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.

Project Funway

Alright, so yesterday I found a codec that works and I've watched the first five episodes of Samurai Jack. The quality of mkv files is amazing. The video is perfect and the audio is better than when I watch it on TV. I also watched the season five premiere of Project Runway on Bravo. This season is shaping up to not be as good as last season, but I actually have someone I want to win already. The winner of the first challenge is named Kelly, and she owns her own store, the Black Market, in where? Why, none other than Columbus, OHIO!! Now Ohio has had representation in the past, but she was from farm country and more craftsy fashion. Kelly was innovative and creative. This year's first challenge went back full circle, all the way to the original Project Runway challenge, at Gritedes Mega Store. The challenge was to use products found in the grocery store and make an innovative garment using nontraditional materials. A lot of people went for tablecloths (fabric substitutes) and did okay garments, but the smartest designers used surprising materials. Kelly used vacuum cleaner bags that she bleached to create a marble effect, coffee filters that she burned, and the spiral of a notebook for clips. Daniel Feld, my other favourite, used blue plastic cups to make a beautiful cocktail dress that looked like something Feist might wear. Now, even though the season doesn't look like it is going to be another fierce fest, it does have its share of nuts and weirdos. This really odd guy, Blanye or Blaine (I don't want to know how to spell his name), made the most hideous outfit ever. He called it Girliscious and it wasn't. He just took stuff and threw it on. I think he should have left instead of the fat, gay, Asian guy who made an outfit for a serial killer. I don't know about this season. I just really hope Kelly makes it far, because that brings publicity to Ohio, and people will learn how much comes out of here.


Odd guy's outfit. Hideous, isn't it?





















Fat, gay, Asian's outfit. Serial-killeresque, no?



For more of the designs, especially Kelly's, visit:

http://www.bravotv.com/Project_Runway/season/5/index.php

I did something, I think? No wait....what?

I don't remember what I did yesterday. I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything. Oh, I read the rest of the Claymore manga on ifyouwas.com. That's a really interesting series. It seems to go on forever. I should read the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. I wonder how different it is compared to the anime series. I think I did something else, but I can't remember. I know that there is a meeting at Tom's house tomorrow. Oh, I need to find an MKV video player or converter. I searched for them last night and had some trouble. The converters all needed codecs, and I installed the codecs, but it still said that I needed them. The video player needed to connect to the internet for the installation setup, but was trying to use Internet Explorer which for some reason can't detect my internet connection. I'll look again today, but comment with any links please.

Rehabilitation

Yesterday I did nothing but stay at home to recover from my terrible ordeal. I can definitely say that I will not smoke weed again, even if it gets better after the first time. I just don't want to take the risk of freaking out and not having Nick there to sing to me. I sat at the computer for the better part of my day, and the rest was spent sleeping. But I found a place to play Settlers of Catan online. I also played an odd version with David. The map was huge for three players and there were boats and mining fields, where when the number was rolled you got to pick any resource. I won, at the original and the one I played with David. I finally won at Settlers of Catan. I want to play Caylus again. I wonder when the next meeting at Tom's house is?

Warning! Criminal Activity! Warning!

Alright, now I am going to fill you in completely on what transpired yesterday, my 18th birthday. I started the day by waking up at 12:00pm. I got ready for my birthday bash on Coventry Rd, texted everyone to remind them, and waited for their arrival. Everyone arrived pretty much on time, except for Kayla who had to get her oil changed and it took longer than she thought, and we left for Coventry. Kayla almost went the wrong way, but luckily Justin was looking out for her. We ate at Tommy's and then we went to the Grog Shop for the Hush Sound concert. First, the Morning Light played, and they were okay. Then Steel Train played, and they were awesome. Then the Cab played, and they were terrible. While they were playing, this really gay guy was talking with Kristen and Kayla about how the Cab sucked and the Hush Sound was the s#*t. It was really funny, but awkward for Kayla and Kristen. Then the Hush Sound played, and they were awesome. They covered Back in the USSR and sang songs from all three of their albums. When they were done, Nick and I stayed back while everyone kept walking out the door. Once again, Nick and I won because the Hush Sound came back for an encore of two more songs. Luckily everyone else got back in to hear and see the last two songs. It was awesome. After the concert was over, we drove to Justin's house to pick up some supplies for a fire, but when we got to Jared's beach club, the waves were really rough and there was no place to make a fire, so we went to Justin's house. Now, Kenny has been trying for ever to have me smoke weed with him, and I promised him I would do it on my birthday. Well, yesterday was the day and I was ready to try it. I took three hits from what is called a bowl, and didn't feel high. It was strange, I felt like I was acting high, but I really was. It started out okay. I was really quiet and wasn't laughing at things I normally would laugh at. Jared was high also, and when Jared is high, he acts really strange and laughs for no reason. Now when Jared would laugh for no reason, it would get me started and I would laugh. I didn't want to take anymore hits, and every time Kenny would stick in front of me I didn't know what was going on, it was weird. Then somehow, I finally took a fourth hit, and everything just went downhill from there. First, my legs kept flinching and I felt really cold. Then my head kept twitching from side to side. It was freaking me out, because I couldn't stop it. When I would try, I would feel like I was grating my neck. It wasn't fun. Then Ben, who doesn't smoke, started chasing Jared, which wasn't helping my head twitching because I kept turning back and forth towards any noise. Then Jared fell, so Nick, who doesn't smoke either, went over and told Jared he was Jesus and Jared was freaking out. Then it got worse for me. Jared sat down next to me and then started touching me. It was freaking me out and I was trying to get away from him, but I felt like I couldn't get out of my chair which freaked me out even more. Then I saw Nick out of the corner of my eye unzip his pants and come towards me, and I lost it because I thought he was going to rape me. Then Jared and Nick were on opposite sides of me and I was losing it, so everyone else was telling them to stop, but I was still freaking out, so Nick started cussing me out to try and calm me down, but my head just kept twitching. I started to cry because I wanted it to stop but it wouldn't. Nick got me to calm down for a short time by telling me to take deep breaths, but it didn't work for long. Then everything got better. Jared was moved to keep him away from me, and Nick sat down next to me and talked and played guitar. For some reason my mind calmed anytime he sang. If he stopped or made a mistake, I would start twitching again. If everyone else was louder than him, I would start twitching again. All I wanted was for Nick to sing and everyone else to shut up. When I would try to sing it sounded terrible, and I knew it but there was nothing I could do. Then when Justin's dad came out with Linus, I was finally calm. It was a terrible experience, and I'm pretty sure I would be really messed up if Nick wasn't there. The combination of Nick singing and petting Linus at the end of it all was what brought me out of that horrible experience. I don't know how Kenny and Justin can enjoy it. I guess everyone must experience it differently, but I am definitely not smoking marijuana again, in any way, shape, or form. After my rough patch, I went to Kenny's house to spend the night. We were supposed to go to the recording studio for Happy Kodiak, but things didn't go as planned, so I got dropped off at home and crashed on my couch for four hours.

What the Fudge?

Okay, this is for yesterday, but I have a valid excuse. I was only home for an hour and it was from four to five. I woke up at nine, zoomed over to the eye doctor to pick up my new glasses (it feels weird to have two stems), and teleported to the library. There I played mini games with Justin, Tom, and Steve. It was endless hours of fun, which was cut short at four. Apparently not so endless. We played Caylus, a more advanced version of Settlers of Catan, which I tied with Justin, Man Bites Dog, a fun card game of newspaper headlines that are funny or make no sense, Bang, a sheriff vs. outlaw vs. renegade from Italy, Star Wars Duels, epic battles with cards, some Magic, and finally Liar's dice, which I won. If you don't know what it is, watch Pirates of the Caribbean, it's in one of them. Then, as I said, I left at four to get ready to go to dinner with my family for my birthday, which is today but I am doing stuff with friends, so we had to do it yesterday. Olive Garden was closed because it had no power, so we went to BRAVO!. It was really good. I started with Italian Wedding soup, then moved on to a Hickory wood-smoked Salmon. It was absolutely delicious. Then I got stuck in my brother's car which was going to the Mentor Gabriel Brothers. I saw this cute little Spanish family there, and I was excited because I could understand what they were saying. Then we arrived at my Grandma's house, but my Cd player's batteries died, so I had to listen to my brother's terrible tastes in music. I really hate that pocket full of sunshine song. I'm pretty sure a five-year-old could write that song. Then I had a delicious piece of chocolate cheesecake at my grandparents' house and left for Dan's graduation party. I played badminton, danced in a strobe light rave, and then sat around a short lived fire before leaving to get some sleep. Now I'm here, still thinking it is Saturday. But I am 18 today. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Today is going to be awesome. Now, I must get my beauty sleep and prepare for my debut into the real world. Here I come everyone! (CHEESY)

SuperNews

Everyone should start watching SuperNews on Current.com. Just click Current under my new Cool Sites link list, search for SuperNews, and enjoy. Some of my favourites are the American Apparel, Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates, and the Battle of the Social Networking Sites videos. They are hilarious. Plus, if you like fake/joke news, just click the Onion link and enjoy. Also feel free to browse my musical tastes and my friends', and Khaela Maricich's, blogs. This is not a post for today. There will still be one tonight.

A Movie, Chinese, and Arabica

Today, I was awakened to watch my sisters (surprise). Thankfully, they were up in their room, so I was able to watch movies on IFC. I watched Millions, a cute little British movie, and this really odd movie called The Bee Season. It was this really strange movie about this girl with an unnatural talent for spelling and her crazy, religiously messed up family. The father was a professor of Kabbalah (spelling?), the mother would sneak into people's houses and steel shiny objects for this giant display in a warehouse that she made because of some philosophy in Kabbalah about bringing together broken pieces and light, and the son was having a religious breakdown and became a Buddhist or a Hindu, the movie wasn't quite clear on that one. Then the father became obsessed with his daughter's ability and was talking about how this ancient mystic, essentially a Kabbalah priest, thought you could reach god through the permutation of words, rearranging the letters into every possible combination even if they aren't real words. So anyways, the girl went all the way to nationals, and then when she had origami, (not a final round word, and I know seeing as I have watched the Scripps Annual Spelling Bee several times), to decide the win, she purposely misspelled it for some reason, and the night before that had a seizure when she was permuting words to commune with God. It was a messed up movie. The father was insane, the son hated his father, the mother was in a mental institution after being finally caught in someone's house, and the daughter was stupid and lost on the easiest final word. Also, the little girl looked kind of like this girl I know, Sarah Taylor. It was really weird. Then I had Chinese from First Wok for dinner, and then went to Arabica on 185th Street. I got a Nantucket Nectar Lemonade, and it was good. David, Nick, Ben, and I sat in the nice little alcove and had fun talking loudly over the very loud Jesus rock band, as Nick put it. Nick jokingly thought about going over there and saying, "I am here my child," and then doing a religious pose to see if she would faint. Oh Nick.

Blog, Blog, Blog

Guess what? I'm a believer. I'm a person who likes to blog about my ideals. Here goes: blog, blog, blog blog blog blog. Blog Bloblog, blog bloggen blogbloblog. Blogetyblog, blogle blog. Blogblog blogblog, blog blog, blog. Sorry just had to do that because of that annoying Twix commercial. It just makes me want to blog, literally. I mean, literally, people just have to want to after seeing that commercial. They just literally want to blog, literally. I hate when people use literally too much. I'm pretty sure we get if you're being literal or not. I'm not sure why that came up, it just did. Anyway, we did not roleplay at Tom's. On the bright side, he finished laying out all six floors of Steve's castle, so I'm sure by Sunday Tom will have an actual encounter ready.

Nothing

I haven't done anything for the past two days, including today. So that is nothing done for yesterday and today. Absolutamente nada! Tomorrow looks promising though. Toby, my parents' chocolate lab, is going to be neutered. He is going to look hilarious with that cone on his head. Then I am going to Tom's from 12:00 to 5:00 (which may be cut short because I might have to be at home by 4:00 to watch my sisters after the birthday party they are going to is over), and I really hope he has a D&D session planned because I am not going off to college until this campaign is over.

The Movies

Yesterday I didn't do anything until 7:00pm when David picked me up to go see Mongol at Cedar Lee. We picked up Nick and then Justin, and we only had about ten minutes until the movie started. We missed about the first fifteen minutes, but other than that it was a really good movie. It was all about Genghis Khan's life before he became Khan. I really liked it. It was really well done, but the ending was a little disappointing. It was already two hours, the worst they could do is make it a little longer. Also, at times it seemed like the audio was off from the lip movement. Nevertheless, I would still recommend it. Then David dropped us all off after finding out his and Nick's favourite, cheap, Chinese restaurant, Tasty Buffet, was closed and the space was up for lease. Nick was crying out the window, "Why did it close?" I think from now on I'm going to write all my posts the day after. It's a lot easier because I get really lazy late at night, even if I'm on the computer already.

Connecticut, Day 5 and Day 6/The Return

Okay, I'm sorry that I haven't posted, but now that I have a readily accessible computer I will be posting as usual. Now this post is for Saturday, July 5th, and Sunday, July 6th. First I will start with Saturday. Saturday was my last actual day in Connecticut, so I was hoping to go into the city with my cousin Jackie and my cousin Andrew. Unfortunately, Jackie went to a friend's the night before and slept over, plus it was in NYC. She came home late morning, and everyone else went to see WALL-E, while Jackie and I stayed home. She took a nap because she was up late partying, and I blogged for Friday and watched Wimbledon. I saw Venus beat her sister. It was really intense. It was a pretty chill day with nothing exciting happening until the evening. My cousin Jackie found out about the movie Young@Heart and wanted to go see it at 8:00pm. She invited her friend Katherine Sinacore, who is hilarious. Last year when I visited Connecticut, I went to a Harry Potter release party at Barnes and Noble with Jackie, Sarah, and several of Jackie's friends. Katherine was one of them, and she was involved in some hilarious antics concerning He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. We ate dinner at 7:30pm and Andrew was getting a little anxious because he wanted to see the previews. Katherine arrived, after being mauled by a biker, in a dazed state. Poor Katherine. We hopped in the car, took a few wrong streets, but ended up in good spot to find parking, and then subsequently had trouble finding a parking spot. We made into the theater, bought our tickets, and then almost walked away without them, but Katherine was there to save the day. We rushed into the theater just in time for the movie to start. It was a charming documentary about a senior citizen choir in North Hampton, MA called Young@Heart. It followed them for seven weeks as they prepared for their new tour, Alive and Well. It was a rollercoaster of emotions, from hilarious and happy moments, to sad and disheartening ones. Like the narrator said, I felt like I had gained 24 extra grandparents (now 21). It was very touching, and though some of them were tone deaf and had trouble remembering the words, it all came out fantastically. Their opening show was sold out, but was unfortunately marred by the loss of one of their best performers. They lost two performers during the making of the documentary, and one more after the documentary was filmed. It was a touching movie with a wonderful message about living life to the fullest even if it is trying to keep you down.

Sunday/yesterday we had bagels from a Jewish bakery my Aunt Deni and Uncle Victor really like, and then left for the long drive home. I listened to Vampire Weekend, Ingrid Michaelson, Tegan and Sara, Ben Kweller, and The Blow. I found I really like Vampire Weekend. We got home after six, I ate, and then left for a meeting at Tom's. Unfortunately, we did not roleplay, so I did not get to find out the climactic conclusion to the campaign. He said he'd try to write something and have a meeting during the week. I hope he does because I want to finish this before I have to go off to college.

That was my vacation. Hopefully I will get to visit NYC with my friends before the summer ends.

Connecticut, Day 4

Yesterday was July 4th, otherwise know as Independence Day in the United States of America.  So what was I, like any good American (even though we are United States Citizens like our passports say), to do?  Why shoot fire into the sky and be deafened by the resulting explosion of light and loudness.  Now I'm not unpatriotic, I just think the U.S. is a stupid place filled with only a small percentage of smart people.  Unfortunately, most of the smart people aren't involved in the government (which is good for them, but bad for us).  I must get back to what I did because I could fill the whole page with my feelings on the U.S. and any subsequent related topics that I may tangent off into (like my desire to move to Europe, but have a beautiful loft in New York City for when I wanted to visit the motherland).  What did I do yesterday?  I'm not sure I quite remember.  I read a little bit of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.  It's somewhat biofiction.  I think I should coin that term.  It can be applied to a lot of things like Night by Elie Wiesel, or 30 Rock my favourite television show.  My Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom left for their home yesterday, and then my cousin Andrew came in from the city.  Andrew is a really cool person.  He's really smart and has a great personality.  He's working for CBS as an intern and rarely gets time off.  He rents an apartment in the city from his parents who own it for my Uncle Victor (who sometimes has to sleep in the city because of his work).  I had the most delicious soup from Chef's Table, one of my favourite restaurants in Fairfield, CT.  It was called Mulligatawny, and it was filled with deliciousness.  I love soup so much that I could live on it.  It can every food group in it.  You can eat it ate every meal (Miso soup is technically for breakfast).  It's just wonderful, and I don't understand why a lot of people aren't really into soup.  If I can't find a writing position in a newspaper, I would love to be a food critic so then I can taste every restaurant's soups.  Also, if I become successful enough to a point where I can retire and be set for life, then I would like to open a cafe that serves only soup, and open it near a college with really cheap prices and delicious food so all the students and faculty will eat there for lunch or dinner.  Anyways, yesterday was pretty much a relaxing day since it was really cloudy.  We sat on the beach for a while until we thought it was going to rain.  The fireworks were pretty nice, but there were so many I didn't know where to look.  Everyone was shooting off expensive fireworks not to far from us.  It was very calming, but it felt very surreal.  I wanted that moment to freeze in time, so I could sit on the beach and listen to the waves with my family forever while fireworks lit up the sky.  I kind of don't want to go to college.  I don't want to worry about money and taxes, getting a job, creating a family.  I wish I could freeze time so I could enjoy summer forever and never become an adult.  I don't care if I don't make money to buy material possessions.  I just want to enjoy life.  I don't think we were put on this planet, or were a scientific accident, just so we could create society, technology, cities, and responsibilities.  I think we were put on earth to enjoy life, to build beautiful cities and then enjoy them without worrying about economies and oil for cars.  Maybe I'm just a little nervous about going to college.  I don't know.

Connecticut, Day 3

Thursday's post.  Dictated but not read.  Written and posted on Friday.  

For a vacation, I really didn't do much yesterday.  Sarah, my cousin, left for a friends which she will be staying at until after I leave.  Jackie plays lacrosse so she works out, but she is also helping out at this cooking school for underprivileged children, so she not home for most of the day.  So I was stuck with a bunch of older people, no offense to my relatives, but I'd rather be around people close to my age.  But my aunts and mother wanted to go shopping, so I, hoping for a good photo opportunity, tagged along.  Unfortunately there were no good photo opportunities and we went into all these women stores.  But I made the most of it.  We stopped in Pottery Barn first, which a quaint store.  I looked at their selection of frames for my prints.  They had frames with mattes in them, but I wanted to find ones that I could fit my mattes in.  They did not have 11x14 mattes, but I did have a nice conversation with the girl who works there.  She measured the frames for me and told me about her friend who was into photography.  She said her friend was going to take a year off of university to travel around the world and take photos.  We then went into a bunch of uninteresting stores and finally came to this independently owned store called Life Is Good.  It was a nice little store with positive messages on the shirts.  Unfortunately they did not have men's size small and their mediums were to long, so I couldn't get a nice shirt.  Then we went into this store where this lady put this stuff on my hands that made them really oily and took away my natural softness.  It was this natural store for body products.  It smelled really strong in there.  Oh I almost forgot about the cute little British family at GAP Kids.  The boy and two girls all had blue suckers so their mouths turned blue and the youngest was this cute little girl with blonde curls.  Then we went to eat at this little cafe, but I saw a Lucky Brand Jeans store, so I wanted to look there.  They were really expensive, but we found a discount pair that were 62% off.  It was really nice because they would normally be a hundred some dollars, but they ended up at thirty-six dollars.  Then we ate at the Katzberg Kafe.  It was quite nice.  The cashier was, I think, a woman with a really deep voice, so my mother and my aunts were discussing after we left if she was a man or woman.  I forgot to check if she had an Adam's apple or not.  Of course, as we were walking back to the car, my Aunt Deni took us by the Starbucks to see if anyone wanted some so she would feel thirsty for coffee.  The Nesi family is know far and wide for their Starbucks obsession.  It is said that the Fairfield Starbucks was built just for them.  Then we returned home and I finished the Magician's Nephew, which I had read once before but wanted to refresh my memory.  When were leaving for dinner, Jackie returned home but was going to go out to a party at a friend's house.  I was going to ask if I could tag along, but I didn't want to invite myself to a stranger's party filled with strangers, so I went with the rest of the family to Vino...On the Boardwalk, a quaint, family style, Italian restaurant.  It was pretty good.  Then we went to dairy queen afterwards and returned home, where I relaxed and then retired early only to find History of the World on AMC and Tomb Raider on TBS.  That kept me up till around twelve when I finally decided to turn off the TV because I couldn't watch it in a comfortable position.

Connecticut, Day 2

Today, what a day.  Well I woke up at five something, and I was wide awake.  I was able to fall back asleep until six something, and then until 7:20.  I set the alarm for 7:30, but I just said close enough, turned off the alarm, and took the best shower ever.  The water was the perfect temperature, and my bedroom was connected right to the bathroom, so I could strip in the room and walk to the shower.  Then I had a slice of delicious banana bread for breakfast, another one of my food weaknesses.  Then I went on the Nesi boat, which doesn't have a name yet but my aunt wants to name it Sandy Cheeks.  It was wonderful and very calming, plus I got some shots on my Canon Rebel Ti.  I have so much film I will have to develop.  I'm going to try and save it until I'm at OU and become good friends with the Photo teacher.  We rode on the boat for a few hours, even though it only seemed like a short time.  Then we had lunch from the Firehouse Deli and I got a vegetarian wrap.  It's weird.  I prefer vegetarian choices, except for meat substitutes, but I don't think I could ever become a true vegetarian because I love soup and most of it is made with meat broth of some kind.  Then we just relaxed, and during that time I was able to finish The Pearl, by John Steinbeck.  It was a wonderful read, and short.  It has cancelled out my hatred of Steinbeck, which I received after not reading Of Mice and Men.  It took me an hour to read the first chapter of the latter book.  It was so dry, boring, and not able to hold my attention (the only book that has ever failed to do so), so I read the last chapter and Spark Noted the body of the book.  I think I did terrible on the test too.  Anyways, then Sarah got me addicted to this game called Text Twist.  You get six letters, and then you have to arrange them in at least one six letter combination that makes a word to move on to the next level, but you can gain more points by figuring out all the three, four, and five letter words you can make.  It is really addicting, and I find I miss some of the more common words.  Then we ate hamburgers (or hot dogs, but I hate hot dogs) for dinner.  Then I continued to play Text Twist thanks to the burst of energy from my Starbucks White Mocha.  Then I did yesterday's post, and now I'm sitting in my cousin's awesome kitchen island writing this one.  And now, since I'm done with this post, I'm going to play some more Text Twist.

A Day Late

Okay, this is yesterday's post.  I was a little busy being glad that I was no longer in a car, so I was unable to locate a computer to update my readers (if I have any).  So yesterday, my mother, my two sisters, and I all got in the car at 7:30, and off we went on our journey to Connecticut.  To make sure we got there, we had an atlas of the states (complete with every important city, exit, and highway) and TomTom GPS device.  We took 271 South to Youngstown and then got on 80 East for the majority of the drive.  I 80 is huge.  It goes through Ohio, all the way through Pennsylvania, and then about halfway through New Jersey is when we got on to 287 North.  Then we followed that until it joined with 86 East, and then took 95 North until we reached Fairfield, CT.  My mom was freaking out because we didn't have my Aunt Deni's new address, but I tried to assuage her paranoia with the fact that I knew, thanks to my visual memory, exactly how to get to her house once we got off the highway.  She didn't trust me, as usual, so I had to search for my aunt's house phone number because she wasn't answering her cell.  Now, I hate talking on the phone unless absolutely necessary.  I never no what to say, and I always feel a little awkward.  We hit a little traffic near the end of our drive, but for the most part it was smooth sailing.  Everyone was surprised at what great time we made.  We arrived at 5:45 and made ourselves at home, myself especially seeing as I love the Nesi house.  It is right on the sound and you can see Long Island from their backyard.  It's a beautiful house with so many rooms, and plenty of bathrooms.  I took the best shower of my life today.  But back to yesterday.  We ate homemade turkey tacos for dinner, and then had cheesecake for dessert (my top two secret food obsessions).  It was wonderful.  Then I went to bed at 11:00.  I was exhausted and didn't even stay up to watch Adult Swim like I usually do.