This is a photo of myself and my two cat-babysitters aka my apartment mates. Joe is on the left and Paul on the right. Paul gave me a monkey in a car firework a few days after I moved into my apartment in 2005, on the fourth of July. I put it in my cabinet amongst my glasses and found it upon moving out in 2006. So I decided what more monumental time to set it off than my going away party among my very apartment mates. The dark photo above is of us setting it off in the street. All of our friends were watching and cheering this baby firework from the balcony! I set it on fire with a lighter and then yelped because I knocked it over and then I was laughing so hard while Joe set it back upright. I THOUGHT HE MIGHT DIE! but he didn't thank goodness.












4th of JULY, 2006

This is the day that we decided to take Isa's blow up matress out on the stormy lake of Clinton, in Lawrence, KS. It is here with leftover Miller Lites from our going away party (iewww) that we decided to pretend we were adrift at sea and then later to have raft riding contests. I made it a stunning 14 seconds. Maybe I should have been a bucking bronco rider. It's not too late yet!

We continued our party onto the fireworks display along the river. Rachael and I had sesame chicken while Isa and Sam shared a sushi plate from Try-aki. This coupled with Champagne (thank you Eric S.!) made McGurgles in our stomaches. It was questionable if we were to make it through the night for the next two hours. The night was topped off by our own fireworks display with Nat Yeh and Isley along the river in the tall grass.

Today is one of those days where I really took in all of my surroundings in a appreciative silence. I realized how much I appreciated the Kansas sky, some open water, and being around a few friends with a few drinks. The nostalgia of America hit me in an unsentimental way when it dawned on me that I am leaving my country to have much awaited aventures, but that I will probably miss certain comforts, familiarities, and customs of America. I realize that all of this will become more apparent in my travels.

I leave you with some photos from Sam's and my blowout going away party. Almost 50 people attended which is amazing for the two bedroom apartment Sam and Rachael have. The date of the party was the last day of June, 2006, the same day I was slated to completely move out of my apartment. Bad planning on our part, but typical of our nature--believing we can do everything all at once! And somehow, amazingly enough, it did work out. I think I filled up a dumpster and a half with my condiments (excess dressings, miracle whip, and miscellanous spices I only used once or twice). We also put half of my belongings on the 41st and Stateline street corner to recycle a set of knives, mismatched dishes, and rickety wooden furniture, etc for the many med school kids and have-nots. While Sam loaded up the last load in his car (the day before I sold my car to a man who paid with a Nebraska out of state check. I do not recommend doing this, but if you do, be sure to hold the car until the check clears!), he realized he had a screw in his tire. He ran to the BP station while I cleaned up my apartment and rode my pink hot mamma bike over to rid myself of the stench that moving in 100 degree weather brings. Somehow we got it all accomplished by 6:30pm, just in time to host the best party of all time. You might ask "why?"
I have two words for you--CRAP RAFFLE. or CRAFFLE if one word is more economical. I will include photos of the best finds. For those of you that don't know, since we are moving to Korea, we got rid of a ton of our stuffs. Especially me b/c 1) I have a ton of stuff and 2) because I cannot easily unload stuffs at my padres since they now reside in Canada. Enjoy! Dontcha wish you woulda been there to obtain some of our CRAP? it is such sweet crap.

Oh, one last thing. In the morning at about 6:30 am, just as the sun was rising, there was a fire across the street from Sam's house. Notice Alan in the foreground returning from checking it out. He is the street watch dog.