Today was a hustle bustle day. Learning search and rescue techniques and tools to help us in great outdoors. During the afternoon we had our second large scale scenario. The situation: a train derailed. We arrived on scene to find people yelling and screaming. We had an amputated patient, a open pnemothorax, a cardiac patients, a diabetic, and more. The scene was just chaos, however we worked together smoothly and quickly in triaging and treating the patients. One thing I really learned about myself a bit more is that i really don't like it when people tell me what to do. Its not that I can't follow orders, but more of a i don't like it when people don't ask politely and explain themselves clearly.. or when i think that what they are asking is dumb or inefficient way of doing it but still insist on it. So i got a little upset today. That was that. I got over it soon enough. After class today we went to Mariposa (local town meaning butterfly in spanish, 10 miles away) to play ultimate Frisbee on their high-school field. It was fun. I'm such a bad judge on where the frisbee is going to land. I would wait for it and wait for it and it flies past me or in front of me. Many times it just hovers just a foot above me, but out of reach, like an grown up taunting a child by waving candy just above their reach. All in all days is fun... ooh.. one more thing. Today Daniel, WEMT instructor, showed us a slide show of one of his trips. It was his pilgrimage of Camino De Santiago. It looked awesome. I want to go.. maybe for my honeymoon with Hiroko.

Hiroko arrived Friday 6:35 on the dot. Our plan was to hang out and hike to the top of Half Dome. Since I've been up a few times now I wanted her to go since I know she would love how pretty the place is. We started the hike earlier than I did last week. We had 3 hours of sleep and left for Yosemite at 1am. We started hiking at 2am in the cover of night. Stars lined the brisk night as we put on our headlamps on. Hiroko and I were traveling with Eric and Scott but soon we fell behind. Hiroko, who was just down near sea level of Los Angeles is nearly 4000 ft above sea level, started to suffer from altitude sickness right from the start. Though she felt sick she trekked on like a trooper. We moved at a slow slow pace and tried all we can to reduce her nausea, but with no avail. She would often stop and vomit air, but still she moved on and on. I monitored her symptoms to make sure she is not pushing herself too hard. We summit Halfdome about 10am. I was so proud of her. Most people would have given up. On the way down we saw Eric and Scott, apparently we passed them up while they were taking a nap. Hiroko and I also took a nap waiting for Eric and Scott to come back down from the summit. I'm glad that she was able to come. She met the new friends i've made and got to see what I'm learning up here. A bit bummed that it'll be another month before i see her again, but I'm glad that she is heading to back to see her parents.

On Half Dome


Standing proud


Hiroko in front of Nevada Falls


Hiroko Sitting On the Edge (4400' to valley floor)


Two Beauties captured in one shot.

This Week's Passe (Scott, Eric, Hiroko, Me)


Scott Eric.. the duo


Vernal Falls on Mist trail

You know those pictures you see in museums or online that taken by Ansel Adams? Well This was what it was like this whole weekend. We started crazy late at 12am saturday, or you can say early. Either way we wanted to arrive and start hiking and climbing Half Dome and summit it before sunrise. However due to many random and stupid complications none of the climbers got to climb. We stashed our gear and hiked with the rest of the group. Like the previous summits of Half Dome, I was amazed by the beauty of the valley. 4000ft! to the valley floor. I had the chance this time to stand and sit on the diving board, the scariest thing ever. After Half Dome we took a detour to the river and floated down it. The rocks where high and the water was shallow meant that we had some rock to butt contact.. woot. We got back to Yosemite Bug pretty late, but right before we got completely settled down Julie thought that we should go camping. Of course I and some other could not refuse. The campground is suppose to be located fairly close to entrance of the park however we later learned that the camp site that we were looking for is non-existant. We ended up driving two and a half hours looking for and not finding it. We finally settled in a random open area and slept. Since there was only one tent the girls and the owner of the tent got dibs on it. So me and Mike slept outside on the crash pads. It was fine till we started sleeping and it got so cold we were shivering in our sleep. Next morning we get up really early because it was too cold to sleep any longer and the sun was coming to wake us up. Keep in mind that in the last 72 hours I only had about 8-9 hours of sleep. We ended up bouldering and studying at camp 4.. it was an awesome weekend.

A view through Ely's Sunroof


Annika Feeling the wind.


Annika and Melissa on the Stairs of Vernal Falls around 3:30 am.


Up the cables we go. Ely and Annika


Some of the Group on summit.


Mountain Mike, Annika, and Ely.. Mountain Top Yoga a new "Experience."


Andrew and Me Touching the Sky.


Restin' up! Annika and.. duh


Julie (J-Fast) piggy backing.


Sitting on the diving Board. 400 Feet to the valley floor.


Now I'm just scaring Myself. Standing on the diving board.


Sitting on the couch looking down.. there were climbers below.


Cables of Half Dome. Can you spot Ely?


1000 Steps? More like steps of Doom. Ely


Vernal Falls with rainbow.


Mountain Mike and Annika on Vernal Fall's Catwalk.


Ely and Annika Enjoying the sights of Vernal Falls.

Today was another day of intense studying. We learned so much. We learned oxygen therapy, With things such as BVM, NRM, and NC. We also learned how to treat Some chest trauma. I also had the chance to spit out blood and a tooth on one of the role playing senarios. Now my hands are stained with the fake blood. Well today is a long day.. with a much needed sleep. I believe its only day two of the class.. we have lots to go ..Love you hiroko. Ja ne.

So this is day one. Long long day. It feels as if I've been here for a couple days already. One of the neatest things about this course is the people I meet here. There are so many people from so many different backgrounds here with one 2 things in comman. They are in the class doing WEMT and they love the outdoors. We have people from Hong Kong and London, people from Ohio and Rhode Island. Many, Yes, MANY who rock climb. Today we started the class talking about ramdom intro info. We also introduced ourselves to others. Though its only been a day everyone is getting along as if they've know each other for awhile. After lunch we learned the basic patient assessmant skills. Tough the class runs for 8 hours, it passed fast because it was a mix of hands on and lectures. We even role played. The instructors put make up on me and it look as if i had a bruise on my head and my abdomen. One thing i'm very excited about is the clinical. They instructors says we'll have a high chance of seeing crazy things like gun shot wounds and heart surgery. .. .. Can't wait. When class was out we headed down to a local water hole to take a swim. Well.. every but me entered the water.. It was cold.. I don't like cold.. water. On the way back I slipped a bit and landed in poison Oak. There is poison Oak Everywhere. I think i'll be alright.. I hopped in the shower right away. Since i didn't bring things i needed to shower i had to improvise. I took the shower with my clothes on so i can wash my clothes whiles I showed. I used the hand soap next to the sinks as shampoo and body wash.. when i came out i just shook like a doggy and air dried. haha. it was fun... now is study time.. READ READ READ

I didn't take a picture of this yesterday but this is a picture of the place we are staying at.


This is the hike to our dorms and the picture of the heinous poison oak.


Instructor, Renne, teaching the Levels of Response


Listening in class..


Gabby Practicing Feeling for broken ribs on Ely.

So.. tHis weekend is full of stories. Where should i even start? So.. lets just start on friday. What did i do on friday? Well, Shino let me off to do some studing, which I did. I read some chapters about assessing patients and how to lift them. Enough of the boring story and on to something more exciting. Randomly that day a swarm of bees moved into my fig tree. When I say randomly i literally mean randomly because in the morning when i left the house they weren't there, when I got back mid morning they weren't there. However when i stepped out at 12 or so.. they are swarming hardcore right outside my house. I armed myself with a hose and a can of Raid Flying Insect Spray and took down the whole stinging passe. Took me nearly 2 hours .. but i'm proud of my kill. Later that night I saw a moth and I decided that I was a Shinobi (ninja). I grabbed my blow dart and put on through him like a skilled insect assassin. On Saturday morning we went to the commune and to hiroko's place to pick up things for my trip and for my dad's birthday sushi night. When we got to the commune it was to my surprise that there were so many people there. We had a blast eating commune breakfast. The Commune was smiling .. she is happy when she is full of people. At night we cooked a full on surprise sushi dinner for my dad.. but to our surprise he was no where to be found. So we waited an hour or two and ate ourselves. Felt bad for my mom because she was really sad. Today I started my day early. Bus, Train, Bus. Is my method of locomotion from Claremont, CA - Midpines, CA. Took forever. But met interesting people. Now I'm sitting at a desk in my dorm room typing this out with itch spots all over because I pummeled by mosquitos.... ahh.. I miss hiroko already. She was so kind to drop me off at claremont today. I Love you hiroko.. okie.. Ja Ne. ( I do'nt have the pictures of me and hiroko and josh as the commune breakfast because they came out blurry, so just imagine us in a picture around awesome breakfasts commune)

Bee's Grave Yard


Shinobi assassin's Skills


Gared S and Kiki


Peter and her sis


Karen..


Look at that set up.. we didn't eat it with my dad.


Me on Amtrak


My train and first bus travel buddy.

Work started at 12 today. So I lots of time to run some errands. My mom has been asking me to wash the fish tank for a long time, but i never do. So what I decided to do was take the fish tank to the Commune because we already have 2 aquariums. Why not make it 3? So Hiroko and I went to the fish shop in Hong Kong Super market and bought a koi fish to make the tank a bit more colorful and brought it to the commune. It took us a while to setup but its all done now. While we were transporting the fish Hiroko was so worried about thier well being and would constantly want to check on them. I found it really cute and really sweet that she cares so much for even a fish. 12 o'clock i got to work and worked till 4. Got many of the office thing done and left to meet wilson at my house. We went to Chino Hills State Park to go biking. It was nice relaxing ride. Wilson brought his dog, Chi, with him for the ride. After the ride we went to eat at a joint near his house then i went to pick up hiroko. I took picture of her while she was biking home.. i followed in a car like a body guard.. or stalker... whichever.. haah


Wilson, top of Chino's trail


Chino HIll State Park - Rolling hills after rolling hils of dry brush.. it looks completely green during Spring


Trying to take a picture of myself while on the electric cable towers.


Chi...


She was having so much fun.

Its been a while since I've been back to church. It was nice to see some old faces that i haven't seen for .. a couple months. It was also nice just to have sunday free and all to myself and Hiroko. Today Baldwin talked about the Perfect Storm. Not the weather storm, but the storm in lives that flips it upside down. He even showed us a clip from the movie "Perfect Storm". After church I took Me and Hiroko went to the Korean joint between the Curry House and Tou joures. It was pretty good. Of course like always I ordered the Bibimbab. I took Hiroko home and stopped at the pet store. We met this cat that was so friendly and hiroko just couldn't leave it so we stayed there for the longest time while she held it in her lap..

Hiroko and the cat


Hiroko tried to take a snap shot of me.. but i'm too fast

If i haven't mention this.. i'm sorry. I work for a catering company.. well more specifically a event planning company. They mostly organize dances for high-schools, so during this season its proms. I've been to a couple proms already this season. What i do is anything from cleaning up like a bus boy, serving drinks, to security work. We (me and coworkers) get paid very well for what we do, but its still a very tiring job. Today the prom I had to cater was at Soka University. It was San Juan Capistrono High's Prom. The local was good and the school was a nicer school so all in all it was nice. Lots of people though. Oh..another thing.. I climbed Soka.. haha.

Crux move on Soka Wall, VB


Victory!


A slow start.. girl in red cleaning up wound from an embarrassing fall down steps.


Manning the Soda Table.. .. oh yea.

Today is the first time in a long time i got to do some realy mountain biking. I now remember why I love it oh so much. Me, Manny, Matuse (if that is how you spell it), and malcom shuttle mt wilson biking trail. It is what i would call a "bad ass trail". The dusty trail mixed with very rocky terain and tight switch-backs means that this trail spit you off left and right. I must have crashed 10+ times trying to ride down this thing. The rush was just so pure. My complete focus was trying not to crash while I blaze down it as fast as I can. My riding partners all ride amazingly well and I am excited to have found new ridding buddies. The only bummer thing about this ride is
that i got a flat on the last trail stretch. It was kind of ironic because my flat came at the oddest part of the trail. I was already done with all the crazy rocky section, which would have been the likely place to receive a flat, instead i got it on a nice dirt single track. oh well... what i missed out was a nice fast down hill ride on fire road and an awesome super fast ride down santa Anita's mountain roads. I had to hitch a ride down the rest of the way on a truck bed, which was sorta fun. Oh well.. next time.

malcom, matuse, and manny up top Mt. Wilson, gearing up.


this is me in some guys truck bed...cause of my flat


Once entering the city i had to lie down in the bed of the truck like a fugitive... this was my view.