A Year in My View

We laughed, we cried, we sang, and we died; but most of all, we made it through another year. Congratulations! It's been an interesting one for me though. I played a lusty priest in The Importance of Being Earnest, and snagged the role of a brother in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (ugh). I survived my AP Spanish exam none-the-wiser (I got a 2). I read wonderful books in my AP English class, and performed a scene from Oedipus Rex, ending with a rap. I graduated from high school. I went to Bonnaroo with three close friends. I started this blog. I saw many indie films at Cedar Lee on many a Monday night. I got high on my birthday (never going to happen again). I danced my socks off. I watched friends leave for college. I left for college. I spent my first quarter in college. I joined The Post and Fridays Live, I saw Ben Folds twice. I read more good books. I thought more pensive thoughts. I saw plays, and lost my Rocky Horror virginity. I became addicted to Tazo Green Tea. I took Japanese. I made friends as I watched others fade away. I thought about relationships. I thought about love. I thought about people. I thought about everything. I thought about you and him, him and me, me and you (just being poetic). I forgot about the past, brushed aside the future, and focused on the present. I photographed the world around me. But most importantly, I smiled and tried to pass on my joy to others. Happy 100th post, and a bon voyage into the new year. Happy New Years Eve!

The Sound of Music

I watched The Sound of Music for the first time straight through yesterday. It was a nice end to a not great day. I slept for the most part of the day because I didn't feel so hot. Now, I've seen bits and pieces of the movie, but I have been meaning for the longest time to see it from the beginning. Usually when I see it is on, I've already missed a good chunk of it. But today, I came home from eating out with my mom and sisters to find the living room TV on. It was on ABC and a show had just finished. The speakers announced, to my delight, that The Sound of Music was next. How happy I was. I watched in my room, singing along to the parts I knew and learning the ones I didn't. It was wonderful. It so sad that Julie Andrews lost the power in her voice because of her cancer.

Lost Part Deux

Another cause of my feeling alone is my family. I love my family, but they just don't mesh well with me. I see everything through such different eyes than they do. Being at my house for six weeks has made me realize how suffocated I feel there. I feel like I can't win here, like I'm trapped. I don't know. This night has just made me think a lot. While waiting for them to decide on what to do after we had finished eating, I sat on a ledge thinking, and thinking, and thinking. I did that a lot. Once I get in my head, it's hard to get out. Being in my head is what made me feel like crap. Thinking about people who I want to be friends with, but when I'm around them I feel like those dream sequences where your chasing after someone who is slowly walking away, but you never catch up to them because for some reason you're running in slow motion. Do they act so childish because I'm not their macho man stereotype, and this threatens their masculinity? Or is it because they are jealous that I am far more a man than they? I don't know. I'm not a psychologist with a fancy chaise lounge chair. I'm just the one that asks the questions. I apologise if a lot of my blog posts get you down. I normally have a very sunny disposition, but every so often I think and it upsets me.

Lost

I feel so lost. I feel so alone right now. I should be happy because I got to hang out with my friends, but I'm not. I was really happy sitting at Mama Santa's with people who I had barely seen over my break, until they started reminiscing. They sounded so happy talking about their memories. I don't mind the ones that happened before I met them, but when they bring up stories I have heard before, I feel so distant. I could have been there too, but I wasn't invited. I understand that I haven't known them for as long as they've all known each other, but they include me sometimes and then talk about all the times I was excluded. I feel like I don't belong. I feel like I'm an impartial observer, like someone watching through a spyglass, but I'm also there so they can insult me and deride me. They all seem so fake. When they are not all together, they're nice and only tease and joke. When all the guys are together it's a huge "see who can say the meanest thing about John" contest. For people that dislike people for being fake, they sure need to take a good hard look in the mirror. The worst part is that they're not horrible people. I want to be friends with them, but they make it very hard. But I'm so different from them. Not to condescend and preach from a soap box, but I am far more emotionally mature than them. I'm not an insensitive asshole like they are most of the time. The whole world's a game to them. When I offer them a heart, they throw it on the ground and smash it. I feel so empty and lost. And they aren't the only cause.

Stormy Weather

I love and at the same time hate Cleveland weather. I was so glad to be somewhere where it snows a lot, only to have the snow be washed away. Every time it snows, a day or so later it rains and washes away any trace of the snow. I love rain, but I also love snow. On a side note, did you know that on rainy and snowy days, or just days of inclement weather, people's moods tend to be more on the gloomy side. When weather is bad, people are sad. I used to dislike rainy days. Now I love the feeling of rain, but I still dislike when it rains all day because that means I can't be outside that long because I'll get sick. Oh precipitation! You are a double-edged sword!

Joyful Non-descript-holiday Eve

Happy Christmas Eve everyone and Happy Hanukkah day four. With five posts left after this one, it's a dash to the finish line to get to 100 before 11:59pm EST on Dec. 31st. I've got seven days to make due with. Well good night, and good luck.

Confused...

Apparently I was wrong. The other doesn't like the one. Somehow I mistook an obvious show of affection to be exactly that, when apparently it was just fooling around. The other is a greater liar than I, to be able to truly show genuine affection and call it fooling around is great talent. I may not know anything about relationships because I didn't hone my skills on fruitless relationships, but damn do I know how to read people. I'm good at putting two and two together. I watch and pick up on things. I don't just guess. I back up my conjectures. I rarely over think, and when I do over analyze I usually say first that it might be a little far fetched. I'm pretty sure I hit the nail on the head with how the other feels about the one. Even if the other denies it, I will stand behind my theory. Besides, the other had a lame explanation as to why they didn't like the one.

The Holiday Season

I would like to wish all my readers a very Merry Winter Solstice. Today we celebrate the shortest day, meaning the day with the least amount of daylight. In honour of the official start of winter, I will be sacrificing a goat on this cool rock in the forest behind Squire's Castle. For those of you who would like to still celebrate a holiday with me but would rather not get goat blood on their holiday clothes, tomorrow is also the first day of Hanukkah. I was unable to get a Menorah, so if anyone has one I could borrow, I would greatly appreciate it. I have wanted to celebrate a different holiday since about 7th grade. Christmas isn't what it used to be. It's not about gifts, it's about being with my family. For the past couple of years or so that we have held Christmas dinner at our house, I remember happily helping my family setting the table, cleaning, and other things. What I don't remember is getting respect back. My mother complains that I keep a list because I complain when I have done more than my fair share. All throughout the week, I will do everything my parents ask me too even if I shouldn't have to without complaint. Once every week or every other week, I will kindly ask them to ask my brother. Unfortunately, I am usually responded to negatively and told I don't do anything, or my brother has a job and I don't and should therefore do more. I don't mean to complain, I just want the respect I deserve. But I digress. I wish all my readers a joyful winter holiday season.

BDKD Jeans

So I went to Lakeshore Coffee House tonight since Simone was working, and boy did I enjoy it. Sarah P came to visit which was awesome. Nick dropped by which was also awesome. I played Wordster and made it to 3rd place. I had brownies and tore apart a cup. It was a good night. The best part though, was when Simone gave Sarah and me a ride home. Simone was talking about how people kept talking about her big butt when her mom made a comment. She said she noticed it one day when she dropped Simone off and figured out why people call it a badonkadonk. Then Simone was talking about discussing how hard it was to find jeans for girls with big hips and skinny legs, so my mind wandered. I was like, "Badonkadonk Jeans," in a sing-song voice. Sarah burst out laughing, but I think I'm on to something and I owe Simone. A jean company that sells jeans fitted for girls with big hips and skinny legs... Badonkadonk Jeans, or BDKD Jeans for short. I claim this idea as my idea and this post is proof!

Dancing

I really want to say who these people are, but I will not even though I know one of them does not read this, at least I think he or she doesn't. I have two friends (for clarity, one refers to the same one and other refers to the same other throughout). They are dancing around each other. One, I know for sure, likes the other, and the other, I'm now 99% sure, likes the one. Both of them have had bad/weird relationships in the past, and, through my little knowledge of pyschology and experience, have deduced that both are afraid to tell the other person. One is afraid of rejection, and the other is afraid of either rejection, doesn't want to try a long distance relationship, or possibly both (I'm thinking the last). This is truly eating me up inside. I was lying in bed thinking about it, and I couldn't stop getting upset. I want them to tell each other their feelings so bad. The one is torturing themselves over this and refuses to believe the other likes them. The one keeps finding tiny holes in my theory of why the other likes them and tries to make them into gaping holes so thinking about the other won't hurt the one. As I write this, I keep wanting to hold the backspace button down and watch as everything I did is undone. I know the one will read this and probably not know how to react toward me. I don't care though because deep down in my heart I have this hard to shake feeling these two are meant for each other. If I'm wrong, than I'm just an idiot, a foolish romantic who knows nothing about relationships.

La Blogotheque

La Blogotheque is this French web blog. It consists of videos of unrehearsed performances of up-and-coming artists. I would like to thank current.com for this wonderful find. The performances are wonderful and random, and perfect. This site is wonderful.

Vegetarian In the Midst of Meat Eaters

Today was my youngest sister's birthday, so my family and I went out to dinner. Unfortunately, I was not informed of the restaurant of choice until we got there. It was Texas Roadhouse. As a vegetarian, I thought, "What were they thinking not telling me we were going to TEXAS ROADHOUSE!" That is the most vegetarian-unfriendly restaurant I have ever been to. I had a Caesar salad without dressing, some rolls, and a brownie for dessert. My mom thought I would get salmon even though I have clearly stated to my entire family that I do not consume any meat or fish. Oh my family! The worst part was the waiter was picking on me. I survived unscathed for the most part.

Goal

Alright, so I would like to have 100 posts by the end of the year. I need twelve more and have 21 days left to do interesting stuff. Nero, AWAY!

Guitar

Since I am sitting at home bored to death, I decided now would be a perfect time to start teaching myself how to play guitar. This is something I have wanted to do for awhile, along with learning the piano. I tuned the guitar, I hope right, and learned three chords. Unfortunately, I don't have a pick. I have to go buy one sometime soon, and possibly some books because I enjoy books better than online courses. Stay tuned for more!

A Beary Merry Mr. Moose

So yesterday, or Thursday if I don't get this done by midnight, I went to the Beary Merry Christmas Show with my mother. It's this quaint little crafts show with all these local people. Usually, I just go to comment and critique my mother's purchases, but this year I saw the cutest, most adorable thing ever. It was a stuffed moose made from Alpaca hair, the softest around. It was wonderful. I convinced my mother to buy it and I would pay her back later. At first she resisted, but I kept whining "moose" is this adorably sad, impossible-to-resist voice, and, when we were almost finished, she caved in. I fell in love with him on the ride home. He was the cutest thing I had ever seen. I named him Mr. Moose and thought up all sorts of things. I thought about cute children's stories, sending him around the world on some mission that would change people's lives, and everything else a college student thinks about when he or she gets a new stuffed animal. So stay tuned for the Adventures of Mr. Moose!

Dreams

I had some interesting dreams last night. The most interesting one is a reoccurring one. Well, it's not necessarily a reoccurring dream, it's more a reoccurring character. I don't know her name because no one ever says it in the dream, but she is a secret agent. In my younger days I was obsessed with secret agents because I thought it was cool (I still kind of do). I used to have dreams where she would go on missions saving people. In last night's dream, our heroine resigned and her boss sent people to capture her. When the people came, they felt bad because she was a young woman, not even an adult yet. Instead of taking her back to headquarters, the two guys and girl captors took her to a hotel room. The boss was worried this might happen, so he took the precaution of tracking them. Because they disobeyed him, he detonated a bomb in the tracking device killing the agents, but allowing our heroine to escape. Next thing I know, she is in my house, but I do not exist. Only my mom and our heroine live in my house, and they are mother and daughter. My mother does not know that her daughter is an ex-secret agent, so in order to protect her mother, our heroine turned herself in to the boss. And that is where my dream ended.

Love? Will I Find You, Or Will You Find Me?

I've been thinking about love a lot lately. My friend (no name shall be said) has been discussing his or her feelings with me about someone for awhile. This has got me thinking about my love life. I have met three people in my short 18 years that I truly love. Now I am not in love with these people, but I don't think I could live without these people after having met them. They are of both genders and share many of my interests. This is just one of the kinds of love I am searching for. I have found it, and now do to external influences I want to search for the other kind. Now, I have had little luck in finding my soulmate. I believe there is someone who is me in woman form. I also have little luck dating the possible candidates because I often pick taken women. I feel this pressure to find someone because of society. I feel this pressure to just date someone and have sex with someone I have no strong feelings for. I was once asked if I was a virgin by choice or by chance. I am a virgin by choice, but I will not save myself for marriage. If I find that person who makes me whole, I will make love to them as much as possible. A lot of my friends see me and sex as impossible because I have what seems as a very conservative attitude toward it. I just don't have the libido of all the sex-crazed teen shows on television nowadays. I was told sex with me would be like raping a puppy because I seem so innocent. Not to sound too nerdy, but I researched sex. People act like sex is something perverse to me. It's not. Not to sound cheesy or lame, but I prefer to make love not have sex. People look at me like I'm not normal, but I never have been normal and being normal is never a good thing. Normal people have to have some of the most boring lives. They probably never think about things like this and just go about living their "normal" lives. I prefer to live my "weird" life, listening to deep love songs that make me want to find that person that I can: just lay next to and know everything is right, tell everything to, follow into the dark, not care what she looks like in the morning, have fun doing absolutely nothing with, and spend the rest of my life with.

Finally Finished

I am now officially done with Fall Quarter. I have taken all my tests and said my goodbyes to the campus (I walked around talking quietly to myself, saying things like, "Farewell sweet prince! Parting is such sweet sorrow!"). Thankfully, no was around to hear me talking to myself, well almost no one. Majority of the campus is empty. How I will miss Fall Quarter. My seemingly pointless J101 class with its many guest speakers, adieu! My awesome J133 grammar-tastic class and my awesome Word Geek partner Matt, so long! My Japnese class filled with fun times, farewell! And my POLS150 with its global warming propaganda, I bid you good day! Goodbye and good break to all my new friends! And a solemn, possibly forever farewell to Ian and Frank who put smiles on my face every J101 and POLS150 class with their constant questions and opinions trying to sound smart! Oh OU, I hardly knew ye! Yet do not fret, for January is quick to come, and soon will I return home!

Farewell Fall Quarter!

Adieu to you Fall Quarter at Ohio U. Tomorrow, I shall return home for six weeks of winter break. While I look forward to this return to friends and family, I will also dearly miss the relaxing atmosphere of OU's campus. How I will miss sitting in The Post lobby eating my Creamy Tomato Tortellini soup from West 82! How I will miss my twice-weekly Photo meetings and my Tuesday Culture staff meetings! How I will miss Fridays Live, David's complaining about Fridays Live, the drunken parties of Fridays Live! Oh how I shall miss it all dearly for six weeks! But I will not be departing from it forever. I wish I could bring all my friends here though. I would stay and take some winter intercession classes, but I think I'd rather go home my freshmen year.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

It started snowing again. This time it's a substantial snow. It's wonderful and oh so beautiful. I walked to pick up some food, and it felt so nice. The feeling of snow on my skin. I feel so alive. It's so strange how much snow affects me. I never used to enjoy snow so much. I guess it's been the opening of my eyes to the wonders of life that started I think around the summer after junior year. It's probably because I took photography. Having never had an actual art class before, I think photography opened my eyes to the beauty around me. Capturing it on film is what started to awaken something deep inside me. I can't wait to get home so I can take some awesome film photos and then develop them.

Snow Makes Everything Right

Forget my last post completely. Today, right now, it is snowing ever so beautifully in Athens. Before going to my J101 final, I could see an occasional flake float down. After finishing my J101 final, I exited to find a light snow falling ever so beautifully. I've been using "ever so" a lot recently. Something about snow just makes me happy now. I have always loved the snow, but for some unknown reason, it just made me so happy to see it today. I've been told it snows in Athens, but it's usually a more rainy/slushy snow and doesn't last long. It mainly just creates a frost effect. That's okay with me, but I do prefer the heavy blanket snows of Euclid. Regardless, my favourite part of snow is watching it fall. Whether it falls fast, heavy and blindingly, or ever so slowly and lightly, I love watching it fall. I keeping taking a few seconds to watch it fall outside my dorm room window. Just now I checked outside, and it has, unfortunately, stopped snowing. Oh, well... Good things are often fleeting...

End of Fall Quarter

Well, it's already over. I can't believe how fast my first ten weeks at OU have gone by. I've made so many friends, and yet I haven't really. I've become friends with a lot of people, but I haven't really hung out with them or anything. I really miss my other friends. It's going to be like when I first came to Euclid, how I didn't do anything with anyone I had met that year. I didn't do anything with anyone until tenth grade, and even then I did little with my new friends. I love meeting new people and making new friends, but I hate how long it takes for other people to want to do stuff with me. I feel so out of place, but then I feel like I belong here. At first this didn't really bother me as I had some friends from high school to hang out with, but then they distanced. I still had some friends from high school that weren't in my graduating class that I did stuff with, but as time went on I began to feel so distant from everyone. I felt so out of place, lost in some foreign world, far away from where I wanted to be. It's not that I'm out of place, it's just that I have really close friends who aren't close physically to me. On top of that, I feel this need to find someone. I really want to get into an intimate relationship with someone, but I often reach for forbidden fruit and find possible matches in already taken women. Other times I realise they don't meet my standards. A friend once told me that I'm one in 6.7 billion. That doesn't give me much hope for finding someone to truly open myself up to. But the worst part of it all, I've been thinking about death a lot lately. I've been reading and listening to music a lot more, and I've been finding ways to start thinking about death in almost everything I hear or read. In J101 one day, we were watching a documentary on the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. It said that the murder of a young black boy was the impetus. This made me start thinking about my own mortality. I nearly had a panic attack. A chill went down my spine, my heart started beating really fast, and I was almost in tears as I worried to myself about being murdered and there being nothing after this life. I was able to calm myself down, but it was terrible. I've started losing sleep over it, and then yesterday I slept all day because I didn't want to get out of bed. I'm not stressed or mental, I just happened to reach the climax of my existential crisis as soon as I started college. I'm just worried I might go to sleep and not wake up one day. People have told me there's no need to fear dying because once you're dead, you're gone and don't care. That's what freaks me out the most, is that lose of thought/consciousness/self/existence. As Hamlet said, "For in that sleep of death what dreams may come?"

Hurrah for the World!

Hurrah for the United States of America! Hurrah for the people of the United States of America! I have lived through, as have all of you, a defining moment in the history of the world. We who have voted have elected Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States of America. I was unable to express my joy as I was in the midst of Athens County Republicans. As a journalist/photojournalist, I am unable to show bias. I had to hold it all in. It was so hard that I actually starting feeling like it wasn't really happening. As I listened to the Republicans around me, I realized it was real and just laughed at their stupid comments about socialism, Bill Heirs, terrorism, etc. (inside of course). I wanted very hard to laugh at the Republicans as they said things like where has our country gone. I only worry that intolerance is still strong and that many believe "the blacks will take over." The ignorance people have about Obama's ethnicity and what socialism really is just angers me. If they do not want to support their president, then they can leave this country. I am just happy it is over and the Messiah has won.

Racism

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081027/ap_on_el_pr/skinhead_plot

I have tried to stay away from talking about politics, but this story has forced me too. Racism, as anyone with a brain knows, is still alive and thriving in the South and Appalachia. Anyone who has been hearing about the comments of audience members at McCain rallies should be a little unsettled. There are people that do not like Barack Obama simply because he is black. This is no reason to dislike someone. Tolerance and acceptance has been beaten into me since I learned that Thanksgiving was a lie. I easily accepted people not because it was beaten into me, but because they were human. I am fortunate enough to be an intellectually gifted person, and I am not bragging, I am just stating a fact. I grew emotional and mentally faster than people my physical age. Because of this rapid mental growth, I was able to realize things that some adults don't realize until late in their life. I have not once in my life felt like I hated someone. I have always been a friendly and loving person. I forgave people for the way they treated me and tried to overcome my human nature, something I have been defining since an early age. This story saddens me because these people are cursed with ignorance and hate. They are unable to realize that skin color means nothing, differences in ideology mean nothing. Racism is a horrible thing, and no matter how hard people try, they cannot get rid of it. It is part of human nature to hate what is different from you, and only intellectually gifted people are able to overcome this ignorance and stupidity. It's a sad truth. I wish I could rid the world of such horrible thoughts, but it is near, if not, impossible to do so.

Return Home

I have returned to my home. It was a nice trip back to Euclid, but it was also strange. Being back there felt like a dream, as I believe I have stated before. It was nice to see Simone, and I can't wait for this weekend, since she's coming down! But it was strange to see how drastically people had changed. I find it interesting how people think that going to college instantly makes you mature and smarter than everyone else. I find it even more interesting how much these "mature" people make stupid decisions. I don't want to preach from my soap box, I am just stating my observations, but it just makes me a little sad. I liked people for who they were, and their new selves are not as likeable. I am not worried that they might read this. If they become offended, I will apologise, but I will not take back what I said. I am their friend, and I will be honest with them. If they don't like that, then they must not consider me a friend. I apologise to everyone for being so cynical.

Back in Town

Greetings from the good ol' Euclid, Ohio. I arrived back in my hometown late last night for a weekend of reminiscing. Actually, I just came to see my high school's fall play, Twelve Angry Jurors. Justin's mother was kind enough to drive all the way to Athens, and then drive us all the way back to Euclid. As we passed OU on the freeway, I muttered under my breath, "Goodbye Home." It sounds cheesy, but I really feel at home there. I felt like I was going to wake up from a wonderful dream and never be able to fall back asleep and dream it again. Then at some point I felt that I was in a dream. Returning home felt very surreal. Seeing people who I had only talked to through the magic of the internet was so refreshing. But it felt really surreal when I saw how some people had really changed. Nevertheless, it's nice to be back at my house, but I really miss my home. I can't wait for next weekend when Simone is coming down for Halloween! Hurray!

Lack of Blog

I apologize for my lack of posts, but it's very hard to write when I have homework everynight and then I go to sleep. The Post has slowly been consuming my life more, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but yesterday I was pretty much at the Post from 12:00 to 10:30. Even right now I am sitting at the Post on my laptop. I have 87 photos to choose from. I have to whittle those down to a few good ones. That is very hard because I have already gone through two purges where I deleted the lackluster ones. Arrrgh. I'm slowly losing my mind! Well, at least I have this weekend to look forward to. I will be returning to Euclid to see the high school's Fall Play. Expect a review from me Saturday or Sunday night.

Busy as Bee

I've been busy doing a lot of stuff and homework, so I haven't really been able to post on this lately. I apologize because I have a lot of interesting stories to tell my readers. Stay tuned for more.

Ben Folds, Missy Higgins, and Some Problems

Now, I'm really exhausted, so I will post more later today. I saw Ben Folds. He was awesome. Missy Higgins was pretty good too, but I missed about half of her show because of some complications. As you all know, well if you read my blog regularly, I just got my Rebel XTi. Now, I have been taking it everywhere with me, so I decided to bring it with me to the concert. I was shooting Missy Higgins and I got about 30 good shots before someone came up to me and asked if I had a press pass. I said no, so I had to follow her to the lobby where I was told I could not take pictures. Now I was a little upset, but I returned to my seat and did not take any more photos. Not soon after, another staff person told me I couldn't take pictures, and I was like I already was told this and I'm not going to. But then she was like we still need to talk to you, so she brought me back out to the lobby. There I was questioned by several people. I was told I could not have a professional grade camera unless I had a press pass. I did not have a press pass because I was not shooting as a member of the press. I was shooting as an individual who loves to take photos, not pictures. I was told that I could not be let back to my seat until I had returned my camera to my dorm. I also had to delete all the photos on my memory card. Now, I was very angry, so I called David because he has a digital SLR. Luckily he was still nearby at RTV, so I just dropped my camera off there, but not after missing like ten minutes of Missy Higgins. I was very mad, but the worst part was that the guy who interogated me said that they didn't care about point-and-shoot cameras, only professional because I might do something evil with good looking photos. Is it a crime to like quality and do something that I enjoy without receiving any benefit other than personal enjoyment? Apparently because they didn't care about the people with their little rectangles that use a flash. I feel like my rights have been a little trampled on by the label or company that said I couldn't take photos at their client's concert. I will write them an angry letter. But some good came out of this evening, I got my artwork and Ben Folds DVD signed. I will take photos of them and upload them tomorrow, but right now I'm going to sleep.

BEN FOLDS!!!!!!!

I GET TO SEE BEN FOLDS TONIGHT! WOOOO! I COULD BARELY SLEEP LAST NIGHT THINKING ABOUT THE CONCERT. I DID NOT WIN THE BACKSTAGE PASS, WHICH HAS DEEPLY SADDENED ME, BUT I WILL REMAIN UNDETERRED IN MY EFFORTS TO GET HIM TO SIGN MY AMAZING MIKE TAYLOR ORIGINAL AND MY BEN FOLDS FIVE DVD. I WILL JUMP ON STAGE AND BEG HIM TO SIGN IT. I'M DESPERATE ENOUGH TO DO IT, AND SINCE I DON'T LIKE TO LIVE WITH REGRETS, IT'S VERY LIKELY I WILL DO IT. LOOK FOR ME ON THE ELEVEN O'CLOCK NEWS WHEN THE POLICE ARE DRAGGING ME OFF STAGE AND THROWING ME INTO A POLICE CAR.

My New Camera

I finally got my new Canon Rebel XTi Digital SLR yesterday. It is awesome! I also finished my PolSci midterm pretty fast because it was easy. Here's a photo of a film photograph I took with my new camera. There wasn't much light in my dorm room, and I'm just getting the hang of Photoshop now that I have a DSLR.

Uneventful

I had a very uneventful week. I have had a cold since I woke up Saturday and took photos for David. I went to class, did stuff with friends, and slept. I have not found out yet if I won a backstage pass to Ben Folds. All the people who I bought the raffle tickets from were rooting for me and even asked the guy who was going to pull the winner if they could just give it to me since I bought 42 tickets. I really hope I won, but since I haven't been e-mailed yet, I'm pretty sure I didn't. The winner was pulled at noon, so if I haven't been informed yet, there is a pretty good chance I didn't win. Oh well..........

Fridays Live Again

After falling asleep in the early morning, I woke, once again, after Calculus had started. But this didn't matter, because I had planned to drop it as soon as I woke up. I no longer have Calculus anymore. If it wasn't so early, I wouldn't have dropped it, but I didn't want to take a class where I wouldn't learn anything new and had to wake up at seven to get ready for. But back on topic. I woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat. I thought it would go away, but as the day progressed it seemed to get worse. But that was all in the back of my mind because it was Friday, and that means Fridays Live. I had to do lights this time, which I would have preferred not to, but I performed at my best. After that, I sat with David as he edited the video for airing, and then walked with him back home. After checking to make sure the show aired without a hitch (because David was worried since some things happened), we left for the party at Fab's house. I had a great time. I danced, talked, watched people play beer pong, was molested by drunk people, laughed at drunk people, and just all around had a good time. Upon my return home, I went up to Justin's room where we watched this great movie called A Boy and His Dog. I really don't feel like describing it completely, so here's a quick blurb: the movie was set in a post apocalyptic world and followed a young man who could speak with his dog telepathically. It was a great movie, and after it we watched some TV. I didn't go to bed until 5, but I think it was worth it. The worst part was that, when I woke up this morning, I felt like crap. My throat was dry and hurt, and my nose was stuffed almost leaving me incapable of breathing. The strangest part, I didn't drink even a sip, and yet I felt worse than probably some of the people who hadn't gotten wasted.

Do You Feel Like Dancing?

Okay, so here's the lowdown, the 441, the straight truth. Upon Justin's invitation, I went to his gay people dance on Thursday night. I had gone a little anxious that I would be molested by some drunk gay guy, but my fears were silly at best. I went there to dance, and boy did I dance. I was awesome. It was so much fun, but a little creepy. There were these four guys who kept getting all up on each other and having an orgy in the middle of the dance floor. A lot of people felt uncomfortable and one person said it's people like that, that give gay people a bad name. But we remained undeterred in our dancing, dancing until one. Then Justin, Adam, and I left for home. I was still full of energy and was having the time of my life as we walked home. Apparently, when I was running down the hill enjoying life, Justin said something like "And he's not even gay."

Saddened

I'm sorry it has been a while. I return to my readers a little saddened. I was walking back to my dorm today, after my global warming class, and I was walking very slow. I noticed as people just walked, nothing else. There were the occasional walk-and-talkers, but overall people were just walking trying to get to their next destination. I was a little disheartened. People don't seem to care about the world going on around them, just their own life. I was enjoying watching the leaves fall, the birds fly, and the squirrels run. People don't just stop anymore to watch the world. I don't know what else to say. I haven't had anything interesting happen to me lately.

Fridays Live

Woohoo! Today was awesome. I did a poop ton of stuff. I finally had my meeting with Professor Alost about double majoring. There's some information session this Friday where I think I will find out if there are any openings in Photojournalism. I also discovered that I can get my degree in three years if I try. I got a Tazo green tea, and returned to my room for a nap. After Japanese, I went to the Fridays Live studio for practice, and guess what? I got to be an extra during this one skit. I stood in the background pretending to be doing things for the Obama campaign. It was awesome. The show was great and very hilarious. It was so funny that the laughter cracked glass. Not true, but when we were tearing down the set, one of the flats fell into one of those "in case of fire break glass" windows. After that incident, I returned to my room to drop off my stuff and wait before going to the after-party. Before I did though, Justin invited me to go out with him and his friends to a party. I decided on that one and had a great time. First we walked forever to the first party, and when we were there we ran into our friend Kelsey who was drunk. It was great because she kept repeating herself. The best part of the first party was this girl who saw we just kicking it and dancing. She came over and was like, "I love your dance moves. They're awesome." Then when she was with her friends she was like, "That's my new boyfriend." I thought it was hilarious. Then we left that party and were just walking. We stopped at the BP and ran across some Magic cards and Justin was all excited. He was drunk, but not that drunk, just a little buzzed. I wasn't drunk at all, I think because I wasn't drinking. After BP, we continued just wandering, and then eventually Justin, Madison, and I went with some friends of Madison's. That was a much smaller party than the first, and it was much more fun. They played beer pong and great music. When we finally decided to go home, I had a fun walk home. I was jumping, running, skipping, twirling, singing, dancing, etc. It was a great night.

No Day Like Today

For today I bring you fantastic adventures to far and different worlds. First was the world of the thrift store. I went into the jungle that is donated retail items and attempted to capture the American cheapskates in their natural habitat. Carefully prowling through the bags, hats, and racks upon racks of clothes, I captured photographic proof that this rare creature is in fact not extinct. In fact they are alive and well, shopping smart. After that fun trip with Anna, she made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and we walked to the Post together. Then I returned to my room to look at my photos and add captions. After that I went to Current World Problems, which was a little boring today. It didn't really have to do with global warming, more with the politics of dealing with it. My photo staff meeting was moved to 6:30, so I went to that but there weren't many assignments. Since we finished before seven, I put my photos on the server and decided I go to that drugee meeting that Justin kept talking about. Boy am I glad I went to that instead of this photojournalism lecture (which would have be more beneficial but I was living life). It was mainly people who smoked pot. There were several people there who were high as kites. The best part was that we had to introduce ourselves and then say something funny. I said, "I'm John, and I have transcended space and time, oh and my best friend is Jesus." The whole room laughed and this one guy who was high was like, "What?" It was great. Then I went with Justin to his heretics meeting. As I listened to the blasphemers speak about how they commit crimes agaisnt God and humanity by liking the same sex, dressing as the opposite sex, or wanting to be the opposite sex, I realized that there is nothing wrong with these people. Now I had always known, but it was fun making anti-gay comments to Justin under my breath. He thought it was funny. The best part were all the intolerance stories. I know that sounds mean, but they all found them funny, maybe not when it happened, but now it's laughable. They had funny stories of grandmas accusing them of being a lesbian (well she was another straight person like me). They also had stories about parents who tried to hook them up with the opposite sex even though they were definitely gay. It's funnier if you were there (as is everything).

A Mon, a Tues, a Mon, Tues, Three, Four.

Justin doesn't think the title is absolutely genius, but it obviously is. I'm so witty (and narcissistic). Anyways, as I hope the title alluded to, this is going to cover Monday and Tuesday. The only important thing that happened on Monday was in Current World Problems. I believe this to be my favourite class, mainly because I find it extremely comical. The reason is that this quarter it is about global warming. Now global warming is a hot button issue, but many people are uneducated when it comes to it. I thought, since I would be in college, I would find like minded people who have done the research I have and understand the "facts" surrounding global warming/global climate change. Unfortunately that did not come to fruition. There are only two people who seem to have a good grasp on the information, one on the opposite side (pro-global warming), and the other in the middle. The rest are unable to speak eloquently on the topic. For the most part, I take a neutral stance and do not speak, mainly to avoid conversations with believers who will shun me and label me a heretic. The interesting thing is we are presented both sides of the arguement, yet majority of the class believes in anthropogenic global warming, whether it's extreme of not that extreme. The professor is trying to make the class as unbiased as possible, but I think it will be hard in a room full of evanGorecals (genius I know). Now moving on to today, I would like to make fun of about half of my Precision language class. Now I know English grammar can be confusing, but if a person cannot tell the difference between an adjective and an adverb or doesn't know what a verb phrase is, then our education system is in serious trouble. If a college class teaches students about nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepostions, conjuctions, and interjections, that's a little sad. I have some trouble with grammar, but they are rare occurences of things I never actually learned but just picked up. But despite all this, they are my favourite classes. That's it for now. Tomorrow will be an interesting post because I'm taking photos for the Post with Anna (yay Anna).

The Horror

I committed an egregious crime yesterday. I missed Calculus. I woke up at 6:30 as usual, but decided to lay down for just a little longer, but next thing I know, it's 8:30 and class is already half over. So I returned to sleeping, waking around noon to go to eat and then going to Japanese. Japanese was fun because we watched this really old video about Japan. Then we practiced for the test on the 19th and we were done. I returned to my room only to remember the Fridays Live meeting (thanks to David). After the meeting, I spent some time with David. I can't wait to get involved in Fridays Live. The people involved seem really cool, funny, and nice. I can say this with confidence that they are because I went to a party with Anna and David for Fridays Live yesterday. It was fun. Anna spilled strawberry Arbor Mist on this girl named Kristen (the cup just split), David played beer pong terribly, and I got to laugh at it all. I did not get drunk, nor did I drink. I didn't even take a sip of the Arbor Mist (strawberry flavored things are usually nasty). After a fun party, we stopped at Goodfella's Pizza. It was delicious. Then I watched "The Forbidden Kingdom" with Justin. It was a terribly cheesy movie. Oh, and I almost forgot, none of my modmates really talk to me. They never seem to be around, and when they are their door is closed (mine is almost always open). But yesterday, while I was listening to Dear and the Headlights, scenster kid, Simon, asked what I was listening to. I told him and then his friends noticed my Ben Folds painting (by Mike Taylor). They thought I did it, but I took no credit for Mike's talent, but I did show them my photos, which they really liked. They really liked the silhouette of David on the rocks and didn't think it was too dark. They thought it was perfectly printed and perfectly captured the mood. They understand art (cough, photo class, cough (just kidding)).

Update

Please ignore Journey to Journalism, I've decided to go another way for my blog about journalism. I will have it up within the next week. In other news, I had another batch of classes today. Calculus seems to be shaping into the last half of AP Calculus, so it should be pretty easy. In J133A, my precision writing class, we were assigned our partners for this project where we have to present the proper use of a word on this list she gave us. In Japanese we went over numbers which was really fun. Then in J101 we had two guest speakers. It was an informative class, but not a boring one. I actually took notes, surprising myself since I haven't found anything worthy of taking notes in any class other than Japanese (I took notes in J133A, but it was already stuff I knew and was only to reinforce it in my mind). Other than that, nothing important has happened. I really need to find stuff to do. I've been sitting in my dorm doing nothing.

Wed-nes-day

That's how it is spelled at that is how it should be pronounced. Now, moving on, today was a organizing day. I had to stop at Dr. Bob's office to talk about double majoring, where I was told to speak with Professor Alost. Before proceding to North Green, I stopped at the bookstore to buy some notebooks and at my dorm to pick up my portfolio on the advice of Dr. Bob. I went to Professor Alost's office only to find that he had just rushed out the door. I decided to wait to see if he would return, but he did not, so I made an appointment for next Friday at 9:30 am. I returned to my dorm only to leave for lunch with David and Justin. After lunch, I read my polysci homework. It was a book on global warming/climate change that only refuted my beliefs saying that there is irrefutable evidence for anthropogenic global warming. This is not true. If the climate is changing, humanity has little fault. We are at fault for destroying forests and not recycling, but we can't really change climate. To top off the annoying "global warming is real" crap, we watched the most holiest of texts in the Gospel of Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, in polysci. I got Grab'n'Go for dinner, since David and Justin were too busy at some engineering dinner, and then went to my Post Photo meeting. I can't wait. My first assingment is with my dear friend Anna. She's writing an article about thrift stores in the falling economy and whether they are doing good or bad. I'm also thinking of working on the journalism side of the Post and doing the culture section.

Templates

If anyone who reads this can help me make a template for Journey to Journalism, please e-mail me at jpnero@sbcglobal.net. I don't know the least bit about html or xml so any help would be appreciated. Details will be discussed through e-mail. If anyone can find me a good template editor for blogspot.com, that will do the job almost as good.

New Blogs

Today I created two new blogs. The Modern Eclectic is finally up and I will be posting as much as possible. My second new blog is Journey to Journalism. During J101 today, Dr. Bob said it was a good idea to create a blog focusing on journalism. He said how a former student was hired instantly at a London newspaper because the interviewer read her blog. Since the world of journalism is changing, more people are going on line and less people are buying daily newspapers, it is a good idea to write a journalism blog. That one will be updated usually after every journalism class and/or any time I do something journalistic (take photos or write an article). I hope you all continue to read this blog and would enjoy feedback on my two other blogs.

First Day of Class

For my first day of class at the prestigious Ohio University I awoke at 6:30 am. Well, I can't really say I awoke because I never actually fell asleep. I couldn't sleep, yet today I was pretty awake. My first class was Calculus II at 8:00 am, so after taking a shower and brushing my teeth, I set out for Morton hall which is not to far from my dorm of Ewing. After Calculus, I ate breakfast with Justin at Nelson and then retired to my room for a short nap, which I only fell asleep for a short time. After my nap, if one could call it that, Justin, David, and I set out for Jefferson for lunch because Nelson was packed. I had a delicious vegetarian soup, a surprise since my soup experiences at OU so far have been lackluster (but what can you expect from a cafeteria), and then we took a nice walk before dispersing for our separate agendas. I was off to Japanese 111 at Gordy Hall. It was an interesting first day as we dived directly into learning and speaking it. I have to be able to write in Japanese characters in a week, which doesn't seem to be that hard. Japanese only has 47 letters (more like characters because they are a combination of each consonant and each vowel). After a fun Japanese class, I stopped back at my room to grab some stuff and then set out for Bentley. My next class is called Current World Problems, and for fall quarter it is dealing with global warming/climate change, one of my hot button issues. Luckily the class doesn't look like it's going to shove the Gospel of Gore down my throat. Instead, it seems it will deal with all perspectives about the debate/so-called consensus. She let us out early, I ate dinner with Justin at Nelson, and then we retired to my room. That was all for today, but tomorrow is going to be packed as I have four classes and six hours of class. My weeks may get even more hectic as I plan to double major with journalism and photojournalism.

I Got Drunk!

The title is a lie. I did it to fuck with your minds. Yes, to my readers who know me personally, I just did write a curse word. I have decided that, after a fun philosophical-life-world-everything AIM chat with Theresa, I will start phasing in curse words to my vocabulary by typing them first. I have used curse words in my head, but that's my head and that doesn't count. I think that by typing fuck, damn, shit, and bitch, I will be able to slowly phase them into my everyday speaking, someday being able to say "Fuck it...we'll do it live," once I am comfortable enough with writing them. But I digress, so let us return to the title. I did not get drunk. Using common sense, one would realize that most drunk people would be too inhibited to be able to use a computer. We did not go to the party because the drunk girl that told Justin about it vanished. She told Justin she would take us there after she took a shower. After waiting for awhile (and talking with Theresa on Justin's AIM) I decided to joke that she had drowned in the shower much the way a turkey would during the rain. You see, according to Johnny Bravo (the show not the character in the show), turkeys are so unintelligent that when it rains they stare up at the sky with their mouths agape, resulting in their sometimes eventual death by drowning, unless something distracts them. So sadly, I have no party to detail to you.

OU? No Me!

It's an odd title yes. Okay, so I woke up at 8:45 after confirming that my floor meeting was not at 7:00 am. I cleaned up and got ready for Saturday's events. I didn't go to breakfast, sad face, but it's fine. Our seminar/orientation/introduction to the Scripps College of Communications was a little boring, but then Dr. Bob took the podium after all the other departments left and talked about clubs to get involved in for the journalist crowd. After some informative (hint something is boring) information (I would hope so), we went to take a picture in front of the new Scripps Hall home. Unfortunately the professional photographer didn't show because it was raining earlier, but Dr. Bob came to the rescue by having his camera just in case. After that I ate lunch with Justin and David and then relaxed with a nice nap. Justin woke me up to tell me he needed to go to the Import House again, so we walked there and then chilled in my room for awhile (Justin played Final Fantasy XII on my PS2, I just sat on the computer). Then we ate dinner and I went to my floor meeting at 7:00 pm. After that Justin, David, and I went to the Baker Center for a short time, as all the billiards tables were taken (yes I call it billiards and not pool). We returned to my room where Justin played again and David watched (I was trying to figure out my grand plan for double majoring). Now I am going to a party with Justin to make sure he doesn't get drunk. I will post another entry after the party to tell you all of the events that transpired.

Move-In Part 2

Move-in was awesome. I have everything where I want it and nothing went wrong. I missed my good friend Nick, but that's okay because I will see him again someday. After I finished putting everything in the right place, I went to the Pita Pit with David and Justin. Mmmmm, the Pita Pit. And so begins my venture into vegetarianism. I will try my hardest to be a vegetarian in college. It will be much easier now that I chose what I put on my plate. After a delicious veggie pita, we stopped at Import House, the local head shop. We chilled in my dorm for a while, then went to Justin's (which is in the same building), and then went to David's. After David's, Justin and I went to visit my good friend Anna. We had fun talking for about an hour or so in her apartment, and then returned to our dorms. I'm am so excited to be out of my house and can't wait to keep all my readers updated on my hopefully awesome college experience.

Move-In

I'm moving in today, but I can't get any sleep. I'm too anxious too fall asleep, so I have been playing games for like two hours. I'm so worried I'm going to forget something, or something will go wrong when we get there, like my name won't be on the list. Maybe I'm just going crazy because I'm sleep deprived. Would that be ironic? Let me think...no just a paradox. It's like the which came first question. Am I crazy because I'm sleep deprived, or am I sleep deprived because I'm crazy? It might be both. I'm leaving in a few hours! I feel like I have so much to do. I feel like I did absolutely nothing this summer other than laze about. Oh, wait, that's exactly what I did. I don't know why, but I feel like I have so much left to do before I leave, yet I can think of nothing. I still have no idea what books to buy for school either. Only Dr. Bob, my Journalism 101 professor, sent an e-mail telling all Journalism majors what book to buy for the class. Okay, my eyes are starting to feel heavy, I think I'll try and get a few hours of sleep and then sleep on the car ride down there.

Apologies

I apologize to all my readers. I haven't been in the mood for blogging, mainly because my family computer is being retarded and doesn't know it's connected to the internet. But now I have my HP dv9700t laptop, and it is awesome. It works great, and it will be easier to post with my laptop always in my room or with me. I might be posting as the day goes along from now on. I would also like to inform all my readers (for those that aren't my friends) that tomorrow, Friday September 5th, I will be leaving for Ohio University to begin my freshmen year. I also plan to start a new blog called "The Modern Eclectic." The Modern Eclectic will follow my budding eclectic tastes in my everyday life, such as eclectic movies, books, art, food, and news. Feedback is much appreciated, so email me at jpnero@sbcglobal.net with ideas or advice. I think I will end on that note and will try to post again today.

Another Meeting

Sadly, on Sunday we did not roleplay. Instead we played minigames galore. Even worse, this upcoming Sunday is the last meeting before Tom goes off to college, and I'm pretty sure others are already going to be leaving before then. I'm really going to miss those weekly meetings. They started in fifth grade with just Peter, Bob, and I. Tom was our DM, and I think the only minigame we really played was Munchkin. As time progressed, Tom's brothers joined us in our second campaign. Bob tried to DM, Peter tried to start a LOTR roleplaying game, and we attempted Ironclaw, Call of Cuthulu, Modern D20, and Munchkin D&D. I had some fun times in that house. I remember beating each other with foam weaponry when we were in fifth grade, playing Heroscape in Tom's room, building Playmobil castles. I remember when the Hubbards and Steve starting coming and we had an awesome D&D campaign, and then an awesome GURPS campaign, and then a fun Star Wars mini campaign. Then Peter brought Alex, and Peter faded away. Then Bob faded away after Angela starting coming every once in awhile. Then Joe started coming, Angela would rarely come, and Bob started showing up. I remember Rachel's, Evan's, Andrew's, and my attempts to DM. I remember Steve's short WoW and Star Wars campaigns that had really no structure, and Alex's failed Modern D20 campaign. It's been such a big part of my life, and the only time I really ever saw most of those people, I don't know what I'm going to do without it. I at least have the next meeting to say goodbye to those who will be there.

The Second and Third Floor

I woke up Saturday expecting to do nothing, but to my pleasant surpirse found a message from Tom on my phone. He said that there was a meeting that night in addition to Sunday's. I was so happy. I arrived to find Steve, Evan, and Joe. Before we started roleplaying, we played this game called Airships where you try and build airships or the Hindenburg. It's really simple. After Evan won, we started on the second floor. The first thing of interest was we saw someone running down a hallway. Then we heard a clanging noise in the distance. Steve and I went to inspect the running figure, while Evan and Joe went towards the clanging noise. Steve and I discovered my brother Archer, and I ran into the room to hug him after I thought he accidently set off a fireball. He was able to avoid my hug and then cast Greater Invisibility. Disappointed that I didn't get the heartfelt reunion I wanted, I sulked to the next room where Steve was. A little ball was following me, and I tried to kick it out of the room, but it exploded when I kicked it. Luckily I rolled a natural twenty on my reflex save, so I somehow avoided the explosion that was right in my face. We reunited with Evan and Joe who had found Sarah, my brother's lover. Then Archer, under the safety of invisibility, began attacking us. We fought him until Sarah feinted him and then stabbed him, hitting his spine and killing him. I freaked out, knowing that if that was really Sarah she wouldn't attack Archer, and attaked the fake Sarah. It turned out to be Drak disguised as Sarah. Drak told us that wasn't really Archer, well it was, but he was brought back by Sarim, after dying in the mountain collapse, to do her bidding. I took out my emotions, destroying a nearby lounge room, and we continued to the clanging sound. We arrived on a balcony, only to be attacked by Hangmen. After we defeated them, the zombies that Evan had discovered after he broke through the ceiling started falling to the ground. We didn't know what they were doing, so we moved on to the now empty third floor. Unfortunately, the zombies formed a giant zombie ball and started firing zombies through the third floor's wall. We fended them off as we tried to get into the door that looked oddly like Tommy's mouth. Steve and Evan got in on their own, but I had to throw Joe in and then tumble through the zombies and then jump into the mouth. And that was it for the encounter. We finished the meeting by playing more minigames. It was a fun night.

Two Fridays in One and an Opening Ceremony

Alright, so Friday the 8th Kayla invited me to go ice skating with her and others at the Mentor ice rink. So Tony V, Brianna, Kayla, Dan, and I went ice skating. Now I have never been ice skating, so I was in for a challenge. Kayla tried hard to teach me, but I'm pretty sure it would have been easier to learn if I was ten years younger. Unfortunately I had a deprived childhood. My mom didn't want to sign me up for anything because my brother never stuck with anything. I wanted to do a lot too. I wanted to do gymnastics, karate (or some other form of martial arts), and I wanted to learn how to ice skate like my brother did. None of that came to fruition, so here I was being held by Kayla as she tried to teach me something I should have learned when I was five. Nevertheless, I had fun, and I started to pick it up at the end. I would like to go ice skating again so I can practice and get better. It's like swimming for me, I love the pool, but I don't know how to swim and it's something I want to learn. Anyways, after skating we went to TGI Friday's for lunch. It was okay, our waitress had an "I hate my life" attitude, so she kind of brought everything down a little. Then we walked around downtown Willoughby to kill some time before we left for Julie's birthday party. Julie's was fun. We watched the opening ceremony of the Bejeing Olympics, which was awesome, and we talked with Ben's smart bromate who is a Hollister model (and we're pretty sure just a body model, not a face). Nick and Kenny arrived from the Lifeguard Games dressed in the most ridiculous outfits, and we all enjoyed Kenny's suffering after he realized he locked his keys in his car for the second time that day. After several phone calls, and some man power, Kenny was able to get in his car. I left with Nick and Kenny, and had to ride all over the place since Kenny couldn't make up his mind about going to this lifeguard party. I offered to just go to the party so Kenny didn't have to drive me all the way back once he decided he was going, but Nick and Kenny didn't want to make me feel awkward and didn't want to feel even more akward themselves. After they dropped me off at home finally, I thought about how alone I feel. Even with all the friends I have, I don't feel like I really belong or fit in any of them. I feel like an island surrounded by the continents that are my groups of friends. Now that I'm going to college and I'm separating from a lot of my friends, I feel like those continents are slowly drifting away, and the island of me is truly alone. Sorry if I'm being a real Debbie Downer, but I just wanted to get that out, and I find it easier to express myself through writing more than talking.

More to come

I am going to take a break from writing, but more will be up within the next 24 hours. I leave tomorrow night for my orientation, so there will be nothing until either late Thursday or Friday after I finish. I will make sure you have this past weekend's events to read, especially my most recent trip into Steve's castle.

Kidnapping Brittany

Now, for awhile Simone and I have known that Person L was coming to the Grog Shop, and for awhile she kept telling our friend Brittany she was going to blindfold her on the day of the concert and not tell her where we were going because she really likes Kenny Vasoli, the lead singer. Now I wasn't sure if she was actually going to do it, but after Brittany's graduation party, I was pretty sure she was. I got a ride to Simone's house, then we drove to Brittany's where Simone blindfolded her and lead her into the car. Brittany had no idea where we were going or what we were doing. She kept saying we were taking her to ComiCon (which is all the way in San Diego and over at this time), but we assured her we weren't. Coventry was blocked off because it was the montly Street Arts Fair, which neither of us had planned on, but luckily I knew how to get us near the Grog Shop thanks to my earlier trip to the Fair with Justin. So we walked blindfolded Brittany down the street getting all sorts of stares and what not, making completely sure she had no idea where we were, and when we were in line the other people got into the spirit and made sure to keep Brittany out of the loop. But Brittany was smart. She figured out we were in Coventry because she smelled smoke and assumed we were near scene kids. We assured her we were not, but she still had suspicions that we were on Coventry. Inside, we had Brittany take a picture with Kenny Vasoli while she was still blindfolded and he went along with everything. The people around us made sure they were careful not to reveal anything, and even though they had some slip ups Brittany didn't hear. But once again Brittany surpirised us by asking if she took a picture with Kenny Vasoli, and yet again we denied her truth filled claims. We finally took the blindfold off when he started singing, and Brittany lost it. She was so happy. After Person L, we decided to take a quick dinner break and went over to Chipotle. We returned to the Grog Shop to watch Anthony Green, the headliner. There were some crazy and some belligerent people, but we enjoyed the show a lot. After the show was over, we stopped at Guy's and got one dollar slices before Simone's mom picked us up. That was Thursday.

Update

I apologize to my readers who haven't been filled in on my daily goings on for almost a week now. We are going to start with Wednesday the 6th. On Tuesday I wanted to go to the Art Museum and the Cleveland Institute of Art to see their galleries. Unfortunately I don't know anything about buses so I missed the bus I needed to take by getting on the circular. So on Wednesday I asked my stepdad to drive me to University Circle and he did. It was a beautiful day. I visited the Jerry Uelsmann and Maggie Taylor exhibit. They both do photomontage, but Jerry doesn't use digital he uses film. Jerry Uelsmann has some beautiful photos that I love, even if I wish he had excluded certain parts, but I don't think he is that amazing. I applaud him for the stunning technique he developed for classic photographers and his surreal impossibilities, but a lot of his work seems the same to me. He often uses the same scenes, just putting different things in them, and often just sticks things in that seem to unbalance the photo or drawn attention away from the main subject, or not fit in at all. My friends may love him, but I find him unique but unimpressive. Maggie Taylor is okay. She scans tin types and makes surreal digital montages. Before going into the museum I walk around Wade Park, the beautiful little area in front fo the museum. It was very relaxing and serene and I wanted to just sit there and sleep. After that, I went into the Art Museum and ate lunch. I had delicious chicken noodle soup and a green tea. Yes Anna, I talked about soup. Then I explored the beautiful collections located at the museum. I found I really like well done religious or mythological paintings. I learned I like Poussin, and someone named Winslow Homer who I have heard of before but I don't remember where. I finished at the art museum and then did actually try to fall asleep on the grass in Wade Park. I didn't, but I did read the Plain Dealer at the Case library. After that I tried to reach my stepdad to get home, but I couldn't get a hold of him, so I decided I'd walk to Coventry and eat at Tommy's while I waited for my mom to come get me. And that was Wednesday.

HARRY AND THE POTTERS!

I went to see Harry and the Potters tonight with Simone and Justin. It was awesome. We came in at the end of the first band, Uncle Monsterface, so we don't know how good or bad they were, but the next band, Math the Band was awesome. They had great energy, and not half bad songs. I really liked them, but not as much as I liked Harry and the Potters. They were awesome. They came out with a new CD, which I definitely need to get. I bought a tee shirt from them that says Save Ginny with a silhouette of a basilisk and a little girl. We met Simone's friends there, friends she got into Harry and the Potters, and their drunk relatives. After the concert we got a couple pictures with Paul and Joe, the sibling duo that is Harry and the Potters, that took awhile because of the drunk relatives having trouble with the camera. Then we stopped at the Guys Pizza on Coventry, but they didn't have pizza ready, so we went to the one on 222nd. We enjoyed our pizza in Justin's car (I got an extra piece for free), and then I was promptly dropped off at home. I wished I was able to explain how insanely awesome the Harry and the Potters show was, you just had to be there to experience the nerdy goodness and nerdy mosh pits.

Sorry, Saturday and Sunday

Sorry about the lapse of time without a post, but I haven't really had the time or the right environment to post. We will start with Saturday. I went to my friend Brittany's graduation party with Simone. It was nice because there wasn't a lot of people and it was very calm and relaxing. I had a lot of fun. I got to see some people I hadn't seen in awhile. Then on Sunday, I was the only one at Tom's. I was very mad at everyone who didn't have a reason for not being there. But I remained undeterred in my goal to have fun. I played Galaxy Truckers for the first time. As the title suggests, you make spaceships and try and survive asteroids, epidemics, pirates, and war zones. Tom tried to give me an advantage of thirty extra dollars at the start, but in the end I didn't even need it. I made him drop out of the race two out of the three rounds, caused massive damage to two of his ships, and always finished second when I was building my ships. Then we played Caylus, and it was really close, who won depended on what the rules said for a lot of situations. It's much harder with only two people. After Tom won, we played the Confrontation, rock paper scissors Lord of the Rings Style, and I won that one. Then we finished with Times Square, which Tom one with lucky card drawing abilities.

The Ball

First, I saw The Wackness again with Kenny, Ben, and Justin. I think it was sadder the second time. Kenny and Justin were high for it, so they were having a great time. Then I went to this themed party at Kristina's house. It was a ball, but not really. We all just dressed in really nice outfits, and then listened to terrible music. Apparently they were supposed to ballroom dance during the first hour, but I arrived with Ben, Kristen, and Justin about an hour and a half after the party started. It was nice. I had a whole piece of cheesecake and Nick was all like, "You can't have a whole piece." But no one can expect me not to eat a whole piece of cheesecake if it's available (one of my food weaknesses, and on a side note, I'm weening myself off fast food french fries so I'm about to knock that off my list of weaknesses). It was a nice night. After that Ben, Kristen, Justin, Kenny, and I went to our friend Chris's house. Chris, Kenny, and Justin smoked some more and we watched recorded Family Guy episodes. Ben took Kristen home, and then eventually Ben and I left. I watched a show after almost falling asleep on my couch, and then fell asleep listening to Ingrid Michaelson.

Trailer

So I watched the trailer for the sixth Harry Potter movie. After being disappointed by the previous movie, and the trailer of the fifth, I was ready to pass judgment on this film. But to my pleasant surprise, it looked much better than I expected. The little boy they picked for Voldemort as a child looks perfect. I just hope that the actors actually try in this movie and that it is not as rushed as the fifth. The biggest failure with the fifth was that it was the shortest movie in the series, causing them to cut out a lot and change a lot. They created new plot holes, and I'm eager to see how they end them or screw them up even more. I miss the innocent acting of the first two movies where they didn't try so hard and were fine actors (not the best, but good).

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthehalf-bloodprince/

Step Brothers

I went and saw Step Brothers yesterday with Nick, Kenny, Justin, Mike, Tim, Zack, Julie, and Theresa. It was a terrible movie, but it did have a good message, albeit a cliched one, of being true to yourself and who you really are. It was filled with crude humor, graphic testicular contact, immature dialogue, and plain nonsensical crap. But I saw with my friends and was invited, and I never skip out on a chance to do something with my friends, even if it's to see a movie I know I will not like. I always enjoy movies, but a lot of them I don't like. Anyways, I walked to the theater with Kenny, Justin, and Mike. Their eyes were red, I wonder why. The theater was empty except for us and a few other people. I sat between Theresa and Justin, finding Justin funnier than the movie (and I think vice versa). After the movie was over, I didn't feel like walking home this time, so I got a ride with Theresa and Julie. I called shotgun, but the door was locked and when Theresa got in, she started the car without me in it. Then she started driving slowly, so I kept up with the car trying to open the door. They were being mean. Then she drove faster than I could run, but I was still keeping close so that when she finally stopped, I ran past the car before stopping. Then she just decided she was going to pretend she was going to drop me off in a dark area and leave me. But eventually she decided she was going to take me home, so we got back on track and she dropped me off. Why is almost everyone mean to me for no reason? I think it is something wrong with our society. Being nice to people is no longer in fashion I guess.

The Wackness

Since yesterday was a Monday, it was only natural that I see a movie at the Cedar Lee for $5.00 and a free popcorn. Justin, Simone, and I went to see The Wackness, starring Josh Peck and (Sir) Ben Kingsley. It was a wonderful movie. It was set in 1994, after Kurt Cobain had died (important to a joke in the movie), in New York during the summer. Josh Peck played Luke Shapiro, a pot dealing graduate trying to make money for his parents to save their relationship. Ben Kingsley played Dr. Squires, a client, shrink, and friend of Luke. It follows Luke through the summer, his rocky relationship with Dr. Squires' stepdaughter, Dr. Squires' relationship with his second wife, and the dealing of pot. It was wonderful to see Josh Peck in something other than Drake and Josh. He was, to no surprise, spot on in his white boy trying to be ghetto role. I'm never surprised when children's show stars become good actors, usually in indie films too (plus he had like three sex scenes just in this one movie). Ben Kingsley was hilarious, playing the obvious comedic role of the adult having a midlife crisis and wanting to be young again. Simone had a laughing fit when Josh Peck was showering naked and the audience got a view of his lack of gluteus maximus. She said loudly, "He has no ass!" and starting moving around as she tried to hold in her laughter. It was funny watching her. Oh, and we once again ran into Matthew P. Childers (I don't know why, but he just has a name that you have to say completely). He was there to see The Wackness also. He probably kept looking over at us during the movie, seeing as we were across the aisle from him and making a lot of noise.

Sunday

Yesterday was a laid back day. I went to Tom's house for a meeting, but Steve was not there so we couldn't continue with the castle. We just played mini games. Then I went to Justin's graduation party and had some snacks. It was at the point where you just relax and talk with your friends. Nick and Simone were fighting over me, making me choose one pretend relationship over the other. Nick stole my hat, and him and Ben were playing keep away with it. I didn't really care though. Simone gave me a Tarot reading (which I don't really put any faith in, but I thought I'd humor her), which revealed some interesting truths, but I think those things can be attributed to anything and anyone, just like horoscopes.

Nick's Graduation Party

My day started around eleven. It was a beautiful Saturday, and I only had one thing on my mind, my good friend Nick's graduation party. Since my family was gone, leaving me with the house, I decided to walk to David's beach club where the party was being held. I saw a man ahead of me who either didn't know how to walk or was already drunk at four. After he vanished and I came upon 216th, I saw Mike Taylor. We were heading to the same place, so, as common courtesy dictates, we walked together. When we were almost there, Kenny pulled up and parked on the street. He walked with us until he realized he could have parked in the little area for parking. He asked me to move his car with him, so I agreed because I'm nice and I found it funny. Then the fun began as we arrived at the party. I ate, chatted with people I hadn't seen in awhile, and enjoyed the beautiful scene of the beach and the calming sound of the waves. I finally met Emily Proctor's Jewish boyfriend, Cory. David was grumpy because he hadn't eaten. Simone got tarot cards from Garth, Sarah Proctor's father. I learned that you're not allowed to buy your first set of tarot cards, someone has to give them to you, but I don't believe in bad or good luck, just bad or good coincidences. Then Sarah, Simone, and I went to the little playground near the party. We swung on the swings while the guys played frisbee, and then I pushed Sarah in one of the baby swings. Then I was attacked by Ben, Kenny, Justin, and sort of Dan. Then Ben, Justin, and I continued to swing while the rest of them went back to the party. We returned and more people started showing up. Everyone watched the slide show, made of course by David, and the Proctor sisters cried because they grew up with Nick. Simone almost started crying (she's really emotional, sorry Simone). I went on a walk with Sarah and Simone and discussed Kenny's past relationships. As the night grew old, people left for other obligations, some people came, and I sat and enjoyed the company of them all. When the party was finally over, I helped clean up, and decided to walk back home, but decided against it when David gave me one last chance for a ride home. That was an odd ride home. David and Anna kept talking about how they couldn't wait to party with me and get me drunk at OU. I just humored them. I also learned that David spiked drinks once. The things you learn about people. I'll just have to get a new drink everytime I put mine down. It's funny how naive I am. I like to have innocent views of people, until they prove themselves guilty to me, revealing, sometimes unsettling, things I didn't know or would never suspect them of doing. Well, I'm in for one eye opening time at OU, I gather, not that it's a bad thing.

Castle of Doom

Yesterday I went to Tom's house from twelve to five. It was great. First, it was just me and him, so we played this game called Times Square. There are two players that are competing bars. There are six people you can attract to your bar, Saucy Sue, her two bodyguards, the whore, the manwhore with an accordion, and Champagne Charlie. The first five have cards that you play to move them, you can only play cards for one person each turn but as many as you have, but Champagne Charlie moves one space towards your bar for every person you have in your bar spaces. I won, most likely from luck of the draw. Then we just sat there once everyone else arrived and talked. We talked for a while before I asked if we could start roleplaying. Tom had most of the final encounter planned, so we started. We got off the island, learned that Shuriken, a character from Rachel's backstory, and Steve's Uncle Astair were the leaders of the two nations, and that the planar seals were opening letting creatures escape. The source was a strange castle with an odd object at the top. That was our target, Steve's castle that was taken over by the Captain of Nightmares and his Nightwalkers, and Sarim, the paladin fallen from grace. We fought some Nightwalkers at the back door, before exploring the numerous rooms on the first floor. Alex put on a necklace that tried to control him, we were attacked by flying knives, found some goodies, ran into several other interesting rooms, and Steve defeated the Captain of Nightmares causing all the Nightwalkers to leave. We didn't even finish exploring the first floor by the time the meeting was over. I would like to go back, but I'm not sure Steve will want to.

Dance Party/Rave/Drugfest

Yesterday was amazing! Okay, so it started out with me writhing in anticipation for the dance party at Ben's house, which was supposed to start at six. I ate dinner sometime between six and seven, I don't really care I was too busy thinking about the rave, and left for Ben's. When I got there, it seemed like it was dead. I was confused because I was like an hour late. Apparently, several of the girls went to buy food, so it was Dan, David, Theresa, Julie, Simone, the burnouts (Kenny, Justin, and Mike, no offense), Ben, and I. Then the girls came back, and it just got better from there. More and more people starting coming, I just kept moving from the living room to the smoker's den in the basement (just to see how they were doing), and sitting outside. Theresa chose to smoke (got high and wouldn't stop talking, it was funny), Nick came and then disappeared, Simone and I went on a walk when the living room became a temporary smoker's den, and then Nick reappeared with a guitar. We sang songs, I listened to his theme song for Life Lessons with Mr. Wags which was hilarious, and danced. I danced throughout the entire party. It was crazy. We had glow sticks, a strobe light, and techno music. We had to take back the rave several times when the girls started playing bad, not techno music. The whole night was insane and so much fun. I learned that Simone and Kenny broke up, and that Kenny and Nick have been kind of distant from each other. Earlier in the night, I was embarrassed when Simone read my post about my terrible marijuana episode to the entire room. I think that was before the girls returned. When it started dying down, we just started listening to Vampire Weekend, Tegan and Sara, and other bands. I don't know what else to write. I don't know how else to explain that night. You just had to be there. Unfortunately, I had to go home, but so did Nick, so we got to walk home together. It was nice. I like walking and talking with Nick. It's really cool to hear what's going on in his head. And to all my readers who think I have a man crush on Nick, who cares. I am secure in my sexuality to not feel insulted. Just because the sound of his voice was what saved me during my episode, doesn't mean I'm secretly in love with Nick, so shut up!

Master of Computers

I just sat on my computer all day long yesterday, but I did some productive things. Okay, maybe just one. I made my computer, with many thanks to Ben. Ben knows what is good, I guess. He is like the wise and powerful, Master of Computers. Probably not, but I'm just having fun. Justin told me there was Frisbee, but I was told after the fact. That would have been nice. Then I could have had my first post on Ultimate Frisbee. Nevertheless, I am excited for the 24 hour dance rave at Ben's house tonight. It's going to be insane. I hope it's not too crowded, but I still hope there is a lot of people there.

Movies and Mary Jane

Don't worry, I did not smoke marijuana again, but we'll get to that later. As usual, I don't do anything until the evening. I asked a handful of people to go see Reprise with me at Cedar Lee yesterday, but it ended up only being Kenny, Justin, and I. Apparently, Kenny is wasting all his paychecks on weed which he seems to be smoking constantly (he admitted to smoking all day Saturday on the ride back, but that comes later also). I walked to Kenny's house, was intercepted by Justin halfway down the street, and went up to Kenny's room. Everything was completely moved around and it was clean, only the second time I've ever seen it clean. Kenny was sitting at his new laptop with a bong placed on the desk next to him. Justin took a hit and we were off. But Kenny's smoking didn't stop at his house. He brought his bowl with him in the car and would duck down to light it. At one point, Justin tried to hit it while driving, but Kenny was having a little trouble lighting it and I was scared we were going to crash, but eventually he lit the bowl. We arrived at the theater, Kenny heavily high, Justin only slightly, bought our tickets, got our free popcorn (I upgraded for a dollar more), and sat down. Kenny finished his popcorn really fast and was so excited to see that I had bought a bigger thing of popcorn, so I happily gave him some of mine. I thought Reprise was going to be in English, but it was Norwegian with English subtitles. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful movie. It was the tale of two young writers and best friends who submit their novels at the same time, one getting published, the other rejected. It follows the published one's recovery after his psychotic breakdown apparently caused by his obsessive relationship with his girlfriend Kari. The rejected one reworks his novel and finally gets published, receiving mixed reviews. The film's story is told through flashbacks and "what if scenarios" through the use of an omniscient narrator, much like the French film Amelie, but much darker. A beautifully sad film, told eloquently and effectively, Reprise takes the audience through a rollercoaster of emotions, irony, and seemingly disjointed moments. Kenny and Justin were a little confused by the movie, but I found it easy to understand. Of course, I wasn't high. The ride home was calm, and again I found myself thinking, which I also do when I am alone in the backseat. I listened to Justin and Kenny's conversation about smoking weed in the future and telling their kids about how they were burnouts. It made me think how the future is so unpredictable, how I have done nothing worthwhile in my life (brought about by Joe's graduation party, where I wished I had been rich or gone to a well off school), and how I haven't found myself. I don't know. Maybe I just like to think. I seem to end with "I don't know" a lot.

Party at Joe's!

Yesterday was a very nice calm day. I wanted to go to my friend Joe's graduation party, but I had no way there. Luckily, my friend Alex lives on the west side and Joe lives in Chardon, so I'm right in the middle. I jumped online to ask Alex for a ride, and after several moments of uncertainty, he finally managed to make room for me in his dad's car. To make it easier on them, I walked to the library which they know how to get to. I had some books to drop off, and then I went to sit on the bench, but a guy was sleeping on it, so I went and sat in the shade. Eventually I got up to see if he had gone, only to find he had moved to sleeping under the tree. So I took the opportunity, and sat on the bench. The Colemans arrived, and away we went to Joe's house. It was a nice ride. I started reading the Wanted graphic novel, which is, apparently, totally different from the movie. We arrived at Joe's house, said hello, met some of his rich Hawken friends, and dived into the food. The burgers were delicious, and there was kiwi in the fruit salad, yummy. It was a very relaxing party. I watched people play cornhole (I suck at it), played Super Mario Galaxy with Alex, inspected the numerous paintings and photographs that Joe's father had done, and ended the party playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl. I said goodbye to Joe, and rode back with Alex. I couldn't believe it when Alex instantly plugged his laptop into his mother's Prius. His reliance on technology is a little too much, but it made me think how we are moving towards that. If I have a laptop, I'm supposed to bring it to my orientation because registering for classes is done all online now. It's frightening how the world is progressing towards complete technological dependence. Someone will ask, "What's the weather today?" and everyone will instantly Google 411 instead of just looking outside the window or checking the paper. It will be like Futurama, where they have robots writing for and acting in shows. We might even have robotic trees that are able to photosynthesize better than actual trees (which I'm pretty sure is impossible).

Facebook Rocks!

Facebook is awesome. They just had an advertisement for Team Zissou tee shirts. I love The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Wes Anderson is a great director/writer. I recently saw Rushmore, which was hilarious. I still have to see The Royal Tennebaums uncensored all the way through. I think everyone should just have Facebook. Facebook dominates myspace and twitter. Just look at the Current SuperNews episode, Social Networking Wars.

Team Zissou Shirt link (red hat sold separately):
http://www.threadpit.com/store/product.php?productid=167&flyer=face_aquatic

Current Video:
http://current.com/items/88913552_social_networking_wars

Pioneers and Avatars

Alright, now this is for today. Yesterday was unimportant and the only thing worth mentioning is that I have the house to myself for the weekend. My family left for a wedding in Nebraska, that I wasn't invited to. Anyways, so today, I woke up at nine and Kayla picked me up at 10:30 to go to Pioneer Waterland. Now, I don't know how to swim, and am afraid of going underwater. I've tried to learn how to swim, but I always end up freaking out because I feel like I am going to go under. But I love Pioneer Waterland, mainly the lazy river. We picked up Nick and drove down Route 6 until we saw the sign for the park. We got in free because it was Kayla's dad's company picnic. We ate a lot of food, and then left for watery fun. We started on the lazy river, and had fun messing with each other. We went twice before losing Kayla to the short path, then we got out. We went to the water slides, and Kayla and Nick were going to race on the big, blue, twisty slides, and I went in the Black Hole, my first water slide ever, and only water slide ever. I went to Pioneer Waterland when I went to Euclid Parks and Recreations Summer Camp; that is when I first swallowed my fear of water, and went on the Black Hole. It still scares me. I had trouble getting out of the gate as I was filled with water, but luckily Nick and Kayla were there to direct me out of the gate (plus I couldn't see because my glasses were by our stuff). Then we decided to take a short break back at camp after Nick and Kayla went on the speed slides and we played terribly at putt putt. I stopped to use the bathroom and when I came out they were gone, but I eventually found them in the pool. They tried to teach me to swim, but it didn't help, and Kayla accidentally flipped me underwater and I swallowed some water. After they were done traumatizing me, we went back to the picnic area and ate some more. We then went paddle boating where we bumped into some little girls on purpose and made fun of the mean lifeguard lady. She was getting really impatient because we were having trouble getting in the dock, and I told Kayla she was really mean, and Kayla was like, "You're gonna make him cry!" to her. It was funny. We went back on the lazy river again, then on the slides some more, and then ended on the go kart track. The first race sucked because my car stalled. The second race was awesome because I passed everyone up. I was a speed demon. Plus I was lucky I didn't spinout at all. I kept coming close during the really tight turns, but I was able to maneuver well. We returned to camp/picnic, ate some cake and ice cream, and returned home. I instantly turned the TV on and started watching my recording of the series/season finale of Avatar the Last Airbender, the best show ever! It was fantastic, I was on the edge the entire time. I almost consumed the blanket I was using as a pillow. I cried a few times when I thought things were going bad, but they ended it perfectly. But they also had some loose ends, leaving some suspicion for a fourth season, or for what the live action movie is going to be about. I really hope M. Night Twistalawn (obviously not his real name, but I love the episode where Robot Chicken makes fun of him) doesn't completely ruin it. Darn this is going to be posted after today has ended. Curse my need to write down all my thoughts!!!

The Christian Conundrum

I was watching the Colbert Report just now, and Stephen was having an interesting conversation with his guest about universal healthcare. She said that universal healthcare is healthcare for everyone. Stephen responded by saying that there already is healthcare for everyone, it's called prayer. This reminded me of a book I say yesterday at the Coventry Street Arts Fair that talked about how the only question never answered in the Bible was: why do we suffer? I'm pretty sure that question has been answered by almost all religions. The fall, or corruption, of man is explained in even the oldest religions. In Christianity, curiosity and the childlike innocence of the ignorant is what is attributed to Eve's decision to pick the apple. Yes, the serpent/Satan did goad her into picking it, but the natural curiosity was there. Because of her ignorance and curiosity, she bit into the fruit, which was most likely not an apple but it is merely a story and is not to be taken as literal. They received knowledge, but with this knowledge came suffering, which helps prove that ignorance is bliss. In Greek mythology, a box was given to a child by the name of Pandora. The gods told Pandora not to open the box, but did not tell her why or what was in it. Driven by curiosity and her innocence and ignorance, she opened the box. From the box came disease, famine, war, and all that caused suffering, but also hope which can also be considered knowledge as knowledge creates hope. It seems that knowledge is the cause of suffering. With knowledge comes all the bad. You take the good, and you take the bad. Those are the facts of life, as the song goes. So the moral of the story? Simple, that the pursuit of knowledge creates not only good, but bad. It's simple to see how true this is. We've created medicine to resist disease, but stronger diseases have been discovered. With technology that helps, comes technology that destroys. I'm sure there are some holes in my theory, but that is what makes it a theory. Unfortunately, even though this is the question that sparked my existential crisis, answering it for myself right now has done little to help.

A Dark Night

This technically includes early this morning, but I consider the end of my day when I fall asleep. Alright, so this started yesterday morning, I woke up early, as usual, to watch my annoying sisters. Thankfully, I escaped to Tom's house for mini games, and, sadly, no roleplaying. We went from 12-4. We started with Caylus, which I placed second in, and then played Settlers of Catan. It was amazing. I had a settlement on a six brick and an eight wood, and the other numbers weren't that good. It was great because I instantly leaped into longest road as I made my way to a wood port (next to the 8 was a 3 and 10 wood, not that great, but good for a wood monopoly). Wood was one of the rarest resources too, so I could milk everyone for more than one resource. I built almost all my roads, five settlements, and one city in the midst of my wood, and finally won after developing several times to get a victory point card. I finally won a real life game of Settlers of Catan against my friends. It was great. Then I won at Bang!, a Wild West card game in Italian. Then Joe, my "not Jewish" friend from Hawken, dropped me off at home, where I looked at the Coventry Village website for more details on the Coventry Street Arts Fair which Alex reminded me of at Tom's. Justin and I went, stopping at Tommy's, American Apparel, and the head shops. Tommy's didn't have a Lemon Lime Ginseng Up and never called Justin's name when they finished his milkshake. We met Matthew P. Childers at American Apparel, his place of employment, and Justin and I chatted about the perverse advertisements and the overpriced articles of clothing. $44.00 for a track jacket! Outrageous! Just because it's American made and they pay their workers well doesn't mean they have to charge that much. Plus, they are just a basic clothing store. Most of the money they make has to be from selling template shirts. I see a lot of band shirts made on American Apparel tees. After a very disappointing Coventry Street Fair, Justin and I returned to Euclid, and I waited to leave for the midnight showing of The Dark Knight. I walked to Kenny's street where I met up with him, Justin, and Nick. Then we walked to Lakeshore 7 theater where we met with the rest of our friends. The movie was great, no it was amazing. Heath Ledger's Joker was spot on, perfectly maniacal and crazed. Christian Bale was pretty good, though I thought his Batman voice was kind of funny. Maggie Gyllenhaal was great as Rachel. I loved Alfred the butler and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Bruce Wayne's accomplices. It was a great movie. After waiting until the end of the credits, like any good nerd, I left on foot for my home, alone seeing as Kenny and Justin booked it out of there, most likely to smoke some more hashish, ganja, mary jane, whatever you want to call it. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my quiet walk home in the moonlight. It was a clear night and the moon was pretty much full. I had an interesting contemplation on meaning, purpose, and this constant impatience I see in a lot of people. I again contemplated death, something I do a lot when I'm alone. I wondered how many of my friends are actually resigned to death, and what their respective beliefs are regarding death. I wondered if the ones who do not believe in a deity of some sort, will have an existential crisis at some time in their life. I've had an existential crisis, oh, since maybe seventh grade, which I think is when my cynicism took root also. I don't know. Hopefully college will help me find whatever it is I'm looking for.