When I Was a Girl.... (Story Time!!)

    I remember when I was a girl. Uhh...wait. That probably doesn't phrase right. I am still a female. When I say "I remember when I was a girl" I mean "When I was a small child" kinda thing. :) So yes, I remember when I was a small child.

    One of my best friends, Jo, has been my friend for quite a long time. Me and her determined that as of late August, it's actually been 13 years. *Grin* Pretty long time, huh? So me and her used to get into all sorts of trouble and adventures growing up.

   There was one time when we were about 7 and 8 that we were fighting a Dragon in the front yard and she had a magic sword.  The sword was able to tell you when there was a bad guy near you.The reason we were fighting the Dragon wasn't to save a Princess. Nope. It was to save our families I believe it was. At some point it turned out that the Dragon had disguised itself to give me a ring that made it so that the Dragon could control me and turn us against each other!! The adventure came to abrupt halt when, "Bryn! Jo! I made lemonade!" And then the exchange of glances, the dropping of swords that were really sticks, and, "I WANT SOME!!!" That sounded oddly like a cliche adventure. Ah well, it was fun for us. :) But! This is not the story I wish to tell.... *Trailing off*

   About a year later we were camping in a tent in the yard during the Summer. I had a mini-composition notebook. We made it look like we'd gone to sleep and then we snuck out of the tent and climbed up into the cherry tree by the road. That thing had good branches. There was one point on the tree that the trunk split off into four directions and you could sit there rather safely. We called it the Spider Seat. Because the center of it looked like the mouth of a tarantula. Or so we thought. Ironic considering that I'm terrified of spiders. Anyway, we snuck over to the cherry tree by the road and climbed up so we wouldn't be seen. We sat there for quite some time, taking note (literally) of what color cars passed by and how old they looked.

    At some point we determined that there was a conspiracy. See, one of the cars had passed by 2 or 3 times. Coincidence? Never such a thing. I remember it was an old white station wagon. Or I thought it was at the time. Now I'm not sure if that's what it was. So we'll just say "the old white car". And then we noticed that an old red car passed by a few times as well. A friend??

   Well, we've got friends too, buddy. So don't even think about it.

   Kidding. We didn't say that. But we decided that it was our job to protect the neighborhood from what horrible evils these two old cars had in store!! We waited until we were certain it was safe and got out of the tree. We wanted some juice and raisins to give us some extra energy. But it was too dangerous to head to the door let alone the tent at this point. They might have caught on to us.

    Luckily I had learned how to army crawl. I showed her and we army crawled to the plum tree that was about 10 or 15 feet away. Then we stopped at layed in the grass for a moment as one of them passed down the road again.... But they hadn't seen us! We win. So then we continued to army crawl to a huge elm tree where we determined it was safe to stand up.

    We stood and pressed our backs to the giant, thick elm tree and slid against it until we were facing the back door, the tent, and the garage that had recently been turned into a "hang out area" for all us kids. That's another story for another time.

    Slowly, I peered around one side of the tree while Jo peered around the other. We stood still and silent and listened. No cars. We turned to each other and whispered a few words back and forth quickly. Then we RAN for the back door! Only I forgot the first step and tripped up the side of the cement stairs! She got to the top and that's when we heard one of the cars coming! Based off of how slow they'd been going before, we figured we had a few seconds and so Jo jumped down to the side and yanked me to the ground where we more or less sat while they passed. Only this time the other one passed too and that's when we knew that they were onto us.

    (Before I forget: Yes, this story takes place about 12:00 to 4:00 AM.)

    The cars passed each other and continued on their ways down the street. And we quickly, not-quite-silently, scrambled up the stairs and opened the back door. We got inside and held our breaths as we closed the door, trying not to make too much noise. No one seemed to hear us. So we quickly went to the fridge and looked inside for some juice boxes we'd put in there earlier. We grabbed them and then we each grabbed a little box of raisins and went to the door.

    We watched out the window until we were certain it was safe and went back outside. We went into the tent for a few minutes to exchange theories and observations and to make sure we had notes for everything. And then we heard something outside.

     Footsteps. Coming our way. Tap, tap, tap....

    We looked at each other, frightened and she motioned for us to lay down before they got there. So we did and we each grabbed onto what we had stashed under our pillows. Something we could hit with. Like a stick. I could feel the sweat beading up on my forehead and my muscles went a little limp even though I was tensed up and I suddenly couldn't remember how to hold onto my stick. My breathing went irregular and my heart was pounding so hard that I was sure Jo and whoever it was could hear it.

    Tap, tap, tap.... And a shadow suddenly was looming over our tent. I was trying not to scream and Jo knew it. She put a hand over my mouth calmly and we both stared as the tent flap began to unzip. Slowly.... And then the final moment as the flap was tossed open, thinking to Heavenly Father, "Don't let us die!"

    We both tensed up instantly and sprang into action! She sat up first, with her stick off to her side and I sat up next on the opposite end, glaring. And then we realized it was my mom.

"Hey! Just wanted to make sure you two were warm enough."

    Sigh of relief. A prayer of thanks.

"Yes, mom."

    After she went back inside we sat there for a little while until we were certain she was asleep. And then we came up with our plan to defend the neighborhood. We got our walkie-talkies set up and in our pockets with the little ear and mouth pieces put on our ears and positioned so we could talk into them (some cheap spy gear from a toy store...worked surprisingly well). And then we grabbed a few other things and shoved what we could in our pockets. I put my binoculars around my neck (my dad had given them to me) and we set up off to the side of the garage next to a pile of sticks where we knew we wouldn't be seen. We watched as the cars pulled up into the parking lot of the apartments directly across from the house. Perfect.

    Eventually they drove off again. And then we set out. We made sure no one was around and went into the street where we came across a roll of pennies wrapped with electric tape. Piece of evidence #1. We found a few other things and went around a few blocks cautiously. We would hide from time to time in someone's yard who we knew and eventually wound back up at the house.

    And at the end of the "investigation" we had some pretty out there theories but never could prove anything. So was there a conspiracy? Perhaps. We'll never know. But that was a fun sleepover.

    Good night! :)

Albino Preying Mantis..?

   Well hello! Anyone ever seen an Albino Preying Mantis?? Yeah, I'm not completely sure if I have either. But! I was looking through some of my old pictures from last year and came across a picture! Ha, imagine that...came across a picture while looking through pictures.... Why do people say that? Beats me. Because I say it too apparently. Anyway. I found a picture of a Preying Mantis that I seem to recall my Dad calling Albino. Looking at it though, it looks more tan than Albino.

    But it's pretty big as far as these guys go. Well, as far as I've seen I should say. There's probably bigger. Anyway. Putting up a picture to show. Who knows if it's Albino or not? Well, maybe someone looking at this will. I'm just saying it in general: Who knows? Not me! But it looks kinda pretty either way I think.

    OH! That reminds me. Whilst watching BBC's "Merlin" with my folks yesterday (season 3 finally came to Netflix!), one of the episodes had some Wyrmlings. Aka: BABY DRAGONS!!! Oh my goodness! They were so cute! I want one for a pet! Of course...it wasn't very cute that they were trying to kill Arthur.... But still! Baby Dragons! <3

    Right, here's that picture!

    Does it look Albino to any of you or does it just look tan? Maybe it's just me. Not that this is terribly important...but hey! When is anything I say, huh? :) Now then, I'm off to play some video games. Good day!

It's Like A Hotdog For Vegetarians!

    Haha! Jane makes me laugh. :) First she taught me the proper, fast way of peeling carrots. That was like some miraculous discovery for me. Seriously. My life has been forever changed. *Tears of Joy* I love you, Jane!

    Anyway, I decided to do a "Bryn version" of a salad. A big fluffy piece of lettuce. Well, I guess lettuce isn't fluffy. But it's got the "WOO" shape to it. Like, ribbony? That's not even a word. Y'know, the squiggly shape it makes on the edges. It makes it look fluffy. So a piece of fluffy lettuce and 3 carrots that I had peeled myself after the all-knowing Jane taught me. *Grin*

    Anyway, at some point after finishing my carrots she was like, "Oh! You could use the lettuce and wrap it around a carrot! So that way you eat your lettuce. It'd be like a...a Vegetarian version of a hotdog!" ...Hee hee, very clever my friend!

    So we went to the fridge and pulled out a carrot real quick just for pictures. Yay! Please note, the picture with me in it...I usually have my hair looking prettier than that. ^^; Today was a Pajama day. We all have those, admit it.... >.> I'm not the only one.

Reminiscing

    Anyone had their life flash before their eyes? And I’m talking literally, not “Oh, be still my heart! That was so frightening, my life could have flashed before my eyes!” Freakiest thing in the world, let me tell ya. In other words: I’ve had that happen. Oh I remember it pretty well. I was at this 2 week camp thing called Camp WILD that was put on by one of the colleges where I live. Camp WILD consisted of activities like Rock Climbing, Mountain Biking, White Water Rafting, Fishing (optional on an extra day), and ADIDAB (All Day I Dream About Backpacking). Pretty awesome, fun stuff.

    Hm. That Backpacking part reminds me of when I was a kid. I couldn’t say the word “backpack” so, I said “packpack”. I was told that this was wrong and so I tried a little harder and moved on to “backback”. Well, that didn’t sound too intelligent. Eventually I was just aloud to say “packpack”. That didn’t go over too well once I got into 1^st Grade…. One of the kids taught me how to say it right though. The rest weren’t too nice about it. Oh well. By the time I got to 2^nd Grade, I could say “backpack”. :) And 2^nd Grade is where I met one of my best friends, Jo. We’ve known each other for…well, gee. I think it’s coming up on 13 years now! Cool.

    Anyway. I remember my group was doing Mountain Biking. At some point on the way down, there was a REALLY steep part. One of our leaders went first to prove that it was safe. One of the other girls said she’d go. Then she saw just how steep it was and backed away and was like, “Never mind….” So then, blonde little me is all, “I’ll go!” Long story short: I crashed. Hard. I went up into the air – this is not an exaggeration – with the bike and flipped around, getting tangled up in it. I landed flat on my back, bike on top of me, head pointing downwards so all the blood was rushing to my head. Everything went bright white and I saw my short life flash before my eyes. Man, it was boring. Kidding. No. It was…well…blonde? I remember the last thing I saw was my good friend, Todd. After that, everything went black.

    I heard these far off voices that I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. I opened my eyes and was staring directly at…the Sun! First thoughts: Am I dead..? I mean, you have to admit that the Sun is rather bright. And if that’s the first and only thing you see after such a crash, well…can you blame me? I was like 15 when that happened. Not even 15. More like 13 or 14. And I’m a blonde.

    You know, thinking about it. I think blonde tendency and knot-headed tendency can get mixed up rather easily. So I’ll clarify. I’m a knot-head. And I’m a blonde. Therefore…I’m a bit of impulsive, sometimes reckless person. Yay? Although that seems to have gotten a bit better as I've gotten older.

        Ha. Anyway. Back to my story! The voices began to make sense shortly after thinking I was dead. I was sad about it, there was so much I hadn’t done. I hadn’t even written a letter home since I’d gotten to that camp. Yet I felt strangely calm about being dead. And then the voices, “Brittany? Brittany?? Brittany!” Why were the Angels sounding so panicked? …Why did they sound like the people in my group?! Then I realized I was staring at the Sun. (Quick Prayer: Heavenly Father. Thank you for allowing me to live….) Thoughts to myself: I’m alive! I have to write home now! Granted, I never did write home now that I think about it….

    So I waved my untangled arm and went, “I’m okay!” I hurt, but I was alive so I was okay. Didn’t tell them I hurt though. I had to be tough. I kind of tried to lift my head (thank goodness I was wearing my helmet….) but it was hard seeing as part of the bike was over my stomach and chest so it hurt more to lift my head. Plus all the blood had rushed to it at this point. So I let it fall backwards again. Ouch. There is a big rock right there with slightly pointed edge. They got to me eventually and got me untangled and then I walked the bike the other half of the way.

      Yeah! That's a great way to go down a really steep hill when Mountain Biking! Ride an inch on your bike and then fly half way and walk the rest! Kidding. Mostly. Don't try this at home. >.>

     So I sat down on a boulder with the other leader and drank water, trying to fix my shakiness and lightheadedness. Well, this crash gave the rest of the group the courage they needed to go down the hill. After all, no one could do worse than that, could they? No…they couldn’t. But I became somewhat of a camp-wide hero after that. And they all discovered just how insane I am as the weeks unfolded. I escaped this particular incident without any broken bones or large gashes. Just a few scrapes and bruises.

    Looking at it though, I don't think I can break a bone...now I've just jinxed it. I can! *cough* Reverse jinx.... Right, no, I have a reason for wondering if it's even possible. I might post about that another time though. And I might or might not post about more Camp WILD reminiscing some time. Who knows? Not me!

    I just realized that this wasn't my intention to write about all this. I was gonna post about something else entirely. Ah well. Another time perhaps? :)