I don't do drugs...just Potter

Because I Don't Want To Forget This Happened

2008-05-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

I lie here, in this deck chair, poolside. The chair, much lighter than expected, is made of a faux-iron plastic. Conveniently, the faux-iron has "corroded" into a nice green color that matches the nylon support fabric. The pool is not my own. Neither is the 3rd grade girl swimming in the pool. They both belong to a wealthy family, residents of the Highland Park community in Dallas, TX. I have never met the patriarch or matriarch of said wealthy family. I am not even friends with any of their friends. Yet I am here. I am here because my friend's girlfriend is babysitting said 3rd grader who is swimming in said pool. Said 3rd grader's older brother is rollicking around here somewhere, probably throwing pistachios or shoving said babysitter into the pool.

I am here, still lying, shirtless, reading C.S. Lewis, polarized Oakley's protecting my eyes from glare and UV radiation. The rest of my body absorbs the full spectrum. Just me and said third grade girl. Enter said third grader's father, the patriarch, provider of all of this. I am surprised to see him. I can only imagine his surprise in seeing me. Strange shirtless twenty-something boy in his deck chair, by his swimming pool alone with his 3rd grade daughter. Talk about awkward. I quickly remove the shades (both literally and figuratively), introduce myself, and explain my connection and reason for being there. He returns to the interior, and out emerge said babysitter and boyfriend. Great timing guys. Thanks for that. I think they were lurking, watching, listening. Perhaps they even instigated the meeting between myself and patriarch. Whatever. The worst was yet to come.

We are about to depart. Matriarch has returned home, so said babysitter is no longer needed. So typical family, dad provides, mom nurtures/cooks, etc. Got it. Mom enters pool area.

"Hi [said babysitter], thanks so much for coming. Sorry about connor pushing you into the pool. He is just in that phase."
"Oh no problem, thanks for letting me borrow your clothes. Do I look like a Highland Park mom? Oh, you've met my boyfriend Doug, this is his friend Thomas."
I am moving said deck chair back to its proper location, flanking its twin in the shade. I am now fully clothed, deshaded, and not alone with any young children.
"Hello Mrs. Olson, good to meet you. You have a great home.
blah blah blah small talk blah blah blah
Mrs. Olson: "Well I'll have to see what flights I have next week. We had two legs today and a pilot rode in the jumpseat on the last leg because the flight was so full."
"Oh, are you a flight attendant?" (at this point i was very proud of myself for not saying "stewardess." I am so PC!)
"No, I am a pilot for American."
"Oh..."

Wow, I am a chauvinist. So awkward. Good job me. Bet she doesn't get that all the time. At this point i figured I should have just buried myself is misogyny with a comment like "Oh, you mean a copilot?" or "You mean like a navigator, right? Because women are good at giving men directions."
Thankfully, Mrs. O. is very graceful in the situation and my friend Doug helps me out my mentioning that I want to be a military pilot, etc. Crisis averted, but I still feel like a tool. Good times.

(early) Weekend Update

2007-05-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

I rewatched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on DVD earlier this week. I watched with my dad down in our basement and have to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit, perhaps more than when i saw it on opening night at midnight at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Ok, so the atmosphere wasn't quite as good, but i more easily forgave some of the movie's faults (especially the jumpy nature in the beginning), and was pleasantly surprised that the movie never felt to drag despite its 2.5 hour running time.

Another recent (re)discovery has been Third Eye Blind. Their self-titled CD rattles off great tracks that inever knew about because i was too young to listen to their music when it came out (1997). I had a similar experience with August and Everything After by Counting Crows. Both great albums top to bottom. YAY!

The rain has followed me down to Dallas, which is not ok, but it can never dampen the friendships i have here...feel the cheesiness.

Dorm

2007-04-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

A bleak morning fraught with a miserable drizzle and gloomy haze peaked through the deformed mini blinds and kindly requested those inside to wake and face a new day. The inhabitants sharply declined, hands slammed onto neighboring alarm clocks in sequence and heavy heads fell back onto memory foam pillows. Waking only wasted time. Might as well get some rest out of these rarely used hours. "Early to bed early to rise" never made it in college. Does that explain the lack of wisdom? The health doesn't seem to affected, but what standard can it be measured against?

Awake. Hot corners activated. Weather, date, comics, quote: all rush at me. Blinking in my boxers, i ponder which t-shirt to match with which pair of already-worn jeans. My roll of quarters needs to last a few more weeks. Suddenly, everything has changed. Much more will change this week as i carve the many blocks of my coming months and begin to architect the structure of my summer. So, this is the new year?

Unprecedented

2007-02-01T16:35:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to you and me. We are privileged to be alive for an unprecedented eight days in the Harry Potter world. While yesterday i may have looked forward to July 12th as the only day i would be waiting in a long line for a really long time before the clock strkies midnight and July 13th becomes reality, now i know that on July 20th i will be waiting in what will probably be a en even longer line for a longer time. When the 21st rolls around, i have no doubt pandemonium will ensue in every major bookstore. I also know that i will be dead to the world for the next day or two. I'm ok with that. You should be as well. When i emerge, i will be overjoyed, heartbroken, and probably an emotional wreck. There will be no more speculation except for that concerning possible sequels which hopefully won't come.

There has never been a more anticipated book release than this. Before i read Harry Potter i wouldn't have imagined the phrase "anticipated book release." This is bizarre. I'm excited. Really. It's going to be hard to read the last book, the last chapter, the last sentence. I will want to read slowly but there is just no way that will happen. My dad said he felt sad when he finished LotR the first time. I did as well, but this is my generation's series. I can't get over the fact that is has all happened over the last 10ish years. So much excitement. I get to share this with all my best friends (except Paul, because he is lame. you still have a chance to experience this w/ the rest of us. you could even wait until after OotP hits theaters before you start HBP. Think about it. This is huge).

I better be home when all this goes down. End of story.

A Prayer: Dear Jesus, please wait until after July 21st 2007 to return. I know your timing is perfect, but this means a lot to me, probably way more than it should. I mean the whole story is made up. But seriously. After July 21st would be great. mmmkay? Thanks for your blessings. Thanks for the creative minds you've blessed us with. They're pretty powerful. In your name, amen.

Strawberries and Oranges

2007-01-25T10:08:00.000-08:00

Strawberries and oranges will be absent from the Pepperdine cafeteria's fruit cups for the rest of the winter. The recent snow in Malibu (first snow in the greater LA area in 18 years) and the surrounding area ruined a lot of the produce crops grown in Southern California. Looks like i'll be dealing with soggy canned peach and pears rather than fresh deliciousness for a few months. No worries.

Strangely, the snow came only days after the wildfire that burned down 4 and damaged another eight or so of malibu's multi-million dollar beach homes. Don't worry. They have insurance, and now some architects/construction companies will get some sick building contracts. Broken window theory all the way! That's for you Moonbeam. I just poured out the extent of my economic understanding.

It's good to have Jack Bauer back. Once LOST returns, my life will probably be complete.

"You're hurting me!"
"Trust me. I'm not."

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

2006-12-22T00:52:00.000-08:00

If any of you didn't know, the title of this post is the recently released title of the ultimate volume in JK Rowling's engrossing and brilliant septology. If you want to check out the clever way in which JKR hid the title and gave it to fans as a sort of early Christmas present, visit her website. If you want good instructions on how exactly to find this present without clicking a lot and getting frustrated, visit Leaky or probably any HP fan site.

There are a few things i now want to make clear that many people are being stupid about. Then i also have a little bit of speculation/logical deduction (which will be marked off w/ spoiler warnings, so read on, Paul).

The last word in the title is Hallows, not to be confused with Hollows. Lots of people have been speculating about this being a reference to Godric's Hollow, where Harry's parents were killed. These people are morons. At most, Rowling is using the similarity as a bit of a play on words. With that cleared up, it should also be noticed that "Hallows" is being used as a noun, not as an adjective or verb (which is the way we are used to "hallow" being used). The adjectives "the" and "deathly" remove all doubt about the part of speech. Now that we know that we are dealing with the plural noun, "hallows," the OED seems like a reasonable place to turn. This is what it has to say:

1. A holy personage, a SAINT. (Little used after 1500, and now preserved only in ALL-HALLOWS and its combinations, q.v.)

2. In pl. applied to the shrines or relics of saints; the gods of the heathen or their shrines.
In the phrase to seek hallows, to visit the shrines or relics of saints; orig. as in sense 1, the saints themselves being thought of as present at their shrines. Cf. quot. c1440 in 1.

b. holy of hallows: see HOLY.

3. hallow- in Comb. (chiefly in Sc.) is used for ALL-HALLOW- = All Saints'-, in HALLOW-DAY, HALLOW-E'EN, HALLOWMAS, HALLOW-TIDE; also hallow-fair, a fair or market held at Hallowmas; hallow-fire, a bonfire kindled on All-hallow-e'en, an ancient Celtic observance.

In the context of Harry Potter, definition 2 fits quite well as the series is constantly incorporating artifacts and relics, two of the other titles incorporate these very things (Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone and Goblet of Fire). The prominence of Halloween in many of the books fits nicely with definition three. We know we are dealing with things, not a person or place. Now for a little interpretation.

***** Begin Book 6 Spoilers*****
*************************

I think its pretty obvious that Deathly Hallows, using definition 2 from above, could easily refer to remaining Horcruxes. What do we believe some of those to be? Perhaps Hufflepuffs cup, we know Slytherins locket, and Harry deeply suspects some other relic of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor (Sorting hat? Sword? There are probably other obvious possibilities passing my mind right now). We have seen the deathly effects of one such hallow as Dumbledore drank the mysterious liquid to get to what he believed was a horcrux, but what turned out to be a letter from RAB (now known to be Regulus Black). Throughout Book 6 we also observed Dumbledore's withered hand which became so when the ring he had worn was destroyed. The horcruxes and their destruction have carried with them deathly effects and require by the nature of their creation a "deathly" act. It can only be assumed that book seven will include the destruction of many more horcruxes. If these are what "Deathly Hallows" refer to, and it seems to me that it is, though, i'm sure it isn't this simple and JKR is having a good laugh at us all, then this title has been the least mysterious/revealing of all. It refers to something(s) we are quite familiar with. Every other title has done just the opposite. That alone may be enough to doubt the simplicity of this theory, but until Book 7 comes out, i'll stick to my guns and wait to be blown out of the water by Miss Rowling.

Dead Week

2006-12-04T22:22:00.000-08:00

Dead week, the week before finals when no major assignments are due (tests, papers, etc.) unless the teacher gets the class to agree on moving something. I had two tests and a ten pager due today. My weekend was owned. I spent more time in the library over the last 5 days than i did all of last year. what a good time. i started getting sick of my instrumental music...which i have a lot of. I need more post rock (get on it Nelson).

Today after Great Books, during which one of my classmates read her genius course-reflection paper to the class (HI-larious), i pulled down the latch to the door and walked down the stairs. I enjoy opening doors like Charles Bronson in the Dirty Dozen. And i don't mean that he enjoyed opening doors. I mean i enjoy emulating the way in which Charles Bronson's Dirty Dozen character opens doors. Hand rests on knob/latch. With a quick snap of the wrist and application of torque, he swings the door out, moves through, and pulls it shut. If yo uwant to knwo exactly what i'm talking about, watch the scene where he and Lee Marvin, disguised as German officers leave their hotel room to mingle with the Germans. It's a perfect door opening. yes indeed.

I'm done now. Home in nine days.

A Hiatus and a Change of Season.

2006-11-26T20:25:00.000-08:00

My sophomore year Thanksgiving break exceeded all expectations. A weekend in Wheaton opened my eyes to what some quality Christian fellowship looks like, and what an evening of solid laughter can do for the spirits. A week in Topeka with family and friends will certainly be the fuel getting me through these last few weeks. Now let me plug up the hole through which all this sentimentality is oozing. Some observations.

Everything tastes better on Thanksgiving. I've had mashed potatoes and turkey at least a half dozen times this school year, but when mom pops it in the oven and dad whips up the taters with the right amount of milk and melted butter, everything comes together like the New England Patriots to make a really good meal without anything standing out.

This was the first time I felt a little bit old going into CPLS. Last year I had just graduated, everyone basically accepted me as still being a student. This year more faces were less familiar, looking at me with a hint of recognition but not really knowing who I was. I had gone from A-list to B-list. I guess I can be on Celebrity Poker Showdown now...bonus. I also hit the big 20th b-day a few weeks ago and, as Craig would say, "escaped teen pregnancy." Double bonus.

I didn't take any pictures over break and I’m kinda upset about it. Part of this is probably due to facebook. When no new pictures of you have been tagged in a while you start to wonder if your popularity is dwindling...and it probably is.

Christmas music is back. Sufjan Christmas music is here (officially) for the first time. What a wonderful combination. I'm rockin to some Amy Grant right now. Unfortunately I just realized I never ripped the Martina McBride Christmas CD onto my computer. Sad. She has piercing eyes if you didn’t know. This is the one time in the year I listen to N'Sync without feeling gay...not that there's anything wrong with that. ("Listening to N'Sync or feeling gay?" you ask. "Your call. Enjoy the ambiguity" say I.)

Soon the refreshing scent of fresh evergreen will diffuse throughout E suite in Dewey Hall and all will once again be as it should be. I eagerly await that day (Tuesday perhaps).

This week will top finals week for worst week of the semester. The great thing is that it still won't be that bad.

On an Airplane Appear Mill and Darwin

"Back to LA we go. You have family in Kansas City?"
"In-laws," He nodded his head towards his wife who was sleeping against the window. She used two crummy airplane blankets to cover herself and decided to forego the pillow for her own, less mysterious and sterile, hooded sweatshirt. "Reality actually seems like a pleasant option compared to this holiday."
I'm nodded in affirmation and pretended to listen carefully. Really, I was getting to know him, this man stuck in the middle seat while my legs stretched into the aisle and his wife slumbered. His tan blazer and in-fashion square-toed leather shoes match the image of 'actor' he was trying to exude by conspicuously flashing screenplays while shuffling through his briefcase.
"I guess in-laws feel pressure to be that way. They've got to feed the stereotype right?"
"But her parents go out of their way. It’s not even that they're mean to me. When the holidays come, everything suddenly becomes such a big decision. How big should the turkey be? How many leaves in the table? Which aunts and uncles should get invited before we eat and which do we just want for dessert? Which do we not really want to see? Who is going to sit where?'
"I have no idea what you are going through. Sorry. I'm pretty sure my family approaches Plato's form of the good. Yours must be a really demented adaptation."
"You think so? Maybe yours has just progressed farther in natural selection. My family is analogous to the Fuegians Darwin called barbarians and your family has gone through some slow subtle changes over a long period of time until it reached a point of perfection."
"If that's even possible. Sure the progression towards perfection is possible, but generally I see things as more of a regression into the animal state. When we do make progress it takes effort. It doesn't just happen. Do you see a problem with your family?"
"Well it's not exactly my family. But yes."
"Do you do anything about it? Have you confronted your in-laws, told them what they were doing wrong?"
"Well I’m just not sure if my opinion holds any weight with them. What if I’m wrong?"
"Doesn't matter. Say what you believe, if it’s wrong, the discussion could shed new light on a subject you previously misunderstood. If not, then the conflict will further strengthen the truth of the matter."

Order of the Phoenix

2006-11-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

A little update for those of you who may not know: the new Harry Potter trailer will debut this Friday in front of Happy Feet. It will be made officially available online on Monday (bootlegs and such are sure to be everywhere on Friday if not earlier). Here is a sample of the official artwork (which currently doubles as my desktop, soon to be replaced in a month or so by the appropriately "decked" Great Hall). I also added a countdown to the release on the bottom of my blog, right above the artificially inflated hit counter.

On the Promenade

2006-11-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

If you didn't know, Malibu is an island. We have our grocery store, drug store, surf shop, gym, and three coffee shops...go figure. It is an island with everything imaginable about 45 minutes off shore. The huge smog (I always want to write that Smaug) cloud to the east reminds of that daily. One of the little hot spots between here and the heart of LA is the relatively well known Santa Monica and its crown jewel, the Third Street Promenade. No cars are allowed on Third Street and on weekend nights, the place is alive with street performers, homeless, middle schoolers, and generally off the wall people. One old man always sets up a table asking for money in exchange for his psychic cat to do a reading. One old Chinese man who looks exactly Pai Mei from Kill Bill Vol 2 plays his flute in the same corner every night. You have the teenage boys doing their break dancing and acrobatic stunts. Another man traps cigarette smoke in giant bubbles and shines a flashlight on them...who thinks of this?

Last weekend I spent some time down on the promenade sipping a peppermint latte with some friends and watching people. In addition to all the usuals, we had a few first-time sightings. If you have ever been to New York or other cities w/ hoppin downtowns and lots of tourists you have probably see the talented Asian men who write your name in butterflies and birds using colorful paint and cosmetic wedges. They do it with mad speed and now I know how. They are martial artists. Their Chi is centered. Our table was across from one of these men. We hadn't paid him much attention except to remark on how little business he was getting, then it happened. He got up from his seat, stood in the middle of the road and began to do martial arts sequences ("forms" I believe they are called). Up and down the street he went jumping, kicking, punching, spinning. Passers-by were hypnotized. He had to know we were looking at him, but on he went for a good fifteen minutes. Then it was over, he packed up his belongings and left. I almost wanted to give him a tip.

As Kung Fu painter man packed up, another character passed us by. His face reflected a hard life, and his soft sustained muttering made me question his sanity. I noticed him pass a few times walking in different directions. On his third walk by he planted himself right in font of our table and turned towards us. I avoided eye-contact and realized he was looking above our heads at the McDonald's sign. His muttering grew louder, though still gibberish. A shaking finger was raised and the hardened face produced a hateful scowl. His need for dental work became apparent at such close range. I'm not sure what McDonald's had done to this guy, but it was kinda freaking me out.

We left shortly thereafter walking down an alley to our parking garage, Marcus remarked "this is just the type of alley where people get the crap beaten out of them." It was true. We passed a couple who could have gotten citations for littering AND...littering AND...smoking the reefer. Yay for marijuana. Santa Monica just passed a city-wide ordinance that cops won't bust you for possession unless they see the sale taking place...bonus...or something. That was that. I'm thinking about going back to Third Street with a notebook and voice recorder sometime on a Friday around 8 and just sitting at a table until around 1am. So much comic and literary inspiration right at my fingertips.

I got Consider The Lobster by David Foster Wallace for my birthday...not that i opened it early. What a funny guy. I missed him. I'm looking forward to some new vocab words.

Let's Talk About the Weather

2006-11-07T19:11:00.000-08:00

It's hot here. We're all pretty confused. Right when the girls were busting out their UGS and skirts w/ leggings, right when deciding which jacket to wear (or "borrow") was starting to get fun, right after I used my comforter for the first time, it started to get bloody hot. Curses be on the Santa Ana winds. I don't know a whole lot about them, but I do know that they are HOT and DRY. They turn the whole campus into a giant allergy. The whole campus flocks to the drugstore for cold medicine, lotion, an chapstick. I moisturize nightly and my hands still feel dry. When I go out to run I get that gross cotton mouth feeling is .5 seconds. When I got here I wondered why all the mini blinds were jacked up. Where there was once wonder, there is now understanding.

It hasn't rained here in a long time. The trees don't change colors. We live in a perpetual mild summer/late spring. We are spoiled. We think temperatures only range between 60-80, so the recent venture up to 90 is just downright not OK. We don't have air conditioners. I've heard of some people buying up to four fans which they station in each corner of the dorm. What a bunch of brats we are. But even I'm annoyed and I endure 100+ degree temps for significant parts of each summer. I guess its a combination of the lack of AC and the deadening of my senses. It only gets to me because I get hot when I sleep with my sheet over me. If I have nothing over me I just feel awkward, so getting hot because of the sheet (which I simply must have) is quite a nuisance.

So to sum up, it needs to cool down, and these dry winds need to stop. We live in Malibu. Life isn't supposed to be difficult.

Look out for some crazy-people-watching stories in my next post.

On Bedtime

2006-10-31T11:15:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I started thinking about bedtime. When did it get pushed back? When was it no longer an issue? When did it become unimaginable to go to bed at 10 rather than to stay up until 10? When was New Year's Eve no longer a big deal because you got to stay up late? When were adults no longer these awe-worthy nocturnal beings, and what the heck did they do after I went to bed?

I honestly don't remember what my bedtime was growing up. I am guessing 8 when I was pretty small, then 9 for most of elementary school. I do remember in junior high when I was an AIM addict, that my parents wanted me off the computer by 10, but I'm not sure if there was an actual bedtime. I remember getting to stay up for game 7 of the 1997 world series when the Marlins beat the Indians on Renteria's clutch hit in extra innings. Thanks dad. But I don't remember when I became completely autonomous in my decision to go to bed. Now unlike many of my friends, I still prefer to get 7 or 8 hours of sleep if possible, so, depending on when I have class, I usually go to bed between 1230 and 130. In high school I was usually out between 11 and 12 during the week. I never had a curfew, but I still got more sleep than most of my peers. Not that I wouldn't stay up late when it was called for (TPing, midnight movie screenings, guys nights, etc.), I just preferred a normal night's rest. I think that is probably a product of upbringing, as neither of my parents are real night owls (especially mom). Whatever it is, it's kind of nice.

Another thing I distinctly remember is when my older brother got to stay up to watch Letterman with my dad. Then slowly (not sure what age), I would stay up and watch the monologue, then maybe the first few little games or bits of randomness, then maybe a guest if it was someone I cared about. Letterman is a big part of my dad's life, but now he has to record it (getting old). He would never survive on the East coast.

New Years. My family, the Clarks, and the Congdons, used to have annual New Years get-togethers and the Clark's full of ping pong, cards, N64, and general good times. I still remember the first time I stayed up past 2am. I thought I had reached the pinnacle of existence. What could hold me back? So funny. Oh how things change. In college, I frequently have to stay up late. When it isn't a choice, there is no freedom, and it's no fun.

Well that's that. I guess I just thought it was interesting that while growing up, staying up late is this big mystical thing that you hope to achieve, but once you have the option, you can't imagine not having it. In fact, it becomes exceedingly hard to go to bed early. Life becomes busy.

On Top Bunks

2006-10-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

I've never really had any fear sleeping on a top bunk. I voluntarily did it all of last year. A certain Congdon boy has experienced top bunks with me multiple times. Sure i shift around quite a bit in my sleep. When i was little my dad would tell me all the crazy positions he saw me in during the night. Many times these included my head or other extremities hanging awkwardly off the bed. I suppose my body just has survival sensors preventing it from plummeting to the floor. Now don't expect me to go sleep in a hammock on the face of Half Dome or anything, these are just observations.

This year my roommate Anson took the top bunk plunge. Oh did he ever. It's nice having my bed so close now, saving that little bit of energy each evening and morning. Although I sometimes miss the jolt of force being absorbed by my feet when i jumped down each morning with a loud thud. I was Anson's alarm clock whether he wanted it or not.

This year the two of us inevitably get into a decent conversation right before or after the lights go out. It usually has to do with memories of family, high school, or something nostalgic. It's our bit of decompression and bonding after a long day. Last night the suite was full of tension, the kind created by brains too full of information. Ideas from Organic chemistry, Great Books, and Political Theory were so consuming our lives that we had little patience to deal with our little suite community. Naturally we began to exploit each other's irritability. After Warren almost killed Anson and i for prodding and wrestling with him (he's about as big as both of us combined), Anson and I resorted to giving each other punches in the shoulder. I regret it now.

All the energy was finally expelled and we both found ourselves in bed, when Anson started rattling our mini-blinds despite my requests fro his silence. I got out of bed, hit him, and crawled back in bed with my CPLS Soccer blanket held tight to my face. Shortly thereafter Anson swung at me from his top bunk perch, "It's over. I have the high ground," he taunted. But unlike Anakin, I performed the ultimate reversal. Grasping onto a poorly aimed fist, I gave a firm tug. Physics did the rest. Down went Anson. As he fell from the top bunk, his head tucked and a quick somersault planted tailbone directly on floor.

I paused, fingered for a light switch, saw he was OK, and erupted in laughter. He did likewise. That happened. Oh did it ever.

"You know what makes you smart? Eating healthy food."

2006-10-22T01:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight provided the culmination of my October concert-spree. The Decemberists performed at the Wiltern LG. Lavender Diamond was the opening band. They probably weren't the worst opening band i have ever heard, but definitely the opening band that understood their role the least. Lavender's lead singer came out high on 'shrooms or some other illegal substance and immediately thought the audience was her friend. Her voice was airy, a little high pitched, and had an irish/minnesotan accent. Weird combination i know, but it's the truth

"LA is great. We love you all. But what we love more is world peace. And we love you because you love peace. You are all great people. And well-dressed, but i can't see you."

Is this happening? Is she really not singing yet? Does she think we care?
Yes. Yes. And yes. Oh no, she started singing. Please start talking again. At least that was funny. Finally.

"Thank you all very much. I love LA because you are all such smart people."

Wow. Men in Black, go look up the quote. end of story.

"Why are you smart? Is it because you go to school and eat healthy food? i think its probably the healthy food. Why are you all laughing? Are you prehistoric or something? Wait...that didn't make sense."

Okay now this is all just a big joke, and thankfully even the Decemberists realized that and poker fun at her during their performance, calling us all smart and well-dressed, oh people.

On the way back from the concert, Anson and i were quite parched due to the body heat of 3000 people rising towards the balcony where we were sitting. Slurpees at Seven Eleven sounded just right. I hadn't had a slurpee in quite sometime. Anson was afraid we might get shot in the 7-11 parking lot.
"People always get shot in the parking lots of sketchy LA convenience stores."
"Anson, if i go out with a 40 oz cherry Coke slurpee in my hand, then so be it. But before the guy shoots me i want him to say, 'Big gulps eh? Welp, see ya later' **BANG**"

We made it back to campus with slurpees and overpriced concert merchandise in hand.

"Why don't you just get it over with and do heroin?"

2006-10-18T15:02:00.000-07:00

Recently i have become aware of an addictive element in my personality. It has been with me for quite some time as i reminisce. Even in elementary school i would suck the marrow out of a particular recess activity and move on. From kickball, to four-square, to knockout, to soccer, to wall ball. They were all monthish-long addictions which i discarded after the novelty ran out. Since then, many others cycled through my life, some showing more longevity than others. Basketball, fantasy sports, ping pong, super smash bros (actually most new video games, most recently "burnout revenge" and "need for speed:underground"), AIM, blogging (clearly hasn't been a problem recently), poker, working out, Jack Bauer, Lost, Sufjan, writing, minesweeper, eBay, harry potter...That's what comes to mind right now. Pretty much all of these things still hold some place in my life, but in some sort of cycle one will inevitably emerge and for better or worse take up a disproportionately large amount of my time.

The titular quote came from my roommate last night. I just recently reduced significantly the amount of on-line gambling i take part in, partially due to frustration, partly due to the emotional stress, partly because i wanted some of that time back, but as with all the things mentioned above, i think i got bored with it. In an effort to find something else to do, i downloaded a minesweeper widget for my laptop and wouldn't quit until i beat it on expert (i know, i know, it's not that hard, but the mouse configuration on the Mac version is a little different and i hadn't played in at least a year, cut me some slack). i was staring intensely at the screen when my roommate walked in and with a shake of his head, sighed and uttered ""Why don't you just get it over with and do heroin?" Considering i had just watched "Trainspotting," this actually gave me something to think about. But if heroin got addicted to Jack Bauer, who knows what it would do to me. Pass.

I guess my long absence is somewhat explained by this post, but although i do intend to return to browsing the blogs and other web journals more often, i don't think this will be my next addiction. If you have any ideas, though, i'm game.

Olympics...and musings

2006-02-10T22:56:00.000-08:00

Dancing man in flesh colored-leotard with mohawk and feminine makeup. Man with pyrotechnic rig strapped to his back spinning wildly. Men spinning flags, doing crazy tosses. A generally off-kilter feeling. And running commentary from two guys who think they know way more than they do. Yuck. These guys are talking really loud, about things i don't care about. About things that they don;t care about, but about which they are willing to convince themselves that they care about because it makes them feel more knowledgeable. I was just sitting here, in a comfortable chair, alone, in peace, soaking in the strangest tradition in sport, when someone in a neighboring room flipped on his roommates television. This television possesses a quality i have never understood in televisions. Its speakers face rearward. This TV was already turned up too loud (much like the voice of he who turned it on) but its rear-facing speakers, aimed right out the door, made it downright impossible to do anything in peace. bah.

If the only piece of music John Williams wrote was the olympic fanfare, he should still be considered the greatest modern composer. It is going on my iPod tonight. If you don't get into sports or feel patriotic during the Olympic games, then i doubt your humanity. Don't be surprised if Jack Bauer shows up at your door, shoots you in the shoulder, steps on the wound, and accuses you of treason...you just might deserve it.

Friday nights are pretty great.

Exactly how tape delayed is this broadcast that i am watching? i just started to go to the olympics webpage, but then realized that i might see who lit the torch. All the suspense of these four hours could be ruined. Like if i just randomly mentioned that part in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when...just kidding Paul. I wouldn't do that.

some of the stuff in these ceremonies is just beyond imagination. Imagine the people brainstorming this. I really hope drugs were involved.
"Ok, we need 50 acrobats in silver suits climbing all over this mesh wall and supported by climbing ropes...they could make a dove out of their bodies!"
"Yeah, that sounds good, but how bout a big floating moon and sun as symbols of a Botticelli painting."

WHoa, i must interrupt. Someone needs to get Yoko Ono (or however you spell it) off the stage. Amnesty schmamnesty. All that would be great if it wasn't for this little thing called the fall of man.
"Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,"
I'd never read these lyrics before...now that would be a scary world indeed. Hopefully a very suicidal one...imagine nothing to live for and no purpose...yay!

Someone bring in this torch and end this. I'm tired. I hope Francesco Totti lights the torch by kicking a flaming soccer ball into the cauldron. Ok, i guess its winter, so that's probably not going to happen, but can someone get on the phone with London to line up Beckham for their torch lighting in 2008?

Oh no! The Sports Illustrated favorite to light the torch, Alberto Tomba, is the first to carry the torch in the stadium. I hope there were betting odds on this and someone got really ticked off just now (and by now i mean 12 hours ago).

And it's lit...some cross country skier who i am sure is incredibly famous did the honors. Oh how little i know. This chick is the most decorated Italian Olympian ever and i have absolutely no clue who she is. Neither do at least 99.99 percent of all americans...kinda sad...but hey, she got her 15 seconds. And i'm out.

And I'm Back in the Game!

2006-02-05T20:39:00.000-08:00

Well, what can i say. In my mind i keep hoping that this post will be greeted by Hugo Weaving drawling "Mr. Carr, welcome back...We missed you." But to be frank, that's just not going to happen. A few things happened in the last few days that have inspired me to return to the blogging world. Allow me to recount them.

1) I got all caught up on TV. In the past few months i have been sucked into the 24 and LOST phenomena that rule our country. Consequently, i have digested 102 episodes of 24 and 30+ episodes of LOST in the not-so-distant past. Call it my addiction. Call it an addiction far safer than that of my peers. Call it a colossal waste of time. Call it sheer bliss. But to be perfectly honest, Jack Bauer should be an American icon. How awesome would it be if our government really tortured all those terrorists. Wouldn't you feel more comfortable sleeping at night if you knew we had a guy on our side who is willing to bust a cap on a guys kneecap before he starts interrogating? I know i would...in fact, i do, because Jack Bauer lives on in my mind. LOST hasn't impressed me as much, but i'm still hooked like a heroin addict (and both shows have heroin addicts as main characters...what am i turning into????).

2) I'm done with poker for a while. Yeah, sad, i know. Its a brutal game really. Even if you're winning it feels like you're losing, and you find ways to convince yourself that you are a terrible player. My hat is off to the grinders. Joey Knish really does have a crappy life. Winning one big bet an hour has no glamour. That said, i'm sure i will start playing again soon enough. I have a whopping two hours of work per week these days, so i might need the cash/something to occupy my time.

3) Football is over. Sad isn't it? More sad is that i can count on my fingers the number of Pepperdine kids that are sad about this. As you all know, the Super Bowl was tonight. I am really hoping that the Sports Guy kept a running diary for it, and i am wishing that i had done likewise. A few things still stick in my mind which i simply must share: Why is Joss Stone white? During the pre game show she was up there grooving with all of Mo-Town, and no one even blinked. Not until halfway through the all-too-long Stevie Wonder show did i realize that she was the only white person on stage. One of her parents must be albino or something...we need to look into this. Was that Star Spangled Banner awkward or what? First, Aaron Neville was singing REALLY high and REALLY quiet. Second, Dr. John looked like a corpse. Third, Aretha Franklin put minks on the endangered species list. And fourth, all the performers looked like they were giving birth when they sang. A few face shots of the players summed everything up. Most of them (like me) thought all those people were dead, and the rest were wondering why they were allowed out in public.

The first half zoomed by, and bam, it was time for the Stones. Oh boy, never have i seen a group of more fried individuals in my life. One of the kids watching the game with me, (who has a problem with smoking...and not just cigarettes) shouted "Man, Mick Jagger would make the best grandpa ever!" I gave the ole sideways glance, bit my tongue and continued with my life. When poor Mick lost his jacket and subjected millions of people to his deteriorating and flabby arms i had to look away. That should have been a wardrobe malfunction. The stage was cool though.

So, all that to say, i have a little time on my hands. And i have chosen to spend it on you. There's more to say, but i don;t want to overdo it. Easy Mac here i come!

Tis the Season...

2005-12-06T18:03:00.000-08:00

I came back into the dorm on Sunday to find eveyrthing all festive, and i liked it. The sweet smell of evergreen welcoming me back home each day is quite pleasant indeed. Props to Warren and Anson for decorating the place. Allan and Warren made the trek to walmart for our real tree. The tree topper is courtesy of warren who loves jack russel terriers. On a side note, i come home tuesday night. How tight is that?

Break Time

2005-11-29T16:56:00.000-08:00

Howdy all. As you hopefuuly know, last weekend was Thanksgiving. Yay! That means that i was home gettign to see a lot of beautiful faces i hadn't seen for quite sometime. I even got to see some beautiful faces i had never seen, as well as some rather angry, unattractive faces that i would prefer to never see again. But that is the grab bag of life. Its wild to think that i'll be repeating the journey back to Indian territory in less than three weeks. Finals will soon be over (for better or for worse). Dear me, there is a very soft electronic buzz issuing forth from one of the many devices surrounding me. Wuite distracting. Like a fly around your ears, except you can;t swat it, or even locate it. So i geuss the only similarity is the buzzing. **sigh** So i'll be back for Christmas in a few weeks. I have started gathering Christmas music and listening to it. It's pretty great. I also started Season 2 of 24...also great. Perhaps i shouldn;t have started at a crunch time in the academic year, but eh, i did it, and now there is no going back. Here are some pics.

OK, this is kind of hard to explain. A few years ago my dad started picking up some of the many fallen acorns that litter our driveway and yard. He then began to toss the acorns at our birdfeeder in the front yard. Soon i began to imitate his actions, like some sort of dog or toddler, or dog. One Sunday, this casual tossing became a competition to see who coudl hit the squirrel guard below the bird feeder. Then that competition became structured. We stood on the deck, each armed with 25 potential oak trees, and alternated throws. He who struck the squirrel guard the most times would win. Now that competition has evolved into a thanksgiving tradition which crowns the king of acorns. As you can see, i won this year, in sudden death overtime mind you, 6-5 over my brother Paul. I am holding the trophy which now bears my name in oh-so-tiny print. We have to leave room for future generations of acorn tossers. Exciting times at the Carr household :).

Wireless internet rocks.

My sister and i are geared up for a brisk thanksgiving morning run. In no way could this have compensated for the masses of food that we consumed later that day, but every little bit helps i guess. Check out the size of that watch...yeah, its not mine.

SPARE TIME BOWLING! The best kept secret in the dice game industry, and almost the best kept secret in all of gamedom (second only to Dealer's Choice). If you coem over, ask to play this game. I guarantee plenty of ridicule, screaming and downright bad luck.

I would finish with a poem, but i feel it is too long for this post. Thank me later Ben.

Waiting Willfully For Wizards

2005-11-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, or even if you didn't know, you should assume this to be fact, I went to the midnight show of Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire on Thursday Night/Friday Morning.

This is the building across the street from the theatre we went to. When people asked what we were waiting for (and lots of people did since we got there at 2:30 in the afternoon), my friend Myles and I juast pointed at this building. Some people looked up to the sky in confusion. Others stared confused. Some thought that November 18th was a week away and that we were insane. Others gave a proud nod. Still others asked, "So is Harry older now?" Ummm...yes. Well that person really should have just kept walking

Good ole Tommy Lee Jones kept us company while we sat planted on the sidewalk for 9.5 hours. My toes...AHHH!

Thats the front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The place holds a bajillion people, has a screen almost as wide as an Imax, and houses a THX certified sound system custom built to work optimally only in that theatre. THe movie wasn;t even shown on film. A Digital Light Projector eliminated all those annoying cracks and "cigarette holes" on normal prints. fantastic.

So it was light, and now it's dark. 3 hours down, 6.5 to go! Oh, and you see shrek standing there. There are lots of people outside of Grauman's trying to get money by dressing up as movie characters. All these people are a little off the beaten path to say the least. By the end of the day/night, many of them were friends with Myles and I. They would just come over and chat w/ us while they were taking a break. Somr asked about our college careers, others abotu favorite movies. All were congenial. Good times.

Just a blurrier, wider shot of the front of Grauman's. Most of those people in front are Asian tourists. You are probably wonderign why there arent any pictures of myself or any of the other members of my group in here. Well, i left my camera sittign on the sidewalk we were sitting on, and apparently cement drains the batteries of electronic devices. I had three people tell me this that night and i had never heard of the phenomenon before...crazy. So this concludes my briefing. I'll be home soon...yay.

And Down the Stretch They Come!

2005-11-15T22:24:00.000-08:00

So I'll be home in a week. Actually I probably won;t be at home because as soon as i set foot in t-town the celebrations, reunions, sharing, and loving will begin. Look out, they just might continue for 5 days straight. The pre-Thanksgiving crunch is on...kind of. Just one beast paper due right before i leave. Its weird that i am registering for next semester's classes already. Newness every semester will be strange, welcome, exciting, and worrisome.

I quit Nanowrimo a whopping 6000 words in. Most of you already knew, but for all the drifters that don't frequently communicate with me. In 48 hours i will be sitting inside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in downtown Hollywood eagerly awaiting Hedwig's Theme to crescendo into my perked ears. It'll be great. The ole birthday was pretty non stop. My first birthday away from home. I am feeling inspired tonight because i just got back from this little coffee house where students were performing mostly original songs and what not. One guy was incredible on the harmonica. I'm tired. Drive safely.

NaNoWriMo

2005-11-01T13:20:00.000-08:00

I have decided to participate in National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo). Consider blogging put on the backburner for a bit. Personal contact will still be kept up via email and la telefono. Heck, i will probably still check the blogs. I just came to the realization that i havent written much for fun lately. Why not sacrifice hours of sleep for a sense of accomplishment? Happy writing everyone.

The Fog and Knott's

2005-10-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

A light mist is confounding. Nylon jacket? Hoody? Umbrella? Flip flops? Shoes? Bah, so many options and none seem to satisfactorily control this mystifying element. Who has nylon jackets anymore...so not cool in Malibu :). Hoodies end up damp and weighty after a good ten minutes of mist. Umbrellas are a hassle. Shoes can get a little soggy, but they generally keep your footsies warm for a while. Flip flops can get wet no problem, but lack in the traction and warmth areas.

For about the past week, dense fog and light mist has been lurking around our campus (and the surround area) like a poltergeist. Some kids have had to pull over on the highway because of the low viz.

I played speed scrabble with some people on Friday. They girl teaching was very surprised I knew how to play. It's funny how you perceive games as very localized to your community (pitch, mashed potatoes, strip bridge....what was that last one?). I dominated, but caught a lot of flack for adding "er" to a couple of verbs to make nouns (slinker, gleaner). In my efforts to deinterlace the subtleties of English to these girls, they threw the ole "it's not in the dictionary" at me. I told them that the Webster's compact dictionary and dictionary.com were not going to bother making entries for every "er" word because it isn't necessary. Just add "one who" to the definition. Oh what I would have done for an O.E.D.

Ok, for the fun stuff. On Sunday a group of 11 Pepperdiners (myself included) though it would be fun to make the trek down to Knott's Berry Farm, "America's First Theme Park" for what was voted "#1 Halloween event in the world" and the "largest event in the amusement park industry was underway with "Over one thousand ghosts, monsters and freaks" [yes, freaks] wander the theme park with you. We were headed to Knott's Scary Farm for the annual Halloween Haunt.

"So what is Halloween Haunt?" You ask. Well buddy, they basically open the park from 6pm-1am with 12 haunted houses set up, fog machines going crazy, and freaks walking all around. These "attractions" are in addition to the other legit roller coasters and rides in the park (Better than Worlds of Fun, but not Six Flags).

We arrived around 730, and entered into the haunt with only one person really knowing what was going on. "You guys wanna do the clown maze first?" He asked.

Clowns have to be some of the weirdest things imagined by man. What about white-faced, overly enthusiastic pranksters who try to deceive people is attractive to small children? That we may never know, but we do know that a clown-themed haunted house is a really good idea. While in line to go in, one of the clown-dressed freaks was squawking his horn and getting in the face of my friend Julia. Julia isn't really one to put up with that and she shoved the clown man in the face. She had no idea she had violated rule one of Knott's Halloween Haunt...that's right, she "shoved a monster." OH SNAP! Clown-boy immediately began tweeting his whistle and shouting, "Hey, no touching the monsters." How ridiculous did he sound, especially considering his costume. So off he trots to the supervisor of clown freaks (poor guy, what a crappy job) to point out my monster-shoving friend. She passed it off as an accident and on we went into the "maze" (more of a haunted house walkthrough...you can;t really get lost).

I could go on giving details about each haunted house and the rides, but I really think the more interesting topic can be found in further investigation of clown-boy. Exactly what type of people voluntarily put on bizarre costumes and walk around for hours trying to scare people and act extra-creepy at the same time. This has to get old. I mean, the people working the haunted houses sit walk around the maze for hours, observing a non-stop stream of people pass. The only thought in this job comes when the monsters randomly decide who they are going to scare. That decision brings me to my next point.

Guys, never go to Knott's Scary Farm unless in a group comprised of at least 40% attractive females. If your group fails to meet this quorum, not only will you get completely ignored in the haunted houses, but you will have to end up leaching onto another group just so you can see some people get scared. Think about it, the only people who apply for a job advertised "dress up in spooky costumes, and spend hours spying on, stalking, and generally freaking out strangers" are guys who do that in their free time. And if you are one of those guys, you aren;t going to spend that time freaking out Billy over there who just slammed down four turkey legs. You are going straight for miss knockout blond who screams when you snort and make weird noises. If you want, you can even follow her through the whole maze, and she will never be able to pick you out of that lineup because you are wearing a clown mask. "Freaks" is definitely a good description for these crazy cats.

Now, the masked freaks are stalkerish, but the ones I really feel bad for are the ones who don;t even wear a mask. Imagine the job interviewers comments, "Well, you don't need a mask. You look sufficiently creepy as you are. Just walk around, people will be scared." One of the vampires was this breed. I had never seen anyone more creepy. The guy moved like a vampire, wore a big black trenchcoat (his own I'm sure), and seemed to just appear in the room. What I would have done to see Blade dominate him.

Eventually, our curiosity got the best of us, and we had to find o how much these guys were getting paid. My friend Ryan, never hesitant to talk to anyone, walked up to one of the clown freaks and non-chalantly tried to begin conversation, "hey man how ya doin"
"..."
"Yeah, so you guys get paid much for doing this?"
"..." (hand indicating 'not really')
"Yeah, so how much?"
"..."

Ok, let me interrupt this dialogue to remark on another curious habit of the "monsters." They love to talk to each other, and few things are more humorous than watching two demon clowns harass dozens of people, and then walk over to the lemonade stand, grab a drink, and chat for a while. But the second a paying customer nears them, even to ask a polite question, they act all hardcore and get in character. These guys would never tell us where a bathroom was or even where the ride was. My friend Ashley told asked one monster when he got off work so she could hook up with him later. This is funny right? Not nearly as funny as his true-to-character response of, "My work is eternal, you'll have to meet me in the graveyard." That complete role-embodiment is a sure sign of a future actor right there. Back to Ryan's efforts with the mute.

"Ok, umm, more than 7?"
"..." (eventual head nod)
"Just help me out here buddy."
"..." (blank stare, but eventually he holds up ten fingers.)

That was painful. We tried to confirm this number with other monsters and were told that their pay was less than ten. So either the clowns are top-notch haunters or the guy was embarrassed and full of crap or maybe he had never communicated with another human being before. Who knows.

So we had a good time, left a little before 1, headed over to IHOP, got back to campus around 3 and I got up for Calculus four hours later...good times.

Sorry that was long, but you have a week to get through it :).

Small Sandwiches

2005-10-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

After Great Books today, I jaunted over to the Caf to grab a bite to eat. Roast beef sounded good, and the alternative offerings of Yankee pot roast and some cross between chinese food and tacos failed to excite me. The roast beef sandwich is a stalwart favorite in the land of averageness (and soemtimes above averageness...and sometimes below averageness) that is the cafeteria. Today, all that changed. The man behind the counter cut my two slices of wheat bread from an end, making them much smalelr than slices cut from the heart of a loaf. Bad foundations make bad buildings. The same holds true for sandwiches. The bread Nazi proceeded to place only two slices of roast beef on the runts of the loaf. During the first week of classes they loaded you up with an entire flank. Making matters worse, the sandwich artist initially put three slices on. Then he casually glanced at his coworker who authoritatively shook his head. To my horror, the gloved hand reached over and tossed some of my nourishment back into the beef bin. Sad face.

It's been raining here the last few days, and no one knows quite what to do. Some are prepared with umbrellas, but most walk stoically through the cascading droplets in hooded sweatshirts. That is, those who aren't worried about their prada bag or louis purse getting ruined. I can't help but think of the Seinfeld bit about the suede jackets and cows. "Let me in!! I'm SUEDE!!"

On Sunday our girls soccer team played the undefeated and untied Portland Pilots (#2 or #1 in the nation depending which poll you like). We tied them. Unfortunately we lost to crappy Gonzaga on Friday...ugh...that makes us 1-1-1 in conference. We'll need to knock off #5 Santa Clara to be contenders.

I asked a friend of mine who gives campus tours if people asked dumb questions. She started laughing, "One person asked me the name of the big lake that the campus overlooks." WOW.

I need to write more poetry. Just for Ben...maybe that could be the title, or perhaps "Support for the So-Cal Stereotype," "The View," "Why Asians Congregate," or "Screw Cones, I want everything black and white."

Off to the mall.

It's that time

2005-10-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday, and in contrast to other weeks, i have nothing planned to blog about. So here comes a Driver-esque prompt of whatever coems to mind.

Sports have been in pretty high gear lately. On Sunday i flipped on the tube to watc hsoem football and catch the end of the Astros vs. Braves game before our girlssoccer game at 1. the baseball game was in the 8th inning and pretty exciting as Houston cut into the braves lead. 10 innings later i was still in front of the TV awe-struck as the longest post season game in MLB history ended with a walk off home run...wowzers.

I have psychology from 6-9 on monday nights. The exact horus of MNF and the Yankees vs. Angels game 5 this week. No worries, i've got wireless internet to get me score updates until i dash to my dorm at 9 to catch the endings. But this week i sat dow nin my seat opened my laptop and discovered the worst. The network was down. Only one thing could be done. I left class at 7 to watch the games. So the yankees are down i nthe bottom of the eighth when my RA comes into the suite decked out out as a nerd...he looked pretty hot. Anyways, he todl us all we were going somewhere. "But its the bottom of the 8th!" He reassured that the game would be on and out we trekked into the brisk evening and up the road. I ran up the road to get to our destination before i missed soemthing important. It turned out we went over to our RD's house (he oversees all the RAs and is really nice, as is his wife). Milk and lots of chocolate chip cookies awaited and we watched the rest fo the baseball and football games from the all-too-rare comfort of someone's house. The home felt warm. Candlelights flickered off of the deep red walls and a Boston Acoustics home theatre system enveloped me in crowd noise. Quality.

How tight would it be to go to an Angels vs. White Sox game? How likely is it that i will have that chance? Hey, we can dream right? I got paid on Monday.

I really need to post some more pictures. That would require charging my camera batteries...hmmm, i'll get on that. I got a four year academic plan done today with my advisor. It's a little bit creepy seeing all those classes stacked up. Next year i am scheduled to take two 5 credit hour physics classes and two semesters of Organic Chemistry...yuck. But no more calc! The required chem classes might disable me from studying abroad in Buenos Aires during Fall 2007...we'll see.

I need to write some poetry. I bet Ben misses it. Time for some Burnout. I went without it all weekend (Warren went home and took his Xbox).

Burnt Out

2005-10-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

Having analyzed my blog title multiple times, you probably expect some sort of soapbox about how college is hard, how i miss the comfort of home, how i am sick of forcing myself to meet new people, and how much i need this upcoming three day weekend. You would be wrong.

The new game Burnout Revenge is taking over a significant part of my life. Apparently it is the latest in a series of Burnout "Insert hardcore sounding word here" games. It's basically your standard racing game, except you are constantly trying to destroy, blow, up, or damage in any way possible all of the surrounding traffic, especially fellow racers. Crashes you cause are called takedowns and result in extra turbo for your car. It is A-mazing. There's just nothing like side swiping someone into a median at 200 mph, and watching them ramp 20 feet into the air where an oh-so-immovable bridge decimates their vehicle...wow. In some races you see who can cause 500,000 dollars of damage the quickest. Bonuses for ramming vehicles into oncoming traffic and getting creative with your takedowns (try landing on someone). The game basically takes our male dreams and makes them reality. I am addicted, whenever i say "ok, just one more race guys," Schoen (shane) begins acting like a drug addict with a syringe shouting "no, just one more guys, ONE MORE!!!" Oh the joys of Xbox, college, and all that comes with it.

Tonight i get to venture into a psychology research study and have people experiment on me...awkward...

Oh, and that whole prank call thing went pretty well. The lady was nice and said she would email me with her "ruling" sometime soon. I don't think the criminal court lingo was necessary but at least i'm not on house arrest or anything. Our girls soccer team lost for the first time this year to #4 UCLA (1-2...we were #9 :( ). Our guys water polo team (#6) beat #! USC on Saturday 5-4, it was intense...college sports rock. I can't wait til basketball season.

Judge Judy returns

2005-09-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

Many of you may recall the little run-in i had with public safety regarding my suite's HI-larious prank calls. I had filed the whole episode into the stories-to-tell-the-kids file when i received a lengthy email last week which began like this:

Dear Thomas:
The Dean of Student Affairs received a report with information regarding
a phone call made from your extension to a student on campus. According
to the report, you were involved in a violation of the Code of Conduct,
specifically, actions or language that constitutes disrespect.

According to the Student Handbook, "in some cases of student misconduct,
a Student Disciplinary Committee hearing may not be necessary. In this
case, we are requesting that you attend an administrative hearing with a
University staff member to discuss the incident, your involvement, and
any steps that will be taken or sanction imposed to resolve the matter."

That was interesting, but in the mail yesterday my roommate received a typed up transcript of "approximately what was said" in our prank call. This is priceless stuff folks. Realize that everything we say is really Judge Judy talking, and that this is what the girl remembered us saying. i will let you know what really went down within [].

Girl: Hello?
Judge Judy: Hello!
G: Who is this?
JJ: (indistinguishable name) [we were saying "miss malone", apparently it didn't carry very well]
G: I'm sorry?
JJ: (repeated name)
G: Who are you trying to call?
JJ: (Indistinguishable name) [we said mr. butler...that was the clearest name on the judge judy sound board]
G: I'm sorry, i think you have the wrong number.
JJ: Don't you dare hang up on me! [definitely not on the soundboard. when would judge judy ever say this?]
g: who are you looking for again?
JJ: (indistinguishable name) [looks like the whole name thing isnt workin out too well]
G: I really think you have the wrong number.
JJ: Look, first of all, I'm going to kill you; then i'm going to kill myself!

[ok, time out. we did say that, but there was definitely no "look, first of all." who introduces a death threat by calmly laying out a logical progression of their actions? And who hasnt figured out by now that this is some kind of prank call by now? Geez. All things considered, this is the only thing we said that may have crossed the line. proceed moon.]

G: Where are you?
JJ: I'm about to drive off the road right now! [what?! where did that come from? i have spent some time staring at the sound board and cant figure out which phrase sounds anything like that.]
G: Why don;t you just pull over and calm down?
JJ: Do you think i need to be on prescription medication? [we actually asked her if she was on prescription medication, which made her hesitant response just as funny.]
G: No...
JJ: Don't you dare hang up on me! [again, not on there]
G: what can i do to help you?
JJ: You know what? I think you need to jsut step outside!
(at this point i began to realize that this was some kind of a prank) [REALLY? Then why did this get reported to public safety?]
G: I'm really sorry, but i think you have the wrong number. It's late and my roommate is already asleep...
JJ: Hello!
(the intonation was identical to the first hello, i realized it was a recording and hung up immediately.)

In other news, the water down here is getting insanely cold, so the beach is getting less attractive, but being able to see it is still nice :). Last night, after my first "celebration of learning" (a.k.a. test) in psychology, i emerged from Elkins auditorium to the shrieking and frolicking of hundreds of females. What the... Had i walked onto the set of Oprah? Nope, it was bid night for the seven sororities on campus, and apparently it was exciting. I have personally decided that sororities are mostly for the girls who need to have some security net to fall into when they realize that they have no identity on campus. Fraternities on the other hand are for the guys who don;t want to have to look for the off campus parties on the weekends. No that's not totally true, well, the part about the girls is.

I overhear some great quotes in the sandbar while studying sometimes. The one taking the cake yesterday was a bona fide sorority girl watching oprah and talking to some guy.
Guy: Oprah should run for president, she would totally win. [there's one guy i know not to become friends with]
Girl: Are you kidding me? In this country you pretty much HAVE to be white and male to be president. I mean all our other presidents have been. It's so sad.

Good stuff right there. So many things to say, but i guess she's right, who wants a woman in office? Haha just messin (kind of), as long as the last name isn't Clinton. Sorry to leave on a political note, but this has been lengthy.

It's Raining in Malibu

2005-09-20T12:39:00.001-07:00

Not anymore, but it was. Last night while i was peacefully perusing I Samuel for my morning Great Books class, the rhythmic sprting of the sprinklers was suddenly drowned out by an actual thudnerstorm, not a Kansas thunderstorm, but it was still legit, thunder, lightning, the works. Apparently this might be the only one i experience out here for my entire college career...craziness. I guess i fail to appreciate that aspect of godd ole Topeka.

In other news, i got into a conversation with my suite mate on Sunday who had gone home for the weekend. We got to talking about hoem and he said he was definitely ready to come back here after being home (Santa Cruz) for a couple days. I just kinda stared at him. "You can only take so much of home ya know?" I guess i don't. I proceeded to ask him about any close high school friends he had (none). I was still stunned. He said most of his good friends that would help him out if he needed it were in LA, where he had spent the lats year. No lifelong friends, no close-knit crowd that you yearn to interact with or tell stories to? How foreign. Don;t take CPLS or TBC or T-town for granted kids...it straight up rocks.

I went to Hollywood twice this past weekend. The walk of fame is pretty tight, as is Grauman's Chinese theater, the Kodak Thater (Oscars!), and all the other well-known houses of motion pictures. Crazy people everywhere. In 24 hours i encountered Willy Wonka, Waldo, Captain Jack Sparrow, Yoda (actual size...awkward), Vader, Freddy Cougar, Wonder Woman, Satan, a vampire, and many men who all claim to be the next big thing in hip-hop. I kissed a mannequin, i felt incredibly awkward inside the Beverly Hills Hotel (nothing happened, i was just there...in jeans). I found the West Coast's version of the original Arthur Bryant's (It's called Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles...i think white people are allowed in). I got rejected at a bowling alley that only allows people 21+ in after 7pm...it's a bowling alley folks. I sat by Lester Holt's son in Psychology while we both struggled on our Macs with the wireless network.

Workign at the computer store is definitely good times. I get to hear the computer techs complain about the inefficiency of the troubleshooting process, i get to listen while sorority girls try to explain what is wrong with their machine and describe solutions they have tried. I have paused in confusion while i desperately tried to come up with a nice way of telling someone that they have no idea what they are talking about. I get up way too early on a daily basis. In Great Books today the prof asked how everyone was doing. One girl complained that the class was early (10am). I remarked that it was my third class of the day. The proceeding looks of awe and wonder about knocked me out of my chair. "Is that even possible." Oh, it's possible. Oh, yes it is.

Tuesdays are turning out to be a pretty convenient day for blogging, so expect new stuff to show up on Tuesdays. More may be to come. Peace.

Oh, Inverted World

2005-09-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

A knock on my door aroused me from my semi-conscious presleep state. Rolling over carefully in my top bunk, i heard voices inside my room.
"Where is the light switch? Is anyone in here?"
"It's right there, by the safe."
"Oh, i guess that's where it is in every single one of these rooms."
I sat up in bed, eyes adjusting to the sleep-depriving fluorescent lights. Two overweight cops of different race stood in the middle of my dorm, staring at me. I'm sure my apparent nakedness didnt help the awkwardness of the situation.
"Is this your room?"
Wow, did he really just ask me that? Maybe things are really technical for cops, but my logic assumes that a guy asleep by himself in a guys dorm on the top bunk (that is really the kicker. no one decides to fall asleep on a top bunk.) is in his room. Nevertheless, i began the charade of easy going cooperation and understanding.
"Yes sir it is."
"So this is your phone?"
"Well, it's my rommates, but it belongs to this room if thats what you mean" (it is plugged into the wall after all)
"OK, well we are with public safety, and we got a complaint about a harassing phone call coming from this number. So we checked the computer and it looked liek you guys had been placing quite a few calls. Do you know what this is all about?"
"Yes sir i do."

Let me rewind an hour or so. I am in the bathroom brushign my teeth when schoen rushes through the hall saying its time for some prank calls using the ole Judge Judy sound board on Ebaumsworld (http://www.ebaumsworld.com/judgejudy.html). You know the drill, we call a random campus extension, then use the various judge judy soundclips t ocarry on a conversation with the person via speakerphone. Quite ingenious really. We had people telling us their names ages, whether or not they were on rpescription medication. We threatened to kill ourself and had a girl ask if she could help...oh man, good times. That's it, nothing harassing or malicious. Ok, back to Tubby and Chubby talking to me in my dorm.

"We made some prank phone calls using this judge judy soundboard."
"Like one of the ones on Ebaumsworld?" (ok, these cops have totally done this before, what punks.)
"Yeah, actually that is excactly what it was."
"Now thats pretty funny kid, but let me just give you a piece of advice, i'm not tryin to be your dad or anything, but if you really want to meet girls, just go talk to them, you don;t have to make weird phone calls buddy."

Hold up, is this guy for real? This 5' 6", 250 pound white guy who hasn't gotten a date since his football coach set him with one of the girls on the shot-put team is giving me dating advice in the middle of the night? Not only that, but he really thinks that these prank calls were our attempt to meet girls. Hello, it is hilarious buddy! I about lost it right here and told him to get out of my room and write me up for a code of conduct violation. Fortunately they just took my name (as well as the other guys involved) and other information and told me that,
"If i have to come up here again tonight, i won't be a very happy person."

The only thing that chucko wouldnt be happy about is the 3 flights of stairs leading up to our dorm. Missing his favorite late-night infomercials might also be rough. Those gusy just wasted 15 mintues of my sleep because some insecure girl got spooked by Judge Judy hurling insults at her over the phone. Welcome to my world.

Welcome to E(asy) Suite

2005-09-07T22:46:00.000-07:00

Well kiddos, i'm sure, after these two+ weeks in the dark that yo uare all wondering, "where the heck is Thomas living these days? And i am sure some of you also wonder who i am sleeping with/in the same suite as (especially you Doug). For those reasons and many more which i am sure you can imagine, i give a pictorial review of Easy Suite located on the top floor of Banowsky dorm on a typical day.

Anson's (my roommate) giant fan is kind of blocking my desk, but eh, this is one side of our room. rthe one where i spend most of my room time when i am not sleeping. On the far right is our door. Just to the left of that is my safe (cool eh?), our micro, fridge, and freezer. We are so organized...:).

My desk more up clsoe and personal. You might notice Sufjan Stevens gracing the screen of my iBook, and if you look closely at the calendar, it looks like Julia has been causing mischief,,,crazy kid. I like my desk.

The bunks...and look. We have matching sheets...how cute.

The closets, complete with an annoying divider thing. Yay for laundry days.

Now for the members of E Suite...doing what we do best

This is Warren from San Diego. Every Suite needs a Warren. This is the kid who has his Xbox, PS2, GameCube, PSP, DS, Custom built desktop (currently being revamped), and laptop lined up in his room. He has crazy switches and who knwos what allowing him to play ungodly amounts of games all through his computer monitor. His sound system is obviously 5.1 and THX certified. We love to blast the Ewok celebration song every night at 11 (quiet hours start at 10 hehe).

This is Marcus from Texas. Marcus played for State Champion "Van Vandals" basketball team his senior year, and is very proud of that, even though he hardly played (love you marcus). Marcus and Warren have cars, so they are automatically popular among the freshmen.

This is Schoen (shane) from Santa Cruz. Schoen rooms with Warren. He is very funny. He is a good actor. He works long hours on the weekends for a high end catering company. He is Warren's rommate and he often translates for the rest of us because warren likes to mumble. Schoen is on IMDB (last name hodges)...he is just that cool.

ROOMIE! This is my roommate Anson from Colorado. He is half Vietnamese and pretty soft spoken, but when he speaks out it is usually pretty funny, He has a nicer computer than me and i am jealous of it. We get along pretty well. We don;t hang a whole lot, but most of the members of E Suite stay pretty close to home (they make me look extroverted). I'm just glad i don;t have an Abercrombie roommate...cuz seriously.

This is Kevin from Northern California (i don;t remember exactly where). He is pretty into acting and singing and Christian music and he sleeps with his clothes on...all of them. I don;t know why, and i havent even talked to him about it, but hey, he goes there.

This is Allan from Washington. Allan played football in high school and enjoys ultimate frisbee. Lately he has been looking to get his haircut...for some reason he didnt want it done like mine. I guess he'll have to resort to the 20 dollar malibu barber (thats with student discount). Allan rooms with Kevin

Last but not least, this is Nick from Texas. Nick sleeps a lot and loves watching the West Wing on DVD. Nick rooms with Marcus and is a big fan of hugs. He also seems to carry around his debate files a lot. They are big and brown and quite intimidating.

Well thats all of us (plus me of course). Hope that gives you a bit of an idea of where i live and who i live with. As you can tell we are all pretty laid back, and, well, we love our copmputers. Until i post again.

A Taste

2005-09-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

That's Courtney from Texas on the left, Zach from Washington and Amanda from Washington. This and the next three are all from movie night in Elkins Auditorium...we watched the enthralling Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Sorry you couldnt be there Ben :).

It's Ashley from Idaho all wrapped in caution tape...scary stuff happens when we get bored hehe.

Thats Brie on the left, or as i will call her from now on, Cadet Carroll, the only other freshman in AFROTC at pepperdine. Her dad works for Nike in Indonesia and gets her free running stuff. Then that's ashley from Idaho again, and John, i don;t knwo where he is from...sorry...if i had to guess i would say California :).

Julia from Iowa beign a little crazy with Zach before the movie. Julia is hyper...nuf said.

Here are some of the guys in my dorm (BANOWSKY!!!!) doing the Gallon Challenge...needless to say, they all threw up multipel times...yum

Before

After...sad i know, but its not as weird as i expected...just think how much less shampoo i have to use now! :)

Hopefully i can blog some pictures of my dorm and various other places sometime soon...maybe a few ocean shtos too ;-).

so many people

2005-09-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

Lately i have found myself in a little predicament. there are too many people that i want to write extensive personal emails to. i would liek to jsut post here and say everything i want to say to everyone, but it just doesnt have the same emotio nand personalization of the emails i want to write, so i dont know what to do. Doug and Ben (and everyone else. i only mention them because they broguht it up first), you really should trek it out here. We can go to Coogie's and Zuma beach, and Malibu Yo(gurt), and chill in the HAWC, drink bad coffee, listen to people try to play a bad piano, some sand volleyball, tennis, awesomeness in general...you know the drill. What up Akers? Holla back!

On a more interesting note, all the cingular phones here decided to stop working. It was like a university crisis. So funny when you think about it. None of us know each others room numbers. I had to resort to running around to the different dorms just to communicate with people...oh what would we do w/o cell phones?? Other funny story: zach, ashley, tyler, john, and i went down to play tennis at eleven last night, but we couldnt turn o nthe lights, so we hit balls in the dark and tyler ran around blindly with the picker-upper hoping to find them...good stuff...unfortunately, no one got hit in the head or anything.

Crows here are massive...i bet a few students get picked off each year, and i'm ok with that i guess.

Its a weird feeling to show a new friend all of your pictures. Around school, you just feel like pepperdien is everyone's life. Its all you know fo eachother, but then the pictures come, revealing the person's entire past in a few brief snapshots. So much to be asked, so muc hto be discovered. With some of my friends, i neevr even went through that process. Our pictures have always been together, developed side by side, never hidden for more than a couple weeks, and even then they were gobbled up as soon as possible. Its what we do when we get back from vacation or missions trip, we look at pictures. Really we are learnign abotu eachother. We want to now what new experiences have changed this person since we last saw them. Soem of those changes may have not been the best to observe. If i had seen all my friends at their worst, i probably would have prejudged them and missed out on a vital companion in life. I have probably done that with people i don;t even know about anymore. This fresh start is a blessing for some, but it is also a chance to point your skis straight down the slope of destruction. No oen knew that you used to be a good kid, so what reputation is there to uphold? No one knows what school or church (if any) you attended. they don't know who you dated or slept with. they don;t know that you never partied back home. here is your chance to be a chameleon like you never could before. but here is also your chance to bury for nine months those thigns that you never coudl bury at home. Choice, me.

Stage Going To The Hospital (LOUDER!)

2005-08-28T01:09:00.000-07:00

I am genuinely angry right now. Those of you who went to Mexico might remember what i said when Leenerts dropped the detail work on us, "I was about to lose my faith, Mark, i really was." Tonight i once again approached that stage. As my suite mate Schoen (shane) so famously described our shower, "You see, there are two stages on that thing, its either stage freezing cold, or stage 'going to the hospital'." I freaking lived in the latter stage tonight, and it had nothing to do with water temperature. For the first time in my life i took part in a game of poker in which one player profitted more than $100. You are probably sitting back laughing because of the extravagant numbers that get thrown around poker on TV these days. But we were playing with 10 cent big blinds. thats 1000 big blinds this kid won...ridiculous. the most amazing thing i have ever seen actually. I made one bad move all night, and lots of good ones, and end up losing money...not ven to him... it sucks (realize that i almost assuredly exaggerated that last statement, but i really did play well...bah...so much hate). I just ran into my room and blasted Indie Rock 'n Roll for all my suite to hear. It's 1:15, i have to get up for church relatively soon. I feel gross, that slow sweat, a product of barely uncomfortable temperatures and lots of bodies, has been slowly seeping through the layers of cotton and polyester on my body. My pants are sticking to my legs. Gross. I'd shower, but eh, i'd rather just play the music a little louder, stand in awe of some swings and coincidences (?), fold down the monitor, observe the green glow on my desk, rest my head on an extra firm pillow (after doing push ups of course), lie awake in awe of some of the hands that went down tonight, dream in awe of our worlds possibilities, look out the window in the morning, realizing where i am, and just relax. It will be a new day with more fish to be caught, and plenty to go around. Send them to Fifield suite F if you find any. I think i've vented. The music has died down. You can tell i was rushed because this is one paragraph. I only do that when i'm venting...it's like a tell of mine i suppose, if there are tells in blogging (surely there are). Oh, wait, not done venting. Three comments on my first real college post...screw you guys. Ok, NOW i'm done venting :). I need church.

Name, Location, Dorm, Major, Cell Number (what was that last one?)

2005-08-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

To understate grossly, these last few days have been busy. I have probably met more people since tuesday than i had met in all of my high school years. I have met some people that i already know will be my friends through these happy golden years. Others fall into quite another group, but are nonetheless quite agreeable on the surface. The vicious cycle of staying up to late and getting up too early has already begun, and will continue for the rest fo this semester.

My schedule...mmmm. I have a 745 class (yeah, thats in the AM) four days a week. On a side note, that class is Calc II. Goo. My rommate is nearlyt nonexistent. He apparently decided to spend these frist two nights with his parents instead of with me. Thats probably good, because i have probably stayed up later and gotten up earlier than he would like these past two days. That doesnt seem like much of a big deal, but i got top bunk (mmhmm, you insert the appropriate line). Lats night, while playing poker, a couple of the guys and i were throwing movie lines out there and seeing who could identify them first. Good times. We're definitely going to have a Rounders night. And LOTS of poker nights...who needs workstudy hehe.

SO i kinda want to audition for some shows here. Not musicals. But, i don;t think i can with ROTC...we'll find out for sure on saturday when i go to AFROTC orientation (at the bright horu of 8...but i have to be in LA at eight...so that puts me awake much earlier...goo).

Here's to wanting the all-too-necessary period of awkward familiarity to be over. But i guess i won't know who all my friends are just on first impressions. Some names you might be hearing me talk about: Marcus (Texas...thats it:), Anthony (Spiritual Life Advisor), David and Eric (my poker boys), Ashley, Julia, Amanda, Courtney (XC forever!), all my suite mates are pretty tight too. Banowsky is by FAR the best dorm on campus, even if we do have to walk the farthest. Thats just that much longer that we get to take in the ocean view from dorm row hehe. There's lots more for me to say, but i need to get down to dinner pretty soon. Tonights activites include. "First Year Mugging" (we have no idea what this is, but it's right afetr dinner), movie in alumni park (don't knwo how much of that i'll stick around for...pirates of the carribean...so many times...), and then, of course poker (for as long as we last). Oh, wait, good story. One of the RAs at the dorm we were playing poker in used to be a compulsive gambler. I guess there are some 18 and Up casinos around here. So he went there, and then started usign his credit card to play a abunch of on-line sights...bottom line, he lost a lot of money and his mom had to ban his credit card from being used on any gambling sites. Yeah, he was a horrible player last night and lost 10 bucks really fast...good times.

So Long Sweet Summer

2005-08-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

I guess it's my turn. Pretty much all my other classmates have departed to various locations to prepare for their collegiate experience (i would say education, but, well, you know). These last couple days have felt a little weird without any of them there. I suppose they gave me a little teaser of what is to come. I'm a little nervous no doubt, but before i move on, i really want to reflect on this summer, the best of my life thus far. I want to bid some fond farewells in public because some people deserve it.

Today in sunday school i finally realized how much TBC's youth group has meant to me during my high school year. I surveyed my surroundings; i was the only graduate sitting in the room...weird...my time to leave had come. The Underground has been a little retreat from cair paravel with most of the people perks that cair paravel offers combined with my best friends outside of school. Mark & Wendy, you probably won't read this, but thanks so much for listening to me on random days when Brady and i would show up at your door just to talk. I couldn't live a life as open as yours, with teens interrupting at will :). Other blessings came my way much earlier in the form of Tim and Kim Borchers, some of our junior high leaders. Keep representin' as CP guys, i'll keep in touch.

(forgive the resemblance to a "senior paragraph." Consider this a farewell to those not mentioned elsewhere :))

This truly has been a sweet summer. Susanna, not only are you the best girlfriend i could ask for, but over this past year we have become better friends than most will understand, and that is something we won't ever lose, no matter what the distance. You know i already miss you; i'll be living in your letters :). Andrew, how were we not friends earlier in life? Tear it up in soccer. Be strong and courageous. Jac and Jana, getting to know your family has been a joy. I have told you before, but the enthusiasm for God that you both display is inspiring and i know kids at T High have to see that light. Holla Dennis :). Doug, thanks for some late night talks, for chilling with us youngsters this summer, and for using that wit of yours to keep me in check.

This summer I have thoroughly enjoyed never having plans until about ten minutes before i left the house. Typical schedule for a few months: wake up,eat, paint, come home, shower, eat, find people to hang out with til later than i should considering the time i had to wake up, sleep, repeat process. Can life get better? I submit that it cannot.

Unlesss, of course, it was during one of those highlight times. Cruise, Summer Blast, Mexico, Family Camp. Whew. Exhausting, but oh so memorable and rewarding in various ways. Thanks to everyone who shared those times with me.

I'm sure for the first few weeks, i will be shouting out all sorts of inside jokes (little bit of --insert anythign said in a high pitched voice here. "Snog," "#9," and "Mitzi" are faves). I wonder if people in Cali have seen Mystery Science Theater. Let's all hope so.

The kids out at Pepperdine have no idea what they have to live up to. In fact, they can't live up to Topeka. Weird, but true. Here's to hoping that i never expect them to, and that i give them all a chance and make a few lifelong friends out in the land of the beautiful.

I still have my ties to Topeka. Fantasy Football, Picks, and oh yeah the internet/my phone...call me up kids! It's gunna be weird being out of the CPLS loop. Maybe it'll be nice. I still wanna here about soccer, the musical, and any drama going down (thats up to LJ and Box). Suck the ole marrow out of your senior year kids. As much as you "hate" school right now, i would make a positive EV that at least 90% of you will miss it next year (not the classes, but we all know that they are not the most important thing in school, and if you still think they are, then rethink).

Pray for me. For new friends, for a mission field, for motivation, for growth, you know the drill :).

This is just a fond farewell to friends. I'll be back for Thanksgiving. Much love.

--T

While, for the Most Part, Sitting

2005-08-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

Surely she realizes i can hear her. Sureley she realizes that their conevrsation is the sole source of entertainment for the entire room full of patience-drained individuals waiting to be injected.
"Paying the bills? Ha! What bill has she ever paid. I tell you what, the CRACK bill haha."
"Amen mama, that woman has been ruining her life on crack ever since i was a youngun."
"Poor kids of hers, havin their lives ruined with no say of hteir own...i tell you what, that CRACK 'll do it to ya."

Is this for real? I'm sitting right here. Waiting. What else would i be doing in the waiting area. That's right, an area, way beyond the scope of a room. No room could contain the impatience, ire, and bitterness which sits stagnant in these ominous rows. Unlike waiting rooms, this area lacks the usual periodicals and expensive-looking (but acutally quite cheap) furniture. A sort of separate play area complete with colored mats and a television provide entertainment for the undisciplined rugrats who ignorantly wait to be vaccinated. One girl with raddy hair, part of which is in a very high pony tail, and inch-thick glasses (pink frames no less) is sporting a t-shirt with the following emblazened across her chest "LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF BOYS." She is seven. I'm about to fall out of my chair. I am laughing visibly, and my fellow waiters must be wondering what is so funny. Honestly, i dont think any of them woudl get the joke if i told them. I am so different from all thee people, with the exception of one college aged girl in holy jeans who is here for a meningitis vaccination. Dorm rooms recommend it. She knows how ridiculous these people are, but doesnt understand that it is due to poor parenting. I suppose the gossipping ladieswere right abotu the whole crack thing. their parents probably screwed up too. Well, i know the mother's parents did, or at least her mom did, cuz she was part fo that earlier conversation. Who cusses up a storm when her grandson is on her lap? Awesome. Is there an idiot vaccination? I think it might be called tact. Fascinating.

I feel kind of bad because i am putting off an air of being better than these people. I'm not. I'm just not lost. These people most definitely are. Their use of "Jesus Christ" has nothing to do with a savior. Maybe these immunizatiosn will give them the time they need to see the light. Let's hope so.

Back to my entertainment. New members are wanderign into the area, and a convedrsation abotu the waiting has just begun, let's listen:
"Is that sign for real? HAs anybody really been waitign an entire hour?"
"Sista, i been here since 1." (it is 2:45)
"Well what are all these nurses doin?"
"Ole granny back there took little Aleo's records a while ago and said she'd make me a pink book, btu she's been gone a good 20 minutes."
"Prolly back there with scissors and construction paper makin it herself haha. Got a straight edge and a pen makin all the little boxes haha."
At this point i start laughing audibly, but only because of how hard these ladies are laughing at some bad joke they just made. But honestly, "granny" has taken quite a long time. And from what i currently observe, at least two of the nurses just walk back and forth betweeen two different rooms acting important. Have you ever found it ironic that lots of nurses are fat? That kind of concerns me right now. I think my odds of gettign a fat nurse are about 60-40. One ofthe members of the 40% minority is granny, and she doesnt seem to have great health either. Scary. Ok, well its been about 0 minutes and i need to be out of here by 3. Oh, there it is, my name. And what do ya know? I got one of the obese matrons whose expertise is healthcare.
"Just follow me back here. Whew, isn't it nice to get away fro mall those loud kids?"
"I didn't really mind, they were my entertainment."
"Well all i know is that if my kids were running around out there they would be in big trouble."
I want to make a comment about her inability to catch anything that ever bordered on a "running" state, but since she is wielding a tuberculosis-filled syringe, i keep silent.
"You ever had a TB skin test before?"
"No ma'am"
"Well they're not too bad. It's a really small needle"
"And hell is just a sauna." (i didnt really say that, but its kinda funny)
"Just make it quick." (that's still me).
She proceeds to swab my forearm with alcohol for a good ten seconds. That's nine seconds longer than any nurse has ever swabbed alcohol on me before. Maybe my forearm looked really dirty. I wouldn;t know. My head was already turned away. I never watch the penetration...yuck. Time for me to bust this joint, only to return in two days to find out if i have tuberculosis or not. I can only pray that the people will be this ridiculously white-trashy/gossipy/straight up hilarious on friday. Out.

Unemployed, Unsatisfied, And Captious

2005-08-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

Work is over, at least i'm not getting paid for doing any of this toil, not that i really got paid regularly before. Heck, i don't even expect to see my last paycheck.

Having a notebook computer with wireless internet access in my room has made my days seem shorter. I mean, sometimes i may wake up at 1030, then do my quiet time, and instead of getting out of bed and feeling productive before i do my internet stuff in the study loft, i just grab my iBook off of the floor and get started. Next thing i know, it's noon, and i am still in bed. Whatever i have accomplished is hidden behind the fact that i am stil lin bed and feel like life has passed me by, when, in reality, i have simply relocated some regular activities to my bed.

On a side note, i got up earlier today to get to the immunization place by 1030. Its really remarkable what can get done before noon when you put your mind to it. I got immunized, went to goodwill, the bank, and back home all before the sun reached its zenith. Tomorrow will not be one of those days. I fully intend to remain bedridden (as i now am) for quite some time. I choose not to reveal an exact time because most of you lazy bums won't be impressed. Here's to you and your wasted lives (that covered the "captious" part of the title).

Tomorrow i intend to tackle the herculean task of filing any articles/handouts/tests/quizzes from the past two years of school that i think could come in useful at Pepperdine. Fun fun. I really hope i stumble across some gems rom creative writing...maybe even sophomore english (holla Driver!). Oh, the anticipation. Fortunately, most of those papers lie about a meter from my bed, so i should be able to grasp them while still in a soporific state.

Thursday morning brings with it my departure from Topeka and my arrival at Brahm's (sp?) in Parsons and eventually at New Life Ranch. For now, my stamina, like the vocal cords of the Mr. Dashboard Confessional, is wearing out. Music is over. Fare well, or poorly for all i care. I guess that depends who you are...anyways...

The Collaboration

2005-08-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

The following is currently untitled. Doug and i decided it would be fun to co author a poem on the way home from Mexico. This is what we conjured up. Don't worry if you don;t get it all. If it is too personal to be enjoyed by others, then i guess that is our fault. Hopefully it is still somewhat enjoyable. For fun, you can try to guess who wrote which stanzas. As always, comments voicing favorite/least favorite lines are welcome.

Out from a wasteland of spiritual growth,
a northbound caravan treks on
less than average highways,
making a chiropractor, or a member
of the opposite sex, attracitve.

A fellowship unbroken by misfused communications,
strengthened by national and
sexual boundaries. Broken freely
in the lust for a better breeze
and the unbounded mirth of recaptured air conditioning.

Contrary to pastoral instruction,
forced friendships are purged
with no regret. Like a parasite
imbibed during regular hygiene,
it's okay to bid permanent farewells.

A heavy vapor of death and
free-flowing blood seeks to overwhelm,
but newfound glory and Sufjan
Febreeze us to freedom.
God bless America (and screw Cher).

And self-absorbed idol-worshiping brats,
screw them too. Silence of isolation
never sounded so energizing.
Unwarranted and unabashed
Bandwagon jumping is condemned here.

Rolling eyes cause boiling blood--
here's to hoping they just keep rolling
and we sell our attitudes to a Dallas whorehouse.
Fed up with this American over-satisfaction,
where are the oompa-loompas when you need them?

Back to the land of forgetfullness--
to the land where not thinking
means no regrets,
where trenches dug and barriers crossed
serve only to be used in apologetic defense.

Remember jovial adolescent faces
lit by Dollar Tree merchandise
Remember poured floors near filled ravines
when iPods, snogging, and varied
building materials become the norm.

Remember the love square's one-night stand with Walt.
Remember flushless toilets and shower parties.
Remember "hot seat" but more importantly cold seat, idiot.
Remember dull shovels, ruddy mops, and the body of Christ.
Remember the land south of the border.
Forget the Alamo.

This Sepia Nightscape

2005-08-05T22:52:00.000-07:00

This sepia nightscape,
shadow-filled, silhouette-ridden,
and incandescent-lit,
welcomes four dozen foreigners
with an uneven roof,
incomplete with bottle-sheathed
rebar and 700 liter drums.

Alone, on one end,
surprisingly alone considering
the stark lack of seating,
sits a peacock-backed patio chair,
courtesy of NBC.

How I long to occupy its metal frame.
But it must be forbidden.

Perhaps local practical jokers
watchfully wait from a distance
for the first sucker to collapse
the whole chair. NBC was a farce.

Remember my descriptions
during dehydrating days.
Drink water; wear sunscreen;
hear the canine rows.
Spread the Gospel throughout
this sepia nightscape.

Acuna Matata

2005-08-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

As most of you probably know, i recently returned from Acuna Mexico where i was on a short-term missions trip with the Topeka Bible Church youth group. It was hot; it was work; sometimes it was hilarious; other times it was stressful. Here it is in pictures

On our first work day, our group of 47 was divided into 4 work crews. Mine, "Team Electric Showdown" was chosen to go to an orphanage to start clearing out a lot behind the building. After working for a while we got to play with the kids for a while...good times. I tore my jeans while carrying some on my back and walked around for the rest opf the day, proudly showing off my green boxers.

The two boys in the back row on the right are Joshua and Ruin. We had a lot of fun playing soccer with a flat soccer ball and primitively trying to communicate. Joshua and Ruin even took craig and i up to their room before we left. It was really cool to see how excited they got when they showed us the house and their few possessions. It was surprisingly tough to leave the kids after spending just a few hours with them

Ah, Harry Potter, how i miss you. Lauren and Greyson are clearly enjoying some great literature during one of our afternoon siesta times. Look at the happiness in their eyes, how can HP possibly be evil :).

I left my camera in the hands of Jac and Suz for a while one evening and this was definitely the best picture they took. Most of them were part of a "modeling portfolio" of Wendy (my youth pastors wife). But it was no ordinary portfolio. Close-ups of nostrils, lips and other facial features were actually kinda gross. But i think this pic made it worth it :).

Rooftop worship and share time were routine parts of our evenings. Watching the sun set on our rebar and cinder block filled landscape really set a good mood. And hearing various hilarious stories from the days always provided sufficient entertainment.

Intense Mexico vs. USA soccer matches also became part of the daily routine. Here doug and craig show off their most intimidating looks. If only doug's hair was longer he could pull of a Beckamesque mohawk. after 5 matches i think both teams were 2-2-1. But we all know that USA would have dominated if we hadnt had to sub in everyone who wanted to play hehe.

Every day before VBS, we would gather up toys and head out into the neighborhood to invite kids to come. The culture is strikingly different. A group of strange white people comes by a a house asks if the kids want to come to a bible school at the church and voiala! They run in, tell their parents, and follow some complete strangers to church. i felt like the freaking pied piper or soemthing. kinda creepy.

Yecenea is the name of the little girl on the right. She was pretty much the cutest little girl of all time (excluding another member of this picture :)). We all wanted to stuff her in a bag and take her home, but i don;t suppose her mom would have been too excited about it. And we wanted to keep her mom happy since she was one of our cooks (food was amazing on a side note).

Martha Washington lives! One afternoon we headed over to this really nappy lake where the water had diapers floating around and everything smelled like diluted hippopotamus water. I found out that msot of the mexican boys that hung out with us couldnt swim. It seemed weird at first, but i guess there isnt a lot of water around. It only rains in Acuna a few times a year.

On Sunday we went out before chruch (which is at 330...hottest part of the day...good thinking) to just play with the kids in the neighborhood. It was flaming hot, but to see the kids get so excited about jumping rope, playign frisbee, or hitting a whiffle ball made it well worth it. Craig got the chance to share the gospel with a group of kids using an Evangecube. This is Arturo and his crazy-shy little sister whose name i don't know. He left with an armful of toys. What a con artist.

Here a bunch of the soccer guys pose with Chuy, the most talented player on the Mexican team. He had crazy footskills and quickness--the type of player you just want to knock over after the ball gets past you...not that i would ever do that.

The boys with Jonathan. He was 17 and probably the most outgoing member of the church. He really tried hard to get to know us and to cross the language barrier. Before we left, we gave him a guitar that we had brought down because his old one had been broken by a previous group (jerks).

Our beds for a week. Sleeping on the roof doesnt sound like fun, but when you stay up singing disney songs and laughing a lot with the guys while under the stars, you forget the concrete under your back. When it starts raining on the other hand, it kinda sucks. Oh, and those black tanks are where all our shower water came from. When it ran out, no more showers until the hose refilled them.

Oscar, the son of the pastor of the chruch, was our chief translator and pretty much the go to guy for any questions or instruction needs. Jenny is his girlfriend (ten years younger...nice work oscar [he's 31...doesnt look it]).

The boys on departing day. It had been a good 8 days, but it was definitely time to go home.

A day off in arlington was welcome. Here at the mall, a bunch of us decided to annoy the sunglass booth lady by trying on various pairs and taking pictures in them without buying anything hehe. The rest of our mall time was spent in Brookstone experimenting with all the massage chairs and other relaxers. Quite a change from primitive mexico.

Baseball game! The Ballpark in Arlington is a beautiful venue, and to make it even better, we got to eat in the Rawlings Bar and Grill high above the field. the food took a long time, but hey, it was pretty sweet.

And before leaving for home, we got to see a 10-8 barnburner of a ballgame in which the Devil Rays topped the rangers. good times. It's good to be back.

Just Over The Border

2005-07-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

So after a brief [not quite a] week, its time for me to once again bust this joint, this time headed south.

As long as i can remember, travelling always required this little annoying preprocess known as packing. Typically crammed into less time than ideal, packing vitally impacts the amount of enjoyment you have on the trip. No one wants to ge to that last day and stare horrified into their luggage at nothing at all. No shirt, no underwear, no socks. If only the packing process had been taken a little more seriously, the last day would have been spent in fun rather than in stench. Travel hot spots clearly realize and capitalize on the disregard we all show packing. "Oh, you forgot your deoderant...sure we have some...its only 10 dollars for a travel sized stick.." Hmm, yeah, well i guess there isnt really a choice is there...i mean BO is no fun.

All that to say, in less detail than i intended, that packing is annoying, but necessary. Also, i havent started yet, so i need to get on that. I'm sure much will be posted when i return.

A Word Concerning Our Favorite Boy Wizard

2005-07-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, no spoilers here (paul). I just thought i should address why i never posted the many opinions and emotions that reading HP&tHBP instilled in me. I really just don;t want to give anything away for all my readers (and we all know that there must be hundreds of them) who haven't read the book yet (losers).

Please don't doubt my dedication to the series. I had the book polished off with in 32 hours of making it home from camp, and all the interviews and fanchat the book has caused is high entertainment to say the least (wander through the HP links on the left if you are interested).

JK Rowling is a master of her art. I loved the book, and i will be more than willing to talk to any of you about most anything about Harry Potter.

On a side note, there is a new countdown ticking away down there!

Summer Blast: Antichronologically

2005-07-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Summer blast was really great times. Realize that i loved it. These pictures are in reverse chronological order, but it really doesnt matter...so read on, comment on, and (art thou angels? nay, we are but men)ROCK ON!

Why are we all sitting on the lawn, apparently bored? Truth is, waiting is a pretty integral part of summer blast. Whether it be at Lambert's (home of throwed rolls), at the lake, for food in general, or for the interns to set up games, nothing satisfies me mroe than a nice long wait, usually interrupted by captain video or some other camera-bearing nag trying to create nonexistant photo ops. (haha that sounded really harsh, and only partially true...the captain video part is definitely true...can captains be female?)

The interns...so hot right now. Doug happens to be sporting the pose he displayed to all drivers passing the people mover (kind of like a short bus...shuttle...whatever) on the whoel trip. Usually kissing of the bicep accompanied the pose instead of that boyish grin. Great kids for the most part (mikey is single...the one in the cowboy hat...mmmhmmm...)

These are my boys who shared room 9 with me during camp. Composed entirely of seniors and graduates, out room was once again a sure sign that Leenerts (our youth pastor) uses no subtlety when stacking out his room. I mean seriously, he could have thrown in a junior or somehting, but certainly not an underclassman.

Those three teeshirts are reminding me of the mexican flag. That powerade matches Andrew's shirt. I like these three kids..a lot. College will be rough.

Andrew and i are trying to be happy whle jac and suz act hardcore. Thats the difference between the White Knights and Red Warriors (the two competing teams at Summer Blast...hopefully u can figure out who's on which team. Otherwise, i'll have to send Tommy back there with a tackhammer...well you know the rest): red warriors have fun, white knights win...choose wisely.

Don't yo want to join our youth group? I know i do. (dont worry, they're not really hardcore)

I don;t know what to say...my girlfriend rocks...too bad she's part fo the darkside. Alas, there is hope for us all.

LJ and I=Original Gangsta...thats really all there is to say

Waiting (surprise) at the laser tag/putt putt/batting cage place after Staci suffered an accident that sent her to the ER for a couple stitches i nthe ole bottom lip. If only you could zoom way in and see how ticked jac and jana really look in this...o my.

Go Cart time! Bumper cars cause lots of back pain to lots of people. Thankfully, i am not included in that group

On the way down. we all got a little bored. Surely mikey and doug can't sleep through a sucker being stuck in their mouth, or to their lip. Oh how wrong we were. These studly kids slept on, awaking with the dry taste of watermelon jolly rancher and thick mucus lingering in their throats

EDIT: stole this from susanna's photobucket.

Nightgames rock/dressing up for them rocks. Nate, Suz, and i snagged these vampire teeth at the Track for a mere 10 tickets...what a deal. Good thing i rock at skeeball.

Oh, The Hypocrisy!

2005-07-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

As the ticker counts below 3 days 2 hours i feel inclined to make a confession. I won't have finished the 6th harry potter book until monday at the earliest. In fact, i won;t even have the book in my hands until sunday night, a full 40+ hours after my fellow die-hards. I even feel guilty including myself in the fellowship of die hards. if my friends over at the leaky cauldron found out about this, i may just get banned from the message boards for a few days, which i woudl be ok wiht since i'll have to avoid all human contact for a couple days as i pour over the 500+ pages of teen wizard adventures that Miss Rowling has so kindly released for all the world to enjoy, even (so i hear) Katie Congdon (weird).

What's keeping me from the biggest literature release of all time? Summer Blast. That's right, i apparently love Jesus, barnswinging, tubing, go carts, and cold lakes more than harry potter. Some of that appearance is probably factual. I actually know which parts, but prefer to let you decipher it all for yourself.

May you all be jealous of Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Driver as they orally delve into the HBP while pacing corridors and halls of a Hogwartsesque boardign school in scotland (and oh yeah, the british open is this week...go tiger).

Wish me lots of fun at summer blast. Go red warriors!

Jo Dee and Me

2005-07-09T16:27:00.000-07:00

Glancing around the smaller-than-expected space, i felt obligated to purchase one of the many 4 dollar lattes on the menu. Temperature called for the iced variety. Sucking on that, i lapsed into boredom. Lack of seating and environment spurred me through the door. They got my money, what more could they want? Fellowship? Let's not get carried away.

Options:poker, free country concert, anything else. Ordinarily, this would be a no-brainer. Extraordinarily (as in this case), it was also a no-brainer, but one calling for cowboy hats, strut, and twang. Not only did i proudly attend Jo Dee Messina's kick off to Fiesta Mexicana, i absorbed it. I almost lost my voice screaming for some musician i have little to no respect. I sang songs i didnt know with enthusiasm. I temporarily engulfed myself in (gasp) country music, and like it, but only because it was so bizarre. Cutoff-clad, deeply tanned and even shirtless (males only...gotcha) couples kissed around me. Apparently something was romantic.

Why not to be a cop: walking up and down the same sidewalk getting the same people to move off of it for 2 hours is part of your job decription. Also, you have to attend bad concerts for free.

The Complications We Could Do Without

2005-07-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

As most of you know by now, i sorted all that Apple drama out with a little bit of work. I now have to return a printer that they had shipped me and the whoel order got delayed a few days. And by whole order i mean the iBook, naturally the only really useful part of the order (as all other parts rely on the iBook for usefulness).

Oh cell phones, how i already hate you. So two thursdays ago (June 23rd) i hopped on the cingular website and ordered up my new phone and plan, expecting the "free priority shipping" to deliver my order in the first half of the following week. That week passed wit hno communication from cingular until Saturday brought with it mysterious tidings in the form of an email which i will paraphrase: "Yeah, about that order you made...we canceled [cancelled can be spelled with one l or two...crazy] it. We know that seems weird since we really have no reason or motive. Our computers apparently just choose orders to cancel and yours, due to your last name, was apparently picked. Sorry. You can reorder if you want. And if you do call customer service, don't expect any real help. The computer cleans up any trace of your order whatsoever so the early-rising tech guy will just type various information into his feeble order search engine and timidly admit to you that he sucks at his job [i tried this anwyays...their warning was accurate]."

So naturally i replaced my order and it all seems to be working. I should have a phone by the end of this week. I don;t know if i should post my # here. I do know what it is though, so if you wish to know how much i like you, you can ask me for it. If you don't want to risk it, i will probably distribute it to the people i want to have it, and if you expect to get it, but don't, then convince yourself that i just haven;t had the chance to give it to you, regardless of the factual basis of your belief.

It's been raining a lot. Lets hope it lets up for the 4th, cuz i am excited about going out to watch the fireworks at Lake Shawnee out at Anna's (you rock buddy).

Props to nate for returning his iPod when the new ones came out. I'm workin on the speaks.

I freaking chomped into the Apple and got served

2005-06-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

Well, i'm a Carr, what else can i say?

So yesterday was the day. After receiving an iPod for graduation and pondering for many months, i decided to order my iBook from Apple. last summer Apple had a deal where you got a free iPod with any order, but i had been watching for an entire year and wellinto the summer and no such deal reappeared. Which is no surprise. With the iPods huge popularity, why bother giving them away? Also, a new iPod had been recently rumored, but all the speculated dates turned out to be bogus, so i had no problem asking for one for graduation. Then came this morning, when it all came down at once.

I headed to work at 845 and arrived to see only Craig sitting in front of the house. "we're not starting til noon. Kabes (our boss) says the wood is too wet." Well that's nice of him to inform us at 8:45 (when we are supposed to be at the house at 9) after not telling us when we were working til after 10 last night. But i was OK with that, i just headed over to craig's house and hopped onto the present computer i am typing on and went to the apple website to check on my recently ordered iBook. First thing i see: "New 20GB iPod." Well dang, not that big a deal. I mean a color screen and slightly longer battery life would have been nice, but i am cool with that. Still, my bad timing is pretty funny. Moving on to the main store site, i browsed the new iPod prices and was observing various other changes to the front page, when, buried in a bottom corner i see...no...it couldn't be. I got served.

"Student Union: College Students. Buy a Mac. Get a free iPod mini. And with your everyday student discount save up to $479.* But act now. This offer is good only through September 24, 2005."

Yeah, and you know when that offer started? mmmmmm, yeah, that would be June 28th...hmmm you know when i ordered my Mac....mmm yeah, that would be june 27th. After waiting for months to buy this thing, i decide to buy it the day before cool stuff comes free with it...bah, at least my iPod isn;t already outdated. I guess it could be worse. I could have paid $320 for my iPod at Best Buy a week before the new ones come out, but who wouldnt use their student discount (love you nathan :) ). OK, i'm done now i guess.

Go buy a Mac and get a free iPod mini (or $179 towards the purchase of one of the other members of the iPod family)

What Fools These Mortals Be!

2005-06-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

So i was cleaning out my room this afternoon, trashing lots of old mail, sending clothes to the rescue mission etc., when i stumbled upon some "poetry" i wrote in 7th grade...wow. It jolted me back to the years called junior high which, for the sake of everyone's self esteem, should be deleted from all high schoolers' memories. The days of hanging out at the mall, relying on mom and dad for transportation (craig, ben m., you had the right idea :)), puberty, and "going out" are now fresh in my mind. And as ridiculous as it is, i think i need to post one of my love-ridden bombshells here on the blog just to boost everyones daily entertainment by a factor of ten. So here goes.

_____'s Poem {bonus points if u can guess who}
I had never experienced such a thing in my life
I looked into your eyes and forgot all my strife
If you only felt for me as i feel for you
At last in my life, my dreams would come true.

Your laughing gives me joy, and your smile gives me life
and as i said before, i forget all my strife
You are great to be around, and talk to (not on the phone)
But i wish i could get some time with you alone

There are so many girls that i have to choose from
But when i see you, i forget that great large sum
Your beauty surpasses all that i've seen
and your heart is so good, and kind, and clean.

I can only look to God to know if you're the one
Whom i will spend much time with, and have lots of fun
I feel deep down that you just might be
But i am waiting for that moment to know you're for me.

As time passes by, i miss you much more
and not speaking to you makes my throat very sore
But all i can say to you on this night
Is "there's a very special place for you in my heart."

Wow, that was hillarious. In retrospect, i can firmly say that this person is NOT the one :)...please comment on favorite/worst/most hillarious lines and generally make fun of junior highers :). The best part is that i probably thought that was money when i wrote it.

Cruise in Review pt. II

2005-06-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

Jamaica mon! The land of overly friendly young males who really just want money but act like they are inerested in you and really make you think that they may actually be genuine. No, not all of them were like that. Here you can get an idea of how freaking huge our ship is. If you take the antenna off the empire state building, it is only 5 stories taller than our ship on end. And oh yeah, Royal Carribean is currently building one 90 feet longer than this one called Freedom of the Seas. The joke was that it only has to pivot to reach all of its destinations. Yo ucan slo get an idea of how beautiful and lush the plants/grass were.

This is my dad with the beloved WillyBoy. He was out taxi driver around Ocho Rios (a town in Jamaica). He rocked. Opening lines in his city tour, "In my taxi 'Oh God' and 'Oh Lord' are swearing. No screaming in my van. Jamaica has more churches per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Right across the street from each one is a rum bar." And he rolled on from there.

Forgive the blurriness. This is at the top of Dunn's River Falls, the biggest tourist activity in Jamaica. Where strings of humanity crawl up treacherous rock formations (that have water pouring down them) while holding hands and being led by a guide. What had we gotten ourselves into? We knew there would be no hand-holding on our expedidtion. We got Chad (my bro in-law and accomplished rock climber) to lead our trek and sped up the falls, traversing areas that appeared near-impassable on our walk down (it wasn't as bad as it looked in general. There were lots of man-made footholds the whole way up. Still, there is no way any operation like this could exist in the States. Lawsuits would shut it down liek the Royals did the Yankees.) Good times were had by all in the end, and no one cracked open any skulls or got so fed up with the tourists that they shot anyone (unfortunately).

Ephraim's (our room attendant) handcrafted towel animals! These fellas were the high light of our post dinner conversation. "what do you think we'll have on our bed when we go to the room?" Towel animals were so popular in fact that the cruise staff decided to add a towel folding class to the regular on-board activities. Some of the not-pictured animals include a stingray (ruined it before ithought to take a photo) and a dog (not shown for obvious reasons).

The picaresque 7-mile beack on Grand Cayman island, where banks outnumber square mileage. Not really, but it is probably the most popular location for off-shore accounts besides Switzerland. The island in general was very corporate, especially compared to Jamaica. In these crystal clear waters, we went on the first of two scuba-diving excursions. Eleven of us and two crew members sardined our way onto the little boat with large block letters reading "8 Passengers Maximum." Despite that early bit of comedy/fear, the trip was very enjoyable. Our first dive was a "wall dive." Basically we descended to fifty feet, glided above some coral formations full of fish life, then BOOM, 6000 foot deep blue water as far as the eye can see. We made it as deep as 100-110 (the max regular divers can go is 120) as we hugged the wall looking to various nooks and crannies for sea life. Awesome. On the second dive we got to see a little nurse shark (3-4 foot probably) sleeping under a little ledge and some sea turtles, so that was quality. In the next week we should be getting a video our dive master made of our trip...neato.

Sara and i posing with the head chef after meandering in awe through the mignight buffet viewing. That's right, viewing. You couldn't even eat the food they had on display. Ridiculous, gaudy, and probably the greatest proof that cruises are way over the top and that Americans have too much money.

On the top deck of our dive boat in Cozumel Mexico. This baby was pretty big. In addition to our group of eleven, there were four other divers, and six crew members, some of whom were slightly shady. Our groups dive master, Jaimen (high-men) was great, despite his knack for giving excessively long dive briefings. The little guy was a great leader and i loved the little fisher-price etch-a-sketch style slate he took underwater to write us misspelled messages in english...good times. Again we saw a nurse shark (bigger, probably 5 foot) and turtles. But one of the reals finds, was a big spotted eagle ray feeding o nthe ocean floor...sweet. The coral formations in Cozumel were massive. It was like swimming through canyons, some of which got pretty narrow and fun at points. The coral here was probably better than in Cayman, the fish may not have been quite as good, but all in all, i liked it better.

No, that's not a pool, that's just part of the everyday scenery in Cozumel. Go ahead, be jealous. They want you to be.

Not the brightest moment for team Kansas. Here we are about to get stomped in pool volleyball by Team Navigator (a croup of cruise staff members), but hey we don;t care, we won on land, and that's where it counts :). This was our last day at sea, and i have to say i was definitely ready to come home. I can only take so much pampering, food, time w/o internet or ESPN, time w/o communication with friends, etc. Good ole Topeka really isn;t so bad guys, honestly. I'm sure i'll bring up mroe specific situations in coming posts, but for now, I'm out.

Visual Sunday: Cruise in Review pt. 1

2005-06-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

This is kind of a large task, but i will do my best to summarize and emphasize the last week+ of my life in a way that isn't boring...her goes.

I suppose this wasn't actually part of the cruise itself. It was kind of our pre-cruise exercise which we used to excuse our proceeding week of engorgement. This is one of the biggest gators we saw (not that big due to perspective...he was probably 8-10 feet long and really fat). Dad is on the bike trail. Yeah, they jsut roam right up and say hey. My favorite part of thsi 15-mile trek through the everglades was when we fed a giant grasshopper to some baby gators Animal Planet style. Chad was knocking the doomed insect into the water with a grass stalk uprooted from the surroundings. Eventually the grasshopper got away when the babies realized how disgusting eating grasshoppers is...seriously.

Aww, cruise check in. Here i tried to sport the face expressing the enthusiasm i felt upon seeing the labyrinth of cattle-herding barriers in front of us. Passports in hand, we slowly marched through the lines while issuing bovine moans much adding to the confusion of those around us. "why the heck are they mooing?" Here i also got a waiver signed saying i could consume beer and wine aboard the ship...score. Too bad i about upchucked at the taste of wine and would rather sip diarhea than the watered down bread dough that is beer.

MUSTER STATIONS!! The anitcipated pre-cruise safety drill arrived at last! Now, when the ship is sinking, will everyone really go calmly to their rooms (mine is on deck two and most likely submerged by the time i get there), retrieve their lifejacktes and ask for direction to the right muster station? I think i'd be tossing central american overboard in my mad rush to get on one of the lifeboats. Sure, they say there are plenty for everyone, but we've all seen Titanic (or at least the good parts...like when Leo dies...). Don't beleive their lives. Besides, the lifejackets will soon be featured in the new Clue game. They are far more efficient stranglers than ropes...plus, the victim never seas it coming. You may be floating, but try breathing...

Formal Nights. In addition to doubling the amount of clothes you have to bring, these babies are the one cruise event that make cruises feel like work. You have to set aside a block of time to change for dinner and primp. I suppose you don't have to, but the fashion bouncers (short Philipino men...surprise...) won't let you in the dining room if you don't. I decided not to bring a sport coat or suit, since i don't own one, and ride the line with a shirt and tie. It all worked out alright, and hey, don't we look pretty hott? (bring on the sister comments)

Our first port of call (cruise language for "where we stop so you can get off and blow money") was Labadee. A little chunk of Haiti fenced off in a Jurassic Park-esque way by Royal Carribean International itself for the private enjoyment of all the pampered rich tourists you could want. Really, it was a nice place. We did some snokeling out by a little plane wreck, ate some BBQ, chlled on the beach and...

DOMINATED IN SOME BEACH VOLLEYBALL. Yeah, those are gold medals, as in we got first. Team Kansas baby. After breezing through the first round our opponents in the finals looked to be our doom. These guys had a couple of kids on club teams at their respective colleges (one called Oregon or something), fortunately, i quickly spotted the weak link, a shorter stalky guy that could have beaten the crap out of me with one arm. He was the type that wears different Harley Davidson to match that days perpetual scowl. For that reason, i was hesitant to serve to him everytime, but these guys were solid, what else could i do? Putting your life at risk is just one of those things you have to do to be #1. We won 21-9. When the first round opponents of our fellow finalists heard how bad we won, they looked at us in awe, like some kind of volleyball gods (which we basically were). The legend of Team Kansas was born

Greetings From the Land Very Recently Dominated by Arlene

2005-06-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

Well, i'll be honest, i felt kind of bad leaving home at 0445 this morning (yeah thats AM) without blogging or really sending any electronic messages at all. So here i am in the ramada inn in Miami Florida with free high speed internet access. What else am i supposed to do?

Flights went well today, no real delays. Grandma was freaking about about the bad weather when we arrived...hillarious. Imagine a late 70s puerto rican with a significant accent pacing and muttering about Tropical Storm Arlrene. Classic stuff really. But we don;t care, we jsut pester her, and really, she kind of deserves it. She htinks she knows more about everythign than anyone, so naturally, my dad has to put her in her place sometimes, but in ways that only we understand. For example, grandma doesnt want lots of people at her house (why i am here at the ramada) but at the same time she seems upset that those of us at the hotel won't be eating all the food she purchased for us. So i tell her that all ten of us are just gunna camp out in her room. She has a cow...awesome. You can never do anything right around grandma...it really kind of rocks.

I got security checked at the airport today. It was fun, i got the ole "if u feel uncomfortable with me patting you down at any time, just tell me and we can go into a private area." Now if you felt uncomfortable, would u want to go into a private room with the person? I don't know the breakdown, but i am guessing that lots more people get molested in private rooms than in the middle of the airport.

Tomorrow we board the ship at 2ish (pm...thankfully). Before that we may go ride a bike trail with alligators, but more likely we will jsut sleep in...but alligators are cool (i've done it before, yeah i;m hardcore). I;m hoping to see some sweet stuff while scuba diving. I have my sights set on a Reef Shark, they are sweet looking and kinda freaky, but i ain't skerred :). I'm outta here. Prolly won;t post til next week, but hey, u never know what surprises may come...Bon Voyage...

(i guess you should be saying that to me...oh well...don;t feel like editing hehe)

Visual Sunday: Last summer

2005-06-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

So let me return to what was just a short year ago. "The years have been short but the days were long" as the Shins so aptly put it in Pink Bullets.

Summer Sizzle last year. It kinda sucks that this is my senior year and i won't be getting to go to most of Aestivus Gestio (summer sizzle) due to the curse that is work. And i always used to wonder why so few older kids came... On a side note, the Roayals are worthless, btu still taunt us for some reason. Just go 0-162 and set some records. (that's crandall's head)

Dougie looks scary...and Mikey is intense.

The fam at the top of some mountain in Colorado

The three guys are my cousins. Two of those girls are their wives, and i honestly don't know who the third chick is...weird. On a side note, wet suits just make everyone look more attractive...or something...

Yeah, we stayed there. Grand Lake Lodge. What a place (sigh).

I know its blurry but these are a couple of moosen--a mom and baby--we searched for these suckers for quite some time, so i had to get photographic proof despite the lack of light.

Thats all i got...work way too early and late tomorrow...yay. leialala leia

Lost, more for real

2005-06-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

Wandering aimlessly through cyberspace, i find myself visiting the same sites over and over again expecting something to be different. We live in a society that wants the busy signal to be gone two seconds later, and, monotonously, we will check every two seconds because hope is driving us. In my case, i don't think it is hope, it's a love of the familiar. I played Halo last night. One particular game of CTF (capture the flag) took upwards of an hour. During the course of said game, this was my coursae fo action: spawn (come alive), jump into the middle, run up ramp on left, pick up some extra grenades, turn right, zig zag down the long hall to the opposing teams flag while throwing grenades and shooting. Here is where my path would vary. Either i would a) die quickly b) get close to the flag before getting ambushed c) touch the flag and die immediately or d) actually grab the flag, jump off the wall, run to the middle and throw the flag before i die. During this strictly repetitive process i realized why non-Christians should be suicidal. Frankly its remarkable that so many people willingly subject themselves to a life without knowledge of their only hope. More evidence that people are indeed stupid, but hey, i was the one who played Halo for hours last night, and visited the same websites multiple times in 5 minutes. I guess the point that i forgot to come back to was that even in new things like Halo, we immediately look for a groove to wedge ourselves into. In those rare times that we do break out, people stare, surprised and a little confused if not angry, like when a marble pops out of one of those intricate maze designs...lalala.

Lost, but not

2005-06-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

Having deposited my graduation money at the bank, I glanced at the passenger seat of my SUV. What?! No book to return to Barnes & Noble? Blast! My pre-order of HP&tHBP must wait for another day. So, what to do? Call crandall's...busy. Call Brady...in manhattan. Call Congdon's...no answer (surprisingly not busy). Call nathan...being exclusive. When all seems hopeless, just g oto Congdons. I am there right now. For all i know i am the only one here. Jim may be in his room pondering the meaning of life, but i am here, mooching their internet access, listening to the persistent beeping of an alarm clock left unattended, ignoring a phone that i don't feel obligated to answer. I didn't break in. No one would ever have to break into the Congdon's home. Just walk through the open garage door, or go around back to the sliding door that some little elf magically unlocks, or, if those two options fail for some reason, any code ending in 8 is a sure bet on the garage door keypad. Soon, i'll probably leave, with no evidence of my current visit betraying my presence. How many places are there like this? I think just two. Others come close, but there would still be a lurking fear of beign discovered. None exists within me. Should any member of the family venture into the basement, i would acknowledge their presence, they mine, and away i would type on my new blog entry. Just another home base, another place where nobody cares if you eat your boogers or have bed head. A place where you can go when you're lost, but not.

(what do you know, someone just woke up...i think its doug, let's go investigate!)

Fun/Meticulous/Lots of other adjectives Painting

2005-05-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry bout the lack of a visual sunday...i pretty much guarantee graduation stuff for this week. So last weekend i went to quite a few graduation parties and didn't go to one in particular that i caught all sorts of flack for...ah well.

My summer job began this week. It consisted of getting up pretty early and painting for 10+ hours for two days and 6 hours a third day. We had some good times and some bad times. Working with a crew of four for that long each day really starts to wear on you. Some of the good times come when making various inappropriate jokes regarding a certain piece of prepping equipment we use a lot. Others come when we make fun of our job site manager a.k.a. slavedriver to his face. Still others come at when the guy we are working for in downright hillarious. And by hillarious i mean uses the F-word all the time, but usually describing the dog which "we've f***ing spent $3,000 on since we bought it." The guy was quality though. He gave us coolers of gatorade everyday we came, and we're not talkin one flavor and one bottle per person. We are talking Wal-Mart quality selection here. Edge bottles, regular bottles, flavors you never knew existed like Lemon-Lime-Strawberry (an X-Factor exclusive) all resting in jumbo-sized coolers that only construction workers have access to.

My personal favorite story occurred after we had finished the job. Alan (for that was his name) considers himself quite the cook, and rightfully so. On Tuesday he asked what kind of meat we all liked. "Burgers are fine," we said after he tempted us with steak and ribs...i mean seriously who wants to admit that their client fed them ribs or steak (ok, maybe me)? He told us he makes one mean burger called Big Al's Big (another word for bottom...not underside...keep thinking...) Burger. It was big. "You guys can help yourselves to whatever you want to drink downstairs. We've got everything under the sun." "What a hospitable guy," Craig and I thought. We hopped down the stairs and found the fridge, only to realize that Al had left a qualifying phrase out of his earlier statement. He should have said, "We've got everything alcoholic under the sun." Cuz seriously, there was stuff i never even knew existed. He even had mouthwash covered. And he was freely offering it to kids whom he knew were minors...craziness. "As long as you can still drive, you can have whatever," he added later on. Oh geez. Good times. Great Oldies.

Graduation weekend starts tomorrow. Welcome home to my sweet sister and welcome to Topeka to Chad :). Got any parting words of wisdom anyone?

Blogger's Barricade

2005-05-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

Recently i have found much less satisfaction in blogging than in writing emails or just talking to people. I even feel that the best parts of each entry are parts pointed to specific people. So now i don't know what to write. What universal theme can i hit on that most of you will care about and which some of you have more personal experience with? I really don't know...

Friends are strange...
One moment you are living in the matrix of companionship, and then you merge into the lane of friendship without ever looking over your shoulder. "Hey, now we're friends," isn;t something you ever hear. But opposite sex relationships...oh ho my friend. For some reason these are viewed as clean cut steps on many stairways, only one of which will lead up to a singular lasting marriage. Shouldn;t it be a ramp instead of stairs? We're all handicapped. A gentle slope, rising without notice (yes dana, this is a fragment). I want to put a numerical value on the slope, but i'm just not sure, probably less than 0.5 . Find common goals, pursue them, grab someone nearby and wheel on up the ramp.

I'm pretty solid at Contra, but dying needlessly is really frustrating.
Sometime, you should try combining the games Telephone and Pictionary...high entertainment.
Summer is going to rock.

The Final Chapter

2005-05-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

So many meanings in my title...i will address each.

On thursday, the final episode in the Star Wars Sextilogy (is that a word?), Revenge of the Sith, was released. A group of a dozen guys, including me, went to Olathe to soak it all in at the AMC 30. I saw Jedis performing intricate lightsaber duels, Darth Vader breathing ominously, and even little princess leia...then the movie started. It was solid; i won't say anything else. It's just so much fun getting out of town with a bunch of guys that i enjoy being around. We did it right. Paul had his laptop, so we watched episode I in line. We played some Canasta and made a Wendy's/McDonald's run. The biggest drama of the night came when the movie started and the back lights were still on...grrrr. Ben N. ran to the concessions stand and let them know about the unforgivable sin. Some inept techie ran up to the back room and floundered for five minutes until he found the switch...what a tool.

Ah yes, we did this in the middle of Finals. Fortunately, my two toughest (AP Calc and Ancient Lit) were both thursday morning. Calc wasn;t too bad, but ancient lit was as hellish as we expected. Iliff included the usual 5 or so questions that we never talked about in class and were in none of our readings, but which we were supposed to have acquired the answer to by means of the Force or some other supernatural method. "You better remember the mistakes you make," he said. I quickly responded (yes, out loud), "No, i am better going to remember all the mistakes you make." He didn't really respond. Probably because he was pondering how he could possibly ruin my life in the 30 remaining minutes of class.

Today finals were easy, and the final chapter of high school began. It will end at graduation on the 28th (which you are all invited to, even you Akanksha). Cleaning out my locker was nostalgic in itself. I used the same milk crate for all 6 years of my locker-using life. I had the same locker partner for those six years (don't get jealous staci). Some of the rotting food may have been lodged in there for the past six years. Walking out the front doors would have been weirder if i hadn't had to return at 3 for choir (our concert in Sunday at 2 at Grace Cathedral. come...please) oh well. I'm sure it will all really sink in at graduation with all my family watching(all but dad :) ), screaming (sara & paul), crying(mom), rejoicing (me and i guess dad...no more tuition), laughing (sara & dad & me...ok all of us), timing (my dad times the speaker), and being overwhelmed by the mass of people that all know each other(chad). I can hardly wait.

Lots of parties tonight. Mrs. Greene summed up the day well when she played Handel's Hallelujah Chorus at the end of our music history final (the last one). And i'm out...peace.

Visual Sunday: Jealousy=Pepperdine

2005-05-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

After finishing my GI paper and watching the Survivor Finale, i wasn't planning on doing Visual Sunday, but hey, that would be like skipping out on church or something crazy.Thought i should give you all a taste of what i'll be experiencing next year. How does surfing sound for your P.E. class sound? Rough life.

What will be higher, my GPA, or the number of hours at the beach each day?

Why doesn't everyone go here? I mean seriously...

Sign up sheet for days when you can come visit can be the comments section of this post.

It will still be sad to leave all you Topekans. Honestly, it will be. Doug really hit it on the head when he described how unique TBC and CPLS are in the way they create tightly bonded groups of friends. I'll be back each summer to exhaust myself with you guys.

Ok, that set of tail lights was a Lexus, that one was a Bimmer, that was a Benz, there went a Toyota (must be a teacher)

This is where graduation is. I'm taking bets on whether it will rain or not in '09, and probably more of a typhoon and earthquake than rain. That's all i got

On a side note, i think Ben N. is doin Amazing Music Sunday...check it.

Rainy Day

2005-05-11T17:39:00.000-07:00

Just dump your buckets of precipitation already! Don't you hate it when dark clouds linger over you without letting their rain fall? It's like that friend who looks at you with a smug look that says "hey i have something i should tell you, but i'm not going to tell, just to make you mad." Awesome. Not awesome like God is awesome. Awesome like having a lot of homework right before you graduate. Awesome like persecution is awesome. Awesome that makes you stare into the most presentable orifice of the object and think, "Right now, i really wish you weren't here, but in a little while, i will be glad, so i'm gunna deal with it. I hope you're down with that."

In these last days, no lines stand out to me more than these from Eliot's Ash Wednesday:
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still

Come home. That's where the heart is. And if it's not, then you should look into finding one. (you mgiht be wondering what the antecedent of "one" is. Honestly, either of the possibilities are fine with me.)

What could i be doing more productive than this? Online witnessing maybe. Not much else. My efforts are really bearing much fruit. Juicy red ruby grapefruit so delicious that you scrape those last innards off the peel wall and slurp its bitterness down...down.

I have suffered from lack of writing creatively lately. Since that is the suffering i bring to you, rest assured that my life is quite peachy. Peaches so juicy---(just kidding haha). But mayeb i will leave you with a piece of my California trip essay i wrote last year (almost exactly a year ago...weird...make sure you catch the footnotes...the setting is white-water rafting in Colorado.)

My group of three teenagers, four old guys, and a guide comfortably fit on our big orange raft. Our guide’s name was Sarah, an outdoorsy-looking college girl who works full-time as an EMT. She goes to school somewhere south of wherever Glenwood Springs is[1]. Guiding tourists down treacherous rapids is just a side job. Only now do I realize that being an EMT is probably a job-requirement for these guides. At least I’d be safe if I flew out of the raft and cracked my skull on a chunk of granite.

I could go on to name the nine rapids[2] and describe how we got wet, but none of that compares with Colorado’s version of the Egyptian plagues. Mayflies. These little mini-moths were entertaining to say the least, terrifying to say the most. The first mayfly I saw had landed on the leg of my wetsuit. I hurriedly flicked him off and asked Sarah if they bit. She said no, and I believed her. Her tan face and straight set of slightly oversized teeth made her seem trustworthy. A few minutes later, we all had a dozen mayflies crawling around on us. An hour into the float, clouds of thousands engrossed rocks. The water was a flowing bed of mayflies. Many dive bombed the water in lemming fashion, never to fly in may again. Most stood on the water’s surface waiting to die. Some had the audacity to perform reproductive activity on my wetsuit. We had to enact revenge on these creatures somehow, so we ate them. I had never planned on eating them, but one of the sponsors asked if they were edible. Sarah didn’t say anything, so he ate one. After waiting a while to see if he died, four more guys ate one. I hesitated, but eventually my hate for those winged fiends[3] prevailed. I ate two, baby.

[1]I always hesitate to have a native describe their state’s geography to me. In this particular instance, Sarah named off some cities that I’m sure any first grade Coloradan would recognize. I just nodded and prepared my heart for Man Eater. I still have no idea where she goes to school.
[2]The senior guys had these babies memorized. The ones that stick out in my mind are appropriately named “man-eater” and “pinball”.
[3]Or was it peer pressure? I like to think that it was my hate.

Visual Sunday: Goblet of Fire

2005-05-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a pretty big day in Goblet of Fire (the fourth Potter book to be adapted into a movie) news. The teaser trailer was released, and some behind the scenes interviews were aired on ABC's Chamber of Secrets broadcast. So, in honor of all this, here are some screen caps from the trailer and the new official movie poster.

WARNING, SOME OF THESE FEATURE NEW CHARACTERS AND MINOR PLOT SPOILERS!!

"Why #4?" my brother asks...

Where is that famolus hooked nose? Ah well, at least he is Bulgarian.

Should do the trick. Looks like that studly quidditch captain we all kind of scorn.

Not nearly as attractive as i expected. Seriously folks, we need Veela quality here.

Firebolt me.

Whoa turbo. I had never imagined the maze to be that massive, but hey i guess it is the third task...

No caption really required. (why isn't the dress blue?)

Yeah, we did it

2005-05-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

The following happened, more or less.
"Hey dad, i'm not goin to school tomorrow."
"Why not?"
"Well seniors are doing pottery at Schneider's in the mornign and thne we aren;t going i nfor the afternoon."
"You're doing what at the Schneiders?"
"Pottery."
"Oh, i must have missed those last two syllables...not that i would have had a problem with that...but pottery is ok too."
"Mom will you call the office for me and tell them i won't be there."
"Sure Thomas...Hello Karen, i was just lettign you know that Thomas won't be in class today, but he will be at school to tutor at 3:30. (pause) No he's not sick, he just thinks not going to school is more fun than going to school, at least on somedays."
"Thomas, can i go give craig the flying elbow."
"Go for it."
**Craig drearily enters the kitchen looking utterly confused**
"Did you get the elbow bud?"
"Yeah, about three times. Where are the pancakes?"
"I ate them all."
"Want pancakey..."
"Don't worry Craig Thomas (what my mom always calls him), i just started the second batch!"

Thus began my morning. So yeah i didn't go to school. Instead i played some soccer and Halo, ate some pizza, and spent too much time on addictinggames.com (i am thinking about blocking the site on my computer cuz seriously...). Got some weird looks when i walked in to tutor, but hey, what can ya do? Mrs. Toth said she didn;t even bother asking where we were until class was over. "I got so much done during that time. It was great."

On the senior video forefront, we finalized all our songs pending Waldy review. The Video is gunna be money. You should all coem to my graduation just for that. Even if you don't know the people, we've got some Coldplay, Verve Pipe, and Frou Frou rockin it out just to name a few.

I'm not so much creative when it comes to art. I just thought i would let you all know that. In case you didnt. Already.

I feel like i should have mroe to write about, but i don't. I need inspiration to write lyrics for a madrigal. Right now i'm thinkin it'll be about this guy who gets stuck in a blizzard and by chance sees this house and there is a girl in the house and they fall in love etc... Sounds awesome right? Well hopefully it sounds cheesy cuz madrigals are just that.

Visual Sunday: NYC Trip

2005-05-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

So as many of you know, i just got back from our school trip to NYC Saturday morning at 1am. Here is a mini rundown of what we did. Enjoy!

We left for NYC around 1pm on Sunday afternoon. As you may have guessed, this is at the Liberty Bell in Philly. We stopped there around noon on Monday to see the Bell, tour Independence Hall (which, due to snail-paced overnight driving by our aged bus driver and some snow in West Virginia, we missed. No big deal though, i have seen it hehe), and grab some yumminess (a.k.a. Philly Cheesesteak). Our first encounter with security personnel on a powertrip came at the Bell. We were greeted by shouts of a late-twenties white guy with a shaved head. He thought he was somebody, "Alright ladies, we need less talkign and more moving. I can end this fieldtrip for you right now and send you home if you don't be quiet. Now please remove all watches-belts-jackets-jewelery-shoes-cameras-binoculars-and-anything-else-that-i-might-want-to-see." Naturally, we inserted funny things in here, most of which involved underwear or the like. Oh yeah, that is Lauren and Savannah in the picture. Both are juniors, and Lauren is single as she would like me to tell you.

Ipods...yeah. Honeslty, probably half of the NY population has them, so to fit in, ben, anna and lauren felt obligated to tote theirs along all day. Notice the array of colors...ooooooo. If you look carefully to Ben's left, you can see White Lightning's aunt...isn't she sweet?

Pidgins are cool. This is taken from the top of the Empire State building. The process of getting to the top was quite the topic of conversation tuesday night. It is a classic case of getting the tourists hopes up, dashing them, then repeating the process a few times, until finally the payoff comes, but no matter what it is, it can't be good enough after the emotional rollercoaster ride. At the ole ESB we entered to find some mostly empty cattle lines (you know the black "Trans-barriers" that weave back and foth a bunch of times) whic hw ebreezed through on our way to buying tickets. That done we waited in more cattle lines until stepping on an elevator. Yay, elevator=top, right? Haha, no siree, elevator=6 floors fro mthe top and more cattle lines for taking a cheesy picture and listening to sales pitches for audio tours...wohoo. Finally, that glorious and all too short, 6 story elevator ride comes and voila, you are at the top, feeling unsatisfied and obligated to spend lots of time there. After all, you just stood mooing for hours.

That much waiting warrants two pictures. Who turned on the fan for the photo shoot?

Two words: original gangster. That's right folks, Lauren and Anna just wanted to fit in with the other hardcore people on the subway. One of the most entertaining homies i rode with hopped the train wit hhis PSP in hand and a friend at his side. Apparently he was playing MLB 2005 and thought that the Yankees players were "my niggas" and the opposing players were "mothe--" well you know what they were. But listening to his running commentary o nwhat was happening in his video game was definitely worth the $2 subway ticket. But the truly burning question i nmy mind the whole time was, "Did he steal that PSP? Cuz seriously..." I know that's bad, but definitely true.

Speaking of the Yankees, Tuesday night, we got to see the greatest game of the year. That's right, A-rod hit three homers including a Grand Slam and posted 10 RBI. Clinton Corley got the second home run ball after we badgered Benji Molina, the Angels bullpen catcher, for an inning. Finally he meandered over to the fence and tossed it to Clinto...sweet action. I actually have a pretty entertaining video clip of arods GS, and hopefully i will get that posted soon.

WHat's that we're wearing? Could it be? Surely not...oh but it is. Yeah, we wore school uniforms all day on wednesday...what a bunch of studs. But hey, what are you gunna do about it? Wednesday was pretty dreary/foggy/felt like Scotland. We saw Miss Liberty, Ellis Island and the all-too-politically-correct United Nations (screw world peace...who let them build that complex of fakeness on US soil? That would be Mr. Rockefeller).

F.A.O. Schwarz. Wow, what a museum of gaudiness and potential spoiled brats. The place has filed bankruptcy and not surpirsingly. No one goes there to buy stuff. Who's gunna dish out $10,000 for a giant stuffed giraffe, or 150,000 for a giant piano, or $16 for an ice cream sundae, or even 400 for a pimp lightsaber replica...ok, maybe the lightsaber. But honestly, no one goes there to buy toys, they g oto look at toys that are beyond imagination. Which brings us to the picture, an authentic scaled down ferrari replica. Complete with mid-mounted gas engine, three speed manual transmissin, cd player, all startng fro ma mere $15,000. There was a hummer starting from 30,000. or you could pitch in another 5ish and get a real hummer. ridiculous.

Dinner wednesday night at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Wowzers. So it was definitely rainign that night, and most of us guys decided to walk the 13 blocks anyways. I mean we have umbrellas, and rainjackets, so we should be good. About half way there the rain drops decided to start combing their powers. One of these babies could have drowned just that, a baby. Lethal water action. I was thankful for my scuba background. Finally we reached the uber-fancy hotel wet to the bone. Chris (the one in the undershirt) straight up took off his dress shirt and undershirt in the middle of the restaurant. It was hillarious, all the waitresses started staring and a maid walked up to him to ask him if, of all things, he wanted her to throw his shirt in the dryer. What nice people! The Maitre d' offered us all towles and was totally understanding of our situation. Probably because we dropped over 2 grand at the place, but hey, being treated well is always fun. In retrospect, the girls probabyl made the right call by dishing out 3 bucks each for a taxi. Although, they aren't nearly as hardcore as us.

This is at the Today show thrusday morning. Now i could have put up a picture of Matt Lauer or Katie Couric (o wait, Katie and Al Roker were in Nashville that day...figures), btu i chose this guy because he is there every dang morning. I never knew why, and i still don't. When i asked if i coudl take my picture with him, he responded in an unrecognizable english dialect. I smiled, nodded, and motioned for Craig to hurry the heck up with the picture. We did get on TV though

Columbus circle, on the edge of massive Central Park (850ish acres!). No really entertainign stories here. Lots of moms were excersising wit htheir strollers. We even saw a class of mom pushign strollers, led by some mid 20s male hollering out commands behind his own (babiless) stroller. Weird.

And finally, thursday night, before seeing Beauty and the Beast, a group of us dined at the Times Square Brewery located in Times Square (who knew?). It was kind of disappointing. Our waitress didn't really like that a bunch of highschoolers were taking up her tables even though the place built in an 18% tip, so it wasn;t like we could screw her over. She kinda had an attitude with us. She wouldn't split up the tickets(apparently it would have slowed down the cooks in the back...i think she was just lazy), so that made for the typical post-meal confusion about who owes what. Good times though, and hey, it was our last meal before boarding the bus for our 25 hour bus ride home, so who cares how much it cost, right? We were on vacation.

And so it ends

2005-04-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: forgive all my crappy typing errors, i didnt reread this at all.

How do i feel about completing my 13th major stage production at CPLS? Alright. Relatively satisfied. Not that sad really. I think the sadness may come later. Tonight was great. Most of the people who mean the msot to me came for what was definitely our best performance. And the rest of the people that are important to me, well, they weren't there. Tearing down set was more of a task than expected, as usual, and the cast party was as cast parties always are, not as exciting as the underclassmen hope them to be. A couple freshman guys who rode with me asked, "so what exactly do we do at cast parties?" Being the honest person i am, i told them, "Not much. Sit around, make fun of all the little mistakes we made, give out cheesy awards (that were the stuff of dreams back in elementary school when we went to the blumreich's for the little people Oscar's...good times), eat pizza, sign posters (which we didnt even do this year, thankfully, otherwise i would have had to sign a bunch of posters of people i don;t really know that well because the most excited people are always those with whom i share very little. Perhaps that is a statement on my enthusiasm, or perhaps my realisticity (word?). But i have digressed.), and then leave.

I love having my brother at shows because he notices some of the little subtleties i throw in every night without any real hope of anyone noticing, but he never fails me.

Right now i should be packing for my NYC trip which begins tomorrow with a 24 hours bus ride...woohoo! I am still debating whether or nto to take lots of ntoes and compile an essay similar to last year's "An eight day eight night bus tour with 50+ people, some of whom i don't like". I am not seeing the possibility of something that polished coming out of this tour, but you never know what might happen. Anyways, i probably will try to pack everything between sunday school and noon tomorrow...we'll see. If anyone wants me to bring anything back, you better comment fast, because once i am in NYC, i probably won;t check my blog often. And even if you make requests, i probably won;t honor them unless you are someone who i already intend to get something for. And so, i take my leave and thank you both.

On a side note, Andrew, boo yankees!

Quotables: GI style

2005-04-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

Chesterton: Heretics
Now we have fallen a second time, and only the knowledge of evil remains in us. (2:1)
Nobody has any business to use the word “progress” unless he has a definite creed and a cast-iron code of morals…For progress by its very name indicates a direction. (2:2)
Pascal: Pensees
The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means; the future alone is our end. So we never live, but we hope to live; and, as we are always preparing to be happy, it is inevitable we should never be so. (#172)
Surely it is then a great evil to be in doubt, but it is at least an indispensable duty to seek when we are in such doubt. (#194) Happiness is neither without us nor within us. It is within God, both without us and within us. (#465)

No one puts it cooler than that guy.

Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy (for those of you who wish to never know anything for sure)
At last I have discovered it – thought; this alone is inseparable from me. (4:1)
I will suppose therefore that not God, who is supremely good and the source of truth, but rather some malicious demon of the utmost power and cunning has employed all his energies in order to deceive me. (2:2)
Augustine: City of God
…The end or supreme good of this city [the city of God] is either peace in eternal life, or eternal life in peace. For peace is a good so great that even in this earthly and mortal life, there is no word we hear with such pleasure.
(that, my friends is why we are never satisfied here)

Everybody Wave

2005-04-18T17:48:00.000-07:00

Today i had no after-school activities. I really haven't known how to handle myself. Should i be productive, or should i grasp this lax day and suck the nothingness out of it? The middle road is of course the best. On my drive home i avoided the highway and opted for more rural streets. The wind racing through my four open windows announced spring's arrival. Arriving home, i took a stroll down my lengthy driveway to retrieve the mail and dumpster. In the bundle of post were two envelopes from Pepperdine University, my future home, a Sears mailer, and various other junk. Having pulled the mail from our Post Master General-approved POS mailbox, i dropped a couple letters on the road while i ambled back to my daunting driveway. I paused, right in the middle of the street. The feeling was pretty weird, "What if a car was coming over the hill right now? Well for one thing, i probably wouldn't be standing here, but still. That would be creepy if i got hit cuz i was picking up soem worthless mail." Lesson learned: regardless of traffic, standing in the middle of frequently used roads provides a feeling of vulnerability most of us could use.

In one of the Pepperdine envelopes was hidden a sweet-action window cling, which is now fixed on the back window of my car (by "my" i really just mean the one i usually drive). Crazily, i had just been desiring such a decal. Maybe the huge tower with a cross on Pepperdine's campus is an antenna used for psychic communication and mind control.

Anyways, i have thus far, used my empty afternoon to go through the afore mentioned mail, talk on the phone, browse the web, make some invitations for my graduation open house, listen to music, and some other stuff...this week doesnt appear to be too daunting. And next week, well, NYC!!!

Visual Sunday: Slacker

2005-04-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so i was slacking this week, and by slacking i mean i was insanely busy with the drama (Merchant fo Venice (which you all should come see this friday or saturday at 7 pm in the Stone Table Theatre at 635 SW Clay)), so my friend Ben N. hooked me up wit hthe products of his Digital Imaging Class. Enjoy.

2005-04-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

So many stairs...i feel like i am in Eternal Sunshine, turning different ways and seeing the same thing...ahhh!

2005-04-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

Look what Ben can do with Adobe photoshop CS in digital imaging class at T-High! This picture used to be all black & white. Now it has color, and a cool reflection in the floor. Oh to go to public school...sometimes.

2005-04-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

This is what my profile pic might look like (obviously with me in it instead of some random guy i don;t know who is probably going to stumble upon my blog and wonder why the heck his picture is there....to that guy i say, "blame it on ben...no the other ben."

Quesadilla Explosion

2005-04-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

So, the drama the last couple nights has gone miraculously well. Ben and James Iliff are straight up hysterical. It's just a shame that more people aren;t coming to see us. But you my gentle reader could change that next weekend by coming to see me and a bunch of other thespians put it all out there on stage.

On to the juiciness. Tonight after the performance, a group of us went over t oChili's to chillax and get a bite to eat. Our waitress, who strangely recognized me as Paul Carr's little brother even though she only knew Paul cuz they went to school together through 3rd grade (i doubt she ever saw me. heck, how did she even know i existed) and who happened to be pretty good looking, came to take our orders. I had bee npretty set on getting the classic nachos and not sharing them, but shortly before her eyes gazed into my soul asking, "And for you?" I saw "Quesadilla Explosion" on the menu. Scanning its subtitle, i was absorbed by its chargrilled chicken, melted cheese, and diced tomatoes...mmmm, yum yum. "Yeah, I'll have that (Quesadilla Explosion)," i said to her.

After the standard restaurant wait, our waitress carried over her tray of goodies. "OK, here's the salad." I thought to myself, "Whwat fairy here ordered a salad. I mean i wouldnt be surprised if one of the girls did, but man, if it's one of the guys..." The plate was being pushed towards me. The waitress' eyes locked onto mine, and in slow motion silence, her mouth formed the words "Quesadilla Explosion." My jaw dropped; i stared like i stare when in awe of someone's stupidity. "I ordered a salad?" I didn't have the heart to complain about it. I had just lost more manhood points than Van Damme ever had. As Seinfeld puts it, "Girls don't respect a salad guy!" And i'm not a salad guy. And this was no ordinary salad. This baby was a salad monster. Ingredients included:White lettuce, Green Lettuce, Red Lettuce, light green lettuce, purple lettuce, spinach, shredded cheese, beans, corn, vinegar, oil, chargrilled chicken, tortilla bits, melted cheeses, and even nuts. The cook, desiring this salad to live up to its name, found every piece piece of non-meat he had, added chicken, put it in a bowl with an m-80, and lit the sucker. The result, Quesadilla Explosion. What began as a 4th of July hoax, is now a Chili's staple.

I'll have you know that when describing the Quesadilla Explosion, you have to talk in the Ron Burgundy voice (no i havent seen Anchorman. Yes i plan to. No i don;t need to to know what the voice is...thanks doug.)

Early exit

2005-04-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how satisfied you can be with school, when all of a sudden, you loath nothing more. I remeber telling Brady S that i would never get Senioritis, and then ammending the statement "at least not as badly as you." Good thing i made that ammendment, because wow. Today in choir i just had to leave. i had a taxing calc class, a music history test and an ancient lit test earlier in the day, as well as an unusually enenjoyable madrigals time. People that i usually like were driving me crazy with disrespect and just downright poor attitudes. Choir wasnt especially bad, but everything we did sucked, and i was just ready to go home, so i did. I mean it wasn't major, i only left 15 minutes early. But still, the feeling of just hopping up, putting on your backpack, and walking out the side door into freedom with no authority figures aware of the escape invigorates the soul. I hopped into the car, ejected my Dashboard cd, replaced it with P.S. and skipped to the most appropriate song, "This Place is a Prison."

Mind you, i have to return i na couple of hours for opening night of our drama, The Merchant of Venice (which, if i like you at all, i want you to come see, just so i have a face to look forward to talking to after the show. and if i don't like you, u are still welcome to come as long as u laugh it up).

I am really just tired right now. I want a week off, but i will probably not get one until our cruise in June...yay...scuba diving, gluttony, warmth. I need to go watch the Amazing race and eat, and who knows what else.

--he who eagerly awaits may 20th whenever he walks out of the wardrobe doors and into summer.

Visual Sunday: merchants need entertainment

2005-04-10T18:41:00.000-07:00

During play practice this week, Matt, Savannah, and i got a little bored during our downtime. SO what better way to entertain ourselves than by attempting to take artistic B&W photos on with my camera? These are some of the products of our amateur efforts.

Credit to Matt for the one of me staring up, and to Savannah for my eyes...that sounds weird...mmm. I'll take credit for the rest. All photos were taken in the Stone Table Theatre at Cair PAravel-Latin School (yes, i go to school in freaking Narnia).

2005-04-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

Matt looking cool as a silhouette.

2005-04-10T18:39:00.001-07:00

mmmm, empty seats and a blank upward stare...profound

2005-04-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

I was trying to do something cool with the piano keys...not sure if it worked. I KNOW, i could make a necktie...

2005-04-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

Brittany will be a little T.O.ed if she finds out i posted this, but i really like all the movement around her, including the creepy face in the top left corner hehe.

2005-04-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

This might be my favorite. Mary Waldy rocks my face off. And on a side note, i think this could be a screencap from a horror film.

2005-04-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

i just liked the blue hue, and in retrospect, the words are pretty meaningful, and even if you can;' read them, seeing Jessica and Shylock next to eachother presents conflict.

2005-04-10T18:34:00.000-07:00

New profile pic anyone?

All over the place

2005-04-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

Why haven't i posted since tuesday? Well ya see, i actually have. Only blogger decided to delete my post on thursday evening, and of course i had forgotten to copy it before publishing (i only forget when it crashes...grr). So the last couple days have been spent in a nathan-like state i.e. blogger withdrawal. With that lost post i also lost a new poem whic hi had titled "Ultimatum" it was pretty cool. I tried rewriting it, but it just wasn't the same. I know it opened with somethign about "black formica tables." The only full lines i really remember were:"If looks could be killed,/this one would take full clip in the dome." Good times.

I watched City of God last night. It is the "based on a true story" retelling of an aspiring photographer's interactions with the "hoods" and drug lords of the Rion de Janeiro slums. Probably the most moving thing was watching the utter destruction of juvenile innocence. Kids never had a chance to be kids. They either killed, were killed, or ran away from all they knew: poverty, death, and lousy jobs.

I have a decision to make. Should i see Star Wars Episode III in Topeka at our new theatres, or, for traditions sake, should i once again make the pilgrimmage to the AMC Studio 30 in Olathe? Olathe will have the digital projectors again...tempting...we'll see. I guess i still need to decide where i am going to college too...i'm leanin' west.

It's weird watchign the McDonald's all-american game and thinking that those kids are my age, pondering the possibility of multi-million dollar signing bonuses. Also, some of those kids look about 25, not even a slight resemblance to the 18 year olds i know.

I just got a late notice from the library for a couple of DVDs...which i still haven't watched. You would think that with a 3-week rental i could watch two 2-hour movies, but no, i just keep putting it off. Thank goodness for no late fees at the blessed TSCPL.

Infecting the mother ship

2005-04-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

Medical exams, mmmm, and i don't mean the MCAT. Today my dad and i made the beautiful drive to Manhattan ("beautiful, kansas?" you say. Yes, it is complete with a sweet little scenic overlook...right Anna?) through the rolling Flint Hills. I got an eye exam at the Eye Doctors (price, young, orel, and horsch...i had young...he was not). Dr. young was very congenial. We chatted about Wheaton, our churches, and other religious stuff while he had me follow his pen aroudn the room and tell him when my eyes went from blurry to clear. He said my ocular faculty was ready to kill some foreigners. Yessssssss.

About college. Soon i will decide between Wheaton and Pepperdine. Most of you don't understand how i could pass up the beach, and climate of Cali. Your lack of understanding is understandable. You same people don;t understand the ties i have to Wheaton through Paul, Adriel, Sara, Doug, and all the other people i know who have gone there. The college pretty much rocks...i'll be honest. But Pepperdine's AFROTC detachment seems to have some edges. Access to the coast and an AF base provides more opportunities outside of ROTC classes, and during your jr/sr years, you still do ROTC classes only once a week (although that day is friday). Decisions. They may be the death of me, but more likely it will be the lack of blood supplied to my brain.

New favorite song: Mad World by Gary Jules...also has a sweet music video you can see at launch.yahoo.com.

Visual Sunday: poker night

2005-04-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here is me going through a hand of cards...anything not in quotes is just going on in my head, the rest is also going on in my head, but in addition, it is being said aloud...whoa...feel free to comment on a specific picture or this...i don't really care...any feedback o nthe profile pic? I can get a new one if you guys think it sucks, or i can go back to me in negative :).

2005-04-03T22:21:00.000-07:00

Look at those chips...they just want to go to their home in the middle of the table where they magically multiply like the little asexual clay composite 11.5 gram masses they are...only one way to send them there...mwahaha!!

2005-04-03T22:20:00.000-07:00

"I raise" hehehe they don't know what to do now...do i have a big pair, or absolute junk, well if i know these guys they will all just fold around hehe.

2005-04-03T22:19:00.000-07:00

As long as he doesn't reraise me, i am fine. Uh oh, he is reaching for chips. He wouldn't even think about it, or would he?
"Thomas, i think i have to reraise you...1000 to go buddy."
That dirty little pirate hooker.

2005-04-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

"Alright then, i'm all in"...and what are you gunna do about it, you are gunna fold aren't you cuz you are too big of a pansy, and my rotoscope-esque picture is scaring you, yeah that's right..."you fold? really?"

2005-04-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

they're mine, they're all mine, and i had NOTHING...NOTHING!!!!!

"Congdon, party of a billion!"

2005-04-01T22:33:00.000-08:00

Tonight, the frightening happened, a merger of monopolizing proportions, a joining of families with more power than the five families of the five Burroughs. Yeah, they got married. Mark and Katie (y?) Congdon...kinda weird, but not surprising.

The wedding was quality. Great video, good music, good idea to have Leenerts and Jim each have their own roles. I enjoyed ushering, even though i just found out that i was doing it two days ago haha how typical. I had to run to Kohl's yesterday to get a tie and belt (19.88 total), then i borrowed Craig's suit, only to find the pants be too small; i grabbed Paul's pants from one of his suits which were a little big and wore craig's jacket with them to make my smorgasbord (sp?) suit.

We ushers had good times though. Each one of us had our own code name which we used to "radio" each other via our boutonniere roses: "Eagle 1, this is Base Camp, what is the ETA of the guests?"
"Roger, Base, this is Eagle 1, Booster Seat is taking recon on guests now, over."
"Base Camp, this is Booster Seat, ETA one guests is 0600 hours, prepare for oporation escortation, over and out."

Good times...

Lots of people at the Great Overland Station for the reception. It's kinda hard to believe that Topeka contains such a beautifully restored train station. For a little while i almost felt like i was in a real city...not to worry, this little gem of a location is nestled in the ghetto.

Congrats Katie & Mark, and thanks for letting me be a part of your special day!

Pre-draft jitters

2005-03-29T17:42:00.000-08:00

In 1.25 hours i have my first (and it turns out only) live fantasy baseball draft of the year. Unfortunately i missed the other because i was driving up to Wheaton (well worth it...plus my bro probably drafted me a better team than i would have). The preparation and projections made prior to a fantasy baseball draft are always pretty entertaining to look back on in October. Some guy who never plays a game of the season usually gets drafted in the first couple rounds, and some stellar All-Stars won't get drafted...we really have no idea what will happen, that's what makes it so great. Yet i still spend lots of time pouring over the ESPN Insider fantasy baseball draft kit and numerous articles by so-called fantasy experts (aka geeks...especially eric karabell)

Today at school two of our teachers were gone and apparently were unable to get subs. And apparently the administration decided not even to bother supervising us because they feel we are trustworthy, which we are when compared to the other classes. That is to say we won;t break anything or be destructive, btu we certainly weren't productive or constructive. In Ancient Lit we reminisced on 8th grade and looked at ancient basketball pictures (we are talkin 1990, guys-shorts-to-make-you-puke style). Our class follows the teachings of Machiavelli...it is better to appear trustworthy than to actually be trustworthy...then you get to reap all the benefits while having the freedom to deceive...mwahahaha. Machiavelli rocked in the same way that movies like Ocean's 11 rock...you just wish you were allowed to do what he did because it's just so dang cool.

Today i also found my creative writing notebook from last year and had some good times reading about how girls are like can openers, the rebellion of black ballpoint pens, phatic devices containing homosexual acts, and much much more. Expect some of those prompts to make it in the ole blog in the future. That's what i got for now...if i get bored in the 20-something rounds of the draft, i will update.

Being Honest

2005-03-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

I'll be honest, i was expecting more comments on my visual Sunday. I really put a lot of effort into it with clever captions and all...oh well.

I'll be honest, chemistry is the only class i can walk into and straight up tell the teacher "yeah, about that homework...i didn't do it. In fact, i didn't even try," without having to worry about consequences. She jsut let us do it in class...good times.

I'll be honest, the judges of Creative Writing Poetry at MAACS were pretty dumb. As faithful readers know, the theme this year was "teenagers with Bibles in hand." In the first few lines of my poem, i mention "canon-wielding adolescents," a cool way of renaming the theme. Yeah the judge definitely missed that when he marked my spelling of "canon" as an error. He then proceeded to say he didn't think it was clear how my piece tied into the topic. The poor guy was trying to figure out how adolescents carry massive war machines around, and more importantly, why i was writing about it. Oh my, oh my. The other judge was worse though. This guy didn;t even read what each score was for. One scoring category was ecplained: "Does this poem have a rhyme scheme/how well was it followed/used? If not, does the poem employ the use of alliteration, consonance, assonance and other sound devices effectively?" My money says, the guy didn;t know that poems could be written w/o a rhyme scheme. He gave me a 4 compared to the other judges 10 (out of ten). Good times...good times. I also got a "try to approach the topic more creatively." I guess i was pretty direct...good ole Tri-City.

I'll be honest, i was disappointed to see no Catholic bashing comments on the judging sheets for my Ash Wednesday recitation.

I'll be honest, right now, i am nto really excited about our drama (Merchant of Venice). This is the first time i have ever felt this way about a show (ok, maybe 7 Brides, but i don;t remember that stage). I hope things get better. Having Savannah and Brittany there today was nice for multiple reasons.

I could go on, but being too honest gets me into trouble.

Visual Sunday: Road Trip

2005-03-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

Here are pics from our Wheaton trip. I recommend starting at the bottom and going up as you look at them. I intended for them to be in that order but wasn't thinking when i posted them...enjoy!

On a side note, there is more road trip analysis on Saturday's post. If you missed it, check it out, some of the pics will make more sense.

2005-03-27T12:10:00.000-08:00

The Fort was gone, but we still slept in the living room the last night. It was pitch black when this picture was taken...i put the camera on timer, sat in on the counter and captured a priceless moment in time.

2005-03-27T12:09:00.000-08:00

Watching the game at Mary Doleshall's (sp?) apartment, aka " Miss I scored the amazing goal in the National Championship game that sent it to PKs" Seriously, the kid wouldn;t stop bringing it up :).

2005-03-27T12:06:00.000-08:00

Night shot of our so-called "porn lights" guiding us to the bathroom when we awoke within the fort wondering where the heck we were.

2005-03-27T12:05:00.000-08:00

Craig going Blue Steel within The Fort

2005-03-27T12:03:00.000-08:00

The Fort, pretty much done...you don't have to flatter me with comments on it's amazingness. It was great seeing the reactions of some of the guys when they came into their house late that night "What happened to our living room"
"We built The Fort"
"Was it necessary to use our curtain rod, curtains, all our stools, two of our chairs, a can of paint, enoch's sheets, Scotch tape, phonebooks, and all three couches?"
"Basically."
"Alright. Man i haven;t heard of guys doing this since third grade."
"Don't hate...appreciate."

2005-03-27T12:02:00.000-08:00

The famed paint can on the fort's corner. Personally, i never saw its use. Apparently there was one, but regardless, it came open while we were watching the movie, and latex based (fortunately not oil) paint went all over the floor, a pillow and the stool...pretty funny stuff in retrospect, but kinda annoying at the time...i wanted sleepy

2005-03-27T12:01:00.000-08:00

Mikey and i working hard on the fort

2005-03-27T11:59:00.000-08:00

me and the famed MSP chillaxin' during fort construction...hope State pulls it off tonight :).

2005-03-27T11:58:00.000-08:00

This is my nasty hand. How did it get so nasty you ask? Well, there was this pole, the kind you put in the gym floor to attach the volleyball net to. So Enoch and i put the pole in the hole, and i think "Well it sure does look like we need to make it higher (it was adjustable). And it sure does look like the pin is out, so it must be as low as it goes. So if i just loosen this screw, it should move up freely--" The following is no longer in my thoughts, it was vocalized, "AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!"
The upper part of the pole had smashed my hand between itself and the lower part...that felt great.