I did quite a bit this summer, but since I've been busy ever since it ended, I never got around to talking about it on this blog. I have so many pictures, videos for YouTube, and ideas for writing that have been rusting in the back of my brain (and computer files) for a few months now. Now that it's Thanksgiving break, I have a more time to put them out there, so here it is.
The beginning of the summer was pretty lowkey. I spent the first few weeks going to morning practice Monday-Thursday for cross country. As much as that sounds horrendous for the start of summer, I didn't think it was that bad. I'm a senior now, so I've learned to enjoy parts of it enough to convince my mind that it isn't bad. I pride myself on being able to do that, because from an outside perspective it is arguably one of the most unenjoyable things to do, especially in the morning. Essentially, I focused on having fun with my friends during the runs and being grateful to get in fresh air and exercise early to leave the rest of my day open for whatever. Anyone who does cross knows how good it feels when you go on a run that actually feels enjoyable, like damn, I'm enjoying myself? Doing my best to have this mindset as much as possible made it, dare I say, fun.
So those weeks flew by pretty quickly, and by this point it was around mid-June. My family had plans to go out to Joshua Tree and Las Vegas, but I was the only one not going. It was nothing personal; one was a girls-only trip and the other was an anniversary trip, which obviously have no place for me :). I'm a seventeen-year-old kid (at the time 16), so I didn't need a babysitter or anything for the two nights they were gone. If I'm honest, I rotted and recorded a YouTube video (the vibe coding one) for the majority of the time I was alone. That video showcased a lot of what I'd been doing instead of being responsible and feeding myself: ricing Hyprland in Arch Linux to get it to ex-act-ly how I wanted it. Yeah, I know, it's a bit cringe and discord mod-ish, but it was fun, challenging and wasted a huge amount of time. If you're wondering, I did NOT wear knee-high socks while doing that lol.
After they came back, we went to Cambria at the end of the following week. If you know anything about that town (if you could even call it that), then you might be thinking that it'd be boring for a teenager to go there during the Summer. Hell no. Despite there being almost no flashy, crazy attractions there, I had a great time. I packed a bag full of clothes, an Arch Linux laptop, and a 3DS before heading out to the quaint town four hours away. We stayed south of the Fiscilini Ranch Perserve on a hilly street parallel to another ranch. This made for a surprisingly scenic view out of my bedroom; it was so cool waking up to the cloudy grey light peeking through the window and seeing the hilly forest on the other side of the street. I should've taken a picture of it. It's one of those things you appreciate on vacation because you don't have it back home.
If you're unaware, the climate in Cambria year round is pretty cold. It's not freezing, but it's enough to make a person from Southern California go "wow! it's cold" when they step outside and it's 60 degrees in the middle of June. To a runner, however, this weather is the equivalent of hitting a jackpot. I ran every single day while we were up there, and every single run was excellent and refreshing. It's hard to describe how it felt in words, honestly. I still feel the cool air hitting my face as I sprinted down the hill towards the ocean. It's probably my absolute favorite place to run; the scenery, the weather, the hills, the fact that there's almost nobody there...I could go on. I saw so many cool houses while running, weird streets, and breathtaking views from the top of the hill overlooking everything. Even if you're not a runner, I'm sure anyone would appreciate a walk in the Fiscilini Ranch. How could you not?
I mentioned that I brought my 3DS, but it was mostly to take pictures. That sounds stupid, but hear me out. The 3DS camera is one of the coolest things ever. I often roll my eyes when ASB students add filters and effects to our morning announcement videos to give it a 90s look, since it's really obviously edited and trying to hard to be "unique" and "retro vibes". In my opinion, the 3DS accomplishes this better and more authentically. It's a shitty 0.3 megapixel camera, but it gets that effect so right without looking tacky or forced. I'll show you a picture so you can see:
The lighting in the photo is pretty bad, but that's probably because of the clouds. I'm not a photographer or anything, so I think this crappy camera is perfect to mess around with to get these liminal, nostalgic looking photos. Here's one more that I took:
I had a ton of fun taking photos in a place like this, which has more nature and woods than anything. I took several strolls on the trails within the ranch, ranging from dried grassy fields to weird forest-y areas along a creek. Like I mentioned before, I have plenty of videos to post on my YouTube channel from all these walks, uniquely shot on my 3DS. Other than the time I spent in nature revitalizing myself, I read a few books on my laptop and spent time with my family during the rest of the hours of the days. I know that Cambria isn't the most crazy, populated destination with crazy night life and tons of stuff to do, but the enjoyment is what you make of the place.
After we came back from Cambria, it was early July. We had a good 4th of July splashing about in the pool since it was hot back home. I felt sad to leave the cool weather behind, but life goes on. I probably haven't mentioned it at all on this blog, but I've been in Boy Scouts since I was ten. If you're in BSA, your troop likely goes on annual Summer camps to a designated camp for a week. Our troop usually stays within California, but there's plenty of camps to choose from. My favorite are probably the ones on Catalina Island, which I guess isn't technically in California. This year we went to Whittset near the Kern River. As you'd probably expect, it was hot as shit. What a switch up.
It was probably one of the last summer camps that I went to, so I made sure to make the most of it. I got to shoot a shotgun for the first time, even though I could have done that 3 years ago :3. I did it wrong at first, which made the gun kick back hard into my chest and give me a mean bruise. It hurt, but it was kind of funny to see how me and my friend basically did the same mistake. After I got the hang of it though, I was really enjoying it. It is incredibly satisfying when you make the pigeon burst into a million pieces after feeling the loud bang. I also appreciate all the extra stuff BSA teaches with a firearm merit badge. I naively tried to get the rifle shooting merit badge as well, but couldn't complete it in time. I chose to shoot shotgun instead of the rifle most of the time, leaving me no time to get the requirements in—maybe it wasn't the best idea to take 2 shooting merit badges at the same time if you're not exactly a good shot. It's kind of hard to get the shooting requirements, but I'll admit that I'm not that good at rifle.
The rest of the camp was pretty fun despite the sweltering heat and constant need to drink so much water. I took some hikes with my troop, participated in the frigid polar bear swim, and recorded several other funny/stupid moments with my troop members. I'm kind of bummed it was probably my last camp, but I'm still glad I cherished it and didn't let it go to waste.
Around the time I camp back from camp was Dominic's birthday, which I remember well because he posted a couple videos documenting it. From the looks of it, he had a fun birthday.
Four days later, we were leaving the house again to take a flight to Kauai, Hawaii.
I still remember the indescribable feeling I get waking up early to head to the airport. The airport is pretty stressful, but once you get past TSA, it's chill. I spent the 5 and a half hours on the plane playing Super Metroid with noise cancelling headphones. It sounds incredibly corny, but when the plane experienced turbulence and Samus Aran was fighting a boss or escaping somewhere, it actually felt like I was playing in 4D. I somewhat enjoy flights where I can lock in on a video game without being able to cheat or get distracted by something else. Plus, I can type "neofetch" so everyone on the plane knows I use Arch BTW.
We landed and headed to our AirBnB that overlooked a lusciously green golf course. I might sound like a tourist when I say that Poipu is my favorite area on Kauai, but there's just so much to love about it, especially after this trip. Before we left for Kauai, my friend from XC told me that he was going to stay in Poipu around the same time as me. It was a surreal feeling to know that our trips were going to link up and that we were staying only a mile apart. Once he arrived, we agreed to run together and hit the beaches to snorkel. The weather in Kauai (and the other islands) is not ideal for running because of the humidity, but we managed to survive. After our runs, we'd hit up the beaches around the Poipu area in search of a turtle. Each day, despite our tireless efforts swimming out, we never quite found one—until the very last day.
The last ditch effort was to search on the small dock in the Koloa Landing resort where people often spotted turtles. Right as we were about to give up, I saw a brownish thing in the water before realizing it was a turtle. It was so cool. <image> It was probably headed back out to sea since it was morning.
So, the rest of that trip was great. I think I'll rememeber it the most because of the crazy experiences with my friend (imagine going somewhere like Kauai with a high school friend).
My summer concluded full-circle with my cross country team when I got invited to go to Big Bear to train. Damn, that trip was fun. We headed with our team up the windy roads to the mountains. It felt surreal to be in Big Bear during the summer when all of my memories of this place are when it's snowing and freezing cold. I remember eating warm stew in the comfort of our log cabin as it snowed on outside, looking out into the woods. I don't remember much else of that trip (it was a long time ago), besides the NES looking zapper in one of the rooms...it's all really vague.
The weather was perfect this year. Chilly in the morning, but no higher than mid-70s during the day, which made for perfect morning and afternoon runs. The real problem with running up there is obviously the altitude. Holy. fucking. shit. I didn't feel it in the first run, but I really felt in on the long run. I couldn't block out the pain as I slugged up the annoyingly long hill (like a 2 mile incline), gasping for air. That run was pretty rough, but I pulled through.
When we weren't running, we were doing leisure stuff like bowling, go-carting, playing pickleball, swimming in the pool, or playing video games in the room. This made the two runs a day feel like cake. On the last day, the entire team gathered in the hot tub and fucked around for a bit. We did so many more things that would take pages to describe. In short, it was a great way to end the summer off.
Looking back, this was one of the most fun and fulfilling summers I've ever experienced in my life, and one that I'm glad I documented well. Could I have volunteered, done an internship, advanced my education? Sure. Am I regretful that I didn't? Hell no. I wouldn't trade anything for enjoying myself and living life. I'm absolutely not saying you can't have a great summer while getting ahead of the game, but my preferred way is letting go and embracing the word "vacation" to explore my own interests. I'm fully aware that many people aren't as fortunate as me to be able to travel and go places, but I still believe you can make Summer fun by making the best of it. My friend Dominic (Dominator) didn't go anywhere, but from the looks of his videos and what he told me, he had a great summer as well. It's weird for me to say stuff like this because I'm naturally a bit more cynical and negative (sorry), but I still like finding positive things in life!
I shared my summer and what made it great, so I encourage you to do the same and relish Summer break any way you can.
