What I Did On My Winter Vacation When I was in school, every September on that dreaded first day back, the teacher would inevitably make us write about what we did for the those glorious months. As I'd sit there, looking at that piece of paper (yeah, we WROTE them, in INK---imagine that!!), trying to figure out what to say, I'd end up daydreaming, reliving the whole summer. Most of the time, there was nothing really special, nothing too out of the ordinary. It was just the freedom we had, no having to get up, being able to just lie around. Well, sorta, cuz of course, my mom always had other plans for me. But mostly, it was just a free, fun and lazy time. The days were long, and I spent them with friends, hanging out, swimming, doing nothing very educational or constructive. Bliss!! Since I just got home yesterday from a road trip, I thought, "Well, heck, I'm just gonna write about what I did. So I am, and here you go: On my winter vacation, first I drove to San Jose, California. One of my very best friends lives there and I was going to see her. When I got there, she wasn't home yet, so I had to just wait around for her to get there. She was home pretty soon, and then we got to talk and watch movies and just hang out. We drank margaritas and ate popcorn. It was fun. Then the next day we went shopping and I bought some new jeans and stuff. Then we came home and watched more movies and hung out some more. On Sunday, I had to leave her house and go to my sister's house. She lives in Livermore and it doesn't take very long to get there. That was fun, too, cuz we went shopping AGAIN and I bought some more stuff. I can't remember exactly what, but it was all really good stuff. Then we came home and talked and had dinner with her friends and I liked all of them. I think we had steak for dinner. Monday was a holiday for my sister, Martin Luther King day, so she didn't have to work. We took a long walk, and I liked doing that. But the next day she had to go back to work, and I stayed there all my myself. I did some loads of laundry for her, geez, they sure have a LOT of dirty clothes, but I got it done and all folded and neat. Wednesday, I left my sister's and drove to Menlo Park, that's south of San Francisco. Another friend lives there and I work for her a lot. She's kinda weird, has all kinds of stuff and junk in her house, but we still like each other and have fun. I cleaned her office, and boy, did I throw away a LOT of stuff. She hates cleaning, so there's paper and books, and things everywhere. I did that for two days, and she was really happy about how good it looked. The best part is that I made a lot of money doing it. I really like that a lot!! So, where was I---oh yeah, now I went back to San Jose to my first friends. Gosh, it seems like I'm going around in circles, but that's what I did. This time, I was going to help clean out her office and studio, so she can start painting again. She's really good, I think she paints with oils and stuff like that, or maybe it's something else. I'm not actually really sure. But it's really neat stuff (and don't tell, but she paints naked guys sometimes--pretty cool, huh??). She had a lotta stuff, too but she was happy to throw a lot of it away, not like my other friend. It took us a long time, but it sure did look neat when we finished. She was really happy. Golly, now it's Sunday, and this a really fun day. We got to drive to Monterey, and it's really pretty there. We stopped at all kinds of places, and saw some really nice things. My favorite place was this monastery, where these nuns live. But you can't see them cuz they're cloistered. That means they just pray and meditate and stuff and don't talk!! Wow, I could never live like that!! But it was still a pretty neat place, though we didn't see anybody. Ok, so then we went to lunch and came home. And then yesterday I drove back to my house. And that's what I did on my winter vacation. I hope you liked my story. The End Marilyn English Class First Period 2/24/09