Birthday and Graduation

Some more photos from Monday, May 23rd, and Saturday, May 28th, for your viewing enjoyment.

Bon appetit!

MAY 23

the annual Patch & me selfies, 18 & 9 edition

Shakespeare leggings, courtesy of my aunt

Patch eats a vegan cupcake

Dad, Patch, and I go out to lunch at Thai Vegan

Senior Week night at Explora, messing with the centripetal force exhibit

 MAY 28

the following photos taken by my dad

Dad found Maria in line and snapped a picture of her 

braiding my tassel and being a weirdo

in procession

my little cheer squad

made it to the stage

receiving the diploma from head of school, Andy Watson

a long list of names following my own

the final few steps

hats in the air (and we're finally free!)

after being draped with leis by all my family members

the closest we got to a group pic (LtoR: Ravi, Uncle William, Mom, me, Grandma Verona, Grandma Delia, some random kid photo-bombing us)

this photo taken by my grandma

we are a silly bunch

the following photos taken by my mom

me and Sonal

Maria's personalized and decorated graduation cap (Abbey Road with diplomas)

Maria and me

 (so odd yet so aesthetic) me with my freshman history teacher, and Dad photo-bombing(-ish)

me, Daniel, and Nick (3/4 of the Dimension cast)

the full Dimension cast: me, Nataly, Daniel, and Nick

me and Nick

Dad, me, Grandpa Dennis, and Grandma Delia

me with the grandparents: Grandma Verona, me, Grandpa Dennis, and Grandma Delia

me and Channing, a classmate who will also be studying neuroscience in college

candid of my brother being weird, as usual

me and the lady with whom we used to carpool

Hope you enjoyed the chance to see some more photos! (Sometimes it's hard to pick just one picture on those days you take a hundred photos and there's so many good ones to choose from.) I'd like to do more of these mid-week photo blog posts; and I think that this summer will give me the chance to get some great pictures to share with all of you.

Pic a Day - 5/16 to 5/22

Mon. May 16, fraying

Tues. May 17, dappled sky

Wed. May 18, selfie with Peachy the tiny tiny house

Thurs. May 19, the daisy patch

Fri. May 20, Albuquerque Bernie Sanders rally

Sat. May 21, Dad and I visited a "tiny house" for sale in Santa Fe

Sun. May 22, inscriptions

Just Your Average Pet-Adoption Event...

This story has to start a few weeks before the event today. So, for about a month or so, I've been browsing through shows that might be of interest to me on Netflix Instant Watch (as I now have a Windows 8 computer, and therefore a Netflix Instant Watch app). I added a couple of Animal Planet series involving pit bulls to my list, because I had watched a documentary on pit bulls before and wanted to check out what similar things Netflix had to offer.

One of the shows that I added was Pitbulls & Parolees. I was hesitant to start a new show, and I didn't know what to expect. The show very quickly caught my interest, though, and I really enjoyed the ranch happenings plus the rescue missions plus the interpersonal drama. Pitbulls & Parolees follows Tia Torres and her rescue for pit bulls, Villalobos, and also the parolees she hires and reforms, missions to save endangered dogs, and conflicts among employees and her family.

As I was getting ready to go volunteer at the adopt-a-thon's first day today, I let my leash hang around my neck, and joked that I was like Tia Torres, because she is always seen in the show with a pink leash hung around her neck - you know, just in case.

The semi-irony of me saying that was that, when we pulled up a quarter after nine in the morning, I saw somebody that I recognized. Weirdly, it was as if I knew them just from the back. When they turned so I could see them, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Mando from Pitbulls & Parolees, walking around in a "Staff WMR" shirt and helping to set up for the adoption event. Mando - Armando - was the first parolee (or rather, ex-parolee) that was introduced in Season 3 of the show (the only season on Netflix), and one of Tia's closest friends and one of the most featured employees on the show. I kept staring from the car, watching as he went from the big tent to the mobile home to the little tent and back. When I eventually went out to sign in as a volunteer, I was close enough to see his nametag, and my eyes hadn't lied - Armando Galindo, and up close it was undoubtedly the same guy from the show.

I had told my dad that I was going to talk to him, because it's on my bucket list to "meet a famous person." However, it is generally not my strong suit to initiate conversation with people, especially not total strangers, and especially not total strangers who also happen to be on my favorite TV show. Well, just going around walking little dogs, sitting at the main table, and perusing the tent for the big dogs, he would help me get a squirmy hyper dog into their kennel, or tell me how I could help volunteers give water, or smile walking past me. Somehow that felt better and more real than if I had stopped to shake his hand (like one girl did, with her family) and compliment his show, or ask for his autograph, or ask questions about Villalobos and what brought him to New Mexico. (Honestly, though, I was kind of "stalking him" in the main tent to get his autograph. If he's there tomorrow or Sunday, I will work up the courage to ask him. And compliment his show, too. It's my favorite show.)

4th of July

Alright, alright. I do celebrate the popular day of independence as well. It was just nice to have a night to ourselves, too.

BOMB POP

the state of our front side yard

no, I'm not a pyromaniac

lighting a firecracker

they are a crazy bunch

my face after watching these boys

my feet were filthy after walking around barefoot