On March 15, the Kentucky government passed two bills 1 : One bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, and the other bans abortion if a woman is seeking it after a fetal diagnosis. This is problematic for a few reasons. For one, most women don't even find out they're pregnant until after six weeks in. And two, in states with the most abortion restrictions, one of the only ways it's allowed is…

Hey, have a seat. No, don't worry. You're not in trouble. I know we haven't met yet, but that's okay. I think it's time we have "the talk." And no. We're not going to talk about sperm cells and egg cells, or what happens to your body during puberty. You'll learn that at school. I want to talk about the things they don't talk about during health class. Please listen because they're just as…

Dear me in the future, Note to self: These are the things you should have known before you went traveling around the Philippines for a month and a half. Kindly remember them the next time you visit. You'll thank me later. Don't eat a meal before going to visit family who live in the Philippines If you are in Manila and you need to be somewhere, leave early. Very early.  It's not exactly the best…

Hey, all! Today I want to talk about something that's very close to my heart. It's the idea of PLUR, or, peace, love, unity, and respect. They were always principles that I strived to live by, but it wasn't until I stumbled into the world of raving and EDM that I realized the way I chose to love life not only had a name, but a vast community of beautiful beings who choose to share this positivity…

So I haven't been posting everyday and I'm sorry, but festival going is hard work.  Anyway, KAABOO has its ups and downs but overall has been one of the best experiences I've ever had. I saw Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness on Friday. The first time I heard him was when Nick and I were going through the Calamity. I'm not going to pretend his music was a big influence in my life at the time but it…

Today I paddled in the ocean and sat on my board and pivoted with zero to minimal issues! I haven't caught a wave by myself yet but I'm making an executive decision to give myself a free pass on this one because the waves were super mello. Maybe they were on vacation for labor day too :) Other than paddling around and enjoying the feel of the ocean, Nick and I hung out on the shore and soaked up…

I had English 103 today and my class got into an interesting discussion all about the morality (or lack thereof) of Tinder. Which is fine. Trust me, it is. But today I'm going to talk about why Tinder, and online dating, is really a god send to everyone. If you haven't picked up already, most people in the discussion of this earlier were anti-Tinder. I am not. But, Sam! Only people who are looking…

Dear Me (before I started College), Hi, yeah, how are you? I hope your berry sangria tea was good, but more importantly, I hope that Starbucks was able to fix their sparkle machine because you (we?) deserve sparkly drinks because you are sparkly af. I have just finished my first week of college, as you know. And as you also know, I have some answers to questions you have for me. Please listen…

GUYS I PADDLED IN THE OCEAN AND SAT ON MY BOARD SUCCESSFULLY  I still need to work on catching waves but I think I did pretty good considering I used a different board than I was used to 😎 Also, it was just a god damn beautiful day today. I hope yours is just as amazing. 

Dear Me, Although, I'm writing this on the afternoon of August 16th at a Starbucks in Buena Park while I sip on a grande shaken berry sangria herbal tea (shaken because their sparkle machine was broken) this post will appear on the afternoon of Saturday, August 27th which should be the weekend after my first week of college. I am writing this to you now with a few questions that I expect you to…

I've been thinking, probably really unnecessarily, about the question I posed in my last blog post. I mean, it could quite simply just be the fact that my 8:00 AM journalism class is an 8:00 AM journalism class that makes everyone look like they don't want to be alive. Though, I vaguely feared for a second that maybe journalists weren't particularly peppy people.  But that's true and not true…

Why does everyone in my 8:00 AM journalism class look like they want to kill each other. 

I think it's crucial to your happiness in life to sit down and take stock of what you're thankful or grateful for in your life from time to time. People often get caught up in the negativity that life likes to create, and they forget about, momentarily, all the things that makes it good. Here are some things that I am grateful to have in my life: Hope you all are having a beautiful day.

I'm waiting for my first journalism class to start and this old guy - furrowed brow, straight mouth, really mean looking - walks up to the classroom with very deliberate steps. His shoulders are pushed forward, not hunched, but just enough to show the subtle seriousness in all his movements. He unlocks the classroom door, walks in, and the students waiting (including myself) follow. There is…

So I had my first day of college today which, strangely enough, was not a lot unlike my first day at Oxford (I would say high school, but I actually started at Oxford in junior high and stayed for high school so). For those of you who don't know, Oxford Academy is a college preparatory junior high/high school in Cypress, CA. They require you to test in and admit about 200 or so 7th graders every…

In the anticipation of school starting soon and my enthusiasm for writing, I'm attempting to write two blog posts in one day! It's about 9:00 in the evening as I'm writing this but you all won't be seeing it until tomorrow at noon. Ha, technology! Anywaaay. I'm watching Bachelor in Paradise right now. It's where several (ridiculously beautiful) contestants from past seasons of the Bachelor…

Back with the late posts!! With ten minutes to spare. I just want to update you guys on the surfing. Last night, I took the surfboard (that I got battered on at the beach) straight to the swimming pool. From there, Nick proceeded to coach me from the side of the pool as I slowly but surely managed to power up my balance, pivoting, and paddling power on the surfboard. I understand now why surfers…

Make weird music for each other (yayayayayayayaya) Immediately accepting their dog into your heart Make weird songs for the dog "Do you want some water? Nevermind. Don't answer that. You need water. I'm going to bring you water." Fix Nick's hair Blurt out random South Park references in conversation When looking for a South Park episode to watch on Hulu, blurting out a funny line from an episode…

"Hey grab a blanket. There's shooting stars!" I was half naked and just getting ready for sleep when Nick poked his head through the bedroom door. We'd heard there was going to be shooting stars from his dad the day before, but I honestly didn't think we'd go out and watch them. I wrapped the blue Lovesac blanket we, very affectionately, call Bluie around my shoulders while Nick grabbed a…

Last night Nick was doing this exercise where you think about your life goals and where they put you in three years. We talked extensively about where I wanted to be in three years. It didn't go too well at first. Mostly because I was getting stressed out thinking about a future that even I'm not sure about. And even though I'm not sure about that future, I still feel the need to do everything I…

Yesterday I was doing laundry. Laundry is one of my favorite past times, and so I thought nothing of it for the first load other than the fact that I was really happy to be doing laundry. But while I was hanging the dark colors on the drying rack, I realized that this was the first time I've ever done mine and Nick's laundry together. I know. It's weird. Laundry is such a simple thing to do. But…

Today I went surfing with Nick, his brother, Dan, and Dan's friends. I'm no surfer (yet, I hope), so I can't sit here and tell you guys that I was catching waves and having a great time when in reality, I got caught in no man's land and couldn't paddle past the breaking waves. Actually, I'm not really kidding anyone. I can't paddle. Actually actually, I did catch one wave with the help of Dan…

Went to the OC Fair with Nick yesterday! I have to say, it was one of the most fun nights I've had this summer. I wish I could tell you that I ate heaps of things that were never meant to enter a deep fryer but did, or that I won one of the pikachus that were 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide, but we spent most of the night walking around the fair enjoying the sights and smells but mostly, each other…

Today I just want to quickly write about how great it feels to be able to tell someone that you trust everything that's bothering you. I know that sometimes people avoid talking about things that are troubling them for fear of ridicule or something, but I can definitively say that trusting someone enough to tell them even when that fear plagues you can be the most liberating thing ever. I feel…

I woke up today from a not so shitty dream. But then again I can't remember what I dreamt about so it could have been shitty. I woke up slowly, but what's new. Listened to some Chainsmokers (Thanks, Nick). Have you guys heard their new song? No? You're missing out. Anyway, it was another beautiful day, and I had lunch with someone very close to my heart. My favorite teacher, of all time, in fact…

I woke up this morning from a pretty shitty dream. Doesn't matter though, because it's a god damn beautiful day today. And since it's such a god damn beautiful day, I decided to pick myself up and mob it down to the beach to work at the Starbucks on the HB Promenade - after filling up my gas tank, of course. Driving down Beach Blvd with all my windows rolled down (except my passenger side window…

"Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice!" - Donald Trump I've been refraining from writing about Donald Trump because I refuse to give him more publicity than he deserves. But shit. Can we all just take a moment to think about this quote for a second? Good. I'm sorry, Donald Drumpf, but do you know every…

If you want something to happen, make it happen. Just asking can go a really long way Everything has beauty in it. Somehow, some way. All you have to do is be willing to see it. An occasional Netflix binge-watching day is definitely acceptable Not everyone is out to get you You can cry or you can do something about your problems How much you grow - or not grow - from your life experiences is up to…

So Nick's got two dogs at home. Pax and Yuki. It's a running joke in the house that though they're really neurotic and crazy, they have their own very distinct personalities. We often wonder what's going through their little brains at the moment. So I decided to write today about what I think goes through their minds on a daily basis. Pax "THE POOL MAN IS EVIL" "Food food food food food" "WAKE UP…

Hey guys! You know, at this point, I still don't know who I'm addressing as "you guys" since I literally have zero viewers. It's okay though, I guess. I really should keep a list of all the things I want to write about, because I've been sitting at a really nice coffee shop for about half an hour now absentmindedly sipping on a caramel frappe (which tastes really great, by the way. Great job, Honu…

Okay okay. I know it's been weeks since my last blog post. But I'm back and I'm going to be trying to make this a real habit from now on. But anyway! I haven't been scratching my ass and doing nothing these past couple weeks. For real! I went to Portland for 8 days and since I've gotten back I've been in the process of moving my things because I'm going to be moving out of the house soon. There's…

I think I'm just going to write this here before real people actually start reading my blog. Do you guys have spirit animals? Mine's a cat. Mostly because I sleep a lot and I can get really needy one minute but then become aloof again once I've had enough of your attention. But keep in mind I'm also choosing to ignore the fact that I'm stupidly clumsy and nowhere near as agile as a cat should be…

Okay. So I kinda feel like I'm going to be talking about something really private here, an insecurity of mine, in fact. But I mean it probably doesn't matter because literally zero people read anything on here ever! That being said, I have this weird compulsion to be "interesting" enough for the people around me, my boyfriend, and -let's be real - myself, in all probability. Like, I wouldn't even…

Hi guys! I almost forgot to write today. Here are the latest updates on the Story of Sam: I thoroughly enjoy steak quesaritos I'm pretty sure I have an addiction to Chipotle I'm really excited for college I'm planning on finishing my GE's at community college before transferring out to a university. Today I did my college assessment and a counseling workshop (in ordering to get priority…

Hi there. It's Sam, back again with the late posts. I had a few ideas about this post for today, but I think I really want to write this down before I forget it, because I thought of this last night as it was happening. Today, I want to talk about my boyfriend, Nick. Now I could say all the customary "girl-in-love things" - which are all very true. But to me, he is far more special than "the love…

GUYS. I know I'm posting way earlier than I'm used to but this is truly a monumental moment in my life's simple story. I'm sitting inside a starbucks doing work on my laptop writing and shit. It's almost like I'm a real journalist. I see other really posh business people also doing work (not really, just one) and a nice family, someone with their head in their hands, and really bored looking…

So today I finished the project that I was working on yesterday. Since it's a gift, I'll post pictures of it after I give it hehe. I'm pretty sure it'll be my first ever picture uploaded to Sam Scratch. Super exciting. (Not really). Anyway! Have you guys ever tried to make stamps, failed at that after trying about 100 different materials, then decided that you'd better just make stencils out of…

So I was just about to lay down for bed when I remembered that I had to write something for Sam Scratch. I feel simultaneously excited and worried. Mostly because I realize that making something a habit is a chore at first, but I'm looking forward to writing here everyday (or mostly everyday) nevertheless. Anyway, not quite sure what the purpose of this particular post is (and I get the feeling…

Well, well, well. Seems like WordPress titled this post already. Lucky me. I feel like my first blog post should be a lot more monumental than it's going to turn out to be. But here we are. Anyway, I hope whoever reads this is ready for a wild time. Because as I figure out what exactly this thing is and what it's going to be, you're going to read a hell of a lot of weird ass things. In the…