4th of July
Alder Lake

Well, I went camping at Alder Lake during the Fourth of July:


Mt. Rainier



Sunset Over Alder Lake



A Hazy Shade of Summer



My friends April and Caroline



My friends Corey and Corey

Soooooooo..... it's been crazy long since I've written my last post. I know, I know, you're probably wondering, "What in the hell has Jake been up to!?!"

Welllllllll.... since you asked.....

This summer was awesome. I don't think I've had a greater summer. The last I left you all I was river rafting and graduating from Pierce College with my AA.

Well... here goes!

San Juan Islands With April

So...one of my good friends April and I went up to the San Juan Islands the other weekend for a day of bike-riding. We got a little late start but had fun on the way up. We actually found an A & W restaurant in Anacortes! I didn't think those existed anymore. So, as a nod to the calories we were going to burn that day by riding our bikes, we each had a root beer float (not to mention the clams, calamari and beer and wine at a Friday Harbor brewery we went to after the ride).

SUMMER TIME!!!

So it's been a while since my last posting but it's because I've been soooo busy. I'm finishing my last class for my AA Degree tomorrow. I took a slight diversion from my 1000 - 1500 word final paper I'm writing to do this. My brain was turning to mush.

This summer, I've gone river rafting, gone to a music festival at the Gorge, went camping at Alder Lake and then went to Mason Lake for the 4th of July weekend, went on a yacht out on the Puget Sound and partied with some friends (and then we went wakeboarding on a speedboat one of the friends had brought along), went biking in the San Juan islands, went mountain biking through Dash Point State Park (awesome trails), joined in a race around our lake cabin, went to a few Rainier's game with family and friends, went through my graduation ceremony from Pierce College, met some new friends, parted ways with others; it's been a really busy but fun, fun, fun summer.

And there's more to come. A cousin is getting married, my old girlfriend Alex is getting married, I'm going to the Gorge again for a concert, I'm going down to Bend, OR to see my cousin's new baby.

I don't think I've had such a fun, more memorable summer. It's been an amazing experience. I couldn't have asked for a better time before I leave for Korea. I haven't gotten a job teaching ESL yet but am getting closer and closer.

White-Water Rafting!

A group of about 30 friends and I decided to go white-water rafting on the Wenatchee a few weekends ago! It was awesome!

There were 5 boats of us plus a few other boats with people we didn't know.
The weather was about 105 degrees and the water was nice and cold right off the mountains.



I decided to get on the wild boat. We had water wars (the guides equip their boats with 5 gallon buckets so we can soak the other boats with water), got out and floated in the river for a while, stood on the bow of the boat and rode it like a bull while the other paddlers tried to buck you off, and went down some pretty cool rapids that the other boats wouldn't go down.

At one point, we went down the "Asshole". We almost didn't get out of it, it kept sucking us back in. 2 other boats went down but the first one flipped, and the other went right over the top of it and flipped as well. Everybody was okay though. They got out of it and everybody got back in their boats.

Okay...I don't know how many of you out there have taken an online class but they are pretty dern hard!

There are many instructions and each one has to be followed to the "T"! There is no room for mistakes and no redos.
In a class, you can get away with a lot more but that is soooooo not the case in an online class.

Grrrumpppphhhhhh!

Okay....I try to not forward this kind of stuff onto people but......I liked this one.

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

No more yankey my wankey. Dong need food!


Okay...so we went to dollar beer night at the Rainier's game (that's Triple A Baseball to those not in the know....they are the Mariner's farm team) on Thursday to celebrate my friend Angie's birthday. They were small beers but, dollar after dollar, they added up quickly. Whew!



Then we headed to E-9 for karaoke and good times....



Hahaha....Sam, we do have proof. What was that about you not falling asleep?



And April, my my my.....who's this?



Happy Birthday Angie! Hope you had a great one!

Jan just sent me an e-mail. He's doing fine settling into his life as a teacher.



For all you out there that were wondering what the rest of his family looked like....here you go:



Apparently, the town/village he's living in has a 4-day folk festival. In true european fashion, it's basically an excuse for a 4-day booze fest. Right on!

Here's his dad and mum:



And dad and brother:

So after graduation, my dad and grandpa took me to Johnny's Dock where I tried lobster for the first time. I'm hooked! I can't get enough of the stuff. What an expensive addiction!





I met them in the bar for a drink. Then we had dinner. Dessert follwed soon after dinner. I had bread and butter pudding. They need to call it death by caloric intake and/or triple-bypass surgery. I swear I needed an angioplasty by the end of the dinner. The huge cube of bread pudding was sitting in a good inch of butter. To top it off they drizzled a whisky sauce over the top. Oh my god it was good!

Thanks Dad and Grandpa! It was a wonderful present to top off graduation

Graduation was awesome! I saw so many people i went to school with. I was surprised to see a few there, as I thought they were a long way away from graduating. Anyway, it was great to say goodbye to everybody. I even got a few numbers to keep in touch with people.

The ceremony was pretty cool. I sat next to a Samoan friend of mine named Margaret. I was about deaf by the end of the thing though because she was so freakin' loud! She was glad she was there because it was kind of a last minute thing she decided to do. Halfway through she got a little bored though and decided to be a prankster. She had me crackin' up the whole time but left me with a desperate need for hearing aids. My favorite part of the ceremony was when Dr. Roberta Greene got up on stage. She is black and grew up in Charlotte, NC in the 40's when segregation was still strong. The was eloquent and truly enjoyed talking in front of a crowd. My favorite part of her speech was when she told us to be daring. Being a person that just recently started to include this trait in my list of characteristics, I really appreciated the thought. I think we need to step outside of our box on a daily basis. This is life. We can't experience life refusing invitations and not trying new things. It never hurts to ask people if they can accomodate our requests. There is a flip side to this though. We have to be willing to pay it forward when the ball is in our court.

All in all, it was a great experience. I truly felt like I earned it and it was a great moment to be able to share with others.

Yeah! It's graduation time! After 9 years I'm finally biting the bullet and committing to something!

Me and her, yeah.... we weren't getting along too well for quite some time. There were communication problems, trust issues, performance issues, and timing problems..... but I finally got all my crap together and decided to do things her way. It should've only taken me 2 years to accomplish such a task, but like most men I was a little trepidatious about such things. I finally learned that things just go better if you let her have it her way. Fortunately, she was patient enough to see it through with me. I'll always have her by my side now. We're never letting go of each other.

The blessed event will take place on Friday, June 16th at 4:00 pm at the Tacoma Dome. I know, I know....You're probably thinking that it's far too extravagant of a place for such an event but we wanted to do it up in style. Anyway, the event is free. No tickets are needed. I know what you're thinking....such an event costs money. Well, I've already paid for everything (with a benefactor here and there when I needed it). So far as planning, I went through one organization first but they weren't cutting it. I had to cut ties and move on to an organization that would deliver what was needed. Back to the details....the only thing you have to pay for is parking. I don't validate parking. The colors are going to be maroon, grey, and white. In lieu of gifts, please send contributions to ..... what in the heck am I saying, of course not in lieu of gifts. We'll be registered at Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. We don't deal in that Diner's Club nonsense.

Anyway, I thought I'd all drop you a note to tell you that I love and appreciate you all for supporting me in all I do. This is one of the most rewarding moments in my life so far and I'd like to thank each and everyone of you for making it come to fruition.

Love, Jake

P.S. Thank you Dad for being there when I needed it, Mom for support in any little way you could, Judith for a realistic viewpoint on any little thing that was bothering me, Josh, Angi, and Geneva for just being there, and my biggest thank you to Jeff and Trisha. I don't know how I would have gotten to this point if it weren't for you. In the last two years, you've given me a stable platform to accomplish my goals. If I'd done it on my own, I don't know where I'd be right now.

Okay....so why does every girl I meet have a boyfriend or a husband? Aggghhhhh! It is soooo damn frustrating. I swear that I've met so many people in school that I could go out with and they all are already taken. There is this one girl in class that is so perfect and so nice. She loves to travel, has a couple of cats, is really genuine, and has wonderful ideas and opinions on things and delivers them in a cool way. The only drawback is that she smokes but I don't even really mind that. I spent almost the whole quarter getting to know her and was going to ask her out when she started talking about her boyfriend and his daughter. This isn't the only time this has happened either. There's been two or three other girls I've met during my time at Pierce and they've all been married or taken. I suppose the best thing to do is just be this girl's friend.

So....I got some replies back in regards to my oh so "personal" e-mail:

Unconditional - My fav
Affable - So True!
Insightful
Compassionate

Not bad...It sems I'm a better person than I thought people would think of me.
I guess we're all our own worst critics. Maybe...just maybe I should stop worrying about what others think of me and just live life to the fullest. I always wondered why others seemed to have the luxury of doing that and now I know why. I've made some positive changes in that direction in the last year and I think I'm finally able to go about living that way. We're all going to do what we want anyway. Why not live life without guilt? Maybe it's just all a part of growing up.

I received an e-mail from a relative a few days ago requesting to all of their recipients that they reply back with one word (just one word only) describing the sender. As a second request, the sender requested I send it out to my few chosen friends and relatives I wished to receive feedback from. I happily agreed, thinking it was a fun idea. Now I'm a bit nervous...it's a scary proposition to find out what people actually think of you. Words always having double meanings and I'm afraid of running into a mixed reply to which I won't know what to make of it. Oh well.....here goes nothin'!