I said Chris was laid back, I meant that Chris was laid back. He'll cruise down the roads at pretty slow speeds to enjoy the sights and make sure he doesn't miss his turns, which made for great contrast to the Southern California driving here in LA. Impervious to honking and glaring eyes, Chris would brush off the anxious drivers. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of pissed off LA residents. We all need to take a lesson from Chris - we don't need to live such hurried lives. I'm sort of ill thinking that millions of people live their lives with such anxiety. Kick back and relax.


Driving through the streets of downtown LA, Chris makes his way to a nearby AAA office. Because his Land Rover is shipped from London, he drives on the right side of the cabin. 

We saw sights of Venice Beach and cruised down the 1. Chris didn't realize that the 1 is not much of a highway and it passes through a lot of cities and towns. A lot of stop lights and low speed limits made for low miles traveled per hour. It was rather annoying to Chris, but he flew with it.

Because of the late summer days, all the beach camps were bursting at the seams with happy campers, so Chris had to park at a Vista Point on the 5 in order to get some rest. We put together some chicken salad, watched Pulp Fiction, then went to sleep. His Landrover is amazing, and words cannot do justice to how insanely supplied it is; thus I won't bother with the effort.


Chris looks out to the Pacific at a vista point along the 5 south of San Clemente and north of Riverside. 

The San Diego Wild Animal Park provided us with Saturday's entertainment. Once we reached San Diego in the late morning, we had time to burn before Ed returned to the apartment. Seeing the different animals from all over the world was fun, and it gave me more respect to the place when I found out they had helped breed endangered species and redistribute them into the wild. I'm glad they do more than just stick animals in glorified pens for humans to see. Good for appreciation, but it somehow still feels wrong.


While at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Chris walks through the giant bird house and videos as he passes. 


At the park, Chris was able to take the one hour train ride through the grounds to view the African animals kept there. 

Many photographs have been taken the past couple of days. I must admit that it was exciting to photograph Chris and his interactions with people and places; he makes for great subject matter...well, him and his Landrover.

First.

Sitting in my car in front of Best Buy, I dialed the 10+ numbers on my phone card in order to contact Chris Charlton. He is currently staying in LA, but his cell phone is serviced from England where he originally lives. Chris Charlton is traveling around the world in a Landrover, and he's been at it for about four months now. Beginning in East Canada, he traveled up through the country into Alaska, back down through Canada, around the U.S., and is now traveling down the west coast of North America to get to Mexico. Moreover, he is planning to climb the Seven Summits, which I think is just plain dandy.

I heard about Chris through Brooks Smothers and Wendy Guerrero at school. One e-mail explaining my intentions to travel with him was enough to convince him. I want to photograph this man's life. I want to inform others that someone is, in fact, living out the dream to "see the world." So many of us say we want to go all over, but how many people really follow through?

After a brief conversation on the cell phone, I had a small piece of paper with directions to where he is staying. Traffic was hell down the 101 and the 405. Surprise surprise. I found the place after about two hours of driving; he's spending his LA days stationed at an apartment a block from Beverly Boulevard. I walked into the apartment and was introduced to Vaughn Hart, a friend Chris met back up in Santa Barbara. Vaughn was more than happy to offer his place as a resting point for Chris once he left Ojai to continue his trip down South. Chris can't turn down a free place to stay, which was understandable. Even more, Vaughn is an excellent host. Amazing cook - at least, in my book - socially easy to be around, and extremely accomodating. He's been around Asia and Europe, and photography is a strong hobby of his. He and I found common ground right off the bat.


While heating water for late night tea, Chris tells Vaughn a funny story. 

The evening was spent learning about Chris and Vaughn, eating a great dinner, and watching the gymnastics competition during the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. Oh right, I photographed it all as they all fell together. Witnessing Carly Patterson win the gold medal in the women's all-around competition was very touching. It moved me to see her coach swing her around in his arms as she weeped in complete joy; it made me smile seeing her get the gold medal she dreamed of and worked hard four years to receive. Olympians amaze me.


Chris and Vaughn watching the 2004 Olympics on TV. 

I'll be heading to bed now, which is a sleeping bag on the carpet floor. I expect that I'll be spending the next three nights in a sleeping bag, but I look forward to sleeping in unfamiliar places. I've spent too many nights in the same place with the same sleeping habits.