Burning Ring of Fire, Part III

Happy Fourth of July everyone. Sorry for no blog post yesterday; I am indeed alive but dealt with another day of fires and chaos. The past 48+ hours have been surreal. Let's break it down:

Tuesday
5:30pm- Fire Starts in the mountains about 5-10 miles away from my apartment, I did not even know.

Wednesday
8:15am- Ash on my car. Radio reports say 230 acres burning.
6:00pm- Driving home from work, I see the plumes of smoke and take these pictures.
7:15pm- Fire knocks out power for about 180,000 people. Kids in IV party like its the end of the world.
11:30pm- Power comes back on; partying continues.

Thursday
8:45am- Last night's power outages have knocked out our internet at work. Also, the fire has grown to 2,000 acres.
3:00pm- Internet comes back after I have been sitting around bored for six hours because the only assignments I have left require the web.
6:15pm- Arrive at train station to go home for the Fourth. Take pictures below. Try not to breathe in too much of the ash falling like snow.
6:45pm- Train does not show up on time. I make friends with a girl from Kazakhstan, Christian camp counselor, saxophone player, and many other UCSB students trying to figure out what is going on.
7:30pm- We find out that a train hit a car in Ventura and killed a person earlier in the day, throwing the whole schedule for a loop.
7:40pm- Power goes out again, so we are sitting in the dark looking like ashtrays.
8:15pm- Train finally comes, but they have to clean and debrief from the accident. We get cranky; we don't care about a clean train since we are covered in ash.
9:00pm- We finally get on the train and leave.

Today
8:00am- I wake up in my comfy bed in San Clemente. The fire has doubled in size to 5,400 acres and become the number one priority in CA. I thank all the firefighters again and pray that everyone in Santa Barbara is ok.

More Pictures:

In-n-Out near Alex's Family

Sun Behind the Smoke

Waiting at the Goleta Train Station, Two Miles from My Apartment

Smokey Sunset

Burning Ring of Fire, Part II

When I came home from work, the sky was reddish gray and ashes were falling like snow. Someone said it looked like Dante’s Peak, I said that it felt like the apocalypse. Little did I know that we would soon be losing power and then it really would feel like the end of the world.

I am sitting here in the dark because the power has been out for three hours now in all of Isla Vista. I thought it was just my building or block, but when I went out to scavenge for some food (curses for eating the last of my salad and sliced turkey yesterday) I realized that everyone had lost power. Everyone was wandering around the streets looking for food or something to do. But no eateries were open and now there is no escape by car since my car is behind an electric-powered gate. I am officially stranded.

It is funny how people cope with power outages. I ate a bowl of cheerios for dinner in the dark and am writing this blog on Word (thank goodness for a laptop with a long battery life and a spare battery). Other people lined up outside of the liquor store, the only place that would stay open and take orders one by one. Other people are lighting the fireworks they bought for the fourth—yes, let’s start another brush fire. Other people are singing very badly.

I just want electricity.

[Written at 10pm, hour three of the power outage]
[Update: Power regained at 11:30pm]

Burning Ring of Fire

When I was younger, I always wondered why people would live in Florida and endure hurricanes every year. Now I bet people question why people live in California and endure brush fires annually.

This morning when I walked to my car, it was covered in ash. As I looked up at the sky on my drive to work, I saw billows of smoke. The news on the radio informed me that a fire started last night in the mountains, about ten miles from my apartment. Reports now it has burned some 300+ acres.

Seems like the fires are following me everywhere I go. First the big fire in Big Sur, now in Santa Barbara. Oh yeah, there was a fire in my hometown of Santa Clarita too. Thankfully that one is completely contained; I still remember 2004 when the fire was hundreds of feet away from my house and my parents had things packed in case of an evacuation.

Has it always been this way? I cannot figure out whether fires are become more frequent or if I just did not know about them when I was younger. It seems to be a way of life nowadays. Every year a different part of California is on fire and the same images reappear: people hosing down their houses, firefighters evacuating people, choppers doing water drops. And every year I thank firefighters for protecting us crazy people who choose to live by dry brush.

Below are some pictures I took when I got home from work.

[Written at 8pm, during hour one of the power outage]

Around the World

My friend Aaron shared this video on his Livejournal, saying that it lifts his spirits whenever he watches it. It certainly brought a smile to my face. I love seeing the happiness on everyone's faces, and the song is great too.



The guy in the video, Matt Harding, was traveling in Vietnam when his friend suggested that Matt do his signature (bad) dance. Eventually the video got passed around and Matt ended up traveling to 42 countries on all seven continents doing his dance with people.

Having not left the United States for over a year and a half (the longest span here since 2000), I have an urge to go somewhere abroad-- and maybe I will take my bad dancing with me.

The Great Outdoors

Here are some pictures I took from up at a cabin along the Big Sur Coast. The rest are at my Flickr account and Facebook.

Granted, I am not much of an outdoorsy girl. I hid under the covers while I forced Alex to kill a spider on the cabin ceiling, got seasick when out on the ocean on a raft, and pouted when I tripped into a stream during a hike. Nonetheless, I had a great time with Alex and his family.

View from the Cabin

The Men and Their Fish (totally grossed me out)

View of the Big Sur CoastLos Padres National ForestBig Smiles for VacationBattling it out with Alex's dad after knocking out for of the boysJENGA! We also played a lot of my personal favorite: spoons.
Alex with Danielle and Adam (two of his four siblings)Limekiln Falls