Memories of Mr. Dahl, Plans for Matt’s Trip
The most recent comment in my guestbook really made me smile. Though I'm not sure if it was Mr. Dahl that was teaching her web design class, I am near positive that it was him that made the CD and gave it to the teacher. I had Mr Dahl as my teacher for Multi Media 1 and 2, which I took freshmen and sophomore year. That class wasn't all just about web design; it was actually just one assignment in the middle of various other graphic and media projects. There was still alot of work with designing and tinkering with code, and even though I complained alot about it at the time, it was still a "learning experience" for me. It was during those years that Mr. Dahl told me that he thought I could be a media designer as a future career. That idea had not even crossed my mind yet, and when he mentioned it I just feel in love with it. For the 4 years that followed, I honestly did want to achieve that. I even chose it as my major in college for the short time that I was there.
I had a class with Mr. Dahl for every year of high school. The whole time he was always supportive of me and the idea that I could really take something I loved and be able to make a living off of it. It's only now that I'm realizing that designing is far too personal of a thing for me to mass produce it, but the appreciation of his supURL
and making me want to achieve and learn more will always be there. Reading that entry made me remember all those memories, and the fact that he had been saving my designs... it just really touched me for some reason. It made me miss him. He had e-mailed me while I was in college... checking up on me, but sort of in a more professional tone than friendly. I thought about responding, but at the time I was busy playing DAoC and not going to class, and I was sort of ashamed to report that. So I simply didn't respond. Since then my e-mail has changed, and I would assume he no longer knows it (unless he's kept track of this site's address). I really should try to contact him. I really should.
And I'd love to talk to the girl who signed the guestbook, but she didn't leave an e-mail. Fooy.
So... yeah. More design news. I have made a layout I am absolutely in love with. When I complete it, I think it will replace the spot as my favorite layout ever. My mother made a comment that it was very Lisa Frank, even though there isn't any pink or purple in it 
Though I can see the resemblance of the vibrant colors. I'm going to hold out until Matt leaves to put it up, and alot of that will be torture for me I've also been trying to take my time with it, trying not to rush it... it seems the more I rush layouts the more likely I get sick of dealing with them, then I end up disliking them. Like this layout... I had rushed to finish it, and now I have mixed feelings about it. Especially now with this layout I love at the tips of my fingers, the idea of waiting two weeks kills me But at least Matt will be a nice, loving distraction of my silly design addiction
Speaking of Matt... I had sort of wanted to write about the things we plan on doing, just encase I don't end up writing after all. I figure I would do them in list form, since there isn't really anything great about it. Anything marked with a * means that there's something special about it, but can't go into detail because Matt reads this journal too
1. Celebrating our Anniversary. A week or so ago, while me and Matt were on the phone, I had the random idea of going to Luray Caverns. It's not something that's entirely "fun", but it's interesting and pretty and he's never really been to anything quite like that before. I had gone a couple of times when I was younger, but only have snippets of what I remember. I remember the caverns in Indiana more than Luray, so it'd just be something nice and neat for both of us to go to. And, as an added bonus, it's only about 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours away. Then, a couple of days ago I suggested that maybe we could go up there, have dinner, and then stay over night at the hotel. It wouldn't be the most exciting thing, but the area is also in part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and I have always found them so gorgeous and peaceful... it'll give Matt and idea of what my college area looks like, since I always gush about how beautiful it was ;P All in all, it would just be a sweet little trip, a chance to get away from my parents for more than 24 hours and have some real privacy. It would be about $170ish total to do all of that (estimated, that is), but I think it'd be worth it. We'd be celebrating it before our actual anniversary (since the 6th is only one day before he leaves and we'd like to keep the high a little longer than one day before he leaves) and it'd have to be on a Tuesday/Wednesday combination because of my mother's days off from work and us needing her Saturn to make the trip (since I don't trust the truck to make that trip 
. *
2. Possibly going to Kings Dominion if we can get coupons. It's only about an hour or so south of Fredericksburg, and I've always liked it there. When Matt and I went to Magic Mountain in August of 2002, we both weren't feeling that well and weren't really into going on any of the rides... so we ended up going back to the motel after only being on like one water ride I think. I'd probably feel more confident going to Kings Dominion, because I've ridden alot of the rollercoasters there, and I might not be so jittery about it all. Matt likes rollercoasters, so I'd like to go on some with him without freaking or chickening out. The only trick is getting me one rollercoaster, because after that I'd be fine with going on any... well, as long as they don't go upside down that is. I'm still traumatized from going on the Loch Ness Monster as my first rollercoaster ever back when I was 10. Speaking of that... if we end up not going to Luray, we might make the trip down to Busch Gardens. Course, that is very ify... that's 4 hours away, and it would definitely require an overnight stay. It just all depends. Bush Gardens is more of a theme park than an amusement park, if there's any real difference. It seems to fit, and anyone who's ever been there would know what I mean by that.
3. Uhm... *
4. Having a little picnic, maybe at the clubhouse by the water. We may make some food to bring, or just get some fast food and eat it there The air here hasn't gotten that horrible sticky feeling to it yet, so it'll probably still feel great to just be outside, enjoying the air. Course, we have to worry about bugs (I don't know if Matt's ever really experienced the joy of bugs CONSTANTLY going after you and especially any food in your possession) and maybe wind, but it'll still be nice. If we don't end up doing a picnic, we could also just have dinner in the clubhouse, since it looks over the lake as well. I'd have to find out some estimates of the price to eat there (since it might be expensive) but doing either or both would be great.
5. Lots of walks. I enjoy taking my walks, and I'd love to be able to keep doing them and have Matt come with me. It wouldn't be required, but it would still be really nice to have some company, and to show Matt how pretty it can be here in the summer
6. Taking a really good tour of LOW, mainly focusing on views of the lake and nice areas. It's been a while since I've really looked around the lake, and even though Matt and I made some 1/2 assed attempts of seeing the golf course and the lake while it was still windy and cold, it'll be so much prettier to see it all again while everything is green and lush.
7. We may or may not go bowling We had sort of mentioned doing it while he was here last time, but never really got around to it. I know I'd like to go simply so I can see how they redid the inside of the place, since I spent alot of my time on my bowling league in the summer of 1998. He keeps saying I'll kick his ass... and I may, but I doubt it. It's been forever since I've bowled, so I'll be really rusty. Besides... it's not about winning, it's about having fun
8. I've made some plans to have him meet both Michelle and Stephen. I've asked them both and they seemed cool with the idea. We'll probably meet them both at different times though, since I don't really want everyone to be overwhelmed from meeting all these new people I'm sure Michelle will be fine with Matt, but I had to warn Stephen to be "gentle" with him at first I enjoy Stephen at full force, it's what I love about him, but I wanted to give Matt time to warm up to him before Stephen went all out. I suggested to Matt the other day that maybe we could go to Stephen's and have a video game challenge thing, since we all love that kind of stuff and can lean and adapt to games fairly easily. I've already vowed that I'll beet Matt at some James Bond game on his X-Box, event though I've never even played an X-Box game before Who knows how that'll turn out.
9. On one day that we're really bored, we could drive up to Orange. The countryside can be really pretty on the way up there, and some of Orange is quaint, too. Maybe while we're up there we could meet Sandy, but that all depends on whether we go or not. I'd like him to see my old High School, even though they're currently tearing it up piece by piece. I wish I had taken some pictures of it in it's normal form, but at the time I didn't think it was worth wasting film on. But at least he'll be able to see some of what it looked like in the yearbooks I have.
10. We're planning on seeing alot of movies. So far I've only picked Down with Love and Bruce Almighty, while Matt wants to see X-Men 2 and the Matrix 2. We're planning on seeing two movies in a row, and sneaking into the second picture since we're sorta poor Considering all the fast food we'll probably be eating and the trips we'd like to take, it's going to be cutting it tight... besides, we could download the movies for free if we wanted, so it's no biggie if we can't pull it off Well, at least I wouldn't mind seeing mine that way. X-Men and Matrix would probably be better in the movie theaters. There could be other movies we'll see, but we haven't decided on any yet...
11. Even though neither Matt nor I are drinkers, I've asked my mother if she'd buy us some alcohol. Not so we can get totally smashed, but maybe just a little bit "nice" (I swear, the only thing I learned in college was the correct terms for levels of drunkenness and highness). My mother agreed, which is cool of her. We don't really have to, it was just an idea... mainly since I love Shirley Temples so much. That's usually a virgin drink, but I've had it served to me with alcohol in it once. Course, we still need to find a solid reliable recipe for Shirley Temples for that to work, so. Who knows. It just be something nice to experience with him.
So.. yeah I can't think of anything else we talked about doing, but hopefully I'll find time to write about those days in detail when they happen, and not wait until he's gone and be like, "I don't feel like writing." I hate doing that, and I've done it the past three times (even though I was not currently keeping a journal after the first two trips, I probably should have made an exception and written just for that). But, yeah, anyway.
The past two days I've done nothing. I had planned on cleaning the truck yesterday, but of course it was raining... and it will be raining until Saturday. Totally figures I've done nothing yet today either, though I think I'm going to try to go through my closet and swap all my old winter clothes for my summer ones tonight. Hopefully I will. My motivation feels a little bit dead after the past week of cleaning or so, and especially with that layout on my mind. Hrm. Guess I should stop writing already and start revving myself up for that.