Gotta love Southern California.
Gorgeous beaches, an unbelievable atmosphere, and handcuffs with my name written on em. :]
Post 1: California Babee♥
Post 2: Where's Ben?
Post 3: Misplaced
Post 4: Misplaced P.2
•••
Recap: Over $4000 worth of equipment goes missing all of a sudden, Jamba Juice is awesome, and oh yah they kinda sorta think I did it. :/
•••
○Thurs. 5:20ish PM○
“So hand it over.”
Me and Ryan were FREAKED out. This summer had taken one heck of a weird turn over the course of three days.
“Look, you guys know I don’t want to believe you did it, I really don’t, but seriously if you guys have it please just give it back and we can forget this ever happened.”
We totally understood her position, I mean I would’ve suspected me too if I didn’t know me that well AND I had no alibi AND I was the last one left alone in that class…But…I didn’t know how to explain to her that I didn’t do it.
She was getting angry, perfectly understandable. She made a few phone calls and left. Me and Ryan went outside, we definitely needed AIR. This was getting weird.
○○○
A few minutes after our meeting with Margaret I was starting to unfreak a bit. Me and Ben were playing with a soccer ball and Ryan was playing frisbee. Everything was totally normal. Until Ryan came up to me and told me to look to my right…

○Thurs. 6:00ish PM○
I looked to my right. Two police officers were walking behind Margaret. You know those dramatic scenes in books and whatever where they try to explain what it’s like to feel your heart skip a beat, your blood turn completely cold, your stomach leap into your throat, and that infamous deathly shiver that crawls through your spine? …I would try to describe it, but it felt a lot scarier. Lol!
○○○
They questioned Ryan for a long time. The cop they assigned to “interrogate” me was nice, and he didn’t question me very much. We conversed a lot very casually actually. Towards the end he asked me who I thought it was. That’s not a question I wanted to answer. It could have been any of the 4 of us, we each had our own little story that could’ve easily made any one of us the culprit. I told him straight up that the only people I knew 100% that didn’t do it was myself and Ryan. Cuz I saw him come out of the bathroom that day and I knew that he didn’t go back to the classroom after I left.
I asked him who he thought it was.
And I didn’t like his answer.

○Thurs. 7:00ish PM○
“I guess we’re not going to the lab today huh?”
“I doubt it.”
Ok, we had pretty much hit freak-out mode. Me and Ryan walked into our rooms at the same time and walked out at the same time with our hands full of food. I wasn’t hungry at all, but in such a situation only Famous Amos cookies could make things better. :]]
The counselor kept telling us it had to be Nick. But it couldn’t be, we watched him. We saw the whole thing happen, and there was no way he could’ve taken it. We had a lot of respect for Nick, and we trusted him.
It didn’t help that the counselor was calling his friends telling them that I did it…Hahaha.

○Friday Morning○
“Did they find the guy?”
“What do you guys think?”
○○○
When we finally got to the classroom we updated Siddhi on everything that happened. For the first part of the day we were all on edge. Who do you trust?
We came to a conclusion…it HAD to be one of us. The camera was there the whole time we were gone, we had proof. But between the time of us arriving and us leaving the camera just…disappeared. That doesn’t JUST happen. But we wished so badly that it did.
Everyone was a suspect, including Margaret, but the four of us insisted on believing each other. The police officer had told me he thought it was Nick, but he caught himself by saying “Oh but it could be anybody.” And we KNEW it couldn’t be Nick.

○Friday Afternoon○
Ryan’s dad was questioned by the police.
And so was my mom.
Despite all the interruptions, we still finished our video.
We had gotten used to being followed by police cars everywhere we went.
And the entire La Jolla police department knew our names.
We all said goodbye and left campus. Left film camp.
But we never solved the mystery.
But voices still carry on the story.
Some say it was Ryan and me, that we had worked together and ended up selling the camera and splitting the money before leaving the state.
Some say Siddhi did it, and told her parents she won it at a “raffle”, which her sister had mentioned previously throughout the week.
Some say Nick did it, and that he left with a camera and came back with just the empty bag.
I wonder if one day we’ll really find out who it was. But I don’t know if I want to.
The UCSD campus will probably carry that story for a few years, because the disappearance was so bizarre. But will they ever know what really happened?

So 10 ten days in California.
A relaxing vacation, stress-free, perfectly tranquil. …Not so much ;]
Post 1: California Babee♥
Post 2: Where's Ben?
Post 3: Misplaced
•••
Recap: A camera bag, a microphone, and a camera battery can’t just disappear into thin air.
So of course, us being the film geeks we are, set up security cameras.
•••
○Thurs. 12:00 PM○
The cameras were set up perfectly around the room. It was a simple setup really, something we all knew how to do. If any motion was detected in the room, the cameras would automatically come on and start recording. We hid them well, so no one would
seem them if they were to come in. The only people on campus that knew about this were the four of us. So we went to lunch.

○Thurs. 12:20 PM○
We were watching from the roof at this point, waiting for Nick to get back. A bus came by, and a man with a nametag walked out. He went out of his way to walk up by the classrooms, and peered in suspiciously. We could tell he worked for the campus. So access to a key couldn’t be too far off right? He saw Ryan and turned and walked away. So any chance we had of catching him in whatever act he was planning, wouldn’t pan out.
…Unless our thief had already been there.

○Thurs. 12:30 PM○
Nick came back and we raced to tell him what we saw. We went into the classroom and told him everything. We checked the security cameras, nothing. Nobody had taken anything, we checked everywhere. So we had to tell Margaret what we saw, it had to be a sure thing. But first, we should reward ourselves with Jamba Juice. :]]

○Thurs. 4:00ish PM○
We set up security cameras again. No one had ever stolen anything this late, so there wasn’t too much stress on the situation. But you know, we had to be cautious. So we went halfway across campus to get the deliciously amazing Jamba Juice. Yummm.

○Thurs. 4:30ish PM○
We came back to the classroom. I love Jamba Juice.
Nothing was stolen. I love Jamba Juice.
And we checked the security cameras, no one came in and the equipment was directly in front of them the whole time. I LOVE JAMBA JUICE.

○Thurs. 4:50 PM○
Nick had to head out early. He took a camera bag but halfway to his car he decided to leave it in the hands of the campus security. So he brought it back. Shortly after, Siddhi’s mom showed up. She was running all around the room trying to find her firewire. She bent down to put something in her backpack, and left.

○Thurs. 5:00ish PM○
Margaret came in to get the camera and realized it wasn’t in the bag. Oh well no big deal. She said James probably had it, a secretary-like person that holds our stuff for us so it doesn’t get stolen. She left. Me and Ryan were the last ones in there.
--
A few minutes later Ryan went to the bathroom. I was pretty much alone. Then I decided to leave and started to head to dinner, and Ryan was alone. But we met up at dinner and everything was ok. …Right?

○Thurs. 5:20ish PM○
I was hanging out with Ben while Ryan was playing frisbee outside. Margaret came in and asked to speak with me. I came into the living room and Ryan was there with Margaret. He looked really serious. And she started speaking.
“Ok you guys. A camera bag with a microphone goes missing, ok no big deal. Just a prank. A camera battery? Not as funny, but still a good prank. But when a $4000 camera goes missing it’s not funny anymore. So hand it over.”

••I’ll update some more later. Leave your two cents in a comment please :]]••

California is so amazing.
I loved it there so much, but some pretty weird things happened… ;]
Post 1: California Babee♥
Post 2: Where's Ben?
•••
DMA, Digital Media Academy.
Exactly. Digital MEDIA Academy. As in they generally carry expensive equipment for MEDIA purposes.
So the equipment generally includes things like
○A camera bag--$50
○Camera Battery--$50
○Shmancy Pants Microphone--$250
And in most circumstances, considering it IS film camp, they have
○Professional Video Camera--$3500
Hm…
•••
Here’s a quick rundown of who’s who.
Margaret-Camp Coordinator
Ryan P.-Counselor
Nick-Teacher.
Ryan-Student.
Syddhi-Student.
Got that? Good. They are great people. For 6 days, those are the people I talked to, helped out, learned from, and confided in…Wait a sec…
•••

○Mon. 12:00 PM○
Every day we had lunch at 12. Ryan, Siddhi, and I would go down to the caf, a simple 5 minute walk, and Nick would go to his car and get food because he’s a teacher, he can do whatever he wants. So we left, locked the door behind us, and went on our way. 20-30 minutes later we came back, and everything was perfectly fine. We came in, sat down, just your average film camp. Haha. Yah right.

○Tues. 12:00 PM○
The four of us locked up and went to lunch. I had pizza by the way. Hehe. About 12:20 Ryan, Siddhi, and I came back and went to the roof and waited for Nick to get back. Margaret was walking by so we asked her to unlock the door for us, and she let us in.
Going about our own business we realized that we couldn’t find the camera bag.
...The camera bag with the microphone in it. So we figured oh well, Nick probably left it in his car or something. When Nick walked in the door we asked where the camera bag was. He told us it was right where we left it…but that spot was empty.

○Wed. 12:00 PM○
We had told Margaret about the camera bag, and she said it was just misplaced, we’ll find it. So again we went to lunch. Ryan, Siddhi, and I came back about 12:20ish and Margaret unlocked the door. The last person who had been in that classroom was the four of us and Ryan P. One of us went to turn the camera on and found that the battery was missing. Just…gone. First thought, it fell out. …Nope. Second thought, somebody put it in the camera bag. Oh wait…that’s not possible. Third thought, it’s been snatched. Nick came back and the four of us tore the room apart. No battery. Somebody was playing a prank on us. In a room of mega-expensive computers and high tech EVERYTHING what would someone want with a battery and a microphone? So, Ryan and I, Ryan having had personal issues with this person, suspected it was the counselor. It had to be, he could’ve easily snatched the battery and left. He was notorious for pranks like this. So of course, we’re film geeks right? We put up security cameras for the next day. ;]

••This post is getting long, so I’ll update this story some more later on another post. Leave a comment as to what you think so far. :]]••

Here’s a the jist, this is my second post about my San Diego trip, if you want to read my first post on the subject “California Babee♥”, then Click Here.
•••
I’m going to walk you through a series of events that made my stay at UCSD…interesting…to say in the least.

○Wed. 5:30 P.M.○
Seven of us from the floor, excluding Jacob, walked down to the beach because it was really nice outside. It was really fun. And Ben was with us the whole time. We got back a little after 6 and some of the boys went out to play frisbee. Of course, I sat on a table and watched them. It was really cool, we did this almost every night anyways so nothing out of the ordinary right?

○Wed. 7:30 P.M.○
From 7-10 every night the computer labs were open for anyone who wanted to work on their project. So every night Ryan and I would go there to hang out and work and watch MadTv hehe. But this time Ryan was still playing frisbee so I went inside to get my stuff before we left. I saw Jacob at the dorms and asked where his roommate Ben was, because he wasn’t outside playing frisbee. He told me that Ben had come into the dorm a little after 6, grabbed something off his desk, and left without saying a word. I didn’t think much of it, curfew was 10 so wherever he was didn’t really matter. I left with Ryan and we were at the computer lab moments later.

○Wed. 9:30 P.M.○
Ryan and I got bored so decided to come back early. We walked in on a room of 4 guys. Jacob was asleep, and Ryan and I had just arrived. Of course I noticed and asked where Ben was. Everybody sat up and realized “OMG nobody’s seen Ben in hours.” Our counselor just told us not to worry he’ll be back by ten.

○Wed. 10:00 P.M.○
“Ok here’s the map of the campus. Don’t go too far. Jordan, you and Ryan stay together. We’re splitting up.”

○Wed. 10:10 P.M.○
Me and Ryan were down by the library, about half a mile away from the dorms. ..Screaming Ben’s name. We got a phone call telling us to come back. So we did.

○Wed. 10:20 P.M.○
“Ok you guys, this is getting serious. We’re splitting up again.”
…You’d be amazed how warped your mind gets when you think of the worst case scenario for one of these situations.
Me and Ryan went down to look by Muir College.

○Wed. 10:30ish P.M.○
It was getting cold. It was dark. Me and Ryan were walking a different route calling Bens name. Nothing. It was kind of fun, like an adventure. But…we had no idea what was going on. At one point, we were crossing the street and three white vans floored it and charged right at us, driving zig zag all through the road. It was so weird, we ran to the other side of the road as fast as we could and watched the vans keep driving, and driving, and driving. We called our counselor. No sign of Ben.

○Wed. 10:45 P.M.○
“Ryan, what if Ben is…”
“Dead?”
“Wo.”
We got back to the dorms and headed over to where the cops were stationed. We had to describe him and everything. He asked if any of us had a picture. Then I remembered at the beach I was filming Ryan try to walk down a cliff and Ben walked into my shot. So we sat there and played my video until Ben came into the screen. The cops left. And Margaret, the camp coordinator, was making calls left and right.

○Wed. 11:00 P.M.○
Ryan went and grabbed more food, and I got probably my 5th water bottle in an hour. That’s what freaking out does to ya. We had stopped looking for Ben, that was the police’s business now.
*BANGING ON MY DOOR*
“They found Ben!”
…False alarm.

○Wed. 11:30 P.M○.
Ben walked in the door. We all just stared.
He looked straight at us and said “Hi.”
The counselor asked where he had been.
He shrugged, “On a walk.”
…On a five and half hour walk.
A five and half hour walk that got him a ride back to the dorms in a police car.
Guess where they found him.
Muir College.

Sorry the update took so long. But I’ve finally decided how I’m going to explain my San Diego trip. It will take more than one post, but trust me it’s worth it. :]]
•••
Anyways, at the beginning of my stay I was with relatives I had never met. Scary huh? Not really, they were so amazing. My cousin Jillian is so nice and she’s really cool to talk to. And of course I had other cousins I had never met that I really liked talking to. After a long visit at my cousin Gerrit’s house my mom asked me what I thought of my California family as opposed to my family here and I flat out said “I like them better.” Hehe.
That Saturday I went to a beach for the FIRST time. Wow. Just wow. When I finally get out of here, I’m moving somewhere where there is a beach. Every time a wave came it would move me, literally, the sand would carry me back and forth and it was so much fun.
Also while I was in Cali, I stayed at UCSD for 6 days. Here’s the basic facts.

○It was film camp, so I was surrounded by kids that knew their way around a computer and could define the most complex camera’s top to bottom. It was amazing :]]

○Well…video production isn’t exactly popular with girls. So on a floor with 7 guys, I was the only girl. I got my own bathroom time and I had to watch 7 guys gape at Chelsie Hightower on So You Think You Can Dance night…Wow.

○I went to a beach. Sorta…We had to stand on a cliff and look down, but it was so beautiful that I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere but above it.

○My main friend there’s name was Ryan. We hung out all the time. So it was really awesome.

○I discovered the beauty of “Jamba Juice” while I was there. Oh. My. Gosh. =o.

○…All the police on campus know my name.
•••
So film camp was way more than I expected.
6 of the best days of my life. :] I loved it.
Well there a lot of mini-stories that I’ll post off and on for the remainder of the summer.
So keep checking back, I promise this stuff won’t bore you.
I got more out of my SoCal experience than you can even imagine ;]