I promised myself that I’d blog a lot this summer, keeping a record of my time in Orange County.
But, honestly, I don’t always have the time, motivation and/or patience for it. I’m always going somewhere or doing something, and if I’m not, I’m looking for somewhere to go or something to do.
It’s the same thing with journaling. For the past four semesters, I’ve only remembered I own one on the last night of the semester, so I have these lists of memories and funny things I think I’d want to remember about my college life in 10 or 15 years. (Even looking back on the ones from previous semesters now are hilarious.)
So, what I’ll probably do (unless I have some incredible day or revelation that I feel the need to express on the Internet in great detail) is keep a list of interesting places I go, things I do, observations I make, etc. Not quite my journal list, which I’m sure will get another entry the night before I leave here, but just a record of places (maybe even with Instagram pictures!).
Here’s weeks 1 and 2:
6/1: Went to Newport Beach and knew I was going to like it here (below). Got lost with one of my roommates for 20 minutes in my apartment building (its hallways vaguely resemble those in “The Shining”). Went to Local Natives, a completely vegetarian restaurant (to the dismay of one of my roommates), with other Register people.
6/3: First day of orientation at the Register! About 15 of us started that day and sat through hours of meetings and tutorials. But hey, at least we became legit:
Also the night some of us went to Disney. And by that, I mean we walked around Downtown Disney and watched the nightly fireworks from the roof:
6/5: To conclude our orientation, one of the deputy editors explained the Register’s mission and business model, both very interesting. I also first shadowed a bit on the copy desk and got to edit a few things, which was exciting.
6/6: In lieu of work, a bunch of us went on a van tour of Orange County. It was really cool to see how diverse Orange County was and see what it had to offer. We stopped to eat at a Mexican restaurant that houses a lot of Republican fundraisers and has the “Nixon table,” the former president’s favorite spot. We also stopped at Huntington Beach (Surf City, USA) and Dana Point (below). Too bad June Gloom’s a thing.
6/7: My first real shift on the copy desk!
6/8: A few of us went to Old Towne Orange, which was initially intended to be the hot spot in O.C. However, it was more of a cute, quaint town with family-owned businesses, including this drugstore:
Also, we learned that some people think life should be silent at 9 p.m. But seriously, maybe living right next to the pool isn’t the best decision if you like total silence.
6/9: Had my first In-N-Out Burger meal: a grilled cheese, animal fries and a chocolate shake. Loved that the employees wore hats like those at The Varsity do.
6/10: Spent the day at Newport Beach because I get Mondays off. It was absolutely beautiful, and I got to work on my tan.
6/14: Caught the best error I’ve seen in a long time. It looked like a reporter’s name was “Hello Kitty,” when really the girl in the story wanted some Hello Kitty popsicles.
6/15: My Saturday night shift was made so much better when the three of us working got into a 45-minute discussion about all things Mizzou and journalism. One of the copy editors is a former Maneater sports writer, and the night editor is a former KCOU anchor, magazine journalism faculty member and Missourian copy desk editor. And then, afterward, I hung out with more Mizzou people. A very Mizzou night.
6/16: Two of my roommates and I went to Laguna Beach. We passed Ocean Avenue and, subsequently, began singing the Yellowcard song circa about 2005. We walked around downtown for a while and looked at art galleries and boutiques (it’s known as an “artist community”). We had lunch at this Italian restaurant that served gluten-free pasta before going to this candy store with every kind of candy you could ever imagine … even scorpion lollipops with dead scorpions inside. No joke. Then, we walked past Laguna Beach (below) and went to the adjacent one, which was less crowded: