Ally Gong

Disneyland Part 2 !

August 6, 2013

Hey! Here comes my second post on Disneyland! (I thought it’d be more visually appealing if I made two separate posts.) We spent the first half of the day in Disneyland, and the second half of the day we spent at California adventure.

Here’s me, Hajung, and Sharon on space mountain. Space Mountain is my FAVORITE ride ever, no discussion. I debated hard on being an astronaut for the next hour after I got off that ride. I love the concept of not really seeing where we’re going, I think it’s something that more rides should incorporate. Also, the stars and light tunnel were super trippy and basically made me feel like I had a seizure the whole time, but in a completely AWESOME way.

I wore my Minnie Mouse ears around with me all day! They started to hurt my head at the end of the day though. I think I’m going to give them to my cousin when I get back home. (Or my sister actually)

Here are some really bad quality pictures of the parade! I loved the parade, it was a great ending to Disneyland! I also felt the actresses/actors they hired for the different characters really looked similar to their role. The makeup probably had a big deal to do with it too, but I thought it was a great representation!

Here are the three of us again! The picture on the left was taken in line for the big mickey mouse ferris wheel. The picture on the right was taken in one of the stores. The Pooh Bear and Eeyore plushies were so damn cute, but cost a lot, so I didn’t get one 🙁

Basically it was a great day!

Pictures and post of California Adventure park will be coming up soon as well!

Love you all, have a great day.

-A

Disneyland Part 1!

August 6, 2013

(Disclaimer: The picture above this text belongs to Walt Disney! I just pulled it for visual purposes. The rest of the pictures are taken by me.)

Hey guys!

Camp has been really busy. I can’t believe it’s ending in four days?? Anyway, two Saturdays back, I went to Disneyland in Los Angeles with people from my camp! I haven’t been to Disneyland since I was very very young, so this was a really exciting thing for me.

Here I am with my friend Sharon! She’s in the visual arts department, so we don’t see each other much except for at the cafeteria during meals. I think we took this selfie right when we got in the park. (As you can see, we’re both obediently wearing our CSSSA ID tags.)

Me taking a picture with Alice in Wonderland!!! There were a gaggle of people around her, me, Sharon, and Hajung were literally chasing her down for a picture with us. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any of the other princesses this entire trip because we were busy trying to get to every ride. Next time I go to Disneyland, I want to try to get a picture with each of them. (Is that overly ambitious of me?)

The Disney Princess castle!!!!! I can’t describe how happy these towers and colors make me feel. I used to play this CD-ROM Disney Princess game, and this castle immediately made me think back on those days. If I ever live in a castle, I’ll be sure the walls are baby pink, and that the tower roof is sky blue. I LOVE IT.

I took a lot more pictures, but most of them are blurry or just not great shots. (I can’t do much when I’m overly excited.) We also had a day to get through both Disneyland and California Adventure Park, so my friends and I were pretty busy trying to move through all the different places and get on as many rides as possible. We got on ten rides! Pretty proud of ourselves.

Anyways, I’m going to upload part two of the Disney trip immediately.
Stay tuned, and as always, thanks for reading!

-A

Rest in Peace

July 30, 2013

I got to know you really well through the eight weeks we spent together freshmen year and you were such a bright, kind soul. You really were; everyone will always be touched by the radiance you had. Your smile always made me smile too. I wish I could have talked to you or seen you again. I wish you could have joked about frozen peaches again, or that we could have played more card games with everyone else. Mostly, I wish I had been more there for you. I wish that we’d really stop and talk each time we passed each other in the halls. I love you so much and really miss you. No one wants to believe this is happening.

Nico, there’s still so much more I want to say to you. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you the way you were there for everyone else. We sat together in my freshmen year, and I really believed, over the voices of all those adults, that we would make it. You taught me soccer tricks, you were always so kind, and always smiling. I thought we were healing, but I was the only one who was really healing. I turned a blind eye to your pain because I got better. I’m sorry, I really am so sorry.

Nico, the last thing you ever said to me was that you had no idea what you were doing with your life, and all I said in return was “yea.” I wish that I had instead biked over to see you, called you, or just took the time to tell you that I believe confusion and sadness is transient, but I didn’t. I hope you can forgive me for being so selfish, so wrapped up in my own problems. The entire world is a now darker place with the absence of your light. I, and so many others all loved you. And I hate myself for taking you for granted. I couldn’t take the time off my own life to talk to you, ask you how you were doing, if there was anything I could’ve done to make you happier. I would trade a thousand days now if that would’ve helped you, but you’re gone.

I’m just really desperate that somehow these words can get through to you. I wish so hard, more than anything I’ve wished for before, that we could rewind 24 or 36 hours, that someone could have held onto you, made you stay, refused to let you out of their sight, saved your life.

I know the world can be dark, and that the human mind can be stubborn. But I wish, maybe even against your will, that we could have made you stay and healed you. Is that silly of me? Maybe it’s not what you wanted at the time, but then, maybe, ten years later, you’d be happy, living the potential that was given to you, and you would look back and be thankful. You would cherish yourself and the life given to you. I remember all those times we talked about sadness and what it meant to truly be happy. I’m so sorry Nico. I wish we’d let you go only when you’d begin to see the beauty in our world again. It does exist! You were a great part of that beauty. There was beauty in your warmth, your smile, your eyes, your kindness and humor. I hope at least when you peered down from the 19th floor of that building, you were surrounded by our love and warmth, and that you floated down on angel wings. I hope that the dark monster that chose you is gone as well. It could have been anyone.

Thinking of you and your smile makes me cry. I hope that you were able to find peace and true happiness. We really really miss you, and it’s hard to face this reality. We love you, so much, and will forever honor your memory. Hope that love and happiness traveled with you, cushioned you on your voyage to paradise.

Rest in Peace, my dear friend.

-A

Updates from Art Camp!

July 22, 2013

Hi guys!! Writing camp is going really great. I’ve been really busy, so unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to blog. I wake up around 7:30 every morning, and my first class starts at 9:30. My next class starts at 1:00, and then we have different writing events and seminars depending on the day. I go on field trips on the weekends, I’m going to Disneyland this Sunday!!!! It’s gonna be so great. I’ll make sure to take pictures and post them when I have the chance.

On weekends, I study for next years classes a lot, and sometimes I go out to Valencia Marketplace with my friends. I’ve bought some things here, and I’ll take pictures of them and post it when I get the chance too!

I really miss my family and friends. I can’t believe I’ve even lasted two weeks without them! I videochat my family sometimes, and my puppy looks so so so cute! I miss you Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa (he’s visinting from Shanghai!) , Apple, and Bridgette!! And my friends. Oh lord, I miss them so much. They’re actually mostly all away too! One’s in Japan, one’s at Harvard, one’s in Israel, one’s in Korea, and one’s just chillin at home. I can’t wait to see all of them again!

I will be posting new posts whenever I get the chance!

Stay tuned and stay lovely

-A