Awhile ago, some friends and I had the common and hilarious idea of heading up to California for a week or so just for kicks. California seems to be the place to be for summer, in fact, I have always pictured California as the embodiment of summertime. Of course, I live in Arizona and not California, so I am only picturing the beaches and hot babes that walk the beaches and not the everyday life of paying so much for gas and boycotting my state for some reason. Anyway, I was really looking forward to it and for a while, I thought that it wouldn’t happen because you know when there is a great idea and you get really excited about it but it never happens? Yeah, I thought that was going to happen. Well it did happen thanks to my friend Alycia and her family, who got great rates at the Catamaran Resort in San Diego. It came down to four of us going, me, my friends Brian, Alycia and Allison. I think that we organized and planned the trip very well and it couldnt have been more fun. We drove up there for some six hours and I am used to the long rides up there but we kept ourselves busy with snacks, chatting and of course, listening to www.thebadradio.com . CHECK IT OUT please if you want to.

It took awhile to get there and we almost got stopped at the border patrol checkpoint by the guards but passed on and continued driving by the Sand Dunes that George Lucas filmed Star Wars at and we saw the border fence. Ah the fence, how it serves its purpose. We got to California and I could already feel the difference of the temperature. 110 degrees in Tucson and it turned to like 80 while driving. When we pulled into California it wasn’t overcast and beautifully dark but was actually really nice and although the wretched sun out, it was the perfect weather for California and as Alycia played “California Gurls” by Katy Perry as we passed Seaworld, I was extremely happy that I came on the trip. I am a miser and the stingiest person ever so I was planning on keeping my money and not going but that was stupid and I am so glad I went. We drove on to our hotel and checked out our room. It seemed like a really good room for the time being but we had some problems that I’ll mention later. We immediately changed and went to the beach which was a five minute walk down the street. Immediately,  my eyes and Brian’s eyes lit up because there were gorgeous women everywhere. We aren’t chauvinists, but after watching the California Gurls music video by Katy Perry (my second mention of this results in my losing a mancard or two but it’s worth it) we wanted to see and meet some California girls while we were there. This was the whole reason I had gotten the LA Fitness membership for the summer, not to stay in shape for the Army. Really, which is more important, getting girls on the beach or not being run over in PT when I return to ERAU? Ok the Army but I took advantage of this opportunity to hit up the beach with Brian, my lifting buddy, and it was a joyous adventure. Anyway, we walked the beach and went really far out into the water. It was really cold for California but the water seemed alright, at first. I’ll get to that in a minute too. After an hour or so of that, I took a break and just relaxed at the beach. This was the most relaxing thing ever and it was great just to lie next to Alycia and take in the sun while a girl several feet away kept glancing at me. I hope she was, but I cant really tell because she was wearing those ridiculous sunglasses that hide your whole face. Whatever, I’ll assume she was looking at me.

That night we went to Ralph’s and got a score of junkfood which would serve as our breakfasts and source of snacks for the next few days. Oreos, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fudge Sticks and Capt’n Crunch cereal was the best meal I could wake up to and it made the trip even better. We returned to the beach again and just laid on the sand as we watched Brian skimboard and saw people catching some big waves. We decided that our next location would be to head to Coronado Island to see the Hotel Del Coronado there which is famous and haunted. We drove to Coronado Island and after getting separated from the girls, Brian and I explored the hotel and first went through all the shops underground. We couldn’t buy anything because it is so expensive there so we instead started to wander around the halls of the hotel. Because I have heard stories that it is haunted it made the adventure even more exhilarating. We found the room where someone was killed and eventually found the girls but not after I had taken some cool shots of the haunting hallways.

Fish and Chips!

The majority of my summer has been spent with my amazing friends that live here with me in Tucson. WAIT!!!!!!!! OK, you reading this. You dont know my friends, so therefore you probably dont care what I write about my hilarious times with them. Its ok, I will read posts and hear stories about other people’s friends and quite honestly, I Cannot care because I have no emotional connection to the people being described to me.  I get it, and I understand why people reading my blog wouldnt want to hear all this gab and blah blah blah about Steven Leon’s friends because they dont know them. The point of this particular blog post is to describe certain friends of mine, or times I’ve had with them, and hope that whoever reads this can relate the fun times I have had with my friends to the times they cherish and enjoy the company of their friends. Also, this is my blog so if you dont like hearing about the rather ridiculous adventures that me and my friends have well . . . . .go start your own blog.

Ok, now that the disclaimer is over with, I can first say that although my family has been there the entire summer, entertaining, working and loving me the entire time, I have a lot of fun with my friends who still remain in Tucson. There are a lot so I wont get to all of them, but it really makes me feel good when I can call up someone and just lull about town, whether it is working out, getting Eegee’s on a random date, sneak into resorts and walk around their ‘romantic trails’ (One thing to know about me, I am no romantic and will never be one, I dont find any logic in the topic of ‘romance’) or get pelted with paintballs and leave a facility in the middle of nowhere covered in a combination of sweat, artificially manufactured paint and Hawaiian Punch. That being said, I have come to the conclusion that a lot can be learned from friends in the short amount of time I have with them. Several of my friends are one year younger than me and are starting college next year. Some are going to NAU, Norte Dame, the University of Arizona Honors Program or to several other schools. I know that I dont have a lot of time with them so this summer I decided to spend as much time with them and my other friends as I could because I know that they will change during college, maybe for the best, maybe for the worst, (forshadowing to a future blog of mine) but I want to have fun with them now while I can. Most of my friends know that I appreciate and love them so it makes it all the more easier when there is an absence of petty ‘romances’, flings or disagreements between them. There arent that many friends that I can call up to go work out on a whim with, Brian, or start a radio show to just record our unbelievably hilarious converstations (Brandon and Mike). On that note, visit www.thebadradio.com. Our 7th episode is up and a brief synopsis is this: Creepy things, sweaty money and more public womanly misconduct. Back to my point, I can go on and on about how these different types of friends have affected my summer, but you, the reader, couldn’t care less so I wont press the point. My point is just that it is wise to appreciate the friends now while you can because they change and you change and college seperates people, which can be a good or bad thing. Last summer, it was a very good thing for me to be seperated from some people while meeting others. The way I see it is that if I had or have a great friend that I will probably lose contact with by whatever means, if that friendship meant that much to us, we will stay in touch and if not, I will see them in heaven anyways. Morbid? No. Just the way I see it.

Now that I have the wordy stuff out of the way, I am going to describe the pain and enjoyment that getting hit multiple times by small paint filled plastic balls has caused me for today. So yesterday, after recording our 7th episode: www.thebadradio.com, LISTEN TO IT, I went over to my friend Bobby’s house to prepare for paintballing the next morning. I had gone once before with my high school’s Outdoor Adventure Club, and I was dreadful. Also, I have been shot in the neck by a female player just feet from me, inhibiting my speech capabilities for some time after. Nonetheless, I am no fan of the sport, but when he asked me to go, I figured why not, I can give it another go. So we did, we woke up early, drove all the way over there before it got too hot and when we got there I saw tons of players there all decked out and looking like pro’s and of course I was nevous. I used to play childish airsoft with some fools a few years ago, but I hated playing that, even though they didnt realize it at the time because I just went to be with them. Kind of the same here but in this case, I had a blast. Unexpectedly, I made a few kills and although I got a bit trigger happy when shooting someone 10 years older than me, I felt awesome! It was a ton of fun going with Bobby and his cousin Aaron, and it was a pretty good workout, squatting and running and crouching. I got a Charlie Horse while trying to seek and destroy an enemy female hostile, so that hurt like heck for a while. I also got two enormous welts, one on my left wrist and another on my theigh. The bruise is pretty big, but I take pride in my wound. I wasnt hit as bad as some other people, and a lot of people had the hardcore gear on while I had the same flimsy blue t-shirt that I wore to the cave. By the end of the four hours or so of running around ruined helicopter crashes and spools, we left the field covered in paint and sweat because, God Bless Arizona, the 110 degree sun came up at aroung eleven. Expensive as it was, it was *definitely worth it.

*Quick side-track here, I used to be a Spelling Bee Champ and a whiz at spelling, which I still am, but some words confuse me. I was so used to spelling “definitely” the wrong way like definately, and I have no idea why. It goes the same for words like receive and weird, I just get confused with the cursed “i’s”. Anyway . . .

Back on track now, I relish in the fact that I have some amazing friends at home here and I wish them the best of luck. I look forward to seeing them again and I hope they all know how much I appreciate them even if I dont say it as often as I should. Fake friends arent worth keeping and by now I know who is real and who isn’t. “Don’t worry about people in your past, there’s a reason they aren’t in your future”

Several times during the week, our family goes through a cleaning Purge of our house because with six hungry people,  it gets messy pretty easily. We dont even wear schoes in the house but it must be cleaned. It is common sense,  because if I live like a slob here at home, then who knows what my dorm room will be like. Once everything is spick and span, we usually go to Costco to stack up on some items that we need. But most importantly, we always get their delicious Pizza and hotdogs, but their best items are their CHURROS and the Very Berry Smoothies.  It really is the best place to go, the only problem is that I dont have a Costco Membership card so we have to sidle our way in, usually pretending to be on a phone call or my brothers and I walk behind a middle aged woman so the person checking for cards thinks that we are her children. Devious yes but effective . . . . Yes.

A Very Berry Smoothie with a Churro

I took my siblings to Sabino Canyon a few days ago because a brief monsoon rained down on the area so we hoped that the Canyon and the dams there would be filled with water. Our hopes were realized when we travelled a mile or so and saw the Dam was filled with water. It looked like tea and according to my sister when she slipped down the dam and fell into the lagoon, it tasted like tea too. We saw a lot of people at the dam who were swimming in the river and sliding down the dam. We all were swimming in the river and I was sucked down a rapid that went from the dam to the rest of the river and the side of my waist was hit by a jagged rock protruding from underneath the water. It was a blast and the best part was when we were walking back and I found a $5 on the floor. I love going to Sabino Canyon and going with my siblings was an awesome experience that I will remember as one of the best parts of the summer.

The Sabino Dam and the Killer Rapid

James, Michael and Sarah in front of the rapid that almost killed me