Chiquita on Danny Brown, a truly amazing and genuinely great person

You know how parents always say that teenagers think they're invincible and nothing can stop them? Yea, I always thought that phrase was pretty dumb. I am obviously aware that I am not invincible. If I jump off the roof of my apartment building, I know I'm not going to be able to fly.


Today I realized that when parents and adults say that, they don't mean invincible in the sense that I'm thinking. Teens make decisions all the time without thinking about them. They pick up their phone to look at a text while driving, they get in the car with their ride, even though that person has been drinking. We just don't think before we act sometimes. It takes half a second to change your life, or in some cases, lose it.


Today, search and rescue crews found the body of my friend, Daniel Alexander Brown. He had gone rafting with friends in the flooded river in Nashville. He had been there to persue his music career and go to school at SAE Institute for audio engineering. The last time I talked to him, he was so excited about life and he was SO HAPPY to finally be doing what he loved. Danny was a truly amazing person. He was an amazing musician, and he was the best friend that any of his friends could have. He was so funny, and he had so much potential. I am sitting here at this computer screen typing all this out right now, and I can't wrap my mind around the fact that he's never going to pop up in my instant messaging on facebook and said "what's up!?" ever again. The whole thing just tears me apart. He was really going to be somebody, and he was totally happy with what he was doing. It just breaks my heart to see someone so bright, so talented, with so much drive to get where they wanted to be in the world, to just be gone.


I'm a teenager. I don't think about most of the things I do. I know sometimes I do things that probably aren't a good idea, but I don't ever see them as threatening my life. It's terrible that it takes a tragedy like this to see that even if I'm just trying to have fun, I could potentially hurt myself or even die. Danny was just trying to have fun, like always. Now he's gone. It's just terrible that life happens this way sometimes. It's just plain hard.
Rest in Peace Danny. You will be greatly missed by countless people. We all love you.

Chiquita on Prom

I woke up at around ten, crawled out of bed and hopped in the shower. I'd talked to my hair dresser the evening before, and she'd told me to put gel in my hair when I got out of the shower, so I did that. Then my mom and I went to the bank, then we went to visit my nephews for an hour before we went to my hair appointment. Haley and I made appointments at the same time and same place so we could go together. My hair was perfect. I had her do it up, slicked by like a ballerina, then the back was in a bun with a bunch of small curls, and a braid around the bun. It was exactly like I had imagined it. I left before Haley's hair was all the way done because I had to run home to get ready to go for pictures at NoelRidge. Cory picked me up at my house and we rode together to the park. Gary and Beth and their families were already there when we got there. My dad took pictures of just the two of us until Shelby and Jason arrived, then we did all the group pictures. We filled two rolls of film. That's a lot of pictures. After that we went to Kennedy. We were pretty early for Grand March, so we used the extra time to get the posed pictures out of the way. Then we went and got in line for Grand March. Shelby and Jason weren't doing it because they had too many people to go see before dinner. We saved a spot for Gary and Beth and when they got there Beth and I went off to socialize while the guys held our place in line. Eventually it was our turn to walk. I had to tell Joey how to pronounce both of our names so he wouldn't mess it up. I only slipped a little when i first stepped onto the Grand March stage, but I don't think anyone noticed. After that we watched a few people go through, then we went out into the foyer by the gym to take pictures. I took a few on Cory's camera, then I had Jackie take the camera to take a picture of Haley and I. She dropped it and it broke. So I had to go over and tell Cory that I broke his camera. I'm getting him a new one. After that we went to dinner at Olive Garden. Our waiter was super cool and the food was great. After that we went to Jason and Shelby's apartment to hang out for a bit before the dance. When it was time we went to Elmcrest and danced the night away. It was really fun. After that Cory and I went to his house so he could shower and we could both change out of our nice clothes. Then we went to post prom, which was a blast of course. The hypnotist was really funny. I think the best part was when Patrick was made to think he had his shirt on inside out every time someone said car keys. After that we all went home and passed out because we were all exhausted! The next day I had to work at 2, and I didnt get up until one. I made it to work at 2:01. I thought that was pretty slick.

This was probably the best song of the night!

Chiquita on the End of the World

I’ve come to the conclusion that the world is coming to an end. Ok, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously, what is going on with the world these days? All these earthquakes and volcanoes, flooding, and even an oil spill!
I don’t know which one of these disasters is the worst, but the one that hits home the most is the flooding in Nashville. I have a couple reasons for this having an impact on me. One is that I have visited Nashville before more than once, so I’m pretty familiar with the town, and I know quite a few streets that have been shown on the news. It’s really weird to think that I stood in the same spot and complained about it being too hot and dry when they show it on the news completely flooded with 10 feet of water in every direction. It’s really scary. The second reason is because of the Flood of 2008 here in Cedar Rapids. I was really involved in volunteering when our flood took place, and I really want to go down to Nashville to help out with their flood, but with school and everything, I can’t. I’m disappointed. Perhaps after we get out of school I could take a week off work and go down there and help with the clean up. I think that would be good for me to get a little break from Iowa because things have been so crazy here with my life lately, and I think that I could also help out quite a bit because I’ve volunteered with and for flood victims before.
I’ve been watching the Weather Channel a lot lately and it’s a pretty scary channel these days. They showed these pictures of these two teenagers clinging to a vehicle this morning. They interviewed the girl, and I imagined that happening to me. That girl could have been anyone that I know down in Nashville, and that thought is really crazy. Here’s the video.

An equally concerning event in the news this past week or two is the oil spill. It makes me sick to imagine all the animals that that oil is going to kill. I get dizzy when I try to fathom how much money is just spilling into the ocean with every barrel of oil that leaks out. The economy is definitely going to take a huge hit with this one. A girl in my economics class works at a gas station, and today she was telling the class about how the gas station keeps changing the price of gas every day trying to keep up with what everyone thinks is going to happen to the price of gas as a result of the spill. My mom can’t decide if she should keep her tank full at all times in case the price sky rockets out of nowhere, or if she should fill it up just once and wait to see what happens. I couldn’t give her much advice because I don’t know either. It’s a pretty crazy time to be living on Earth, let me tell you.

This is a picture of the explosion that caused the spill.

All that brownish stuff is oil. =(

Chiquita on Donating Plasma

Just like any other high school (soon to be college!) student, I've been pretty low on cash lately. Its times like these when I really, really miss waitressing. It was always very nice to walk out at the end of the night with cash in hand, not having to stretch out my paycheck to make it last from one to the next. Well, I don't get tips working at Lowe's as a cashier, obviously. Bummer, right? Yea, it sucks. I get paid very well, more than I have ever been paid before and enough to make me want to work really hard to be able to stay on after the season is over, and hopefully all the way through college. Even though I get enough money to pay the things I need to pay for as well as buy the things I want, I still seem to have trouble keeping a hold of my money through the second week. When I first started, I started having my mom spot me twenty here or twenty there just to have some spending money from paycheck to paycheck. Thankfully, all that has suddenly changed. Recently, maybe a month or so ago, Haley and I started donating at BioLife, the plasma donation place. We both scheduled our physicals at the same time the first time and we pretty much always schedule our donation appointments on the same day at the same time so we can go together. The first time was pretty sucky. At first a younger girl poked me in my right arm, but she couldn't get a good vein, so she dug around in my arm for a while with the needle while I tried not to cry, then a different employee, named Lucas, came over and dug around in there for a while before deciding to poke my other arm. They got a good vein in that one right away and I was able to donate that day. The first time they poked me it hurt super bad because I wasn't used to it, but since that day, I feel it less and less every time I go. One time I went and my machine had a faulty separator, so I was only hooked for like thirty seconds and then the machine went crazy and started beeping and someone rushed over and checked everything out. He was like "yeah, you're done for the day," I was like "What?!" and then he explained to me that it was ok, I was fine, the machine just had a faulty separator and wasn't separating my blood and plasma and was just sending my blood straight into the plasma bag. That meant that I wouldn't be able to get my blood back, so I couldn't get on a new machine. I was fine with that though, because I still got paid. I've never been not allowed to donate for any reason, although I did have to sit for five minutes because my temperature was too low one time. Other than those times, I've had no problems and its been great. I love it because I normally go on Wednesdays and Fridays, so I have money in the middle of the week when I normally dont have any cash, and Fridays when I need money to go out. Its been working out pretty great so far!

Chiquita on Moving Back In

Well, that was quick. My mom called me on thursday and wanted me to come home. I told her I'd think about it. Right around that time, I was getting really sick of living at Cory's. Or not so much living at Cory's, but Cory in general. We are too similar to be spending so much time together. We definitely need more time apart with our own groups of friends. Anyways, we had definitely been at each other's throats. I understand that its both of us causing all the tension, but he thinks its just me and he's an angel, which just makes things even worse. He has definitely been getting to me, but I know I've been doing things to get at him too, both intentionally and unintentionally.
Anyways, I thought about it over the day on thursday, and decided that I would come home. Cory and I got into it again on thursday night, so I decided that after I went out on friday night, I would go home rather than going back to Cory's. Since friday, I've been staying at home. Its been good so far, my mom and I talked and we've made a few agreements that I think will help improve our relationship quite a bit.

On another note, I've been going through a serious 90's music phase. I was really happy to get home, so I could get back in touch with my beloved iTunes and download some more. The other day while I was riding in the car, a line in a song popped into my head, and it stayed there all day. The line was, "baby's black balloon makes her fly, I almost fell into that hole in your life", but I couldn't think for the life of me what song the line came from. Finally, I typed the whole thing into google and got back "Black Balloon" by The Goo Goo Dolls. Of course it would be them. They have endless amounts of good music. So I downloaded that song, along with some other of the Goo Goo Dolls' music that I didnt have, and I've been rocking out to it between classes for the past few days. Good stuff!

Well, I guess I will keep ya'll updated on my home life, right now its pretty sweet! Later!

Chiquita on Getting Kicked Out!

So you remember that post about my stupid divorced parents? I left a big part of that out. MY MOM KICKED ME OUT. Of my own house, all because my dad is paying for my graduation party because she doesn’t want to. How stupid is that? So I’ve been crashing at Cory’s house and staying with other friends until I can a) figure out what I’m going to do as far as a permanent home or b) convince my mom that I’m not ungrateful and a terrible daughter and to take me back in.
I have a few options as far as where I’m going to be living for the summer. I could stay with Cory, not that I really want to do that or think that’s a good idea. Also, I don’t want to be a burden on him and his family, and in the week and a half that I’ve been staying with them, I definitely feel like I am. I could get an apartment out at Kirkwood. I don’t know that I want to do that though. Kirkwood is just so far out there. I don’t want to have to be doing all that driving (except I wouldn’t be doing the driving, since I don’t have a car). I could probably live with my dad if i had NO other option, but that's pretty much a last resort. I guess I had better be figuring it out quick though!

Chiquita on Spring

Spring has sprung kiddos. It’s so nice out! I practically beg the head cashier to let me work in Outside Lawn & Garden every time I work because I absolutely love standing out there in the fresh air with all the flowers and the cool breeze. Spring is definitely my favorite time of year because its not too hot out where you get all sticky and its harder to breathe, and its not really cold out so I have to dress in ten million layers and wear a hat and gloves and practically freeze my butt off every time I go outside.
Another thing I love about spring is prom! I am getting more and more excited about going! I’ve started tanning because I want to have a little color for pictures and stuff, and if I didn’t tan Cory would be all dark from working outside at the Golf Course all day five days a week and I would be super white from never hanging out in the sun!
This weekend I think we’re planning a camping trip. I think Spring is the best time to go camping because its not unbearably cold at night, and its not too hot when you wake up and the sun is shining in the morning either. Hopefully we’ll get some fishing and perhaps a little boating in as well. First camping trip of the season, yay! Too bad I have to come back into town to go to work on Saturday and Sunday! I’ll let you know how that goes!!

Soooo I was wondering why my blog grade in AP wasn’t very good, and I just figured it out! I’ve been hitting “save” instead of publish or whatever, so none of them have been posting! Awesome, I am an IDIOT. A lot of them were from several weeks ago, and were about moving and stuff, so I’ll probably just delete them and write new ones now… epic fail!